Tuesday 10 May 2011
Group Evaluation
Q7 Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
Also looking back at the prelimanry task we noticed as a group we can't just go into it, and strike lucky. We realized that you have to time manage and sort out jobs for everyone, so that nobody is sitting their twiddling their thumbs.
As a group we feel we have developed our skills hugely since we started the course in September, we are all know confident with the college's camera's and the Apple Macs. Also we feel as a group that not only have our pratical skills improved by our team management skills from taking responsibilty to helping others. However we have come across some problems through the course, one of the major problems was the logging, we still can't quite do it all in one. Another incident was the microphones, we couldn't get a very clear voice with problems like the background noise interupting and also in parts you can hear breathing, but as a group we are still very happy with the outcome of the project.
Also looking back at the prelimanry task we noticed as a group we can't just go into it, and strike lucky. We realized that you have to time manage and sort out jobs for everyone, so that nobody is sitting their twiddling their thumbs.After the preliminary task, we as a group 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.
We discussed the job roles and made it equal, as a group we shared the pre production work. And we feel we have learnt many new academic skills and are all happy with the way each person has worked and the effort we have all put in.
We discussed the job roles and made it equal, as a group we shared the pre production work. And we feel we have learnt many new academic skills and are all happy with the way each person has worked and the effort we have all put in.
Monday 9 May 2011
Group Evaluation
Q6 Leit Henry (Prezzie) - What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructiong this product? (Leit Henry)
Group Evaluation
Q5 How did you attract/address your audience? (Matt Keeble)
We tried to stick to the original film noir style narrative. It was through this style that we were able to include enigma and use mysterious twists in the story such as the dead femme fetale in the beginning and the elusive and shady characters that we used to help attract the viewers attention.
We used young characters when casting the characters due to the target audience being 15- 30. Because in the storyline the characters make the wrong decisions etc, this allows the younger viewers to perhaps relate themselves to the story when watching the film, allowing us to grip them in further and infuse their feelings with the characters. We also used one of the character's ethnicity to our advantage while casting the roles due to one of our actors being mixed race, they often are stereotyped to be bad guys which worked well with his character as "Boss".
We tried to stick to the classic film noir theme when we was choosing how to present the film to the viewer, but included a more modern and darker element added to it. This helped to achieve the noir thriller we were aiming to achieve which helps build tension and suspense for the audience which was what we were hoping to create while filming and editing the final piece.
The overall ideology we wanted to convey to the audience was that making one wrong decision can make you end up in a big mess, which is what happened to the main character in our noir opening. Also another message could be read that mixing in the wrong "crowd" can land you in trouble you weren't expecting to get involved in which teenagers can also relate to.
The costumes were that of the original noirs, long dark coat for the anti-hero and a more promiscuous and revealing outfit for the femme fetale. This helped us achieve the contemporary film noir status we were looking for and the audience can relate this to the old noirs.
We used slow, suspenseful music during the slower scenes where we were establishing the scene and when the action was on screen it was more fast paced which we used to build tension and makes the viewer feel "on edge" and like somethings about to happen which we used to grab the audiences attention.
The main location was of the dark room in which the femme fetale lay dead, this stayed true to the original noirs of dark alleys and streets which help add a darker element to our opening. This allowed for us to use interesting contrasting lighting which they use in the classic noirs to create interesting lighting effects such as when the light shined of the Hitman's hair and created a silhouette on his face. This adds mystery and creates interesting images for the viewer to watch.
We used all these elements to add to the overall effect we wanted to achieve and made the viewer feel tense like a thriller should. We even used simple effects such as the use of simple titles to establish the kind of film we wanted the audience to perceive it as. All this came together to help us achieve the contemporary noir image we were looking for.
We tried to stick to the original film noir style narrative. It was through this style that we were able to include enigma and use mysterious twists in the story such as the dead femme fetale in the beginning and the elusive and shady characters that we used to help attract the viewers attention.
We used young characters when casting the characters due to the target audience being 15- 30. Because in the storyline the characters make the wrong decisions etc, this allows the younger viewers to perhaps relate themselves to the story when watching the film, allowing us to grip them in further and infuse their feelings with the characters. We also used one of the character's ethnicity to our advantage while casting the roles due to one of our actors being mixed race, they often are stereotyped to be bad guys which worked well with his character as "Boss".
We tried to stick to the classic film noir theme when we was choosing how to present the film to the viewer, but included a more modern and darker element added to it. This helped to achieve the noir thriller we were aiming to achieve which helps build tension and suspense for the audience which was what we were hoping to create while filming and editing the final piece.
The overall ideology we wanted to convey to the audience was that making one wrong decision can make you end up in a big mess, which is what happened to the main character in our noir opening. Also another message could be read that mixing in the wrong "crowd" can land you in trouble you weren't expecting to get involved in which teenagers can also relate to.
The costumes were that of the original noirs, long dark coat for the anti-hero and a more promiscuous and revealing outfit for the femme fetale. This helped us achieve the contemporary film noir status we were looking for and the audience can relate this to the old noirs.
We used slow, suspenseful music during the slower scenes where we were establishing the scene and when the action was on screen it was more fast paced which we used to build tension and makes the viewer feel "on edge" and like somethings about to happen which we used to grab the audiences attention.
The main location was of the dark room in which the femme fetale lay dead, this stayed true to the original noirs of dark alleys and streets which help add a darker element to our opening. This allowed for us to use interesting contrasting lighting which they use in the classic noirs to create interesting lighting effects such as when the light shined of the Hitman's hair and created a silhouette on his face. This adds mystery and creates interesting images for the viewer to watch.
