Film Noir: Poster Progress

This is a rough poster idea. I like the combination of the colours black white and red - they work well together in my opinion! The black background of course reflects the darkness of the film, and the red shows the danger of our femme fatale. I will do variations of posters and choose the one I like the most to be my final.

I used our original logo at the top to create a recognition factor. I like the simplicity of the poster and the shots are almost criminal snapshots which allow the onlooker to see the action that might entail in the storyline. I used the line from the script that Detective Carter says when he talks about bonnie (scene 3) "She made me weaker than I'd ever imagined" but adapted it to address the audience, and therefore perhaps captivating them.

The 'lustful' word is the only red throughout the whole of the poster. This emphasizes the importance of Bonnie Kensington's role and the power she has. Red is the colour of passion, blood and danger and all of those things connect to the story. They are the semiotics of the colour as many people understand, so they will have the same trigger in their mind for the colour as I have intended them to by using the colour only on the one word.

I would like to make a poster that is a little more aesthetically pleasing and perhaps a little more modern. It would be good however to recreate one like I have seen for Double Indemnity, which highlights the twisted romance in the tale.

Film Noir: Poster Ideas

In addition to our films we must make a poster to go alongside it. The photos we have taken that could be used to go onto my poster are these:

I want to put Ellen as the main focus of the poster and then either just Ed or both Ed and Ben surrounding her in some way to show onlookers the main characters within the story. The poster needs to show the moral of the story but also appeal so that the film can draw more viewers from it.

Some inspirations of film noir posters include:

I have chosen the Black Dahlia poster because even though there is only half the woman's face visible, the black background makes her all the more the focus. I want our femme fatale to have this kind of instant effect, even though the two characters are very different in the individual films. The black and red theme that is carried throughout is also something I would like to take hold of, because our logo of 'Lustful Injustice' has a red and black theme. I like the simplicity of the poster.

In the poster for 'Gilda' I like the way the focus is also on the femme fatale. I think her obvious glamour and casual stance make her appear all the more dangerous. The colour choice in the poster is a lot less powerful due to the use of pastel purple and blue. The whole poster is fairly pale as a whole apart from obviously the black background, as well as the text being a peach colour. Only the word 'Gilda' was in red which I like - even though she is presented as a fairly innocent woman with the colour choice for her clothes, the red used on her name warns us about her character, because it's the only red used on the whole of the poster. I want this kind of effect on my poster for 'Lustful Injustice' too.

I put the Brick poster on here because of it's power and simplicity. The use of just a hand works really well because of it's position in the water and the apparent blood signifies a death. I could use perhaps an envelope, a suitcase or a gun if I wanted to create a similar effect in relation to our own film.

Some photos I may use from the ones we have are:

In this one Ellen looks slightly too innocent - it could be difficult to add in the other characters. However the little bits of red she has on her, like her lips and nail varnish could be key for suttle 'danger warnings' of her character to the audience.

The sepia tone to the image could make the poster look authentic, but because our film is in black and white this might not be a necessary effect. When looking at other posters, when the films are in black and white cartographic images are used with very attractive colour choices to pull in the audiences of the time, as colour television had not been invented.

The fact she is looking straight at the camera in this one could make this a very powerful photograph to use on my poster. I think that the two male characters can be almost transparent in this and her photograph kept opaque to make clear who is the key character. I would like to try this. I could keep the image portrait or rotate it 90 degrees left so that the focus in her eyes are even more noticeable and would therefore have more of an effect. The eyeliner on her top lids really bring out her eyes and definitely follows the style of other film noir posters and characters in them I have seen.

Another thing about this image I like is that it is an unusual pose and one you could suggest she is 'laying' next to someone, which is automatically seductive. In some images I have posted before on my blog of the kind of poses I wanted Ellen to do, there is one of a dark haired woman laying on a dark surface with a cigarette in hand, looking seductive. This is my own interpretation of that. Ellen does not smoke and did not want to even consider having one just to hold for a photograph which is fair enough. Smoking is now seen as not 'cool' so one of our modern twists on her character is that she does not smoke.

These photographs will both be very good to have transparently on top of any images of Ellen. Both this one and the one below show the males looking incredibly serious and of course in contrast with Ellen who looks either seductive or happy, it gives out the depressed nature of their characters against hers. Putting them all together on a poster will make sure the audience get the right idea about the story line, just through the images.

