Sound Techniques

 

We have been challenged by our teacher to create some foleying techniques that we would use in our productions. As a class we watched the opening of Priest (in silence) and had written all the sound devices that we think we may have heard. When it came to watching it over again (this time with sound) we realised that there were so many more sound effects in the background that we would not have understood unless we could hear. The video below is showing a way in which foley artists are used in the media industry and one way that they add the sounds.


I found this extremely useful to watch as it gave me ideas in which I could create some foley sounds. The picture below is of the white board that we had written all the 45 sounds we had heard in the beginning of Priest. Our aim is to now create as many of these sounds as we can and attach to our blogs.

Here I have added a Prezi of my own to show different types of sounds and techniques. I have included definitions for all so that the audience can understand the vocabulary, as I found it tricky when I first discovered it.

Research for OTS

For this OTS production to be as effective as possible I will need to research many aspects of the time era such as male and female costume, furniture and props and fashion/makeup. I would like to set it in the 20’s but have the film noir aspect of a femme fatale introduced with heavy makeup and similar dress including head piece and cigarette holder.

Below is my slideshare of the research I have found and produced. This will help me to choose a style of dress and understand what kind of make up they wore.

Research for OTS - 1920's from CharlotteLouiseB

1920s fashion from Hailey Wheeler

Mise-en-Scene Planning

I believe that mise-en-scene is a very important part of a production as each prop, appearance and costume should have a reason or meaning to be in the frame. I would like the femme fatal to be seen as a male protagonist being broken and believing her innocence after a murder. Therefore, acting like a male protagonist, adding in the film noir typical conventions and making the production a success I think that i have a lot of props to research and purchase for this 2.5 minute production.

Props

I would include an old fashioned dresser into the frame with a mirror attached because that is where the femme fatal will be sat removing her foundations (make-up). Researching 1920's dressers now they look much more antique with more drawers, a  sharp wooden effect and a glossy finish. However, mine is more Victorian based and is completely white-washed. Although the film will be black and white and therefore the dresser will not seem so much newer compared to other props such as the flapper dress the femme fatal will be wearing. The mirror attached to the dressing table will be used for camera and composition for almost over the shoulder shots with the actress. 

I would like to get some whiskey and a whiskey glass to use for the real production to try and shoot through the glass and work on a kind of kaleidoscope image. I am hoping this effect would work or to shine light through it to create a disco ball-lighting effect around the room. As the location is my bedroom the walls are painted a very light pink-peach colour and therefore looks similar to that of dull walls. I cannot change the walls however, as the film will be black and white they will look almost grey in colour. My curtains are also a grey colour which will be okay to use as they let light in and may work well with the lighting side, I will experiment this on the run-through without all props. If this doesn't work I may have some older and thicker curtains that do not let as much light in.

I really want the femme fatal to be extremely broken and act as though she was very devious following the evening I will be filming. Therefore, I would like her make-up to be extremely heavy as many women wore in the 1920's. I would like to research the general outfit from the 1920's flapper and femme fatal to make sure she is not shown as the girl next door. At the ending many may feel that she is the girl next door because she will be admitting to all her mistakes including what happened that evening. I want her outfit to be very flirtatious as though she really has gotten somebody in trouble, deep trouble. 

I will need to purchase a fake weapon, which i would like to be an old shotgun as she will be looking over this during the start of the production as a reminder of what she has done. I would also like there to be some homemade polaroids scattered around the room, especially on the mirror where the femme fatal can pull them off in disgust at what she has done. These polaroids will include photographs of a desirable anti-hero that she had fallen in love with, and yet ruined everything with a single gun shot. On the dressing table there will also be an old style hair brush and something for her to take her foundations (make-up) off with. Becoming a different person.


Equipment 
I am going to need different equipment for this production such as my microphone, my Nikon D5200 and fish-eye lens to make her look secluded, tripod and possibly both of my flash's to add more lighting as I do not have the radiant lights at home. 

