Distorted Pictures

Tuesday, 14 December 2010

Lighting

Chiaroscuro – our favourite technique

To emphasise the film noir look, we had to carefully consider how we were going to use lighting. We wanted to create lots of shadows, with low key lighting which expose hard lighting around the face of our protagonist – a technique called Chiaroscuro reminiscent of the old 1940’s style. Nonetheless, whilst filming we decided to shut out all the light that was being reflected into the room we were currently filming in and chose are source of light to be generated from our HD camcorder, which would generate shadows around our character.

After Effects

This is such as a revolutionary product because if our scene was in clear daylight, we were still able to create shadows using the software effects Levels and Hue and Saturation.

Costumes

Furthermore we will also be using mise en scene effectively to add realism to our teaser trailer and to create further meaning. The particular mise en scene that I will now be talking about is costumes; below I will inform why I am using the following costumes in my teaser trailer.

Protagonist
At the start of the teaser trailer we will be using informal clothing for our protagonist. By this I mean that he will be wearing a plain white t-shit and a plain pair of trousers. The reason why we have chosen him to wear this is because we think that this will inform the audience the type of person he is. For instance this will show that he has some sort of mental faculties and is low of self esteem as by wearing this form of clothing this has connotations of this and in the research we have conducted this is what people who can’t sleep are commonly represented as, such as Fight Club.

Formal Clothing - Suit and Tie
The main form of clothing that we will be using is formal clothing; this will be a suit and tie. The reason why we have chosen to use this and give this to our protagonist is because from the extensive research that we have conducted we noticed that this was a common form of clothing and therefore by us using the same this will make our production look professional. However we are also thinking of using something that is different so that we have not followed the crowd. Another reason why we have chosen to give our protagonist a suit and tie is because this has connotations of being professional, a hero and well off. As these are all positive conventions we thought that by giving our protagonists this form of clothing this would give an instant positive reaction towards him with our audience and show the difference from the start of the teaser trailer to this part and therefore they will be more involved and enticed. Furthermore we will be taking into consideration the colour of our clothing; the suit colour will be black. The reason why we have chosen to use the colour black is because this colour has connotations of death and darkness. As a result this will work as a signifier to our audience and also this will emphasise to them that this film will be dark, which is what we are trying to create as the genre is film noir.

Dwight

Formal Clothing
Dwight who is our characters subconscious will be wearing a shirt and tie. The reason why we have chosen him to wear this is so that he looks professional. Also from the research that we conducted we noticed that the subconscious, like in Inception, also wore a shirt. As a result this will give the audience an indication who he is earlier as they are commonly represented like this in other films. Therefore they will know more about the film, which will entice them to watch on. Also by him looking professional this form of mise en scene will add realism. Furthermore the colour of the shirt and tie will also be effective. This is because the shirt colour will be white but the tie will be black, to emphasise the Sin City feeling. We have chosen this as the colour red has connotations of death and danger. As a result this will add to the sinister feeling of our teaser trailer and therefore this will also emphasise the genre of our teaser trailer.

In conclusion we think that using these costumes (mise en scene) it will make our production a lot more effective and add to the meaning and therefore involve the audience a lot more which is what we are trying to do.

Locations

In this section of my coursework I will be stating the locations that we will be using for our A2 production and the reasons why I have decided to use them specifically. In total we aim to use 4 locations as we think the more locations we use the more beneficial it will be for my teaser trailer and as this will take a lot of days to film it will emphasize the dedication that we have.

Canary Wharf
The first location we will be using and filming at is ‘Canary Wharf’. The reason why we have chosen to use this location is because it is popular throughout the United Kingdom and signifies the business capital of England. As a result as the plot of our film will include the destruction of locations I think that by using a popular location it will make the audience relate to the teaser trailer a lot more and make them show more emotion. Also as there are a lot of buildings and they are all skyscrapers that are aesthetically pleasing it will make the explosion look more destructive. As a result this will make the effectiveness of my teaser trailer a lot more which is what I am aiming for from my locations. In addition we also plan to use a low angle camera shot to emphasize the height of the building and therefore when the destruction occurs it will seem a lot more dramatic and horrific.

Swiss Re
Another location that I will be using in my A2 teaser trailer is the ‘Swiss Re’ building. This is a very iconic building because of the businesses in the building and the shape of the building and therefore I think that by using this location it will entice people to continue to watch the teaser trailer. As a result the reaction from the locations that I want to receive is one of shock and therefore this has shown me that this would be a perfect location in my teaser trailer. Also as this business is also aesthetically pleasing it makes this location fit for purpose and makes the explosion look as devastating as possible.