This photograph is similar to the poster of 'Gilda' at the top. The original image of this is in colour, so I could use the red colour to create the same kind of colourful array as the Gilda poster did. I like the sultry pose and her seriousness, however I'm not sure how much it would create the contrast between her and the two males I discussed previously if I use this one. She is central though and also looks very 'femme fatale' like so it could work really well. I'd like to try and use this photograph or one similar and also use the colour version to alert onlookers of her dangerous nature, due to the red dress.

Film Noir: Showing Our Films

To make us all feel like we had achieved something it was organised for all the groups to show each other their films and allow us all to give the appropriate feedback. We made sure our film was all ready for show but unfortunately after struggling with the importing of music onto our film clips we couldn't show it as we wanted it to be seen. Some cuts also needed sharpening up, so we will work towards achieving better editing before we can say we have completely finished our film and are happy with it.

Film Noir: Editing 2

We have completed putting the whole film into sequence and editing it together now. One of my favourite parts of the editing so far is the arration at the beginning, when Detective Carter is at his desk searching through the photographs. The soft minor tone in music underlying the strong, american narration in my opinion makes the perfect opening for our film. It's exactly how i'd
imagined it would be, and the rough edge in the voice makes it so much more inticing - it's as if we feel he is a troubled protagonist and it therefore draws us into the story. The mystery we want is created however by us not showing the character's face straight away, developing a secretive and suspenseful atmosphere.
The typical image of film noir is also quickly introduced because of the hat being immediately visible and the black/white use of colour.

We used the tool 'voiceover' in final cut on the Apple Macs we are using to edit and recorded our scripted words to overlay the beginning of our film. Ed did a fantastic job of it and sounded just like we wanted him to. He has a strong male voice and this definitely comes across well in the recording. It took a couple of recordings because of stumbles over words and correctly selecting it's positioning over clips so the timing was right, but really did work well.

During the outside part of the restaurant scene (scene 3) wind and cars is the priority sound in the clip. In order to make sure our actors were clearly understood and their words had the desired effect we needed to record the lines again using the voiceover tool due to the unwanted sounds on the camera. We made sure their lines synced in with the on screen words perfectly, and also that their voices were well pronounced. The scene most certainly works better now that the voiceover has been done.

The last voiceover we did was the one for the office scene. I knocked on the desk, Toby said

'Come In' and Ellen said 'Hello Sir' to fill in the part of the Office scene (scene 1) that when we played back during editing we felt weren't clear enough. It worked well and as it is only a small recording doesn't make too much difference to the rest of the clip but allows our audience to hear it much better.

Unfortunately the office scene was filmed in a tight time slot as we borrowed a teachers office, and the people around were loud and caused us a problem in the editing. Some of the script had to be cut out because of mistakes like sound errors, but after trying to cut it all together it ended up having to be quite jumpy, and unfortunately does not have the effect we desired. Some of the script has a great deal of power, such as the close up on Bonnie when she says 'a big problem' but learning from this, we must ensure to capture a lot more extra footage than we did this time.

We added a 'ripple' effect after the introductory scene and before the last scene where the detective says 'This isn't over' to make sure audiences could easily distinguish between the flashback and present tense within the story. Even though this isn't common in film noir films we felt it was necessary as the whole thing is in black and white and only words could otherwise help the understanding of the switch.

In the gun shooting scene we recorded gun shots sounds off the internet on Ellen's iphone and then played them back whilst recording on Final Cut Express to fit them into the sequence perfectly. The sounds aren't overwhelmingly loud but they sound powerful and of course we know by Bobby's reaction that he has been shot, no need to show actual gunshots.

In the above left photograph, Bobby can be seen saying the number '4' as part of the script, "5,4,3,2," but what we did was filmed the script twice from two different angles, and overlapped the line so that the sound works perfectly, and a better variety in the scene was created. It works really well I feel.

FIlm Noir: Editing

We began editing last week and have so far achieved all but the last scene in putting the story together and editing it into one. We used the tool 'desaturate' to turn all the clips into black and white. I really like the way the scenes we have look in black and white because it definitely exaggerates the impression of 'film noir' and helps set the storyline.

Props that we used such as the hat personally I feel are so key in creating the right kind of interpretation of the film. I think it is definitely a positive thing that we stuck to more traditional realms of the genre instead of trying to create a modern version, because I have thoroughly enjoyed working in 1950's america!

