In this screen grab you can see how we hav
e represented the genre well by the mise en scene. The interior decor of the hotel has a historical feel to it so it creates a sense of the 1940's and 50's. It is also elegant and suggests wealth and class and these were the connotations that we wanted to associate with the character. The decor is also elegant therefore we wanted this to be representative of the women as she represents wealth, elegance and is typical of the femme fatal.
Our film opening would be distributed by a independent company as it would have a niche audience. This is because it doesn't fit into current mainstream/ blockbuster films as it is a low budget film. Our film refers to 1940's and 50's cinematography as we used effects such a sepia and black effects, the classic mise en scene and the classical music. All of these factors fit to the film noir genre that is typical of Alfred Hitchcock 'Topaz'. For example typical places that our film would be screened would be places like The Phoenix and The Picture house in Exeter. Both of these venues are specialists in showing original and independent film’s as they are original for 2009 as they specialize in new media arts. Broadcasters that would show our film would be typically Film Four as they support independent filmmakers and British filmmaking. Our film does not offer opportunities for merchandising, as it is not a mainstream or blockbuster film therefore it is not open to merchandising or franchises opportunities. If our film was to be shown on the Internet it would be shown on websites such as http://www.ifc.com/ this is an independent film website that shows films such as 'getting away with murder' and 'cutting ties'. Another website that might show our film piece would be http://www.indiewire.com/ this shows more student and amateur based films.
The audience for our film piece would be typical of the people who would go The Phoenix a
Our film has created enigma to attract an audience by subverting the genre and by the ending as the audience does not know if the pair will meet. We originally wanted two characters, one being male and the other female. As our film opening was based on film noir we wanted to use an American accent for the mans voice over as it represented the genre well, we got this idea from Sin City as in the opening there is a voice over with an American accent. Our friend has an American accent, however our friend is female and we wanted to have a male voice over. Therefore we planned to record the voice over and lower the pitch levels on i movie so that it would sound like a male voice. When we did this it sounded like an artificially feminine male voice and it clearly didn't work. So we decided to subvert the genre as we thought leaving it as a female voice over created enigma as the challenging content gave our film individuality. By having the voice over we create enigma as it raises questions like who is talking? and How are the two characters related? Our film opening does not follow conventions of typical media products because the majority of films follow Propp’s character theory of the male being the hero and the woman being the damsel in distress. Our film subverts this genre by having the stereotypical damsel in distress the strong femme fatal as there is no dominant male. We subvert the genre again by challenging the male gaze theory as now it is the other way round as females are in the position of the males in some senses. Originally for the beginning of our footage we wanted to have a black screen with non diagetic sound of a women's heels walking at a slow pace, this acting as a sound bridge would create enigma as the audience is left wondering who is there and what are they doing. This would then cut to a low angle shot of the femme fatals legs walking slowly, this again creates enigma as the audience can only see her legs. We again create enigma through the audience not knowing what the note says and who the note is handed to, to give to the other women. The way in which we have presented our titles attracts the audience by representing the genre, this therefore would appeal to its audience as it would reflect their specific preferred style of film. The titles create mystery in many different ways, the smoke creates mystery as smoke disguises various things therefore this suggests that the film has hidden secrets. I also think the piano in the background adds to this point as it is classical and represents the genre very well. We have not used fast paced editing or shots as they do not fit with the genre. Instead we used long and medium shots and slow editing to focus of the femme fatals beauty and elegance.
