We got very good feedback from the group, we were told that the establishing shot was fantastic and that the acting was spot on, and the script was solid and understandable for the audience, overall we were all pleased with the feedback we got, which was brilliant and gave us confidence for the up and ocming final project.
The exchange was about where 2 characters meet to exchange something using the general codes and conventions of a film noir but adapting it to our version making it a 'contemporary film noir'
Friday, 7 May 2010
Pre production work (What i did)
I did the call sheet and completed the time sheet and information of the shots and times used, also i completed the synpsis and main treatments of our project and George helped me complete these. We did all the pre procution work using each others idea's and picked the best ones and completed all our pre prod work quickly and before any other group did, George took charge and took responsibility for the folder we made and i feel we worked extremly hard and well with each other.
Music And copyright info.
The music used was made by a dnb artist who is not very recognised, and has little subscribers on youtube, i got in touch with him and got permission to use his music under the 'Fair use' laws which was very good news. Here is a link to his youtube, and i hope you enjoy his music, like i do. :)
http://www.youtube.com/user/deepfocusdnb
http://www.youtube.com/user/deepfocusdnb
Edited Photo's FP
The above one is the edited one and below is the unedited one, i used the same effects here to once again emphasis this was in the past and its a flash back, colour correction and blur were used to create this atmosphere. Also the lights and the colour correction used here blended together fantastically
Establishing Shot
I didn't feel this establishing shot needed editing as it was good enough to start with, and it really captures the big picture and shows the audience that it is the setting of the place, (of course you know that anyway).
Also due to compressing these pictures the quality looks really naf, but i can assure you it wasn't meant to look this blurry.
Edited Photo's FP
Above is the edited one and below is the orignal one. The reason i added the colour correction effect on these pictures were to create a more dreamy effect and emphasis the fact that it's a flashback, maybe i went overboard, but i felt it worked. I also added the blur affect to once again emphasis the fact that it's fadey and he can't remember it well, and to show it was some time ago this happened.
Edited Photo's FP
Unfortuntly i couldn't find an original un edit of the picture below, but i added colour corection very very slightly to make that sun look even more fantastic and creat a shadowy effect and mysterious atmosphere
Tuesday, 4 May 2010
Friday, 30 April 2010
Evaluation
(1) How does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and
conventions of real media products?
In our project, we decided to film an opening of a mystery thriller involving revenge, betrayal and murder in a Film-Noir style.
From research, we decided that the best decision for our group was to choose a piece of atmospheric music produced by 'Deep Focus' he is an up and coming DnB artist on YouTube and offers free music for his fans. So we didn't need any copyrights or anything as he said he would be pleased to get his music out there. I searched many different kind of music, and when i showed my group they all said it would reflect the mystery thriller of our project perfectly, and it did with many lessons used up by syncing the music and making it match to the shots we took, it went very well.
Our group both liked the whole corruption of murders so we decided to base our synopsis on that. And from that we showed in our project different ways of how murder corruption could be achieved, we decided to use flash backs and memories. This will show an even more mysterious feel to the project.
As most noir films use first person voice over to narrate the story with flashbacks, our film opening also used these elements. This went well to show how George was feeling and was telling the story, but as we had to stick to a 2-3 minute limit we found it very hard to describe everything.
The murder that takes place in our film reflects the fact that noir films do not have hopeful themes or happy endings, and the murder in our sequence is the enigma because Sebastien doesn't actually die, he returns and George finds him and wants revenge again. Just like a classic Film Noir.
(2) How does your media product represent particular social groups?
There are four characters in Undercover Depression, two having major parts and two minor. The two main characters are George and Sebastien.
We wanted to show that George was an male adult between the ages of 25-35 and so we made deliberate choices about how he should be dressed and how he should act. A leather jacket, light jeans and trainers were chosen. The cold, wintry weather added to the dark, shadowy mood of the film.
Noir films often contain a scene where one character is looking for revenge and our Film Noir project represents that to. With George looking for revenge on Sebastien for cheating on his girlfriend and ruining his life.
We decided as a group that George should act in a stereotypical manner for this age group - unsmiling, moody and serious, and make him look like an undercover cop. This also reflects the mood of a typical Noir thrillers, this adds alot of tension to the atmosphere and grips the audience more.
The second character of Sebastien is deliberately shown to make him look an obvious character and to show he isn't meant to still be here, and we did this by using close ups of George's reactions and it went very well and really made it feel more shocking that Sebastien was still alive.
We wanted to show that the two young male should confront each other. Decided this should take place outdoors where it would make it feel like just another normal day. Noir films often take place in dark landscapes with very little lighting to create a sinister and gloomy atmosphere so we decided to set the confrontation in a glum place in the park where the memorial place is. This is where George finds out that Sebastien isn't really dead and that he is still alive.
The other two minor characters are played by Martin Osborne and Amy Stansfield. Martin was meant to look really mysterious, so we decided to dress him in a hoody and to make him wear dark clothes to give it a real suspicous feel. For Amy, she was the girlfriend and we decided her wearing a red coat would make it feel more of a femme fatal. And makes it more of a classic Film Noir.
3) What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and
why?
Based on the opening sequence, its popularity would depend on the popularity of film noir at the time of making it and the demand for difference and choice. As teenagers are always looking for a choice of entertainment there will always be a market for films aimed at teenagers. For this reason, if we aimed our film at teenagers, then this shows that we would be aiming for a big major company to distribute our film, like Working Title as they would have the money to distribute our film. However, the opening sequence to our film Under Cover Depression did not take up too much time to produce and there was hardly any money involved during production so it might appeal to smaller, independent film companies. An independent film would need only a small budget for producing, marketing and distribution.
(4) Who would be the audience for your media product?
