Juxtaposition of Main Characters

We decided to make our actress Kate Fox look as much like a typical femme fatale as possible. Therefore we dressed her in a tight black off-the-shoulder dress to emphasise her female figure and curled her hair. This glamorous look appeals to the male audience and was inspired by the following actresses : Mary Astor, Veronica Lake and Jane Greer.

Unlike the mysterious, double-crossing, predatory, irresponsible and manipulative femme fatales represented in old noir films, we chose to subvert the stereotype and represent Kate as defenseless and fragile. By placing her on the floor, the audience is made to feel puzzled and confused (why is this beautiful woman tied up?). Furthermore, when the murderer walks past her, we see how he is in control and has more dominance than her, this reversion of power subverts how femme fatales are typically shown in films i.e. instead of being manipulated BY her, she is the one BEING manipulated.

Conventions Slideshow

Conventions

Technology

Youtube

We widely used Youtube to research our chosen genre and find out more about its common conventions. Youtube made it possible for us to view short snippets from popular noir films that we would have not been able to see otherwise. Rather than renting or buying the film, we were able to conveniently see the clips in the classroom. Lastly, we were able to carry out individual research at home due to its accessibility.

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Distribution

The potential distributor of our film would be Entertainment Film Distributors (EFD) which is a British distributor of independent films in the UK and Ireland. They also distribute films made by the major Hollywood studio New Line Cinema as well as other various independent production companies.

The task of choosing a distrubutor of noir films was substantially difficult because not many are produced in this modern era. However, EFD is the perfect company as it distributes a wide range of products such as the award winning Lord of the Rings Trilogy. Since 2000 the company’s releases have totalled a groundbreaking thirty-six Oscar wins and twenty BAFTAs.

The institution distrubutes films from a variety of genres which includes comedy (Run Fat Boy Run), fantasy (The Golden Compass) and thriller (Pathology).

















In 2001 they dstributed "The Man Who Wasn't There" which played a large incluence on our film opening because it is a neo-noir film. It showed us that even though the "Golden Era" of film noir has died, the market for this type of product hasn't completely disappeared.

The Departed is a crime thriller that plays homage to several noir films such as the "The Lady From Shanghai" (the famous mirror scene) and "The Third Man" (funeral scene).

Their website: http://www.entertainmentfilms.co.uk/

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Screening Feedback

Thursday was the day on which we screened our film to the class and teachers. Here is the feedback we received:
Good points:

• Good variation of camera angles and sizes
• Great costumes e.g braces
• Effective flickering lights
• Interesting framing
• Created a cliffhanger at the end
• Looks very film noir
• Good music
• Thought a lot about the mise-en-scene
• The sink scene was impressive
• Liked black and white effect
• Good voiceover script (1940's era is obvious)
• Great mise-en-scene

Bad points:

• Need to turn up voiceover
• Seems like it's finished when credits roll
• Stairs scene was too long
• Cuts during the stairwell scene felt awkward
• Sound editing could be neater
• Maybe add close up of femme-fatale
• Credits need to be throughout the opening

Things we will change:

We will record the voiceover again and make sure that Luke is closer to the microphone because before he was quite far away from it. Once we have recorded the voiceover, we will then edit the sound and make it more precise and stylish. Also, we will add dramatic music after the murderer scene as we were unable to find suitable music before the screening. The main thing that we need to change is the credits. Instead of having them at the end, we will place them between some of the scenes. This in turn might be a solution to the awkward stairs cutaways. We will cut down the scene where Jack is walking up the stairs with his hand on the bannister because the majority of people have commented on the length of the shot. At the moment we are not sure whether we will add a close up of the femme fatale as it might make the whole scene less effective if we have cutaways to Kate.

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Process Update

Recently we finished filming all scenes at Yulia's house, however after watching the footage we noticed that Jack's costume looked too modern and unconventional of the noir genre. Therefore decided to reshoot the scenes and change the costume i.e. black blazer instead of the coat.
When we were filming for the second time, we decided to add a few extra scenes in order to make the storyline more clear and the opening more effective. Originally, Jack was against the wall during the telephone scene, however when we were reshooting we decided to place him next to the window (which had venetian blinds). We decided to do this because Jack could then look out of the window as he was talking on the phone, making it seem as though he suspected the caller to be outside. Furthermore we added a new scene where Jack puts the telephone down and the camera follows him as he leaves the room and slams the door.
On the following day we filmed the murderer scene. When we were on location we decided to flicker the lights when he was walked towards the sink and past the femme fatale in order to create an edgy atmosphere.
Apart from these changes we kept the rest the same.

