Evaluation Questions

Question 1:

Our film was set around a noir style that incorporates many traits associated with the classic noir films from the 1940’ s-50’s .The plot line was a stereotypical noir plot because it conveys the message of gangsters and the criminal underworld. We used props such as guns, suits, hats, accents; attitudes towards people and situations people were often in. The power status shows a stereotypical divide between the gangster’s authority and the victims. The entire film has been edited to fit a grey scale, which is typically associated with the noir genre. Our key theme was authority and we decided to show this through the use of speech within the scenes, which quickly display how the power has shifted between characters.

Locations were also picked carefully to fit the conventions of the genre and mood of the scene, which include the promenade and the seafront. We took inspiration from films such as the Godfather to arch the overall theme of authority and power. We also used quotes from other noir films such as Scarface, Public Enemies and Godfather. We incorporated a sub-genre of a gangster-noir, as the central image is that of gangsters portrayed in a stereotypical, mysterious and powerful position.

Question 2:

Our opening sequence shows a representation of a lower-class male opposing that of a middle-class gangster. We have showed the male’s lower-class status through props such as an eviction notice and debt bills. The smart attire of the gangsters and their overall status represents them as quite wealthy people, especially as the domineering gangsters has been situated accordingly with camera angles, in the middle of every shot, showing importance and dominance, commonly associated with men. AT the beginning of the sequence, we also show a female hand twiddling a ring, showing worry and fear over her husband, another emotion typically associated with women. The ‘femme fatal’ figure that is also commonly used in a noir genre has been challenged, as we show the female weak and in a position of no power compared to the typical strong and commanding attitude of a ‘femme fatal’ character, We

chose not to challenge the conventions of a noir film as it has proved to be quite popular amongst audiences, which would enhances profits and keep the audience interested.

Question 3:

Our media product could be produced in a Hollywood Studio as it displays and conveys the conventions of noir used in past popular noir films, which had dominated the box office, such as The Godfather and Scarface. We’d like our film to be distributed worldwide, through a staggered release to test out the market. We would keep our interest of the film going by using certain popular social medias such updates and advertisements on Twitter and Facebook. This would then attract a wider audience and may appeal to more than the average person who enjoys noir films. We would also use a lot of guerrilla marketing methods, as these seem to impact the best on audiences e.g. marketing for L.A. Noire; which seemed to grab a lot of people’s attention. We would also use various teaser trailers, showing different aspects of our film, which will keep our audience interested as they allow us to drip-feed the audience information. Our film could pursue possible merchandise, which would include posters, mugs, T-shirts. Soundtrack, CD etc. The use of an experienced directors such as Quentin Tarrantino and Martin Scorsese would impact majorly on the direction of our film as it would be on a large scale and convey more noir conventions which means experience would be needed to perfect this. Because the full film is in black and white, this would attract audiences interested in black and white films yet could also attract a wider audience shown in the recent release of The Artist, which won various Oscars.

Question 4:

The age group our media film is aimed at is a 15+ age group as that is the rating we have been given. This would, however be more suited to people in their 20’s and 30’s as it uses conventions such as the mafia and criminal underworld which has been used in previous popular noir films such as: “The Godfather” series and “Scarface” and due to this our target audience lends itself to stereotypes and therefore, more males would be interested in this rather than females. Subsequently, we researched “The Godfather” and “Scarface”

along with “Kiss Kiss Bang Bang” so as to grasp the noir convention as a whole and allowed inspiration from “The Godfather” to come through, as that was the film that agreed with our themes we wished to incorporate within our media production. All this has maximised our potential revenue streams, as it doesn’t just apply to fans of the films we researched but also a younger generation of adults. Due to this targeted audience we were easily able to stick to our conventions and themes throughout the plot line and scenes that are shown.

