Audience Feedback

Feedback was an aspect that we, as a team, identified as a crucial source of information to take into account to optimize our final sequence. On the feedback for the first cut of our sequence, we decided to use peer assessment, and showed our sequence to the class, asking them to fill out a short questionnaire. Though these results were reliable and provided quality results, organising the feedback session again would be a difficulty, and also just showing it to the media class biased the results in the favour of technical quality (Camera shots, lighting), and we wanted results also which reflected a general audience, and what they would be seeking in a film. We decided that the best way to go about this was to create a group on social-networking site 'Facebook', host the video of our sequence on the group and invite people at random, asking them to leave feedback on our sequence. We did so, and this proved to be an effective and easily organised method of gathering audience feedback quickly.

Sound on Media Sequence

(Screenshot of making sounds in FL Studio)

The non-diegetic sound that features in our final sequence was something that was not included at all on our first cut, and was something that we identified needed work on to greatly improve our sequence as a whole. It was my task to create the sound for our sequence, and I was aiming to create a soundtrack which A) Supported the genre and fitted in stylistically, and B) Enhanced the moods throughout and created tension where needed.
The soundtrack itself is split into four parts: The first is when William is getting ready for the poker game, this soundtrack is the intro of Miles Davis's So What, of which I took the first part and repeated twice, as this was perfect stylistically (So What being a jazz hit from the 1950's) and also lasted straight up til the point when William knocks on the door in the actual sequence. The second part is mid-poker game, when Jones the Dealer has started dealing out the cards. We identified that this part was in most need of a soundtrack, as this particular scene was intended to show the passing of time, and this did not work well in our first cut. I decided to use the later part of So What and played it fairly loud, to show that this was not background music. Using both this music and fading transitions between shots, we effectively showed the passing of time. This music fades out when Marcus remarks to William that it is not his evening, to show that we are back in the action as an audience, and we are about to be re-engaged in the story of this scene.
The third part is the tense music as the last hand is being played. This was created solely on the program FL Studio, using various plugins and editing stock samples to create the sounds that I wanted. These noises feature on pivotal moments of the last hand, such as when William goes all in and also when Marcus calls. We decided these noises needed to feature to depict the mood to the audience, and to greatly enhance the tension.
The fourth sub-section of the soundtrack is during William's realization that he has lost the hand and all the money he has left. For this part I decided on sad violin music, and created it on FL Studio. I used simple violin sounds and pieced together a simple minor chord which plays throughout until Johnson's narration at the end.

Simeon's Evaluation

This is my evaluation for our AS Media coursework, 'The Lost Cause'. Within it I cover how our sequence has challenged existing media products, who our target audience would be, how we have progressed since our preliminary task and how we have gathered audience feedback.

Animatic

This is the last of my videos filling in the gaps due to computer problems such as not being able to get onto blogger at school and other issues meaning these posts have been left until last minute.


This is our animatic made from the storyboard, it gives a general idea of what happens in our sequence. There is however fade transitions in our sequence to show the passing of time.

Nine Frames Exercise Two - Our Film

This is nine frames picked out from our project that I feel represent the pieces as a whole. First we have the ident we made from scratch that shows our fictional film production company. Second we have our character William looking into a mirror with the film title above his head, this frame suggests that the film title 'The Lost Cause' is refering to him in that he is the lost cause and this film centres around him. The next two frames are just nice shots of the poker game that show the progression of time. The shot after this is one of Marcus scooping up chips, showing he is very much the strong player and has the upper hand. The two shots that follow give the impression that William may be in with a chance as he has a confident expression on his face for the only time in the opening sequence and the cards on the table mean he has a very strong hand. However the following frame shows that Marcus has an even stronger hand and in the final shot William is left on the street with nothing, looking understandably distressed and gutted.

Script

This is the script, including screenshots, for our coursework. It includes complete description of camera shots, narration, dialogue and non-diegetic sound.
The first two pages contain basic information of the plot, gives background on the three main characters (William, Marcus and Kate) aswell as minor characters such as Harold and Jimmy.
There are also descriptions of the locations within the film intro; how we imagine them to look on screen. These include William's Place; originally designed as a run-down flat with cracked mirrors and flickering lightbulbs, Clarence Street, envisioned as a cobbled road with imposing terraces on one side in a 1920's style, and also the Poker Den, held in the backroom of an anonymous character's house. The Poker den itself is rather spacious, and shows obvious signs of being converted into a Poker room for this one occasion.
The Script itself is split into two parts; the first part being when William is getting ready and going into the game, and the second part when it is being played til when William gets kicked out at the end. The Script presents lots of information, including titles on screen, fades, stage directions, dialogue, monologue, and camera shots.
Also included are still images from the actual sequence, highlighting which stage of the sequence the Script is at.

