Order of Filming

Today Morrighan and I went into the city to research and purchase possible mise en scene for our opening sequence. We also visited the library and planned the order of which we will film our scenes using one of the computers. Below is the post that we discussed and wrote together. As the narrative is non-linear and features flashback scenes, it would be difficult to film chronologically. Therefore planning the order of our filming is crucial for finishing the project in time, and for the continuity of the OTS.

Order of filming

1. Anti-hero taking photos of dead body
Location: daytime on Pecc Street
Actors: anti-hero and femme fatale

2. Flashback to how the femme fatale died
Location: night on Pecc Street
Actors: femme fatale and villain

3. Anti-hero looking at wall montage of photos
Location: lighted darkroom
Actor: anti-hero

4. Developing photographs, zooms in on photograph to discover how femme fatale died
Location: lighted darkroom
Actor: anti-hero

Order of scenes when finished
1. Anti-hero looking at montage of wall photos
2. Anti-hero taking pictures of dead body
3. Developing photographs, zooms in on photograph to find out how femme fatale died
4. Flashback of how femme fatale died

Next we wrote the narrative with a brief plan of the voice-over which will overlay. We decided that we wanted the beginning of the opening sequence to be silent apart from maybe a few lines of dialogue, and with a voice-over from the anti-hero throughout it. We felt that beginning to explain the voice-over would help our narrative plan make sense to our focus group when we present it to them.

Narrative 1:
1. The anti-hero is looking at pictures of the femme fatale from when he stalked her, then finds out she died or already knows, which leads onto the next scene. On the voice-over it should explain how much he loves her, "she looked beautiful in every picture I took of her, she'll always be beautiful." This creates the relationship between them.
2. The anti-hero takes pictures of her dead on the floor. Voice-over expresses anger of how she was taken from him, and foreshadows his hunger for revenge. This establishes her death and the anti-hero's emotions towards this.
3.Cuts to the picture of her face being developed in the darkroom. Voice-over shows less important for this scene, but continues to show feelings of infatuation with the femme fatale.
4. Flashback of how the femme fatale died. Short sentences to convey pain and tension.

After writing and discussing this narrative, we were concerned that it may be too difficult for the audience to follow, so we created another possible narrative order:
1. Anti-hero in darkroom looking at montage pictures of the femme fatale.
2. Steps back and round the developed picture in the tank, hangs developed picture on line. This zooms in or cross fades the picture on the line to the scene where the femme fatale is dead.
3. Zooms out or cut to birds eye shot of dead body and sees anti-hero taking pictures (which explains what he has just developed).
4. Cuts to flashback of her death.

However Morrighan and I decided that the original narrative order was much easier to follow and will therefore continue to use it. We will film a practise of the narrative in order to ensure that it is not to complicated for the audience to understand.

Morrighan and I planned to meet up tomorrow with our actors to film a practise opening sequence, testing diegetic sound, location, natural lighting, environmental conditions, narrative, camera angles and composition, and acting.

Locations

Morrighan and I have decided that we will be shooting in the school's darkroom, which we will light so that we can film. We have chosen this location as the anti-hero character will be developing photographs in the scenes in this room, and therefore using a real darkroom makes our opening sequence more authentic and realistic. Morrighan took the role of researching the locations to shoot the street scenes, and this is the post she made.

Holiday Work Organisation

These are the jobs that need to be completed during the 2 weeks holidays, organised using a flow chart.

Considering Age Demographic and Audience

At this point in our project, we have decided that we our opening sequence will be rated a 12A or 15, because there are adult themes (seduction, murder, smoking, gangster violence), but nothing too violent or explicit that it would be rated an 18. I have researched the BBFC website so that I can be familiar with the British classifications of film rating standards, ensuring that the rating we choose for our film is accurate.


BBFC 12A

Audience:
12A means that anyone aged 12 or over can go and see the film unaccompanied. The 'A' stands for 'accompanied' or 'advisory', as children younger than 12 may see the film if they are accompanied by an adult, and is used for cinemas only.

