Thursday, 29 January 2009
Wednesday, 28 January 2009
Group Treatment: Audience and Influences for Opening Sequence - Josh Payne
After conducting our surveys which were targeted at the age group suggested by our brief, 15-24 year olds, we found what the common tastes seemed to be. Firstly, they were on the whole unaware of the term film noir and many of them listed their favourite genres to be comedies or action films. This meant that a film that simply copied many traditional film noirs would simply not interest a modern audience, in order to catch their attention we need to put a different spin on it. The first thing to do is to not film it in a black and white visual as another fact that came out of our primary research was that many people seemed to be put off by a film being in black and white. By keeping the film in colour we will need to be more creative and careful with our lighting techniques.
As well as that our primary research indicated that a lot of people require several 'action' scenes in a thriller which indicates that they prefer a faster paced story and avoid any pondering. Josh tried to incorporate this into the script by introducing a fast paced opening with our main character fleeing from an unknown pursuer as he tries to make off with a mysterious package containing a large sum of money. This was intended to get the film off to fast start. However it was also important to maintain many of the traditions of noir in order to keep the film in this genre, so the scene where the two men are in the room together will emphasise many classic film noir lighting techniques and the dialogue throughout the piece will be noir like in both its subject matter and wording.
Our influences for the more traditional noir characteristics in the piece were classic film noirs such Citizen Kane, Detour and Double Indemnity for the feel and visual styles including how they put the camera in different positions to create interesting angles. Also, some of the dialogue in our piece references these kind of films. However, the wording is slightly updated and our props and costumes have been modified to fit into today's fashion criteria.
Looking at more recent noirs influences have included both the George Clooney thriller Michael Clayton and the Coen Brothers' No Country For Old Men. Michael Clayton starts out with its main character sprinting through a wooded area with his expression indicating that something very unexpected and dramatic has happened hence his fleeing which serves as a hook to the audience. Also, in No Country For Old Men the main protagonist steals a suitcase full of money and intends to make away with it but finds that a killer is now on his trail. The plot plays on the age old question of whether you would take an abandoned bag of money if you simply came across. The idea of an ordinary man making one bad decision and then having dark repercussions is a constant theme in film noirs and helps us to further our film's connection to noir traditions.
As a group we wanted some feedback about film noir to help us with our project. The feedback would be gained through primary research in the form of a questionnaire, as this way we could tailor the questions to ensure we would gain the useful answers we wanted. Emily devised the questionnaire and went out to ask people for answers. She asked 7 people in the 16-25 age range as they are the main cinema audience and they are who we would be aiming our noir towards. She also asked people aged 40, 28 and 14 to see if our film would appeal to a wider audience range as well. My job was to analyse the results and below is a table showing what I found out explaining how the information we gained from each question was useful to us.We will attempt to incorporate our findings when creating our opening sequence to make it more appealing to our target audience of people aged between 15 and 25. The question about black and white films (question 2) will be particularly useful when we are in the editing suit and are choosing to add any effects to our film. Our results show that black and white films aren’t a popular choice and that they would turn off/over the TV if they saw one was on. Our role in creating our title sequence is to get people to stay tuned in and watch on to resolve the enigma(s), but if our audience would choose not to watch it just because it was in black and white, then perhaps we shouldn’t add that effect. Question number 5 also proved interesting with the results as it shows how people can be interested and ‘hooked’ in a film opening even if there isn’t any music to accompany it. We will still use music in our opening piece as we feel it’s the key to creating the right noir atmosphere, though it is useful to know that we won’t be turning away our audience if we chose to have loud sound effects, plain speech or dead silence instead. Although the resuls we gained were useful, there were still some things we could have done to gain even better results. Firstly we could have asked a bigger sample of people to gain more accurate results with defined replies on each question. However, I think the outcome would still contain similar results, and wouldn’t be of any further use to us. Also, we could have more questions requiring a more detailed answer (open questions) to gain more feedback from each person we gave the questionnaire to. But they may not have been as keen to fill it out if they had noticed how detailed it was. Overall, I am pleased with the results we discovered as they’ll be very useful to us in the future.
As well as that our primary research indicated that a lot of people require several 'action' scenes in a thriller which indicates that they prefer a faster paced story and avoid any pondering. Josh tried to incorporate this into the script by introducing a fast paced opening with our main character fleeing from an unknown pursuer as he tries to make off with a mysterious package containing a large sum of money. This was intended to get the film off to fast start. However it was also important to maintain many of the traditions of noir in order to keep the film in this genre, so the scene where the two men are in the room together will emphasise many classic film noir lighting techniques and the dialogue throughout the piece will be noir like in both its subject matter and wording.
Our influences for the more traditional noir characteristics in the piece were classic film noirs such Citizen Kane, Detour and Double Indemnity for the feel and visual styles including how they put the camera in different positions to create interesting angles. Also, some of the dialogue in our piece references these kind of films. However, the wording is slightly updated and our props and costumes have been modified to fit into today's fashion criteria.
Looking at more recent noirs influences have included both the George Clooney thriller Michael Clayton and the Coen Brothers' No Country For Old Men. Michael Clayton starts out with its main character sprinting through a wooded area with his expression indicating that something very unexpected and dramatic has happened hence his fleeing which serves as a hook to the audience. Also, in No Country For Old Men the main protagonist steals a suitcase full of money and intends to make away with it but finds that a killer is now on his trail. The plot plays on the age old question of whether you would take an abandoned bag of money if you simply came across. The idea of an ordinary man making one bad decision and then having dark repercussions is a constant theme in film noirs and helps us to further our film's connection to noir traditions.
As a group we wanted some feedback about film noir to help us with our project. The feedback would be gained through primary research in the form of a questionnaire, as this way we could tailor the questions to ensure we would gain the useful answers we wanted. Emily devised the questionnaire and went out to ask people for answers. She asked 7 people in the 16-25 age range as they are the main cinema audience and they are who we would be aiming our noir towards. She also asked people aged 40, 28 and 14 to see if our film would appeal to a wider audience range as well. My job was to analyse the results and below is a table showing what I found out explaining how the information we gained from each question was useful to us.We will attempt to incorporate our findings when creating our opening sequence to make it more appealing to our target audience of people aged between 15 and 25. The question about black and white films (question 2) will be particularly useful when we are in the editing suit and are choosing to add any effects to our film. Our results show that black and white films aren’t a popular choice and that they would turn off/over the TV if they saw one was on. Our role in creating our title sequence is to get people to stay tuned in and watch on to resolve the enigma(s), but if our audience would choose not to watch it just because it was in black and white, then perhaps we shouldn’t add that effect. Question number 5 also proved interesting with the results as it shows how people can be interested and ‘hooked’ in a film opening even if there isn’t any music to accompany it. We will still use music in our opening piece as we feel it’s the key to creating the right noir atmosphere, though it is useful to know that we won’t be turning away our audience if we chose to have loud sound effects, plain speech or dead silence instead. Although the resuls we gained were useful, there were still some things we could have done to gain even better results. Firstly we could have asked a bigger sample of people to gain more accurate results with defined replies on each question. However, I think the outcome would still contain similar results, and wouldn’t be of any further use to us. Also, we could have more questions requiring a more detailed answer (open questions) to gain more feedback from each person we gave the questionnaire to. But they may not have been as keen to fill it out if they had noticed how detailed it was. Overall, I am pleased with the results we discovered as they’ll be very useful to us in the future.
Tuesday, 27 January 2009
Group Treatment: Sound - Chloe Atkins
As a group, our first ideas for the sound were to have a continuous soundtrack accompanying each shot. We ideally want this piece of music to be contrapuntal to the action on screen as it would show that we haven’t just picked a piece of music at random, and that it was clearly planned and prepared for. We wanted our music to be orchestral yet modern, and to make it sound creepy and odd. In the editing suite a few days ago, as a group we decided on a list of top 4 music choices that suit our demands. One of our top choices is called 'Mausam and Escape' by A R Rahman. It has a fast pace towards the end of the piece, which will be the part of the song we will use for the running scenes. Although we have had some doubts about whether it sounds too continental for a film noir, despite it's suitability in regards to pace. The other is called "Clues" by Jan Hammer, which we will use for the shots where Peter is opening the package and discovering the items inside it.
Other sound that would be recorded would be diegetic as we would leave the camera-top microphone on. For the sound where the ice-cube crashes into the glass that the Man is holding in the room, we may have to make it pleonastic as to demonstrate the Man’s loneliness and that every small sound can be heard and is amplified. For the sound that would be impossible to retrieve for our opening, such as a gun shot, we will have to result to finding a sound affect that suits our film. Sound effects can be easily found on the Internet or on compact-discs in sound libraries.
We have realised that it is important to get the music and the sound right for a our opening as it will be used to create the atmosphere of a film noir, and can keep the audience intrigued into watching more.
Other sound that would be recorded would be diegetic as we would leave the camera-top microphone on. For the sound where the ice-cube crashes into the glass that the Man is holding in the room, we may have to make it pleonastic as to demonstrate the Man’s loneliness and that every small sound can be heard and is amplified. For the sound that would be impossible to retrieve for our opening, such as a gun shot, we will have to result to finding a sound affect that suits our film. Sound effects can be easily found on the Internet or on compact-discs in sound libraries.
We have realised that it is important to get the music and the sound right for a our opening as it will be used to create the atmosphere of a film noir, and can keep the audience intrigued into watching more.
Monday, 26 January 2009
Group Treatment: Editing and Titles - Chloe Atkins
The initial ideas for the editing style of our film noir opening would be cutting shots to create a short, sharp and precise appearance. The effect of this would make the scenes seem more intense with lots of things going on in each one, and also to put the audience on the edge of their seats with anticipation. We also decided, as a group, that the speed in which the Man was travelling would affect the speed in which the shots would appear on the screen. For example, the part where the Man is running at a breathless pace, the shots would be fast also. And where the Man is dead in motion and lying on the floor, the shots would be left long to create a slow pace.
When the cuts occur between the Man running and when he is in the isolated room, we decided it would be best to use a sweeping transition to illustrate a change in location and a change in the Man’s emotional state. A sweeping transition may seem to calm and unsuited to the action on the audience will be viewing, but we wanted this transition to not be too noticeable as it may break the audience’s trust and belief that our film is real. Late after a piece of voice over from the Man, a series of location cuts begin. These will be between the Man running through the woods, and the same Man sitting in a darkened room alone. Each shot-after-shot will be fast and chaotic as to disorientate the audience and make them watch carefully, as the shots unveil more of the Man’s problems and secrets.
