Mood Board

Tread lightly, watch every step.

Was that sound your friend or a threat?

A warm bed, a mouthwatering aroma.

Your cozy home has become a deadly dome.

No time for tears, seal your fond memories with a wrap.

What was once a refuge from outside is now a taunting mouse trap.

You hunt, you stumble, for the delectable cheese, your fingers tremble from the creak of the stairs.

Hurriedly you pack your needs.

First aid, water, and unexpired meals.

As your own heart pounds into your ears, you freeze at the raspy growls echoing near.

The overall atmosphere I get from the genre I chose - apocalyptic - and the mood board I made is learning to trust, nostalgia, paranoia, and survival. A well-known theme in all zombie apocalypses is the fact that diseases spread either airborne or through some form of touch.

Home, whether it be a small-town suburbia or a fast-paced city, has become a rather dangerous place. Even though being out in the open where there's a place to run is a better option, a toppled over modern civilization still has the resources needed for survival and going back is necessary.

Surviving in a group is a must as everyone has different skills to contribute and the more people, the better chance of survival, emotional support, and the rebuilding of a stable society – a new home.

For the technical practices, the mise en scène, the location would take place in dark, misty woods with tall and thick vegetation that gives the sense that the survivors will only adapt to areas that give them good coverage in open areas if there are no trees to flee to. They would also be near a lake since water is a vital resource. For scenes where they go into the ghost buildings so they could scavenge for resources like first aid and medicine. A good place to transition the eerie mood of how the world was once a normal place, would be to rent out abandoned warehouses and houses.

The sets could include a makeshift camping area or a hurriedly built fort in the location.

The props would be unorganized items such as hatchets, hanging clothes, bows and arrows, spears, knives, cooking pans, fireplaces, beds, canteens, gas masks, torches, flashlights, water filters, plastic containers, long-range walkie talkies, utensils, and tents. For abandoned buildings, props would include toppled papers, misplaced furniture and scrambled notes of loved ones leaving messages of where to find them.

Actors for the film or show would probably need to have more stern resting faces and be well equipped to deal with the emotional gravity of playing paranoid and traumatized characters whose only motives are to survive and protect those who are in the community with them since people would share a bond with such high stakes. Other roles than that would include mysterious and rather suspicious characters whose motives are rather the same but give off a sense of villainy since they are stealing from the main survivors further highlighting how expensive the costs of slacking your guard mentally and physically are. Another set of actors would include the zombies and they have more complacent jobs as they just have to make raspy noises and walk weirdly as well as attack humans.

The costumes would have to be complete with dark grays, greens, and black backpacks, satchels, utility belts, shirts, jackets, sweaters, and pants. The boots would be brown since they are some of the most common colors to run into. The outfits would have to be worn or in almost need of replacement to emphasize the time gap between the apocalypse and modernity. The makeup is also an important factor in costuming but in this genre, it would most likely be natural unless it comes to the zombies who will have a more haunting appearance.

The lighting is a rather difficult task because the overall theme of survival and constant threat would require a darker glare, but another factor would be to point out the beauty of a community coming together. The brighter transitions would happen during heartfelt scenes, flashbacks to the past, and grandiose shots of flowing lakes, trees lightly shaking in the breeze, and a sunrise or sunset to celebrate the survival of another day.

Although the colors would consist of darker shades, like brown, green, gray, black, and brown, there will also be hints of blue for water, more vibrant colors in scenes where there are flower beds and celebrations, and colors to adhere with the consistent personalities of the main characters. For example, a younger girl might wear a dulled down green normally because it symbolizes their youth, but the shade is a good asset to hide. The girl might also wear pink on occasion as she's a happier character due to her persevering hopefulness and it might be something that bites the characters later because over joyous nature could be taken advantage of and lead to her downfall.

The zombie apocalypse mood board interests me because it involves people who learn to trust each other as a way to survive before completely bonding, their threat runs on pure instinct and takes the form of human beings, they can even resemble or be loved ones that they were hoping to find, it revolves around the mental capabilities of characters getting themselves out of tricky situations and running out of supplies, unspoken tension between strangers who could be infected, have an underlying motive, or just looking for help, and there's a limited amount of colors that can be used to express the characters unique personality which gives way for more detailed writing and character development. An apocalypse theme also creates an atmosphere of appreciating the value of a peaceful life now and the involvement of loved ones in our lives.