MOVIE PRODUCTION BLOG #4: Script Treatment & New Website

THE NEW WEBSITE IS LIVE!

Bloody wonderful job by Mr. Marcus Wilson who runs the excellent web company Pooka.Pro (and who also happens to be my oldest friend. As in, I’ve known him since we were five, not that he’s terribly old or anything… don’t look at me! – Miles).

When we started Zomblog, we wanted the site to look like a pinboard or fridge to which someone had stuck a post-it, and this was the first poster and web design we stuck with:

Early poster design from 2008

As the site evolved to include more episodes we played with several new designs including this one:

2009 website concept by Chris Marsh

But in the end we went for a more striking look to launch the new site with Season 3, very much with a Cowboy Bebop kind of vibe:

3rd season/website redesign, 2010

And now for 2012 we’ve gone with this new design:

2012 Redesign by Marcus Wilson

It’s clearer, cleaner and looks great on mobile phones, which is so very important these days since about 50% of browsing takes place on a smartphone or handheld device.

Over the months, the new site will evolve to include photo galleries and document our gradual development of the Zomblog movie right up to and including filming, so that fans can keep up to date as we report from the run up, the shoot itself and the edit room.

Homies

SCRIPT TREATMENT

As for the script treatment, we’ve had some interest from various people whom our Producer, Steve Piper, has been meeting with at Cannes. They love the concept of Zomblog and get how a movie would work but want to see in more detail what we’d do with the film version. It’s great in one way that the series speaks for itself and has that sense of anarchy, but on the other hand, there is no script to show the money people, so they need some clarity as to what exactly will happen in the movie.

By way of explanation, here’s an excerpt from an early version of the treatment as we were playing with ideas:

 

Hannah explains that she co-habits with two boys, just as we hear a SCUFFLE in the courtyard outside, accompanied by GUNSHOTS. Hannah sighs.

HANNAH

Ohhhh dear.

This is our first realisation that the world has gone wrong. Hannah seems at ease about the whole thing, continuing her blog while the sounds of battle and MOANING go on outside.

DOWN IN THE COURTYARD, the battle rages between a horde of RAVENING ZOMBIES and TONY and MILES, Hannah’s housemates.

Miles texts a lot and films from his smart phone as he lazily offs zombies, moaning:

MILES

Zombies, zombies, zombies. I’m so sick of zombies!

TONY

(mid-kill)

What’s the matter, allergic to fun?

 

It’s always weird, trying to present a ‘script’ of Zomblog, because the magic tends to happen through a combo of planning and improvisation. We always like to have a map of where the scene will go but then make stuff up as we go, often cracking up in the process as you can see in this Making Of Documentary from 2010:

We’re doing our best to convince the industry folk that this will be broader, funnier and more insanely violent than the web series yet remain true to its spirit.

And it’s a load of fun working it all out.

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