dead end
A DEAD WORLD
Dead End takes place one year after a global infecton has spread across the globe bringing the recent dead back to life. The story follows a small group of six survivors; a mixture of types that have joined together in order to survive. Their ultimate goal is to find somewhere secure that they can call home, but instead find themselves moving from place to place, always eventually moved on by the threat of the undead that now populate the streets.
The group have rules to survive by. These rules have kept them alive thus far. They avoid major cities. Staying instead to the small towns. They avoid the use of vehicles - noise attracts the undead. They never work alone, usually a group of two or three will go looking for food, or shopping as they call it. One an infected shows up, it's usually time to move on. One always leads to another. Despite these rules, there used to be eight of them.
Upon arriving at one location, a desolate house hidden away from main roads, one of the group discovers a video camera that has been left with a message by the previous owners. Steve decides to document how his and his companions lives have changed. He wants to show how they live now, what dangers they face and how they survive. For some this seems a pointless exercise, but for Steve it is a chance to be remembered for he fears that soon the fate that has reached so many, will soon be there's also. Maybe this way, someone, somewhere will know they existed.
The infected (the term used by the group) themselves carry different threats to the group, for they are not all alike. There are three types, three levels of infection. No reason was given in the early days as to why this was the case; why one would come back as level one or level two, but it was that difference in levels that changed everything. Had the living dead been slow or even like wild animals, then maybe this could've been contained. But it was the level three that changed all that. Now it's too late to go back anyway. The infection is in everyone - whether you die from a bite or die from natural causes, you come back. Bites just speed things up.
Attempts to prevent the spread of the infection were made, but all failed. Nioxotrin, a drug from the company Zenner Milts, was thought to be able to slow down the time from bite to death, but this still didn't prevent the world from becoming infested with rotting corpses. One tactic used was to house all non-infected into large industrial units. These units, or evacuation sites, were staffed with medical and army personel, along with food and supplies to keep many thousands safe for a few months. The thought being that eventually the situation would be contained. However, this was before anyone knew the infection was airbourne. Once this knowledge came out, the evac sites were sealed and those inside left to fend for themselves. These "tombs" still have supplies of Nioxotrin but the dangers of getting inside far outweigh the need for medicine.
So the story begins as our small group of survivors reach their latest location. Maybe this one will be different. Maybe here they will be safe. Maybe.
IN THE BEGINNING
Original planned as a two person short, Dead End was first created back in early 2010. Over the course of a few months, it quickly increased to four people with a much longer running time. The original concept never changed though, it was still a character based drama. The focus is on the human elements with the zombie nightmare in the background. Come May 2010 the first draft was complete and it was decided to "test the water" by advertising on Star Now to see if the required eight cast members could be found.
Within 1 month, over four thousand people had shown interest in the project, some as far a field as the US, despite the fact it was advertised as a "low to no budget" independent film. By the end of the two month advertisement, 1000 people had applied for the available 8 main parts in the film, with others expressing interest to be "zombies". The final month was taken up with requesting short "audition" videos based around the zombie apocalypse universe and asking the basic question "what do you miss?". Once all the videos were in place, the job of finding the best and most available began. By early July 2010, the original cast was decided. First day of shooting was July 31st 2010.
Sadly, problems arose with some of the original chosen cast and changes had to be made early on, but these turned out to be for the best. A theme that seemed to continue throughout production, as with every let down (whether it be human or location) there was always something better to replace it with. Eventually the first few scenes started to come through and the theme of the film started to take shape. However, as with most low budget independent films, it's impossible to have full control over everything, so after a busy summer, production began to slow down. The cast stayed in contact and production recommenced in 2011, albeit at a slower pace due to location and financial difficulties. The line "whatever can go wrong, will go wrong" is something every film maker should remember.
Come the end of summer of 2012, the final few scenes were "in the can" and all that was left was to bring everything together. In the end, over 30 hours of footage had been collected. Of this, an early 2 hour film was cut. Having been shot in full 1080 HD, the film was reduced in size and bit rate multiple times to achieve a weathered look and the final version was shortened to 1 hour 55 minutes for the first screening for cast and crew in July 2013 at Hyde Park Picture House in Leeds. The final released cut is 105 minutes long.
The film was made throughout Yorkshire, ranging from Leeds and Bradford, up to Thirsk and across to Doncaster. Many people offered their time and locations for free, with the overall production cost coming in under £1500 all financed by the director himself. The final crew count is only a handful of people with even some of the cast assisting with extra dialogue and casting choices.
Hopefully viewers will see that Dead End delivers something new into the zombie genre. It is not so much a horror film or a zombie film, but a drama based within that zombie horror world, with some subtle nods towards some of the classic zombie films, especially the original Dawn of the Dead. For all involved, from the main cast to the production, the making of Dead End was a huge learning experience and despite the problems, the ups and downs, the final film is one everyone involved was happy to be a part of.
THAT'S A WRAP
Dead End was always planned to be a documentary style film; shot in first person view point and made to look and sound as natural as possible. For this reason, a lot of camera work was done by Paul Bloomfield as he played the character of Steve. Certain shots, such as effects shots, were planned and set up as needed but for the most part, the camera was in the hands of the characters as it was supposed to be. Hopefully this makes the film seem more realistic and believeble despite being set in an un-believable world.
Sound also played it's part with very little done to block out background noises or even increase sound that was missed. Sound effects were obviously employed for numerous effects shots and ambient noise. In regards the effects shots, all were done in real time. Only one post production effect was used. The "kills" were planned and filmed in one take using clever angles and timing rather than any CGI. All these elements were part of the plan to keep Dead End looking just like the story says - someone picks up a camera and starts filming his fellow survivors.
There was never a target budget for Dead End although it was written with the knowledge that it wouldn't have support from any finance company or film studio. When all was added up, the total production came in at under £1500, with most of that going on props, insurance and travel.
Always planned for an online or DVD release, the production was still shown to the cast and crew at Hyde Park Picture House in Leeds, UK. Despite the very amatuer look, the film came across extremely well on the big screen and even caused a few of the viewers to jump - which is odd when considering they were in the scenes.
The plan going forward is for an online release and hopefully a DVD version which would contain the usual extras including the now infamous (between the cast) outtake moments known as Rear End. Also a story set in the same universe is planned for the near future.