Me and George decided that the typical audience for our film would be around our age, in the regions of 15-25, Late teenage young aldults. The reason we have chosen this age range is because not only is it easier to know what people of our age are interested in, but we can add our knowledge of film noir from what we have learnt in theory, plus all the skills we have acquired through the Preliminary and Exchange Exercises, and combine these with our ideas and creativity skills to complete a film that teenagers are not going to get bored with after the first few seconds.
We have decided to rate our film a rating of '15'The reason why is because I think our film would be more a ‘15’ rating than an ‘18' rating, as a lot more gore, drugs, violence, suicidal references, nudity, and possibly some exposed indecent [sexual] behaviour or sexual violence would have to be used to push the rating up to an ‘18’.
(5) How did you attract/address your audience?
To attract an audience in our opening sequence, we cleverly used enigmas and mysterious circumstances, all of which would be revealed later in the full movie, yet the viewer would have to keep watching until the end of the film when all loose ends are tied up in the concluding stages of the movie. With egnima's attracting the audience we could tell that we had been sucessfull and we had positvie feedback.
We wanted to create a slow-paced opeining, with added slower paced music track which added a more noir-style effect to the project than what a fast paced track would. Plus, to slow the pace down even more, i edited the shots and slowed them down adding effects. The effects i used was the colour correction. I used it in the flashbacks to create a dreamy and much slower paced atmosphere.
We didn't keep the background music, because i feel that the music on it's own works a lot better than with background music. We made the music volume fade down to a lower level when the voiceovers came into use. This is so that George's voice was much clearer and louder.
(6) What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product? (You could also mention the significance of using these technologies).
Prior to this course, I had been used to windows computers, and have never used an Apple Mac before this was an unusual challenge for me to cope with it and i feel i have learnt a lot, but i still believe that windows computers are better and more practical. I am used to some begginer editing programmes and some professional editing software, this include Windows Movie Maker and Sony Vegas Pro 9, i still prefer Sony Vegas as i am used to it and it's has tons more effects than what Final Cut does on the Apple Mac.
During production, I used a DV-tape Camcorder. Prior to this course, I had only used a Tv to laptop recorder in my personal life. I have been used to using more complex, modern technologies so using an old-fashioned DV-cassette tape Camcorder was o.k but it was the first time using a good quality camcorder.
The editing software we used was “Final Cut Pro”.
(7) Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product? (You can make reference to The Exchange too).
For our Preliminary Exercise, it was Me, George, Sebastien and Martin. We had a problem with capturing the footage of the establishing shot of a person walking down a corridor and opening a door, because the corrider was to narrow but we over came this. We also had some issues with the sound and the microphonel. We soon overcame this issue and resolved it.
We were set another task, to polish up our skills, where two characters were to exchange an item without talking. An easy to understand plot and a location that was best-suited to this type of story meant we had understood the interpretations of different actions within a sequence. Quick cuts between shots maintained rhythm and pace set by the chosen music. However their were some minor issues about placement of the characters and we have learnt not to do it again.
When looking back at our pleminary exercise and what we have achieved with two people in our final project i think we have improved greatly and in some areas excelled other groups with only two people.
We discussed the job roles and made it equal, George did most of the pre production work, and i helped, also he was the main character, whereas i did all the editing whit help from George and i also did the camera work and all the technology jobs behind the scenes.
conventions of real media products?
In our project, we decided to film an opening of a mystery thriller involving revenge, betrayal and murder in a Film-Noir style.
From research, we decided that the best decision for our group was to choose a piece of atmospheric music produced by 'Deep Focus' he is an up and coming DnB artist on YouTube and offers free music for his fans. So we didn't need any copyrights or anything as he said he would be pleased to get his music out there. I searched many different kind of music, and when i showed my group they all said it would reflect the mystery thriller of our project perfectly, and it did with many lessons used up by syncing the music and making it match to the shots we took, it went very well.
Our group both liked the whole corruption of murders so we decided to base our synopsis on that. And from that we showed in our project different ways of how murder corruption could be achieved, we decided to use flash backs and memories. This will show an even more mysterious feel to the project.
As most noir films use first person voice over to narrate the story with flashbacks, our film opening also used these elements. This went well to show how George was feeling and was telling the story, but as we had to stick to a 2-3 minute limit we found it very hard to describe everything.
The murder that takes place in our film reflects the fact that noir films do not have hopeful themes or happy endings, and the murder in our sequence is the enigma because Sebastien doesn't actually die, he returns and George finds him and wants revenge again. Just like a classic Film Noir.
(2) How does your media product represent particular social groups?
There are four characters in Undercover Depression, two having major parts and two minor. The two main characters are George and Sebastien.
We wanted to show that George was an male adult between the ages of 25-35 and so we made deliberate choices about how he should be dressed and how he should act. A leather jacket, light jeans and trainers were chosen. The cold, wintry weather added to the dark, shadowy mood of the film.
Noir films often contain a scene where one character is looking for revenge and our Film Noir project represents that to. With George looking for revenge on Sebastien for cheating on his girlfriend and ruining his life.
We decided as a group that George should act in a stereotypical manner for this age group - unsmiling, moody and serious, and make him look like an undercover cop. This also reflects the mood of a typical Noir thrillers, this adds alot of tension to the atmosphere and grips the audience more.
The second character of Sebastien is deliberately shown to make him look an obvious character and to show he isn't meant to still be here, and we did this by using close ups of George's reactions and it went very well and really made it feel more shocking that Sebastien was still alive.
We wanted to show that the two young male should confront each other. Decided this should take place outdoors where it would make it feel like just another normal day. Noir films often take place in dark landscapes with very little lighting to create a sinister and gloomy atmosphere so we decided to set the confrontation in a glum place in the park where the memorial place is. This is where George finds out that Sebastien isn't really dead and that he is still alive.