We used all these elements to add to the overall effect we wanted to achieve and made the viewer feel tense like a thriller should. We even used simple effects such as the use of simple titles to establish the kind of film we wanted the audience to perceive it as. All this came together to help us achieve the contemporary noir image we were looking for.
Group Evaluation
Q4 Who would be the audience for your media product? (Caroline Chicken)
The target demographic for our picture is males from aged 15 to 25 years and we did our best to promote interest to this specific demographic with actors of that age group making them more sympathetic and keeping the film fast paced.The position in socio-economics status of our target audience would be between E and C1 as this is the class we are representing in our film.
Mainstreamers and reformers would be the type of consumers we appeal to as mainstreamers make up most of the population we want to get most of them interested in seeing our film, reformers are always looking for something new so our fresh approach to film noir would hopefully get their attention
Teenagers would get a sense of personal identification from our film as we use characters of their age group in the storyline as well as a bit of surveillance because of the extreme lifestyle of the characters make the teenage audience feel normal
Genre communities would be a good audience for our film as it would be of great interest to film noir enthusiasts who haven't seen any good new noir for a few years. Anyone who likes an intellectual puzzle would enjoy our film as the plot is based around a young man trying to get to the bottom of a mystery and proving his innocence.
Group Evaluation
Q3 What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
I would hope that our media would be picked up by a distributor like BBC Three, E4 or channel 4, the reason why is because those television channels have a much suited audience age than any others with them all having views from young teens to young adults, this channels would suit our project the best and would then in return hopefully give us more viewers. Also we aren't hoping this comes on in every cinema in the world for four weeks, but even with our low-budget we hope it would be relaesed in some cinemas across the uk for a couple of weeks. Also we would hope that our project would get noticed enough to be rewiewed and hopefully from this and a small website we could make this would generate more antcipation for the release and once again try to attract a large as possible audience we could recieve.
I would hope that our media would be picked up by a distributor like BBC Three, E4 or channel 4, the reason why is because those television channels have a much suited audience age than any others with them all having views from young teens to young adults, this channels would suit our project the best and would then in return hopefully give us more viewers. Also we aren't hoping this comes on in every cinema in the world for four weeks, but even with our low-budget we hope it would be relaesed in some cinemas across the uk for a couple of weeks. Also we would hope that our project would get noticed enough to be rewiewed and hopefully from this and a small website we could make this would generate more antcipation for the release and once again try to attract a large as possible audience we could recieve.
Group Evaluation
Q1 In What ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
Individual 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, 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 Matt was feeling and was re-telling the story to the audience, 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 happy endings, and the murder in our sequence is the enigma because Matt isn't the killer, and the audience never find out who actually 'dun it'. Just like a classic Film Noir.
(2) How does your media product represent particular social groups?
There are four characters in our final project, two having major parts and one minor. The two main characters are Matt and Caroline.
We wanted to show that Matt was an male adult between the ages of 18-25 and so we made deliberate choices about how he should be dressed and how he should act. A long balck 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 isbetrayed and our Film Noir project represents that to. With Matt being set up for the murder of the femme-fatale possibly and ruining his life by getting caught by the police.
We decided as a group that Matt should act in a stereotypical manner for this age group - unsmiling, moody and serious, and make him look like hitman. 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 Caroline the femme fatale is deliberately shown to make her look a stand out and with the colour corrections this made it happen. Especially with the fur coat and the light hair colour this enabled us to show to the audience she was an important character.
We wanted to show that the two males 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. Here Leit hands the envelope which has details about the femme fatale and also how much the reward is for completing the task of killing her.
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, or maybe a televison channel like BBC Three or e4 and c4. 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 like ours would need only a small budget for producing, marketing and distribution.
(4) Who would be the audience for your media product?
As a group we 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. Also we hope that this would attract to a wide as posible audience, and the most common ages where people are always looking into new media is late teens and young adults.
We have decided to rate our film a rating of '12'The reason why is because I think our film would be more a ‘12’ rating than an ‘15' or a '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 '15' or ‘18’. And i would the BBCF would agre (Britsh board Classifcation of film)
(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 Matt'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, Leit, Matt and Caroline, 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 microphone. 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,as a group we shared the pre production work, and i helped with the logging sheets, call sheets and shot list sheet also i helped with the camera work, and i did most of the editing whit help from the group.
conventions of real media products?
In our project, we decided to film an opening of a mystery thriller involving, 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 Matt was feeling and was re-telling the story to the audience, 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 happy endings, and the murder in our sequence is the enigma because Matt isn't the killer, and the audience never find out who actually 'dun it'. Just like a classic Film Noir.
(2) How does your media product represent particular social groups?
There are four characters in our final project, two having major parts and one minor. The two main characters are Matt and Caroline.
We wanted to show that Matt was an male adult between the ages of 18-25 and so we made deliberate choices about how he should be dressed and how he should act. A long balck 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 isbetrayed and our Film Noir project represents that to. With Matt being set up for the murder of the femme-fatale possibly and ruining his life by getting caught by the police.We decided as a group that Matt should act in a stereotypical manner for this age group - unsmiling, moody and serious, and make him look like hitman. 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 Caroline the femme fatale is deliberately shown to make her look a stand out and with the colour corrections this made it happen. Especially with the fur coat and the light hair colour this enabled us to show to the audience she was an important character.
We wanted to show that the two males 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. Here Leit hands the envelope which has details about the femme fatale and also how much the reward is for completing the task of killing her.