Bank
Furthermore we will also be portraying a bank as part of one of the locations of the scenes in our teaser trailer. The real location would be one of the rooms in our school, Business and Enterprise Conference Room. However we will be revamping the room via mise en scene to make it look like a bank. As a result this will save us a lot of time and allow us to be more creative, also this gives our teaser trailer another dimension as instead of just filming popular locations we are also creating our own, I may be time consuming but it will add to the effectiveness. However we will be filming the exterior of a London Bank to make it easy for the audience to realize the location.

Westminster
Another location that we will be filming at for our teaser trailer would be that of Westminster. We have chosen this location as this is a well known location, also the location is known all around the world due to its heritage, architecture and because it is the home of British politics. As a result we have decide to use this location in one of the scenes to make our tease trailer look more like a real media product as this is a location used in many real media products and as this is our aim (to make a teaser trailer that is good enough to be a real media product) this will mean that our target has been achieved. Also another reason why we have chosen this location is because a lot of people can relate to the location s they have been there before, this is shown by the amount of tourists that visit Westminster every day and therefore when people watch our teaser trailer they will be instantly enticed and engaged which is needed in order to make an effective teaser trailer.

Piccadilly Circus
Furthermore another location that we filmed at was Piccadilly Circus. The reason why we decided to film at this location was because from our extensive research we saw how many UK films were filmed at this location. As a result we decided that this would be a great location for us to film at that could make our teaser trailer look similar to a real media product. Also another reason why we filmed at this location was because the Sanyo sign at Piccadilly Circus is electrical and from our research we saw how it is possible to manipulate electronic signs to make them look destroyed. As a result as we wanted to include this scene in our teaser trailer we thought that this would be an excellent location to have in our teaser trailer.

City Hall
The final location that we will be using is the ‘City Hall’. This is a popular building because of what the business includes. For instance there is the very iconic spiral staircase and the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson also works there. As a result by including this popular location it will entice people to watch on as they will have something to relate to. Also this will work perfectly for our teaser trailer because as this is a building representing the way that London is run when the building gets destroyed this will have a more of an impact on the audience which is what we are trying to create from the location in our teaser trailer. The reason why we have decided to film the spiral staircase is because we think that this is unique and a form of architecture which is liked by everybody and therefore forces a reaction from the audience when they see the staircase. The complex factor of filming this is that we will need permission and therefore we will have to pre-plan filming and arrange this with the City Hall employees.

Other locations that we filmed at and are planning to use in our production are:
• Hyde Park
• Big Ben
• St Pauls Cathedral
• Buckingham Palace
• Kensington Palace
• The Shard
• Regent Street
• Millennium Bridge

In conclusion I think that from these locations, which we have spent many hours in deciding and planning by choosing a wide variety it will therefore be a greater chance that our audience will want to watch on as they will recognise and then relate to certain aspects of the teaser trailer, however we know that filming at all of these locations will take a long time. As a result I think that the teaser trailers locations will be perfect for our Film Noir genre.

Drawn Storyboard pt.2

Drawn Storyboard pt.1

Shot List

Moodboard by Amar Bram

Synopsis

Jason Stone was an ex-jail inmate, who was subject to many illegal scientific tests. He broke out and found himself lying in a hospital bed, without any knowledge of who he was and his previous life. One year on, Jason has recently been diagnosed with Insomnia, meaning he goes without sleep for weeklong periods and struggles to separate his dreams from reality as well as his ideas.

There’s just one problem, he discovers his own ideas become reality...

After suffering without sleep, he experiences a strange thought, which he sees projected on live news. This changes his life forever. The next scene follows Jason with a Psychiatrist explaining about his Insomnia, and how his ideas become reality, the Psychiatrist soon turns out to be, one of the appropriate agents and ‘mind seekers’ who are responsible for the scientific test, the agent goes up to Mirror discovering he is a totally different person.

Nonetheless, what leads the agents to him are the past events that have happened in his life, in this case the robbing of a famous London Bank; which makes them specifically know it was him. Along the way, Jason discovers once an idea takes control of the brain it’s almost impossible to eradicate. Whatever he imagines long enough will happen, the agents seek to wipe out his mind completely, which they failed to do previously, and can only attack Jason through his ideas.

