Evaluation of the Preliminary Exercise.

Evaluation

I am evaluating the Preliminary Exercise that I have just done with my group and another. We had a group of three me, Kirsten Day and Victoria Chetley, for our actors we joint up with another group. All three of us helped with getting the story board correct, we all done one each and took ideas from each to make a final story board so we knew roughly what we were going to do. This is the same for the script, even though it's simple as anything we all looked over it and sorted out what they were going to say. We all had a go at shooting, recording sound and writing the shot number and takes down on the shot list.We all also had a go at editing the film and making it look better and pefessional in a way. I did the over the shoulder shots and the wide shot of them looking at each other.I also recorded the sound for the middle shots, the beginning shots I took down the shot list so we knew where we were at and what shots we were going to keep and the others that need to be done again. We all carried and looked after the gear when it was out and helped each other set the equipment up. I think my contribution was as fair as the others contribution, we shared it out fairly and even so we all had equal amount to do. I think my shots where good and I especially the other the shoulder shots, I was happy that I got their eye contact right so it matched up when they spoke and didn't look out of place. I enjoyed the editing even though there are a few bits that could of done with a bit longer time limit if I look back now. Also when shooting the film it would of been nicer to have a bigger space because as you can tell when the actor is walking down the hall when he gets closer to the door it begins to cut out his head and I think it would of looked alot better if we could of had his head into the shot. I also think that the actors could of said their words a little slower so it would of acutally looked like a nie relaxed coversation and not something that looked rushed and so quick when they talk. Also when the actor who walks down the corridoor walks into the room he does this slight laugh that I picked up on, if we could go back I would re shot that scene and try and get it so he doesn't laugh because it just makes the film look a lot better that way. There is another spot I noticed witch I would change and thats the same scene where he sits down, he just relax and when it snips to the other shoulder shot he is relaxed and it just looks odd. I would re do this scene andmake sure when he sits down he's not moving or swinging on the chair I think we picked up on the editing quite quickly and I feel confident with it.

I learnt a bit while making the film, I learnt how to work together with other people and sort things out between us and how it's better if everybody has a bit to do not somebody taking it and trying to do it all so no one else gets nothing to do. My knowledge on how to pan and getting the correct angle on a camera has improved a lot from this film it helped me understand a lot more when getting the perfect view point. Also I learnt about the 180 degree angle and the rule of thirds, these helped create believeable shots and we did stick to the 180 degree line and I was rather happy about that and putting these in use. I also think learning about the different angle shots helped us a lot and the different camera shots helped such as close ups and wides shot. Once we knew what each shot does to emotion and how it helps the audience view that character we could use it to our advantage and I think this did help when we made our film.  I think the hardest thing was the 180 degree line because we were all aware of it and we tried so hard not to try and cross it. However if I was given a camera at the beginning of the course I doubt I could of done most of these shots and getting everything ready like we did for this, if someone said do an over the shoulder shot I wouldn't of known what to do but know I do and it makes me feel confident in knowing what i'm doing. I think the overall technical quality was good for our first go, I think I would try and give and little bit more time on the film at the beginning and end so theres enough time for us to edit so it doesn't seem like one of our actors is cutting the ends of his words. If I done it again I would try and improve the sound quality at least, it sounds a bit muffly at the begining of the film. I think the camera work was rather good for our first go, I think there are certian pieces we would need to clean up a bit if we were to shoot it again. I think the use of our editing was rather good, if we didn't get to edit the film then I would believe it would be in shambles and it wouldn't look that good, we had to shoot this film in the college in a corridor. I think we could of had a better place in the college because our actors looked like they should of been at college which was good.

Brief for Preliminary Exercise.

Preliminary Exercise.


