Hey guys,

I can’t make it to the meeting thrusday if it is at 4:30, so would anyone object to meeting at 5pm? REPLY ASAP if that is an issue.

I reviewed the script in its entirety this weekend, and jotted down a few notes.

Nicole and Hannah–
As I reviewed your scene, I totally loved the zombie killing the random student in front of the elevator, but I almost want the couple to not even get attacked at all–it is typical in horror films for the sexual couple to get killed off, and that sends a message about sexuality in general. like, don’t be promiscuous because you’ll get an STD and die!!@! Ahh! Changing it would serve to make all the scenes a little more diverse, since other scenes depict students getting attacked a lot. However, your scene is very well written, and THIS DOES NOT MEAN YOU HAVE TO CHANGE YOUR SCENE AT ALL. I’m no nazi. This is a student project, and you have worked hard on your scene. Just somethign to think about. Let me know on Thursday if you decide to change your scene. Again, don’t feel like you need to!!

Taylor-
Since most of your scene is blocking, and you only gave me the part with dialogue, I don’t know how your scene ends! Just give me a quick synopsis of what happens to your characters.

Otherwise I think everything is cool.

FOR THURSDAY! If you have not already made a shooting schedule, talk to your actors and get their conflicts and try to have a schedule made up by Thursday.

We will also be discussing makeup.

See y’all soon,
Alana

Hey guys,

just a reminder that you should be getting permission for your filming locations!! I’d LOVE it if you guys had a plan as far as when you’d like to complete filming and all that jazz. That means that you need to:

–get permission to film/find out if there is certain protocol that needs following (like having a professor or officer present)
–set a date(s) to film PREFERRABLY before spring break!!! that gives you two weeks.

Certain locations such as the photo lab won’t require permission as long as you do it at an hour where no one would be working in there.
GR needs to be filmed on off hours…probably should check in with them.

BRING ALL SUCH INFORMATION ON THURSDAY!!

We can go over lighting Thursday also.

Email me for any questions or concerns or specific things that you think need to be discussed thursday. CHEERIO, DON’T GET SICK!!or feel better….

Alana

Hey guys,

Tomorrow Melinda would like to meet with y’all very quickly to discuss the procedure for casting!! It’s important, so if you can be there, please attend, and bring ur calendars to check conflicts!!!

I myself will not be at the meeting, but please go it will make life easier for you. Also, you should be getting permission to film in your specific areas…keep in mind that it would be ideal if you completed filming before spring break!

Until next time,
Alana

Hey Y’all.

Just a reminder…

You should aim to have your projects filmed by Spring break, so we can come back and edit hardcore.

That means in the next couple weeks you need to:
–fine tune your scripts
–get permission to film if your location requires it
–cast your scene…if you’re not going to rely on MTA actors, hold your own audition or recruit friends. Just keep in mind the quality of the actors will make a huge difference!!

Melinda we need a date for MTA casting! LET ME KNOW AS SOON AS POSSIBLE WHAT THIS DATE WILL BE.

Until we know the date, work on your script and get permission to film..get as much info about your location as possible (permission, and what you need to do before you film there/what props you need to get) before thursday so that thursday we can assess where we are!!

Taylor, mail me your script!

Much love and stuff,

Alana

Hey guys,

Those of you who are writing up scenes, just a reminder that I need those written up by tomorrow night!

What I need in these scripts:
-Basic dialogue
-basic blocking (the movement of the characters)

I don’t need this to be super developed, but put in as much as you can! I know you guys have other work to worry about also, but I do too, and I’m getting my scene done!! Email me what you have tomorrow night, and we’ll go over the scenes and develop them more this coming Thursday.

Those of you who haven’t been coming to the meetings…if you are interested in helping out with the Zombie movie, now titled “SICK” you MUST ATTEND THIS COMING WEEKS MEETING. Otherwise, you will not be credited as being apart of Muhlenberg’s first student organization created feature film. This could be huge for our organization…and we need people to work together to get this done!

Thanks guys, I can’t wait to get this moving.

Alana

Hello everyone!!

I hope everyone has had a great vacation so far! I know it was much needed. I have been doing applications for study abroad, grants, and sponsorship for trips…and also hashing out a “plot” for our zombie film!

Toward the end of the fall semester things slowed down a bit, and understandably so–everyone has a lot of work to do at the end of the semester…which is why I think it will be a great idea for us to really hit the ground running as soon as we get back!