This is the storyboard for the final cut.
Scene 1/ In this scene we have our lead character (William) preparing for the poker game, this sequence will involve actions such as putting cufflinks on, checking tie and putting watch on. We will have our titles appear over this to be the 'Opening' sequence. This sequence will also include a voiceover.
Scene 2/ Film title, in this scene we will have William walking up to the mirror and checking himself (jacket etc..) as he approches the mirror this is when we will have 'The lost cause' appear on screen above the mirror.

Scene 3/ a) This will be a shot of William picking his money up from the table.
b) In this scene William will be walking around a corner and continuing along the street to the poker game.
Scene 4/ a) In this scene Willian arrives at the house and knocks at the door three times, This is when the voiceover will end.
b)This will be an over the shoulder shot looking straigt at the door as William is allowed to enter the house.
Scene 5/ This will be the first scene of inside the poker room, it will start with the camera facing the dealer, all other players will be visible and the dealer will be looking into the camera and address William.
6/-Shots/ This is a plan of the room and some of the camera angles we will use. A Moving towards the table, Looking left as William walks to his seat. B&E Moving dolly shots, Facing table in an arc movement. All o represent placement of the camera, the arrows coming fromt he circles represent the direction the camera is facing. 2 lights are used at the side of the table illuminating it but keeping heavy shadows where needed.
Scene 7/ a) Marcus says something to William whilst collecting his winnings from the last hand.
b) We see William has a full house Kings over Aces and goes all in on the hand, this will use a close up of his hands moving the chips towards the centre of the table.
Scene 8/ a) this will directly follow Scene 7- b, this will eb a shot of Marcus calling William's 'All in'
b) Marcus shows his hand to reveal full house, Aces over Kings, Dealer announces Marcus as winner.
Scene 9/ a) This will be a medium close up of William's reaction to losing, the bouncer will then tap him on the should as if to ask him to 'leave quietly'
b) This will be the final shot, it will be of William 'thrown out' of the building, the door closes and the music stops aswell as the sequence.

Will's Evaluation

The following is the link to my evaluation that I have done on prezi.com, an online presentation site.

http://www.prezi.com/opdshxrlwtjd/will-north-as-media-evaluation/

Final Cut of Media Coursework - 'The Lost Cause'

This is the final cut of our Media Coursework, The Lost Cause. Many things have been changed since the original version, based on both peer and teacher feedback, which have greatly improved the continuity and authenticity of the sequence.
Several things changed from the first cut are:
1. Reduced length- as the original cut was around 7 minutes in length, it was obvious that it was too long, both in the interests of the mark scheme and audience interest. We cut down on the shots we didn't need and shortened the ones which didn't need to be as long, and ended up with a 4 minute sequence which worked just as well in terms of continuity as the original.
2. Added titles- including animated ident. The original cut had no titles in it, so this was something we needed to do for our final cut. Originally we planned to have the cast in the titles, but we decided against this in the interests of what looked best on screen, which was our three names plus the film title.
3. Added sound- save for the narration, there was no non-diegetic sound in the original, and we identified through feedback that this was something which was greatly needed in our sequence. The soundtrack now features music over the top when William is getting ready, music mid poker game, tense noises which I created on FL Studio, and sad music when William has lost his last hand.

Textual Analysis Summary

This is something that was meant to be posted along with the rest of the research but has slipped our minds up until this point.


Through researching and analysing noir style films we have found a number of recurring themes that seem to be prevalent throughout the noir genre.