The other two minor characters are played by Martin Osborne and Amy Stansfield. Martin was meant to look really mysterious, so we decided to dress him in a hoody and to make him wear dark clothes to give it a real suspicous feel. For Amy, she was the girlfriend and we decided her wearing a red coat would make it feel more of a femme fatal. And makes it more of a classic Film Noir.
3) What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and
why?
Based on the opening sequence, its popularity would depend on the popularity of film noir at the time of making it and the demand for difference and choice. As teenagers are always looking for a choice of entertainment there will always be a market for films aimed at teenagers. For this reason, if we aimed our film at teenagers, then this shows that we would be aiming for a big major company to distribute our film, like Working Title as they would have the money to distribute our film. However, the opening sequence to our film Under Cover Depression did not take up too much time to produce and there was hardly any money involved during production so it might appeal to smaller, independent film companies. An independent film would need only a small budget for producing, marketing and distribution.
(4) Who would be the audience for your media product?
Me and George decided that the typical audience for our film would be around our age, in the regions of 15-25, Late teenage young aldults. The reason we have chosen this age range is because not only is it easier to know what people of our age are interested in, but we can add our knowledge of film noir from what we have learnt in theory, plus all the skills we have acquired through the Preliminary and Exchange Exercises, and combine these with our ideas and creativity skills to complete a film that teenagers are not going to get bored with after the first few seconds.
We have decided to rate our film a rating of '15'The reason why is because I think our film would be more a ‘15’ rating than an ‘18' rating, as a lot more gore, drugs, violence, suicidal references, nudity, and possibly some exposed indecent [sexual] behaviour or sexual violence would have to be used to push the rating up to an ‘18’.
(5) How did you attract/address your audience?
To attract an audience in our opening sequence, we cleverly used enigmas and mysterious circumstances, all of which would be revealed later in the full movie, yet the viewer would have to keep watching until the end of the film when all loose ends are tied up in the concluding stages of the movie. With egnima's attracting the audience we could tell that we had been sucessfull and we had positvie feedback.
We wanted to create a slow-paced opeining, with added slower paced music track which added a more noir-style effect to the project than what a fast paced track would. Plus, to slow the pace down even more, i edited the shots and slowed them down adding effects. The effects i used was the colour correction. I used it in the flashbacks to create a dreamy and much slower paced atmosphere.
We didn't keep the background music, because i feel that the music on it's own works a lot better than with background music. We made the music volume fade down to a lower level when the voiceovers came into use. This is so that George's voice was much clearer and louder.
(6) What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product? (You could also mention the significance of using these technologies).
Prior to this course, I had been used to windows computers, and have never used an Apple Mac before this was an unusual challenge for me to cope with it and i feel i have learnt a lot, but i still believe that windows computers are better and more practical. I am used to some begginer editing programmes and some professional editing software, this include Windows Movie Maker and Sony Vegas Pro 9, i still prefer Sony Vegas as i am used to it and it's has tons more effects than what Final Cut does on the Apple Mac.
During production, I used a DV-tape Camcorder. Prior to this course, I had only used a Tv to laptop recorder in my personal life. I have been used to using more complex, modern technologies so using an old-fashioned DV-cassette tape Camcorder was o.k but it was the first time using a good quality camcorder.
The editing software we used was “Final Cut Pro”.
(7) Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product? (You can make reference to The Exchange too).
For our Preliminary Exercise, it was Me, George, Sebastien and Martin. We had a problem with capturing the footage of the establishing shot of a person walking down a corridor and opening a door, because the corrider was to narrow but we over came this. We also had some issues with the sound and the microphonel. We soon overcame this issue and resolved it.
We were set another task, to polish up our skills, where two characters were to exchange an item without talking. An easy to understand plot and a location that was best-suited to this type of story meant we had understood the interpretations of different actions within a sequence. Quick cuts between shots maintained rhythm and pace set by the chosen music. However their were some minor issues about placement of the characters and we have learnt not to do it again.
When looking back at our pleminary exercise and what we have achieved with two people in our final project i think we have improved greatly and in some areas excelled other groups with only two people.
We discussed the job roles and made it equal, George did most of the pre production work, and i helped, also he was the main character, whereas i did all the editing whit help from George and i also did the camera work and all the technology jobs behind the scenes.
Thursday, 29 April 2010
Pre Production FP
My Contribution. Fianl Project
I rough outline of the plot of our final project ' UnderCover Derpression ' and George contributed in adding the final parts to make the plot come together. I came up with the main plot where this guy is down in the dumps and has split up with his girlfriend and wants to commit suicide because this one guy has ruined his life and he has nothing to live for, his job as an undercover policeman is going down the drain and he hates it.
I Came up with most of the treatment, it was my idea to come up with the costumes and props and geroge collected all of these accept for one thing, we needed something that looked like drugs, and i came up with idea of TicTacs and i went out and bought some, so once we came over that hurdle we relised that we still needed to complete storyboards and the rest. I voluntered to do the shot list which was very tough as we had some problems witht the Apple Macs, and George completed the storyboards, risk evaluation sheets and once i made a rough call sheet he went home and completed a final caal sheet with most contributions made by me. I also did the editing on the computers and completed it with help from George.
I rough outline of the plot of our final project ' UnderCover Derpression ' and George contributed in adding the final parts to make the plot come together. I came up with the main plot where this guy is down in the dumps and has split up with his girlfriend and wants to commit suicide because this one guy has ruined his life and he has nothing to live for, his job as an undercover policeman is going down the drain and he hates it.
I Came up with most of the treatment, it was my idea to come up with the costumes and props and geroge collected all of these accept for one thing, we needed something that looked like drugs, and i came up with idea of TicTacs and i went out and bought some, so once we came over that hurdle we relised that we still needed to complete storyboards and the rest. I voluntered to do the shot list which was very tough as we had some problems witht the Apple Macs, and George completed the storyboards, risk evaluation sheets and once i made a rough call sheet he went home and completed a final caal sheet with most contributions made by me. I also did the editing on the computers and completed it with help from George.
