Continuity Task

This is the first video we had created as a team, and the last. But I will evaluate the differences that I have made and how I have improved on narrative, camera angles and composition. This will become aware on my evaluation website. 


Little Red Riding Hood Neo noir from Charlotte Beach on Vimeo.

OTS and Survey

It would be much help if you would watch my short production and fill out my short survey as part of my evaluation for media studies at sixth form. Thank you for watching!



PROHIBITION from Charlotte Beach on Vimeo.



And the survey.

Exhibition

As my film would be a low-budget production it would less likely be filmed in larger cinemas such as Vue and Odeon. I believe it would be shown at film festivals such as the Fresh Film Festival, the Molodist and the Motovun Film Festival. The Fresh Film Festival is an international student film festival that is held annually in August, I believe they may exhibit my production due to it being a student feature. The Molodist festival is a competition devoted to students productions and therefore my production would fit in well due to the film festival taking films from all over the world. Another film festival that I believe my production could be exhibited at is the Motovun Festival as it is dedicated to low-budget, independent films.

Although I can see my production in a film festival there are many other ways of having a low-budget film exhibited such as film 4's film festivals and online sharing. Online sharing includes Netflix, Amazon Prime, Love Film, Now TV and many others. I agree my production would fit with online sharing because they all have independent film categories that are low-budget and are not always shown in cinemas. These include international independent films. As I said before I don't think my production would end up in a large cinema, however I could see it being in a much smaller complex such as Cinema City. My opening title sequence was made with virtually no money and therefore would be classed low-budget along with an independent film. Working with Cinema City would be great for my film because they help smaller production companies with a smaller budget, the cinema also attracts film-fanatics that I believe would enjoy my production.

Feedback from Survey Monkey on my First Draft

This Slide Share shows my feedback and comments from what unknown others thought of my first drafted production. I had shared this on social media and therefore would not know many of the participants, making it fairer.

Survey Monkey on Film Noir First Draft from CharlotteLouiseB

First Draft Production - please fill out the survey

Please could people watch this two minute video I have created and complete my two minute survey. It will take less than five minutes of your time. My idea is set on a femme fatale that has just done a horrible thing -killed the anti-hero that she realises she loves-. The more surveys filled out the better, thank you!

I have also added this onto Facebook sites for the best results.

Survey: https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/Q87LSNR



The First Production from Charlotte Beach on Vimeo.

Smoke Video

I have created a smoke video with two different devices: a shisha stick and a KangerTech vapouriser to determine which is the most creative yet realistic smoke to use for my photo shoots and production. However, I am finding it difficult to add to Vimeo because of the size of the file. I may have to ask my teacher for help to add it onto Vimeo or create a larger video size because otherwise I cannot add to my blog. I will try and get this sorted by the end of this week.

Final Props and Costume

 

The social media aspect of looking for props worked! I managed to get all props for no cost at all from a generous lady not far from Norwich. She has allowed me to borrow a headpiece, flapper dress, black T heels, beads, dress gloves and a scarf. This means that the femme fatales costume is finished apart from the make-up I would like to add. I am still searching for a hat for a my male character, the everyman, but if I cannot find a cheap option costume then I will get my actor to wear a suit and boots. Making sure that I use much smoke as effect. I have added photographs of the props below.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I am very happy with the props I have chosen and discovered however, I would like to think about smaller things I will be needing such as whiskey glasses, decanter and such. I have also got a cigarette holder and a shisha stick so I can add smoke into the production as this is a typical convention of the time period and flappers.



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.

Little Red Riding Hood Introduction and Peer Assessment

Below I have a vimeo of myself introducing our short film to the class. We had decided to peer assess all the short productions for internal feedback. I believe both giving and receiving the feedback was very helpful considering in our class we have past media students and therefore was easy to pick up the terminology and what we should be looking out for in a good production. Enjoy.


Introduction to Little Red Riding Hood Neo-Noir from Charlotte Beach on Vimeo.

And now below we have the peer assessment vimeo of what people thought of our presentation. We had comments such as 'the ending was far too short' this was our fault as we had left editing far too late compared to when we had planned. Other comments included: 'I really liked the sinister sounds' of which we created with sound effects on iMovie and 'I liked how the colour changed to black and white but I think you could have used a different transition'. All comments were taken into account and we can work on them when we create our real production. This video is below.