The Pleminary Exercise.

The Pleminary Exercise.

We were set a task, the Preliminary Exercise, a continuity task including filming and editing a short sequence: "a character opening a door, crossing a room and sitting down in a chair opposite another character, with whom he/she then exchanges a couple of lines of dialogue." And, we had to show that we knew the 180-degree line rule, a shot/reverse shot, and match on action - the continuity through the story. Continuity meant that if there was a person sitting down on one side of the room that was very noticeable on-screen, the person had to stay there in the same position for the whole production. If the person moved we would have had to show the audience how it had moved otherwise it would confuse the audience and just wouldn't be continuity editing.

Report on A Calssic Film Noir

Double Indemnity (1944, Dr Billy Wilder).

Walter Neff is the main character in this film and acts as the 'Hero', he is a successful insurance sales man who works for pacific all risk. He mostly deals with life insurance. And the film starts off with him on his office desk late at night and tells his story into a 'dictaphone'. And the film flashbacks to the past and it starts off when he meets the 'femme fetale' of the story, 'Phyllis Dietrichson' when he goes to renew her husbands insurance policy. Whilst they talk, it becomes obvious that Phyllis is flirting with him.

He then learns that she can take an life insurance policy out without her husband knowing, so if he dies she gets £50,000 pounds in compensation so she makes it clear she wants to murder him to make a claim. She visits him at his home and tells him that together they should kill her husband. Being in the business all his life, he knows about all the secret trades etc, therefore he came up with a plan so that she would receive twice the insurance pay out using the "double indemnity" clause (£100,000), whereby the husband dies an unlikely death. The detective of the case suspects and queries with walter, but walter stands strong, and he almost gets a way with it. Meanwhile Phyllis wants Lola, her husband's daughter, killed because Lola suspects her of killing her parents and Walter finds out.

Walter also finds out that Phyllis is also seeing Lola's boyfriend secretly and decides to blame them for the murder. Phyllis tells him that she was seeing Lola's boyfriend so that he would kill Lola. But the walter attempts to shoot her but she shot him first, when they confront. Phyllis hugs him and he shoots her. He confesses to the detective and says hes going to mexico instead of serving a death sentence but collapses when walking to the elevator due to his injuries and it finishes.  

Without a doubt all the characters are typical of Film Noir's, with a hero involved and a femme fatale. And the narrative strictly follows the general conventions of Film Noir, with the typical male man who falls in love with the femme fatale, and makes one little mistake and it ruins his life.

The world the characters live in, is grim, dark, mysterious and once again follows the conventions of Film Noir, and we get a sense that the characters want a 'way-out', either by getting loads of money, or just getting that once chance. They are a couple of shots where the camera is extremely close up to the character, and it shows us the characters expression that much better, and makes us feel it's an awkward way to see people, so it makes it more dramatic. The editing in Double indemnity is pretty basic and follows Film Noir, especially when a dramatic scene is uncovering, there are much more shots, and we see the whole point of view of it, whilst the camera is still fixed on the 180 degree rule.

Lighting and the venetian blind are used over and over again in this and it really does follow general conventions of film Noir. Once again, this film follows the rules of Film Noir in sound as well, with voice overs being a tradition of film Noir's this film is focused on the voice over and it un-ravels the story for us. The message and values of the film, are like every film Noir, don't fall for the wrong girl.

 I would personally say the older generation would like this film, however middle-age man would probably enjoy this film as well, and also, even though they are not the stereotypical audience for this, I enjoy this kind of film, and so do some of my mates because it's mysterious, you have to think to watch it and it's sometimes hard to understand, and I guarantee if the quality of the picture, and the actors were updated film noir could still be a very popular film choice for people. Especially men. Even though there are a few Neo-Noir's popping up here and there.

Second Example of a Contemporary Film Noir

ChinaTown

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. It also uses the venetian blind effect and shadows in great detail, and it is a real grim outlook, and in my opinion a fantastic detective movie.

First Example of a Contemporary Film Noir:

Sin City

Four tales of crime are thrown into this film and are originally adapted from "Frank Millers" popular comics, The first tale is focusing around a muscular brute who's looking for the person responsible for the death of his beloved Goldie, the second tale is a man fed up with Sin City's corrupt law enforcement, who takes the law into his own hands after a horrible mistake, the third tale is a cop who risks his life to protect a girl from a deformed paedophile, and last but not least the fourth tale is about a hit man looking to make a little cash from his job.
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. It uses shadows and special lighting to indicate the characters motives and expressions. And also uses film noir genereal cinmatrography camera work, eg. the camera looks up on certain characters and then looks down upon characters to indicate where the power is.

What is 'Neo-Noir' (Contemporary Film Noir)?

Neo-Noir is a genre of a film which uses traditional elements of film noir but with modern themes and visuals and affects.