When he does dream, his sub-conscious projection named Dwight does enough to guide and protect Jason along the way. As the only place safe is in his dreams, but the battle with Insomnia would see him fighting against the agents for weeklong periods. So, he advises Jason to build an alter ego in his Ideas that he is a deadly assassin, which protects and prevents them long enough, from getting to him.

Through a series of action scenes trying fend off the agents and seek answers, Jason uncovers he must formulate an idea and design a way out, which doesn’t prove quite straightforward...

Idea Pitch

Above is an image of the idea pitch that I created with all of our ideas condensed. In the teaser trailer that we will later create we wanted it to be exciting, enthralling and enticing for the audience and therefore make the audience want to watch it again. As a result we have used a wide range of ideas and we have used the conventions of a teaser trailer for this particular genre. Below is the synopsis for our teaser trailer plot.

The genre of our A2 production is going to be Film Noir. The main reason why we decided to use this genre was because we thought that at the moment there are not many popular Film Noir films out and therefore we thought that we would be able to entice more people to watch our production as they would have no alternative. In addition from our previous teaser trailer research we liked many of the Film Noir trailers and therefore this further persuaded us to create a Film Noir teaser trailer. Some examples of the teaser trailers that we liked were: Se7en, Batman: The Dark Knight, The Maltese Falcon and Memento. We also are planning to use aspects of other teaser trailers, these include: Inception, Sin City and Fight Club. From these teaser trailers and other various researches we conducted we realised that the conventions of a Film Noir is emphasis on the colours of black, white and red. As the colour black and red have connotations of death and danger by emphasizing these colours in our production it will instantly receive a reaction from the audience.

Furthermore we also looked at the genre of neo-noir, the difference between a film noir and a neo noir is that a film noir is from the 1940’s and therefore is less modern, however a neo noir film is a more modern and updated motion picture, an example of a neo noir film is L.A Confidential which stars Kim Basinger and was released in 1997. However despite this we still believe that the film noir genre would suit our production a lot better.

In addition we are also planning to use conventions of a teaser trailer. For instance this would include a voice over narration, institution logo at the start and music. From the previous research that we conducted we noticed how the institution logo was at the very start and therefore for our teaser trailer we will also do this so our production looks a lot more professional. Also we are planning a narration to indicate vaguely to the audience what is occurring, however as the aim of a teaser trailer is to make the audience think so we will make sure that the narration does not give too much of the plot away as then this will reduce the effectiveness of the teaser trailer. As a result we know that this is going to be difficult and we need to conduct careful planning as we must make the meaning clear as well as creating a mystery. Finally we will include a music soundtrack, the reason why we have chosen to do this is to add meaning in the teaser trailer, by this we mean that by including a tense sounding soundtrack this will rebound onto the audience and hopefully they will begin to feel tense. As this is the aim of our teaser trailer this will mean that we are sill fulfilling our initial aims.

Furthermore we will also use a wide range of camera shots, transitions and cuts. The reason why we decided in doing this is because we thought that this would make our teaser trailer not look too predictable and therefore as the audience will not know what will happen next they will hopefully be on the edge of their seat. Some examples of camera shots that we will be using are: Dutch tilt, Extreme Close Up, Long Shot, Over The Shoulder Shot and many more. Also we have planned to use a wide range of transitions for the same reason, some examples of cuts/transitions that we will use are: Fade To Black, Flashes White, Jump Cut, Zoom, Wipe and many more. As a result we think that this will improve our production as a whole.

Also we will be spending a lot of time filming as we have planned to use a wide range of iconic locations. The reason why we have done this is because we think that this will entice people to continue to watch on as they will be able to relate to the teaser trailer as they would have been to these locations. As a result we have used locations that are popular to create realism and add to the disaster that will occur in our teaser trailer. Some of the locations that we will be using are Canary Wharf, SwissRe Building, City Hall and the Business and Enterprise Conference Room in our school. Also we will also show the facial expressions regularly of the character and therefore as these will be facial expressions (mise en scene) of instability and panic we are hoping that this will rebound onto our audience and therefore involve the audience a lot more which is what we are aiming to do in our teaser trailer.