Whilst in the editing suite, we as a group decided that in the shot sequence between the woods and the room locations, the ones where the Man is running could be put into a black and white or tinted blue effect to show the grimness of the woods and also as a nice touch to show that this is directly from the Man’s memory. Also, it ties in with many of the traditional noir films, as they were all in black and white because of the time period they were filmed in.
For the titles, we have decided that the personnel titles would be shown before the action begins, and then the main title of the film would be displayed at the end. The personnel titles would feature our group names and roles, and would drip-fill with red one by one onto a black background. This would represent blood and murder, and is used on other film noir, crime or who-done-it mystery films. The main title would be best positioned at the end as we discovered that most opening film sequences come before the main title appears. This also ensures that the audience stay seated throughout until they uncover the name of the film they are watching. We decided that instead of following the same format as with the personnel titles, we would have this written on a piece of dirty, torn paper that drops onto the floor. It has yet been decided who drops this piece of paper on the floor, but it would probably be the main character Man as he is dying. The font of our ‘Shadows Present’ main title would be in a handwritten style, but bold and clear enough for the audience to read. The colour of the writing would either be black or deep red, to represent blood again.
2. The second idea was to keep the handwritten appearance from the first idea, but use a professional font instead. For this our options were 'Copybook' (shown on the left), 'Brush Stroke 26', 'Bradley Hand ITC' or any other similar examples. After applying the title to our film, we realised it didn't look very noiry and gave connotations of a comedy or children's film instead of a dark crime/horror noir sequence.
When the cuts occur between the Man running and when he is in the isolated room, we decided it would be best to use a sweeping transition to illustrate a change in location and a change in the Man’s emotional state. A sweeping transition may seem to calm and unsuited to the action on the audience will be viewing, but we wanted this transition to not be too noticeable as it may break the audience’s trust and belief that our film is real. Late after a piece of voice over from the Man, a series of location cuts begin. These will be between the Man running through the woods, and the same Man sitting in a darkened room alone. Each shot-after-shot will be fast and chaotic as to disorientate the audience and make them watch carefully, as the shots unveil more of the Man’s problems and secrets.
Whilst in the editing suite, we as a group decided that in the shot sequence between the woods and the room locations, the ones where the Man is running could be put into a black and white or tinted blue effect to show the grimness of the woods and also as a nice touch to show that this is directly from the Man’s memory. Also, it ties in with many of the traditional noir films, as they were all in black and white because of the time period they were filmed in.
For the titles, we have decided that the personnel titles would be shown before the action begins, and then the main title of the film would be displayed at the end. The personnel titles would feature our group names and roles, and would drip-fill with red one by one onto a black background. This would represent blood and murder, and is used on other film noir, crime or who-done-it mystery films. The main title would be best positioned at the end as we discovered that most opening film sequences come before the main title appears. This also ensures that the audience stay seated throughout until they uncover the name of the film they are watching. We decided that instead of following the same format as with the personnel titles, we would have this written on a piece of dirty, torn paper that drops onto the floor. It has yet been decided who drops this piece of paper on the floor, but it would probably be the main character Man as he is dying. The font of our ‘Shadows Present’ main title would be in a handwritten style, but bold and clear enough for the audience to read. The colour of the writing would either be black or deep red, to represent blood again.
!!UPDATE!!
Chloe Atkins has updated her blog, and because she has done, I have asked her permission to use her new blog post in this post. It is an update on the colour, shape and size of the typefaces and fonts of the titles:
In our film we have chosen to place the main title, 'Shadows Present', at the end of the sequence. We found this popular with many films and we thought it would create an enigma for the audience and keep them watching to find out what the film is called. However, as editor it is my responsibility to choose a suitable title font that will match with the noir style and be interesting for the audience. The same chosen font will then be applied to our name titles (which will be shown during our final fight scene and between the running through the forest) to show continuity throughout. We have also had a group idea that the actors' names should appear during the woods scenes, but are unsure if this idea will stay as it is not neccessary to have too many short unreadable titles disturbing the film, rather than a few good readable titles that break up the action nicely. For the background to our titles we had already decided upon black as it would make the text stand out and would match the noir style. Below are some of the font ideas and the reasons behind them: (the font examples shown below aren't the same as the ones we looked at in the editing suite, but they are very similar. You might have to click on each font example to see it more clearly as the quality isn't very good):
1. The first idea was to have the titles written on a piece of paper attached to the package, which would be in the hand of the person who dies at the end of our film. The shot we took panned out from the title to slowly reveal the hand holding it, however after following advice from Jon (our media teacher), we decided to abandon the idea on the thought that it looked unprofessional and too 'studenty'.
2. The second idea was to keep the handwritten appearance from the first idea, but use a professional font instead. For this our options were 'Copybook' (shown on the left), 'Brush Stroke 26', 'Bradley Hand ITC' or any other similar examples. After applying the title to our film, we realised it didn't look very noiry and gave connotations of a comedy or children's film instead of a dark crime/horror noir sequence.
3. The third idea was to choose something more gothic and detailed. For this we'd use 'Annual' (shown on the left), 'Copperplate Gothic', 'StoneSerif.1 Gothic' or any other similar font. I liked this font style as it suited the noir genre and introduced our film title nicely according to the previous action shown. However, there were still other ideas that could work just as well, so I looked at these first. 4. The fourth idea was to choose something simple but looked like a typewriter, to give the impression that someone is present and has just typed/written it onto the screen (like in the first and second ideas above). For this we used a font called 'Perpetual Elite' (which is similar to 'Courier New' - shown on the left). The font suited our film noir, and is similar to the titles in the opening sequence to the film 'Se7en' (as analysed previously). We decided to put the font into size 86.0 for the production company titles at the beginning, and size 70.0 for our names.
4. The fourth idea was to choose something simple but looked like a typewriter, to give the impression that someone is present and has just typed/written it onto the screen (like in the first and second ideas above). For this we used a font called 'Perpetual Elite' (which is similar to 'Courier New' - shown on the left). The font suited our film noir, and is similar to the titles in the opening sequence to the film 'Se7en' (as analysed previously). We decided to put the font into size 86.0 for the production company titles at the beginning, and size 70.0 for our names.
5. Once satisfied with the font choice, Josh and I tried to apply some sort of title effect that would create the appearance of a shadow walking across the font. After a long time of fiddling around, cutting bits of the title and inserting different effects, we decided that our ambitions were set too high and it wouldn't be worth it after all. So we then decided that the font could change colour to red. This would give connotations of blood and death, and would be a nice touch to the end of our sequence, but the beginning of the film. We kept the same font but changed the colour to red. We placed the titles next to each other in our film timeline, and applied a fade transition between the 2 titles. We then applied a 'blur' vidoe effect to the end of the red title to disorientate the audience and add a noirey touch. We showed the rest of our group and we all agreed that this effect worked well.
So above are the few ideas we had as a group, and ideas Chloe had herself. Each idea is good in certain ways, but had to match the noir genre for it to go well with our film.
Sunday, 25 January 2009
Group Treatment: Mise-En-Scene - Emily Swager
Emily had discussed with the group her M-E-S treatment and we agreed it was fine. Here it is:
‘Alexandra park’ we choose this place for exterior scene because it has a lot of trees and it would be good if it was sunny as you would be able to see a shadow through the trees for our silhouette man. Also you do not get many outside noises and not many people go down there so it would not be a problem when we have to come to edit to get rid of the diegetic sound. When the man is sitting in the room we have chosen the studio in our college because it’s very dark and a good place to give out shadows and it would be very effective for our venation blind effect.
Location
Man running in the flashback is going to be set in the back of our college, at a park called
‘Alexandra park’ we choose this place for exterior scene because it has a lot of trees and it would be good if it was sunny as you would be able to see a shadow through the trees for our silhouette man. Also you do not get many outside noises and not many people go down there so it would not be a problem when we have to come to edit to get rid of the diegetic sound. When the man is sitting in the room we have chosen the studio in our college because it’s very dark and a good place to give out shadows and it would be very effective for our venation blind effect.Costumes
Both times exterior and interior we our going to have our main man who is running to be wearing wrinkled clothes and black clothes and a little stubble on his chin because it shows that this man is in his late teens and he is not experienced in making rational decisions in life.The shadow is just a black figure so it does not require a lot of costume but my plan was that we get the actor who is playing him to dress all in black and not put any light on him to make him more silhouette.
Lighting
When we come to the interior (man in the room) it is going to be darkness and then it has a few seconds of the venation blind effect over his face. When we cut to the flashback then comes back every time we come back to the room it gets lighter. This shows that he figuring something out which is that the silhouette has been watching him all this time.When it is exterior in the park we are going to use natural daylight on the man running but with the shadow we will need some lighting so that we can put a shadow effect on him on the ground so that it appears that the shadow is bigger and more powerful then this man.
Performance
In the beginning when we see the man in the room his facial expressions is relieved to show that he has just gotten away from something and he escaped. But when we go in and out of the flashbacks you see his face getting more anxious and nervous.At the ending when he is in the room you see his face relaxed and clamed then there is a lose up of his eyes which seem scared and nervous like he has released something.
Props
A desk (available at college)A chair at the desk (available at college)A angle desk lamp (available at college)A fan (for the desk, available at college)A black folder, a pad of paper, a few Biro pens and a mobile phone (to decorate the desk)2x large brown envelope packages (1 to use and 1 spare)A drinking glass and waterA fake knife and a fake gun2x black & white photos of our main character walking, and a paperclip to hold them togetherAn A5 black notebook with a date in itA magazine cut-out collage of a nameless address and phone numberA fake ice-cube (or real ice from the college cafe if they have any)A piece of paper with 'Shadows Present' handwritten in bold onto itThe main character's costume and the shadow man's costume (as described above)
Saturday, 24 January 2009
Group Treatment: Cinematography - Chris Kenworthy (myself)
· For exterior shots, I was thinking that since the first shot is going to be of a package full of money clenched in a hand, maybe some sort of close up should be used on the package in the hand. A normal close up might be a bit far away, so I’m more likely to use a big close-up or even an extreme close-up on the hand and package.
· Again, I was thinking of maybe a close up of the package on the ground after it has been dropped and is still in a hand. It would look obvious that the person’s hand is on the ground because of the foliage in our chosen location, so a medium close-up would be best.
· A medium close-up shot of the package as a shadow passes over it. If the shot is framed nicely and nothing is moved between shots, then maybe it would seem like the same shot - the shot of the package on the ground, and the next shot where the shadow passes over it.
· Medium shots, Wide shots and Close-ups are probably going to be the main shots used in the production. Of course, when filming this on-set in our locations both inside and outside, as a group we will probably discuss the shots whilst practicing them and make final decisions there and then, so most of the ideas I have may change to different shots on-screen, which will be down to different perspectives of the same shots.