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, or maybe a televison channel like BBC Three or e4 and c4. 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 like ours would need only a small budget for producing, marketing and distribution.
(4) Who would be the audience for your media product?
As a group we 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. Also we hope that this would attract to a wide as posible audience, and the most common ages where people are always looking into new media is late teens and young adults.
We have decided to rate our film a rating of '12'The reason why is because I think our film would be more a ‘12’ rating than an ‘15' or a '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 '15' or ‘18’. And i would the BBCF would agre (Britsh board Classifcation of film)
(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 Matt's voice was much clearer and louder.
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, Leit, Matt and Caroline, 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 microphone. 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,as a group we shared the pre production work, and i helped with the logging sheets, call sheets and shot list sheet also i helped with the camera work, and i did most of the editing whit help from the group.
Questionaire Results - Caroline Chicken
I noticed that people answered the first question (“what do you expect from a crime thriller?”) expected the same things from a crime thriller as a noir film; criminals (all), detectives (all) , violence/gunfights (9) and city settings (4). All these are themes used in film noirs. Blade runner was the most mentioned crime thriller in question three as 4 people put it down. Question three had the most varied responses but almost all (8) described an action sequence of some kind e.g the car chase in “the bourne identity”. Only four people ticked yes on the fourth question, 2 put down “sunset boulevard” and the others put “the big sleep” and “in a lonely place” these were filled in by older participants (aged 47 to 60) so they would be more familiar with the classic film noirs. No one ticked yes on question five, film noir is still a rarely used term. All ten participants ticked the first box (enigmas and intrigue), dark storylines were also popular as 6 people ticked that box.
Questionaire - Caroline Chicken
1) What do you expect from a crime thriller?
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2) Name some of your favourite crime thrillers or any crime thrillers you’ve seen recently
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3) Describe your favourite scene or most memorable moments of a crime thriller you’ve seen recently
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4) Have you ever see an old black and white crime thriller (1950-60s)
Yes No
If yes which one(s) have you seen and did you enjoy them
………………………………………………………………………………………….
………………………………………………………………………………………….
5) Are you familiar with the term “film noir”
Yes No
If yes, please explain what you think it means
………………………………………………………………………………………….
………………………………………………………………………………………….
6) Tick the characteristics you like to see films
enigmas and intrigue unhappy endings dangerous women
imperfect protagonists dark storyline urban setting
..........................................................................................................................................
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2) Name some of your favourite crime thrillers or any crime thrillers you’ve seen recently
..........................................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................
3) Describe your favourite scene or most memorable moments of a crime thriller you’ve seen recently
..........................................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................
4) Have you ever see an old black and white crime thriller (1950-60s)
Yes No
If yes which one(s) have you seen and did you enjoy them
………………………………………………………………………………………….
………………………………………………………………………………………….
5) Are you familiar with the term “film noir”
Yes No
If yes, please explain what you think it means
………………………………………………………………………………………….
………………………………………………………………………………………….
6) Tick the characteristics you like to see films
enigmas and intrigue unhappy endings dangerous women
imperfect protagonists dark storyline urban setting
First Group Notes/ Meeting (Caroline Chicken)
Here are some notes we made when first brainstorming our ideasCharacters:
Hero(hitman): takes a job from boss to kill his ex-girlfriend, he arrives at her location and finds her dead (or dying), he realises he has been set up and runs out. a voice over will be added on the action.
Femme fatale: unknown cause of death, signs of a struggle and a bit of blood. Not revealing her face until the end makes her identity an enigma. We will make it clear that she is a femme fatale with her costume and make up
Boss/hitman employer: we wont show his whole face, just the lower half of
his head while he’s on the phone to give him a sense of mystery.
Props
- femme fatale : red dress, fur coat (maybe), shoes, lipstick, blood
- hitman : gun, black coat/jacket, phone
- boss : phone
we changed a lot of our first ideas, like the femme fatale's relationship with the hero and anonymous boss. We decided that the set up of the hero’s previous meetings and feelings for his ex-girlfriend (the femme fetal) would take a lot of time and over complicate the hero’s motives and felt a mysterious identity would be more in keeping with the conventional film noir narrative. We decided to reveal the boss as we needed to show more of the set up of the hit and more exterior shots.
Hero(hitman): takes a job from boss to kill his ex-girlfriend, he arrives at her location and finds her dead (or dying), he realises he has been set up and runs out. a voice over will be added on the action.
Femme fatale: unknown cause of death, signs of a struggle and a bit of blood. Not revealing her face until the end makes her identity an enigma. We will make it clear that she is a femme fatale with her costume and make up
Boss/hitman employer: we wont show his whole face, just the lower half of
his head while he’s on the phone to give him a sense of mystery.Props
- femme fatale : red dress, fur coat (maybe), shoes, lipstick, blood
- hitman : gun, black coat/jacket, phone
- boss : phone
we changed a lot of our first ideas, like the femme fatale's relationship with the hero and anonymous boss. We decided that the set up of the hero’s previous meetings and feelings for his ex-girlfriend (the femme fetal) would take a lot of time and over complicate the hero’s motives and felt a mysterious identity would be more in keeping with the conventional film noir narrative. We decided to reveal the boss as we needed to show more of the set up of the hit and more exterior shots.
Synopsis (Matt Keeble)
The femme fetale is seen dead on the floor.
(Flashback)
The boss appears at a meeting place with a folder. The Hitman is then seen to join him and they both sit on the bench. They wait a little while so not to arouse suspicion. The Boss then leaves and the folder is left behind. The Hitman picks up the folder and reads what he has been assigned to do.