Some Neo-Noir films don’t usually reflect the traditional classic of a Noir film but they use the characteristics of Film Noir and transports it to the modern way film are made by using different affects plots and themes.

Some examples of Neo-Noir films (many of which i have watched):

The French Connection (1971)
The Godfather (1972)
China Town (1974)
The French Connection II (1975)
Hustle (1975)
Taxi Driver (1976)
Raging Bull (1980)
True confessions (1981)
Scarface (1983)
Against all odds (1984)
Murphy’s Law (1986)
Batman (1989)
Deep Cover (1992)
The Last Seduction (1994)
True Crime (1996)
Phoenix (1998)
Twilight (1998)
Heist (2001)
Dark Blue (2002)
Collateral (2004)
Sin City (2005)
American Gangster (2007)
The Spirit (2008)

Second Example Of A Classic Film Noir

Detour Directed by Edgar G. Ulmer (1945)

  A piano player, Al, sets off hitch hiking his way to California to be with his fiancée who left to become a star in Hollywood. Along the way, a stranger in a convertible gives him ride, and it all seems great.
However while driving; Al stops to put the top up of the car because it was raining heavily. He discovers that the owner of the car has died in his sleep. Al (stupidly) dumps the body in a gully, takes the stranger's money, clothes, and ID and then drives off in his expensive car, because he knew that he would get done in by the police if he said that the stranger just died in his sleep.
After spending the night in a motel, he picks up hitchhiker, Vera, (a femme fatale), who had earlier ridden with the man who died, and she begins to ask questions and then threatens to turn him in for murdering the stranger unless he gives her all the money.
They then arrive in Hollywood, and they rent an apartment, while trying to sell the car for extra cash, they read a newspaper and found out that the stranger was about to collect a large inheritance of the family. Vera demands that Al impersonate the stranger, but Al balks at this notion. When the two get drunk in the apartment and begin arguing, a snubbed Vera takes Al up on his earlier dare to call the police, whereupon Al accidentally strangles her with a telephone cord while pulling it to stop Vera from calling the police.
Al starts hitchhiking east again, and is waiting for the police to pick him up ad take him in. And it finishes with him getting picked up by the police, but, and now a big but, is that we don't know whether it was a dream, reality, or he was just getting a lift. The voice over at the end questions the audience and leaves it on a cliffhanger.

Detour uses many characteristics of a film nor, flash backs, venetian blind affect, shadowns, femme fatale, everyday guy, and they all work to creat in my personal opinion the best film noir out there. And also because i like the ending of the film.

First Example Of A Classic Film Noir

The Killers – Directed by: Robert Siodmak (1946). 

 

The killers starts of like a typical film noir does, with a car driving in the peak of the night, with the car's headlights on full blast, driving towards a city/ suburb area. And you see a sign that states ‘BRENTWOOD, NEW JERSEY’. And so the story begins of 'The killers'. . .
It kinda starts to kick in when they enter the town and kill a man. No real reason why, it's a film noir remember, this is normal. A detective who actually knew the guy who got killed sets out to hunt down the killers and so he sets a plan to trap the killers and the man who hired them to kill his old time buddy. The film includes a detective and gangsters/hitmen type of characters, and of course you guessed it, a femme fatale. This is a typical Film Noir and has many characteristics of a typical film noir, including dark and gloomy suburb alleyways and locations, mysterious deaths and killers. And a 'Hero', who of course encounters a variety of problems along the way in finding the two contracted killers. The film is in black and white and used a couple of dutch tilt angles and low angle shots which is stereotypical for the Film Noir genre. It uses a lot of shots which disorientate the viewer, and made the viewer feel confused. The film also includes flashbacks and is set in an urban environment like most classic Film Noirs. Not much else to it really.

Codes And Conventions Of Film Noir

Codes And Conventions Of Film Noir

The Main Character of a typical film noir usually ends up trapped in a difficult situation, most commonly with a woman (The Femme Fatale). The main character is usually a typical male who has a normal life and is chucked into a dilemma where he has to do what he is told to do by the woman through blackmail and bribery. This makes the woman dominant in every situation so the main character has no choice but to follow instructions. Film Noir's covered a wide range of genres, from gangster to detective films, and from stories to films. Story lines were often elliptical, non-linear and twisting. Narratives were frequently complex, maze-like and convoluted, and typically told with foreboding background music, Everyman in film noir fell victim to temptation or was framed by the femme fatal.