Question 5:

I think that our sequence would attract the audience it’s aimed towards, due to that specific audience enjoying the more serious/intelligent films. The demographic for this movie however may be males, due to it involving gangsters which guarantees that the film will having action basically meaning that it’s a manly movie, however females may still enjoy this movie due to it involving a female antagonist. However, at the box office I think that the audience would consist of males and females, due to females going to see the movie because of the men in the movie, which is a famous film promoting technique, that films such as The Godfather used which could potentially increase our grossing revenue at the box office.I think that it would sell well due to it being a masculine movie filled with action and many twists to the plot, the many action scenes and manly dialogue. I also think that it will be viewed as art, due to it being a black and white, which is pretty rare to come across in this modern day and age. Also, I believe that it may inspire more amateur films makers to dabble in the noir genre, due to us being amateur film makers and managing to pull off a somewhat decent noire movie, despite having a low budget and having no experience in acting, directing and producing what-so-ever. So due to it having this impact, it would potentially create more positive reviews, thus promoting the movie. We used many different camera techniques such as a shot reverse shot which we used in the scene were the gangsters where engaging in a conversation; Canted angle which we used in the scene were Alex punched Nathan in the face, to create a more impactful blow and a more realistic P.O.V. shot; match on action, which we used in the scene were Nathan pulled out an eviction notice, which was also used to create suspense. We received feedback such as: great

soundtrack, forced acting, a good storyline and impressive editing.

Question 6:

During the process of constructing the product, I have learnt a lot about the technologies we used. The use of such an advanced, professional camera was very new to me and I had to adjust myself to this fairly quickly. I practiced pull focus and other camera techniques before filming to familiarize myself with the camera. The tripod was fairly easy to use, and there was a spirit level built into it so we could ensure that no camera angles were tilted however, we did find a problem with the size of the camera weighed upon the tripod. We had to make sure the camera was held sturdy at all times whilst on the tripod so that the camera did not fall off or make any of the footage rocky. We did not use any new equipment such as the track or TV studio as it was necessary for the shots used in the product. I found the editing software quite difficult to grasp however, once I uploaded my footage and had a mess around, I managed to quick up the editing technique quite quickly. I used a programme called Live Type to creating moving titles instead of standard ones as I felt this fit in better with the noir theme and would make the overall product look better. I also used an editing technique using Chroma key, to allow the wine in the glass to remain red whereas the actual footage remained black and white. I did discover a problem when editing with the cutting off speech but I solved this issue by shortening down the script and it patched in. Also, in final cut, I had to adjust the sound levels of certain clips as some of the speech was drowned out by the wind. I also added in special sound effects such as the walking of shoes and the sound of someone being punched, as these were not recorded loud enough when filming. As I progressed with the editing, I found that my footage was coming together nicely and becoming that of a high standard. Editing plays an essential role in the process of creating an opening sequence and found as I went on editing, my work progressed further, ending in a substantial and high quality product. At first, we attempted to use Garageband. However, due to the lack of available sounds and quality of the recording, we had to change programmes in order to create an efficient soundtrack. We used Cubase instead because it allowed us to make a better quality soundtrack and were more versatile to use. Due to our team’s skills in music, we all found it easier to use Cubase to construct the soundtrack. We were able to pick out relevant notes, scales and

instruments, which related to the noir genre. However, we did find difficulty due to broken and lack of good quality headphones so we resorted to creating a simple yet sufficient piece, which we were able to easily fit around our film scenes and the noir genre.

Question 7:

Looking back to the preliminary task, the group overall have learned a lot in terms of filming and editing. We have learned that planning and organisation is essential in order for a film to be contrasted and to work accordingly. As we have done more research into this task, we have developed ideas and a better understanding of the genre, which we successfully incorporated into our media production. We have also developed our knowledge and understanding of camera angles and how we can use different ones to convey certain messages and characters feelings and thoughts in different situations. As we all did independent research this allowed us to share ideas ensuring that we achieved a good varied end product. During the creation of the prelim, we didn’t fully understand the technologies and how to enhance them to achieve the best outcome and we think this is shown quite clearly when the two are shown in contrast to one another. As the new technologies did take a longer time to adjust to, we took the time out to step aside and learn how to adapt to them, as we knew that they would give us our best outcome possible. As we also used a more complex and versatile editing software in comparison to our prelim task it allowed us to edit thoroughly and efficiently to make sure that our end product was successful and of a high stand we required.