Sound: noirs do not appear to use a lot of sound in many of the sequences, instead preferring a single voice speaking at once, broken by dramatic silences and in opening sequences quiet, jazz style non digetic music. This silence brings about an air of mystery to the scene, it is particularly effective in opening sequences where only a few slight details and hints to the storyline are given, leaving the viewer intrigued and wanting to continue watching as the story develops and unravels throughout the film. Also tense sound effects are put to great use to break up the silences and keep audience attention.
Scene/Lighting: the darker, more theatrical neo noirs will take place in a dark city that is a hornet’s nest of crime and villainous characters. A perfect example of this is Gotham city from the Batman films. The films will mostly take place at night, a heavy downpour or other such bad weather is prevalent within the films too, perhaps creating a sense of pathetic fallacy over the city. The night time setting provides high levels of contrast in the lighting, with the pitch black being contrasted by the bright city lights. This could be difficult to film as we would have to use low key lighting, and the contrast does make it harder to make out small details that may be key to the scene. This lighting and scene are becoming more and more popular within neo noir films, allowing for a very dramatic feel. Some films do however take the noir theme and apply it outside of the city. The opening to Road to Perdition is not very dark, although it does use the backdrop of a snow covered region to contrast greatly with the clothes of the characters, who appear to be wearing mostly black. So even when low key lighting is not present, the contrasting images still are. However in the original noirs not a lot of this is as prevalent as it is today, they simply used black and white filming to achieve the same kind of effect. Street lights make ideal lighting, allowing for the characters face to remain in darkness, although if we use this technique we will have to be careful to not make it look too clichéd.
Mise En Scene: The city backdrop for most of these films is seen as being very dark and dirty, often with overflowing or knocked over garbage cans and stray animals roaming the streets. The darkness will also always be contrasted with some bright city lights somewhere in the scene, whether it be coming from nearby windows or street lights. As for the characters themselves, their attire varies depending upon their personality or role. It would appear that both women and men will be dressed in one of two ways; to look very striking with deep colours such as red, which may also symbolise their fate later on in the film. It is usually women who are shown in this way, it is typical of noir to have a very alluring and striking woman; the femme fatale. Some do however also incorporate a very work motivated, more sensible woman dressed a lot more sensibly to add to the story, by making a choice between the two both for the audience and the main character. The other style of costume is the more mysterious character, often worn by the villain or male characters. This seems to mainly compromise of a dark suit with an overcoat and trilby hat. The dark colour allows for them to blend in with the background and may also show the darkness within them, as noirs aim to show all characters for who they really are.
Plot: film noirs seem to centre on a single character that is stereotypically a detective, private investigator or average man who has a fatal flaw of some description. The films explore this characters inner demon and less desirable attributes, making him seem much more real to the audience. The films tend to cover work and home life for the main character, showing his attitude towards both, it is common that his problem, or less desirable side will come out within his own home. This level of deep and dark emotion may be hard for us to show unless our casting and camera work is very good. The films usually follow the conventions of having a hero and a villain, a donor and other such characters. A lot of noirs are crime dramas and centre on a crime or string of crimes that the main character must solve, purely because it is his job or through some personal vendetta (e.g. His wife has been murdered). Noirs can also be linked to the tragedy genre, when our hero is struggling against everything, it would appear to be him against the world. That combined with his Achilles heel, or fatal flaw ultimately leads to his demise. Some noirs do not however follow all of these; they are simply similarities we have noticed.

Scene 2 - Preparation

This is the second scene chronologically, but we filmed at last so we had time for error in the poker scene.
It consists of William walking down to No. 74 Clarence street, knocking on the door and then being let into the game. We picked Old Main Street in Bingley for several reasons: It was easy to get to for all the crew and actors, it was a cobbled street (enhancing the film noir theme) And also we knew someone who lived in a prominent house on the street, of whom we could use as the entrance to the house of the poker game. It is also a well-lit street, and with no cars on the side of the street we were filming on.
There were several minor issues which slightly hindered our progress: The noise of cars- seeing as Old Main Street is next to the main road, the sound of cars is audible in the recording. We aim to eliminate this in the editing progress. Another is cars driving through- As it is a fairly busy road, we had to cut midscene often to move aside, but nevertheless we got all the footage we needed. Another was that we could not do dolly shots seeing as it is a cobbled road- instead we had to replace these with panning shots, from a tripod.
The scene is split into two- the first (and main) part being before the poker scene, featuring William going to the house, and Johnson letting him in. The second is only two shots, after the poker game, in which William is kicked out of the house, and in which Johnson makes a snidy and patronising comment 'Goodbye Mr Harris, see you next year' and slams the door. In this second subscene, Gruff is also seen stood in the doorway, holding a shotgun, to maintain security.

Scene 3 - Preparation

Chronologically, this is the third out of the three subscenes in the sequence, but we filmed it second, as we realised that it was the most complicated and most likely to go wrong, so there was a possibility of refilming.
In this scene, William has entered the backroom poker game hosted by Marcus. On entry, he is ushered to his seat by Jones the dealer, and from there continues to play out the game, slowly losing his money until his desperate bid for control on the last hand, which he loses.
Finding a location was a reckonable task, as we needed somewhere which was practical for the cast (Including two teachers, three students and one adult), but also somewhere that looked the part, or that we could convert. Another issue was that we needed space around the table, so that we could easily move equipment about to get the shots that we needed. We decided an in-school location would be best, to film on a school night in the interests of the teachers. Eventually we decided on A10, our media room. We chose A10 as when the tables were moved, it was very spacious. It also has a low level of natural light, perfect for our night scene, and is also an unusual layout, enhancing the impression that this game really is hosted in a random location.
We did recces early on to plan out what issues we would need to take into account, and covered four key points, covered below.



Issue 1: The Table
Sorting out the layout of the table was a big decision, as there were several things to take into account, including the position of players, movement of camera, camera angles, the position of the dealer, and lighting. Eventually we decided on having three next to eachother, with the dealer on the wide wide, two extras opposite, with Marcus and William on the thinner side, opposite eachother. We did this as we required them to be opposite in the interest of camera angles, to enhance the tension. This also provided a good angle for the dealer to smoothly deal out hands to all the players, also essential to the effect we were after onscreen.

