The New Lost Zombies Blog

This is Skot, here to answer your questions and give you the latest Lost Zombies news.

Members of lostzombies.com have probably noticed that we like to change things around on the site: colors, layout, features, guidelines, etc. We do this for two reasons. First, we change things to better achieve our goal of creating a community generated zombie documentary. Second, we make changes because members recommend them. Some of the changes we make suck.They don't help us achieve our goal and they piss users off. We're sorry for those ones, but we believe that over the long haul we make the site better.

With that said, brace your self, here comes another change. This blog. I'll be posting at least once a week, hopefully, more. If I don't post regularly it will be your responsibility to call me out. Of course if you don't like these posts, remain silent and I'll get the picture.

I plan to use a two part format for each post. First I'll give the latest news as it relates to Lost Zombies. This will include updates regarding any contests we have running, upcoming events, status of the project as a whole, and stuff like that. As with everything on the site, your feedback is welcome and encouraged.

So here we go...

NEWS from LOSTZOMBIES.com

In September we ran a contest asking for your video journals, specifically we wanted to know how you were surviving in the post-zombie-apocalypse. Thanks to those who submitted. We expect to have a winner announced for this week. The winner will get a personalized Lost Zombies hoodie.

If you missed the September contest, don't sweat it. You can still enter the October contest. It's an easy one... We want video of you running. That's it... You don't have any excuses not to submit. The winner of the October contest will also get to choose a personalized piece of LZ clothing. Despite requests, we don't not have LZ thongs. Please stop asking. It's awkward. You know who you are ;)

We are still editing the Lost Zombies scrap book. I know it's been awhile. I'm sorry for the delay, but I'm also very excited with what we've accomplished so far. This will be the first official piece of the Lost Zombies collaborative story. We want it to be great. In fact, we may give one last chance for people to submit. We're talking about the possibility of hosting a chat-like experience where we take the chat log and publish it in the scrap book. I'm not sure if that makes any sense, but I don't want to give too much away. I'll keep you posted. If you have no idea WTF I'm talking about, the Lost Zombies scrap book was a project we ran over the summer where users submitted hand written notes told from the perspective of individuals experiencing the zombie apocalypse.

MAILBAG

Here's where I plan to answer your questions. OMEGA helped out and provided some questions to properly kick off this post.

OMEGA asks:

What's your favorite kind of zombie to film a shambler/dragger or a runner? What are the best angles, in your opinion, to capture either of the two and why?

Strictly from a film-making perspective I believe fast zombies are easier to film. There are a few reasons I feel this way. First if your zombies are running, your makeup doesn't need to be as convincing. Neither does your acting. It's also easier to scare people with a fast zombie. However, just because something is easier doesn't mean it's the right approach. I would go with the scenario I was most passionate about. In my experience, if you're really excited about an idea, you can usually handle the challenges that go along with executing the idea versus trying to execute on something you're not passionate about, regardless of how easy it may be.

About camera angles... I would certainly shoot a slow zombie differently than a fast zombie. My approach would first be to consider what is uniquely scary about each type of zombie. I find slow zombies scary because of their slow and unrelenting drive to consume. This is psychologically terrifying. Where as a fast zombie triggers a fight-or-flight kind fear that is adrenaline based. I would try to emphasize these qualities with my choices on camera angle. For example with fast moving zombies I would consider going with handheld video, especially if I was shooting first person video (where one of my characters in the film is operating the camera). A character running from zombies with a camera in hand could be a very powerful shot. First person video has the ability to draw your audience in very quickly. But you should be careful not to abuse it. Basically, I'd be sure to mix up my shots. But to answer your question I would probably use first person, handheld video. I would use a lot of cuts, have the camera swing back and forth between the chasing zombie(s) and the destination I was trying to reach. I would also turn up the shutter speed on my camera. Not all cameras have this option. If your camera does allow you to change the shutter speed, turning up the shutter speed will produce a kind of strobing effect that works well with high speed footage (watch the beginning of Saving Private Ryan for an example). For a slow zombie scene, I would establish the slow zombie with a wide shot. With this shot I'd want the audience to know the zombie is slow moving, and pursuing one of my characters. I would then reverse the shot and show my character finding a place to hide. From here I would stay with my character. There's no need to show the zombie again. We already know it's there and it's moving slow. That will create tension. I would then use the sound of the zombie approaching to build that tension. So those are a couple of options for shooting different types of zombies. To actually answer your question. I think both the scenarios are exciting.

If you have a questions for the MAILBAG you can send them directly to my Lost Zombies inbox. Please leave your comments and feedback for how we can improve this blog.

Thanks
Skot (Lost)

About Lost Zombies: lostzombies.com is a zombie themed social network with the goal of creating a community generated zombie documentary.