Language:
Non-aggressive and infrequent strong language may be used (such as f****), for example in puns. There may be moderate language such a b*tch and tw*t. No discriminatory language.

Sex and nudity:
There may be nudity if it is brief and infrequent, and sex can be briefly or discreetly portrayed. Comedic moderate sex references or innuendos are acceptable, but no crude sexual references.

Violence:
Moderate violence is allowed, but should not dwell on detail. No emphasis on injuries or blood, but occasional gory moments may be permitted if justifiable by context. Action sequences and weapons may be present, and there may be long fight scenes. Weapons which might be easily accessible to 12 year olds should not be glamourised. Sexual violence, such as scenes of rape or assault, may only be implied or briefly and discreetly, but must have strong contextual justification.

Dangerous behaviour:
Drug use should not be glamourised or encouraged. Dangerous behaviour such as suicide or self harm should not dwell on detail or be presented as painless. No discriminatory behaviour.

BBFC 15

Audience:
Not suitable for children under 15 years of age. 15 rated DVDs can not be purchased or seen in the cinema by them.

Language:
No limit of use of strong language. Aggressive or continued use of strongest terms (such as c***) are not acceptable. Discriminatory, homophobic or racist language may be used, exploring related themes. Must not endorse this language or behaviour.

Sex and nudity:
Sexual activity can be portrayed without strong or graphic detail. No constraints on nudity in non-sexual or educational context, but in sexual content there should be no strong detail. Strong references to sex, but nothing too crude.

Violence:
Violence may be strong, but should not dwell on injury and pain details and nothing too gory. There may be detailed verbal references to sexual violence, but any portrayal of sexual violence must be discrete and have a strong contextual justification. Easily accessible weapons may not be glamourised.

Dangerous behaviour:
Drug taking may be shown, but their misuse must not be promoted or encouraged. Unlikely to accept the misuse of easily accessible drugs such as solvents. Dangerous behaviour such as suicide and self-harming should not dwell on detail which could be copied.


Analysis:
After this research of BBFC ratings, I think that our opening sequence is most suitable for a 12A audience. This is due to the quick flash of blood in our opening sequence which is not emphasised, and that no gore or violence is shown. The gun prop that we will be using is an acceptable weapon for films of this rating, as it is not accessible to 12 year olds. There is an assault scene where the femme fatale is stalked and pushed against a wall, but its detail is not dwelled on. However there will be lots of footage of cigarette smoking as it is conventional for film noirs, which could be interpreted as the promotion of drug use, as BBFC did not specify which types of drugs are allowed/restricted. BBFC did not state which age rating allows mature psychological themes, such as the stalking of the femme fatale by the anti-hero. I will research this further.

**Edit: On 15th January 2014, BBFC announced that they will be reconsidering the age ratings of films due and their psychological impact on their audience. These ratings are yet to be revealed.
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/features/the-bbfc-has-announced-new-film-classifications-for-teens-but-can-the-ratings-war-be-won-9062688.html

Foleying

Morrighan and I took part in a sound foleying experiment; creating the sound effects that we specified for our opening sequence. This is a presentation of our findings.



We researched the art of foleying using this video, as well as found inspiration from the methods of sound creating seen in the video:



Definition: Foley is the reproduction of non-diegetic sound effects that are added to film, video, and other mediums in post-production to enhance audio quality. A person who creates these sounds is a foley artist.

Health and Safety

I have created a visual mind map to present the health and safety factors which need to be considered for production.

By courtneyodonnell

Dividing Roles

Morrighan and I have created a list of jobs which are required for the production of our opening sequence. We have divided these roles between us, considering our strengths, and looking to build on our weaknesses. Morrighan has the role of composer due to her musical background, and I have the role of stylist due to my interest in this area. We also considered our A level subjects when allocating the roles so that we could transfer those skills into our media studies work. I am writing the script as I take English literature, and Morrighan is setting up the lighting as she takes photography. To learn new skills during this project, I am a co-cinematographer, as this is something I have not done before, but is an important skill for this subject. Morrighan and I will both be directors and team leaders, as we will be inputting equally into this production, and therefore feel this role should be shared.