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Powerpoint Presentation

This is the Powerpoint Presentation we used when we pitched our film opening idea to the class.

Scarlett

These are the notes that helped us while we were presenting:

Script

This is the script to the opening of our film "Scarlett". It has details of everything that will be happening in each scene, including the music and dialogue.

Shooting Schedule

This is the redrafted version of the shooting schedule after we finalized the murderer and did a reccy on each location to see whether it was suitable for our opening sequence.

Audience Research

In order to learn more about the preferences of our target audience, we conducted survey of 10 people aged 17-22 , asking them various questions that would help us during our planning.
8 out of 10 people have previously watched a film noir some time during their life, meaning that they are aware of the genre and its common conventions. All those that have watched it said that they enjoyed it, with 7 people saying that they would like to see more noirs produced. From these two questions we learnt that film noir is popular amongst our target audience , giving us confidence about targeting our film to such an age group.
When asked the question "What did you like most about film noir?", we got the following results:
2 people : tone/mood
4 people: storyline
2 people: characters
2 people: lighting
The storyline of film noirs seemed the most appealing element to our target audience, making us re-evaluate our initial idea and develop it further so that it would captivate our audience more.
The question : "What do you think is the most important element of this genre" produced these results:
1 person : non linear storyline
1 person : femme fatale
2 people : low key lighting
3 people : ominous shadows
3 people : male protagonist
With the two most popular answers being ominous shadows and male protagonist, we have decided to focus on those two elements the most. Our detective's character has evolved after conducting this research, we have come up with new shots revolving around the detective which highlight his importance in the storyline. We will try to create ominous shadows where possible and use low key lighting to create an eerie atmosphere.

Locations, Cotumes, Props and Actors

Actors:
Jack Harris will be playing the hardboiled cynical detective. As well as being available and reliable, he has Media experience which we think will help us when we are filming the detective scenes.

We have casted Alex Johnstone as the murdered. As we are only him from the waist down, we won't see his face. As he's in our Media class he is reliable and eager to make an appearance in our film

Kate will be our captured femme fatale. She fits the conventional femme fatale look i.e. has curls and the body figure.

Locations:
After doing our reccy we have decided to film certain scenes (the murderer walking and washing his hands & the femme fatale tied up) in an old bathroom in our school.
We think that this location is suitable because:

• We will have access to old fashioned taps
• This toilet is no longer used, therefore we will not be interrupted whilst filming
• The room also has terracotta tiles which will produce echoing footsteps when the murderer is walking, creating a eerie atmosphere.

The rest of the scenes will be filmed at Kate's house and Yulia's stairwell. It's possible to do lots of interesting shots in the stairwell for example a low angle of the detective's hand gliding on the banister.

Costumes:

So that it's easy to identify the detective, he will be wearing a trench coat, trilby hat and braces as this is the typical style of clothing an investigator wore in the 1940's era. The costume of the femme fatale is quite simple ; a short revealing dress and high heels. We are going for the more obvious look so that the target audience recognizes her straightaway and will question why the dangerously seductive woman has been kidnapped. The murderer will be wearing trousers and shirt, his outfit is plain because we wanted him to look ordinary so that the audience is shocked when they see him washing blood of his hands.

Props:

For the scenes with the detective the props we will need are:

• Old fashioned telephone
• Notepad
• Pen
• Roll up

Red food colouring will the used when the anonmous stranger is washing his hands. To show that the femme fatale has been kidnapped we will use a rope to tie up her hands and a white band to put around her mouth.

Feedback On Our Pitch And Idea

We presented our pitch to our teachers and our class. They gave us some helpful feedback so that we could improve our presentation for the real thing.

What we did well:

• Thought about genre and characters typical to the genre
• Thought about costumes and props
• Thought about possible locations
• Didn't read off the powerpoint
• Used media terminology well

Improvements and things to think about:

• Make a script and memorise what you are going to say
• Make your powerpoint presentation visually pleasing, by using pictures
• Add photographs of props, costumes and locations
• Finalise locations
• Make sure actors are reliable
• Do audience research
• Is there a modern audience for a period noir film?
• Look at Coen Brothers film: The Man Who Wasn't There

Our Pitch

For our pitch we have decided to do a powerpoint presentation which will include any pictures that we feel are relevant and bullet points that our class can read in order to follow what we are saying.