Questionaire Primary Market Research
Name:
Signature:
“A Cop with a dark past full of cheating, corruption and murder is homeless and unloved. One day he witnesses a dodgy deal going down involving a partner in crime that he thought was dead. Full of alcohol & drugs he intervenes with the situation.”
Do you find this storyline Interesting, Exciting?
Yes No
Comment:
Would you pay money to go and see this short film?
Yes No
Comment:
Does this Synopsis/Story put you in mind of a Film Noir/Old B&W Film?
Yes No
Comment:
Could the storyline be improved?
Yes No
Comment:
Judging by the storyline, what would you rate this?
PG 12 15 18
Comment:
Overall, what do you think?
Comment:
Signature:
“A Cop with a dark past full of cheating, corruption and murder is homeless and unloved. One day he witnesses a dodgy deal going down involving a partner in crime that he thought was dead. Full of alcohol & drugs he intervenes with the situation.”
Do you find this storyline Interesting, Exciting?
Yes No
Comment:
Would you pay money to go and see this short film?
Yes No
Comment:
Does this Synopsis/Story put you in mind of a Film Noir/Old B&W Film?
Yes No
Comment:
Could the storyline be improved?
Yes No
Comment:
Judging by the storyline, what would you rate this?
PG 12 15 18
Comment:
Overall, what do you think?
Comment:
The Exchange
We were asked to film a 2 minute clip of 2 people or more exchanging something, it would be under the impression that it was a film noir and we were asked to make it mysterious and creepy. And to film it black and white, This is our second tast this year after the Pleminary Exercise, and hopefully we will get rid of any old schoolboy mistakes and give it a real slick look to it all.
It is going to be filmed in black and white to create a more mysterious and glim look to it to make the audience feel more tensed and worried, and also to make it feel as if it is a film noir.
The plot.
Our opening shot is a pan of the docks where all the rusty boats and dark alleyways are, this will create a more intensed feel to the beggining, I come out of an alleyway and walk towards the docks alongside the boats, this setting I feel was the best location we could think of. I am meant to look mysterious and shifty, I walk over to geroge to meet him and george is meant to look big strong and cocky, and very aggresive. George is wearing dark clothes and gives me a stare as if he doesn't trust me and suspects that i've done something or going to.
Once i walk over to him we stare for a while to create an even more tensed atmosphere, no words are exchanged in this. Its quiet and George hands over an envelope, I snatch it straight away, then out of nowhere a mysterious unknown 3rd person is watching us exchange, which will keep the audience intrigued and leave a questions in their heads. Me and george go different ways and dont speak a word, I then disspaear into a dark alleyway and our film fades out into black. The End.
It is going to be filmed in black and white to create a more mysterious and glim look to it to make the audience feel more tensed and worried, and also to make it feel as if it is a film noir.
The plot.
Our opening shot is a pan of the docks where all the rusty boats and dark alleyways are, this will create a more intensed feel to the beggining, I come out of an alleyway and walk towards the docks alongside the boats, this setting I feel was the best location we could think of. I am meant to look mysterious and shifty, I walk over to geroge to meet him and george is meant to look big strong and cocky, and very aggresive. George is wearing dark clothes and gives me a stare as if he doesn't trust me and suspects that i've done something or going to.
Once i walk over to him we stare for a while to create an even more tensed atmosphere, no words are exchanged in this. Its quiet and George hands over an envelope, I snatch it straight away, then out of nowhere a mysterious unknown 3rd person is watching us exchange, which will keep the audience intrigued and leave a questions in their heads. Me and george go different ways and dont speak a word, I then disspaear into a dark alleyway and our film fades out into black. The End.
Collateral Neo Noir
Max is a simple cab driver in Los Angeles. One night he picks up Annie, a beautiful DA. The two have very friendly chat where Annie talks about her nervousness over her upcoming trial appearance and Max discusses his dream business, a limo company. At the end of the ride Annie gives Max her card. Annie leaves the cab and goes inside her building to work on her important case.
A man approaches the cab, and Max almost doesn't notice him, but he gets the man in anyway. The man introduces himself as Vincent. He's very friendly and offers Max $600 to drive him around for the night. Max reluctantly agrees. As the two chat, Vincent says that he hates Los Angeles because it is impersonal. He recalls a news story about a man who died on the subway but remained on the train for days without anyone noticing. Max tells Vincent about his dream of opening a limo company, describing his job as a cab driver as temporary. Vincent asks how long he has been doing it, and Max confesses that his "temporary" job has lasted 12 years.
Vincent has Max drive him to an apartment. Vincent goes upstairs as Max eats a sandwich. Suddenly, a dead body falls on Max's cab. Vincent comes downstairs and reveals that he shot the man. He forces Max at gunpoint to help him hide the body in the cab's trunk. Max begs Vincent to let him go, but Vincent insists that he go with him.
As the evening continues, Vincent has Max deliver him to more places where Vincent kills people. He has to kill five people by the end of the night. Meanwhile, a Detective Fanning is chasing the two, slowly figuring out what is going on.
Despite the circumstance, Vincent seems to take a liking to Max, who doesn't return the favour. Max destroys Vincent's computer. Vincent responds by forcing Max to go to the mob boss who ordered these hits and retrieving the information. Max pretends to be Vincent to the mob boss, and successfully gets the remaining info for the hits. Not only does a police stakeout result in Vincent and Max being tailed by the police, but the mob boss orders that his own men follow "Vincent," who is really Max, and kill him.
Vincent and Max go to a busy night club to kill a heavily guarded target. The club gets filled with armed FBI, LAPD, bodyguards and mob men. A massive shoot ensues where Vincent kills his target and saves Max's life. Detective Fanning tries to help Max but is gunned down by Vincent.
