original footage

This is a still of our original footage which we came across in the trash from when we deleted it. This footage was not adequate due to the weather conditions (torrential rain and high wind) and the lack of experience, which we overcame by refilming up to 6 times to get the right weather conditions and footage that is usable

Evaluation

This course work task was to produce a two minute long film opening sequence with the focus on the theme of film noir, this production piece had to be an opening sequence to a film. In order to make this piece successful, we had to use certain conventions that fit the film noir genre; therefore we researched the convections of mainstream film noir films.

What we have used to make our film similar to features of film noir is the character roles, however in film noir the main character becomes entangled with the femme fatale character and is put in danger by her, we decided to switch the roles around and have the main character a female and she gets the guy in the end. We decided to have a role reversal to subvert the usual conventions but still have similar techniques to the film noir genre. Another factor which was similar to film noir was the type of music we used, throughout the sequence we had a score, the type of music we used was very old fashioned and wasn’t modern music this contributed to the older side of the film, like in film noir which is based in the 1940’s the music just adds that final touch to make it sound old fashioned. We decided to mirror film noir in the colour scheme we used, this was the black and white colour scheme, this is because typical film noir was low budget and in black and white, so imitating this again contributes to the film noir genre. Other films that used black and white for example Sin City, trying to emphasise the fact it’s suppose to be film noir. However in our film we decided to change the contrast to make it a little bit darker, this was to support the enigma created. To make our film more like film noir we added a letter box to our film, although at first it was just an experiment to see what it looked like, we decided to add it throughout as it made the screen smaller, showing less of the setting and of the characters which creates mystery if you can’t fully see them. Instead of using a voice over, which is what most film noir films have, we decided to continue with the score and to just add subtitles where there would be dialogue, “she wants to see you now” not only does the audience have no idea who the characters are talking about but the fact they cannot hear her voice contributes to the enigmatic feel and again isn’t giving to much about her character away. Also by not using a voice over it again challenges one of the conventions of film noir film as they typically had a voice over.

Our film doesn’t really represent any particular social groups however in the way the characters are dressed, to put them across as a certain type of person. In our sequence we have 2 main characters a female character carrying the note and the male character retrieving the note. The female character is dressed head to toe in black. But to show she is a woman, she is wearing tights with heels therefore the audience are aware that she is female also we see the back of her head to show she has long blonde hair, just to make sure the audience definitely know she is a woman. As the male character is also dressed in head to toe in black clothing, however to show he is a male, he is wearing black trousers with black shoes. The reason we decided to dress them both in black was so that the audience didn’t know anything about these characters, age, facial features or lifestyle, the only thing they were able to get from this film is what sex they are. This creates a lot of enigma, if the audience don’t know anything about the characters.

Due to our film being low budget and produced by amateurs, it is less likely to be shown on any of the big 4 TV companies, however if our film was produced professionally with a larger budget it would be more likely to be shown on film four or thriller movie channels, due how the film is made. As the style of our film is like a crime detective thriller and typically these are the types of films that would be shown on film four or thriller movie channels. The audience would most likely be those of who are interested in a crime murder mystery thriller so by using the convection of those films, though not the high budget ones such as ‘sin city’ we found that our film was appropriate for this audience. There is no specific age, sex or lifestyle that would sway more to this film as in sin city it attracted a more broad audience so with similar conventions to it our film could potentially do the same due it being a modern day film noir.

I have learnt about so many new techniques by creating this product. Such as a more advance knowledge in using Imovie for example different transitions, how to go through it frame by frame, how to add music and adjust different levels of the sound and how to change the colour itself and also Garage band, although we didn’t create our own music we did give it a shot and learnt different ways to create different sounds but just decided to research some older music and use that instead. But with Imovie we learnt how to cut the music and repeat specific parts to be in synch with the movie itself, also changing different parts of the film such as the colour scheme. So all this practice has given us a more advanced knowledge on using this type of software.

The actual framing of the film itself didn’t have a huge amount of different shots, we decided to stick to simple yet effective shots such as long takes of the long shots to establish the setting and with the positioning of the character in the centre slowly moving further away give the impression that time is precious and if not sorted out it will all disappear. The editing included was a lot of long takes so the editing wasn’t as sharp however when doing the match on action the editing was done very well and looked very smooth when watching the through, the reason we used match on action was to show a wider range of shots and techniques otherwise our production would be very boring throughout. With the use of fade out in the middle of our production at the end of the woman walking was used to show that time had passes and to make it all fit in otherwise it didn’t look right and with the music in synch with the movement the fade out comes in at the right time. Again with the fade out at the end it is used to show that time is passing by and to show it has come to a close.

