Coursework Evaluation

1. In what ways does you media product use, develop or challenge for and conventions of real media products.
Our opening follows the trades and conventions of film noir, for cinematography we used some shots such as the Dutch tilt which is a shot that film noir is known for, we used to show the femme fatale walking away from the protagonist after causing some damage.
We didn’t really use many high or low angles shots which would have helped we portray the authority of our femme fatal compared to that of you protagonist.
For mise-en-scene, our location was the Orwell Bridge on a gloomy day, this contrasts film noir as it is usually based in urban areas and mostly at night.
Our characters were the typical film noir characters such as the femme fatale and the protagonist, a moan bored of his life and in need of money. After he is contacted by Olivia, the femme fatale, she proposes they play a game together, which then turn into more than that when she is found to have been killing guys with her game as a method of luring them into her company, she also wears the high heels and the red lipstick. This is also a typical film noir narrative as the two characters meet, get involved in something bad that come to an end where usually one of them dies.




As for sound we used both diegetic and non-diegetic sound. We used dialogue which was a short conversation between the two characters. We also used voice-overs, like film noir, which helped us portray Spencer’s thought processes as the story goes on, it helps answer any questions that the audience may have. This also adds more mystery to Olivia as we don’t know what goes through her mind.
The music that we used was suitable for the our neo-noir as it fit what was happening onscreen, Our choice of music does challenge that of film noir as it is more upbeat, contrary to piano and jazz music that is usually in classic film noir.
The editing used is non-linear like in a number of film noirs such as Sunset Boulevard when the movie open with a dead body in a pool and ends with the same scene after showing what lead to the death.




We used an editing technique that challenged film noir by making our femme fatale look ghostly in one of the shots as the put her pink letter in Spencer’s bag without him noticing.
Overall our film noir does maintain the classic noir ideology which is that the world isn’t as bright and colorful as we may think it is, there is a dark side and starts somewhere, sometimes with even an innocent character such as Spencer.



2. How does you media product represent particular social groups?
Our Film noir is more suitable for young people, it also has a strong female character, who isn’t diminished thought the film as seen in a large number of other movies. She is completely in control of both Spencer and the situation as she can lead him into the palm of her hand just with a pink letter; there isn’t a lot of verbal communication from her, that helps portray her strength. It shows the audience that the woman doesn’t always need to be half naked to be the strong one, it shows that the man isn’t always in power also.
Moreover if going with common stereotype our characters are young and troublesome, like most other people. By acting in ways out of the boundaries of law and social norm.
The main idea of our film noir was that there is a more dark gloomy side to the lives of young people, and that bad things can happen to the most innocent of people and if Spencer knew how things would have turned out he probably wouldn’t have made some of the choices he does. It would be appealing to teenagers and maybe feminists.



3. What kind of media institution might distribute you media product and why?
The Metrodome Distribution would have been good to distribute our film, it is a more serious movie and it is a local production and it is quite British and that is symbolized with the our chosen locations which was the bridge and the fields around it, and isn’t a high budget movie, but it does have the potential as it is an interesting story, and the audience could connect with our characters in some level. Metrodome have also distributes Shifty (2008) which is a fairly local movie, which was also made by new producers. Although our film would probably get less people watching it at the cinema as they usually choose to go watch the big Hollywood movies in the cinema as they attract the audience with big Hollywood stars and big names and bigger budgets, because they audience know that they will probably get their money worth’s of a cinema experience when they have seen other similar movies, this puts our film noir at a disadvantage because it is a small production with unknown people, however our audience would probably watch it on DVD or, if distributed by BBC on television where people don’t have to pay for, this may encourage them to watch it, to find out what it is about.



4. Who would be the audience for your media product?
The typical audience for our film noir would probably be and younger audience for about 15 to 25 as this is a bleak film noir which wouldn’t necessarily be suitable for an audience much older than that as the characters are around that age, it has some romance in it also, which would be more appealing to a female audience . Our audience would be mainly working class as they go to cinema more often, probably both male and female, and people of any ethnicity and sexuality. If analyzed by the British Board of Film Classification our film noir would probably be classified as a 15 because of the nature of the narrative and maybe the nature of the language the characters may use. Making in it a 15 would make it available to a wider audience, as opposed to an 18.