· Also there is a shot of my eyes “wearing a panicked expression” at the beginning, so an extreme close-up will probably be the best type of shot to use. Fellow group members will act as assistant cameramen/women when I am needed in front of the camera.
· Maybe a change in the focus, between the background and the foreground, though looking at our ideas and script I don’t quite know where we could include this kind of detail.
· The use of Dutch Tilts in my “Exchange” project before Christmas received a lot of positive feedback from the rest of the students in my AS Media lecture when it was screened, so I shall aim to reuse Dutch Tilts in a similar fashion.
· On the interior shots, I’m going to be acting so I shall have to tell my crew what shots I will require, and whilst on-set maybe they can show me the framing before we film each shot. I shall also oversee the shots as the director of the production both in front of the camera and behind, on both locations. Especially the interior location, since we’re planning on using the Media Studio where we can adapt the lighting and position of props to our liking.
· I shall be acting in the interior location, so my assistant camera crew will be filming the shots. I will have set it up and all they will need to do is press the Record button on/off. If one of them wants to adjust the exposure or aperture on the camera then I can do it, since I’m very confident about altering the settings on any camera that I will use or have already used, both in Media Studies and in my private life.
· Whilst on-set, we can discuss the height, angle and framing of each shot since it is difficult to draw these small details on a storyboard.
· We will mainly be using a tripod with the camcorder, but maybe a handheld shot here and there if shots are too difficult to shoot on a tripod. Panning and tilting may be used in the exterior location as my character runs past the camera.
· Again, I was thinking of maybe a close up of the package on the ground after it has been dropped and is still in a hand. It would look obvious that the person’s hand is on the ground because of the foliage in our chosen location, so a medium close-up would be best.
· A medium close-up shot of the package as a shadow passes over it. If the shot is framed nicely and nothing is moved between shots, then maybe it would seem like the same shot - the shot of the package on the ground, and the next shot where the shadow passes over it.
· Medium shots, Wide shots and Close-ups are probably going to be the main shots used in the production. Of course, when filming this on-set in our locations both inside and outside, as a group we will probably discuss the shots whilst practicing them and make final decisions there and then, so most of the ideas I have may change to different shots on-screen, which will be down to different perspectives of the same shots.
· Also there is a shot of my eyes “wearing a panicked expression” at the beginning, so an extreme close-up will probably be the best type of shot to use. Fellow group members will act as assistant cameramen/women when I am needed in front of the camera.
· Maybe a change in the focus, between the background and the foreground, though looking at our ideas and script I don’t quite know where we could include this kind of detail.
· The use of Dutch Tilts in my “Exchange” project before Christmas received a lot of positive feedback from the rest of the students in my AS Media lecture when it was screened, so I shall aim to reuse Dutch Tilts in a similar fashion.
· On the interior shots, I’m going to be acting so I shall have to tell my crew what shots I will require, and whilst on-set maybe they can show me the framing before we film each shot. I shall also oversee the shots as the director of the production both in front of the camera and behind, on both locations. Especially the interior location, since we’re planning on using the Media Studio where we can adapt the lighting and position of props to our liking.
· I shall be acting in the interior location, so my assistant camera crew will be filming the shots. I will have set it up and all they will need to do is press the Record button on/off. If one of them wants to adjust the exposure or aperture on the camera then I can do it, since I’m very confident about altering the settings on any camera that I will use or have already used, both in Media Studies and in my private life.
· Whilst on-set, we can discuss the height, angle and framing of each shot since it is difficult to draw these small details on a storyboard.
· We will mainly be using a tripod with the camcorder, but maybe a handheld shot here and there if shots are too difficult to shoot on a tripod. Panning and tilting may be used in the exterior location as my character runs past the camera.
Group Treatment: Questionnaire and Results Analysis - Chloe Atkins
Conducting a Questionnaire
As a group we wanted some feedback about film noir to help us with our project. The feedback would be gained through primary research in the form of a questionnaire, as this way we could tailor the questions to ensure we would gain the useful answers we wanted. Emily devised the questionnaire and went out to ask people for answers. She asked 7 people in the 16-25 age range as they are the main cinema audience and they are who we would be aiming our noir towards. She also asked people aged 40, 28 and 14 to see if our film would appeal to a wider audience range as well. My job was to analyse the results and below is a table showing what I found out explaining how the information we gained from each question was useful to us.
We will attempt to incorporate our findings when creating our opening sequence to make it more appealing to our target audience of people aged between 15 and 25. The question about black and white films (question 2) will be particularly useful when we are in the editing suit and are choosing to add any effects to our film. Our results show that black and white films aren’t a popular choice and that they would turn off/over the TV if they saw one was on. Our role in creating our title sequence is to get people to stay tuned in and watch on to resolve the enigma(s), but if our audience would choose not to watch it just because it was in black and white, then perhaps we shouldn’t add that effect. Question number 5 also proved interesting with the results as it shows how people can be interested and ‘hooked’ in a film opening even if there isn’t any music to accompany it. We will still use music in our opening piece as we feel it’s the key to creating the right noir atmosphere, though it is useful to know that we won’t be turning away our audience if we chose to have loud sound effects, plain speech or dead silence instead. Although the results we gained were useful, there were still some things we could have done to gain even better results. Firstly we could have asked a bigger sample of people to gain more accurate results with defined replies on each question. However, I think the outcome would still contain similar results, and wouldn’t be of any further use to us. Also, we could have more questions requiring a more detailed answer (open questions) to gain more feedback from each person we gave the questionnaire to. But they may not have been as keen to fill it out if they had noticed how detailed it was. Overall, I am pleased with the results we discovered as they’ll be very useful to us in the future.
Group Treatment: Roles and Jobs
Job roles within the group were as follows:
Joshua Payne - Script Writer/Producer
Chris Kenworthy (myself) - Director/Cameraman/Actor
Emily Swager - Art Director
Chloe Atkins - Editor
Because our coursework project was a group activity, and since we had been designated our job roles within the group, we each contributed to the treatment for the project according to what we were doing in our different roles. A number of different tasks were to be completed, especially the ECMS of the film (Editing, Cinematography, Mise-En-Scene, Sound), and they were designated to each member of the group according to decisions made. The blog posts on this page, as completed by each group member, are as follows:
Editing and Titles - Chloe Atkins
Cinematography - myself (Chris Kenworthy)
Mise-En-Scene - Emily Swager
Sound - Chloe Atkins
Audience and Influences - Josh Payne
Questionnaire and Results Analysis - Chloe Atkins.
After several production meetings in which we discussed and adapted our own ideas, we finalised on an idea for the script. Josh then went away with this group idea and and formatted it into our final script idea. He had completed a rough outline for the script, which he would finalise later on after a group discussion before production took place. This is a rough outline of both the synopsis and the script, which Josh has published on his blog (Josh-Script):
"The story consists of a man who discovers a large sum of money contained within a package in the middle of a forest. The package belonged to a dead man. When he brings the package home with him it is revealed in a series of flashbacks that it was placed there as a trap and that an unknown assailant has now caught up with him. The two meet in a violent confrontation with the audience not clear about who has won thus creating an enigma."
Joshua Payne - Script Writer/Producer
Chris Kenworthy (myself) - Director/Cameraman/Actor
Emily Swager - Art Director
Chloe Atkins - Editor
Because our coursework project was a group activity, and since we had been designated our job roles within the group, we each contributed to the treatment for the project according to what we were doing in our different roles. A number of different tasks were to be completed, especially the ECMS of the film (Editing, Cinematography, Mise-En-Scene, Sound), and they were designated to each member of the group according to decisions made. The blog posts on this page, as completed by each group member, are as follows:
Editing and Titles - Chloe Atkins
Cinematography - myself (Chris Kenworthy)
Mise-En-Scene - Emily Swager
Sound - Chloe Atkins
Audience and Influences - Josh Payne
Questionnaire and Results Analysis - Chloe Atkins.
After several production meetings in which we discussed and adapted our own ideas, we finalised on an idea for the script. Josh then went away with this group idea and and formatted it into our final script idea. He had completed a rough outline for the script, which he would finalise later on after a group discussion before production took place. This is a rough outline of both the synopsis and the script, which Josh has published on his blog (Josh-Script):
"The story consists of a man who discovers a large sum of money contained within a package in the middle of a forest. The package belonged to a dead man. When he brings the package home with him it is revealed in a series of flashbacks that it was placed there as a trap and that an unknown assailant has now caught up with him. The two meet in a violent confrontation with the audience not clear about who has won thus creating an enigma."
Friday, 23 January 2009
"Shadows Present" Script - Josh Payne
As part of our pre-production work Josh created a script for our film. This involved the dialogue each character would be saying and a rough discription of where shots would appear in the storyline. We were each given a copy of the script to write our own notes on, relevant to our role. There were more than one versions of the script as Josh decided to change things according to what the rest of the group wanted or what we were advised to do by our media lecturer. Below is a scanned version of Chloe's copy of the script with notes on editing, sound and titles that we could use. This script version was done about a few weeks before we began filming.
Creating a script is an important part of pre-production work as it helps to order how our film is going to appear. We took the final version of the script with us when filming in both locations as it helped us to keep on track with what we wanted to film and so that both Chris and Josh could learn their dialogue lines. Although it was Josh's task to create a script, as his role is writer and producer, everyone in the group contributed ideas and made useful suggestions for what else could be added.
"Shadows Present" - Synopsis for Opening Sequence
A few hours earlier:
Peter walks along a footpath and discovers a body. Peter wears a woolly hat, a brown leather jacket, dark crumpled trousers and some black trainers. The person that he has just discovered appears to be dead and has a brown paper package in their hand. Peter reaches for the package, and prizes it away from its lifeless owner.
Peter walks along a footpath and discovers a body. Peter wears a woolly hat, a brown leather jacket, dark crumpled trousers and some black trainers. The person that he has just discovered appears to be dead and has a brown paper package in their hand. Peter reaches for the package, and prizes it away from its lifeless owner.
His eyes seem to wear that of a panicked expression. Of course, this event was a flashback, and coming back into the present day he speaks of how this was the day that his life finished.
Present Time
Jason walks through the door to his apartment. In the room that he enters is a table in the centre of the room, a chair situated in one corner of the room to his right, and a window on the wall opposite the door he has just come through, blinds drawn and partially letting light into the room. On the table sits a whisky glass, a bottle of whisky, a black biro pen and a scrap piece of paper. A stand-alone wooden cloak hanger sits to the left of the door, where Peter has placed his scarf. He reaches for his woolly hat on his head, pulls it off and places it on the table in front of him.