During editing we have used long shots and panning shots for example to 'introduce' the scene instead of cutting straight to each one. At the beginning of the restaurant scene the camera pans up from Bonnie's red heels to the table where we see Carter opposite. This is a nice way to not only show that she is the more dominant one as she is technically introduced first, but also allows the audience to see a variety of shots and be eased into the scene. At the beginning of the scene where Carter goes to Bobby's house, we see him walk past the camera in the dark and create a shadow by the light of the front door. This iconic image looks very typical of the genre, especially with the hat! As the camera is quite low it means that we are introduced to Carter as he gets further away. We only see here the back of him, which accentuates the mysterious characteristic of main male protagonists.

We will have to use a recorded voice over over the ending of the restaurant scene because cars were going past, and we can't get the full effect of the words said so well by the actors. Lines such as 'how can I repay you' and 'Anything for you' are invaluable to the storyline and key for hooking audiences into the love story, so we want to make sure we get their full power into the scene.

Film Noir: Name Ideas

Creating a name for our film was very difficult because we had to make sure it combined all the events of the story into one that was easily understood.

Brainstorm of names:

• Scarlett Shadow
• Fatally Female
• Crazed Lust
• Double Cross
• Black Soul
• Lady In Scarlett
• Passion For Treachery
• The Dark Betrayal
• Dark Heart
• A Soul For A Lie
• Forgive, Forget, Kill
• Veiled Conscience
• Money Makes The World Go Round.
• Crime Or Justice?
• Betrayal Of The Heart

• Lustful Injustice

We chose 'Lustful Injustice' because it's simple, catchy and rounds up the whole story in one line. 'Lustful' represents Carter's feelings for Bonnie, and 'Injustice' represents Bobby and Bonnie's criminal minds throughout the story.

The second name we needed to come up with was one for our production company. We thought about 'tea time' productions because these films were most likely to be shown to adult audiences, and of course will therefore only be shown on evening tv, around and after 'tea time' Another way we discovered this name was because 'T'oby; 'E'llen and 'A'ntonia all fitted into the name, and so involved each of us in the name, which was creative and quite satisfying for all of us. Our production company logo was originally a cup of tea, but we decided we wanted a more fierce effect so that it steered away from the 'relaxed' interpretations about the films that would come out of the company. Of course when a company is responsible for making films they need to allow the flexibility to enable them to appeal to various audiences, depending on what type of films they are releasing. 'T.E.A Productions' Was the name we settled on because it's simple, memorable and also could stand for anything - people would not find it an unappealing name or one that would suggest a certain genre of film, which is good.

Film Noir: Bobby's House (SCENE 5 Part 2)

For this scene we needed to find a place that looks like it could belong to someone who has a lot of money, but also gambles it away. The place we chose has old fashioned black beams as a theme throughout the room and also a triangular ceiling, which creates a nice interesting effect, and is pleasant to the eye as it's not very common. Only a desk, large gun, light, paper and pot of food were the props used in the scene, because the main focus is to be on the two men fighting it out.

Detective Carter has a smaller gun because it's one that he keeps in his pocket and carries out on jobs with him. Bobby, however, has another gun which he pulls out from under his desk. This increases the danger the audience see Carter in because Bobby has two very powerful guns and Carter only has a small one.

He keeps the hat on until the end of the scene, showing the control he has of the situation. The quick-witted nature of the Film Noir rivalries is shown here, where the men are rude and catty to one another despite both of them having been played in similar fashions.

Both the men are wearing suits, but Bobby's is slightly more colorful. This is because he is shown as a player and someone who doesn't take life seriously, or perhaps as serious as the Detective does. His playful suit denotes his playful demeanor.

Bobby gets shot in this scene but he does not die. When Carter finds out from Bobby that Bonnie is responsible for the drug heist, he tells Chester to get Bobby to the hospital for his gunshot wound, meanwhile he goes after Bonnie. Because the detective helps Bobby despite Bobby's supposed responsibility for killing his father, there is a moral message in that killing is wrong. Of course Bonnie gets away after all her trickery, but it challenges the conventions that men are more likely to commit crimes, and also challenges the film Noir conventions of a heartless male protagonist.

EDITING PROCESS:

The scene opens with music that is quite loud and has major tones with a dark low tone underneath, initiating danger despite the lighter introduction the gentler sound gives. The focus on the fan sets the audience up for action due to the quick movement of the fan, and then the slow and steady movement of the detectives feet coming up the stairs makes us think he is feeling calm and confident about what he is going to do next.