When we met last, we discussed certain locations that will be essential for different reasons..for example the library, 2nd floor Haas looking out onto the front lawn, the photo lab, a dorm room…the front lawn itself, Garden room…these are the main areas discussed.

Since our main issue has been a plot, I took many of our ideas and wrapped them togehter the best I could. I hope you guys don’t mind me going ahead and doing that, but I think you will be happy with the result, and if not PLEASE BE HONEST SO WE CAN MAKE CHANGES ASAP!!!!

I made our general plot line so that several mini movies combine through one scene…that way we still have something to keep it connected, but everyone still gets wiggle room to make changes that won’t have huge impacts on the story if necessary.

When we get back I want the MFA to split into groups, that will each be responsible for completing one mini movie…that way no one has TOO much work.

Here are the scenes I have concocted (the parts indicated with ** are connecting sequences where the audience will see characters from different mini movies in the same scene, but they won’t interact—this will give the whole movie a better flow) ALL SCENES, and the film as a whole, WILL TAKE PLACE ON A FRIDAY AFTERNOON, EXCEPT 1ST SCENE (I know a scene was already storyboarded. We will still use that, just need to find a place for it–i didn’t forget about it, just have to make connections for it!!!)

Initial druggie scene: that will stay the same…The characters involved in that scene will have to be seen somewhere in a later scene to stay connected and consistent with the format however!!

Library scene: Student A is studying in the library; he/she hears a disturbance in the back of the library where there are couches by the large windows on A level. He/she investigates, because it’s out of the ordinary..around the corner comes a bloody student–that is actually a zombie! Said zombie will chase the student A to C level, where he/she finds student B hiding from other zombies…they team up for a while, but student A betrayes student B, when A knowingly leaves B behind to save themself… Student A runs outside to Chew street…

**Student A runs out to Chew street, and passes a student (NEW CHARACTER) going into the CA, who is unaware that students are turning into zombies**

CA PHOTO LAB SCENE: Student goes down into the bottom of the CA–Which is inherently creepy…this scene can be one of those thriller scenes and we can really take advantage of the pratice rooms here (intense music-BAM, healthy student walks out–false alarm!!) and make it really intense with music and good angles…which will just be fun…what could actually happen in scene—> Student goes into photo lab and is working in the darkroom, when they hear someone walk in behind them–it’s a zombie! Assuming it is another photo student who is suppossed to meet up, Student A who was there first starts talking to zombie about something unknown to the audience…only audience can see it’s a zombie the whole time…we can take our time in this scene to make it creepy! anyway, this student gets bitten and makes there way out of the CA thru an exit door in the Bottom of CA…and heads toward the front lawn as they start to “turn”

GARDEN ROOM Scene: (NEW CHARACTERS) Students A and B are walking down academic row (it’d be great if they were not impaired in some way—hungover, whatever) going to get brunch in garden room. They comment on how academic row is dead on sunday. Enter Seegers, oddly quiet, but still they don’t notice. Enter GR–no one is there to swipe their cards, A and B sneak in and grab food. They make their way to a table and sit down—and then see that no one is moving. Finally someone stands up—they have just “turned” and walk toward the new fresh meat. A and B just barely escape the GARDEN ROOM with a herd of zombies behind them (THIS IS WHERE MTA AND ANYONE INTERESTED COMES IN AS EXTRAS!!!!) A and B run outside and lead all zombies out to the front lawn…
***As these two students are walking to GR in the beginning of this scene, Two students are seen entering Haas, after parking their car on the semi cricle***

HAAS Scene: (CHARACTERS SEEN ENTERING HAAS) Students A and B, lovers, snuck into the judicial room (is that where the view is??) because student A works in Haas and has figured out a way to get in on weekends…their plan is to have sex there, just because they can (why not?) As they start to get it on, Student B looks up and sees CHAOS on the front lawn. They watch the drama unfold from the safety of their location, in sheer terror. They take pictures with their cell phones.

FRONT LAWN: Hundreds of students who have “turned” come out to the front lawn to feast on students who fled from GARDEN ROOM. We may be able to use Victor’s Lament here!