Jason walks through the door to his apartment. In the room that he enters is a table in the centre of the room, a chair situated in one corner of the room to his right, and a window on the wall opposite the door he has just come through, blinds drawn and partially letting light into the room. On the table sits a whisky glass, a bottle of whisky, a black biro pen and a scrap piece of paper. A stand-alone wooden cloak hanger sits to the left of the door, where Peter has placed his scarf. He reaches for his woolly hat on his head, pulls it off and places it on the table in front of him.
Peter drags the chair carelessly across the room to the table, then collapses into the chair. He is weak, and only just sober. He slowly reaches inside his jacket and pulls out the brown paper package that he had prized away from the lifeless owner. His hands shake vigorously, as if shivering, as he carelessly places the package on the table. He starts to inspect it.
Peter pierces his hand through the opening and draws out a ball of money in his hand. Twenty-pound notes. He rolls his eyes to the corner of both eyelids, then his face is shadowed by the blinds, then he rolls his eyes back to the package further inspect its contents.
He describes (in his mind) how he is like “a panther prowling through the undergrowth stalking its prey.” Then he asks himself “was I the panther, or the unsuspecting gazelle staring into the great gorging eyes of abyss without even realising it?”
The blinds seem to let in more light. The disturbing eruption and sudden burst of light causes Peter to remember more about how he had come across the package, only a few hours earlier. He remembers the landscape. A footpath, squelchy and dirty, yet dominated by foliage and weeds. He clearly remembers panting as he ran away from something. Whilst inspecting the package, he tries to remember what he was running away from, but he cannot think straight with the tension that is building through his flashback. He just remembers a shadow, but whilst running he was unable to make out where the shadow was coming from.
As he remembers glancing for a brief second behind him, his flashback suddenly stops and he is forced to continue inspecting the package to remember more. He asks “why me? Why me, the keep your head down, no fuss, always do as you’re told, unimportant cog. The one whose eyes you always avoid because otherwise you might actually have to acknowledge they exist. The bloke who melts in with the crowd. No one taking second notice!”
He again remembers running, rushing through the dense woodland. Lifeless winter leaves fall from branches onto the foliage-dominated pathway as Peter rushes past, and as the shadow seems to snake its way through the branches.
Back to the present time, as the flashback fades away for a brief moment, Peter pulls out another item from the package. It is a piece of card, which he unravels to discover someone’s contact details - an address and telephone number. It has been done in some sort of code, with cuttings from newspapers and magazines.
Wondering why he has come to possess someone’s contact details, he remembers more as his flashback claws it way back into his mind. He had tripped on a loose branch on the path and dropped the package. Going back for the package he briefly glanced behind him at the shadow, a pair of feet coming slightly into view. He picks up the package, and whilst doing so he comes back to the present time and looks at the package like he did on the path. Only this time, as he puts his hand into the package he draws out a photograph, which has been taken of him as he had walked on a different path some time ago. It was now obvious that someone was following him and watching his every move, but for what reason was still unclear.
Lots of ideas, thoughts and concepts filled his mind as his imagination started to run wild. The flashback again dominates his current state of mind, as he remembers stumbling back to his feet with the package in-hand after tripping on the loose branch.
The next item that he pulls out of the package is an A5-sized notebook. Turning the cover, he discovers a date scrawled on the inside cover, a date not so long ago.
He remembers suddenly diving behind a tree to catch his breath after running for what seemed like ages. Whilst catching his breath, he turns and looks around the tree at the footpath he has just run along. A silhouetted figure in the distance hides behind one of the other trees as Peter looks towards them.
Peter again dives behind the tree, now fully aware that there is someone on his trail. He takes three deep breaths, then makes a run for it, in his last final sprint, in order to try to lose the figure that is stalking him. He stares in desperation at the blinding coldness of the white winter sun.
Something that we, as the audience, see on-screen is a berry on a branch. A cold, wintry, whistling wind catches the berry, causing it to gracefully fall down from the branch. Halfway to the ground, the shot fades into the next shot, where the berry dropping from the branch is substituted by an ice cube, as it falls into a glass of whisky (inside Peter’s apartment, at the present time).
A hand comes into shot. It is Peter’s hand, as he reaches for his whisky glass. He picks it up and consequently gulps-down the whisky, unaware of a certain presence behind him. Peter gulped down the drink as if the whisky was the only thing he had left that was worth living for.
As Peter drew the glass away from his cheeks, he felt a presence, as if someone was behind him. He felt insecure for a brief moment, until a voice broke out of the dead silence, advising him on the way he should drink alcohol:
“You know that stuff will kill you.”
Bewildered by the contents of the brown paper package that lay so still on the table in front of him, Peter was not sure whether or not his imagination was trying to speak to him. But an accidental creek in one of his floorboards behind where he was sitting reassured him that there was actually someone there, though he does not turn around.
The creek suddenly sets off a series of last minute thoughts that pass through Peter’s mind. From the piercing white light appears a shadow, which crawls up the leg of the table to Peter’s left as the shadowed figure approaches from behind. The figure keeps on approaching until the shadowed ball of his head rests on the edge of the table. Peter is not alone.
The figure takes out a knife. The sound of the blade as it swipes the edges of the figure’s jacket pocket disturbs Peter, so much that he immediately closes his eyes after noticing the light that has been reflected off the shiny metallic surface of one side of the blade crawling down his right sleeve until it rested on the back of his right hand, which was face-down on the table.
Peter decides to reply to the shadowed figure’s rhetorical question, seeing no gain or loss from replying.
“I suppose that’s your job then isn’t it.” (closes eyes)
“It was all set up. Right from the off.”
Just to be sure that he was heard the first time, the shadowed figure speaks two more lines of dialogue, and consequently gets to speak for one final time before committing what he has come here to do. The greed dripping with determination from his shadowed and silhouetted lips as he spoke.
“Manipulation does indeed taste sweet in success.”
“Whilst revenge on the other hand is best served cold.”
“And it’s said that death is so very, very cold.”
The figure has spoken of the key word, which leads to a series of unfortunate events. As the figure starts to approach from behind, and as more floorboards creek under the weight of his feet, the light from the window seems to fade and Peter reaches inside his jacket with his right hand, and pulls out a gun. He had found the gun in the package, and had already placed it in his jacket pocket after it fell out of the package on the way home.
“I suppose that’s your job then isn’t it.” (closes eyes)
“It was all set up. Right from the off.”
Just to be sure that he was heard the first time, the shadowed figure speaks two more lines of dialogue, and consequently gets to speak for one final time before committing what he has come here to do. The greed dripping with determination from his shadowed and silhouetted lips as he spoke.
“Manipulation does indeed taste sweet in success.”
“Whilst revenge on the other hand is best served cold.”
“And it’s said that death is so very, very cold.”
The figure has spoken of the key word, which leads to a series of unfortunate events. As the figure starts to approach from behind, and as more floorboards creek under the weight of his feet, the light from the window seems to fade and Peter reaches inside his jacket with his right hand, and pulls out a gun. He had found the gun in the package, and had already placed it in his jacket pocket after it fell out of the package on the way home.
The camera tracks, or pans, over to the blinds on the window. The light has faded into more of a dark grey. The sound of a wooden chair moving across the floor. More floorboards creeking. And suddenly, the sound of two people struggling to defend themselves from each other. Peter with a gun, the figure with a knife. The light from the blinds increases steadily as the struggling drags on, until the battle comes to its climax.
A gunshot, the light from the blinds suddenly comes at full beam, then dims as the struggling of a person dying, as they fall to their knees.
Was it Peter who won the battle? Did he manage to disarm the mystery figure and shoot him? Or did the mystery figure kill Peter? The next camera shot is focused on the floor, which is fully-lit by the light from the window. A hand falls into shot, the fingers letting-go of a scrunched-up piece of paper. And written on the paper is the title of the movie, “Shadows Present”.
All light and noise seems to die down (fade) after the hand has fallen, and consequently the shot fades out to black. As to whose hand has dropped is unclear. The enigma of the movie - who died?
(A shadow passes over the hand just before the light fades away).
Thursday, 22 January 2009
Decision on Name of Movie Opening Sequence
Through reading Josh's script, no one had any problems with the name he had suggested - "Shadows Present". The name seemed to fit well with what was supposed to happen, and now we are completing our agreed tasks. My job role as Cinematographer/Cameraman/Director means that I shall be making notes on shots to use and making decisions on how to correctly film our production in the location we have chosen - foliage and dense woodland in Alexandra Park behind the College building. I am also going to act in this production - I will be Peter on-screen, in the park and in the room.
Wednesday, 21 January 2009
Group Production Meetings: Decisions Made
Previously, during our most recent lecture, we had been set the task to [each] make a whole synopsis for our desired noir film, based on our knowledge from our research of the term "Film Noir".
Once I had joined in a group of four, we looked at each other's individual ideas for the whole synopsis of a noir film, then selected the best two and combined them in the synopsis of our Noir coursework. My idea about a film containing lots of murders was dismissed because there were too many murders involved and the synopsis did not seem to be the stereotypical film noir. Josh had written about a film containing revenge, where the character pursuing revenge was represented by 'shadows', adding to the mystery and enigmas that would be understood by the end of the film. Emily's idea contained a man in a bedroom, preferably a hotel room, drinking a glass of whisky, staring down at the street through his window, and a girl who sympathises with him and tells him that he 'shouldn't have done it', shouldn't have committed the crime - the murder.
After much discussion, we decided to combine both Josh's and Emily's ideas to make a group idea. This would contain the mystery of the shadows from Josh's idea, and the room where the man wish he hadn't committed the deed in Emily's idea, thus creating "Shadows Present", a title which Josh had created in his idea and upon which we had all agreed.
When we were confident about our synopsis for our group project, we were given a worksheet containing the details of each job role within the group. We thought about what we would like to become within the group, and which job role was best suited to us all. I was to be the Director and Cameraman/Cinematographer, Josh Payne was the Script Writer (since his synopsis was the one which we had chosen), Emily Swager the Art Director (because she had a good idea of the clothing and props to be used in the interior shots in her synopsis which was combined with Josh's synopsis) and Chloe Atkins the Editor.
On Wednesday 7th January, we thought about the possible locations for our film noir opening sequence. Each of us took a copy of a draft of the script, written up by Josh, and mentioned anything we thought should be included. We all discussed the shots that should be used, where they should appear in the script, and finalised a list of individual pre-production tasks which we had to do. We decided upon completing four or five tasks each from this list. We also decided on the actors - I was to play the main character and Josh's friend agreed he'd star as the "Shadow" in our opening sequence.
Josh had decided upon a location for the exterior sequences, and I agreed that he show me the location. Covered completely in foliage and only accessible by a gap in a fence, it is situated in Alexandra Park, near to the construction site of our new College building, and its whereabouts is our secret!