The master shot of the desk and Scarlett joining Bobby as he sits writing and doesn't acknowledge the detective makes the audience suspicious as to the events that may be about to take place because both the characters are beginning to appear too relaxed. When Bobby asks Scarlett to leave, the fierceness in his voice suggests things may begin to get heated. The point of view shot which still distinguishes the side of the detective's face in the corner reminds us that he is still there but shows the scene just as he is seeing it, making us automatically join his side for the scene.
A close up of Bobby's first words to the detective allow us to be directly introduced to him - we have not seen him since the photographs on the desk in the first scene. Familiarity is introduced by him and it then creates tension because the audience therefore know the detective is facing the criminal that murdered his father.

The music is maintained throughout the clip to keep the flow of the argument going.

The mid-shot of the detective that shows him moving around a lot whilst he is speaking to the detective gives the impression that he is nervous. This juxtaposed with Bobby's calm posture whilst he remains still in his chair makes us see him as more in control. The changing shots of the detective as he moves about enhances this.
The close up shot of the detective at the end of his introductory speech to Bobby forces us to think he might become in control because his movements we'd seen previously subside, making us wonder if he is still nervous or whether he now knows what he is doing. This is further suspected when a slightly high angle shot is shown of Bobby increasing our suspicion that he may not remain as calm and safe as he is at the present moment in the scene by the end of it.
The cuts between the clips and the speeches between the two characters get shorter and shorter as the argument gets fiercer. This creates a build up for the audience and makes their apprehension greater.
To make the countdown more interesting, Bobby says '5' whilst the camera is facing Carter and then continues whilst the camera is on him, going into the rest of the countdown. We filmed the scene twice and used two shots of the same part of the script, combined it together and were able to add a bit more movement in this part of the scene. We wanted this because it made more tension- the quicker the shots, the quicker the audience begin to feel nervous.

The jump from the calmness of the conversation to the gun fight is quite fast - we see from behind Carter and Bobby stands up for the first time in the scene, showing he is now out of his comfort zone, and raises his gun against Carter's.

To give the impression that the fight goes on for longer than the audience see we filmed the detective from behind the door, trying to escape Bobby's gunshots. We see Bobby fighting back and then the scene cuts to a shot behind Bobby where we hear the diegetic sound of his pain as he is shot, and his gun fall down to prove he has surrendered in the right hand side of the shot. We then cut to him falling on his chair, just to make sure his injury is clear to both the audience and the detective.
The scene then cuts to a two shot of Bobby in the chair and the detective inflicting further pain on him to get the answers he came there for. Typically as Bobby is sitting down and the detective is standing we associate the detective with having more power out of the two of them.
As we didn't want Ed slapping Ben we made him 'fake slap' him and added the sound of a slap from the library available on final cut. We used a fairly loud one because Carter's arm movements are quite hard and fast so the sound needed to match this. This part of the scene is darker than any other because the detective is about to enter the darkness of failure that the end of the film brings. The light outside creates a similar effect to that in the Scarlett and Carter scene with the front door because it enhances the film noir essence of the hat. (The hat again represents control - Carter is wearing it in this scene.)

After the mid shots of the detective throughout this scene a close up of him saying '"I've got to get after that bitch" shows he is now vulnerable. The ripple effect comes in after this and represents the end of the flashback.
We are then taken back to the office where the film began, the detective still in his chair. The shot of him taking his drink makes the audience see why they could see it there at the beginning - he needs the alcohol to help him get through this dark time - perhaps due to Bonnie. He looks directly at the camera and says "This isn't over" and throws his hat over the lens which not only signifies the end but also makes it go black, making the audience think that there are still dark times ahead for the detective. The music that was played in the restaurant scene and the changeover scene also follows through to this scene which makes sure we know Bonnie is the reason why it 'isn't over'.

Film Noir: Office Scene (SCENE 1)

When Carter meets Bonnie for the very first time it is important that we establish her fatal capabilities, and his sarcastic, cynical noir nature. I think that when Bonnie is seen through the window in the door at the start of the scene, her red lips initiate danger. Of course her attractive characteristics and ability to wow the detective on first meeting creates intensity for the audience. When Carter says "Is there actually a problem here, or do you just want some...appreciation?" We think he has not been fooled by her femininity, but then when he does as she asks through the development of the story, we start to see a lack in his ability to see through her devilish ways. She throws herself on his desk as though she owns the place, despite her intentions upon entering the office to ask for help.