Courtney's jobs	Morrighan's jobs	Others' jobs
Audio editor	Acting	Acting
Camera operator	Audio editor	Composer
Casting	Camera operator	Focus team
Cinematographer	Casting
Director	Cinematographer
Detailed mise en scene	Composer
Editor	Director
Foley artist	Executive editor
Location manager	Foley artist
Make-up artist	General mise en scene
Note maker	Lighting operator
Planning and production blogger	Note maker
Props	Photoshop artist
Storyboarding	Planning and production blogger
Set arrangement	Props
Scripting	Production logo design
Stylist	Storyboarding
Writer	Set arrangement
	Writer

Photographic Animatic

Morrighan and I created a photographic animatic of our OTS using some of the actors which we are intending to use for the final OTS. This style of animatic is a more effective method of planning than my previous hand drawn animatic, as it allowed me to experiment with more varied camera angles and identify any limitations with the composition of actors which I had planned in my hand drawn animatic. We edited the photographic animatic more precisely than my hand drawn animatic with the use of iMovie, and added some default music to try out the jazz style found in most traditional film noirs.


Morrighan and Courtney Animatic from morrighan humpleby on Vimeo

Narrative Planning

At lunchtime, Morrighan and I brainstormed the common narratives of film noir together to help us decide which direction our film noir narrative will head. These were our ideas:


By courtneyodonnell

We decided to write a narrative focusing on the revenge of an anti-hero against the death of a femme fatale. This could involve romantic elements, as he could be infatuated by her, and there could also be a gang or single villain that commit the murder. We will develop our ideas further, but for now, this is an adaptable basis idea.

**Edit:
Morrighan and I discussed the narrative theory which our OTS complies to, over Facebook. We considered the narrative for the rest of the film when we concluded that our follows three theories; dual narrative, non-linear narrative, and Barthes' enigma codes.

Non-linear:
The chronology of scenes for our OTS and overall film are non-linear, as the OTS itself features flashbacks to the death of the femme fatale, and these flashbacks will continue throughout the film.

Dual narrative:
Our film will be following the lives and perspectives of the three main characters, in order; the anti-hero, femme fatale, and villain. Although it is narrated by the anti-hero for most of the OTS and film, the other characters' lives are still followed. The characters' lives also cross-over and meet at many points in the film.

Barthes' enigma codes:
The audience finds out events and information regarding the plot at the same time as the characters in the film (predominantly the anti-hero). This makes the anti-hero a more relatable character, and creates an enigma for the audience to follow and stay interested in.

Opening Sequence Animatic

I have created an animatic using Windows Movie Maker and my storyboard images to plan our opening sequence. The animatic shows the filter, transitions, length of shots, camera angles, composition and chronology, in visual way; which makes the opening sequence easier to visualise. This is a basic animatic, as I have not added sound, and there are few transitions, however I feel that it presents the plan for our footage and editing effectively.

Opening Sequence Storyboard

This is the final, hand drawn storyboard of our OTS. We will also use these image to create an animatic featuring the transitions, movement and possibly sound. This storyboard demonstrates the scenes and their order, cutting, shots, composition, and camera angles of our planned OTS.

Production company

Mid shot

Extreme close-up pan

Pan from wall to journalist

Extreme close-up, zoom

Extreme close-up, reverse zoom

Reverse zoom

Canted angle, eyeline match

Close-up

Reverse zoom

High angle

Close-up

Establishing shot

Close-up, zoom

Extreme close-up, zoom

Mid shot

Mid shot

Mid shot, actress walks towards camera

Focus pull

Static camera, she leaves the shot and he enters

Mid shot

Over the shoulder

Mid shot

Pan

Soundtrack Planning

For our soundtrack Morrighan and I hope to create our own original composition. I have basic piano skills, but Morrighan plays the saxophone and one of our main actors, Andrew, plays guitar; both at a very high grade. We will definitely be using Morrighan and Andrew for our composition of a jazz film noir piece of music to play throughout our OTS.