When it came to editing our footage we found that we had far to much footage as we film
When reviewing our film we thought that we needed something else, as it felt bare. We chose to put some music over the footage. We chose a piano piece by Chopin, we picked this as we thought it fitted the footage itself well as it was slow and calm like the pace of editing and shots. The piece itself fits the mise en scene well as it is grand and could be associated with the upper classes. When both the music and voice over were added we played the footage back, we found that the piano was too loud compared to the voice over. So we lowered the levels of the piano and raised the levels of the voice over. After doing this we still thought that something else was missing, we decided to
The storyline is an enigmatic love story that stereotypically would involve a male and female, however we challenged this stereotype and used a homosexual female as the character that's desires the love of the femme fatal. Our film opening fits into the film noir genre well. This is because it has many different conventions that are applicable to the genre. We hav
e used many different conventions of film noir, we have the femme fatal, the grand hotel, the classic piano, the smoke on the black screen and the American voice over. I think that the use of the grand setting of the hotel works very well as it represents the genre and a lifestyle of the upper classes, which are conventional of this genre. One interesting convention of film noir was the use of shots through the mirrors, I think this works well as it adds variety to the shots. The pace of editing also represents typical conventions of film noir as it is slow paced. We have also used very subtle use of shadows which again is obvious convention of film noir, we also used this to create mystery. However we have subverted the genre as the idea of the dominant male is discarded, in this place is the mysterious female. We wanted to use a black dress for the first women as is represents class and sophistication, this is what we wanted her to represent. We wanted the second woman (the woman talking over the footage) to wear a red dress as it represents danger and mystery. Both of these representations link with the film noir genre as they link with the idea of the femme fatal. As we have subverted the genre we wanted to create two strong femme fatals therefore balanced with out the dominant male. We wanted the representation of the women to be independent and classy, therefore we chose the location carefully. We picked a grand hotel to emphasis this. We also wanted the representation of the women to be sexy as well therefore we picked the slow and classy piano music and the different colour dresses to emphasize this. We have represented the noir genre further in the beginning of the opening by the black background and smoke. This represents the genre, as smoke is a distinctive convention of film noir. Again, using the monochrome effect on i movie creates a vintage look that fits with the time periodof the 1940's and 50's.
Our film opening would be distributed by a independent company as it would have a niche audience. This is because it doesn't fit into current mainstream/ blockbuster films as it is a low budget film. Our film refers to 1940's and 50's cinematography as we used effects such a sepia and black effects, the classic mise en scene and the classical music. All of these factors fit to the film noir genre that is typical of Alfred Hitchcock 'Topaz'. For example typical places that our film would be screened would be places like The Phoenix and The Picture house in Exeter. Both of these venues are specialists in showing original and independent film’s as they are original for 2009 as they specialize in new media arts. Broadcasters that would show our film would be typically Film Four as they support independent filmmakers and British filmmaking. Our film does not offer opportunities for merchandising, as it is not a mainstream or blockbuster film therefore it is not open to merchandising or franchises opportunities. If our film was to be shown on the Internet it would be shown on websites such as http://www.ifc.com/ this is an independent film website that shows films such as 'getting away with murder' and 'cutting ties'. Another website that might show our film piece would be http://www.indiewire.com/ this shows more student and amateur based films.
The audience for our film piece would be typical of the people who would go The Phoenix a
nd The Picture house. Their typical interests would be art, literature and media based as these places specialize in them. Typical class status would be middle class as the interests of viewers would be in the middle class area. Our film opening could also appeal to a younger audience as we have used a young actress for the main character. The mise en scene in our film opening represents higher class from the grand staircase and the way that the femme fatal is dressed, this would therefore appeal to upper classes as well. The age range would possibly middle age to older age individuals as the genre and the narrative of the film would appeal to an older audience. However films such a 'Sin City' and 'The Matrix' are typical of the neo noir genre, aiming at a younger audience due to the action and animated opening in 'Sin City' and the action and mystery in 'The Matrix'. This therefore could create an interest within a younger audience. Gender is flexible due to the romance, themes, setting and subverting of the genre. It would appeal to males as it creates mystery and the aspect of subverting the genre would attract a male audience. It would attract a female audience as it represents women in a strong and powerful perspective, creates mystery and is romantic. One film similar to our film is LA confidential as it is typical of the film noir genre as ours is. It uses the femme fatal as we do, it also uses similar costumes with the femme fatal as she wears a black dress. In one of the scenes the femme fatal opens the door only revealing half of her face, she then opens the door with a sweeping movement to reveal a grand staircase. In our film opening our first piece of footage is the women walking up a grand spiral staircase.
Our film has created enigma to attract an audience by subverting the genre and by the ending as the audience does not know if the pair will meet. We originally wanted two characters, one being male and the other female. As our film opening was based on film noir we wanted to use an American accent for the mans voice over as it represented the genre well, we got this idea from Sin City as in the opening there is a voice over with an American accent. Our friend has an American accent, however our friend is female and we wanted to have a male voice over. Therefore we planned to record the voice over and lower the pitch levels on i movie so that it would sound like a male voice. When we did this it sounded like an artificially feminine male voice and it clearly didn't work. So we decided to subvert the genre as we thought leaving it as a female voice over created enigma as the challenging content gave our film individuality. By having the voice over we create enigma as it raises questions like who is talking? and How are the two characters related? Our film opening does not follow conventions of typical media products because the majority of films follow Propp’s character theory of the male being the hero and the woman being the damsel in distress. Our film subverts this genre by having the stereotypical damsel in distress the strong femme fatal as there is no dominant male. We subvert the genre again by challenging the male gaze theory as now it is the other way round as females are in the position of the males in some senses. Originally for the beginning of our footage we wanted to have a black screen with non diagetic sound of a women's heels walking at a slow pace, this acting as a sound bridge would create enigma as the audience is left wondering who is there and what are they doing. This would then cut to a low angle shot of the femme fatals legs walking slowly, this again creates enigma as the audience can only see her legs. We again create enigma through the audience not knowing what the note says and who the note is handed to, to give to the other women. The way in which we have presented our titles attracts the audience by representing the genre, this therefore would appeal to its audience as it would reflect their specific preferred style of film. The titles create mystery in many different ways, the smoke creates mystery as smoke disguises various things therefore this suggests that the film has hidden secrets. I also think the piano in the background adds to this point as it is classical and represents the genre very well. We have not used fast paced editing or shots as they do not fit with the genre. Instead we used long and medium shots and slow editing to focus of the femme fatals beauty and elegance.