We picked the pier to create the mystery with the decision of the railings and the barriers and the rusty metal gave it an old touch as we are unable to change anything around, the only thing we could control was when people walked by we had to stop to make sure there was no interference. When it comes to the lighting again there wasn’t much more we could do but accept the current weather decisions ad try and use them to our advantage. When filming it was slightly brighter than we expected but it was still cloudy so we continued filming and when editing we were able to change the brightness and contrast to make it duller to give it that sense of darkness and isolation. There wasn’t much we could control, but what we could we linked it with the uncontrollable such as the weather to make everything fit in, for example the dull day is linked with the costume as it means we had to wear a coat as it was cold and dull.

Since doing our preliminary task we have learnt a lot on creating video footage. We have learnt to control and take advantages of different factors, such as setting we decided to go outside and take a risk on the weather even though it worked in our favour. I have definitely learnt new camera skills, such as repeating each part several times so that we get the best choice and have lots of options when editing and also in case some of it goes wrong. I learnt that a tripod is definitely necessary no matter what; this will benefit our film, as our shots will be much smoother and not so amateur like. I have learnt that a lot more time needs to be spent on editing, as our preliminary task was only short it didn’t require much editing, however this piece on the other hand, needed much more work done on it and took up a lot of our time. So by doing the preliminary task it has given us an insight as to what to expect when doing this piece of coursework and has definitely benefited us, as our coursework wouldn’t be half of what it is now as we would have been unaware what to expect so the preliminary task was a stepping stone on what to do next.

meeting number 5

We decided to change the end of our production as it wasn't the same standard as our beginning so it was best that we changed it, so we took out a camera and came up with a new ending. So on thursday night we filmed a lady at her house with a glass of wine and a cigarette waiting for someone to turn up, then a knock on the door goes and then thats the end, we decided to do this as it makes her much more seductive and in control. so it all worked out for the best then.

meeting number 4

Again we have faced yet another problem, our movie is taken longer than expected to transfer over to the hard drive which means that we will have less time to edit it. which is the last thing we need right now. so we have to wait till its loaded before we can edit, so we just have to sit and wait as there is nothing we can do about it

meeting 2

we have finally finished gathering our footage and beginning to edit it, we have faced a problem as it is taking a long time to copy into the local drive therefore making us unable to access it, we have around 18 days left to finish our evaluation and editing.

meeting number 2

changing it, we decided to change our idea this is because we were unable to achieve our first idea. so we sat down and decided to come up with a new idea. Our new idea developed when our original idea fell through because of the weather. The setting of our new idea and now takes place on the pier instead of the white bridge by the harbour. Therefore we get a better view of the surrounding and can make most of the weather by having it towards our advantage rather than trying to work against it, as this is something that can't be controlled, so we might as well try to include it to our opening adding to the atmosphere.

continuity task

shot lists. Props and settings

-crabbing shot of mans feet walking to have credits comeing up

-tilt shot from mans feet to his head

-zoom out of mans head down

-medium shot of man one puff

-long point of view shot, in the eyes of the man watching a mysterious lady walking towards him on the pier

-medium close up of womens feet along the pier towards the man

-medium close up of mans feet along the pier towards the lady

-continuing several times

-static two shot of feet stopping parallel to eachother

-tilt up to woman passing the man a note stopping for a second and continuing to walk in opposite directions

NEW SHOT LIST

Panning and tracking shots, to make it seem as though the viewer is following the charecters, this creates enigma.

Static shots of the man and women walking, we have used these in areas such as when the women walks past the camera, to make it seem more pace full and also using static longs shots of the man and women walking into the distances.

Long shots of man standing still, also used to get a better view of the scenery behind the pier setting.

Close up two shot of the man and women passing the note, as the is a main factor withion the opening sequence.

Match on action shots. to show different angles and to give diversity.

Close ups to show detail and to emphasise the main focus

PROPS

Letter
Coat
Trilby
Heels
Mans suit

All props were black to create enigma bar the note, the note which was white this was to make the note stand out in the shot and to make the main focus on it

SETTING
There is only one setting used originally we decided to do it on the beach near the bridge but to find it was too busy with cars constantly driving by, which makes it less mysterious, so by doing our filming on the pier it meant that we could stop filming when people walked by to ensure no people where in our film, also with no modern technology with up-to date cars, it emphasises the film noir genre as film noir was an old fashioned genre.

