Evaluation Hyperlinks

Question 1:

Zayanah's Genre Investigation:
http://group3mediaas.blogspot.co.uk/2015/09/genre-investigation-of-film-noir-i.html
Zayanah's Deconstruction of "The Man Who Wasn't There":
http://group3mediaas.blogspot.co.uk/2015/10/deconstruction-of-film-opening-man-who.html
Zayanah's deconstruction of editing in film noir:
http://group3mediaas.blogspot.co.uk/2015/12/deconstruction-of-editing-in-film-noir.html

Hazel's deconstruction of "Gangster Squad":
http://group3mediaas.blogspot.co.uk/2015/10/film-opening-deconstruction-gangster.html
Hazel's deconstruction of typography in film noir:
http://group3mediaas.blogspot.co.uk/2015/12/deconstruction-of-typography-in-film.html

Xena's deconstruction of "Sin City":
http://group3mediaas.blogspot.co.uk/2015/10/deconstruction-sin-city.html

Mindi's deconstruction of "Hotel Noir":
http://group3mediaas.blogspot.co.uk/2015/10/analysis-of-film-opening-of-hotel-noir.html

Question 2:

Zayanah's deconstruction of characters in "Sin City":
http://group3mediaas.blogspot.co.uk/2015/12/deconstruction-of-characters-in-sin-city.html

Hazel's character profile:
http://group3mediaas.blogspot.co.uk/2015/12/character-profile-film-noir.html

Xena's deconstruction of amateur film noir:
http://group3mediaas.blogspot.co.uk/2016/02/deconstruction-amateur-film-noir.html

Mindi's script writing:
http://group3mediaas.blogspot.co.uk/2015/12/practical-task-script-writing.html
Mindi's filming evaluation:
http://group3mediaas.blogspot.co.uk/2016/01/film-evaluations-22nd-of-december.html
Mindi's costume practical:
http://group3mediaas.blogspot.co.uk/2015/10/practical-task-costume-inspiration.html

Question 3:

Hazel's production company deconstruction:
http://group3mediaas.blogspot.co.uk/2015/10/production-company-intro-deconstruction_14.html

Mindi's deconstruction of a professional production company:
http://group3mediaas.blogspot.co.uk/2015/10/deconstruction-of-professional-film.html

Zayanah's production company deconstructions:
http://group3mediaas.blogspot.co.uk/2015/11/deconstruction-of-school-production.html
http://group3mediaas.blogspot.co.uk/2015/10/production-company-intro-deconstruction.html

Xena's production company deconstruction:
http://group3mediaas.blogspot.co.uk/2015/11/practical-task-production-company.html

Question 4:

Xena's deconstruction of "Drive" trailer:
http://group3mediaas.blogspot.co.uk/2016/02/deconstruction-drive-opening-credits.html


Question 5:

Zayanah's Voice Auditions:
http://group3mediaas.blogspot.co.uk/2016/02/practical-task-voice-auditions.html

Hazel's Blinking Effect:
http://group3mediaas.blogspot.co.uk/2016/02/editing-creating-blinking-effect.html

Xena's Practical Prop Task:
http://group3mediaas.blogspot.co.uk/2016/01/practical-task-props.html
Mindi's deconstruction of female actors:
http://group3mediaas.blogspot.co.uk/2016/02/deconstruction-of-female-actors.html
Mindi's voice over script: http://group3mediaas.blogspot.co.uk/2016/01/harlem-sunset-voice-over-script.html


Question 6:

Zayanah's Tape Recorder Sound Effects:
http://group3mediaas.blogspot.co.uk/2016/02/editing-tape-recorder-sound-effects.html
Zayanah's Editing Focus Blur Animation:
http://group3mediaas.blogspot.co.uk/2016/02/practical-task-focus-blur-animation.html

Hazel's Lighting deconstruction:
http://group3mediaas.blogspot.co.uk/2015/10/practical-task-lighting.html
Hazel's Venetian Blind Template creation:
http://group3mediaas.blogspot.co.uk/2015/12/practical-task-venetian-blind-shadows.html
Xena's Title Creation:
http://group3mediaas.blogspot.co.uk/2016/02/practical-task-title-creation.html
Mindi's post editing
http://group3mediaas.blogspot.co.uk/2016/02/editing-post-production-of-harlem-sunset_4.html

http://group3mediaas.blogspot.co.uk/2016/02/editing-part-2-post-production-of.html