(Present)
The Hitman is shown walking to his hit, Bracing himself as he prepares to do the murder.
(Flashback)
A flashback of a conversation is had between the Hitman and the Boss to confirm the mission. It also shows him preparing for the hit as he takes the photo of the subject to be killed and places it in his coat clearly showing the price he is being paid.
(Present)
As he approaches we see the Hitman preparing his weapon, tightening it so that he can easily strangle his victim. Upon entering the room, he notices the already dead body laying on the floor. He rolls her over and checks her identity. In so doing this, however, he gets the blood of the victim on his hands. Sirens can be heard. The Hitman is on the run. Trying to clear his name. The victims face and identity is revealed.
(Flashback)
The boss appears at a meeting place with a folder. The Hitman is then seen to join him and they both sit on the bench. They wait a little while so not to arouse suspicion. The Boss then leaves and the folder is left behind. The Hitman picks up the folder and reads what he has been assigned to do.
(Present)
The Hitman is shown walking to his hit, Bracing himself as he prepares to do the murder.
(Flashback)
A flashback of a conversation is had between the Hitman and the Boss to confirm the mission. It also shows him preparing for the hit as he takes the photo of the subject to be killed and places it in his coat clearly showing the price he is being paid.
(Present)
As he approaches we see the Hitman preparing his weapon, tightening it so that he can easily strangle his victim. Upon entering the room, he notices the already dead body laying on the floor. He rolls her over and checks her identity. In so doing this, however, he gets the blood of the victim on his hands. Sirens can be heard. The Hitman is on the run. Trying to clear his name. The victims face and identity is revealed.
Tuesday 3 May 2011
The Script - Leit Henry
Business Set-up film opening
INT. DARK ROOM. DAY
A female body lays still and motionless on the floor as gradually it is revealed to be within a dark room in an unknown location. The face of the unknown female is not shown and there are no obvious pointers to what has happened to her.
FADE IN:
EXT. PARK. DAY
During a flashback an UNKNOWN male character approaches a bench in a park with a distinct yellow folder under his left arm and sits down on the bench. From afar HITMAN is seen walking towards the bench; he sits down next to the UNKNOWN character. The two are emotionless and exchange no dialogue between each other. UNKNOWN looks over at HITMAN for a short moment before getting up off of the bench leaving the folder behind on the bench. HITMAN picks up the folder, stands up and opens it briefly reading its contexts, then close it and walks away from the bench.
HITMAN (V.O.)
That was supposed to be my last job.
That was supposed to be my last job.
FADE OUT:
EXT. STREET
HITMAN is shown walking along a run down looking street at pace. Other people are seen around in the distance. HITMAN then walks up a few steps and enters a building. There is a focused and emotionless exterior to the character, his dark clothing and business like look portray a professional appearance, which gives him a shifty presence as his enters the building.
FADE IN:
INT. UNSPECIFIED LOCATION. DAY
HITMAN is shown during a flashback on the phone however there is no dialog though it appears that he is agreeing to something during the call. There is a quick cut to UNKNOWN male who is saying something which is not heard. HITMAN is then shown looking at a photo of an unknown female on the front and its revealed as he turns the photo over that the photo has "£50,000" written on back of it. HITMAN is shown putting the photo into his jacket.
HITMAN (V.O.)
The one to set me up for life.
FADE OUT:
INT. CORRIDOR. DAY
Now inside the building HITMAN enters a room with a wire of some sort wrapped around his hands.
CUT TO:
INT. DARK ROOM. DAY
In the room HITMAN immediately notices the same body as shown before on the ground and walks cautiously towards it. He then turns over the body and produces the photo of the unknown female from his jacket.
HITMAN (V.O.)
But things got complicated.
CUT TO:
INT. DARK ROOM. DAY
He compares the face of the dead body to that of the photo before putting the photo back into his jacket. There is a cut to HITMAN's hands with blood all over them.
HITMAN (V.O.)
Blood on my hands, gotta clear my name.
CUT TO:
INT. DARK ROOM. DAY
Police sirens then sound in the background and HITMAN turns his head to the direction of the sirens. He looks around the room before making a getaway.
HITMAN (V.O.)
The worst thing about going to far
is not knowing you already have.
CUT TO:
INT. DARK ROOM. DAY
CLOSE SHOT - FEMALE FACE
Female body is again shown but this time a close-ups of her face of the female is revealed and is disclosed to be the same female as in the photo. The face of the female is motionless as she lays still it can be assumed at this point that the female is dead.
FADE OUT:
Created by Leit Henry
Group Treatment
Nathan Ramsey - Editing
Before jumping on the machine and editing away, i had to ensure that as a group we all had the same ideas and aspirations for the project once we were happy with the kind of effects we were going to use i jumped on board and started the logging and capturing you need to before you can start chopping and editing on final cut pro. Having used final cut pro i have some experience others don't and therefore that enabled to teach my group new skills and also confidence with the computer.
In final cut pro there were many effects you could use, but we felt the more simpler effects worked the best with our piece, with consideration to the task we were giving. Film Noir's don't use a lot of editing and more focus on the narrative and cinematography, so in some aspects it felt i was restricted to what i could do, but on the other hand it was a challenge not to use the flashy effects. The effects we used was a fade in fade out template, we particular used it at the start and end of our project and after a few minutes perfecting the time and speed of the fades we were happy to move on.