For our first piece of filming we are doing a  Preliminary Exercise, we shall put everything that we have learnt into the film even if it's going to be a few mintues long. It's also so we have some expierence before we go out and start shooting out Film Noir piece. We shall try and fit in everything we have learnt in the lesson such as the 180 degree rule and the rule of thirds to make out films look that extra bit better. Our film has to be on a person walking down a corridoor and entering a room where he or she meets someone and they start having a conversation in the other room. Before filming we will have to do a storyboard so we know what shots are going to be used and what postion the character needs to be in, we then needed to set out a script for the others to use even though it might be a few words we need to get it right and make it easy for them to say. We arn't allowed more than eight different shots and it has to be a range of different shot sizes. After we have completed the film we will then edit it on the macs and make it into a short film, we will use Final Cut Pro to edit our films and make them into what we want. Every person in group will get a chance to have a go at filming, recording and putting down the shot takes so no one will not get a go and it's fair that way.

Analysis Of A Neo Noir film opening. Two.

Se7en

 Seven was made in 1995, its director was David Fincher and was written by Andrew Kevin Walker. It’s about two detectives who are on the hunt for a serial killer who uses the deadly sins as their modus operandi. The music at the beginning of the film is Nine Inch Nails with a slowed down verison of 'Closer'. It's has a part where it goes 'you get me closer to God.' Which is a refrence to the film as the killer uses the deadly sins to kill their victums. When it first begins the music is kind of down beat, rough and a bit fast... You dunno when the next beat is going to be but it makes the auidence feel a little unsettled especially with a few pieces of what happens in the credits. The beginning is really a list of what a killer needs or what this killer needs and what they do to prepare, the images are only on for a few seconds so if you look away you might miss a few important pieces. The light in this helps aswell theres somethings that are a bit to dark and maybe it's something they don't want you to see. This beginning pulls you in even if you are a little creeped out by it at first, theres a lot of showing of razor blades, needles, people, books, it's as if it's only the props are important and not the person themself as they are never shown as a whole. This adds to the mysteriousness off it all and makes the viewer either confused and wanting more or just wanting more. There is always a contrast between white and black even in the titles, it seems to be giving the good and evil effect of maybe.

Analysis Of A Neo Noir film opening.

Kill Bill Volume ONE.

Kill Bill is a two part film, volume one and volume two. It was directed and written by Quentin Tarantino and was released in 2003, the main character is played by Uma Thurman and the character's name is Beatrix. The opening to this film is rather extreme in some ways but I think thats the great thing about it, it pulls the audiences attention straight into the film and makes them want more. We don't know who these people are except in the opening we can tell that the guy talking is called Bill as thats what it says on the hanker cheif he uses to wipe her up says. I would say this is the main prop, because it's lets us in on a little something even though the film hasn't even started yet we know his name is Bill and what he done. The use of the black and white is rather good aswell because it makes the audience think that it's maybe a flash black? It also makes the blood on her skin stand out a lot more and the contrast goes well with the meaning. Another thing that pulls us in is that we don't know who these characters are and we don't not whats going on and even on the last moment where Beatrix says "Bill... It's your baby." The audience now whats to know what going on and has he actully killed her. Tarantino knows how to grab the audiences attention straight away and it works.

Analysis Of A Neo Noir...Brick.

BRICK

Brick was released in 2005, it is an American neo-noir film which was written and directed by Rhian Johnson, Johnson admired books written by Dashiell Hammett. Johnson liked the hardboiled detectives and he read most of Hammett's books, Johnson grew up with film noir which made him more interested in creating his own noir but different. This is where he created Brick.