Max and Vincent escape the carnage. Max has reached his breaking point and deliberately wrecks his cab. Vincent crawls out and leaves him behind. A police officer approaches Max to help him but sees the body in the trunk. While on the ground, Max sees Vincent's new computer screen and realizes that Annie is the final target, which explains why Vincent was outside of that particular building earlier.
Max overpowers the cop and takes his gun. He races to Annie's building and reaches her at the same time Vincent does. Max shoots Vincent and runs away with Annie. However, Vincent survived this injury and chases the two of them onto a subway train. Vincent and Max fire their guns at one another, with Vincent sustaining mortal wounds. Vincent asks Max if he thinks anyone will notice his body. He dies as Max and Annie leave the train.
Friday, 16 April 2010
Raging Bull
Raging Bull
When Jake LaMotta steps into a boxing ring and obliterates his opp
onent, however he also treats his family and friends the same way, and he has a short temper and can go crazy at any moment. Though LaMotta wants his family's love, something always seems to come b
etween them. It’s because of his violent bouts of paranoia and jealousy. This kind of rage helped make him a champ, but in real life, he is loosing his family and friends.
Raging bull wouldn’t be the first contemporary noir film but it still uses examples of film noir characteristics. The plot is similar to Body and Soul (1947) and is considered as one of the greatest boxing films ever made.
When Jake LaMotta steps into a boxing ring and obliterates his opp
onent, however he also treats his family and friends the same way, and he has a short temper and can go crazy at any moment. Though LaMotta wants his family's love, something always seems to come b
etween them. It’s because of his violent bouts of paranoia and jealousy. This kind of rage helped make him a champ, but in real life, he is loosing his family and friends.Raging bull wouldn’t be the first contemporary noir film but it still uses examples of film noir characteristics. The plot is similar to Body and Soul (1947) and is considered as one of the greatest boxing films ever made.
Sin City
Sin City
Four tales of crime adapted from Frank Miller's popular comics, focusing around a muscular brute who's looking for the person responsible for the death of his beloved Goldie, a man fed up with Sin City's corrupt law enforcement who takes the law into his own hands after a horrible mistake, a cop who risks his life to protect a girl from a deformed paedophile, and a hit man looking to make a little cash.
Sin City is one of the most successful contemporary noir films ever made, the whole film is mainly black & white but there are certain objects and characters that are in colour.
Sincity trailer < Click Here
Four tales of crime adapted from Frank Miller's popular comics, focusing around a muscular brute who's looking for the person responsible for the death of his beloved Goldie, a man fed up with Sin City's corrupt law enforcement who takes the law into his own hands after a horrible mistake, a cop who risks his life to protect a girl from a deformed paedophile, and a hit man looking to make a little cash.
Sin City is one of the most successful contemporary noir films ever made, the whole film is mainly black & white but there are certain objects and characters that are in colour.
Sincity trailer < Click Here
China Town
China town
JJ Gittes is a private detective who seems to specialize in matrimonial cases. He is hired by Evelyn Mulwray when she suspects her husband Hollis, builder of the city's water supply system, of having an affair. Gittes photographs him with a young girl but in the ensuing scandal, it seems he was hired by an impersonator and not the real Mrs. Mulwray. When Mr. Mulwray is found dead, Jake is plunged into a complex web of deceit involving murder, incest and municipal corruption all related to the city's water supply.
The film features many elements of the film Noir genre, particularly a multi-layered story that is part mystery and part psychological drama which make Chinatown a very good example of contemporary noir film.
JJ Gittes is a private detective who seems to specialize in matrimonial cases. He is hired by Evelyn Mulwray when she suspects her husband Hollis, builder of the city's water supply system, of having an affair. Gittes photographs him with a young girl but in the ensuing scandal, it seems he was hired by an impersonator and not the real Mrs. Mulwray. When Mr. Mulwray is found dead, Jake is plunged into a complex web of deceit involving murder, incest and municipal corruption all related to the city's water supply.
The film features many elements of the film Noir genre, particularly a multi-layered story that is part mystery and part psychological drama which make Chinatown a very good example of contemporary noir film.
Thursday, 15 April 2010
Extra Notes on props, costumes etc.
This is what George decided on what we should work with when we reach the Editing stage of the project.
Editing - Fading in and out at the start
Continuity Editing - clean cut, nothing fancy - Mostly use effects.
Sound - Drum & Bass artist DeepFocus - Heavy Metal
1 Camera Operator, No microphone as there will be no dialogue, Park is flooded with natural light so there is no need for Spotlights.
3/4 Actors needed for sequence - Seb, George, Martin, Emily (flashbacks only)
George as the Hero/Cop
Seb as the Criminal
Martin as the Hooded Man
Emily as the love interest of the Hero
Tuesday 7th February - Date of filming in Christchurch Park
Props were thought about and we decided who would bring what.
George - Handgun, DVD, Wedding Ring, your costume
Nathan - Newspaper, Tic-Tacs
After we planned what we needed to sort out for our project, we set out afterwards to finally film it.
Editing - Fading in and out at the start
Continuity Editing - clean cut, nothing fancy - Mostly use effects.
Sound - Drum & Bass artist DeepFocus - Heavy Metal
1 Camera Operator, No microphone as there will be no dialogue, Park is flooded with natural light so there is no need for Spotlights.
3/4 Actors needed for sequence - Seb, George, Martin, Emily (flashbacks only)
George as the Hero/Cop
Seb as the Criminal
Martin as the Hooded Man
Emily as the love interest of the Hero
Tuesday 7th February - Date of filming in Christchurch Park
Props were thought about and we decided who would bring what.
George - Handgun, DVD, Wedding Ring, your costume
Nathan - Newspaper, Tic-Tacs
After we planned what we needed to sort out for our project, we set out afterwards to finally film it.