The next effect was the jump cuts, this was more tricky aspect of editing and we did need some advice from our teacher, once the advice was given it was relatively easy, with jump cut the character jumps forward a few yards when walking down a long walk-way and we got this idea from many films like 'Snatch' and 'Run Lola, Run', after we found out how to create a jump cut, you just then need to repeat this several times. Once we fiddled around with the time line and the speeds, as a group we felt this is defiantly our best editing used. Not just because it was probably the hardest effect to create but because on screen it looked very good and professional.
Another effect we used in our final project, was the use of saturation and color corrector. The use of these effects created a more contemporary Film Noir feel, with the characters glowing in black and white or the character being hid by the darkness in other cases. We didn't get lucky with these effects because we had already planned that we were going to use it from the word go, and the effects themselves to a long time tweaking them to make the characters and the props really dark and create that shadowy effect.
Leit Henry - Cinematography
As director for the final project, it’s important for me to think beforehand about the different shots which are going being used in the shoot, as well as making sure the intended visual representation which as a group we planned is met. Therefore cinematography in particular is a vital element in achieving this.
Things to plan before shooting included framing and shot sizing. Using the rule of thirds to adequately frame shots so that the action is well placed on the screen for the viewer is crucial as shots where the action is in the middle of the screen looks amateurish to audiences. Another basic but important nevertheless thing which needs to be thought about when shooting is not breaking the 180 degree line rule of action was not broken.
Particularly for the first few shots of the opening framing and shot sizing where vital as the action in the dark room set which we planned needs to represented well on screen. So for these shoots the point of action or prominence needs to be in a corner of the screen or off straight using the rule of thirds whilst still making sure that all that needs to be in the shot is in the shot. Moreover using the scenery within the room in important to set the scene and this is where mise-en-scene comes in as well. The angle of the shots and sizing must be correct as in the first few shots close-ups and mid-shots in particular are used so camera placement also will be an element to carrying out the shots as planned. Furthermore using the tripod to position the camera will be helpful in shooting the shots with the hitman in the room and the female lying on the floor whereas a freehand shot will be used for the close-up shot and extreme close-ups therefore making the camera to vital for the professionalism of the shots.
The corridor shots in the sequence involve a tracking shot of the hitman approaching the dark room and close-ups of the phone call between the hitman and the person who has apparently arranged the hit on the female as well as the hitman looking at the photo. For the tracking adequate shot length is an element to think about in a short film opening the shot length must not be too long and tedious also there needs to be a point to each shot used in the opening sequence. So for the tracking shot the action needs to be picked up a the right and ended at the correct time as well as making sure that the camera remains steady as is not jumpy although using a tripod is a shot like this will help. As for the close-ups in the corridor scenes just as the close-ups used in the dark room using these shots is very much in keeping with the theme of the opening which is film noir. The close-up was a common shot used in classic noirs and it is used to display facial emotion and/or show the viewer something in more detail. These shots will are likely to be shot free hand with the camera so it is important the height and focus remain accurate along with good shot size and framing also.
Additionally for the outside shots in the park and the street shots making use of the surroundings and good framing will be particularly vital. Another thing to consider although I mentioned before that the opening in not massively long in three minutes; it is also important to ensure that when editing there is enough footage so that there is no requirement to shoot more and everything can be easily edited.
So for the park shots which like the phone call and the hitman looking at the picture are flashback shots to keep with the theme of noirs, there will be an establishing shot of the park bench and the very start of the scene, followed by long shots of the instigator and hitman as they approach the bench. There will then be a mid-shot of the two on the bench then a shot of the hitman leaving with the folder. For these shots considering shot lengths and leaving adequate handles before and after shots will be important. Camera movement should be made easier to control by using a tripod for the shots. Framing will be important in the shots where characters approach and leave the bench to make sure everything is well positioned on screen throughout the shot.
The shots along the street of the hitman walking towards the building require as being predominantly tracking shots leaving handles again before and after as well as good shot sizing and framing. Also the angle of the shot must be thought about action in all in shot. These shots again will be shot using a tripod will be crucial in ensuring the camera stay steady and must be adjusted to effectively produce the shots.
So for the park shots which like the phone call and the hitman looking at the picture are flashback shots to keep with the theme of noirs, there will be an establishing shot of the park bench and the very start of the scene, followed by long shots of the instigator and hitman as they approach the bench. There will then be a mid-shot of the two on the bench then a shot of the hitman leaving with the folder. For these shots considering shot lengths and leaving adequate handles before and after shots will be important. Camera movement should be made easier to control by using a tripod for the shots. Framing will be important in the shots where characters approach and leave the bench to make sure everything is well positioned on screen throughout the shot.
The shots along the street of the hitman walking towards the building require as being predominantly tracking shots leaving handles again before and after as well as good shot sizing and framing. Also the angle of the shot must be thought about action in all in shot. These shots again will be shot using a tripod will be crucial in ensuring the camera stay steady and must be adjusted to effectively produce the shots.
When considering the audience for the opening it is important to remember that as a group we choose teenagers to represent our target audience so the shots used must in a way cater for this being the case. So using interesting shots which hopefully will create a thriller feel to the action will be important to attract and keep the attention of the audience. As I mentioned before using long and dull with likely make more viewers uninterested and become detached for the action which is not what we want.