Question 7:

Zayanah's Storyboard Initial Draft:

http://group3mediaas.blogspot.co.uk/2015/11/practical-task-storyboard-initial-draft.html
Zayanah's Storyboard Re-draft:

http://group3mediaas.blogspot.co.uk/2016/02/practical-task-storyboard-redraft.html

Hazel's Parcel Creation:
http://group3mediaas.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Parcel
Hazel's Props + detectives office layout:
http://group3mediaas.blogspot.co.uk/2015/12/inspiration-detectives-office-layout.html
Xena's Preliminary Task Evaluation:
http://group3mediaas.blogspot.co.uk/2015/10/preliminary-task-evaluation.html Mindi's sound experiment

http://group3mediaas.blogspot.co.uk/2015/11/practical-task-sound-experiment-and.html

Deconstruction: Typography in Film Noir

Hotel Noir, released in 2012, uses this style for its titles and trailer. It contains two staple motifs of film noir, smoke and monochrome. However, the use of a sans serif block font is a fairly recent convention. It is seen in several modern film noir movies, perhaps in an attempt to appeal to action fans, as this style (block font with metallic effects) is used mostly in gritty action movies. This can be seen here and in Gangster Squad's promotional material.

However, looking at older, more traditional film noir movies, one can see that this was not always the case. In these examples, some other styles are used.

This example uses a slanted, striped font. Striped fonts were common and most likely used to resemble the neon signs of the time in which these movies were set, the stripe being the space between the neon tubes. It is an interesting effect, one that would be easy to do, but an effective minimalist representation of a neon sign. It can also be interpreted as an art deco style.

This one is interesting for its use of a delicate cursive font for one word and a blocky serif font. They are a stark contrast to each other, making the title stand out.

Editing: Tape recorder sound effects.

I downloaded some free to use music to add into our opening. I felt that jazz music would be the most appropriate considering our genre is film noir and this is common convention for the genre.

I dragged the audio from the downloads in to final cut pro. I used the blade tool to cut it at the same time the tape recording started so that I could adjust the volume of that section independent to the rest of it. I reduced the volume so that the voice over could be heard more clearly along with the tape recorder's clicks and whirring. I felt that this music did not fit the second part of the opening where the detective was getting ready to meet the kidnapper, so I had it cut off at the same time the tape recording ended, which additionally created more tension and had a nice dramatic effect.

I think this music was the most fitting I could find and is adequate for the first part, but we need something more tense for the second part.

Deconstruction - Amateur Film Noir

Deconstruction of Amateur Film Noir

To see what was possible for our own production, I decided to deconstruct another amateur piece.

I'm a big fan of the music used in this film. It's a downbeat jazz song with saxophones and pianos, very popular music to use in classic film noir and exactly the kind of audio I'd like to use in our own production as it sets the atmosphere very well. No other sound effect is used but I think this is effective for the opening of a film as it gives little away. 

A woman's feet, presumably the femme fatale of the film, are seen walking down the street. She is wearing heels and a skirt which are commonly used to represent sexuality and seduction, which are generic character traits of the femme fatale role. This gives us an idea as to what to look for when finding costumes for our film. An unusual editing technique is also used where the feet are seen walking blended in with the mans face to imply that he is thinking about her.

The man is also seen drinking alcohol which is a big feature in the film noir genre as it represents stress. Many of the detectives in the films have troubled pasts and are hardened characters who use alcohol to cope with the stress of being a detective. 

A fedora style hat is worn, another implication for our own costume. For male costumes hats like these are a key feature and seen in many classic films.

An extremely common motif of violence is the use of guns which is seen below. I really like the way the gun in seen in the shadow before it's seen in the mans hand as high contrast shadows are big in film noir. Also, the shadow is shown on shuttered blinds which are commonly used for lighting effects.