5. How did you Attract/address your audience?
We targeted our audience by using a weird narrative, it is a bit different from the type of thing out there. The idea behind it was to show the not-so-pretty side of things and making in film noir while keeping the film modern.
The editing was discontinuous which as we played with the timeline, to again add mystery to the narrative, make the audience want to know more, the music also helped us almost make the audience uncomfortable, which film noir does often for example in Sunset Boulevard (1950). The pace was very quick, as was the music, and there were a number of different shots that we used to portray what was happening and their expressions.



The locations were the College and the Orwell Bridge, these are two places our audiences know, and can relate to also because it is set in a college.
We used the film noir ideology of the ‘ugly world’ which again some of the audience may relate to. We also used enigmas which would keep the audience constantly wanting to know more.



6. What have you learn about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
For research on the definition of film noir and pictures I used mainly Google and Wikipedia, as they are what I usually use for any research. I watched a few clips of film noir on YouTube, so that I knew exactly what it was all about. I posted my finding and work on my blog which is was on Blogger. We edited suing Final Cut pro and compressed our files, the played them using QuickTime.
We used the following equipment:
Canon Hv20 Dv Camcorder, Yoga Shotgun Mic, Boom pole, IPod earphones, Velbon Dv



7. Looking back at you preliminary task, what do you feel you have learn in the progression form it to the full product?
Our preliminary exercise was relatively weak as we didn’t pay much attention to some of basics of film production. Our main problem was with cinematography, we filmed without putting on handles which made editing very difficult, we also broke the 360° rule which again made editing harder and we were unable to use shot-reverse-shot for the conversation. Although we still had some problems such as the microphone being on shot, we got round that by using another shot..
According to our audience they wanted know what was going to happen next, they liked our locations, and the shot where the music is turned off. And felt like it was “Agricultural Noir” as it challenged the urban setting of Film Noir and brings new meaning to it such as the dark areas are not just in the cities anymore.
They however felt that the dialogue could have been better written and voice-over could have been improved and better synchronized. The audience overall felt that our product suited the codes and conventions of film noir in terms of style, narrative and characters.
From the exercise I picked up organizational skills and planning skills can be used in other subjects.

Dead Letter Drop

This is the final product that we came up with after analysing media products and Film Noirs.

Although this video was uploaded with a glitch 1:40 minutes into the clip, and we were unable to remove it.

Audience Feedback

Our group decisions varied throughout our final film. The research that I carried out was mainly on understood whether film noir was recognised through a varied aged and sex groups and bringing forward a small synopsis on what is meant to happen. This helped to enable any changes that could be made to the production and whether this would be a popular film to be seen.
There were also problems throughout the months with our group in the fact that 2 of the 4 decided to drop out of A levels all together. This meant that roles needed to be changed and balanced out. This was done by balancing out the roles between myself and Josh. As Joshstill had editing to finish (this will later be explained why) I accepted to research title faces on the Apple Mac’s and then we could decide on which one suited the film as well as which one that I thought would be similar to previous bold title faces seen in noirs and contemporary noirs such as la confidential and the big sleep.
Decisions varied throughout the shooting stages due to sometimes shooting would become difficult as the location was too busy or the lighting was to dark.
One main problem that caused trouble was due to the lack of planning with the first scene that we tried to film. It failed not only because of the corridor being extremely busy but also that narrowness of it. Mise-en-scene hadn’t been looked into far enough so we were left with the problem in having to rethink a whole scene which was vital in explaining the stories events that were to unfold. This problem was overcome by a decision between our small group to film at the meeting area of college which was spacious and able to include some great non-digetic sound.
The decisions made through editing and problems that were met were as follows. Also, later on during editing it was noticeable that our cinematographer, who dropped out, may not have been all that interested due to the fact that we had a microphone popping into view through a countless amount of shots. This was a problem which couldn’t be altered without ruining the visuals of the scene which was slightly upsetting. Other altercations which needed to be added were the transference from the previous work ‘the exchange’ to the new addition to the filming. Our editing was late to start due to the filming which hadn’t been fully completed. This caused a dramatic set back to the final piece as some areas needed to be rushed to make sure that the story was understandable by the help of a voice over (voice of the dead protagonist) which needed to be added to explain why the flashback was occurring.