Caroline Chicken - Mise En Scene
The locations we used were chosen to fulfil film noir style conventions The interior location (film studio) has curtains lining the walls, they created a really interesting visual effect when the spot-light was turned on with a stripy light and dark pattern not unlike the venetian blind effect used in classic noirs. The empty, vacant spaces of the room are filled with darkness so it’s difficult to tell how big the room is and the function of the room is unknown to the audience, the only clue is the table and chair but it still doesn’t tell the audience exactly where they are, this sets up an enigma. The exterior location of Grimwade Street was chosen because of the boarded up building and graffiti, the rough down-and-out looking street Matt walks down matches the conventional noir settings of dodgy back alleys and drab streets.
The small spot light we used was the only source of light in the interior location, this use of key light made deep long shadows contrast with bright (almost) overexposed pools of light, the overall result made average shots look moody and interesting. The exterior location had no artificial lighting, all natural, this made the outdoor shots look bland and flat compared to the indoor shots.
The props we decided to use changed a bit from our original plans, in our brainstorm sessions before shooting we wanted to use a toy gun but later agreed that it was not an appropriate prop to bring in to college and was not as realistic as a garrotte wire. The cord we used turned out to be a much better choice in the end as it gave the actor a good chance to interact with it and perform through it, like winding it around his hands and fingers to build suspense, it was more flexible and safer than a plastic gun. The blood was Burger King ketchup, we wanted to get enough on his hand to be dramatic and shock the audience but not so much that it would effect the classification, I think we achieved a good amount as it is not over the top but enough to be disgusting.
The costumes of the feme fetal and hitman are very different from each other, this was done to highlight the two extremes of film noir, the classical old-school noir and the modern neo-noir. The dead feme fetal has a fur coat and red dress, this stereotypical conventional attire puts her into an easily recognisable role so the audience understands who she is. Matt the hitman is wearing more modern normal clothes that don’t reveal much about him, he needed to be more of an enigma than the dead woman so we thought he should be more neutral and unassuming.
Matt Keeble - Sound
Sound is used in film to create the tone and mood of a scene. We used various sound techniques in our film to establish to the audience the mood we were trying to achieve and set the correct atmosphere to the action on screen.
Diagetic sound is sound that is heard by the characters on screen, often called "actual sound". This is the most obvious sound technique because we normally use it without even thinking were using it. Evidence of this would be the police sirens near the end of the film.
Non-diagetic sound is sound that is coming from a source that isn't in the story. We used this technique when we did our voice-overs. We used this as classic film noirs usually use voice-overs to help narrate the film and give the story a sense of direction or to explain what the character is thinking or feeling at the time, which is why we used the technique.
Music is the main contributor to the atmosphere and tone of the scene. Classic noirs used it to build up tension which is what we tried to do when we chose our music. The aim of the music we chose was for it to be suspenseful and create tension during the slower parts of the opening, slowly building up to the action. This is also used to help create the pace of the film.
Sound FX were used in our noir to make a specific narrative point in the story, for example the police sirens, which alerted the audience that the Hitman was in trouble and allowed up to let the viewers know this without change in music or through the use of dialogue.
Ambiance - There wasn't much background noise in our film opening due to the music creating the tone instead of ambient noise. This allowed us to fully control the mood of the scene instead of relying on background noise while we were filming which adds to the building of atmosphere.
Volume - We used volume mostly in the music, voice-over and sirens. We changed the volume of the music at certain points to make it louder which quickened the pace of the scene when it was more action packed. We lowered the music when there was a voice-over so it could clearly be heard and so the audience definitely know what the character is thinking. We used sirens that were louder than the music to add the element of danger to the scene which helped to increase the urgency of the main character's getaway.
Caroline Chicken - Mise En Scene
The locations we used were chosen to fulfil film noir style conventions The interior location (film studio) has curtains lining the walls, they created a really interesting visual effect when the spot-light was turned on with a stripy light and dark pattern not unlike the venetian blind effect used in classic noirs. The empty, vacant spaces of the room are filled with darkness so it’s difficult to tell how big the room is and the function of the room is unknown to the audience, the only clue is the table and chair but it still doesn’t tell the audience exactly where they are, this sets up an enigma. The exterior location of Grimwade Street was chosen because of the boarded up building and graffiti, the rough down-and-out looking street Matt walks down matches the conventional noir settings of dodgy back alleys and drab streets.
The small spot light we used was the only source of light in the interior location, this use of key light made deep long shadows contrast with bright (almost) overexposed pools of light, the overall result made average shots look moody and interesting. The exterior location had no artificial lighting, all natural, this made the outdoor shots look bland and flat compared to the indoor shots.
The props we decided to use changed a bit from our original plans, in our brainstorm sessions before shooting we wanted to use a toy gun but later agreed that it was not an appropriate prop to bring in to college and was not as realistic as a garrotte wire. The cord we used turned out to be a much better choice in the end as it gave the actor a good chance to interact with it and perform through it, like winding it around his hands and fingers to build suspense, it was more flexible and safer than a plastic gun. The blood was Burger King ketchup, we wanted to get enough on his hand to be dramatic and shock the audience but not so much that it would effect the classification, I think we achieved a good amount as it is not over the top but enough to be disgusting.
The costumes of the feme fetal and hitman are very different from each other, this was done to highlight the two extremes of film noir, the classical old-school noir and the modern neo-noir. The dead feme fetal has a fur coat and red dress, this stereotypical conventional attire puts her into an easily recognisable role so the audience understands who she is. Matt the hitman is wearing more modern normal clothes that don’t reveal much about him, he needed to be more of an enigma than the dead woman so we thought he should be more neutral and unassuming.
Matt Keeble - Sound
Sound is used in film to create the tone and mood of a scene. We used various sound techniques in our film to establish to the audience the mood we were trying to achieve and set the correct atmosphere to the action on screen.