Issue 2: Natural light
Natural lighting was an issue to be taken into consideration, as the other two scenes are filmed at night in true film noir fashion. We had to film straight after school and it was still light, so we needed to sort out what we were going to do to counter this. Part of this issue was taken into account in choosing the room, as there isn't much natural light anyway, and the lighting that there is is filtered in through windows in the ceiling, so they would not be in shot at any point. As we were filming in black and white to enhance the film noir style, it would be hard to tell the difference on screen between natural and artificial light, and so we decided that once edited, the lighting would simply appear to be artificial lighting on the ceiling.

Issue 3: Stylistic issues
Another thing we had to take into account were certain displays and items around the classroom which could detract from the 1940's noir style. These included classroom displays (as highlighted) fire extinguishers, various items on desks, and classroom features (projector, board etc). As we wanted our sequence to remain stylistic, we decided to take down some displays, and cover up others with sheets of sugar paper, the colour of which was irrelevant due to the black and white colourscheme. We also moved items into siderooms such as fire extinguishers, mugs, bottles, as well as everything we had brought with us. In terms of projectors and boards, we couldn't cover them up or take them down, so instead we had to try our best to avoid them in our camera shots.

Issue 4: Artificial light
Lighting was something we really wanted to concentrate on in our sequence. This is because it is a film noir sequence, and film noir is renowned for it's huge focus on low-key lighting, using it to highlight the right characters and items in the right way. We planned the player-positioning first, so we could build the lighting around them for optimum stylistic effect. We had two lights to use- A pointable bedside lamp, plus an anglepoise light. We used the bedside lamp behind Marcus focusing on William; we wanted William to be highlighted throughout the scene, to enhance the idea that he is a vulnerable character in a dangerous setting. We used the anglepoise behind William, pointing directly at the table from an elevated position, with some bouncing off to slightly illuminate Marcus. This enhanced the eerie and evil feel we were looking to achieve through lighting.


As displayed above, we proceeded to write up a rough plan of camera angles, based on the lighting, space, and positioning of characters. The original write up had too many camera shots, perhaps effective for a 15 minute introduction, but in the interests of time we had to whittle this down to a 2-3 minute scene. We did so effectively, and kept the main and strong camera shots. We have shown the progression of time through fading, non-script related shots such as sipping wine, throwing out chips etc. We also plan to have music over the top of this, to pass time within the story and skip to the final hand as quickly as possible.
Also displayed above is the deck of cards we used, carefully picked to fit within the setting, and also quite a new deck so that the dealer could perform various shuffles and flourishes, which were involved in the camera shots.

Main Characters - Villains

These are the two villains in our opening sequence. 'Marcus' is the main villain, king of the criminal underworld, and 'Johnson' is his sidekick.

Marcus - David Moore (Left)
The main villain, Marcus, is public enemy number one; king of the criminal underworld. He has just about every crime in the book under his belt, from armed robbery to human trafficking. He will stop at nothing to get what he wants, and he has blood on his hands because of it. In everything he does he is brutal, and he considers nothing immoral, only neccessary or unneccessary. Every year, he hosts a high-stakes poker game in a location of his choice, this year in the old house of one of his recent 'victims'. He wins every year, and never cheats. This is simply because he has the power to crack a man in a second, and to belittle them psychologically to nothing. Marcus is the one man who everyone fears; the police fear him, criminal underdogs aswell, even his closest associates fear him simply as they never know what he's going to do next. I chose David for the part simply based on a combination of appearance, personality and tone of voice.

Johnson - Dan Preston (Right)
Marcus's sidekick and childhood friend, Johnson has always been the smaller of the two, following Marcus around and obeying his every command. He has the muscle to get anything done for Marcus, be it a murder, theft, or interrogation. Part of Johnson is scared of Marcus, as he recognizes him as the dominant of the two, the one who holds the power. And so, he follows his commands out of fear, but also for the large fee which Marcus pays him monthly. Nonetheless, Johnson has always been tainted by evil, and has never thought in the interests of anyone apart from his and Marcus's. I chose Dan for the part due to his appearance, as he was quite fitting for the rough, powerful looking bodyguard personality I was after.

Main Characters - Neutral

These are the two main neutral characters- The main character 'William', and the poker dealer, 'Jones'.

William Harris - Jonathan Lees (Left)
The main character, William is a weak-minded and inconfident yet handsome man, his pride and self-respect lost with his descending financial and social situation. He is a small character both in size, confidence and stature, and has nothing going for him anymore. Hence, he is entering this high stakes poker game and gambling away all he has. Already he has lost his wife, his job, any hope of a normal life, and in this scene he gambles away all he has left- the last scraps of money left for him in his father's will- in the hope of regaining the reigns on his life. He realizes throughout that he is the weakest player at the table, and almost knows his inevitable loss. His inconfidence is apparent in all 3 subscenes of the sequence. I chose John as he is a quiet character as it is, and in terms of characteristics fits the role perfectly.