Copyrighted Music.

The song we used in our film opening is Hearing Damage by Thom Yorke. We chose to use this song because we felt that it was very suitable for our piece and it created the right mood.

The film me produced isn't for distribution or broadcasting purposes, but if it was, however using the music would have been infringing copyright if permission in not obtained.

To gain copyright permission I would have gone to the Performing Rights Society, from which I could request permission from whichever party owns the music, I would also have to give details on how and why the music would have been used.

Who did what

For our film production each person in the group had a different role. Justine Wright was the art director, Joshua Featherstone was the editor, Amy Banthorpe was the cinematographer and I was the producers.
After deciding on what our opening was going to be like, each person in the group did their own bit of work so that it would then come together as one.
After the filming of our piece, Amy Banthorpe left college, only when editing we realised that some of the shots really weren't working so the when out to reshoot some of them, I was then the cinematographer.
After that Justine Wright also left college, leaving me and Josh with the editing, and paperwork such as the treatment.
As to members of our group left, the work load increased and me and Josh had to for example go out and reshoot some some bits that were missing like the part in which Josh lies on the floor drifting in and out of consciousness.

Film Noir Dialogue

Screenplay

INT. SPENCER’S CAR

SPENCERS’s car is parked by the bridge on the photograph, he waits in the car while looking around, wondering why he is there. Olivia then, from out of nowhere enters the car and turns of the radio.

OLIVIA

(with a posh accent, sitting in the passenger’s seat)

Hi, I’m Olivia. I see you got my letter.

Would you like to play a game?

SPENCER

(Looking at Olivia shocked)
What do you mean, a game?

Seriously, is this some sort of joke?

OLIVIA

(Not making any eye contact)

No. Not at all.

This is nothing more than just an exhilarating pastime.

You will get a lot of money if you win the game.

SPENCER

What have I got to lose. I’ll pay

Who would pay me if I won?

OLIVIA

Let’s just say, I’m a very generous person.

However, if you were to lose, the consequences would be great.

SPENCER

What kind of game is this?

OLIVIA

It is a treasure hunt.

SPENCER

Ok, what am I looking for.

OLIVIA

(Now looking at him before leaving the car and walking away)

You will know when you find it.

OLIVIA gives SPENCER another pink envelope and exits the car.

Film Noir Treatment

Treatment

Cinematography

We decided to use a wide range of shots that will add to the film noir effect,

We used a long panning shot of the bridge because it not only shows the location but it can also be used as an establishing shot as show the beautiful scenery. This shot was quite lengthy, in contrary to our second panning shot, of the atrium which was a point of view shot of our male character, the speed represented the fact that he was looking for someone, but most people in the shot weren’t important.

In the car, while the characters were talking we filmed the conversation from either side and from the back. This was so that when editing we could use the shot-reverse-shot technique for the conversation. This was a medium shot. This helps show facial expressions of both characters, which is quite important.

We also had an extreme close up of the radio when Olivia enters the car and turns off the music, the close up was so that the audience could see the action, which was quite empowering for her.

We filmed a shot of Spencer in the atrium in which he was sitting down and Olivia was standing in the background by the wall, she then walks up to him, puts and envelope in his back and walks away. For this shot we kept Olivia to walk as far away from Spencer as possible within shot so that when it came to editing we could give in a ghostly effect, which added to the mystery.

In the car we also shot the conversation scene from the back, we positioned the camera in the boot of the car. This gave us another angle on the conversation that could be used later on.

Editing.

The editing techniques used for our final piece will try to make the film noir filming a continuous flow to make the viewer feel like they are there in first person viewing the action taking place.

The beginning shots are taken from our 1^st piece, The exchange. What we are trying to go for here is a flashback scenario. Showing the viewer what is going to happen and then relaying back to how this situation happened.

Black and white is used for the beginning to make the viewer aware which is the flashback and which isn’t. This stylistic has also been used to refer back to the old noir stylistics.

Our opening scene of the flashback shows Spencer, our male protagonist, sitting alone unaware that the femme fatale is behind him lying in wait.