Morrighan and I have collected a selection of 1940/50s jazz music to inspire our composition, which are suitable for the film noir genre due to its slow tempo, low pitch and bluesy feel. We will experiment with the different tempos and instruments alongside tension building and calm points within our OTS so that the music and film work in harmony.

I have created a YouTube playlist of our chosen inspirational soundtracks:

Mood Boards

Morrighan and I created three mood boards presenting our research of film noir character styling and location.


Film noir costume


Film noir location


Femme fatale hair and make-up

To achieve the femme fatale character look, her make-up should include:

• Sultry smokey eyes
• Voluminous, short, loose curls
• Deep red lipstick, varying in tone
• Thin, precise, arched brows
• Flawless skin with a peach glow

I also found these tutorials helpful and inspirational for recreating the femme fatale make-up look:

Research Into Neo Noir

I have created a prezi exploring the neo noir genre in preparation for choosing the genre of my OTS.

Generation of Ideas

To begin planning our narrative in lesson, Morrighan and I presented our ideas using post it notes for each scene. This allowed us to change and experiment with the order or scenes of our narrative easily. We had already discussed a rough idea for our narrative, so this activity allowed us to develop our ideas further.

We learnt that there were four stages of storyboarding; verbal, visual, technical, and anamatics. The stages which we practiced today are verbal, which refers to the discussion of narrative ideas, and visual, which includes a sketched or photographed storyboard.

Verbal storyboard: Firsty, we wrote out a plan of what would be happening in each scene. This prepared us for sketching the storyboard.

Visual storyboard: After writing a rough narrative, we created a sketched storyboard.

Continuity Task - Final Edit

For the final edit of our continuity task, Morrighan took the role of making the final edit for our team. We discussed the possible music which we would be using for our continuity task beforehand, and came up with the final choice of Artie Shaw, Nightmare.


It is fitting with our continuity task style, as it is traditionally film noir and suits the slow speed of our shots.
When Morrighan edited the music for our team, she "Taken from Morrighan's blog: cut it and repeated it in lots of different places to result in the appropriate tempo of music at the appropriate time. I then put the volume of the music down to around 40%, so that it wouldn't take over and over power the vocal sound in the film. In some cases the vocal was still drowned out a little, so I increased the volume of that clip, so it could be heard over the music."



The feedback on the redemptive woman's shoes for mise en scene which is not fitting with the film noir style of our continuity task could not be cut out of cropped. This is because it is an important walking shot which takes up too much of the shot to be cropped out. Therefore we decided to leave this in our continuity task. From the continuity task, I learnt that it is important to not only keep shots and scenes conforming to continuity, but also the mise en scene used for a certain style, as it is one of the main things which our focus group criticised. I also developed a better understanding of the planning for films, as well as the types of shots which films use, and how to operate video cameras and use iMovie, as these are things I previously had little experience with. The skills I have gained from this task will assist me when creating my film noir OTS, for planning, filming, and editing.

Continuity Task Feedback

After presenting the unfinished first edit of our continuity task to our focus group, we recorded their feedback using handouts and by filming their comments.

Handouts which Morrighan photographed:


Presentation and comments from focus group:


In conclusion, the general response from our focus group was that the beginning clip was prolonged and should be cut shorter. We should experiment with using more transitions for our next edit, as we were lacking in this area, and for next time, we should use more than one camera for a wider variety of shots and a better understanding of the 180 degree rule. The main issue identified was with the mise en scene shoes, as the rest of the costumes were suitable for film noir characters, apart from the modern converse trainers worn by the femme fatale and redemptive woman characters. We will attempt to edit these out of our final edit.

Continuity Task - First Edit

Below is evidence of the first edit of our continuity task. It features all of our shots, scenes, and editing processes including the film title, black and white filter, and cutting/arrangement of shots. The only thing which it is lacking at this point is non-diegetic sound, which we will be adding in our next edits. We will also be presenting this edit to our focus group to recieve feedback and criticisms and possible improvements before our final edit.