Audience Feedback on First Draft

After completing the first draft of our film opening we collected some audience feedback in order to improve. The audience had to look at the genre, conventions, sound, titles, editing and improvements. 

The first piece of feedback we received suggested that the transitions could be improved by being clearer. After receiving this we made an improvement to the transitions in our opening scene. However, they liked the titles, voiceover and cigarette scene. 

The next piece of feedback we received suggested that we should use a stereotypical location of an American street but this would be very complex to do without being in America. So instead we will stick to an alleyway and detectives office which are also stereotypical locations used in film noir. On the other hand, they liked our female voiceover, typography and match on action.

This feedback suggested that the time period was unclear and there were cars seen in the background. However, when we looked back at this the cars were very far off in the distance and could be seen driving past the entrance of the alley way therefore only a few flashes could be seen and they could have been cars from the 1950's.

 

Another piece of feedback we received helped us to improve our opening scene by making the lighting less bright in order make the money in the briefcase visible. But they liked our voiceover, titles and music. 



 

Overall, the feedback we received helped us to improve our opening scene. It was useful to see what people liked and to make sure the genre was clear. As we knew the storyline well it was also helpful to have people who had never seen it before to watch it in order to make sure the storyline was also clear.

Deconstruction - Drive Opening Credits

Deconstruction of Drive opening credits

As contemporary film noir is a particularly limited genre, we had to look elsewhere for sources of inspiration. I chose to deconstruct the opening sequence of Drive (2011), as despite not being a typical film noir it does display some elements conventional of the genre.

Immediately the typography is seen, written in a pink display font similar to how film noir titles often combine plain fonts with show fonts for a contrapuntal effect.

The main actors name is seen first followed by the name of the film which emulates the typical order of titles shown in classic film noir. Often the names of actors in old film noir were well known within the genre and big stars such as Bogart and Bacall were in many different films. The title is also shown above a night time cityscape, a typical noir setting. Many films were set within inner cities, particularly shifty backstreets and bars, and the nighttime setting helps to create suspense and mystery. 

The scene then cross dissolves into the man sitting in the car. The titles also appear and reappear using fade in and out transitions which are commonly seen in film noir, for instance in this film opening the titles fade into each other. 

In the next shot where he turns to face the road, the lights from the city illuminate half his face and create contrasting shadows and highlights which is another element heavily used in film noir to create suspense and anonymity. 

For example in this screen cap, a silhouette of two men is seen highlighted by light coming from the edges, creating a dramatic contrast. 

A scene with cars is also shown, an element highly linked with action because of many car chase scenes. Cars are also a stereotypical masculine interest which links to the protagonist of film noirs consistently being male, with females used as plot devices or obstacles to over come (femme fatale).

On the back of the man's jacket a motif resembling a gang sign can be seen, and gangs are a recurring feature seen in film noir. 

Finally, the way the light from the windows shadows on his jacket can be seen as reminiscent of the venetian blind effect seen in detective's offices.

Despite not being an actual film noir, 'Drive' contains many subtle elements of it that can be included in our own work. 

Costume Femme Fatale Deconstruction

Inspiration: The Femme Fatale

Make up

My first inspiration for part of the costume is the make up and hair style from Sin city posters featuring the femme fatales. Much emphasis is on the colour of red, especially red lipstick which stands out on the monochrome background.

The femme fatale is the dangerous seductress who causes trouble for the protagonist, and sometimes is the antagonist in a film noir, and red is often used as a representation of blood and danger but also lust and romance suitable for a femme fatale. 

Femme fatale make up:

• Simple soft curls
• Dark eyes, winged eyeliner 
• red lipstick 
• Pale complexion

Costume: Inspiration 

Marilyn Monroe was the was the glamorous fashion icon. In the 1940/50s women often wearing form fitting clothes, something Monroe fully embraced the classic little black dress, much like an elegant femme fatale . I wanted to base the femme fatale appearance around her as she had a glamorous which would have influenced many women's fashion choice.   

   

I can see from this deconstruction that our femme fatale character doesn't have to be dressed elaborately,as the style is quite simple, but tight fitting or long and flowing to conform with the dress style of women in the 1940 and 50s.