Jones - Jonathan Beaumont (Right)
Jones is the dealer in the game of poker. He is young and weak, but not naive. He realises the true nature of the poker game, and has been hired personally by Marcus, as the son of a friend. He is sharp and has been fascinated by cards from a young age, and got into dealing fairly early on. He is hugely interested in card games, but himself steers well away from gambling as he knows that there is nothing to be won without cheating. Behind closed doors, he did offer to fix up the game in Marcus's interests for a sum of money, but Marcus was confident enough to be certain of his victory. At heart, Jones is not an evil character, and is only involved in the underground criminal network for the money.

Poker Scene Extras

This picture shows all the minor characters seen in the poker scene.

Gruff - Sam Drake (Top Left)
'Gruff' is Marcus's personal security. He isn't the brightest of folk, but he's strong, knows how to fight, and of course, knows how to deal with people who don't cooperate. Throughout the scene he remains quite a background character, only present to make sure 'nothing happens'. I chose Sam Drake for the part as I knew I could rely on him as he acted well in our Preliminary task as the main villain, and also he had the look I was going for.

Harold - John Thornton (Top Right)
One of the players at the table, Harold is a quiet and reserved man. He is similar to William in the fact that he has nothing left, but has been gambling for a long time, and has never had anything to live for. He recognizes Marcus as the dominant player and person, and this is reflected in his body language and also how he plays his hands. I chose John as he fit in as the quiet, reserved yet experienced character I was looking for.

Kate - Beth Martin (Bottom Left)
Originally intended to be the mistress of Marcus, the 'Femme Fatale' of our film noir scene, Kate was later decided to be a toned down mistress, due to lack of an older actor, of whom would be more fitting for the original role. Kate is with Marcus for the power and the money, and also for a sense of security from the life she used to live. I chose Beth for the role as she is an actor, and in terms of appearance fits the 'Femme Fatale' look.

Jimmy - Mark Cook (Bottom Right)
Jimmy is from out of town. No one at the table knows much about him apart from Marcus, who is a previous client of Jimmy's. He has been involved in the criminal underworld for a long time, and has been attracted to this game by the large stakes. He is an arrogant character and assumes his authority over the other players save for Marcus, who he has always been somewhat scared of. I chose Mark due to his appearance, one (arguably) of a corrupt businessman. In this scene, he fashions a trilby which hides his face.

Nine Frames Exercise 1

From the film Se7en
All 9 of these frames are linked to the story line in one way or another, they are very noir-like as they only give slight clues as to the story line, without giving away too much, this keeps the viewer guessing and interested. The shots are also very close up and at odd angles, which is also very typical of noir films. Soe of them present very strong shadows, hinting at a dark purpose. The credits over the top are often put into these shadows and look hand drawn, as if they were personal notes. These 9 frames are important as they give us a look at what the killer is doing when nobody else can see him, that and the hand drawn credits give this a very intricate and personal feel. Our project will also use the idea of these close up, odd shots to create a dramatic effect and to link in with our chosen style.

First Shoot

We did our first shoot for the project on Sunday the 21st of February, in this shoot we filmed the part of our project that consists of the main character getting ready to go to a poker game.

We used Sim's dad for the main role as he fits well with the physical appearance envisioned by Sim for the main character, an average, perhaps lesser built or smaller man in the age range of mid 30s to 40s.
The room used was Sim's lounge as it is a relatively plain room with a large mirror which was needed, for this shoot the background did not matter as much as in the others as the main focus of the shots was the main character.
We filmed close up and abstract shots of him getting ready, mimicing the style of shots used frequently in noir films. The light also all came from a single source held up in a corner of the room which gave us high contrast between light and dark, and strong shadows.

Ident

This is the Ident i created based on ideas created amongst the group and research provided, we decided as a group to give it a dark 'gritty' feel to tie in with the Film Noir element of our opening sequence, we also came up with the name 'ARCO PICTURES' because it gives it a 'secretive / Noir-ish' feel as well as an abstract aspect which we are trying to incorporate into the opening we create. I tried to give the whole ident a Noir element by making the background completely black and having 'lights' shining through to display the name "A R C O P I C T U R E S" .
To create the ident i firstly made the white 'lights' in photoshop on a black background using a large soft brush, i then put the writing on top of the lights in a separate layer, the writing was originally Merlin Pictures which was later changed to Arco. The writing is created in capitol letters with spaces between each letter to make it feel as though it takes up more room ,but isn't too imposing.
I later edited the image in Picasa using simple edits, this included 'warmify', this made the white lights a warm orange colour, i also added a 'Glow' effect to the lights to make the fade to black more gradual, however this made it so the writing was barely visible. i altered this in Photoshop, defining the writing and making it more visible.

Job Distribution

During planning we have looked at the major roles in creating a piece like ours and have distributed the main jobs among ourselves, this should help us all play to our strengths both individually and as a group.