The following Wednesday (14th January) Emily, with the help of me, Josh and Chloe, produced a list of costumes and props we would be needing for use in our opening sequence. We agreed on who would obtain each item. Also we decided what I should wear, in terms of costume, as the main character in each location (exterior and interior). The exterior location was the one that Josh had shown to me, and the interior was to be a dark room, but its location was to be decided late on.
Josh and I agreed on showing our location to the girls, since they had no idea about where we were talking about. We took some photographs, and looked at where the main character would be running through. We looked at where the camera could be positioned in order for us to film the best shots that we could possibly get. Also how the camera will be positioned - the possibility of using Dutch Tilts.
In more detail, Chloe Atkins had produced the Production Schedule and had since posted this up on her blog (Chloe's Blog). Here is the finished Production Schedule (written up as we went along):
Group progress and discussions
In order to reach conclusions about our film noir opening, we meet up in our group to discuss ideas and answer any problems. Below are notes on what we discussed during our meetings along with the general progress we made towards creating our finished sequence:
Wednesday 7th January 2009 - Emily looked at locations for our film noir opening. We each took a copy of the first script draft from Josh and mentioned anything else we wanted to be included. We all discussed what shots should be used where in the script and finalised a list of individual pre-production tasks to be getting on with. As editor, I asked about when we wanted the titles to appear and we decided that the main title would go at the end and the personnel titles at the beginning. We also decided who would play each character and decided on Chris to be the main person.
Wednesday 14th January - Chris was finishing the storyboard whilst Emily produced a list of costumes and props we each needed to fetch, and discussed who would get each one. We also looked at what the main character would be wearing in each location (woods and in the dark room). We all went to go and look at our chosen location, Alexandra Park, to take pictures, look at where the main character would be running from and to think about where the camera could be positioned to get the best shots possible.
Thursday 22nd January - Chris scanned the finished draft of the storyboard into the computer to create an animatic. We each prepared something to say to the class in tomorrow's presentation speech (except I was off ill so I did mine at home).
Friday 23rd January - Today we did our speech to the rest of our media class and showed them our finished animatic. We answered any questions they gave us and considered their comments. One of the things someone mentioned was that it may be too much to film with too little time to show it all. We took this on board and will consider shortening the scripts and including less of our ideas to make it more simple, yet still with the same desired effect.
Wednesday 28th January - We finalised all our pre-production work and Josh asked if there were any issues we found with the script. Emily reminded us of what props and costumes we needed to bring in individually, and I suggested that we used a small glass block (which I have at home) if the college cafe couldn't supply any ice-cubes to us. I also took the questionnaire results away to write up an analysis on them, whilst Chris thought about what we would do in wet weather conditions. We decided that if it was rainy on the day of the shoot, we would have to take the camera kit out during the half term holidays, or film the following week. Or we could use an umbrella to shelter the camera , though this would limit our filming abilities and we doubt the media department would allow it, though the rainy effect would add to the atmosphere of our film! We all went to the college library during break to search for sound effects CD's that could us in our film. We took out 4 in total with footsteps, outdoor atmosphere noise, indoor atmosphere noise and gunshots on each. We would listen to them tomorrow. ONLY 1 WEEK LEFT UNTIL OUR FILMING DAY - WEDNESDAY 4TH!
Thursday 29th January - Today we spilt up as a group as Emily and Josh remained in the media classroom to look over the pre-production work and finish a birds-eyed view map of our Alexandra Park location, whilst Chris and I went into the editing suit to listen to our music choices. We came up with a shortlist of 4 possible music pieces, each from the CD albums that Chris and Josh found at home and brought in. We listened to the sound effect tracks and decided that the gunshots would be useful, but the footsteps didn't sound very realistic so we would try and record our own on the day.
Wednesday 4th February - Today was our filming day and the weather was perfect for it. However the ground was icy and (in places) slippery with mud, and it was freezing cold being outside for hours. We all gathered at the media department where Chris had arrived early to take out all the kit we needed. We spent about 30mins checking everything worked and asking any last minute questions before leaving for Alexandra Park at 10am. The park is only 10mins walk away so no transport was required. Emily left the group at 2pm though we carried on filming until 2.30pm. We ensured we got all our shots from the storyboard and extras just in case. Once we'd captured all our footage and viewed it from the camera, we returned to college to give back some of the kit (microphone etc). We took the camera to the library and logged our best shots so it would be easier once we were in the editing suite.
Thursday 5th February - We went into the editing suite to view our best shots on the computer and to check that everything was working. We finished our animatic and decided on a piece of music we wanted to use. WE chose 'Mausam and Escape' by A R Rahman as we all agreed it's suitability to our noir.
Wednesday 11th February - Today we filmed the rest of our footage from the media studio. We began filming at about 9.30am once we'd all arrived and checked the kit was working. We arranged and lit the set to create a film noir approach, and used a piece of card to create a Venetian blind lighting effect. We were only given maximum 3 hours to film all of footage in the studio, so we ended up being finished at about 1.30pm. Altogether we took about the same amount of time to film in the studio as in the wood, and we captured a total of 25mins footage - though we won't use it all!
Wednesday 25th February - Today we went into the editing suite to capture our woods footage onto the computer. Josh and Emily then logged the best shots from our studio footage whilst Chris and I began a rough-cut of the woods footage.
Wednesday 4th March - We all continued with our editing and added the music to our footage. We also captured our studio footage and realised that one of our shots containing synchronised sound would have to be taken again as the volume was too quiet.
Thursday 5th March - Me, Chris and Josh went into the editing suit at 12 today to sort out our music and get some extra editing done.
Wednesday 11th March - Chris, Josh and Emily went to the studio today to film our synchronised speech close-up shot of Chris at the desk speaking his first line of dialogue. Whilst I stayed in the editing suite to rearrange the music. We finished our rough cut today though we are reconsidering the order of our shots and thinking about where we would position transitions effects and titles (though we didn't add them today). Emily also recorded Chris's voice over and the various sound effects we might need to include - e.g. Chris's coat zip, the desk lamp switch and shuffling money.
Wednesday 18th March - Today we finished our rough cut of our film and began to apply titles. After showing our finished rough cut to class members and Jon (our media teacher), we were advised that we should change our music as it was setting a too manic atmosphere and it was looking like a movie trailer, rather than a film opening. Therefore, we took a copy of our timeline and applied our second music choice 'Clues'. As a group we all found that this piece of calmer, more noir style music better suited our noir opening than our first choice.
Wednesday 25th March - Today we started a new sequence with the same 'Clues' music but with all our studio scenes in the beginning and our woods scenes at the end. We found this presented more of an enigma straight away, rather than confusing the audience about what's going on. This is our 3rd sequence we have made, and we all agreed as a group that this is the best one simple because it meet the noir codes and conventions, and looks less like a film trailer and more like a film opening sequence. We began to apply titles to our scenes and changed our minds about the final film title 'Shadows Present'. before we had the film name appearing on a piece of paper attached to the package. though after following advice that this shot looked 'too student-like and unprofessional' we decided that an ordinary title would look best. Chris, Josh and I stayed in the editing suite through lunch time today as Chris was looking for a good gunshot sound effect (with a silencer) so that it sounded like it was shot inside a room, rather than outside. And Josh and I were fiddling around with the titles to ensure they worked well with our footage. We also applied church bells to the beginning of our sequence as we felt they gave connotations of death and funerals.
Wednesday 1st April - Today we decided to try out a new sequence layout for our film by adding new titles in between the action to break it up a bit but keep up the pace. We also experimented with the film transitions ('tumbler', 'spin', 'blur' etc.) We liked the 'blur' effect on the titles as they would disorientate the audience and the fitted in well with the noir theme. We then screened our opening to 2 people in our class who hadn't seen it before. They're response was useful and we took their opinions into account when putting the final finishing touches to our film.
Wednesday 22nd April - Today was the last editing session we had left to finish our opening sequence. We finished applying titles and used feedback from group members about how to reduce the hissing noise in the background of our voice over. For this we applied a 'Constant Power' fade onto the end of each sound bar so that the hissing noise blended in and couldn't be heard as loudly. We then screened our film to Jon, our media teacher, who suggested we should ensure the font style and size of each title was the same. This would add continuity to our film and make it seem more professional and less amateurish. Simple things like this are quick and easy to correct but are still important as they can often be really noticeable to the audience. At about 12 o'clock we had finished our film completely and began to render the file so it could be written to a DVD. We could have spent another few weeks tweaking and changing little things about our film, but as a group we're happy with the standard of film we've produced and I'm particularly pleased that no drastic errors occurred throughout our entire project. We worked well as a group and although we often spent too long on decision making, we still managed to end up with a good finished noir style film opening within the deadline. As editor I've learnt lots about how to use the editing software 'Adobe Pro' to make the best of our footage, and am pleased with the end result.
Once I had joined in a group of four, we looked at each other's individual ideas for the whole synopsis of a noir film, then selected the best two and combined them in the synopsis of our Noir coursework. My idea about a film containing lots of murders was dismissed because there were too many murders involved and the synopsis did not seem to be the stereotypical film noir. Josh had written about a film containing revenge, where the character pursuing revenge was represented by 'shadows', adding to the mystery and enigmas that would be understood by the end of the film. Emily's idea contained a man in a bedroom, preferably a hotel room, drinking a glass of whisky, staring down at the street through his window, and a girl who sympathises with him and tells him that he 'shouldn't have done it', shouldn't have committed the crime - the murder.
After much discussion, we decided to combine both Josh's and Emily's ideas to make a group idea. This would contain the mystery of the shadows from Josh's idea, and the room where the man wish he hadn't committed the deed in Emily's idea, thus creating "Shadows Present", a title which Josh had created in his idea and upon which we had all agreed.
When we were confident about our synopsis for our group project, we were given a worksheet containing the details of each job role within the group. We thought about what we would like to become within the group, and which job role was best suited to us all. I was to be the Director and Cameraman/Cinematographer, Josh Payne was the Script Writer (since his synopsis was the one which we had chosen), Emily Swager the Art Director (because she had a good idea of the clothing and props to be used in the interior shots in her synopsis which was combined with Josh's synopsis) and Chloe Atkins the Editor.
On Wednesday 7th January, we thought about the possible locations for our film noir opening sequence. Each of us took a copy of a draft of the script, written up by Josh, and mentioned anything we thought should be included. We all discussed the shots that should be used, where they should appear in the script, and finalised a list of individual pre-production tasks which we had to do. We decided upon completing four or five tasks each from this list. We also decided on the actors - I was to play the main character and Josh's friend agreed he'd star as the "Shadow" in our opening sequence.