Again, the detective is in a suit, but when she enters, out of politeness, takes off his hat. This is usually a respectful way to greet someone, but here also represents the control he has. When Bonnie is around, he lacks control, and so the hat is off. Bonnie is wearing a fur coat again but this time a white floaty dress. This connotes innocence and through semiotic effect makes us think she can do no harm. The lustful red lipstick and curly hair do challenge this expectation however.

We used an office at school that had blinds similar to the Venetian ones. We couldn't find a place that had the perfect blinds, so we tried not to include the window too much in the shot, and relied on props such as a briefcase, glass bottles for alcohol, beer bottle, photographs and two antique clocks. We ran through the dialogue in the scene and also filmed it a number of times to get different types of shot.

We made sure that Bonnie's body language throughout the scene is very suggestive. She throws herself forward on the desk and enforces eye contact with him, which is usually construed to mean she has nothing to hide. The Detective keeps his cool of course but we know as soon as Bonnie has left and he jumps on the phone to get the case started that she has had a very big impact on him.


EDITING PROCESS:


The first shot we used was an over the shoulder shot which shows the detective's shoulder and his hands moving around the photographs on the desk in front of him. Immediately this initiates for the audience the idea of a working environment, and conventionally criminals are usually in head shots when they are suspects. This then sets the scene to show that this is indeed the office of a detective. In the shot also is a beer bottle and two glasses - this follows the conventions of typical 1950's police officers who did enjoy the occasional drink - in many films you see them indulging on alcohol at work when the going gets tough. This is exactly what our character does, and having the drink in the shot highlights this part of the era in policing.


The names of the actors in the film comes up in white text font 'times new roman' to make sure it is clear to the viewer. The choice of font is a very simple one but is easy to read and therefore works well. We added text through the tool 'T' which is underneath our original clip viewing available on final cut and dragged our written text over to the edited clip and selected where to put it on each part. Each name is in view for 3 seconds, which is long enough for it to be read and have drawn attention, but not long enough to distract from the action happening in the clip. They were placed in the corners so they did not get in the way. The top right hand corner and bottom left corner were used, because they are the corners that had the least detail in them in terms of mise-en-scene in the clips.
We put a narration over the clip using the 'voice over tool' which allowed us to watch the clip and then simultaneously time the script into it so that it worked perfectly. Ed sat by the computer and read from the script making sure it ran well with the movements his character was doing in the previously filmed clip. We did it twice because he made a lapse on a word in the first try, but of course it worked out well doing it again because he was more familiar with the timings.
Halfway through the first section of the scene the shot changes to one that appears to be on the table. This makes the first part where the character is simply looking at the photographs more interesting than simply containing it all into one shot. A key aspect of this second shot is the clock - it adds a more old fashioned edge to the scene, once again setting it in the 1950's well. We matched his hand movements across the two shot types so it ran naturally to the eye. This meant we cut each clip sharply to put the timings in place well.
We chose a solemn music clip with minor tones to allow a sombre introduction to the film, just as the 1950's era was presented by. It sets a depressing mood to the first clip which allows the flow into the fall of the male protagonist to begin. The music was turned down to allow the narration to be heard well. We then turned it up slightly in the appearance of the title 'Lustful Injustice' and then it was turned down again for the duration of the rest of the clip. We used the two images of the criminals that are the focus of the story to be behind the 35% transparent white sheet that under layed the title so that the audience can develop an awareness of the two characters to make them curious as to the reason why we have focused on them, and therefore persuade them to watch on. By using Ellen's photo to appear in this scene it creates tension into the office scene, because after the 'ripple' effect that we added by going to 'transitions' and 'ripple effect' her face is the first one we see. It makes you wonder what on earth she has done to the detective. This is enhanced when he says "things could have ended very differently." The ripple effect is not conventional of film noirs, but the flashback idea is, so we combined both to make the event of a flashback much more obvious for the audience.
Showing Bonnie's face first through the door creates a divide between her and the onlookers because the door is in the way, but when she enters the office the suspense and mystery of her character is maintained because she is shown in cut away shots. I like the fact that when she says 'hello sir' the seduction in her voice draws you to her character, even though you can't see her face. The two shot of the camera has the whole of the detective's upper half in them, revealing him, but only half of Bonnie which suggests that she may be concealing something, which is exactly the effect we want. Her lips do make an appearance, and as the are the connotation of seduction, it makes her intentions clearer.
By the end of the clip Bonnie's whole face and upper half is revealed. This makes the audience see like Carter and think that she is completely honest and revealing her true feelings because she has been revealed on camera. Of course this is not the case. She then contradicts this feeling the audience may have developed because again her lips are the focus; she says "take me out somewhere I'll like and we can sort this thing out together."