DORM SCENE: Another student will be in a dorm room filming themself on a web cam–they escaped from Trexler pavillion, where a scene rehearsal turned “went terribly wrong” submits his/her webcast to a news station. They will reveal the fact that they know who started the epidemic…because they were a part of it(??)(this will be a monologue — GOOD WRITING WILL BE ESSENTIAL HERE)

Newscasters: the 6 O’clock news–news anchor covering the story reveals little pieces of information—BUT VERY DISTORTED! They air portions of the webcast in such a way that makes it sound like a school shooting has taken place—the camera CUTS (but no change in the straight on news anchor angle) and a producer tells the anchor to advertise this new cell phone for students that has an emergency dial feature…a company ready to make money off of the tragedy..and to intensify how she’s reporting the story. Every time we show a clip of the news cast, the information will advertise something new or distort another piece of information…or cut, and show the producer to not be sympathetic to the situation at all. Perhaps the anchor gets up and leaves as an act of defiance.

Last scene could be in Seegers—Zombies walking around the TV by the couches with the news cast playing.

It will be a very cool project if as a final product, the mini movies don’t all finish straight thru…that will be figured out when we edit it. We should at least have the News reporter scenes sprinkled through out in the very least..if the connecting segments seem good enough we can leave it that way too.

If this is at all confusing…email me! I’ll answer any question u have, and explain the methods of my madness.

OK THAT WAS A LOT TO READ THROUGH. We will go over this in the first meeting when we return and assign scenes and answer any questions!! If anyone wants to write up the blocking and dialogue of any scene before we return, that’d be great! please let me know which scene u are writing up, I’m going to hash out the blocking for the Front lawn sequence, since i have been advocating for that!!

MELINDA!!! SHIRTS WHEN WE GET BACK, YES?!
Who is stoked? I’ll see you soon!

Katie Silverstein

Opening Scene

Note: throughout this scene, the faces of the two students should remain ambiguous. Close ups of the face and other distinctive features should be avoided; extreme close-ups are okay because it’s difficult to identify a person just by his ear, for example. Other ways to mask the identity of the students include dark lighting, lens flare, shots from behind, long shots, etc.

The Nerd sits hunched over a desk that’s piled with surgical tubing, rubbing alcohol, matchbooks, Coffee filters, an electric skillet, etc. Some handwritten notes are jumbled about in the mix. The only light comes from a Bunsen burner.

The door to the lab opens, and a shaft of light pours into the room. Because of the light behind him, we cannot identify the Druggie, who enters the room in a nervous state.

Druggie

How much longer?

Nerd

Big batch.

Druggie

I asked you a fucking question.

(The nerd, astounded at the Druggie’s ignorance, sighs)

Nerd

First, I have to take the ratios into account. The volume of pseudoephedrine hydrochloride is inversely proportional to the volume of the Muriatic acid, which forms a compound with the…

Druggie

–I’m not paying you for a fucking chem lesson, you little shit.

Nerd

It’s not an easy question. I have to go through the whole process in my head and account for the differences in volume.

Druggie

I got customers scheduled to pick this stuff up at four AM. If it’s late, I gotta drop the price.

Nerd

I think ‘deduct the price’ is the more appropriate expression, but go on.

Druggie

Which means I lose my money because of your fucking incompetence.

Nerd

Excellent!

Druggie

Huh?

Nerd

You do know some SAT words.

Druggie

We got into the same college, didn’t we?

(Pause)

Nerd

Three hours.

Druggie

What?

Nerd

It’ll take about three hours. I just did the math in my head.

(He begins to make the drugs. He should be mixing, pouring, stirring, heating, etc. for the duration of the scene, frequently referring to his notes.)

(The Nerd pauses and looks up at the Druggie, expecting him to leave and come back in three hours. The Druggie doesn’t move)

Druggie

I don’t want you pulling any dumb shit. I could kick your ass.

Nerd

I never see you at the gym.

Druggie

I never see you.

Nerd

Do you realize the extent of your bombast?

Druggie

What the fuck did you just call me?

Nerd

We’ve got the perfect study right here. You and me. Rich, American white boys. Problem: Is there a strong positive correlation between parental resources and success in adult life? Between family income and college GPA? Because if there is, then you’re actually going out of your way to wring your life of all potential for success and happiness.

Druggie

Don’t talk about me like you know me. Nobody fucking knows me. (Pause) You’re the one making meth. So don’t preach to me about success.

Nerd

Do you want this stuff or not?

Druggie

Would I be paying you if I didn’t?

Nerd

Rhetorical questions, both. Mine was a warning. You should be nice to the only person on campus who knows the recipe.

Druggie

Stop talking. Fucking Christ. I don’t even hear you; I don’t care.

(Pause. The Nerd turns pale as he realizes his mistake.)

Nerd

Fuck!

Druggie

I heard that. You just said a naughty word.