 

  When the film starts at first the music for the opening screen is gentle but has a hint of sadness and mysteriousness, a lot of the sound through the film are done with classic instruments just like a film noir would have. However there is one scene where a unusual instrument is used, unusual because you don't hear them at all in film noirs but it still adds effect to make the emotion of the movie come across, maybe this is just a new take on sound for Neo noirs. When we first see two of the characters we can guess that these two are quite important and they are the most important character there is played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt who is Brendan Frye, Brendan choose to distance himself from other people and really on talks to one person and thats a character called Brain. We find this out later in the film and we also find out that he's the noir's anti-hero, just like a film noir would have. The first scene shows Brendan and a blonde haired girl, the girl is laying on the floor at this point we're guessing she's hurt or even worse dead by the way Brendan's facial expressions are however we don't know how. In good old Noir fasion we then get a flash back, our flash back is of two days a go. This scene starts of with barely any talking, just Brendan walking up to his locker an where he finds a piece of paper telling him where to go. This is used to spread the tension, because on the opening Johnson has already grabbed the audiences attention it's just making them wait to see what will happen nexted. We then find out that the woman on the floor was actually Brendan's Ex girlfriend Emily Kostich who is played by Emilie de Ravin. He recieves a distressed call from her, this is when he tries to be the hero and goes out to find her but later on finds her dead near the bridge. Brendan then becomes a detective of some sort to try and find out what happened to Emily and why it happened. This starts to make him into a hardboiled character just like Johnson wanted, he starts using a lot of violence to find out what he needs. This kind of leads up to where he meets the Pin and 'Tug', we see Brendan fight quite a bit in this intill him and Tug meet. Tug is played by Noah Fleiss, an associate of the Pin's, his right hand man that gets the dirty stuff.

Tug seems to be motivated by violence and uses it a lot on our main character, The Pin is a drug dealer and one of the largest ones around, he's played by Lukas Haas.

There are two Femme Fatales in Brick, one is Laura Dannon, a popular high school girl who has a lot of knowledge on Pin and she is involved with some of th Pin's dealings. She tries to get Brendan to trust her through out the whole film after Emily's death but Brendan doesn't really have any of it intill he turns into the anti-hero where he sleeps with her but he's soon to notice her fag but and remembers it from the call when Emily called him. She's always there when Brendan needed help, the props that she wears are 1950's style some of them anyway like the fur coat and even how she has her hair at points all link back to film noir. Brendan finds her out a makes the jigsaw fit together when he finds out she was the one who caused Emily's death. Like a Femme fatale would she begs Bredan to believe she didn't do it and cries. Our other Femme Fatale is a girl named Kara, she's one because she seems to lure in men and makes them do what she wants and when she wants it. Kara seductive actress in the school play and it seems she likes to get her own way.

The setting is normally a old urban area, even the school was. This fits in perfectly with the film noir setting as most of these were urban and crowded by the city. Also the plot for this film was all based on murder just like a film noir would be something to do with crime.

 

Neo Noir film.

Film 2.

Se7en
Seven was made in 1995, its director was David Fincher and was written by Andrew Kevin Walker. It’s about two detectives who are on the hunt for a serial killer who uses the deadly sins as their modus operandi. The detective’s are paired together, one old and knows how to handle things another a rookie and is still new. The setting is like a film noir it rains mostly all the time in its urban landscape. It’s dark and gloomy like a film Noir, there’s murder, a lot of it. There’s two heroes the detectives at the end of the film Somerset states that he shall stay on for the police department scared to know that he’s the only one fighting criminals

Two Neo Noir

Blade Runner

Blade Runner was made in 1982, its director is Ridley Scott, it was written by Hampton Fancher and David Webb Peoples. Blade Runner is set in the future 2019 in Los Angeles, it has tried to keep the urban set like Film Noirs by keeping it in a urban area like L.A. Also keeps the main character as a cop or a character like you would have in a film noir. He’s a worn out tired cop who wants out of the force but is drawn back when ‘4 skin jobs’(replicants) hack a ship back to Earth, he’s no normal cop you would get in a Film Noir though he’s a cop who specialises in terminating replicants. He’s a Blade Runner.Deckard is a typical film noir anti-hero, he drinks too much, a loner and mistrusts authorities. There are also some Femme fatales Rachael, Pris and Zhora could be portrayed as a femme fatale. Even the props, Deckard uses a trench coat and a gun of course he wears the hat as well. The plot could be taken in as a film noir plot as well because Deckard is assigned a awful mission, falls in love with a dangerous woman and then realises he’s been deceived.

