Synopsis:

A more realistic and better version of George A. Romero’s Diary of the Dead, brought to you by steFANedit.

Intentions:

Anyone that has edited anything knows that it takes time. Scoring something takes even longer, especially if you’re not going to make it look sloppy. And that is one of many problems I have with George A. Romero’s Diary of the Dead: it is just too polished. There is no way that the film students would have had the time to edit the footage the way they did if a Zombie outbreak was happening. They used horror movie score, flashbacks in slow-mo, voice-over and news footage. I think Romero only used the subjective camera shooting style to get his social commentary across. So I tried to make a version that was more realistic in a make-believe sort of way. I also wanted to make a better version of the film.

Change List:

Cut list: CUT: all voice-overs CUT: all footage not shot by the film students (excluding surveillance footage at Ridley’s house) CUT: all score CUT: all bluescreens and stuff like that CUT: all flashbacks, slow-mo INSERTED: some parts of the deleted scenes have been inserted throughout the movie INSERTED: text explaining things have been inserted throughout the movie CHANGED: cropped picture to get rid of all the dates and “low battery”-symbol CUT: the moment that has Deborah’s voice-over during the shooting of the mummy movie CUT: the “stealing stuff”-guy CUT: the moment that has voice-over when we are in Deborah’s room CUT: some dialog and footage in the van. Like Mary telling who she is, Deborah giving in to Jason and telling who she is, Tracy with her phone, some of what the professor says and some of the news on TV. CHANGED: the scenes in the van has been rearranged CUT: some dialog and footage when the burned zombie cop arrive CUT: Mary running over zombies and then later shooting herself CUT: some dialog at the hospital CUT: the whole sequence with the Amish guy and fixing the van up in the barn CUT: surveillance footage when van enters warehouse CUT: the re-cut news footage on TV starring George A. Romero CUT: Deborah getting a text-message from her little brother CUT: lip-gloss CUT: the black leader guy looking at a third camera CUT: the white guy handing out weapons CUT: “I think you’re a lot like me” CUT: the Japanese chick that says stuff like “Tokyo very bad Tokyo” CUT: Tony asking Deborah if he can stick around and everybody else saying things like, “I got to pee again,” “maybe your brother has a playstation” and “maybe your father has a bar” CUT: some dialog in the garage CUT: Deborah: that’s sad Professor: Not at all…I’m a wandering spirit CUT: talk about how the professor wanders to where there is a bottle. CUT: some dialog before the military arrive CUT: “turn it the fuck off…now!” CUT: Jason watching on his laptop how some cops entering an apartment building and kills zombies CUT: all the sound when we see the security cameras POV CUT: Ridley in the kitchen acting weird (he isn’t acting weird, his acting bad) INSERTED: Deborah telling Ridley that they should go see Franchine (she now says it off camera over another piece of footage because the kitchen scene is cut) CUT: Jason shaking the camera around and looking for Tracy CUT: “don’t mess with Texas” CUT: Jason running into Zombie Ridley CUT: “Michael the archangel” CUT: Deborah filming inside the panic room and zooming in on one of the monitors. CUT: zombies approaching CUT: credits.

Additional Notes:

Now the editing is more amateurish with no slow-mo philosophical flashbacks, news footage and score. Now it’s a little more realistic. And with that goes the 5.1 sound, scene selection and what not. This is “movie only” with the simplest cover art known to man. Imagine if you where to buy a copy of a snuff film from someone on the street. What would that cover look like? I tried to create the feeling that these kind of movies should have: the feeling that the footage might be authentic. And that to me is all part of the fun.

Special Thanks:

Captain Khajiit - for helping me turn PAL into NTSC Zagadka - for helping me with the viral marketing.