Diagetic sound is sound that is heard by the characters on screen, often called "actual sound". This is the most obvious sound technique because we normally use it without even thinking were using it. Evidence of this would be the police sirens near the end of the film.
Non-diagetic sound is sound that is coming from a source that isn't in the story. We used this technique when we did our voice-overs. We used this as classic film noirs usually use voice-overs to help narrate the film and give the story a sense of direction or to explain what the character is thinking or feeling at the time, which is why we used the technique.
Music is the main contributor to the atmosphere and tone of the scene. Classic noirs used it to build up tension which is what we tried to do when we chose our music. The aim of the music we chose was for it to be suspenseful and create tension during the slower parts of the opening, slowly building up to the action. This is also used to help create the pace of the film.
Sound FX were used in our noir to make a specific narrative point in the story, for example the police sirens, which alerted the audience that the Hitman was in trouble and allowed up to let the viewers know this without change in music or through the use of dialogue.
Ambiance - There wasn't much background noise in our film opening due to the music creating the tone instead of ambient noise. This allowed us to fully control the mood of the scene instead of relying on background noise while we were filming which adds to the building of atmosphere.
Volume - We used volume mostly in the music, voice-over and sirens. We changed the volume of the music at certain points to make it louder which quickened the pace of the scene when it was more action packed. We lowered the music when there was a voice-over so it could clearly be heard and so the audience definitely know what the character is thinking. We used sirens that were louder than the music to add the element of danger to the scene which helped to increase the urgency of the main character's getaway.
Two film Openings, that inspire me (Jaws and D.O.A)
Jaws
One night, after a beach party, Chrissie Watkins (Susan Backlinie) goes skinny-dipping in the ocean off of Amity Island, a peaceful beach community that relies on summer tourism and fishing for its economic survival. While another partygoer lies drunk on the beach, Chrissie is attacked by something unseen that comes at her from underneath the water. As she screams in terror and pain, it drags her back and forth in the water before pulling her underneath for good.
D.O.A
Frank Bigelow (Edmond O'Brien) begins his tale by walking into a Police Station and telling a detective "I want to report a murder...mine." The flashback shows how he takes a vacation in San Francisco from his job as a CPA to be targeted and poisoned with luminous chemical called iridium. Told that he only has 24 hours to live Bigelow desperately retraces his steps trying to locate his murderer and along the way runs into a gang of criminals who have used a shipment of iridium for a crime. Bigelow becomes a target for elimination because he notarized a shipment of the poison and, by association, is a witness to the crime. Even though we know from the beginning that our lead character is in his own final act, the story grips us with the simple need to know the truth and follow our storyteller as he finds out who has murdered him. The film has an existential weight as a "dead" man goes through the motions to find his killer.
One night, after a beach party, Chrissie Watkins (Susan Backlinie) goes skinny-dipping in the ocean off of Amity Island, a peaceful beach community that relies on summer tourism and fishing for its economic survival. While another partygoer lies drunk on the beach, Chrissie is attacked by something unseen that comes at her from underneath the water. As she screams in terror and pain, it drags her back and forth in the water before pulling her underneath for good.
D.O.A
Frank Bigelow (Edmond O'Brien) begins his tale by walking into a Police Station and telling a detective "I want to report a murder...mine." The flashback shows how he takes a vacation in San Francisco from his job as a CPA to be targeted and poisoned with luminous chemical called iridium. Told that he only has 24 hours to live Bigelow desperately retraces his steps trying to locate his murderer and along the way runs into a gang of criminals who have used a shipment of iridium for a crime. Bigelow becomes a target for elimination because he notarized a shipment of the poison and, by association, is a witness to the crime. Even though we know from the beginning that our lead character is in his own final act, the story grips us with the simple need to know the truth and follow our storyteller as he finds out who has murdered him. The film has an existential weight as a "dead" man goes through the motions to find his killer.
Small-town accountant Frank Bigelow goes to San Francisco for a week's fun prior to settling down with fiancée Paula. After a night on the town, he wakes up with more than just a hangover; doctors tell him he's been given a "luminous toxin" with no antidote and has, at most, a week to live! Not knowing who did it or why, Bigelow embarks on a frantic odyssey to find his own murderer.
My own idea, story line/synopsis treatment for Film Noir Opening
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.
Watch And Report on a Contemporary Neo Noir
BRICK
Introduction
Brick is a modern adapation of a Film Noir, the film was created and directed by Rian Johnson. Brick is classed as a neo noir throughout the film it uses some elements of classic noirs but has many updated stylstics to suit the modern world better.
Snyopsis and anaylsist
The film 'Brick' was produced in 2005 and was written and directed by Rian Johnson. This is a film that uses alot of the visual traits of classic film noir and has a deep narrative structure. This film was made on quite a small budget similar to the B-movies that classic noir stemmed from. What is especially distinctive about this movie is its very original using many different cinematography and editing techniques which can be quite visually confusing for the audience at times. The film and its characters are based around an American high school and the plot is centered around a student named Brendan Frye.
His ex-girlfriend emily was murdered and he sets out to find out who done it. During this, he encounters an underworld within the high school with crime, gangs, drug dealing all involved. As the storyline evolves it becomes clear that Emily had familiarised herself with a highly dangerous group of people and this is what led to her death. The mystery of her murder provides the basis for a typical noir storyline and the various gang members and drug dealers reinforce many of the perceptions of noir characters but they fit far more into modern society than the gangsters, detectives etc in classic film noirs.The storyline is complicated, twisting and non-linear starting at the middle with the first part of the story being a flashback similar to many classic noirs and the second part following a more conventional storyline (starting in the middle and finishing at the end).