Our Note taking on our Final Project
Our MES ideas needed to be solid enough to actually work well with our initial plan so first we decided on Props: Handgun would be perfect as it suggests a weapon for good or bad. It will be the main signifier to show that our hero character is a cop or a vigilante type of person.
DVD will be the item that will be involved in the exchange from the Criminal to Hooded character or vice versa. Blank case but visible disc in order to confuse and intrigue our audience to think What is it for? Why does he want it?
Tic-Tacs will serve as another signifier to show that our hero has taken a plunge and turned to drugs, the sweets will look real enough to be pills and will get audiences interested in his past alot more.
Newspaper - a basic prop to show that our hero is an ex cop and is looking for odd jobs advertised in the newspaper, it will be a signifier to show that our hero has nothing going for him at the moment.
The Wedding Ring is another signifier to show that our hero was in a strong relationship. this should answer alot of questions for the audience, the prop will also add the fact that he is living on the edge of a broken dream.
Because of freezing cold weather conditions we did not put as much emphasis into our Costume choice as we did to our Prop choice, here is our Costume choice:
Hero - (Black/Blue jeans, T-Shirt, scruffy look) - We thought that this apparel would belong to a brutal action movie theme and show what type of character he really is.
Criminal (criminal to appear in disguise, let actor choose himself) We wanted our criminal to be a character that is hard to figure out which will make him more mysterious in the story.
Hooded Man (Hoody, dark colours) This character will stage the dodgy deal and the attire will make him look more shifty and on the run, the audience would know instantly that the character is up to no good.
We explored our location choice alot further and chose some certain areas that would add Noir stylistics to the mix, here they are:
Benches - If you add a scruffy looking character with a park bench the audience would figure out that he is a tramp and is unloved. We came to the conclusion that our Hero character would be there minding his own business.
Dark Area (lonely & creepy) This would be the best and most relevent, necessary setting for criminals, hoodies to be located during an illegal activity. This would create more tension and add more of the Noiry codes and conventions to the film sequence.
The sound we have chosen is Guitar, Drum & Bass etc. these instuments will make our film sequence more intense for the audience to watch.
DVD will be the item that will be involved in the exchange from the Criminal to Hooded character or vice versa. Blank case but visible disc in order to confuse and intrigue our audience to think What is it for? Why does he want it?
Tic-Tacs will serve as another signifier to show that our hero has taken a plunge and turned to drugs, the sweets will look real enough to be pills and will get audiences interested in his past alot more.
Newspaper - a basic prop to show that our hero is an ex cop and is looking for odd jobs advertised in the newspaper, it will be a signifier to show that our hero has nothing going for him at the moment.
The Wedding Ring is another signifier to show that our hero was in a strong relationship. this should answer alot of questions for the audience, the prop will also add the fact that he is living on the edge of a broken dream.
Because of freezing cold weather conditions we did not put as much emphasis into our Costume choice as we did to our Prop choice, here is our Costume choice:
Hero - (Black/Blue jeans, T-Shirt, scruffy look) - We thought that this apparel would belong to a brutal action movie theme and show what type of character he really is.
Criminal (criminal to appear in disguise, let actor choose himself) We wanted our criminal to be a character that is hard to figure out which will make him more mysterious in the story.
Hooded Man (Hoody, dark colours) This character will stage the dodgy deal and the attire will make him look more shifty and on the run, the audience would know instantly that the character is up to no good.
We explored our location choice alot further and chose some certain areas that would add Noir stylistics to the mix, here they are:
Benches - If you add a scruffy looking character with a park bench the audience would figure out that he is a tramp and is unloved. We came to the conclusion that our Hero character would be there minding his own business.
Dark Area (lonely & creepy) This would be the best and most relevent, necessary setting for criminals, hoodies to be located during an illegal activity. This would create more tension and add more of the Noiry codes and conventions to the film sequence.
The sound we have chosen is Guitar, Drum & Bass etc. these instuments will make our film sequence more intense for the audience to watch.
The Script Undercover Depression
EXT. Christchurch Park, WWII Memorial, DAY
COP sits quietly on the war memorial (alone) down in the dumps, looks around, facial expression is sad, angry mixture of emotions.
INT. Suffolk New College, Hallway, DAY
(Flashback) COP argues with his girlfriend, she turns her back and he punches the wall in anger and then leaves the scene storming off.
EXT. Christchurch Park, WWII Memorial, DAY
The flashback builds up to the COP taking an overdose of drugs and becoming affected immediatly but before that he rolls them around on his hand.
EXT. Christchurch Park, Grassy Patch, DAY
CRIMINAL walks across the grass and stops when he reaches the HOODED MAN and they both stare at each other barely exchanging words.
EXT. Christchurch Park, WWII Memorial, DAY
COP is in a daze but does not fail to recognise the CRIMINAL and witness the dodgy deal taking place, he is angry and surprised all in one facial expression.
EXT. Christchurch Park, Grassy Patch, DAY
CRIMINAL hands the blank disc to the HOODED MAN and then walks down the path leadng elsewhere, while the HOODED MAN slips away unnoticably.
EXT. Christchurch Park, WWII Memorial, DAY
COP gets up slowly due to the drug ingestion and struggles to sober up and do the smart thing, COP looks at the CRIMINAL walking away and then follows him.
Fade to black - END
COP sits quietly on the war memorial (alone) down in the dumps, looks around, facial expression is sad, angry mixture of emotions.
INT. Suffolk New College, Hallway, DAY
(Flashback) COP argues with his girlfriend, she turns her back and he punches the wall in anger and then leaves the scene storming off.
EXT. Christchurch Park, WWII Memorial, DAY
The flashback builds up to the COP taking an overdose of drugs and becoming affected immediatly but before that he rolls them around on his hand.
EXT. Christchurch Park, Grassy Patch, DAY
CRIMINAL walks across the grass and stops when he reaches the HOODED MAN and they both stare at each other barely exchanging words.