Neo Noir

Neo Noir.. What is it

Neo Noir is a style of film that is modern and has taken a few things from the Film Noir, some times ideas of settings or characters and then added a new modern storyline in with the story. It has the temptations of a Film Noir but with a twist.    

Here are a few neo noir films.

Double Indemnity

Double Indemnity

We watched a classic Noir in a Media lesson and this is my write up on it.

Double Indemnity is a classic Film Noir, it’s supposed to be one of the best Film Noir around for that age. Directed by Billy Wilder, Double Indemnity is used by insurance businesses. It means when somebody who had life insurance dies in a weird or unusual way then the money shall be doubled. Anyways the film is about a insurance officer whose name is Walter Neff, in the few minutes of the opening we already have our main character our, ‘Anti-hero.’ The beginning of the film is different to most film now days, in true Noir style it started from the end of the story to the beginning with our main character explaining it by using flashbacks. Even the use of the lighting here has been used when he sits down the use Venetian blinds have been used, we can also tell that it’s night. The contrast between the blacks and whites show us this.

 Neff our main character tells us how he was doing a routine insurance policy, this is where he meets the stories own femme fatale Phyllis Dietrichson. As soon as we see this fatale the lighting is straight on her face making it lighter and her eye to sparkle also when we first meet our fatale she’s just wearing a gown over her chest as she admits she’s been sun bathing. Neff is taking in by such beauty, especially when she comes down and shows off her pretty little anklet. They both start to flirt and somehow our fatale slips in how she can get her husband life insurance without him knowing, Neff clicks on to her plan and tells her he wants no part in it. However our fatale’s charm has worked on him and she pays him a visit later on that night. The femme fatale is a dangerous women, like a black widow spider. She uses the male to get what she wants and as soon as she has it she’ll get rid of them as well. And Phyllis does this well. Billy Wilder makes sure that Phyllis is a character who stands out and that can’t be missed, he does this by props Ice tea, big glasses and even the anklet.

Neff agrees to help kill Phyllis’s husband and brings in the use of a Double indemnity, he tells her not to worry and that he’ll sort out a plan just like a hero would of some kind. Our femme fatale now has control over our hero and turns him into a anti-hero, she brings him into a life of crime, murder. Neff and Phyllis do kill her husband but mange to make it look like he fell from a train, the contrast when they kill her husband is dark and all you can really see is the fatale’s face, her husband’s and a shadow when she honks the horn of the car

They set it out so Phyllis’s was waiting at the track to place his body out on to it and then they could drive off. This is all done in the dark, grim of night. However they both start to panic and build up tension when the car doesn’t want to start. Here the director was quite clever he didn’t use no words at all, he just used the expression on the characters faces to tell the audience how they are feeling when they couldn’t turn it on at all.

The insurance company are not having any of it and don’t believe Phyllis’s husband fell instead jumped. Of course this doesn’t go to well and even Barton Keyes, Neff’s colleague doesn’t believe it was suicide. He goes into a bit more and tries to find out what went on and why. He realises that Mr Dietrichson didn’t claim on the insurance once he had broken his leg and then tells Neff this and that they’ve been watching Phyllis’s house and think they have them both. And in the dead of night Neff goes to see Phyllis, he takes a gun. Phyllis knows he’s coming and has a gun as well she shoots and it him and the same goes for Neff. This is all done in such dark all you can make out is the figures of the characters. This is when Neff goes back to the insurance companies offices and tells the whole story into his Dictaphone.

There isn’t much sound in Double Indemnity at all just a few bits of music here and there and when there is it’s a bit downbeat jazzy type of music. The whole setting is urban, dark streets but when they place the body of the fatale’s husband down it’s not really that urban. Billy Wider knows that to make a good film you need more than a good storyline you need good props and settings as well. The ideology of this film I would say was that crime doesn’t pay. Or never trust a woman? Especially at them times when women were just house wives.