We see Carter lean back in his chair as Bonnie walks away, and then rush in to call his assistant Chester to get on the case Bonnie has asked him to quickly. By a cut to a close up shot of Carter dialling the numbers we are shown a sense of urgency, because the quick cut enables a quick reaction in the audience.

FIlm Noir: Restaurant Scene (SCENE 3)

On Monday of this week we filmed the restaurant scene in and outside a pub situated on the edge of our local town. We used 3 extras to be seated adjacent to the actors in focus so that we could create an atmosphere for the character's 'date' but not have so many that the focus is switched or the surrounding sound too overwhelming.

The pub allowed us to film in a section after 10pm so that we didn't disturb any other diners, but of course it meant it was a late one! We had set up by half past 10 and began filming varied shots to create a more interesting scene, instead of shooting the whole scene from the same angle. Close ups of Ellen's lips drinking from a glass was used, and also cut away shots of her stroking Ed's hand. It was really good to have old fashioned chairs and tables in the restaurant because it really helped us to set the scene. I think that by having a small amount of extras it does seclude the two characters in the restaurant and makes it a lot more intimate.

We used short glasses and small white cotton table mats to put them on, which created a nice antique-like feel to the set. A candle was of course added for romantic effect and is typical of dates.

Because there is no dialogue in the scene the actors could talk as they please. This actually made it easier to get the shots of laughter and relaxing that we wanted, because they were doing both those things naturally. The gentle lighting in the pub made the whole filming look really elegant and when converted to black and white I think will look even more classy.

Shots behind Ellen were taken to expose the reactions of Ed (detective carter) because him falling in love is key to the storyline, and part of how she reels him in. Side shots of Ellen were done too to make sure she is shown as femme fatale to the full effect, for example focusing on her red lips, red nail varnish and curly blonde hair.

They were both dressed in typical noir attire; Ed in a smart suit and Ellen in a short yellow dress with a long fur coat, which was typical of 1950's fashion. Red heels also complimented the red she was wearing as well.

Outside the Restaurant, we picked a spot that contained an old fashioned looking lantern and also a plant to give an expensive look to the place. We filmed the two talking (in american accents) at a long shot, mid shot, and close up to give us different options for when editing the scene. As cars did occasionally drive past (the pub was right by a road) we may have to do a sound recording and put it over the filming, however most of the clip is very clear. As it was late at night it was very dark, and so positioning the camera with clear lighting was very important! I think this scene went really well and I definitely feel the audience will understand through this why the detective falls for Bonnie the way that he does!


EDITING PROCESS:

The scene begins with a fade in from black which is a cut away shot that focuses on her fur coat and heels which conventionally depict wealth. The camera then pans up to a mid-shot shown from behind Bonnie's shoulder that introduces the scene of the two being out for the meal she asked for in the previous scene. It shows Carter smiling and expressing his obvious pleasure at being around Bonnie.
The music fades in with the scene. Gentle, relaxing tones reflect the ideal situation of a romantic meal and make the audience feel quite comfortable and hopeful that it may turn out alright. The constant beat in the tune can be interpreted as a heartbeat which is stopping and starting - maybe reflecting the way Carter is feeling about Bonnie during the scene.
The mid shot from behind Bonnie's shoulder then cuts to a closer two-shot which shows Carter as more the focus in the clip. At this point the narration (using the tool voiceover) comes in which allows the audience to make the connection between the character's voice they hear and what they can see in the camera shot.
Because the scene has no diegetic sound the music under laying the scene can be louder than it would be if it were to be underneath the sound of a conversation.

The clip cuts to the other side of the table, where we see Bonnie flick her hair and Carter laugh. This increases the idea of her being a femme fatale because she is making herself more attractive to him, and keeping his attention. She leans across the table in the two - shot and then the clip cuts to a close up of her seductively stroking Carter's hand. The further away shot initiates privacy but then the sudden intimacy that the audience are thrown into by the close up of the hand movements suggest that their relationship is perhaps a lot more than dining. It leaves the couple's antics open to interpretation.