I learned a lot about the filming process when filming our footage we found that planning our footage was vital as we referred to the storyboard when in doubt. However our final ideas were different from our initial ideas on some places, this is because we found that when filming some shots they didn't actually look as good as we thought or they didn't work generally. One shot that particularly didn't work was a low angle shot of the femme fatals feet walking. We tried this by lowering the camera to the floor and tracking. However this left us with camera shake that we didn't want, therefore we decided not to use this idea. When filming the smoke we used a black piece of sugar paper, we then got our friend to lay on the floor and light a cigarette, we then got her to slowly let out whips of smoke to create the effect we wanted. However when filming i realized some of the footage was unusable as we had looked through the screen on the side of the camera instead of looking through the lens, this lead to an extra frame around the edge of the sugar paper that we didn't want. Luckily we had more than enough footage that we filmed correctly. When filming the pieces of footage near the staircase we found that we were able to frame the shots well as we had a large space to work with. There were a few shots in particular that we filmed to create diversity within shots. For example there is a shot of the femme fatal walking up the first part of the stairs, we filmed a match on action here. We also filmed another match on action by filming the femme fatal from a view in the mirror and then by moving the camera next to her. My favourite shot of this sequence is the shot where the femme fatal is walking up the second part of the staircase as i think the mise en scene represents the genre well. We encountered some trouble when filming the second match on action sequence as when we looked back at the footage we found continuity errors. One moment the femme fatal is walking and her scarf is around her arms then it is around her shoulders and then around her arms again. We planned on re filming this, however we found a different shot that was more interesting and that broke up the sequence, this was a low angle shot of the femme fatals legs, similar to the type of shot we originally wanted to use. We didn't really encounter many problems with the rest of the filming other than a shot of the femme fatal laying on the bed reading the note, in the background was a television on the floor, this therefore created a problem as we didn't want to have any items that represented technology from today's life. We found that we needed to use a tripod for all shots, as we didn't want an unsteady camera effect on our film, as it didn't represent the genre. We found the camera easy to use as we had used it previously in the preliminary task. In our second filming session we filmed the shots of the flash back, this was not planned originally as we thought about these shots and ideas later on. We found that this went well and the only problem we encountered was framing as some of the mise en scene didn’t work well as it look old and tattered. However we worked around this by framing the shot so that the parts of mise en scene that didn’t work well were out of the frame. We also found it hard when it came to filming the passing of the note as it was being passed over the bar. The bar had the beer stands along the front of the bar, this obviously was a problem as they would not have been present in typical 1940’s and 50’s time period. So we had to work around this by framing the shot carefully. Before we decided that we wanted to use the piano in the background we experimented with garage band. I learned a great deal on this that I think will help me in the future when I create music projects as I will know the basics like creating loops and so on. I have also leaned how to use a mp3 recorder to record the voice over, I found this useful as we were able to record the voice over as many times as we wanted onto the memory disc. I found this useful as we didn't have to keep reviewing our recording before we moved on, we could work at a faster pace this way. I then learned how to upload the data to the mac and transfer it to imovie HD. We also learnt how to take photographs of our storyboard on imovie by holding up piece of paper and recorded them with isight, we then pressed the shift button and the apple button and 4 and print screened then image so that we could upload them up
to our blogs.
