Evaluation

Here is the link to my evaluation website:
mlevesley.wix.com/mediastudies

Finished The Secret Final OTS

The Secret RabbitHole Productions from Matthew Levesley on Vimeo.

Public Feedback

To receive further feedback from the general public rather than simply the media class, me Josh and Heather tweeted the above tweet and we showed our class in form. In form we presented the video and asked people to go onto SurveyMonkey; for social media, I attached the finished second draft of our OTS from Vimeo and a survey for people to fill out on Survey Monkey on a tweet (shown below). Unfortunately to embed a survey you have to pay for SurveyMonkey premium so I can only attach the screenshot and link of the survey.

The tweet to 506 followers on Twitter

Public Survey

Below is some of the feedback that we received:

Unfortunately, we did not receive a large amount of feedback. If we were to do the process again I think that we should force the survey onto people; as we were really lenient with the survey, a lot of people did not do this and on Twitter people probably did not want to click on the links.

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

The Feedback Received After The First Viewing

After the class watched our first draft as shown below:

Each student filled out a questionnaire (as shown in previous blog post), below is an Emaze presentation outlining the feedback that we received:




I personally found this experience very helpful as we asked people with experience of Film Noirs and as others viewed it, they spotted errors that we did not notice (for example Heather's trip whilst walking) this allowed us to edit the errors out before the holiday break which is really beneficial and time-efficient for us.

The Secret First Draft Unfinished

To complete the film by next week, we decided that we need feedback. The unfinished version does not include a gunshot foley sound but we would like as much feedback ready for next week.
Here is the embedded video for viewing from the class:

The Secret RabbitHole Productions Draft 1 (unfinished) from Matthew Levesley on Vimeo.

Please take your time to fill out this questionnaire (created by myself):

Unfortunately, after embedding the survey within this post, it closed after 24 hours and it was not able to be viewed. I have simply included a screenshot from Google Forms and the feedback will be posted at a later stage.

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.

Creating The Studio Ident

The production company name was created by shuffling my playlist and choosing a song title which would be suitable; the song Rabbit Hole by Jamie T came up and we decided to use this.
Heather used her artistic skills to come up with what the ident should look like.

I drew the rabbit head for our ident as shown below:

The swirls around were an idea for what the hole should look like, this was cropped out in photoshop.

Heather came up with the idea of a light in a dark room to represent a hole; we used an empty classroom with the light off, a phone flashlight and my iPhone for the camera. Below is the photo taken by Heather:

I cropped both photos, put them together and added a downloaded font from DaFont. With the help from Heather, I adjusted the text shape and style to create the finalised studio ident:

Sound

I am the sound manager for our production; below is the different construction methods and how they will be included within our production:

The research for this was found on Ms Humplebye's blog (shown in blue)

• Diegetic / non-diegetic

Diegetic means within the 'world' of the film: captured during filming footsteps / voices/doors opening and closing

Non diegetic means added afterwards in post-production and editing - for example SFX / explosions/ a score/music/creaks and sounds impossible to record on set.

Remember there is also sound which seems to be Diegetic which in reality had to have been added non-diegetically for example animal noises when the sound technicians may not be able to capture to order on set

http://filmsound.org/terminology/diegetic.htm

Our production will only include diegetic sounds to try and recreate the style used with original Film Noirs as they were not advanced enough with technology to include SFX. Sounds such as the gunshot will be used with Foley sounds (explained below) and the diegetic sound of footsteps will be amplified to add to the mood that we are aiming to create.

• Synchronous / asynchronous

Synchronous sounds contribute to the realism of film and also help to create a particular atmosphere - for example a door clicks as it is opened on screen but HOW it does so will affect how the audience respond e.g. loudly / creaking / squeaking

Asynchronous sound effects are not matched with a visible source of the sound on screen. Such sounds are included so as to provide an appropriate emotional nuance, and they may also add to the realism - a classic example is rock and roll music over a Vietnam war scene, or an argument scene with a soundtrack that includes the audio of a television crime programme those arguing were 'watching'

http://filmsound.org/marshall/

Our production is aimed to be as realistic as possible, because of this, asynchronous sound effects will not be used. The main synchronous sound that is likely to be included is the streetlights flickering on and off to represent an 'eery' atmosphere.