The fade in from inside the restaurant to outside it introduces a different side to the couple - they go from being across the table from one another to very close outside. The interest the detective has in his cigarette almost gives the audience the impression that Bonnie might have something to chase, but then this is contradicted and she goes back to having the control when he pulls her close and she talks first. The use of a mid shot means that their conversation is made more important than anything else going on in the clip. It centers Bonnie and puts Carter slightly more to the right which unbalances the audiences focus across the two of them to make Bonnie seem more important, and therefore more in control.
During the close up of the kiss, Carter is closer to the audience, which means Bonnie is hidden slightly behind him. This makes her look suspicious, and again the audience feel closer to Carter naturally because he is more revealed. She also walks off behind him and leaves him in a mid shot in the centre of the shot which enhances this.
The music that was in the restaurant underlays this clip so that the audience can make the connection with the two locations and know that they are in the same place, but just outside. It is of course turned down so that the actors can be heard against it.

The conversation the two actors have was done as a voiceover again, because the wind and constant flow of traffic meant the script was hard to hear. Ellen and Ed both sat by the mac and watched the scene whilst recording over their own voices so the movement of their lips matched. The clips only had non-diegetic sound in them because either the Detective's narration was over it, or a voiceover was done to enhance the voices of the actors so they could be understood better.

Film Noir: Scarlett and Carter Scene (SCENE 5 Part 1)

In this scene I played Scarlett Jones and Ed Beard played the Detective. It's the scene where the detective goes to Bobby's house to try and catch him under Bonnie's wishes after they have dined together. Scarlett meets him at the door and tries to refrain from letting him in, but after he reveals that he has a gun in his right hand pocket, Scarlett feels obliged to obey his orders.

We don't actually show the gun because finding a gun that looked appropriate was difficult and we didn't want it to reduce the seriousness of our filming so we decided that keeping the audience in the dark about what was in the pocket of the detective, despite assumption, they could use their own imaginations.

This scene was one that we could really expose the film noir essence because we can use the appropriate lights, for example, to create really good effects. The light by this door is really old fashioned and I think it was the perfect one to have in this scene!

The door is also a dark brown which allows the light inside to be even more prominent, which is evident in the close up images of the door.

Ellen here is trying out different shots and practicing the zoom on the camera. When we actually filmed she moved the camera tripod muich closer because it's creates much more of a closeness to the scene instead using of the zoom.

It's not very common in Film Noir that zoom is used because when the films were made it wasn't a tool the cameras usually had, so we are not going to use it in our scenes. (I'm referring to zooming in or out during a scene, as oppose to a close up.)

This is a photo that immediately portrays 'film noir'. The hat has a small amount of light on it on the right hand slight of the frame, and as the light from inside is right next to the hat when coming through the glass it defines the shape of the hat and makes it more distinct, and also because it is central makes it the focus of the image. The shadow that falls across Ed's face hides his eyes and takes away the detail of his features which creates suspense. A key feature during Film Noir.

This is what the house looks like outside the front when the flash on the camera is on. Because the door looks old fashioned it works really well, considering the majority of doors nowadays are much lighter in colour, even white and so would not make for an old fashioned film.

Scarlett here looks very unsettled by the arrival of the detective, with her disheveled hair and unimpressed expressions throughout the scene.

The detective's calm posture and his 'huff' of laughter halfway through makes him seem very relaxed and rather at ease as her arrives at the house. It's incredibly important for the protagonist to be very relaxed and almost patronising during their accounts with criminals because it translates to the viewer that they are in control. Ironically, this is not the case in this film, which creates a good twist.



EDITING PROCESS:

The scene is introduced by a fade in from black which shows the legs of Carter as he walks up to the front door. The shot is different and interesting  - it works well in keeping the audience in the dark about where the detective is going and what might happen because of the darkness of the clip and the lack of light around him.

We left the lights on deliberately in the house and the lantern lit so that it created a really good image of the detective standing outside the house with the shadow of the hat on display which is very conventional of film noirs. The echo of his footsteps allows not only the audience to focus on what his character is going to do but also makes you feel as if you are actually behind him and feeling his apprehension too because no other sound interrupts this.

As Carter shifted on the doorstep we cut it in so that he shifts across two shots, a long shot and a mid shot (both from behind him) to keep the smoothness in transition across the two clips. We cut really sharply on the long shot and matched it to a shift in a mid shot section that we'd filmed to make them connect well.

The whole clip is completely made up of diegetic sound, but because of this I think we could have done with a boom microphone during the conversation because it is quite difficult to hear the two characters over the wind, movement of the door and it creaking, and cars going by.