The opening scene is shot in a storm drain by a tunnel and embodies many noir characteristics. The very first shot we see is an extreme close-up of Brendan's eyes immeadiately giving it an uncomfortable look and feel. We quickly get an idea of what the plot might be when we see a dead girl's body lying next to him. This scene is accompanied by fairly low key lighting and slow, sinister but quite modern sounding music is played. As in many classic noirs this is a scene we revisit on several occasions.
The following scene is set two days previous to the first and involves Brendan in a distressed phonecall with his ex girlfriend emily who is crying and obviously in distress. Here she is talking about how she did not know that 'the brick' was bad and how 'the Pin's on it' making reference to the plot and what happens later in the film . There is the familiar heavy breathing as the characters talk making the audience feel the character's discomfort. In following scenes he gets into a fight with her current boyfriend and then meets up with her. She tells him about 'trouble with the brick' and then leaves him. Lots of close up shots are used here to capture the emotion and obvious distress on the characters faces.
One of the film's most striking shots is used in a dream Brendan is having a dream where he is standing in the same storm drain where Em's body was dumped. The camera is facing the tunnel and something very quickly rises out of the water and engulfs the camera, this is accompanied by a foreboding sound that gets progressively louder. This was one of many unusual cinematography techniques used to shock the viewer or make them jump.
Soon after we return to the tunnel with Brendan next to his ex's body. Here we see some familiar noir lighting techniques as he hears footsteps running towards him and runs down the tunnel. At this point it is shot from inside the tunnel and we see some high contrast in the light as we look toward the end of the tunnel. The sound of footsteps but characters being invisible in the darkness help give the sense of insecurity and claustrophobia to the audience. Sinister and foreboding background music is played everytime we revisit the tunnel.
One of the key sequences in the film is when we are introduced to violent gang member Tug. He is first seen punching Brendan and we see this from the perspective of Brendan himself giving the audience the idea they are being punched. A low angle shot from the perspective of Brendan lying on the ground to emphasise the superior stature of tug. Shortly afterwards we revisit the same character and once again he is punched repeatedly. As he is the picture is sometimes blurred or appears to vibrate which can be quite disorientating for the viewer (I found it made me a bit dizzy) and adds to the sense that they are part of the fight. Afterwards he is taken in the boot of a car to a building to see the gang's ringleader and drug dealer 'the Pin'. He is introduced to us in a poorly lit room from a long shot that is initially blurred as it is from the perspective of Brendan without his glasses on. Moments later he is thrown to the ground and we see an example of a dutch tilt as the camera is shown to be crashing onto its side along with Brendan. This combined with the low key lighting used in this indoor scene probably embodies noir cinematography and lighting more than any other sequence and it is presumably designed to give a disorientating and uncomfortable feel to the audience throughout.
Some of the mise en scene used is typical to the noir genre with characters very regularly smoking cigarettes. There is also a scene where a character is shot dead by the tunnel where a gun appears, incidentally much of this scene was also shot from inside the tunnel giving the same high contrast lighting as mentioned earlier. The clothes the characters wear are typical of the age group and type of people these characters are represented as e.g the main character wearing a jacket and t-shirt most of the time and the tug wearing a white vest showing his muscle. The locations tend to just be simple suburban or school environments.
In conclusion I feel the film follows the common traits of film noir but uses the modern society and the storyline to make it more realistic for modern viewer of today. It is definatly contempory and designed to appeal to a young audience. The film recieved positive reviews and was praised for the originality of some of its visual techniques as well as what the director had managed to produce on a limited budget.
One of the key sequences in the film is when we are introduced to violent gang member Tug. He is first seen punching Brendan and we see this from the perspective of Brendan himself giving the audience the idea they are being punched. A low angle shot from the perspective of Brendan lying on the ground to emphasise the superior stature of tug. Shortly afterwards we revisit the same character and once again he is punched repeatedly. As he is the picture is sometimes blurred or appears to vibrate which can be quite disorientating for the viewer (I found it made me a bit dizzy) and adds to the sense that they are part of the fight. Afterwards he is taken in the boot of a car to a building to see the gang's ringleader and drug dealer 'the Pin'. He is introduced to us in a poorly lit room from a long shot that is initially blurred as it is from the perspective of Brendan without his glasses on. Moments later he is thrown to the ground and we see an example of a dutch tilt as the camera is shown to be crashing onto its side along with Brendan. This combined with the low key lighting used in this indoor scene probably embodies noir cinematography and lighting more than any other sequence and it is presumably designed to give a disorientating and uncomfortable feel to the audience throughout.
Some of the mise en scene used is typical to the noir genre with characters very regularly smoking cigarettes. There is also a scene where a character is shot dead by the tunnel where a gun appears, incidentally much of this scene was also shot from inside the tunnel giving the same high contrast lighting as mentioned earlier. The clothes the characters wear are typical of the age group and type of people these characters are represented as e.g the main character wearing a jacket and t-shirt most of the time and the tug wearing a white vest showing his muscle. The locations tend to just be simple suburban or school environments.
In conclusion I feel the film follows the common traits of film noir but uses the modern society and the storyline to make it more realistic for modern viewer of today. It is definatly contempory and designed to appeal to a young audience. The film recieved positive reviews and was praised for the originality of some of its visual techniques as well as what the director had managed to produce on a limited budget.
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