Josh had decided upon a location for the exterior sequences, and I agreed that he show me the location. Covered completely in foliage and only accessible by a gap in a fence, it is situated in Alexandra Park, near to the construction site of our new College building, and its whereabouts is our secret!
The following Wednesday (14th January) Emily, with the help of me, Josh and Chloe, produced a list of costumes and props we would be needing for use in our opening sequence. We agreed on who would obtain each item. Also we decided what I should wear, in terms of costume, as the main character in each location (exterior and interior). The exterior location was the one that Josh had shown to me, and the interior was to be a dark room, but its location was to be decided late on.
Josh and I agreed on showing our location to the girls, since they had no idea about where we were talking about. We took some photographs, and looked at where the main character would be running through. We looked at where the camera could be positioned in order for us to film the best shots that we could possibly get. Also how the camera will be positioned - the possibility of using Dutch Tilts.
In more detail, Chloe Atkins had produced the Production Schedule and had since posted this up on her blog (Chloe's Blog). Here is the finished Production Schedule (written up as we went along):
Group progress and discussions
In order to reach conclusions about our film noir opening, we meet up in our group to discuss ideas and answer any problems. Below are notes on what we discussed during our meetings along with the general progress we made towards creating our finished sequence:
Wednesday 7th January 2009 - Emily looked at locations for our film noir opening. We each took a copy of the first script draft from Josh and mentioned anything else we wanted to be included. We all discussed what shots should be used where in the script and finalised a list of individual pre-production tasks to be getting on with. As editor, I asked about when we wanted the titles to appear and we decided that the main title would go at the end and the personnel titles at the beginning. We also decided who would play each character and decided on Chris to be the main person.
Wednesday 14th January - Chris was finishing the storyboard whilst Emily produced a list of costumes and props we each needed to fetch, and discussed who would get each one. We also looked at what the main character would be wearing in each location (woods and in the dark room). We all went to go and look at our chosen location, Alexandra Park, to take pictures, look at where the main character would be running from and to think about where the camera could be positioned to get the best shots possible.
Thursday 22nd January - Chris scanned the finished draft of the storyboard into the computer to create an animatic. We each prepared something to say to the class in tomorrow's presentation speech (except I was off ill so I did mine at home).
Friday 23rd January - Today we did our speech to the rest of our media class and showed them our finished animatic. We answered any questions they gave us and considered their comments. One of the things someone mentioned was that it may be too much to film with too little time to show it all. We took this on board and will consider shortening the scripts and including less of our ideas to make it more simple, yet still with the same desired effect.
Wednesday 28th January - We finalised all our pre-production work and Josh asked if there were any issues we found with the script. Emily reminded us of what props and costumes we needed to bring in individually, and I suggested that we used a small glass block (which I have at home) if the college cafe couldn't supply any ice-cubes to us. I also took the questionnaire results away to write up an analysis on them, whilst Chris thought about what we would do in wet weather conditions. We decided that if it was rainy on the day of the shoot, we would have to take the camera kit out during the half term holidays, or film the following week. Or we could use an umbrella to shelter the camera , though this would limit our filming abilities and we doubt the media department would allow it, though the rainy effect would add to the atmosphere of our film! We all went to the college library during break to search for sound effects CD's that could us in our film. We took out 4 in total with footsteps, outdoor atmosphere noise, indoor atmosphere noise and gunshots on each. We would listen to them tomorrow. ONLY 1 WEEK LEFT UNTIL OUR FILMING DAY - WEDNESDAY 4TH!
Thursday 29th January - Today we spilt up as a group as Emily and Josh remained in the media classroom to look over the pre-production work and finish a birds-eyed view map of our Alexandra Park location, whilst Chris and I went into the editing suit to listen to our music choices. We came up with a shortlist of 4 possible music pieces, each from the CD albums that Chris and Josh found at home and brought in. We listened to the sound effect tracks and decided that the gunshots would be useful, but the footsteps didn't sound very realistic so we would try and record our own on the day.
Wednesday 4th February - Today was our filming day and the weather was perfect for it. However the ground was icy and (in places) slippery with mud, and it was freezing cold being outside for hours. We all gathered at the media department where Chris had arrived early to take out all the kit we needed. We spent about 30mins checking everything worked and asking any last minute questions before leaving for Alexandra Park at 10am. The park is only 10mins walk away so no transport was required. Emily left the group at 2pm though we carried on filming until 2.30pm. We ensured we got all our shots from the storyboard and extras just in case. Once we'd captured all our footage and viewed it from the camera, we returned to college to give back some of the kit (microphone etc). We took the camera to the library and logged our best shots so it would be easier once we were in the editing suite.
Thursday 5th February - We went into the editing suite to view our best shots on the computer and to check that everything was working. We finished our animatic and decided on a piece of music we wanted to use. WE chose 'Mausam and Escape' by A R Rahman as we all agreed it's suitability to our noir.
Wednesday 11th February - Today we filmed the rest of our footage from the media studio. We began filming at about 9.30am once we'd all arrived and checked the kit was working. We arranged and lit the set to create a film noir approach, and used a piece of card to create a Venetian blind lighting effect. We were only given maximum 3 hours to film all of footage in the studio, so we ended up being finished at about 1.30pm. Altogether we took about the same amount of time to film in the studio as in the wood, and we captured a total of 25mins footage - though we won't use it all!
Wednesday 25th February - Today we went into the editing suite to capture our woods footage onto the computer. Josh and Emily then logged the best shots from our studio footage whilst Chris and I began a rough-cut of the woods footage.
Wednesday 4th March - We all continued with our editing and added the music to our footage. We also captured our studio footage and realised that one of our shots containing synchronised sound would have to be taken again as the volume was too quiet.
Thursday 5th March - Me, Chris and Josh went into the editing suit at 12 today to sort out our music and get some extra editing done.
Wednesday 11th March - Chris, Josh and Emily went to the studio today to film our synchronised speech close-up shot of Chris at the desk speaking his first line of dialogue. Whilst I stayed in the editing suite to rearrange the music. We finished our rough cut today though we are reconsidering the order of our shots and thinking about where we would position transitions effects and titles (though we didn't add them today). Emily also recorded Chris's voice over and the various sound effects we might need to include - e.g. Chris's coat zip, the desk lamp switch and shuffling money.
Wednesday 18th March - Today we finished our rough cut of our film and began to apply titles. After showing our finished rough cut to class members and Jon (our media teacher), we were advised that we should change our music as it was setting a too manic atmosphere and it was looking like a movie trailer, rather than a film opening. Therefore, we took a copy of our timeline and applied our second music choice 'Clues'. As a group we all found that this piece of calmer, more noir style music better suited our noir opening than our first choice.
Wednesday 25th March - Today we started a new sequence with the same 'Clues' music but with all our studio scenes in the beginning and our woods scenes at the end. We found this presented more of an enigma straight away, rather than confusing the audience about what's going on. This is our 3rd sequence we have made, and we all agreed as a group that this is the best one simple because it meet the noir codes and conventions, and looks less like a film trailer and more like a film opening sequence. We began to apply titles to our scenes and changed our minds about the final film title 'Shadows Present'. before we had the film name appearing on a piece of paper attached to the package. though after following advice that this shot looked 'too student-like and unprofessional' we decided that an ordinary title would look best. Chris, Josh and I stayed in the editing suite through lunch time today as Chris was looking for a good gunshot sound effect (with a silencer) so that it sounded like it was shot inside a room, rather than outside. And Josh and I were fiddling around with the titles to ensure they worked well with our footage. We also applied church bells to the beginning of our sequence as we felt they gave connotations of death and funerals.
Wednesday 1st April - Today we decided to try out a new sequence layout for our film by adding new titles in between the action to break it up a bit but keep up the pace. We also experimented with the film transitions ('tumbler', 'spin', 'blur' etc.) We liked the 'blur' effect on the titles as they would disorientate the audience and the fitted in well with the noir theme. We then screened our opening to 2 people in our class who hadn't seen it before. They're response was useful and we took their opinions into account when putting the final finishing touches to our film.
Wednesday 22nd April - Today was the last editing session we had left to finish our opening sequence. We finished applying titles and used feedback from group members about how to reduce the hissing noise in the background of our voice over. For this we applied a 'Constant Power' fade onto the end of each sound bar so that the hissing noise blended in and couldn't be heard as loudly. We then screened our film to Jon, our media teacher, who suggested we should ensure the font style and size of each title was the same. This would add continuity to our film and make it seem more professional and less amateurish. Simple things like this are quick and easy to correct but are still important as they can often be really noticeable to the audience. At about 12 o'clock we had finished our film completely and began to render the file so it could be written to a DVD. We could have spent another few weeks tweaking and changing little things about our film, but as a group we're happy with the standard of film we've produced and I'm particularly pleased that no drastic errors occurred throughout our entire project. We worked well as a group and although we often spent too long on decision making, we still managed to end up with a good finished noir style film opening within the deadline. As editor I've learnt lots about how to use the editing software 'Adobe Pro' to make the best of our footage, and am pleased with the end result.
Sunday, 18 January 2009
Individual Noir Initial Ideas - Opening Sequence & Treatment (ECMS) for “Murdered!”
The screen is black. The first shot of the opening sequence, the establishing shot, fades in from the black. The camera has been placed on the ground, next to a tree, and is looking down a footpath, with trees acting as a fence on either sides of the path. A man runs past the camera, but all we see of him is his feet. The camera is slightly tilted, but not much of a Dutch Tilt. The personnel titles appear vertically on the trunks of the trees as the man runs past, through the first few shots of the film.
The man is young, in his mid-twenties, and wears a black leather jacket, black jeans, blue and white trainers, and has black crew-cut hair.
Also, as the man runs past the trees, he reveals them, then on different shots he runs past the trees one-by-one, and the titles seem to “wipe” away as he runs past each name. he cannot see these names as these are for the viewer, and have been added through editing (post production).
The next few shots are of him running through a park, and he glances behind him several times as if being followed. Finally he reaches a long and winding stone driveway. He runs all the way, without stopping, until he reaches a large mansion hidden by trees in a large park. Several Dutch Tilts are used when he runs up the driveway, and all we see when he eventually gets to the door of the mansion is his feet and the light from inside on the floor when the door is opened.
After ringing the door bell, the exhausted man is let in and he runs through the mansion. Heavy, pounding, fast-paced music runs throughout the whole opening sequence. The camera is placed on the banister of the grand, red-carpeted stairway, which spirals upwards in a square-shape. The camera, placed at an angle (Dutch Tilt) pans right to follow the man as he runs up the staircase, not missing a single step.