OTS Planning Ideas

As I am now working alone on the OTS production I have decided to steer away from my original idea of a Great Gatsby party leading with a murder and have decided to take an different route for the filming aspect and have more complex camera and composition effects. I am going to stay with the style of Great Gatsby and have all the props based around the 1920's. 

The story

I am going to have a femme fatal character throughout as the central protagonist because I like the idea of having the femme fatal from the start to draw attention to her mistakes instead of the everyman. I would like her heavily made-up and taking away her foundations to become a girl next door character by realising her mistakes but being unable to change them. I would like to have just the femme fatal and voice over of her mistakes because it adds enigma to the story, ending on a cliffhanger. 

Adding to the conventions of film noir

Film noir was around in the 1940's however I have decided to set the OTS in the 1920's, the Gatsby era. The idea of film noir was to show men that women are being included in more male role responsibilities and many men did not enjoy this. The film producers wanted to show men that women need to return to their original gender roles. Therefore I am going to turn my femme fatal into a wreckage of disaster and go with the moral convention. 

The femme fatal will be drinking whiskey and sobbing about the past acting as the anti-hero broken down as in the conventions of classic film noir. This shows that the OTS will begin at the end. The production will be filmed in my bedroom as I have white washed old-fashioned wardrobes and a dressing table with a mirror, making it more realistic for the time period. I also believe along with heavily drinking there should be an element of smoking and soft smoke going past the lens as femme fatal were shown as danger including smoking, drinking and trouble. As the film production will be captured in my bedroom only, i will not be able to add elements of darkness and alleyways as many film noir films include, however I would like to include deep contrasts between shadows. I will try this with use of different lighting to show emotion for the femme fatal. I would also like the whole frame to be in black and white as all original film noir films are.

OTS Research

We were set a challenge in lesson to find a couple opening title sequences that inspire us. I looked on the website Art of the Title and found a couple that I would like to explore and perhaps use some sections in my own ideas and production. 

I found the OTS to the film Seven 1995, now this is not a film noir however there are sections that are inspirational and imaginative that I like. The OTS can be seen below.

http://www.artofthetitle.com/title/se7en/#

This film is a 1995 American neo-noir psychological thriller film with a strong A-list cast including Brad Pitt, Gwyneth Paltrow and Morgan Freeman. I enjoy this OTS because it is very dark and gloomy, creating a cold atmosphere. There is much use of close-ups during the OTS such as the fingers, the diaries and pictures throughout. I would like to base my camera on close-ups with the femme fatale being broken, with tears running down her face, whiskey in glasses and the polaroids of her old lover, the everyman she had killed. The diaries are also a brilliant idea which i may include but I feel that past love letters may be a better idea from the everyman, making her tearful. I would also like photo's of her lover from old style polaroids that I will hand make.

Another technique I really like about this OTS is the titles and writing. Most opening title sequences have font titles rather than sketching and scribbles like the killer has written it himself. I would like to either like the femme fatale to write the cast and titles on a piece of paper with beautiful calligraphy or I would like to try to scribble it and add it in later on like the film Seven. The music throughout this OTS is much too eerie for what I am trying to capture but fits perfectly with the idea behind the film.

Another OTS I have found is called I Wake Up Screaming 1941, this is an American film noir. The credits are spelled out in lights superimposed over the New York Skyline. As seen below.

http://www.artofthetitle.com/title/i-wake-up-screaming/

There is no story behind the short title sequence and as it is so old there is not much to it. However, I very much like the font and think it is very interesting. At the beginning there is the production company, Twenty Century Fox and I believe I should add something similar for the Top Hat Production of mine. I would like it to look similar and nothing much to it. The kind of music used in this OTS is similar to what I would hope to find for mine. I will be looking for a free music archive for something similar along with some dance jazz music as I am thinking of adding some flashbacks.


I will add pictures and screenshots of examples later.