William North
- Producer
- Chief Editor
- Casting Director
- Location Manager

Simeon Lees
- Director
- Musical Director
- Scriptwriter
- Sound and Foley Engineer

Thomas Boel
- Artistic Director
- Cinematographer
- Storyboard Artist
- Titles Designer
- Lighting Engineer

Preliminary Task

This is our preliminary task for our project, we made it so it stays within the laws of continuity. We have tried to relate it loosely to the style of film we intend to base our film opening around and will no doubt take some of the things we have discovered while filming this and use them in our final video. The quality of this video is quite poor, this is probably due to the file type being changed to one suitable to be uploaded to youtube so it can be shown on here.

Treatment

Our film is to be a film noir style drama based around a central character that has an unhealthy gambling addiction along with a sea of other troubles both at home and work. The opening will depict him entering a poker game with a group of high class individuals where his desperation leads him to lose all the money he bet with which is everything he owns. He is unhappy with his life how it is, it is hinted his wife may be seeing other men and consequently he is hopelessly lusting after the wife of one of the other players. With him loosing it all he has nothing left and the rest of the film centres around a in depth look into his state of mind as he desperately tries to claw back everything he lost, throwing our otherwise average working class man deep into the heart of the criminal underworld.

As this is to be based around the film noir style it will involve a deep look inside the head of the main character, allowing for him to be seen for exactly what he is, flaws and all. This kind of exploration of the character is typical of film noirs which are often very dark and portray their main characters as having some kind of fatal flaw which leads them to make bad decisions that ultimately affect the outcome of the film. It will be based in the 1950s.

The stylistic influences for this project are to be taken from the film noir genre, more specifically containing strong elements of neo noir films as to not restrict us to basic techniques and black and white filming. This will allow us to still keep a modern feel to our project while still heavily including film noir styles and mise en scene. Another genre of film to be looked at while creating this project is the crime drama genre, as this will be a modernised neo noir that will also borrow from thriller and crime drama traditions. A real task will be to try and mix these varying influences to create a film opening that works well.

The mise en scene element of this project will be very important, to fit with the desired style we will be using trilby hats and trench coats to create an air of mystery around our characters, and also to fit with the time period we are basing it in. We will have our characters relatively sharply dressed also, in business attire to fit with the style and also the occupations of the respective characters. Props used may be objects that would be commonly found in that era, such as and old radio for a source of digetic sound in the opening sequence. To avoid looking clichéd we will not be using props for guns as we do not have the software to make it look realistic. To fit in with the feel of the film, and the era it is based in we may use things such as cigars and paper files. We will make sure there are no modern items on shot during the filming.
Due to the style of this project we will most likely have very low key lighting in our opening sequence to allow for a dramatic and contrasting look and feel.

Ident Research

RKO Radio
I have picked this ident as one to research due to it being a company considered to have initialized the film noir era. Though on first perception the composition of the ident looks outdated and irrelevant, we’ve got to understand that RKO was a company of its time, and so in the 30’s RKO was a prime film company, a fashionable and revolutionary company. Without prior knowledge, this can be interpreted from the composition of the ident. Firstly, the subject of the ident is a radio tower, standing tall at the top of the world. This immediately gives us an insight into the nature of RKO radio pictures; that it is at the top of the league for film production, the leading pioneer of the pictures industry. The tower is emitting radio waves which travel all over the world, depicting RKO to be a company which is really alive, and transmitting new and exciting film for the whole world. The text itself is jagged, possibly reflecting the quirky style of film noir, or perhaps telling the audience that this name is really loud, that it is being shouted to the whole world. Though I appreciate that the style of this ident is relevant to its time period, I would prefer to have a quieter ident, one which reflects a lot more mystery, similar to the film noir style.


Paramount
I have picked this ident as one to research, due to it’s striking and prestigious appearance. Despite Paramount not being an institute that produces film noir films, the actual ident is one which could quite easily represent such a company. This is backed by several things; firstly, the general appearance of this ident is one that represents class and style- this is caused by the picture of a mountain, towering above others. This makes out Paramount to be a company which literally towers over others. The stars surrounding the mountain add to the prestige, and also give the impression that Paramount is a company of class, one recognised to be a prime competitor in the industry of film production. The text itself fits tidily inside the stars and above the mountain, and uses a font which gives the impression of Paramount being an old and classic company, one which has many years in the industry, and has worked its way to the top. Though I appreciate this ident for its purpose, it does not fulfil the criteria of a film noir ident I am looking for; more of a subtle ident, which is darker, and reflects the nature of the style.


Ident Research Conclusion
Both the idents I have researched feature particular styles which I appreciate, though generally I would prefer an ident which strays from the stereotypical ident of a film company, one which depicts the company to be the leader of the industry. I would prefer a more subtle ident, quite an abstract one, which focuses more in depth on the visual nature of film noir.
I am currently in the process of negotiating the ident with Tom Boel, the ident artist. Hopefully we will produce an ident which reflects the mystery and abstract of the film noir style, possibly encompassing the picture style of film camera (Gritty image, 35mm style) to fully depict the film noir style.

