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.

Little Red Riding Hood Evaluation

At the beginning I felt thrown in at the deep-end seen as this was my first media production I had directed therefore I believe there are many things that I would change when it comes to the real production.

Choosing Conventions

At first Autumn and I had struggled as to which fairytale we wanted to do and how we could make it more neo-noir. After many mind maps and storyboards we had decided upon Little Red Riding Hood. We believed we could create a very mysterious production and change the concepts of the fairytale into film noir. Therefore we decided upon trying to change the characters roles around slightly, we wanted Little Red to be the anti-hero, the wolf as the femme fatale and the axe man as the girl next door. We wanted to create a dramatic production and yet keep the scenes almost the same as the fairytale. We had to decide upon who would be acting for us and considering no other young people we know live near to us and the location we were using in such little time we just decided to use ourselves. Our location was perfect for the forest scenes as it looks dark and spooky with natural sounds like whistling trees and cracking branches, we decided to film it at Sprowston Green. Throughout my blog you will see the use of many kinds of planning techniques such as script writing, storyboards, comic strips and mood boards. We spent hours on perfecting scripts and what camera angles we were going to use rather than perfecting our final.


Research
Between us we had researched the full Red Riding Hood fairytale and Autumn had even looked at the film of the fairytale that was out in 2011 starring Amanda Seyfried. I had enjoyed watching these clips because they showed dramatic and action scenes, and how they had positioned their camera.


Planning
For our planning we had created many mindmaps and storyboards the position where the scenes will take place and what characters will be involved. We had spent hours planning the final shoot including holding a photo shoot a few nights before. However, when we had started the photo shoot in October around 7pm the sky was already extremely dark. I am very happy that we had looked into the timings of the evening and realising when to do the final due to weather conditions and how dark it is outside. Then, we had decided to film in the holiday so that we could do it slightly earlier of a time of 4pm. As we chose the timing three hours earlier it was much brighter outside and therefore our cameras had picked up more focus still gave the glum and eerie feel to the film.


Organisation
I believe we organised the production very well however if I were to do it again I would take many different takes of the same scenes so that we had more to work with whilst editing. As I was playing the main character we agreed that Autumn would do the majority of the filming and we would leave the camera on the tripod filming whilst in a scene together. I had organised all the props that we had borrowed from out drama studios in sixth form, I believe we picked the best props we could find without having to purchase any. I had also been in charge of creating the comic strip and storyboards. I believe we worked well together in the time we had.


Production
We agreed that because this was our first production we would try all different camera angles and lighting (as best a lighting we could work with in a forest). We had tried to use pan shots, low and high angles, close-ups and using the 180 degrees. I believe our set continuity task was edited extremely well. Autumn edited the whole production on iMovie, I believe Autumn did the best. We both had difficulty on adding the sound on iMovie to fit in with the production and then discovered that it was actually extremely loud compared to the characters dialogue. I think even though we had little time and difficulty having the same time together that for our first ever production this went really well considering neither of us has ever taken media before. We both really enjoyed taking part in both the filming and (bad) acting of this production and it was definitely worthwhile. There are however many things I would change about the production including how the ending finished so fast, I would add more scenes and drama in and how the music was too. I would have liked to attempt to create our own sounds a little more, even though we did foley the gun shot at the end by clapping together. I would have liked to use different actors instead of ourselves as well as I believe we would both be able to concentrate on the editing and actual filming of the production a lot more. We are

Feedback
We are now receiving feedback from Survey Monkey after I had created a short survey and shared it on some social media sites. I am just waiting for a good number of people to have anonymously taken art in my feedback to show the results. I shall keep you posted!


Conclusion
I think we did try really hard to have a good piece of work and as this was both our first production without having any prior Media experience i think it was a really good effort and our work did pay off. There are many pieces i would change like perhaps planning our script and also including different people to play the characters rather than us as we arent the best actors,  this would allow us to have more control over our production. We are now in the process of receiving feedback as this will allow us to capture what we can improve and how other people see our work.
With more time and as our knowlege of media grows i think me and Charlotte will improve with our filming and editing.


Props and Conventions of our Fairytale Neo-Noir

Autumn and I have decided that we wish to refuse the ideal general conventions of film noir and create our own neo-noir in the style of Little Red Riding Hood. We have discussed and agreed that we feel the photographs at least should be black and white with only red as the colour standing out. This is usually used to draw attention to the femme fatale, however it will draw more attention to Little Red, the innocent. We will edit the photographs on Adobe Photoshop together. The three photographs below are some quick examples of how we will use the red to draw attention:

The photographs are fully black and white only focusing on the red. We have decided to incorporate the convention of Sin City into our film. These images were taken in today's lesson when we were interested in playing around with colour. 