When she approaches him to place an envelope into his bag a use of jump cuts are used to speed up her movement towards Spencer. In doing so it also develops an eerie perception to be made….Is she real?

The sound within this scene is either digetic or non-digetic. At the moment the decision hasn’t been made on whether which one will fit.

The shot of Spencer opening the envelope fades out and the next shot fades in to show that time has passed between shots. That scene also show the unveiling of the Orwell bridge and the next shot to follow will be its graphic match of the Orwell bridge….hopefully.

In general the transitions between shots will be to link the sequences being shown. The use of Cuts which will be used to change locations/ scenes within the film. The next shot will be of the Orwell bridge and a panning shot towards our male character. This shot also allows the graphic match but also starts an opening to the scene and the meeting between Spencer and the femme fatale.

Motivated cuts will also be used, like those scene in the beginning with Spencer sitting, to try and keep the viewer constantly anticipating the next shot….hopefully!

Sound

The sound on our film noir is dialogue, atmosphere voice over’s and music.

The dialogue is quite simple and relatively short as most of the film is mysterious.

In the dialogue, Olivia the femme fatale asks Spencer to play the treasure hunt game. It is quite posh dialect as Olivia is ideally, a posh, rich character. Although she keeps he sentences short and mysterious, and never gives away too much information.

The music is copy-right free; it will be used at the start to see the mysterious, film-noir mood. The music we chose effectively portrays the mood of our movie as it is sort of dark and gloomy. The music will be something that also matches the actions and fits in with what it is seen on screen.

The voice over’s will help us put across what our main characters feels about the mystery and the treasure hunt.

Mise-en-scene

We used the Orwell Bridge as a background and the fields because they tied in well with the gloomy day, which added to the dark film noir effect as he filmed the characters in the car. We also used the atrium in the college as another location in which Spencer gets the first letter from Olivia, because the atrium is a room full of people and Spencer was sat there alone which helps us portray how alone he is.

As for costumes, we dressed Spencer in fairly casual wear, as he is a teenager, but we tried to dress Olivia in more formal clothing with the skirt and a blazer which we wore underneath her coat.

We only had one main prop which was the pink letter with the picture inside the Olivia always used to communicate and lure Spencer around.

Film Noir Synopsis

Spencer Valentine is an eighteen year old guy with a burning desire for some excitement in his life. He picks up a pink envelope that falls out of his coat pocket, he notices his name on it.

The country is shaken by the mysterious deaths of male teenagers in the region, this is the main topic of conversation, even in the lessons, but to Spencer, this is no more than atmosphere sound.

He opens the pink envelope and takes out a picture of a bridge, on the back there was “February 1^st 2010 at 12 pm. Don’t be late.” written on neatly.

Curious, two days later, Spencer goes to the nearby bridge on the photograph. He meets Olivia, who invites him to play a game with her, giving him another pink envelope and raising more questions than answers, claiming that money will be given to the winner of her treasure hunt game.

Spencer is not so willing to believe that this was anything more than a joke, but he opens the envelope that was given to him. With the second envelope he gets a set of photographs, which together lead him to the next location through clues.

The clues lead him to different locations under a time limit.

He then comes to meet another young man playing the same mysterious game named Eddie, but soon thereafter Eddie is found dead, the reasons for his death are unknown.

Spencer finds himself drawn to Olivia when they meet again. Assuming the feeling is mutual he places his full trust in her.

He then becomes interested in the surrounding deaths of the young male adults, according to the news reports they were all related to the game.

Wondering if Olivia knows anything about the strange occurrences, he decides to confront her, so he goes to the next meeting place at the time and date planned, but Olivia doesn’t come, she evaporates as suddenly as she materialized, leaving Spencer wondering if she was nothing but a product of his fertile imagination.

One year later, Spencer walks down the college corridors to his Art class, a pink envelope is passed into his hand as he walks by a girl walking in the other direction.

The familiarity has Spencer stopping and starring as she walks away. But not for too long, as Olivia doesn’t leave business unfinished.

Evaluation of Exchange

According to our audience there was a good choice of music as it went along well with both the characters and the narrative.