• Contrapuntal/parallel  sound

(Parallel sounds are what we expect to hear with that Genre or Images / Contrapunctal sounds are sounds that do not seem to fit the Genre/Image: E.G. in a fight scene one does not expect to hear classical music but it can be used as a juxtaposition to amplify how the audience experiences emotion/reads meaning. / rock music with a fast pace over the scene would be considered Parallel sound.

Although contrapuntal will create an amplification of audience emotion, it will not meet the idea of conventionality within our production which is the aim.

• Foley Sound

The Foley Sound of the gunshot will come from a wheelie bin lid slamming close; this may need to have a change in editing. To represent the increasing heart rate of the Everyman, a finger tapping on the table has been recorded as none of us can use drums.

The Target Audience For Our Film

To research the target audience for our film, I looked on YouGov Profiles LITE to discover the likely demographics of the audience.

Below is a table from Wikipedia outlining Social Grades:

Grade	Social class	Chief income earner's occupation
A	upper middle class	Higher managerial, administrative or professional
B	middle class	Intermediate managerial, administrative or professional
C1	lower middle class	Supervisory or clerical and junior managerial, administrative or professional
C2	skilled working class	Skilled manual workers
D	working class	Semi-skilled and unskilled manual workers
E	non working	Casual or lowest grade workers, pensioners, and others who depend on the welfare state for their income

People who like a classic Film Noir (Double Indemnity) are often male and in their 50's with the social grade of ABC1; they also work in Entertainment, Law and Media and Publishing. General interests include politics, exhibitions and international news.

However, with the Neo Noir Sin City, although the social grade is ABC1 and the gender is also male, the age of the people who like this movie is between 25-39. The general interests of these men include movies, video games and music.

The TV series Misfits contained a Neo Noir episode (outlined in my Neo Noir Blog Post), unlike other Neo Noirs, the demographics for the people that like this are females aged 25-39. The social grade is the same (ABC1), but general interests include movies, television and science.

From this, I have learnt that it is not always correct to assume that the target audience is males; despite this, the audience for our film will be men with the social grade of ABC1. The age of our audience is young adults (under 30's) as it contains experiences from teenage actors, but they experience adult lives. After looking at general interests on YouGov, it has given us clear methods of advertisement for our film: television adverts, movie trailers, radio advertisement and internet adverts.

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.

The Background Sound- 'Night on The Docks' Royalty Free

The music was discovered on Free Music Archive. The song was composed by Kevin Macleod and is 2 minutes, 54 seconds long.


We changed the sound by cutting areas out and replaying specific sounds later on, specifically the part at approximately 40 seconds was replayed at the end of the OTS.
I really like this sound as it conforms to conventional Film Noir soundtracks; this also really suited the style and mood of our film and improved the atmosphere of it.

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.

Mise En Scene Research - Credit to Heather McDonald

Lighting
John alton photographed more than 100 films in his career with over 20 of them being Film Noirs, including T-Men (1947), He Walked by Night (1948) and The Big Combo (1955). All three were quintessential Alton pictures, with low key lighting where often a single light source was used to get harsh crisp shadows. film noir use 3 point lighting which all focus on one point, the main light is called a key light which is the one that is most bright. you also have a fill light which is opposite the key light which helps fill in the shadows left by the key light. lastly there is a back light which separates the main focus and the background. in film noir the most prominent light is the strong key light and back light, fill lights are not as dominate as they want to exaggerate the contrast to create the low key look, however having a little bit of fill lighting will add something interesting to your shadows. film noir generally uses hard lights as it leaves sharp edge shadows. For ours we are going to film in the dark and under a street lamp and i will be smoking under and the lamp and the light will emphasis the smoke.

Costume and Props
Costume and Props in film noir you will often see cigarettes or cigars and normally the femme fatal is smoking. we also see that the femme fatal wears a smart dress which is normally black or red and the would normally wear red lipstick which shows a sign of danger and the men are dressed in smart black suits and there is normally a gun involved. With our film noir i am wearing a red dress, with red nails and red lipstick, Josh is wearing a suit and will have a gun. I will be smoking as well.