We have spoken about props for the photo shoot that is happening tonight and we have decided on using a long red skirt as a cape for Little Red. This will be in vibrant red in the photographs. We also believe that Little Red should have red nails and lips too. This may make the audience believe at first that she is the femme fatale. Leading it to mystery.

For the wolf we had rummaged through the drama studios and found a furry hat and a leather look, old waist coat. This waist coast looks dirty which is great for the wolf as he is supposed to be a wolf that is used to the great outdoors. We wanted the wolf to be walking around with a cigarette as well to show he is supposed to be the femme fatale as he will also be flirty towards Little Red. 

We are still unsure whether we are going to have the gran in the story and whether we are just going to leave her locked in the wardrobe screaming telling Little Red to run away and hide from the evil wolf. However, if we are to use the gran in the story we could use a soft, knitted shawl as it is a stereotypical grandma type of clothing. We could also add some big glasses too.

For the axe man we have decided he must have some kind of tool on him to show the film is modernised and because he is the girl next door saving the day. We think he should wear either tartan or blocks to make it seem like they are really in the forest. He should wear rough jeans and should have a dirty face and be tired out from all the work he has been doing all day.

The four photographs to the right are of some of the costumes we will be using to try and set the scene properly. This photograph was taken by Autumn.

Neo-Noir Film

Other than film noir there is also a much more recent genre that is extremely similar to that of film noir: neo-noir. This genre is a style often seen in modern motion pictures and other forms that use elements of film noir, but they have updated themes, content, style or media that were non-existent in film noirs in the 1940’s and 1950’s. We have looked at some neo-noir programmes and films that have many conventions of a film noir but sudden twists such as:

• Misfits Zombie Noir
• Bound
• Sin City
• Blade Runner
• Red Riding

Reflective comment:

I will adding an emaze of each film opening we have watched and include media vocabulary. The emaze will have all the conventions and unusual conventions of each film and what makes it so different to a film noir.

Generic Conventions of The Black Dahlia

The Black Dahlia is a neo-noir crime thriller based on the murder of Elizabeth Short, of who was the victim of a much publicised murder in 1947. Her death is one of the oldest unsolved murder cases in Los Angele’s history and he body was left mutilated and sliced in half at the waist. The film takes interest in the investigation of her death.

Composition

This photograph below is from the 2006 version of The Black Dahlia featuring Scarlett Johansson. In this scene Bucky realises that he actually loves his LAPD partner’s long-time girlfriend Kay Lake and not actually the femme fatale of this film, Madeleine. Kay however is said to be the girl next door in this noir film. He has come to be with her, where he feels he belongs. This is the very end of the film.

The way Kay is looking back through her apartment it is as if she is asking for forgiveness from Lee as she is now with his partner. Now this composition is very different to that of a general film noir in the 40’s/50’s as usually it is the everyman in the foreground with the femme fatale or girl next door in the background. In the usual noir the everyman would be in the foreground as though the other woman is in the back of his mind or as though she is always watching him. Whereas, this is a different snap shot for a general film noir, as is that the film is actually coloured (saturated) rather than the typical black and white.

Mise-en-scene

The mise-en-scene in this film is rather typical to that of a normal film noir as Kay and Madeleine both have cigarette holders and the smoke from them trail their posture in a glamourous way. The photograph of Madeleine in the photograph below shows the costume she wears almost throughout the film.

Her hair however compared to that of a typical femme fatale is rather flat and pulled back when usually it is all tied in curls. The cut of this shows very much of Madeleine’s curves and cleavage to make her seem sexy and exotic, making men surround her. Similar, to that of the mythical mermaid sirens. The men all wear suits and costume in this film as well due to them being in LAPD uniform making them look smart. Even though this is a very new film noir (2006) the costume and acting is that of the same as the typical in the 40’s/50’s. The femme fatale is extremely independent and feels powerful, she believes throughout the film she will get as she wishes.

Narrative Structure

The narrative structure of The Black Dahlia is very similar to that of a normal film noir as you have all the characters needed: everyman, femme fatale, girl next door and villain. The film starts with the ending but not in the way that typical film noirs do because they do not have the slow flash backs as such. However the ending where the femme fatale gets murdered and then the everyman ends up with the girl next door is the approach of film noir films, generally speaking.