Our first attempt at filming

We did our first attempt at filming to try out our ideas and to see what they would look like, also to show that we have got some footage and are able to edit somthing as it may come in handy later on. We faced a few problems as per usual as the weather wasn't in our favour and we didn't plan to film it in the rain. Therefore this made our original idea not possible to do, meaning we had to come up with a whole new idea on the spot and improvise as we went along. The pouring rain meant we were unable to use a tripod as this would have resulted in the camera getting wet, which was not an option. So this nfootage has showed that no matter what we need a tripod as it isn't good enough. Now when we go to film we will have to choose between our 2 idea's all depending on what the weather is like. On the weekend if it is raining again rather heavily then we will stick to the idea we have just filmed as that is able to be done in the rain, however if its just cold and not raining then we will do our original idea on the bridge which would make it possible to do, as like iv said its not possible to do in the rain, so the weather is deciding our fate. But both are very similar in the type of film opening it is, therefore changing it but not to drastically

original storyboard

meeting number 1

Our first meeting that we had was discussing what we are going to do and trying to compromise how and when we will achieve our filming with all the people that we will need at that time, so we were trying to figure out the time. We have both agreed to meet after school on thursday, meeting on sunday and willing to stay behind school friday, monday and tuesday to catch up with all our editing, this is due to the fact that have been faced with a problem that we weren't able to loan a camera as the media teacher wasn't in and exams have been going on. So all together we have been lagging behind a bit and willing to catch up.

planning

We have decided to film around the time of 6 o clock in the evening. As it is January time this enables us to get the setting of dusk. As we are filming on Torquay harbour side, near a main road, this could create a few issues for us, such as the traffic, though our film noir proposal is set in the present day in which cars are a fluent thing, we still need to consider sound editing ect.

research film noir

Film Noir.

The years immediately following the end of World War Two marked the start of a crucial phase in the creation, definition and popularising of both literary and cinematic noir.
Both literary and cinematic noir can be seen as closely related to the modernist crisis of culture – as reflecting the feelings of nightmarish alienation, disorientation and disintegration that are often taken as hallmarks of the modernist sensibility.
Discussions of noir often centre on visual and specifically cinematic elements – on things like low-key lighting, chiaroscuro effects, deep focus photography, extreme camera angles and expressionist distortion. But it is essential as well to take account of themes, mood, characterisation, point of view and narrative pattern.
The representation of the protagonist's subjectivity is crucial - his perceptions (both accurate and deluded), his state of mind, his desires, obsessions and anxieties. The need for attending to the handling of perspective in film noir is concisely summed up in Fritz Lang's explanation of his subjective camera work: 'You show the protagonist so that the audience can put themselves under the skin of the man'; by showing things 'wherever possible, from the viewpoint of the protagonist' the film gives the audience visual and psychological access to his nightmarish experiences.

We are brought close to the mind of a protagonist whose position vis a vis other characters is not fixed. Treacherous confusions of his role and the movement of the protagonist from one role to another constitute key structural elements in noir narrative. The victim might, for example, become the aggressor; the hunter might turn into the hunted or vice versa; the investigator might double as either the victim or the perpetrator. Whereas the traditional mystery story, with its stable triangle of detective, victim and murderer, is reasonably certain to have the detective as the protagonist, noir is a deliberate violation of this convention.

Shared guilt is often the only common bond amongst noir characters, who are usually doomed to be isolated . The main themes are generalisations of the ill-fated relationship between the protagonist and his society. Characters suffer either from failures of agency (powerlessness, immobilising uncertainty) or from loss of community (isolation, betrayal). Obsessed, alienated, vulnerable, pursued or paranoid, they suffer despair as they act out narratives that raise the question of whether they are making their own choices or following a course dictated by fate.

first ideas

Props: Grey coat, Torches, lamppost, Trilby, cigars.

Setting: Dark alley/street/road/ Office: Find a place within the school premises. Setting, torquay harbour bridge.

Music: Sinister trumpet music.

Opening: We need titles. Storyboard and camera shots.

Tilt up shot of a man smoking a cigar, lent against a lamppost, this man is talking on a voiceover talking about how it was the beginning of the end.

Camera shot of a pair of heels walking, and then another one of a man walking, both of these characters are walking toward each other. The man says ‘ You got what I’m looking for?’

Close up of a note being passed from the woman to the man, you do not see the faces. This takes place at night. Fade out.

Woman in a chair spinning round in a long grey coat and beneath the coat she is wearing long slinky dress, to show her femme fetale characteristics.

A different man who she was meeting comes in the office, which has all the original film Noir elements in it; venation blinds? Possible Smokey atmosphere.

Another shot of a man walking toward the women, a man passes the gun to a different woman and this time you can see the face. The man says ‘Pleasure doing business with you’ Screen goes blank, and opening titles comes up along with quite jazzy music.

This is the first initial plan and ideas it is not fixed.