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.