Reflective comment:

I will need to add a sound caption and a small amount of music from the film such as when the femme fatale appears and it is more of a seductive feel. I would also like to add the trailer or short clips of the film itself.

Generic Conventions of Double Indemnity

I have created my first Emaze, I created a presentation using this software as I wanted to learn some new skills and software bases. This is all about the simple conventions throughout the film, Double Indemnity. I have added many photographs to this to make it slightly more visual and for the sound convention I have added a two-minute video from Vimeo as an example of the voice-overs that Walter had done throughout the film. This merges real-life with memories for him. 

Reflective comment:
I understand that the Emaze is slightly too big for the page and so i need to work out how I am going to make the size a lot smaller. Also I never added anything about the editing from Double Indemnity as I didn't know what to include. using Emaze was very difficult at first however, once I had the basic skills it was easy to create something like this. 

Generic conventions of Film Noir

The generic conventions are split into five different sub-headings: Camera and composition, editing, sound, mise-en-scene, narrative and characters. We have watched three Film Noirs so far which include: Double Indemnity, The Killers and The Black Dahlia and so with these we have looked at their generic conventions.

Camera and composition

‘Composition’ describes the placement of relative objects and elements in a work of art. It is about the angles that the photograph has been taken in and how props have been set-up. A good composition is one that has enough detail and has a good balance. However, too elements can be distracting and lead the audience’s interpretation to confusion; meaning that the correct props for the storyline is vital.

For example, the photograph to the left is one that I had taken recently with my Sony Cyber shot. I had taken this photograph with her back towards the camera to show her flawless skin and the pearls around her neck. The pearls are part of the mise-en-scene though as they are props. I had taken this at such an angle to show her ‘pouted’ lips and that she was either in part-shock or slightly scared as this was taken outside in a graveyard. I could have made this slightly more Neo Noir by adding red lips (like Sin City) on her or a slight saturation of colour on her dress, which was navy.

Editing

Editing in media is all about how someone combines the clips together, how they are joined together, what software they use and special effects that may be added. I had played around with this slightly when I made my Media and Me vlog but I only used Moviemaker, I would like to try other software when we create our own project, perhaps iMovie.

Sound

Sound in media is all about what you can hear whether it is music, voices, voice overs and sound effects. Many film industries now use folioing  Anything can class as sound on a film, whether it is Film Noir or not.

Mise-en-scene

Mise-en-scene is the arrangement of scenery and props for photography or in the media industry, therefore the setting of the scene. ‘Mise-en-scene’ in French means ‘telling a story’. When applying the term to media and the film industry it refers to everything that appears beyond the camera including, make-up, costume, props and composition. In Film Noir the main things they tend to focus on is the costume and make-up of the femme fatale and cigarette smoke.

On the photograph to the left there is a photograph of a typical femme fatale, this was taken off Pinterest. The typical mise-en-scene for a femme fatale would be having smoke around her for the seductive atmosphere. She would be wearing heavy make-up and typically red lips, especially in Neo Noir film. The femme fatale is also often skinny and white, as she is to represent the women during the war being far too evil and getting their own way, as many of the men did not enjoy. The lady on the photograph to the left has longer hair than most femme fatale’s however the other costume and make-up makes up for the longer hair. When it comes to creating photographs and the beginning of our film I really want to play around with the costume and make-up of a femme fatale.

Narrative Structure

There is much narrative structure in Film Noirs and typically all fit in with each other. The most important storyline and structures would be that:

· They start with the end, often with the protagonist broken

· They usually include flashbacks or voice-overs

· The start often gives the entire plot away, making it less mysterious

· The characters however have their own mystery and stories

· It is usually from the protagonists perception

· They tend to have slow motion scenes

·The femme fatale usually ends up either being killed or in a lot of trouble

· The everyman ends up in trouble

· The femme fatale seduces the everyman making him do things he will later regret

Conventions of Film Noir from kellymorris92

I used the SlideShare above to see the typical conventions of Film Noir, I found this really useful however I do not agree with Character slide because I don't believe in every Film Noir there is detectives as the protagonists or corrupt police.

Reflective comment:
I need to add either my own Slideshares or Prezi's about each film we had watched and about their conventions. I also would like to find some video examples possibly on Youtube about the Titanic folying as could not do so on the school computers due to it being blocked. I would also like to blog about the different type of characters in Film Noir.