History of Noir

What is Film Noir?

Film Noir was highly popular in the 1940s- late 1950s. The name Film Noir was made in 1946 roughly by a French Cineaste Nino Frank, it best described the films coming from Hollywood after World War Two. However these weren’t the first Film Noirs to be made after then, Film Noirs were started in the early 1940 but because of World War Two there was no chance of getting them over to France for people to watch. When Nino Frank started to watch the films that had only just came across he and maybe others. He noticed the darkness in the films, that’s where Film Noir got its name from the darkness in the films. World War Two influenced Film Noir quite a lot because of the horrid things the Nazi’s and Hitler were doing at the time, this put some of the depression into Film Noirs. Not only did the War help with Film Noir’s but it also caused some of the politics happening at the time helped also, these helped set the characters and the moods of the films. Because of World War Two we have the Femme fatale a female character that is always has a powerful control over the leading man. World War Two helped because at the time when men were at War they needed someone to take over their jobs and that’s where the females came into plan. At the end of a Film Noir the Femme Fatale normally has something bad happening to her in. Another thing the World War Two had influence over was some German directors and film makers escaped to America where they brought different things over to America. America didn’t have such as stylistics on ways of working. The ways of how shadows and shades and light helped set a good film came over with it, these are a few things Film Noirs have. They also brought mistrust, the mood of darkness, anxiety and pessimism. This all came from being subjects from the Nazi’s. Most Film Noir’s started off as B-movies, things that use to come on before a better high budgeted film. B-movies were low budgeted, emerging stars, reflect more into real life then a movies and also were sneakier and changed a lot of things. Film Noir was also influence by ‘hard boiled’ a lot of which were based on seedy private eye crime books of pulp fiction authors. This is where femme fatales and anti heroes were used a lot to make the film more interesting and more like real life. They often used the same sets of crime and gangster movies, loads of people still argue that film Noir isn’t a genre because it seems as if it was taken from these two genre’s and it’s still in both of these. This Film Noir is where it wasn’t the criminals making the crime it was the dodgy private eyes with their femme fatales. In Film Noir the usual relationship is a male character who is normally a private eye, cop, journalist, government agent, war veteran or a criminal. The lowlife has normally go two choices of women. The beautiful and the dutiful one. So in all Film Noir is a film which is full of darkness, depression, corruption, Femme Fatales making the male to choose the wrong decision. Streets full of rain and shadows, minimal light at most of the times. Film Noir is a mood set across well because of all of these things makes it that way.

Second Film Noir.

Out Of The Past

Out Of the Past has a downbeat soundtrack that first catches your attention, this films contrast between the black, white and grey makes it clear to us that Film Noir is a wonderful and clever thing. It was dark, loomy and set the mood to terror easily. Theres betrayal, passion and a massive dark plot in this films which most Film Noir's should have. The Femme fatale lures the detective Mitchum in and also a low-life gangster.
The film was perfectly portrayed, it had eveything that a Noir film should have even if it's a B-movie and low budgeted it made it feel like it was real life. And thats why Film Noirs are so special and so great.

Two Film Noirs

KISS ME DEADLY




This has been said to be the most apocalyptic Noir of all time, even though it was roughly one of the last good Noir's to be made. The main character in the film is a  fascistic private investigator whos name was Mike Hammer who was known as being a hard, selfish cop. This Noir is very brutal and is full of paranoia because at the time the Cold War with Russia was going on. The film itself was very low budget, a B-Movie and only costed around $400,000 without recognizable actors. The film has a lot of great cinematography, it had different and unusal shot points aswell. It had everything a Noir film should have, even character wise it had destructive feeme fatales, low-life gangsters and ofcourse an Anti hero. The mood in the film was set easily with these already you could sense that the film was ment to be dark and that people were up to no good... Or that you were ment to think that. It makes the audience paranoid aswell as the characters.