There was also a wide range of shots including a shot of our femme fatale characters walking from over the camera. We also got a good angle on the actual exchange as the kept in movement while exchanging the envelope this was tricky.

However we were lacking a close up of our male character's face. This would have emphasised his reaction and also the narrative.

We have improved and not made the same mistakes as we had done on our Preliminary exercise by adding handles and framing a little better, this also made the editing a little easier.

Storyboards

This is a draft of the shots we planned to use. This changed during the course of production as there were some shot we didn't used or shots that we didn't think were worth filming when we got to our location. There were also shots that we added as we felt would work better.

Preliminary Exercise Evaluation

For filming there were certain areas that we had to focus on in order to make our preliminary exercise.

1. Rule of thirds & framing- The framing wasn't effective as we needed to have used the rule of thirds more.

2. 180 degree line- This rule was broken during the conversation, to hide this we had to edit around the mistake which limited the range of shots we had of the conversation.

3. Shot-reverse shot- This was needed. Due to our breaking of the 180 degree line shot-reverse shot was impossible to edit in as it would have confused the audience in terms of the location of the characters

4. Eye lines- This was good.

5. Focus- This was also good.

6. Dialogue and sound recording- Good.

7. Camera work- The range of shots was limited.

8.Editing- The continuity of the editing was a bit off but we managed to hide that. There weren't many handles which made the editing more difficult.

Evaluation of Preliminary Exercise

During our preliminary exercise, our task was to create a small video clip in which we filmed a character walking into a room, sitting down across another character and having a short conversation.

This was an opportunity to learn how to use the equipment which consisted of a camera, and tripod and a microphone, this was also an opportunity to film and practice camera angles, we also recorded the conversation. After that we edited out footage into a short film.

Not only we became more familiar with the equipment but we also go to put to practice some of the theory that we have learnt over the past few weeks such as the rules of thirds and how to appropriately frame.

This is what we came up with:

Exchange Synopsis

Synopsis

The Femme Fatale stands around a corner waiting patiently for someone.

A man comes out of the lift as she peeks around the corner. The woman seal and envelope with a kiss and seductively walks past the man passing him the envelope, he continue walking.

Unaware the man opens the sealed envelope unaware that a surprise awaits him...

Exchange Treatment

Treatment

We are using several diverse shots such as from about shots to represent the vulnerability of the male character and shots from under the Femme Fatale's feet as she is walking to createa sence of power and domination.

We are using natural lighting but are going to convert the video into black and white to reflect the classic Film Noir.

We will be recording background sound to use as atmospheric sound, but will also use music to go with the scenes. The piece of music would idealy be dark and mysteriousbut at the same time quick and fast paced. The opening scen starts by panning the femme fatale, we have used a costune to represent the typical femme fatale character, this starts with the heels, representing a strong and intelligent woman. she is dressed in very feminine and seductive clothing.

We then see a shot of the male coming out of the elevator, and walks down the corridor, the next shots are the exchange between the two.

We have also got shots of the femme fatale walking over the camera, to represent her power.

There is a close up of the exchange and the two hands passing the envelope to ensure that the audience knows the exchange has take place. The envelope is pink the represent the the woman the femme fatale is.

Then the male character open the envelope.

Example of Neo Noir

Sin City

Directed by Frank Miller and Robert Rodriguez in 2005

This is a movie centered on the criminal deeds of people in Sin City. It plot is 3 different stories by Frank Miller, “That Yellow Basted”, “The Hard Goodbye” and ”The Big Fat Kill”.

This is film noir for reason such as the use of voice-over and flashback, the use of high contrast lighting, this helps emphasize the violence, and the death and the anxiety character feel throughout the movie.

Another element that makes sin city a film noir is the use of voice over, this gives the viewer an insight on the characters life, personality and valuable information.

There are no scenes during the day time, this shows that it is set in a dark place, which adds that psychological effect that Film Noir is always very fond of. Because the whole movie is in black and white this makes it high contrast lighting, which give the movie a comic book look; although there is some color this makes draws the viewer’s attention.

Definition of Neo-Noir

Film-Noir critics argue that the term “Noir” Could only be applied to Post WW2 movies, one of the last Film Noir was “Touch of Evil” by Orson Welles 1958. This marked the end of people’s bloodstained mentalities, as they became for optimistic so did the movies they choose to watch.