EXT. Christchurch Park, WWII Memorial, DAY
COP is in a daze but does not fail to recognise the CRIMINAL and witness the dodgy deal taking place, he is angry and surprised all in one facial expression.
EXT. Christchurch Park, Grassy Patch, DAY
CRIMINAL hands the blank disc to the HOODED MAN and then walks down the path leadng elsewhere, while the HOODED MAN slips away unnoticably.
EXT. Christchurch Park, WWII Memorial, DAY
COP gets up slowly due to the drug ingestion and struggles to sober up and do the smart thing, COP looks at the CRIMINAL walking away and then follows him.
Fade to black - END
Undercover Depression The Synopsis (REAL)
A depressed undercover cop is introduced when the film opens at Christchurch Park. His career is going down the drain, his girlfriend/wife has left him and he has lost his best friend, he just sits there all by himself looking ashamed of himself and very moody. He starts thinking about his girlfriend/wife and how they ended their relationship doing this he chucks back some pills to deal with the painful memories and ease his stress.
An unknown man walks across the grass to meet another unknown man, the two of them hardly exchange words however they do exchange what it appears to be a blank disc in a transparent case. The depressed cop suddenly notices the dodgy deal and watches them like an eagle after we see his unexplained shocked facial expression the scene cuts to yet another flashback in which we see the cop speaking friendly with the unknown man that exchanges the disc to the Hooded man.
The criminal walks away casually while the hooded man just slips away unoticed (clearly a professional) the cop rises to his feet and can hardly stay up after the ingestion of the unknown pills and then pulls a gun out from his coat, after doing this it cuts to another flashback in which we see the criminal dead on the floor with the cop standing over him with a gun in his hand. The cop follows the criminal down the unknown path and then it fades to black leaving the film sequence at a cliffhanger.
An unknown man walks across the grass to meet another unknown man, the two of them hardly exchange words however they do exchange what it appears to be a blank disc in a transparent case. The depressed cop suddenly notices the dodgy deal and watches them like an eagle after we see his unexplained shocked facial expression the scene cuts to yet another flashback in which we see the cop speaking friendly with the unknown man that exchanges the disc to the Hooded man.
The criminal walks away casually while the hooded man just slips away unoticed (clearly a professional) the cop rises to his feet and can hardly stay up after the ingestion of the unknown pills and then pulls a gun out from his coat, after doing this it cuts to another flashback in which we see the criminal dead on the floor with the cop standing over him with a gun in his hand. The cop follows the criminal down the unknown path and then it fades to black leaving the film sequence at a cliffhanger.
Monday, 22 February 2010
Camera angles of Film Noir
Camera angles of Film Noir.
High angles and Low angle are good to add extra emotions i.e. high angles makes the persons emotions stand out more as it can make them feel small and weak. low angles can make a certain character appear big and important which makes it easier for the audience to understand the character more.
Deep Focus is used to emphasise the large field of view.
Extreme Close-ups were used alot at a silent moment in film noir when actors use the 180' rule during a tension built scene to put the audience into more suspense.
High angles and Low angle are good to add extra emotions i.e. high angles makes the persons emotions stand out more as it can make them feel small and weak. low angles can make a certain character appear big and important which makes it easier for the audience to understand the character more.
Deep Focus is used to emphasise the large field of view.
Extreme Close-ups were used alot at a silent moment in film noir when actors use the 180' rule during a tension built scene to put the audience into more suspense.
The Blue Angel Classic Film Noir review.
The Blue Angel follows Emmanuel Rath through a transformation from esteemed educator at the local Gymnasium to a destitute vagrant in pre-World War I Germany. Rath’s descent begins when he punishes several of his students for circulating photographs of the beautiful Lola Lola the headliner for the local cabaret, The Blue Angel. Hoping to catch the boys at the club itself, Professor Rath goes to the club later that evening and meets his eventual downfall: the lovely Lola herself. I personally didn't enjoy the film, because it was very hard to find a full copy of it and i feel the quality was bad, but what can you expect from a 1930's film. The story i didn't really understand and went a bit side tracked for the main plot of the educator who wanted to meet the famous 'Lola'.
A little glimpse of the film.
It was directed by Josef von Sternberg
What is Film Noir
Film Noir is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize doubt and sexual motivation. The classic Hollywood Film Noir period is generally regarded as stretching from the early 1940s to the late 1950s. Film Noir of the 40s and 50s was a very simple black-and-white visual style. Many of the classical Noir stories derived from the crime fiction that emerged in the United States during the Depression.
The Brief!
The Brief:
For As Media we have been told to produce a film opening and the theme is "contemporary 'film noir'. Our work needs to be up to date with the modernised world yet still bringing the noir traditions, values, narrative, editing techniques and mood and conventions to the film. This will involve a couple of mini-projects from what we can learn and improve on until we do our final project where we will have to do a 2/3 minute long cpntemporary film noir opening. I am looking forward to it and can't wait to get cracking on with the pratical side.
For As Media we have been told to produce a film opening and the theme is "contemporary 'film noir'. Our work needs to be up to date with the modernised world yet still bringing the noir traditions, values, narrative, editing techniques and mood and conventions to the film. This will involve a couple of mini-projects from what we can learn and improve on until we do our final project where we will have to do a 2/3 minute long cpntemporary film noir opening. I am looking forward to it and can't wait to get cracking on with the pratical side.
Preliminary Exercise The Brief
We were asked for our first Project before 'The Exchange' project was our preliminary exercise. We were given a task where we had to shoot a short film lasting approximately a minute. The shoot had to include a character walking into a room where a different character was currently sitting inside, the first character sits down next to or opposite the second character, a couple of lines of dialogue were exchanged and then the end. The reason we were set this task was to lead up to the Main Project that we are doing in January/February time. This exercise was performed to hopefully show common mistakes in our camera work and editing and to improve on it, and because we are not experienced professional cameramen, we need to slowly do exercises to gain experience so that we know what techniques and skills to use for our final project come January/ February time.