Continuity Task Planning

During a free period which I shared with Morrighan, we began planning the script and shots to be used for our continuity task.We had separate roles within this planning session so that we used our time efficiently, but checked the plans with each other throughout their composition, offering any help with necessary changes and making additional points. We decided to write these plans after we had created our storyboard, as the storyboard gave us an idea of the types of shots we could use. Capturing these images in our location allowed us to walk through an improvised script, which helped me to structure this script plan. The improvised script also helped me to understand the length of takes in each scene, so I had an idea of how much dialogue and how many stage directions will fit in the takes.

My script planning

Morrighan's shot planning

Continuity Task Storyboard

Once my group decided on a narrative for our continuity task, we used a media studies lesson to create a photo storyboard in our chosen locations. The purpose of this storyboard was to;

• Experiment with possible shots and camera angles
• Find the most effective way to use our location
• Practice and test keeping continuity
• Create an improvised script to assist with structuring the final script
• Familiarise some of the actors with their roles

This is our photographic storyboard which Morrighan was in charge of uploading from her camera and editing.

Click to enlarge

Analysis of Film Noirs

Analysis of Sin City:

Analysis of Double Indemnity:

Research Textual Analysis

Double Indemnity, 1944

• Director: Billy Wilder
• Set in 1938
• Film noir genre
• Based on the 1943 novella of the same name by James M Cain
• Nominated for 7 academy awards but did not win any
• Citied as a paradigmatic film noir and set the standards for this genre
• Stars Fred MacMurray, Barbara Stanwyck and Edward G Robinson
• Budget of $980 000 and box office of $5 000 000

IMDb review

Wikipedia page

Plot: An insurance rep lets himself be talked into a murder/insurance fraud scheme that arouses an insurance investigator's suspicions.

Narrative:
In 1938, Walter Neff (Fred MacMurray), an experienced salesman of the Pacific All Risk Insurance Co., meets the seductive wife of one of his clients, Phyllis Dietrichson (Barbara Stanwyck), and they have an affair. Phyllis proposes to kill her husband to receive the proceeds of an accident insurance policy and Walter devises a scheme to receive twice the amount based on a double indemnity clause.

Trailer:

OTS:






Reviews:

• http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-double-indemnity-1944
• http://www.empireonline.com/reviews/reviewcomplete.asp?FID=132362
• http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0036775/reviews

Quotes:

Walter Neff: "Yes, I killed him. I killed him for money - and a woman - and I didn't get the money and I didn't get the woman. Pretty, isn't it?"

"Suddenly it came over me that everything would go wrong. It sounds crazy, Keyes, but it's true, so help me. I couldn't hear my own footsteps. It was the walk of a dead man."

Understanding Narrative Theory

I have made this Prezi to present the different types of narrative code with examples of films with narratives which follow each code.

Roland Barthes' action codes:
Barthes believed that a story is created by one action leading to another. This narrative style allows the audience to know how things occurred.

Roland Barthes' enigma codes:
On the other hand Bathes raises the idea that it can be mysteries which drives a story forward and interests the audience to watch and work out why something is happening within the narrative.

Tzvetan Todorov:
Todorov stated that narratives are led by events in a cause and effect format, in the structure of a character disrupting the equilibrium (cause), and then begins a quest to restore the equilibrium (effect). He suggested that the primary function of a narrative was to solve a problem, and that a character should follow a series of linear stages to do so.

Vladimir Propp:
Propp is concerned with the relationship between narrative and characters, and argued that stories are character driven, and that plots develop around the actions of the characters. He stated that it was possible to group characters and actions into roles and functions which move the story along. Examples of these characters roles are the hero who has a mission to accomplish something, and the villain who is driven by evil motives and tries to prevent the hero from accomplishing their mission.

Claude Levi-Strauss binary oppositions:
Levi-Strauss argued that all construction of meaning was dependent, to some extent, on oppositions such as light-dark, hero-villain, and man-machine.