When it came to editing our footage we found that we had far to much footage as we film
ed certain shots in different angles to make sure that we had a variety to chose from. Once we had cut down to all the relevant footage we began to order our footage. When applying the titles we originally wanted to have them in the bottom right hand corner, as they would be on the other side of the smoke. However there was no way of doing this on i movie so we decided to place them centrally, we made the titles white to stand out against the black background. We then decided to change the colour of our footage to create the effect that it is old footage from the 1940's/50's. We first tried black and white, however this left a grainy effect that didn't look professional as it took attention away from the actual footage. So we tried many different other effects when we came to monochrome effect. This worked well as it created the look we wanted that represented the genre well. When editing the footage we wanted a slow pace of editing as film noir is not a fast paced action genre therefore we wanted to stick to the typical conventions by creating slow smooth editing. When editing the match on action we found it was vital to cut the clips exact to create a smooth transaction. We wanted the voice over to be significant to the genre so we wanted to use an American accent, our friend has an American accent, however she is female and we originally wanted the other character to be a male. We tried to lower the pitch levels in imovie but like I said before it sounded like an artificially feminine male voice. We thought about re-recording the voice over in a British accent, but we wanted to keep to American accent as we thought it represented the genre well. We also thought that having two females would create enigma as the audience would not expect this conventionally therefore they would want to know what is going to happen next.
When reviewing our film we thought that we needed something else, as it felt bare. We chose to put some music over the footage. We chose a piano piece by Chopin, we picked this as we thought it fitted the footage itself well as it was slow and calm like the pace of editing and shots. The piece itself fits the mise en scene well as it is grand and could be associated with the upper classes. When both the music and voice over were added we played the footage back, we found that the piano was too loud compared to the voice over. So we lowered the levels of the piano and raised the levels of the voice over. After doing this we still thought that something else was missing, we decided to
raise the levels at the beginning of the foota
ge so that the piano was louder when there was no voice over. We found that this worked well with the titles and smoke as it created a professional and tasteful effect which we thought represented typical conventions of the film noir genre. When the voice over began we lowered the levels of the piano and raised the levels of the voice over, again at the end of the vo
ice over we raised the levels of the piano.
I have learnt a great deal since the preliminary task. One of the main aspects I have grown in is planning. In the preliminary task we planned well however not enough. In this task we have planned in detail by making our storyboard as thorough as we could. We made prop list and costume lists. We planned schedules of times to meet to film and times to review our footage. We planned to meet in our free period that matched to edit and work on ideas. By planning in detail like this it has helped us when we filmed because we have been able to get on with filming without pondering about what shots to use and what shots would look best as we had already thought about this. It enabled us to film shots 3-4 times each to make sure that we had a choice of shots.
My knowledge of using a camera was not good in the preliminary task as I didn’t think about framing the shot by using different aspects such as the rule of thirds or horizontal and vertical planes. I now think carefully about framing each shot so that it looks professional. I have also improved in the area of mise en scene as in the preliminary task I didn't think about how the mise en scene was important. However now I think that the mise en scene is very important in representing the genre and making the film look professional. I have also learnt that using a tripod helps to reduce camera shake as it keeps the camera steady. When using imovie I have learnt so much more about adding music and voice overs to my footage. I have learnt how to change the sound levels at specific points in the footage to raise or lower the levels. In the preliminary task we only worked on the editing, we didn’t change or add any sound so I was not familiar with changing the sound levels. I think I have learnt the most when it comes to editing as I feel so much more confident when it comes to cutting clips, adding transactions, adding sound and adding titles. When cutting clips like match on action shots I now take extra time and attention in cutting the clip to the exact point where the next clip will be inserted. Whereas in the preliminary task we cut the clips carefully but we didn’t understand fully how smooth we could make the cuts. We have learnt to use different transactions in our footage that we didn’t think we would use. For example when the voiceover talks about the femme fatal in the bar we use a wash in effect to create the idea that the footage is going back in time, like a flash back. We used the flash out effect when the footage changes back to the femme fatal in the bedroom. We also used a black fade in effect before the titles appear, we did this so that the title didn’t just appear on the screen to quickly. We also used a black fade out effect at the end to make the end fade away smoothly. I also have learnt how to apply a monochrome effect to the footage to create a vintage look that is representative of the 1940's and 50's. i think this worked well as again it represents the genre well and creates a image that is representative of a higher class.
I have learnt a great deal since the preliminary task. One of the main aspects I have grown in is planning. In the preliminary task we planned well however not enough. In this task we have planned in detail by making our storyboard as thorough as we could. We made prop list and costume lists. We planned schedules of times to meet to film and times to review our footage. We planned to meet in our free period that matched to edit and work on ideas. By planning in detail like this it has helped us when we filmed because we have been able to get on with filming without pondering about what shots to use and what shots would look best as we had already thought about this. It enabled us to film shots 3-4 times each to make sure that we had a choice of shots.