Textual Analysis - Casino Royale

Casino Royale Intro



Scene in which Bond is meeting with Villain. Film Noir elements, e.g. black and white, crime, low key lighting etc.

Lighting: Barely any, streetlights outside (night-time) indoors only lamplight. Typical film noir theme in this section, as low key lighting and shadow hides a lot of the scene. Light used to make Bond look intimidating, and create an eerie feel to the offices.

Camera Angles: Mostly still or panning to enhance eerie feel, in flashbacks (fight scene) camera is handheld, to create a raw, violent and energetic feel. Occasional medium close ups, very close ups, to enhance when important things are being said.

Non-Diegetic Sound: Very eerie music, high pitched violins to create tense and evil feel, with occasional low and subtle whooshing noises, possibly to scare audience. Fight scene: very fast, frequent bursts in music to establish feeling of violence, conflict
Diegetic Sound: Speech, very calm and eerie. Empty gun click, emphasised to show how the tables have turned, and how at risk the villain suddenly is. Fight scene: gunshots, screaming, sinks smashing, punches etc.

Mise-En-Scene: Location, empty offices, very state of the art, night time, cold looking, dark spaces give impressions of holding secrets, both Bond and Villain wearing smart, professional looking, clever, important. Dialogue: Intellectual, witty, cold, bitter

Special effects: Black and White, perhaps darkened shadows? Fight scene black and white, grittier, dirtier image to give aggressive feel

Target Audience

I believe our film would be based more around the neo noir approach to film making as opposed to the traditional noirs of the 40s and 50s. This modern take may therefore attract a younger audience, while the deep psychological analysis of the main character could draw in those of a more intellectual nature. Also modern day censorship is much more slack than it ws, allowing for more realistically gory or unpleasant scenes. I believe this would put our ideal viewer at the age of 18 to mid 20s, most probably university student looking for a break from studies due to the intellectual nature of these films.
The stylistic features of noir such as a dark city, interrogation style scenes and the femme fatale character would mean our target viewer would most likely be male.
This viewer may also have a darker side themselves, and listen to rock or heavy music. They may also have an interest in books as they allow the imagination to create the story and allow for very detailed analysis, also many early noirs were adapted from novels.

This is what I imagine a member of our target audience would look like.

Film Institutions Reserch

When noir first came to light over 70 years ago, there were five large film production companies that made the vast majority if not all feature length films to hit cinema screens. This time was considered to be Hollywood's 'golden age' when sound was introduced to moving images to make the first non silent feature length films. During this time (late 1920s to late 1950s/60s) thousands of films were produced from these five companies. One of these companies, that was known for it's ventures into the realm of film noir was RKO Pictures. Due to the low budget nature of film noirs the company released many noir films as B movies, including 'Stranger on the Third Floor' (1940) which has been widely regarded as the film responsible for initiating noir's classic period. After this they went on to make many noir films such as 'Out of the Past' (1947) which is now seen as one of the greatest of all noir films. RKO was the only of the five major companies that has not continued on to this day.
Ident for RKO Pictures


However, noir films are still going strong today, or rather elements left imprinted on the film industry from their golden era still hold strong in modern films. These modern or 'neo' noirs vary very much in budget and intended audience, thus making it very hard to generalise modern noirs to a single type of production company. Large projects such as 'Batman: the Dark Knight' (2008) and 'Casino Royale' (2006) have obvious noir influences but are very high budget and a very broad intended audience, which contrasts greatly from the low budget B movies of old. These films were produced by Warner Bros. and MGM which are two of the five major companies from Hollywood's golden age. This shows how alot of films have taken the elements of film noir that worked well and integrated them into their modern productions.


This image of Batman on a rooftop shows the noir like nature of the film. Half of his face is in darkness, which may resemble his internal conflict and the city behind him is dark, with the only light coming from buildings, street lights and cars. It is a very typical noir style image which is often seen in films of this type.

Textual analysis - The Maltese Falcon

The Maltese Falcon - Opening Scene:


- Here I have chosen to reseach a more traditional noir from the time when they were at their peak in popularity, to give me a wide view at the genre as a whole.
- The opening titles are very simplistic with an image that has names over the top, this may simply be due to the fact this film was made in 1941 and there was not many alternatives
- The filming also is very simplistic, with no odd angles or breaks in continuity. This adds to the realism of the film and implies it is uncovering the stories hidden behind everyday life.
- The opening shots pan the city and set the scene while non-digetic music plays.
- In this scene I have seen much more dialogue than in previous, more modern noirs. Possibly to allow for further understanding of the main character(s).
- This film indefinately endeavours to uncover the true nature of it's main character, and to expose him including his flaws to the audience. Even in this opening scene there is strong hints toward him being a womaniser.
- Noirs do tend to focus around one man, who is often a private investigator or authority figure who reaches a tragic end due to some fatal flaw in his character, much like the tragedy genre of plays.
- These films also show deviant behaviour, with scenes that would of made the audience of the time uncomfortable. It is this deviant behaviour that allows us greater understanding of the main character who is often portrayed as an anti hero or protagonist. Showing that noirs do not use one dimensional characters but instead explore the psyche and create complex characters who the audience will react to in different ways, and may not necessarily like.
- With the phone call from Mrs. Archer we are shown what may lead to the downfall of our anti hero, these insightful hints are less obvious in modern noirs but are definately still there.
- Later in the scene there are some close up shots of the phone, at odd angles which also seems to be a recurring feature in noir films; close up shots at odd angles.

