Peer Pitch & Concept Refinement Chart

    For my portfolio project, I decided to make a film and the genre is a mix of horror, comedy, and adventure. The target audiences for my film are mostly teens, young adults, and horror movie fans. The concept is that in a post-apocalyptic future, a girl named Calypso wakes up to find out that she is one of the last remaining humans in her country and that the zombies are now the dominant species on Earth. With no recollection from her past, she is rescued by an obscure team of zombie hunters that recruit her to help them take down the zombie society with high hopes that Calypso can regain her memories. Bloody zombie fights and hijinks ensue. I have always been a fan of zombie apocalypse stories and cryptic stories, so I wanted to almost make a combination of the two and incorporate some of my own humor into it as well. After being in a play about the zombie apocalypse and watching a lot of Buzzfeed Unsolved, I got the idea that what if the zombies in the apocalypse had their own ulterior and complex motives for pursuing humans and, in the world of the movie, other monsters?

     The feedback that I received was mostly questions to clear some details out. One person asked how I was going to be able to present a concept like that. Well, the simple answer is that I am taking on the challenge to make it slightly animated. Sort of like in a storyboard format. Another person asked how I was going to combine horror and comedy, and I elaborated on how the character dynamics in the story are what make it a comedy. Similar to how the characters interact in movies like Zombieland and Guardians of the Galaxy. I was suggested to also flesh out how Calypso lost her memories, but I explained that I wanted to make it a mystery. I can try to drop some bits of foreshadowing in the opening.

    Not only is making a film with a combination of genres entertaining to do, but the genres that I decided on tend to do well with the target audience I am going for. According to Statista, films that go under the adventure, comedy, and horror genres tend to be more popular than other genres, such as drama and romance, in people from ages 18-24. I think by combining those three genres, I can create something that people will find enjoyable to watch. The horror genre had the lowest percentage out of the two genres, but I think that I can use that to my advantage since my target audience includes horror movie lovers, and by combining horror with other genres, I could possibly attract more people into watching my film.

     Pleasure and meaningfulness play big roles in watching a movie. In a study made by Mary Beth Oliver and Tilo Hartman, they discovered that many participants noted “that rather than encouraging them to reflect about life, pleasurable films provided them with the means of escaping or forgetting about their lives.” The goal with my project is to make it enjoyable and entertaining; it does not require you to reflect on your life, it just requires you to follow along with the story and how these diverse characters survive the zombie apocalypse.