In addition we are also planning to use the popular theories that have been used throughout the film industry. The theory that we are planning to use is Toderov’s theory, this is the theory that shows normality at the start, equilibrium, and then there is a change of pace abruptly to emphasize the abnormality, disequilibrium. As a result especially for the plot in our teaser trailer we think that this theory will be perfect. This is because when the disequilibrium starts, the destruction of the iconic locations, it will have more of an effect on the audience and hopefully we will see a reaction which is what we are aiming for. Another theory that we will be considering is of Propp’s, this theory is concerned with a hero, princess, villain and donor. However as this theory is commonly used in tales we will not base our teaser trailer on this, we may use sections of it.

Moreover we will be using a lot of postmodernism. The reason why we chose postmodernism rather than modernism is because we thought that this has a much broader target audience and therefore increases the chances of success. Some conventions of postmodernism texts that we are planning to use are: Decentred Self, Pushing Boundaries, Dystopia, Cynical, and Fragmented Narrative. As a result by using these conventions we are hoping that more people will enjoy our teaser trailer and therefore our aims and objectives of the teaser trailer would have been met.

In conclusion in our A2 production we are hoping that it is an enjoyable and exciting teaser trailer that looks professional and therefore entices people to watch on and visit our ancillary texts. As a result in order to make it look professional we will be trying to use as many conventions of the genre, postmodernism and various theories to entice our target audience to watch the teaser trailer.

Survey & Feedback on Film Noir pt.2

Survey

1. How Much Do You Like Film Noir Films? Please Circle, 1 Being Strongly Dislike And 10 Being Love.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

2. What Aspects Do You Like About Film Noir Films?

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3. What Do You Expect To See In A Film Noir Teaser Trailer?

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4. Name Your Favorite Film Noir Film?

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5. Do You Know Of Any Film Noir Films In The Cinema At The Moment? If So Please State

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6. When Did You Last See A Film Noir Film?

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7. What Was The Last Film Noir Film You Saw? If Applicable

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8. What Type Of Actor/Actress Do You Expect To See In A Film Noir?

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9. Have You Ever Seen Sin City? If So What Do You Think Of It

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10. Can You Please Rank You Favorite Genres Out Of The Following List. 1 Being Your Favorite And 5 Being Your Least Favorite.

Film Noir –

Action -

Comedy -

Horror -

Thriller -

Thank You For Taking Part In Our Survey

Research 5: Film Noir Conventions pt.1

Film noir being the sub genre of crime fiction, has taken great acclaim for its use of visual motifs, which feature strong shadows that often partially obscure the character in focus, this particular technique is called ‘chiaroscuro’. The characters involved tend to be either a private eye; a loan detective on a particular case, complimented by a second in focus the femme fatale, who usually gets the protagonist into difficult situations and is often devious and misleading.

Isolated ‘Fight Club’ character played by Edward Norton

Although, what we chose to do was go down the path of another signature film noir character, the ‘alienated protagonist’, who is usually struggling to get to grips with reality and has a pessimistic view of the world, so a modern day film noir such as ‘Fight Club’, the main protagonist in the movie seemed perfect to base our character on, who is often vulnerable and isolated.

Dark Knight at abandoned Battersea Power Station & The Wrong Man

It was vital to demonstrate the elements of film noir, so we analysed various Alfred Hitchcock films such as ‘The Wrong Man’ and modern film noirs such as ‘Se7en’, and what we decided on was how the setting was always in a big city, filled with busy workers, during rush hour, key scenes usually took place in either a bar or a nightclub. To add, fight scenes and vital parts of the story tended to be in an Industrial setting so therefore factories, abandoned train yards and power plants.

Flashback during Memento

Film noir has a very descriptive narrative present throughout most film noirs, so it was important to indicate this in our teaser trailer, which is usually in first person; flashbacks of vital moments usually in the protagonist life, as well as complicated storyline where the main character struggles to find a way out.

Stylized black and white & low key lighting

After considering the setting, narrative and type of character, we then moved onto lighting and editing which is so precise in film noir; it was important that get it right, the use of black and white throughout the film makes film noir very stylized. Therefore we saw there was usually low key lighting on the characters, exposing the emotions of the characters which made them seem vulnerable or when the protagonist is unable to understand the characters surrounding him; obscuring part of the characters face also connotes a sense of mystery and can convey how dangerous a character is – usually the antagonist.