Preliminary Exercise
The Preliminary Exercise worked well, the dialogue went OK and so did the flow between the scenes. There were a couple of things that were pointed out that i didn't really notice at the time. Some of the scenes didn't cut to perfection, they were a few frames out, but this was also because we didn't have any more recording of that scene, this meant lack of handles. Lack of handles can be a big problem so you cant get the scenes to cut together perfectly. Also we forgot to record audio when there was no dialogue but we soon found out this was a very bad decision and we were wrong, it was school-boy error and we noted it and have recognised it doesn't sound right without any sound.
One issue that we pointed out as a group was the lack of shots, there weren't that many different angles only about 3/4, which doesn't make it very enjoyable to watch so we made notes and feel that we will not make the same mistakes again. This means in our next Project 'The Exchange', more shot and different angles are needed to create a more flowing and dynamic Project and hopefully more professional and enjoyable to watch.
One issue that we pointed out as a group was the lack of shots, there weren't that many different angles only about 3/4, which doesn't make it very enjoyable to watch so we made notes and feel that we will not make the same mistakes again. This means in our next Project 'The Exchange', more shot and different angles are needed to create a more flowing and dynamic Project and hopefully more professional and enjoyable to watch.
Friday, 5 February 2010
Tuesday, 19 January 2010
Synopsis (My version)
My Noir opening.
Title: Undercover Depression
The Main Plot:
There's a main character, he is an undercover Cop and has recently been divorced and is under pressure to perform in his job, because he has been slacking.
He is reading a newspaper in a park on his lunch break and spots a man he recongnises and knows that he his trouble from the word go. The man his standing tall and looking around and spots another man wearing dark clothes and a hoodie. They exchange something and the under cover cop soon reacts and follows the man wearing the hoodie home just before he gets into his house the undercover cop jumps on him and arrests him. He is questioned by the cops and he says its to do with work. Also he does not have the 'thing' they exchanged in the park the other man has it. The undercover cop has no other option other than to release the man. And he now trys to find out where the man he has seen before is. Once he finds enough evidence and founds his house he storms in alone asking for no back up and accendently kills the man. The undercover cop is then told he got the wrong guy and he has been paranoid from the word go. And the other man wearing the hoodie was right and it turned out to be just a envelope from work. And the undercover cop is sentanced to 15 years in prison.
The finish of the film ends with the man wearing the hoodie smiling and walking away from the police station with another envelope.
Film opening:
The undercover cop is reading a newspaper in a park on his lunch break and spots a man he recongnises and knows that he his trouble from the word go. The man is standing tall and looking around and spots another man wearing dark clothes and a hoodie. They exchange something. Ends fading into black.
Treatment:
Editing.
It will be a slick editing with little effects as i don't want to ruin the footage by overdoing transitions and editing. The programme i will be using is Final Cut pro 7, in my opinion not the best editing software on the market but is very easy to use and very advanced. I prefer Sony Vegas Pro 9 as i use it alot in my spare time.
Cinematography:
Will be black and white with the brightness lowered to make it really feel like a contemporary film noir. And give it the charachteristics of a Film Noir this will make it feel more tensed and mysterious perfect for what we are trying to achieve.
Mise en scene:
Props will be
Newspaper - To show the man is not taking interest in the outside life until he notices the criminal.
Long jackets - To hide the actors to make it more mysterious and edgy.
Hats - once again to make it look more mysterous and undercover.
The Cd - The exchange at the end to make the audience ask questions and leave it on a cliffhanger.
Sound:
Tensed but slow music.
Title: Undercover Depression
The Main Plot:
There's a main character, he is an undercover Cop and has recently been divorced and is under pressure to perform in his job, because he has been slacking.
He is reading a newspaper in a park on his lunch break and spots a man he recongnises and knows that he his trouble from the word go. The man his standing tall and looking around and spots another man wearing dark clothes and a hoodie. They exchange something and the under cover cop soon reacts and follows the man wearing the hoodie home just before he gets into his house the undercover cop jumps on him and arrests him. He is questioned by the cops and he says its to do with work. Also he does not have the 'thing' they exchanged in the park the other man has it. The undercover cop has no other option other than to release the man. And he now trys to find out where the man he has seen before is. Once he finds enough evidence and founds his house he storms in alone asking for no back up and accendently kills the man. The undercover cop is then told he got the wrong guy and he has been paranoid from the word go. And the other man wearing the hoodie was right and it turned out to be just a envelope from work. And the undercover cop is sentanced to 15 years in prison.
The finish of the film ends with the man wearing the hoodie smiling and walking away from the police station with another envelope.
Film opening:
The undercover cop is reading a newspaper in a park on his lunch break and spots a man he recongnises and knows that he his trouble from the word go. The man is standing tall and looking around and spots another man wearing dark clothes and a hoodie. They exchange something. Ends fading into black.
Treatment:
Editing.
It will be a slick editing with little effects as i don't want to ruin the footage by overdoing transitions and editing. The programme i will be using is Final Cut pro 7, in my opinion not the best editing software on the market but is very easy to use and very advanced. I prefer Sony Vegas Pro 9 as i use it alot in my spare time.
Cinematography:
Will be black and white with the brightness lowered to make it really feel like a contemporary film noir. And give it the charachteristics of a Film Noir this will make it feel more tensed and mysterious perfect for what we are trying to achieve.
Mise en scene:
Props will be
Newspaper - To show the man is not taking interest in the outside life until he notices the criminal.
Long jackets - To hide the actors to make it more mysterious and edgy.
Hats - once again to make it look more mysterous and undercover.
The Cd - The exchange at the end to make the audience ask questions and leave it on a cliffhanger.
Sound:
Tensed but slow music.
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