Positives and Negatives

Vlog Positives and Negatives from Matthew Levesley on Vimeo.

In this video we outline the positives and the negatives of the Film Noir experience.

Actors Profile

After casting the Actors (as stated in the previous blog post)

Josh Coe:



Date of Birth: 16th November 1998 (aged 17)

Height: 5'9"

Hair Colour: Brown

Gender: Male

Role: Tony

Reason for Hiring: We needed someone with a great deal of Film Noir knowledge to perfectly fulfil the needed role; I therefore decided that the leading role should go to either me or Joshua. After an informal audition, Josh suited the character's role better as he was able to be serious and portray emotion almost effortlessly.

Positives when filming: 

• Took directions well
• Acted with a straight face, never broke character
• Suited the clothing and props

Negatives when filming:

• Body position at times could have been more appropriate

Heather McDonald:

Date of Birth: 14th May 1999 (aged 16)

Height: 5'5"

Hair Colour: Brunette

Gender: Female

Role: Victoria

Reason for Hiring: As stated before, actors were needed with strong Film Noir knowledge to perfectly portray the characters. A female character was needed and Heather met the criteria we were looking for.

Positives when filming:

• Effectively used the props appropriately and realistically
• Took directions well
• Looked like a genuine Femme Fatale

Negatives when filming:

• Many scenes took more than one take to complete

Voiceovers Playlist on SoundCloud

Attached is the voiceovers that me and Josh recorded on my iPhone. Me and Josh found an empty classroom and, with the script on his phone, Josh spoke into the microphone on my phone sentence by sentence. To easily place them into our movie, I set the name as the sentence number in order (other than "Hey Victoria"). This went well as there was minimalistic distractions and Josh was able to easily read off the script from his phone. From this, I have learnt that if you prepare well (by effectively producing the script) then the rest of the production will be easier and less stressful; in future tasks, I will ensure that the planning has been done to the best of our ability.
On the day of recording, this is the blogpost where I outlined the recording of the voiceovers.

Today's Lesson Recording Voiceovers

In today's media lesson, Heather was ill so me and Josh recorded the voice over for our extract. We used an empty classroom to do this to ensure that no background sound was detected and my iPhone 6 was the technological device used to record the voice overs on. The plan was to film last Sunday, unfortunately, the date has been postponed to Thursday 21st January 2016 in the evening.

Click here to view the blogpost including the voiceovers.

Film Noir OTS Script 1

Producing the script has been done mainly by Josh Coe with help from me. This is the first publication of the script, further improvements may be added if necessary.
The cast in the opening scene:

Josh Coe: Tony (Everyman)

Heather McDonald: Victoria (Femme Fatale)

EXT. Road. Night

(Tony leaning against wall looking at empty wallet)

Tony: 

(voiceover)
(hopeless)

I lost it all, she took everything I had. I'm left with nothing but dreams, of what could have been.

(Tony tosses wallet away and walks off)

OPENING TITLE SEQUENCE 

Tony:

(voiceover)
(desperation)

Theres only one thing left to do, she deserves it.

(Tony stands behind wall to hide)

Tony:

(voiceover)
(with love)

This is the route she walks everyday, I'd never forget.

(Victoria becomes visible walking through the alley, a cigarette in hand)

Tony:

(voiceover)
(with hope)

She still looks as beautiful as she did the first time I saw her.

(Victoria walks past Tony but can't see him)

Tony:

(voiceover)

(more hate)

 She's blinded from the world, she deserves this.

(Victoria continues walking as Tony appears from the darkness)

Tony:

(aggression)

Hey Victoria!

(Victoria turns quickly and shock fills her face)

Victoria:

(Gasps)

(Tony pulls the trigger and the camera looms on the cigarette burning out)

Josh's advanced level of creativity in writing allowed us to create a conventional Film Noir script that suits the visual aspect to the film perfectly. As a team, we worked really well with me creating the general structure for the script and Josh developed the content. Josh had previous experience with writing a script for an A-level therefore no previous research was needed; he taught me how to effectively make a script and the stage directions are a great aspect because the reader becomes aware of the narrative without watching the extract.
On the other hand, it was often hard to reach a final decision on the voice overs, the two of us eventually made a decision but it could be argued that time was wasted during this process.

When creating the script, I have learnt that my creative levels are not to the quality of others.

Storyboard

Our next step towards the final production was doing a photoshoot for the storyboard in the locations that Josh had planned. When it came to the photoshoot, I took the photos and positioned the characters. Heather then edited them on photoshop making them black and white, Josh then took them and made a slideshare that is attached below, it then explains exactly what is happening in each photo. 