Intertexuality

Intertexuality in film is the reference to other famous and iconic works of film, photography, literature, and television, within a film outside of these works. Some intertextuality references are subtle and discrete, therefore they can become unnoticed by people who are less educated with media. I found that this video provided a clear understanding of the term with examples of intertextuality within film and television:



As I am creating my OTS film for a post-modernist audience who are interested in film noir, I will consider using intertextuality references to other traditional film noir works, as an audience educated with this genre will be most likely to spot and appreciate them.

Film Noir Conventions

These videos effectively present the key conventions of film noir films:






After analysing these videos, I have researched that the key conventions for traditional film noir are:

Themes and hyrbid-genres: Crime, detective, drama, action, romance, gang violence.
Characters, costume and mise en scene: The main characters are the anti-hero, femme fatale, villain, redemptive woman, and gang members/leader. The characters usually promote smoking, carry pistols, and are dressed in suits and fedoras, or seductive clothing for the women (especially the femme fatale).
Setting: Urban cities, and some rural settings. America (where film noir originates), dystopian rain, smokey alleyways and police officer rooms.
Lighting: Use of chiaroscuro (strong contrast between light and dark), barn lighting which projects a strip of light imitating the film noir blind filters - which are another convention. Black and white filters and lots of shadows and silhouettes.

Conventions explained in greater depth in this post: http://codonnellasmediaproductionschs2014.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/film-noir-genre.html

Deconstructing an OTS

I have analysed and deconstructed the opening sequence of the the 200-2005 American black-comedy, drama television series; Six Feet Under. I used Art of the Title to watch the show's opening sequence, and then presented my deconstruction using Screencast-O-Matic. This deconstruction has helped me to recognise conventions of opening sequences, and become more familiar with them for when I begin creating my own OTS.



http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0248654

Film Noir Genre

Film noir began in the late 1930s and remained a strong cinematic medium until the early 1960s. Film noir translates to 'black film' from French, and features negative themes, with an overall dark, shadowy and dystopian outlook, as well as being filmed in black and white. The narrative of this genre takes in detective and crime noir, as well as many ganster films in the 1930s, and also transgresses into more modern films of hybrid genres. These hybrid genres include;

Western noir:

'High Noon', 1952

Romance noir:

'Laura', 1944

Crime noir:

'The Big Heat', 1953

Detective noir:

'LA Confidential', 1997

'LA Confidential' is an example of the neo noir genre, which is a modern adaptation of film noir, as it translates to 'new black' from French. This genre is often seen in modern motion pictures and other forms that prominently utilise elements of film noir, but with updated themes, content, style, visual elements or media that were absent in films noir of the 1940s and 1950s.

Noir scenes are made from interesting camera angles and with dramatic close-ups and shadowed lighting. Smoke-filled rooms, light filtered through venetian blinds, seedy downtown areas with neon lights, and dark, wet, unsettling streets are frequently used to heighten the noir effect. Brightly lit scenes are not used in noir films since the desired effect is that of dreary hopelessness.

The characters of noir films include the main flawed protagonist, who is predominantly male. His flaw, which may be crime, adultery or weak-will etc, brings him to ruin, and he may become tainted by a dishonest deed and sent to his doom. He may also be brought down by a femme fatale character. Many flawed protagonists are detectives, taking the cases of mysterious women who draw them into a tangled maze of evil by making use of their hypnotic sensuality.


The femme fatale is most often portrayed as a beautiful woman who is cruel, dishonest and willing to do anything necessary to reach her ends. She uses the protagonist as a tool to help her accomplish some unsavoury deed, and the protagonist is powerless to refuse her. The distrust that the femme fatale holds for her pawn is also what brings her to destruction, as she is often killed off early in the film.


The redemptive woman is a pure and virtuous contrast to the femme fatale, and only wishes the best for the protagonist. However in this battle with the femme fatale, evil always triumphs. The protagonist is powerless to make the choice of the woman who is best for him.


Flashbacks are another facet of film noir, and are often presented as voiceovers which are narrated by the protagonist recounting, somewhat sarcastically, the reasons and details of his downfall. The plot of a film noir is circuitous and holds many surprises and unanswered questions for the viewer. Sometimes the resolution of the plot is left hanging, casting an even darker aura over the film.