However the term became more flexible as in the1970s more Noir movies developed, this was called “Neo-noir” Neo is a Greek word meaning new. The film genre came back, this time in colour. This is as the classic Film Noir was in the 1930's 1940's era.

Neo Noir or Contemporary Noir are modern Noirs films that have the same characteristics of classic Film Noir, these are things such as the the typical plots, these are elements that made Film Noir what it was in it's time.

Some examples of Neo-Noirs are Sin City and Brick

Three Examples of Classic Film Noir

There are many films that represent just what Film Noir was all about.

Double Indemnity

Directed by Billie Wilder in 1944

Synopsis

An insurance

sales man meets Phyllis Dietrichson the wife of one of his clients and this soon leads to an affair between the two of them. Phyllis then proposes her husband’s death, she persuades Neff into it, so that they can be together. By killing Mr Dietrichson the two of them would get insurance money and Neff uses his job to make this p

ossible under the double indemnity clause. Not only this would make them carefree lovers but it would also make them rich. So they make up a plan and kill Mr Dietrichson. However the death is investigated by detective Keyes, who suspects Ms Dietrichson and an accomplice committed the murder of Mr Dietrichson. Neff is later alarmed when Lola Dietrichson, Mr Dietrichson’s daughter, informs him that her mother had also died of suspicious reasons when Phyllis Dietrichson was her nurse. As Neff uncovers the truth and the true plot of Ms Dietrichson, he decides to find a way out of the whole situation. The moment come when it is either his life or her life, this is the point when she tells him that she was only using him, but also that she had just fallen in love with him, but Neff had no other choice but to kill her.

This film shows characteristics of Film Noir in the characters, Walter Neff is a typical protagonist who is seduced by the Femme fatale into becoming someone or doing something that they wouldn't normally do such a crime. Phyllis Dietrichson is a typical Femme Fatale of Film Noir as she is beautiful and successfully seductive. This al

so makes the narrative pessimistic and dark like most other film noir narratives.

Sunset Boulevard

Directed by Billie Wilder in 1950

Synopsis

The movie opens with a corpse found on a swimming pool, it is that of Joe Gillis a struggling screen-writer, due to his low financial statues he tries many times to make his way up but is unable to, this includes a bad review from Betty Schaefer, a woman in the Reader Department. Due to a twist of fate Gillis meets Norma Desmond an older woman who is also an actress, soon they start working together on Norma’s comeback screen-play, this leads to a very close relationship between the two until the day that Norma confesses that she is in love with Gillis, this causes him to meet Betty Schaefer who now appreciates some of Gillis’ work, and also want to move out of the Desmond household, but is informed that Norman attempted suicide so he decides to stay by her side. Norma finishes her script and send it off but this

turns out to be unsuccessful.

Gillis starts meeting up with Betty Schaefer, they relationship grown closer and leads to love between the two of them. Upon discovering this Norma tries to break them up, this causes Gillis to pack his bags, Norma threatens him with her own life, but when he ignores this, and Norma feels like she is no longer the centre of Gillis’ attention she shoots, his body falls in the pool.

Again this is a very film noir type of narrative, and the movie also opens with the same scene it closes with, giving it the film noir type of mystery and edginess by using a non chronological time line. Although Norma is not the the characteristic Femme Fatale as she is an older woman, but she does have the power over Gills, also the narrative isn't about a Femme Fatale convincing the protagonist to do something immoral, but instead is about her dangerous and unwanted love for him.

Maltese Falcon

Directed by John Huston in 1941

Sypnosis

Sam Spade and Miles archer as two private dectectives who are hired by the beautiful Ruth Wonderly to find her missing sister. Soon after Miles is killed while going after a man named Floyd Thursby, a man who is involved with Ruth's sister.

As Ruth is acquainted with many dangerous men Sam Spade protects her from them, even thought he is a murder suspect by the police. The men are after a precious statue of a bird, The Maltese Falcon.

Also Ruth Wonderly turns out not to be who she said she is.

The characters and narrative seems to be very Film Noir as does the enigma in the story.