The next shot is placed on top of the ledge above the doorway where he will run through once coming off the staircase. He does run through, and the camera tilts down slowly as he approaches the door to keep him in frame.
The next shot is from behind a chair. In the chair sits another man, the landlord of the mansion and grounds, a man much older and in his sixties, much more formerly dressed and sitting behind a dark brown desk. The younger man runs through the open doorway and slows down quickly before approaching the desk. The camera is placed behind the head-rest on the armchair, at the eye level of the landlord.
The younger man reaches inside his jacket and pulls out a white envelope. Inside the envelope lies one hundred pounds. It is not a gift, but a loan re-payment. The landlord was the loan shark, yet now is repossessing people’s properties - from those who didn’t repay him for his generosity some years ago.
The landlord smokes a posh (and very expensive) cigar, and places it on the ashtray in front of him. As he blows-out smoke from his mouth, it begins to swirl around the room. He instructs the younger man to close-over the blinds behind him, in case anyone was watching. The camera pans to the right and follows the younger man approach the blinds. The camera is then placed in the doorway (wide-shot) and is still 9no movements). The younger lad closes the blinds, then the camera tracks to the right in a semicircular fashion, as the younger man comes back around to the front of the desk (he walks to the left as the camera tracks to the right). The camera stops behind the landlord’s chair. THE LANDLORD’S FACE IS NOT SEEN THROUGHOUT!
The younger man sits down opposite the older man, and makes himself comfortable by stretching out his legs and placing his feet on the table to the left of the landlord and consequently where the camera is placed. Whilst the younger man had been closing the blinds, the landlord had browsed-over the envelope (inspected it).
Now that they are both sitting down, the next camera shot is a kind-of over-the-shoulder shot on the landlord’s left shoulder. He takes one more puff of the cigar, then pierces open the envelope with his envelope-opener (a blunt knife). YET WE STILL DO NOT SEE THE LANDLORD’S FACE!
The focus on the camera changes at this point, from the whole picture to just the envelope. The landlord pulls out the money, then takes yet another puff at the cigar. Very little light is being let through the windows now, since the blinds are blocking most of it (giving the effect of the Venetian Blind). He is pleased with what he sees.
The next shot is an extreme close-up of the cigar as it burns in the ashtray. The conversation between the two men begins. The younger man is revealed as being called Fredrick, the older man referred to as “Sir”.
Sir- Good. You have exceeded my expectations. Tell me, if your father was still around, would he, perhaps, repay me for my time?
Fred- I don’t know, Sir, maybe. But what about my wages? I got a kid to look after.
Sir- Yes, I see.
The landlord (Sir) opens a desk and takes out fifty-pounds. This is the young man’s wages. The sounds are all we hear, and the sound of Fred (the younger man) getting up and scraping the wooden legs of the chair along the floor tells us that eh is leaving.
The cigar is taken by a hand, then the older man whistles to his white, furry cat. Behind the chair once more, the camera watches as the cat jumps to its owner’s lap. The camera physically moves upwards, without panning or tilting, to focus on the landlord’s (Sir) lap. He calmly strokes the cat’s fur as he puffs more of his cigar.
The camera now tilts up to the black ceiling, and the name of the film appears - “Murdered!”. The rest of the personnel titles appear, along with the main actors’ names. The opening sequence ends and the camera tilts down from the black ceiling, revealing the landlord to now be sitting in his lounging area, still stroking his cat and smoking his cigar, but overlooking the whole room from his desk chair.
Later in the film, the landlord who was only revealed as “Sir” in the dialogue, is called by his real name, Henry Screamer. The younger man who we only know as Fred was the personal assistant of Henry, yet we do not see him again and is referred to only as “Fredrick” by Henry and other characters. Also, the cat does not play a big part through the film, as it is accidentally shot with a gun when on Henry’s lap by another character when the two characters (Henry one of the two) dispute over a disagreement.
The man is young, in his mid-twenties, and wears a black leather jacket, black jeans, blue and white trainers, and has black crew-cut hair.
Also, as the man runs past the trees, he reveals them, then on different shots he runs past the trees one-by-one, and the titles seem to “wipe” away as he runs past each name. he cannot see these names as these are for the viewer, and have been added through editing (post production).
The next few shots are of him running through a park, and he glances behind him several times as if being followed. Finally he reaches a long and winding stone driveway. He runs all the way, without stopping, until he reaches a large mansion hidden by trees in a large park. Several Dutch Tilts are used when he runs up the driveway, and all we see when he eventually gets to the door of the mansion is his feet and the light from inside on the floor when the door is opened.
After ringing the door bell, the exhausted man is let in and he runs through the mansion. Heavy, pounding, fast-paced music runs throughout the whole opening sequence. The camera is placed on the banister of the grand, red-carpeted stairway, which spirals upwards in a square-shape. The camera, placed at an angle (Dutch Tilt) pans right to follow the man as he runs up the staircase, not missing a single step.
The next shot is placed on top of the ledge above the doorway where he will run through once coming off the staircase. He does run through, and the camera tilts down slowly as he approaches the door to keep him in frame.
The next shot is from behind a chair. In the chair sits another man, the landlord of the mansion and grounds, a man much older and in his sixties, much more formerly dressed and sitting behind a dark brown desk. The younger man runs through the open doorway and slows down quickly before approaching the desk. The camera is placed behind the head-rest on the armchair, at the eye level of the landlord.
The younger man reaches inside his jacket and pulls out a white envelope. Inside the envelope lies one hundred pounds. It is not a gift, but a loan re-payment. The landlord was the loan shark, yet now is repossessing people’s properties - from those who didn’t repay him for his generosity some years ago.
The landlord smokes a posh (and very expensive) cigar, and places it on the ashtray in front of him. As he blows-out smoke from his mouth, it begins to swirl around the room. He instructs the younger man to close-over the blinds behind him, in case anyone was watching. The camera pans to the right and follows the younger man approach the blinds. The camera is then placed in the doorway (wide-shot) and is still 9no movements). The younger lad closes the blinds, then the camera tracks to the right in a semicircular fashion, as the younger man comes back around to the front of the desk (he walks to the left as the camera tracks to the right). The camera stops behind the landlord’s chair. THE LANDLORD’S FACE IS NOT SEEN THROUGHOUT!
The younger man sits down opposite the older man, and makes himself comfortable by stretching out his legs and placing his feet on the table to the left of the landlord and consequently where the camera is placed. Whilst the younger man had been closing the blinds, the landlord had browsed-over the envelope (inspected it).
Now that they are both sitting down, the next camera shot is a kind-of over-the-shoulder shot on the landlord’s left shoulder. He takes one more puff of the cigar, then pierces open the envelope with his envelope-opener (a blunt knife). YET WE STILL DO NOT SEE THE LANDLORD’S FACE!
The focus on the camera changes at this point, from the whole picture to just the envelope. The landlord pulls out the money, then takes yet another puff at the cigar. Very little light is being let through the windows now, since the blinds are blocking most of it (giving the effect of the Venetian Blind). He is pleased with what he sees.
The next shot is an extreme close-up of the cigar as it burns in the ashtray. The conversation between the two men begins. The younger man is revealed as being called Fredrick, the older man referred to as “Sir”.
Sir- Good. You have exceeded my expectations. Tell me, if your father was still around, would he, perhaps, repay me for my time?
Fred- I don’t know, Sir, maybe. But what about my wages? I got a kid to look after.
Sir- Yes, I see.
The landlord (Sir) opens a desk and takes out fifty-pounds. This is the young man’s wages. The sounds are all we hear, and the sound of Fred (the younger man) getting up and scraping the wooden legs of the chair along the floor tells us that eh is leaving.
The cigar is taken by a hand, then the older man whistles to his white, furry cat. Behind the chair once more, the camera watches as the cat jumps to its owner’s lap. The camera physically moves upwards, without panning or tilting, to focus on the landlord’s (Sir) lap. He calmly strokes the cat’s fur as he puffs more of his cigar.
The camera now tilts up to the black ceiling, and the name of the film appears - “Murdered!”. The rest of the personnel titles appear, along with the main actors’ names. The opening sequence ends and the camera tilts down from the black ceiling, revealing the landlord to now be sitting in his lounging area, still stroking his cat and smoking his cigar, but overlooking the whole room from his desk chair.
Later in the film, the landlord who was only revealed as “Sir” in the dialogue, is called by his real name, Henry Screamer. The younger man who we only know as Fred was the personal assistant of Henry, yet we do not see him again and is referred to only as “Fredrick” by Henry and other characters. Also, the cat does not play a big part through the film, as it is accidentally shot with a gun when on Henry’s lap by another character when the two characters (Henry one of the two) dispute over a disagreement.
Individual Initial Noir Ideas: Synopsis for Whole Film
It all starts when there is a burglary at a house, and Henry Screamer, the house owner, sets about hiring someone to kill the burglar, since he knows the burglar all too well. He hires Jimmy Nash, a professional killer for-hire. The agreement is set that Jimmy is to go to the burglar’s house and kill his parents, since the burglar is only a teenager. Jimmy successfully does this, but the burglar keeps quiet when Police question him.
The teenager (burglar) knows what’s happened and who did it, and while Henry is out on a shooting trip (Henry is upper-class and owns a big mansion) the teenager wrecks the library (snooker table, bookcases, table and chairs, windows and mirrors) and then sets the room alight with a cigarette lighter. The room is destroyed by the fire and Henry knows it was an arson attack. He stabs Jimmy in the stomach, telling him at the point-of-dying that he was a “useless asset”. He drives out to the river just three miles from his house in his sports-car (Austin-Healey 3000) and dumps Jimmy’s body in the river next to the road. But after leaving the site, heading home he is stopped by a policeman, who wants to know why he is driving on a country road with his lights off and at one o’clock in the morning. When asked to step-out of the car, Henry agrees but stabs the policeman beside his sports car. In turn, the policeman thumps Henry in the nose, who falls to the ground, dropping the knife. The policeman staggers back to his police car, and makes a mayday call. Henry wipes his nose with his fingertips and realises it is bleeding. A bloody nose makes Henry very angry, so he picks up the knife and staggers towards the police car, leaning on the bonnet to support himself.
In a blind rage Henry repeatedly stabs the policeman then throws the body into the river beside the road. However, as Henry leaves the scene he doesn’t realise that he has left one vital piece of evidence on the bonnet of the police car - his bloody fingerprints.
The next morning, Henry meets with a few of his upper-class friends in a café after being driven down in his £400,000 Rolls-Royce Phantom by his own personal chauffeur. They talk about burglaries, and Frag (his working-class pal and owner of the café), thinking that the dried-blood on Henry’s moustache was from a fight with a burglar, recommends a talk with a crime lord.