The knocking sound from Carter knocking on the door is the only exception to the diegetic sound in the clip. Because we felt that the knocking Ed would do in the clip might not be clear enough we decided to overlay it by knocking on the desk which the computer was on and recording it with the tool we have used before called 'voiceover tool'. Of course we linked in the knocking with Carter's movements, but we filmed his body so that you see his arm move to knock but you don't see the movements of his hand. We did this so it made it easier to make the knocking sound we were going to add in clearer. We didn't realise how quiet the conversation between the characters was until we had exported our film and played it on a computer that wasn't a mac. Next time we definitely will invest in a boom mic to make better quality sound.

We decided to change the shot from behind Carter to a two-shot of the conversation between the two to make Scarlett's character appear to be defending her boss who is through the door. This is made evident when Carter says "I know he's here, so either you step aside and be a good girl, or things are gonna get pretty nasty around here."

We decided to link his head movements across the two shots we had established - the one behind him slightly to the left of the door, and the one with both of them in the shot. By cutting each of his movements together well it increases the time we see him waiting and it makes the audience see the time passing as he waits for Scarlett to return. The linking of his head movements makes him look anxious as he awaits, which makes the audience feel nervous too.

As Carter steps through the door he pushes it out further to make himself appear more dominant and forceful, warning the audience about what is to come. The fade out creates suspense as the clip doesn't move on to the event straight away, it leaves the audience waiting just a little bit longer.

Film Noir: Changeover Scene (SCENE 5 Part 3)

The video's quality has been minimized in order for it to be put on the blog.

Today we went to a village near us called Bygrave and filmed the changeover scene which is actually part of the film as a flashback. We got there at about half past 9 this morning and were there for an hour! We had to make sure we had lots of different camera shots; close ups, long shot, mid shots, extreme close ups to create more of a dramatic effect.

The weather was foggy today and it was perfect for the scene. I felt

it really brought out the mysterious edge that surrounds our character of Bonnie.

Here is a photograph of Ellen here in her lovely red dress, black 50's style hat and an old fashioned bag.

Her hair is curly for the scene because that is typical of the 50's women and her red lipstick completes the femme fatale look.

As you can see the background is very suspicious, much like her character!

The box is perfect for what we want - we found it in the drama department's closet at school! It's just classy enough to look like someone as posh as bonnie

would have it, but also simple enough to be used for such a criminalized task, such as this one.

The envelope has things printed on it - of course you won't see the exact words close up but the initiation of a stamp on the back gives the impression that it has perhaps come from afar, and therefore is valuable.

Here as you can see we are on set and i'm giving a thumb signal to Ellen so that we don't have to cut 'action' out of the clips! The slight wind in the weather made her dress and curls flow slightly which created a really nice effect.

As you can only see the back of Toby's head in the clips of the film, we have used him in order to decrease the use of other actors. This means we all have a role in the film which is of equal part, across editing, filming and acting.

Toby is of course dressed in the usual film noir attire of a suit. We chose his stance to be a strong

one and him to be facing away from the camera so nothing detracts from Bonnie, but also keeps the mystery in the scene.

During the editing we will firstly put the clips in black and white, and using the variety of shots we have collected including close up, long shot, tracking shot and cut away shots into an effect of a flashback so we keep the mystery of the woman well presented, but reveal her wrong-doings. By making the individual shots quite short it means we still don't get a chance to see her completely and so still suspect her and remain uneasy about her character.



EDITING PROCESS:

This scene fades in from the scene between Bobby and Carter as Bobby tells of Bonnie's ways. She is shown completely from the front in a mid shot walking across the shot which automatically tells the audience she is being revealed here because she has not been introduced with her face so quickly in any scene so far. Along with the fade in, the music used in the restaurant scene fades in too. The scene has no dialogue so the music can be quite dominating over the clips. Because the same music is used here as was used when the two characters go on a date we link it with her deceit of the detective and know from it that he will be hurt to find out what she is doing in this scene.

Even though Bonnie is immediately revealed it then goes on to show her from behind, but the idea of this is to have the focus on the box in her hand. The cut away shot of her body allows this focus to happen. A quick cut from her walking towards a figure facing away from us in the distance to her actually swapping her box for an envelope in a long shot makes the audience suspicious because of the sudden distance from her, and also know she is doing 'wrong' because we don't know who the person she is dealing with is and what they are doing.
Because she makes direct eye contact with the viewer we know she has done something she is proud of because she acknowledges the envelope and then us to let us know she has succeeded.