Film Noir's were typically made in black and white this wasn't because it was cheap and cost-effective, although it was an advantage; it was to give off a dark and sinister background to the film. The mood is set by the colours used, the setting, the dialogue, the lighting which was adjusted by certain objects which made shadows to create silhouettes, Venetian blinds were commonly used to break up to picture so much so that you couldn’t quite distinguish the person, as if they were being sly or cunning. Smokey rooms from a cigarette gave the impression of a weary and gloomy mood to the situation giving the film that bit more tension. The music was quite jazzy but mysterious which made the situation seem sneaky and undercover and this also made the films that bit more tensed than others. Ideology was used a lot in film noir, and it sent the audience questions and messages, and even sometimes lessons and values of characters.

Flashbacks were commonly used to tell a story or to refer to the past of the story to explain something or to make the audience think and wonder about what’s going on, who’s she? What are they doing? Etc. Many Camera Techniques were used including deep-focus allowing the foreground and the background to be in focus at the same time; low-angled shots looked up on someone to maker them dominant and seem more powerful than something or someone else. And looking down on some one gave the impression of a weak and mindless person.

History of 'Film Noir'

History of ‘Film Noir’.

Film Noir’s were made very cheaply and effectively with new directors and up and coming actors play the parts. They had to be cheap because they were normally made by a multi millionaire company, who at the time were spending thousands of money on the blockbusters and kind of ignored the ‘B-Movies’ as they were called, this meant that the directors had more to play with, they could go deeper into the scripts, and make twists and almost confuse the audience, and people weren’t used to this, so it wasn’t everyone’s cup of tea.

 Pulp Fiction magazines heavily influenced the  creation of Film Noir, with the hard boiled characters  in Pulp Fiction Magazines, and were transferred into  films and into Film Noir’s. Almost all film noir plots  involve the hard-boiled, disillusioned male.

Also Gangster films influenced the creation of Film Noir, with their crime and gangster sub genre plots, film noir used theseto create films similar to this sub genre, gangster films were very popular in the 1920’s to late 1930’s but soon died outbecause of their same plots and same crew members, with actorsin many films similar to each other.

Another influence to Film Noir is that the World War 2 had just ended, at it was a depression time, with dark and lonely times, so the film producers expressed that depression and created films about it. With the Nazi’s taking control of France it was hard to make movies, so Hollywood made them and imported them a few years after the World War and it showed on the screen

 it was a dark time for the world. And in some ways some of the films replicated the Nazi’s codes.

With the world war going on, the jobs the men left behind had to be taken by the women, and as soon as the war finished the jobs were taken by women, and not all of the women wanted to give their jobs up, and most men disagreed to this because women were being united and becoming stronger, and the women didn’t want to go back to being a housewife, they enjoyed work and it was a different experience, and even some film noir film's replicate this with the women being the stronger character on screen. But some directors didn’t like women working so the films showed this by making women a very sneaky and dangerous character on screen, (The Femme Fatlale).  So there was a huge jealousy between Men and Women.

Eastern Europe affected the making of film noir’s, because many people fled the country they were born in the world war due to the threat of the Nazi’s, mainly Jews in France and Germany, so the directors and film workers fled to Hollywood. And their experience, ideas and interpretations were passing over to the films America was creating. So it gave new ideas and a lot of new films about dark times in the war.

German Expression also triggered in some early Film Noir’s with the German directors using the stylistics of German expressionism in the 1920’s onwards. And that generated many odd and wierd scene's

What is ‘Film Noir’.

What is ‘Film Noir’.

Film Noir means ‘Black Film Or Cinema’. It was created by the French film Critic Nino Frank in 1946. He noticed the trend of the films being transported by America to France, and with most of them being dark, mysterious, shadowy, and black. One of the most famous first, Film Noir was, The Maltese Falcon. Made in 1941, but originally made in 1929. It was directed by John Huston. Film Noir’s normally follow the crime and detective genres.

The Brief

The Brief

I am going to be assessed on how well I produce a Contemporary Film Noir opening to a film. And this work should represent Film Noir with a modern twist using the same codes and conventions, stylistics, values, traditions, narrative, and mood originally from Film Noir. We will be assigned into no more than 4 people in a group to complete a contemporary Film Noir.

Whilst this is progressing, I will be adding posts onto this blog to show how (I am, and my Group) are progressing towards producing The Film Noir Opening. This will involve researching Film Noir and getting familiar with the Filming Equipment.  And progressing to our final practical work, this will be to create a 2-3 minute opening to a Neo-Noir (as I have said above), using the modern day stylistics, locations, codes and conventions and many more features will play a factor on how successful it will become, I hope to achieve a high standard final piece and hopefully impress, by showing my editing skills I have learnt before taking this course.

I also hope that you will enjoy reading and interacting through my blog, with pictures, videos, texts, and audio. Which will all be added as I progress through my course.



Welcome To My Blog.

Introduction

Welcome To My Blog, My name is Nathan Ramsey and i am currently studying As Media at Suffolk New College, and i will use this to record my progression through the course.

Links Will be in Red and underlined.