The talk is set-up. A time and location is agreed between the crime lord’s personal assistant and Frag, who tells Henry to be early.
Henry arrives in his car five minutes early. However, instead of meeting him, the crime lord’s top two professionals creep up on Henry’s car without him even knowing. When they suddenly appear by the car, the shock sets off a heart attack, landing Henry in hospital, when he really needs to be at home waiting for a phone call from the crime lord.
Henry finally comes out of hospital, but on leaving is confronted by the crime lord and his ‘assistants’, who urge him to get into the back of the chauffeur-driven black stretched limousine. An agreement is made and Henry is dropped off at his driveway. He thinks over their agreement as he walks up the long and winding driveway to his mansion.
The new hired killer makes a hoax phone call to the teenage burglar, pretending to be his best friend. He meets the teenager on an empty tube train and shoots him dead, but not undetected!!
Although there may not have been any people on board the carriage the CCTV camera recorded the killing. The professional, dressed in white t-shirt, black hooded jumper and blue jeans, walks home, taking a shortcut through a back alley. An undercover policeman spots him entering the alley and notifies his partner. His partner enters the alley from the other end, wearing a brown leather jacket and a dark green woolly hat. He deliberately barges past the professional and slips a copy of the CCTV camera tape into his pocket. The crime lord finds out there is still an original tape of the murder. Thinking Henry will inform the police of his connection with the hired professional killer he orders a hunt-to-kill search party, to find Henry Screamer!
Meanwhile, the Police investigation into the death of the policeman and Jimmy, both found on the banks of the same river, is ongoing and the DNA of the “bonnet-blood” is identified as Mr. H. Screamer’s blood. And after finding the teenager’s fingerprints on the cigarette lighter at Henry’s burnt out library, they begin to suspect a connection between the arson attack and the teenager’s death.
They had asked themselves why Henry’s fingerprints were on the bonnet of the police car, then worked out that he must have been the murderer of both of the ‘river bank’ victims. The undercover policemen search for Henry at the same time as the crime lord.
It is the undercover police who get to Henry’s mansion first, but find out that he has been killed whilst eating his dinner. The crime lord enters and thinks that the undercover police have killed Henry. Just then the butler comes into the room carrying a stainless steel oval shaped plate covered with a white cloth. He peels off the cloth to reveal a very bloody red knife. He says to everybody in the room “it was his time”.
The teenager (burglar) knows what’s happened and who did it, and while Henry is out on a shooting trip (Henry is upper-class and owns a big mansion) the teenager wrecks the library (snooker table, bookcases, table and chairs, windows and mirrors) and then sets the room alight with a cigarette lighter. The room is destroyed by the fire and Henry knows it was an arson attack. He stabs Jimmy in the stomach, telling him at the point-of-dying that he was a “useless asset”. He drives out to the river just three miles from his house in his sports-car (Austin-Healey 3000) and dumps Jimmy’s body in the river next to the road. But after leaving the site, heading home he is stopped by a policeman, who wants to know why he is driving on a country road with his lights off and at one o’clock in the morning. When asked to step-out of the car, Henry agrees but stabs the policeman beside his sports car. In turn, the policeman thumps Henry in the nose, who falls to the ground, dropping the knife. The policeman staggers back to his police car, and makes a mayday call. Henry wipes his nose with his fingertips and realises it is bleeding. A bloody nose makes Henry very angry, so he picks up the knife and staggers towards the police car, leaning on the bonnet to support himself.
In a blind rage Henry repeatedly stabs the policeman then throws the body into the river beside the road. However, as Henry leaves the scene he doesn’t realise that he has left one vital piece of evidence on the bonnet of the police car - his bloody fingerprints.
The next morning, Henry meets with a few of his upper-class friends in a café after being driven down in his £400,000 Rolls-Royce Phantom by his own personal chauffeur. They talk about burglaries, and Frag (his working-class pal and owner of the café), thinking that the dried-blood on Henry’s moustache was from a fight with a burglar, recommends a talk with a crime lord.
The talk is set-up. A time and location is agreed between the crime lord’s personal assistant and Frag, who tells Henry to be early.
Henry arrives in his car five minutes early. However, instead of meeting him, the crime lord’s top two professionals creep up on Henry’s car without him even knowing. When they suddenly appear by the car, the shock sets off a heart attack, landing Henry in hospital, when he really needs to be at home waiting for a phone call from the crime lord.
Henry finally comes out of hospital, but on leaving is confronted by the crime lord and his ‘assistants’, who urge him to get into the back of the chauffeur-driven black stretched limousine. An agreement is made and Henry is dropped off at his driveway. He thinks over their agreement as he walks up the long and winding driveway to his mansion.
The new hired killer makes a hoax phone call to the teenage burglar, pretending to be his best friend. He meets the teenager on an empty tube train and shoots him dead, but not undetected!!
Although there may not have been any people on board the carriage the CCTV camera recorded the killing. The professional, dressed in white t-shirt, black hooded jumper and blue jeans, walks home, taking a shortcut through a back alley. An undercover policeman spots him entering the alley and notifies his partner. His partner enters the alley from the other end, wearing a brown leather jacket and a dark green woolly hat. He deliberately barges past the professional and slips a copy of the CCTV camera tape into his pocket. The crime lord finds out there is still an original tape of the murder. Thinking Henry will inform the police of his connection with the hired professional killer he orders a hunt-to-kill search party, to find Henry Screamer!
Meanwhile, the Police investigation into the death of the policeman and Jimmy, both found on the banks of the same river, is ongoing and the DNA of the “bonnet-blood” is identified as Mr. H. Screamer’s blood. And after finding the teenager’s fingerprints on the cigarette lighter at Henry’s burnt out library, they begin to suspect a connection between the arson attack and the teenager’s death.
They had asked themselves why Henry’s fingerprints were on the bonnet of the police car, then worked out that he must have been the murderer of both of the ‘river bank’ victims. The undercover policemen search for Henry at the same time as the crime lord.
It is the undercover police who get to Henry’s mansion first, but find out that he has been killed whilst eating his dinner. The crime lord enters and thinks that the undercover police have killed Henry. Just then the butler comes into the room carrying a stainless steel oval shaped plate covered with a white cloth. He peels off the cloth to reveal a very bloody red knife. He says to everybody in the room “it was his time”.
Cinematography - Research
Below are various video clips from YouTube, where I learnt basic cinematography skills. Some clips used interesting techniques.
Below: a look at an opening sequence (I mainly used this to give my ideas on titles and credits).
Below: in CCTV footage style. Interesting use of camera position.
Below: another opening sequence used for ideas on titles and credits.
Below: An interesting use of the camera-a tracking shot, where the lens zooms out as the camera is (physically) moved towards the characters.
Below: one of the opening sequences I analysed in detail (Fargo - 1996, Coen Brothers)
Below: a car chase scene from one of my all-time favourite films about a Driver-for-hire called "The Driver" and a cop that's out to get him. I noticed a few bad cuts in amongst the good camera positions and die-hard action, so I used this when studying the continuity in my storyboard drawings. A massive inspiration on my work.
Below: whilst looking at the (above) car chase, I found the original 1978 trailer for the film, The Driver. Again, some interesting camera positions from the film.
Below: the best car chase scene in movie history, from Bullitt (1968-with Steve McQueen), the action and camera positions, just like in The Driver, were a massive inspiration on my work.
Below: another trailer I used, from The Driver.
Below: like the opening sequence from Fargo, I used this sequence from Catch Me If You Can (stars Tom Hanks and Leonardo DiCaprio) and analysed it in more detail.
Below: though it is quite funny to watch, I found a YouTube video that uses a Tracking Shot on a LEGO figure to show the emotions on its face.
Saturday, 17 January 2009
Analysis of 2 Film Opening Sequences: Catch Me If You Can (Steven Spielberg, 2002)
The title sequence begins in an airport. It is an animation and uses thin, silhouetted people moving across a blue background. A thin young man, in casual clothes is the first to appear from the left of the screen. The actor’s name appears - Leonardo DiCaprio. He watches pilots and stewardesses go by. Suddenly a close-up shows that his clothes change from casual to a pilot’s uniform. A man in a suit and hat watches him as he follows the stewardesses. The actor’s name (Tom Hanks) appears on-screen. Then there’s a close-up of several pairs of feet - the stewardesses. The man runs after the pilot but the pilot escapes - setting up the film and showing the audience that the film’s name is also the name of the game that is being played by the pilot - Catch Me If You Can (basically the older man is going to be chasing the younger one - but why?)
The clever use of lines means the animators can portray several scenes in one. An example of the clever use of animation is when (picture below) we have a close-up of the pilot, then we zoom out to the full picture and notice that there is a man reading a newspaper sitting on a chair which has been drawn with the lines. Then Tom Hanks’ name appears and the man’s head swivels round to follow the pilot. Next, there is an elevator and the stewardesses are going down on it, then close-up of their feet as they walk. Picture below: the pilot takes a look behind him and realises someone’s following him and runs up a staircase which falls behind him so that the man in suit can’t chase him any more. Stairs fall, man watches as line shoots up - to the movie title.
More use of the clever lines - this time a taxi on the road going under a bridge - lines from name representing a highway bridge.
After the title of the film the background changes colour for each different chase scene.
The scenes change from an airport to a swimming pool, followed by a hospital, where the young man (Leonardo DiCaprio) has changed into a doctors coat with stethoscope. Still we see the older man in a suit chasing him. Still the young man escapes. More scenes are illustrated in which the young man changes into different clothes, but the older man in the suit still chases him - eventually the sequence ends with them running on top of the globe, chasing all over the world.
Sound
There is no dialogue just music in the title sequence. The music is by John Williams, a composer of many film scores. It is retro, with saxophone and clicking fingers, typical of 1950’s music.
The music starts with a simple, quick tune which is repeated using a xylophone and clicking fingers. Then there is a jazz session and then the opening tune is repeated. This sequence of repetitive tune followed by a jazz session gradually builds in pitch and volume to add tension to the chase scenes in the title sequence. At the end the music is quieter and slower, suggesting the chase is coming to an end.
Titles
The titles are unusual as the font has long lines coming from some of the letters, up and down the screen. Two different fonts are used to separate names from jobs. Up until the title of the film “Catch Me If You Can” the font has been in black or bold-black. In the title of the film, the ‘Me’ is written in white which fades and moves like a cloud as the animated aeroplane passes close by. Then different coloured fonts are used for the rest of the titles, sometimes to contrast with the background, sometimes to be the same colour as the animations.
PS - the man in the suit is a 1950's detective.
Here are some screenshots from this title sequence:
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