Location
Film Noir is normally set on a a dark street or in a city, sometimes they can be set in a bar or somewhere associated with the mob. Most Film Noir films are set in Los Angeles as they are based in america. For Our film Noir, our location is on a street at night with street lamps and we are also using an alleyway. 

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.

Researching Camera in Film Noir

The cinematography of film noir shows the dark, gritty, and often deceiving visuals are a reflection of the characters, who themselves are dark, gritty, and deceiving. In noir, the cinematography is the main way to tell us about these people and the world they inhabit. As the films were often low-budget, there wasn’t time or money to fund expensive camerawork.

Camera Techniques that are conventional and will be used in our production:
High Angle
Focus Pull
Tracking
Mid shot
Over the Shoulder shot
Close up
Distorted angles
Characters and cameras positioned to clearly display shadows






Here are some examples of camera and composition that is conventional for a Film Noir; they will also feature in our production.



This over the shoulder shot allows easy conversation to take place, it can build up suspense and tension easily with the length of the take being increased.





This close up (and possibly focus pull) is displayed with a distorted angle. The use of this adds to the discomfort that is received by the audience which is conventional to Film Noirs. This is also a low angle shot, giving the person with the gun a portrayal of power.



This High angle (and also distorted) could be a POV shot as well. This angle emphasises the 'darkness' within the Film Noir which again adds to the discomfort for the audience.

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.

Choosing The Title Text Dafont.com

Whilst Heather and Josh were in an exam in this lesson, I was looking on dafont.com to choose the font for the titles within our film. Below are screenshots of the website and possible fonts to use. I decided to choose 'BEBAS NEUE' as it is simplistic and bold which is similar to the style of our film.

This font is good as it stands out a lot, it is easy to read, the font is also very bold and stereotypical for a Film Noir title. 

It could be argued, however, that this font is too basic for a 2016 film and it is not memorable for an audience. To overcome this, editing of the font may be done om PhotoShop.

Here is a diagram of the webpage layout.

Another font that was being considered was the above one. This old fashioned font was more memorable and had elements of sophistication and elegance.

On the other hand, the slenderness of the font could be off-putting to any members of the audience, also, the style of our film is supposed to be bold and outgoing rather than elegant which is why we are not using this font.

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

Casting Actors

It was my job to decide who should act in our film. I came to the conclusion that Josh Coe and Heather McDonald should act as they both match the characters with their gender, they will have a very clear understanding of what needs to be done within deadlines and also it will be for the best if I direct the two of them.

Film Noir Full Narrative

The narrative begins at the end of the story with the Everyman, Tony, bankrupt and damaged. He then leaves his house in the dark and walks to another house where a woman (Femme Fatale) opens the door; Tony then shoots her (a voice over is used to briefly explain how he got in the situation that he is in and what he is doing).
A flashback then shows Tony's life before he met the Femme Fatale at work, she finds out that he has a deep, dark secret and uses this to blackmail him- Tony is also seduced by the lady but he hates that he likes her. Eventually, the Femme Fatale hustles Tony out of a large sum of money therefore he is left with nothing other than his secret. During a lunch break at work, the Femme Fatale breaks into Tony's house and steals a box which holds his secret in, when Tony returns home he realises and goes to kill her to get back everything that is his (the story then cuts back to the end).
The upset Tony is distraught that he has lost 'his' woman and that he will inevitably end up in prison, he opens the box for one last look at what he has hidden from everyone and shoots himself in the head. The camera pans from the dead Everyman towards the box and there is a fade to black after revealing his secret.

Hiring Actors- The Problem

As I was given the task of trying to recruit actors, I decided to take inspiration from a former called Sam Shepherd; the student posted a listing on Starnow.co.uk.

After a fair amount of time, I later found out that unfortunately to post the listing, you must be over 18 years of age. Due to this, our group are unable to hire free, professional actors therefore we have decided to act ourselves. It will be harder to keep to the conventional Film Noir aspects with teenagers as the main characters so we now have more of a Neo Noir twist to the film.

Former student's blog: http://asmediastudiessamshepherd2013.blogspot.co.uk/