Origns of Film Noir.

Cinematography In a film Noir are often distorted and many have different camera angles suchs as a dutch tilt, they use different camera effects so it makes the femme fetale seem to have more control or the anti-hero to have no control. To add to the effect of mysterious things the camera angel is sometimes blocked by something or something is in the way.

Mise En- Scene

Film Noir is mostly set in an urban area, somewhere like San Francisco and normally it's all about the 'rough' parts of the city or day to day areas that people go past. It's like this because it makes it feel more real life and that it could happen to anyone. Film Noir's are based on wrong decisions and normally if you make a wrong decision like hiding a dead body that was your friend or a strange person in the street then you'll get what’s coming to you.  Film Noirs are normally based on murders or crime which is happening in the city. The normal setting for a Film Noir is rain, damp streets, and filthy urban landscapes. To get the right shot or scene in Film Noir they use a lot of high contrasts between dark black and whites, some times there are a few greys floating around but this helps a lot to set the mood and the film. Film Noir's lighting is mostly Low key lighting where three lights are normally used and only the places that need light get it such as the face. This is where the venetian blinds come in and help set the shot or scene.

Sound
 The sound used in Film Noir is normally Melancholy downbeat music such as Jazz either to calm the tension or to make the tension in the film a lot worse to make the audience tense up and think what’s going on. Sometimes heavy breathing and silence can help with setting the mood. Because the film is normally set in a city there would be a lot of urban sound effects within the film to make it feel a lot more real life then anything else.

Editing
Film Noirs normally start at the end so maybe the femme fetale is explaing the story or maybe even the anti-hero is telling it. Film Noirs were often shot in day instead of night because this was cheaper they made it look like night by using filters that barely costed anything then. Film Noirs often had a lot of jump cuts in them.

Narratives
Theres many narratives for a Film Noir such as  :-

• Crooks
• Amnesua
• Downard spiral (making a bad decison.)
• Murder
• Black Widow
• Psycholgical.

These are normally the main ones when watching a Film Noir creep up.

Characters
There are normally two main characters in a Film Noir, a male and a female. The female is a femme fetale,  she normally grabs the attention of our hero ( the male ) And can choose what she wants him to do and his ideas.
A list of male characters can be :-

• Detectives
• Gangster
• Millionaires  
• The 'fall guy'
• Hench/ thugs
• Beautiful women
• Police
• Corrupt politicians
• Crooked police.

Film Noir uses different types of angles when shooting, they normally use high angles and low angels which helps reflect the tone of Noir back then. Also Film Noir has a lot of extreme close ups to help the audience understand the characters emotion, they also use depth of field, reflections and faces which have been obscured though objects such as venetian blinds to make it look like the character can't been seen or something’s happening and want to add effect to this scene. Noir also has different camera angles such as the Dutch tilt, irregular framing of shots in that scene.

Welcome and Brief

Welcome!

Hello my name is Dianne Hamilton I am a media AS student. We are looking into Film Noir and its origins.  This is a brief of the what the year has planned for me. Once we get the grip and understand the how to use the equipment we will have a go at shooting a 2 minute video for our first assessment, we’ll try and get new educated angles and have a go at getting the microphone in the right place, shooting in the right angle and using them to our advantage. This piece will be looked at and took in, everyone in the group shall have a go at editing, shooting and acting in a short film. However we are looking into Film Noir because our final piece needs to be a Noir of our kind, it’s got to be a contemporary Film Noir thriller. This piece is very important because it’s a great piece of our coursework,(60%) we’re going to use the exact same techniques as we did in our first little film and more that we had learnt in the months we’ve been there. Also we shall be working in groups of four and everyone will have a go at editing, shooting and acting. After the final piece is done we shall evaluate the piece, we shall talk about what we like, what we dislike, what we would change and why we would change it. It shall also show how I performed individually and how I done, this piece will then be presented in class to all of the other pupils there and on my blog when it is finished.