Media photoshoot from Coey1611

The lighting was not an issue as it was shot during the daytime, to get a more conventional Noir atmosphere, we will need to film during the night; we have learnt that this may cause issues as the footage is not going the be as clear to see. To prevent this from happening, a flashlight will be used when necessary.
Camera angles are greatly important to portray the mood and atmosphere for the audience. We have learnt that in order to create the correct mood in each shot, the camera angles must be perfect (for example a high angle to make the character weak-demonstrated in the first slide). The composition of each shot is equally as important-in the background of some shots, civilians' houses are visible which will not be acceptable for the opening of our film.
For audience understanding of the film, accurate props will be needed: clothing, gun (rather than hand) and, to meet the codes and conventions of a Film Noir, cigarettes will be needed and used.
From this, I have learnt that to fully portray the aspects within our film, we each need to prepare fully within the research and planning-we will be able to work effectively without a great deal of challenges. 

Sound Research- Credit to Josh Coe

Below is the research that Josh Coe did for sound:

SoundTrack:
One of the areas I took charge to research was sound; to understand the sound throughout a film noir, I first looked at the actual soundtracks that feature throughout the films. I used a website which contained dozens of Film Noir soundtracks, and gave the general genre. From this, I was able to listen to the composure of the soundtracks, and their general sound to give me some sort of idea of what we need to create for our final piece.

The website I used was:
http://www.allmusic.com/album/film-noir-16-classic-tracks-from-the-dark-side-of-the-movies-mw0000068822

After looking on this website, I can see that the genre's of Film Noir soundtracks are 'jazz' and 'electronic'. We will need to create something similar to this for our final piece, or find some music that is copyright free that we are able to use.

Editing Research- Credit to Josh Coe

Josh researched the editing for our production, below is his research:

Editing:
For conventional Film Noir's, editing was limited because of the lack of technology present at the time. Most of the effects they created were used through first hand filming, with bright lights in the dark to enhance cigarette smoke, and a foggy area. In terms of editing, basic things were done such as shot reverse shot, and eye line match. For our final piece, we plan to edit in basic ways as well, incorporating a soundtrack over the top of our film, and editing the way we filmed different camera angles; we will incorporate shot reverse shot, and eye line match to use editing conventions from film Noir's.

Recreated Foley Sounds

Here is our completed video showing all of the Foley Sounds we created. We first recorded all of the sounds ourselves onto an iPhone, then uploaded them onto a computer, then finally uploaded them to iMovie and edited 
them with a title to display the sound. With the use of iMovie, Heather, Josh and I were able to improve our skills with editing sound on iMovie and we may use some of the sounds in our Film Noir.


I thoroughly enjoyed this process as it allowed us to test and experiment what we are able to do ourselves; after the experience, I have been made aware how many different, minor sounds we need in our Film Noir to give it a realistic effect. A problem that may face us is to recreate these in a realistic and conventional manner for the opening title sequence of a Film Noir.

Production Log 12/01/2016

In today's lesson, the three of us went out and took still photos for a storyboard. This allowed us to visually display how we intend the production to go. Heather and Josh edited it and put it onto SlideShare whilst I added to the script to try and finish it. We aim to film and record the voiceover within the upcoming days.

The Storyboard

The Script

Deciding our Narrative Structure

When deciding on what narrative structure as a group, we had sheets that had definitions of possible narrative structures and from this we decided if they were suitable for our idea and if they would be good for it as a whole.

These were out two options. We decided that the 'Vladimir Propp' narrative wouldn't work for ours, as there is far too many characters compared to the amount that we plan to use, however we might include some of the character ideas. After looking at the 'Enigma Code', we've decided that this would be a suitable and effective narrative to follow. The sense of mystery is perfect for our story and would make the audience question the events of the opening which is exactly the idea.

Beginning Narrative Idea

For our final piece in Media Studies I am working with Heather McDonald and Josh Coe, and we have started to plan a narrative for it and tried out different ideas for a storyline. To start, we discussed ideas for a story and talked about how many characters we would have and what the general idea would be. From this we were then able to write out a general synopsis of what our story is.This is just a starting idea so we will build on this idea to develop and improve it in multiple ways. The name for the Everyman at this time is Micky.

'Micky is staring in the mirror with a gun... Flashback:

He was a successful person, but he had a big secret.

He employs an assistant (femme-fatal) who finds out his secret but agrees to keep quiet by blackmailing Micky.

Leaves him broke.

In his anger he kills her.'