Narrative:

Our narrative will be of the film noir detective genre. The basic story outline will entail a detective answering a phone call that is a lead to where a murderer is hiding - with the captured femme fatale. We think that this is a good story line because it is simple, yet has many enigmas and does not give away too much.

We will show a rough storyboard that we have drawn up so that the class can see the different types of shots we plan to use, the lighting we think will be effective and the props and locations.

Characters:

In our opening we will have the three most typical characters of the film noir genre: the detective, the murderer and the femme fatale.

The detective will be wearing attire typical to the 1940s, including a trench coat and trilby hat. We have decided that our detective will be Jack Harris (one of our group members brother) as he is 18 - but looks older - and also looks a lot older than anyone we could have cast from our 6th form. Jack can also legally smoke and will be useful as the typical 'detective' from 1940s noir films normally smokes and tends to look quite rugged and unshaven.

Our murderer has not been officially cast yet because we will only need a pair of hands and a male shadow. However, he will need to be quite tall and broad in order to cast a big enough shadow. We think that we will ask the a level drama group as we know many of them will be interested in our project and they won't be nervous in front of the camera due to previous experience.

The femme fatale will be played by Kate (at the moment) as she looks the part. We will dress her in rather revealing clothes as she is supposed to be a sex symbol.

Location:

We haven't yet decided on all our locations but we have the following:

• Kitty's bathroom has old fashioned-looking taps and plenty of space to film so this will be suitable for the shot of the murderer washing his hands.
• The scene of the detective talking on a pay phone has not yet got a confirmed location, however, a dimly lit road with a lone telephone box would look very effective - especially if there was a street lamp lit over the telephone box. Furthermore you will be able to see the full attire of the detective. Although, this will hard to find as we live in a modern part of London so we would have go to a more up market place in London in hope of finding an old telephone box.
• The scene of the detective walking into the abandoned building will be shot in the stair well of Yulia's building as this is dimly lit and would cast shadows.

Props:

The only props we will need are:

• 1940s style cigarettes (roll ups - as they do not have a filter)

Target Audience:

We have already stated that we will target our film at an older audience as they will appreciate film noir more.

Target Audience

We have decided to pitch our film to a more mature audience, as we think that they would be able to appreciate the film noir genre.
We also don't think that the younger generation would be as interested in a film shot in black and white, as they have grown up with technicolour and usually think that black and white films are old and boring.

We have decided that we will survey people from the age of 16 and older in order to see what they like to see in a detective/noir film and what they think is overdone in recent films. From our survey we hope that we will get more concrete ideas and have more of an idea of what our audience will be expecting from our opening.

Research Into The Genre

For our film opening we will be using the popular film genre Film Noir.

- What are the conventions of the genre?

• Low key and chiaroscuro lighting
• Femme fatale
• Black, white and grey
• Cynical and hard-hearted male protagonist
• Murder
• Detective
• Twisting storylines
• Amnesia (suffered by protagonist)
• Ominous shadows
• 'Skewed' camera angles
• Dark, gloomy interiors
• Ambient music
• Dark alleyways
• Rain-slicked streets
• Dimly lit apartments

-The genre's recent success

Film noir films were very popular in the 1940s and '50s, but have declined in demand since the introduction of technicolour film. A few well known examples of film noir are The Big Combo (1955) which was directed by Joseph H Lewis and became famous because of the iconic noir shot at the end of the film of a silhouetted man and woman surrounded by fog (shown above). Another well known film noir director is Alfred Hitchcock who is famous for the films: Strangers on a Train (1950), Shadow of a Doubt (1943) , Notorious (1946) and The Wrong Man (1956).

More recent noir films have been technicolour, however they still retain classic conventions of the genre, for example Snatch (2000) and Dead Man's Shoes (2004).

Originally the film noir genre was used to describe stylish Hollywood movies, but has spread worldwide since the 1960s as nowadays more and more countries have the means to produce high-budget films and distribute them.

-Film Noir openings
Most noir films begin with the opening credits (even in neo-noirs) and then in a typical opening the main characters are introduced (normally the detective, femme fatale and a murderer) through a series of cutaways to them, most of the time showing how they are all connected. In all noir films the opening will create some sort of an enigma, and in many that we have watched the enigma is what the detective is investigating.