(Stopped analysing when Mr. Archer picks up the phone)

Textual analysis - Road to Perdition

Road to Perdition - Opening Sequence


- This film is also a neo noir although it focuses on gangsters and the world surrounding them.
- The film is set in the winter of 1931
- The first part of this sequence, the main titles are very simple visually, with light lettering on a black background. I do like the titles however as when the sound of the tide undulating is introduced the titles appear and fade away as each new wave comes in and goes back out.
- Like the last noir I looked at the opening to this film has very little noise and seems to embrace near silence as an effect for building tension.
- This film also opens with a voice over from one of the characters central to the plot line, the main character who the film follows.
- The gradual zoom of the camera towards the boy who has his back turned with the view of nothing but vast ocean in the background helps build the tension of what he is saying and shows him to be very much alone, perhaps meaning the character he is talking about has died.
- Instead of using low key lighting and a very black background this film has just the opposite, it is bright with a white, snowy backdrop.
- There is however still an element of contrast as I saw in the other film, this time with the people the boy is cycling past in their mainly black clothing contrasting with the white background.
- A tracking shot is used to follow the boy through the crowd as more titles appear smaller in the corner of the screen. Also some very traditional sounding non digetic music plays as the boy smoothly glides in the opposite direction to everybody else.
- The boy appears to have stolen for money, and is shown stealing in the scene however the tone of the scene makes this seem as though it is an average occurance and holds no real dramatic value.
- The tone seems very light hearted up until the car rolls up and the boy the film has been following hides his pipe and looks alertly at is, as if recognising an authority figure.
- The sound within the opening few minutes is mainly non-digetic which i am begining to think is a feature of alot of films.
- This film follows something that seems prevalent in most if not all noir films, in that in centers around one character and shows their inner workings in order to help the viewer understand them and perhaps even relate to or empathise with them. This kind of analysis also brings out the flaws in the character, making these films much more realistic than the action adventure alternatives. Such as the child being focused on here seems to be the black sheep of the family, he is shown stealing, smoking and he also appears to have some form of grudge against his father.
- The mise en scene here simply seems average for the time period it was set in, with no striking stylistic features
(I stopped analysing after where it cuts to inside the house)

Textual analysis - Sin City

Sin City - Opening Sequence:


- This film is a modern or 'neo' noir
- Opens with establishing shot of a balcony overlooking a busy American city, which is a typical setting for a noir style film.
- It is filmed in black and white however selective colour is used on parts of the image such as the woman's dress and lips, to highlight them. I believe her being highlighted is meant to show her vunerability. Her coloured dress also makes her seem very isolated from the rest of the background, as if she is being portrayed as lonely or alone.
- The selective colour gives a very theatrical feel to the sequence while the highly contrasted black and white filming gves it a very typical noir look.
- The voice over is obviously the voice of the man shown in the scene and is a very cool and calculated voice, showing him to be a very intelligent and confident character.
- His tone of voice also leaves an air of mystery about him as it is very quiet, almost a whisper but is still filled with confidence as if he has been in this kind of situation many times before.
- During the dialogue actions seem long and drawn out, as non-digetic music that is quiet and jazzy kicks in. All this helps to keep the mysterious and stylish theme going.
- Due to the mood so far the gunshot shocks the viewer with it's sudden sharp sound and bright flash of light. However the gun is silenced so there is still no significantly loud contribution to sound as of yet. It would appear that this kind of quiet but slick and stylish scene is prevalent in the noir film genre.
- Another typical noir film feature shown in this scene is bad weather and time of day, with many noir films taking place mostly at night when it is pouring down with rain, perhaps trying to achieve some kind of pathetic fallacy.
- The scene uses low key lighting for a very dark and mysterious look, with most of the light focusing on the woman in the scene, this may be as we are hearing the story from the man's point of view and she is his main focus at this point in time.
- The mise en scene is very slick and stylish, both characters are well dressed and the events seem to be taking place in around the 1960s. Both the costume and time frame are very typical of noir, and neo noir films
-There are minimal special effects in this scene, which aso seems to be a recurring theme in noirs, with the focus placed more on psychological impact s opposed to trying to impress with visual feats, often being much more crafty and subtle.
- The voice over creates psychological impact as we are allowed to really see what he is thinking and his words in places are almost poetic, he is a hitman although in the voice over and dialogue we hear compassion and emotion.
- My favourite features of this scene are the characters and the stylistic features.