My knowledge of using a camera was not good in the preliminary task as I didn’t think about framing the shot by using different aspects such as the rule of thirds or horizontal and vertical planes. I now think carefully about framing each shot so that it looks professional. I have also improved in the area of mise en scene as in the preliminary task I didn't think about how the mise en scene was important. However now I think that the mise en scene is very important in representing the genre and making the film look professional. I have also learnt that using a tripod helps to reduce camera shake as it keeps the camera steady. When using imovie I have learnt so much more about adding music and voice overs to my footage. I have learnt how to change the sound levels at specific points in the footage to raise or lower the levels. In the preliminary task we only worked on the editing, we didn’t change or add any sound so I was not familiar with changing the sound levels. I think I have learnt the most when it comes to editing as I feel so much more confident when it comes to cutting clips, adding transactions, adding sound and adding titles. When cutting clips like match on action shots I now take extra time and attention in cutting the clip to the exact point where the next clip will be inserted. Whereas in the preliminary task we cut the clips carefully but we didn’t understand fully how smooth we could make the cuts. We have learnt to use different transactions in our footage that we didn’t think we would use. For example when the voiceover talks about the femme fatal in the bar we use a wash in effect to create the idea that the footage is going back in time, like a flash back. We used the flash out effect when the footage changes back to the femme fatal in the bedroom. We also used a black fade in effect before the titles appear, we did this so that the title didn’t just appear on the screen to quickly. We also used a black fade out effect at the end to make the end fade away smoothly. I also have learnt how to apply a monochrome effect to the footage to create a vintage look that is representative of the 1940's and 50's. i think this worked well as again it represents the genre well and creates a image that is representative of a higher class.
I have also learned a lot about blending titles, sound and footage synchronously together to create a professional look.
Overall I am very happy with our final product as I think we have produced a film opening that represents the genre well and that is of a good standard as we have researched and planned well in order to do this. We worked well when it came to planning ideas and picking different shots. When reviewing our footage we thought that we had created enigma well by subverting the genre, by having the mysterious voiceover and by the audience not knowing what the note says. One of my favorite aspects of our film opening is the titles as I think the smoke against the black works really well. I think it represents the genre well as when I was researching the film noir genre I found that smoke is used a lot in many different ways. One negative point to our film opening is that when we reviewed our footage we thought that the ending was slightly to long. However at this point we had too much to do to reschedule any more filming, so we cut the clip as much as we could without creating any jumps or glitches in the footage or by ending the footage on a abrupt ending. Another negative point of our film opening is that I personally think the voice over is too short. I think that it should have ended when the footage ended because it would have worked well like this because the end words are “I would do anything to get her”, I think it would have worked well if the footage ended on these words. However we recorded the voice over and the person who we recorded was not able to record it again so we had to keep it as was. We screened our film opening to a group of people and made questionnaires to see what they thought was good and what they thought was bad. We found that most of the people recognized the genre of film. The stairs and mirror shots were good and they liked the pace of editing. Some negative points were that the ending was slightly to long and that we should have had a British voice over. Overall I am very happy with our film opening and I now know many different skills that will help me in future projects.
Overall I am very happy with our final product as I think we have produced a film opening that represents the genre well and that is of a good standard as we have researched and planned well in order to do this. We worked well when it came to planning ideas and picking different shots. When reviewing our footage we thought that we had created enigma well by subverting the genre, by having the mysterious voiceover and by the audience not knowing what the note says. One of my favorite aspects of our film opening is the titles as I think the smoke against the black works really well. I think it represents the genre well as when I was researching the film noir genre I found that smoke is used a lot in many different ways. One negative point to our film opening is that when we reviewed our footage we thought that the ending was slightly to long. However at this point we had too much to do to reschedule any more filming, so we cut the clip as much as we could without creating any jumps or glitches in the footage or by ending the footage on a abrupt ending. Another negative point of our film opening is that I personally think the voice over is too short. I think that it should have ended when the footage ended because it would have worked well like this because the end words are “I would do anything to get her”, I think it would have worked well if the footage ended on these words. However we recorded the voice over and the person who we recorded was not able to record it again so we had to keep it as was. We screened our film opening to a group of people and made questionnaires to see what they thought was good and what they thought was bad. We found that most of the people recognized the genre of film. The stairs and mirror shots were good and they liked the pace of editing. Some negative points were that the ending was slightly to long and that we should have had a British voice over. Overall I am very happy with our film opening and I now know many different skills that will help me in future projects.
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