Nerd

I left the Mason jar on the hotplate a minute too long.

Druggie

Is the stuff yellow?

Nerd

Still clear.

Druggie

Then so what? It’s all shit anyway.

Nerd

Dead-on.

This timeline will serve as the “plot” and the sequences we create will reflect the timeline. Add pieces to the puzzle!


1-Thursday, 7pm- New Science Building…a druggie demands that a chem major produces a certain hallucinagen/mind altering drug. Either in haste or out of spite, the chem major botches up the mixture producing the virus that creates zombies.

2-Friday Night, Druggie begins distributing his new batch of goods. People spend the weekend partying having a good time…

3-Wednesday of next week, a “flu” is going around campus.

4–Friday—many students have skipped class due to a “freakish flu”…first news report gets aired, “preparing people” on how to prevent sickness. ***Look at how diseases are reported on the air…scare tactics!!!***

5—Tuesday—A vast majority of the campus has been exposed to the virus, even professors have missed classes unnanounced. Two students go missing, another news report…

**perhaps there are talks of an STD epidemic…**

6—Wednesday—ZOMBIES are roaming campus! However, it has not been described as a zombie situation…no one knows what it is, and the news is capitalizing on the mystery of it… cell phone footage has been released to a major news station depicting odd student behavior and is aired frequently and repeatedly…referred to as the “African flu” perhaps? This brings up how the media likes to refer to African Americans in a negative manner…(Think back to Katrina…whites “found supplies while blacks were “looting”…remember Africanized bees? this story was aired years ago referring to killer bees that were suppsosed to attack the US from Mexico…why they were referred to as Africanized? Well that’s America for ya)

**students begin to record what they see on their webcams, camaras etc..not necessarily put on air but we can show it to the audience…

7—Thursday—Investigators have been sent in to campus…news affiliates suggest this may be an act of terrorism…HOW SAFE ARE OUR CHILDREN?!CAMPUS IS QUARENTEENED! Also, Britney Spears has done it again! Tonight at 11…

**throughout, we see students stop in Seegers to watch coverage on their own school…even though they go there and know what’s going on…there’s a need to watch TV!!! the number of people watching gradually becomes less and less…and then there is no one…

8—I’m gonna skip ahead to the end…News crews pick up equipment and leave, with a select few students pleading with the crew to stay and help…but, they have another story to cover.

I’ve numbered these so that you can add events in between if you like…the days don’t have to stay concrete, we can play with the spacing of events…

RUN WILD WITH IT!!

Hey guys,

since we just got back from break, I feel like we don’t necessarily need to meet this week….does anyone oppose this? Let me know, and we can meet!!

If no one opposses, let’s meet at 6pm in CA 149 or 155 next Tuesday…or by the vending machines haha, whatever is available.

This weeks challenge theme–CATS! run wild with it people.

Things to think about until next meeting—
-Quick ‘N Dirty projects
-Zombie scene ideas….we need to get movin’ people! Jot down any ideas you have. I’ll probably write up at least a detailed walk thru of one or two scenes tomorrow during my box office shift and post it in our facebook group..I can’t do this alone though, so pleassssse post away in our discussion board. Perhaps I’ll make Tuesday a deadline for anyone who agreed to do certain scenes in our writers meeting—a detailed walkthru is my minimum requirement. We just need to get stuff down in writing.

I went to the Student Council dinner to find out about what they are doing for clubs this year. They are offering a website a lot like blackboard, but we can handle funds on it as well as other things! It looks amazing. I’m going to find out more about their funding to new clubs also and I’ll let you know what happens.

Coppa and McEwan! Feel free to relay on any info you want the group to have since we probably won’t be meeting this week.

Happy filmmaking!!
Alana

Hey guys,

find me on facebook, friend me if you haven’t already, and then browse the clubs for Muhlenberg Film Association. I just made us a club on facebook so we can correspond about projects and zombie scene ideas.

Our plot session was pretty good. I’ll post what we came up with on the facebook group and you guys can comment and throw in suggestions!

Next meeting will be Tuesday around 6:15pm, possibly in CA 149?? we’ll see how that pans out. If it’s not open we’ll congragate by the vending machines again.

Let’s make shirts! We’ll take a vote next time for shirts that say either “We like to watch,” or “We do it on camara.” Love it.

i feel like I’m forgetting something…mmm MAKE A VILLAINRY FILM!!!

If there’s anything else I need to tell you I’ll send out another message. Happy scene writing!!

Alana