Protagonist at Mirror & Character cautiously at blinds

The use of camera featured a range of shots but the iconic camera techniques we found from film noir were the protagonist had a scene where he was looking at his reflection through a mirror , or either cautious through a blind, exposing the high key lighting on the characters face. Furthermore various Dutch angled shots also featured.

glowing neon sign

use of rain

Trench coat

The last part proved to be the little touches, that give it that sophisticated film noir look, was then mise-en-scene and iconography, the vital scenes were usually showcased in rain drenched streets, and in almost every film we would see the protagonist at some point near a flashing neon sign; we decided that it was also important that are main character at one point in our teaser trailer used a gun, and had a trenched coat like iconic film in the early 1940s.

Genre

Why We Chose This Genre

After we conducted all of our research we had to decide from our results what genre we will use in our teaser trailer. As a result we spent a long time analysing our results critically and concluded that we will create a Film Noir/Neo Noir. The reason why we decided to create this genre was because that there are not many Film Noir films in the cinema at the moment and therefore there is a greater chance of success for our product. Also we will use conventions of a Film Noir to make it clear to our audience the genre, for instance it will be black and white. In conclusion we will be hoping to create an excellent and effective teaser trailer.

Research 3 : 4 Focus Teaser Trailers

After lenghthy research of various teasers, we focused on the most relevant for our plans; we drew inspiration from five particular trailers, we thought the concepts behind them were terrific and wanted ours to live up to that standard. However, the first trailer we looked at was Sin City we were already contemplating the idea that we would go for a crime-fiction/film noir genre, but we loved the way Sin City had modernised the film noir genre, with the isolated colours; and yet at the same time made it look very sophisticated. For example, red being the main source of colour against the black and white – would either highlight blood, or a woman in a red dress or man in the red tie; we wanted ours to be unque and stand-out, and the concept of doing the neo-noir genre seemed excellent as it very stylised, we were able to create this technique with Adobe Premier Pro.

Sin City & Re-created in Premiere Pro
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ZGMaMHtSUw

Inception & Matrix PostModern qualities We loved the unique concepts and plot behind each film the decentered-self in both movies, for instance two individuals lost in between two worlds as they struggle to get to grips with reality. The VFX in Inception left us in awe, we went away and reviewed what software was realisticly available to create mind-blowing effects with similarites to both films; we discrovered Adobe After Effects which contained a built-in software called Action Essentials , we wanted to create postmodern inspired Dystopia of a destroyed world like what was seen in the Matrix and Inception, which we were able to do with Action Essentials. We then wanted a non-linear narrative so audience were left guessing, and to leave the teaser with on a cliff-hanger.

Destroyed City - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xz1xRgvI6Hg

To add, the mise-en-scene in both films was very sophisticated; particularly in the Matrix the agents always had suits, but at the same time looked menacing. We knew if our film was to be taken seriously we had to make it look as though it was an actual movie, or it would seem very comedic. So we therefore went for shirt and ties as attire inspired by the agents.

We wanted our character to be very isolated, the concept behind our teaser was ‘What is real? and to question reality’? which is what messages the Matrix and Inception both send out, we then came across Fight Club where the main protagonist has Insomnia, the theory behind he exclaims ‘With Insomnia nothing seems real’! we felt this was the perfect character to base our protagonist on. Therefore, we analysed his various mannerism and copied how Fight Club portrayed Edward Norton with Insomnia which was then conveyed in our teaser trailer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2QgFWXLN-ug

Extensive Research 2 - Conventions

CONVENTIONS OF A TEASER TRAILER

In order for a teaser trailer to be very effective and to have a lasting effect on the audience there has to be conventions used within the teaser trailer. As a result by including these conventions it provides a platform for the teaser trailer to be effective and hopefully entice the audience to watch the full film in cinemas. Below I will go into more detail about these vital conventions.

Institution
The institution is the business company that has helped the film be distributed and also produced the film. As a result this has to be included, stereotypically the institution logo is at the start of teaser trailers however from my extensive research there are some teaser trailers where a scene is shot then the logo appears.

Rate of Cuts
The rate of cuts also is a pivotal aspect of a teaser trailer. From the research that I have conducted I have noticed that the speed of the cuts also adds meaning, for instance the quicker the rate of cuts the more intense feeling the audience senses and the slower the speed of cuts the less thrilling the teaser trailer seams. However from the theory of Propp and Todorov cuts in a teaser trailer are important as the slow cuts can be used at the start to show the equilibrium and the quick cuts can be at the end to show the disequilibrium.

Music
The music that is used in the teaser trailer has to fit what is currently being shown in the teaser trailer and the genre of the teaser trailer. For instance if the teaser trailer is a horror the stereotypical music would be deep and heart throbbing whereas in a romantic comedy the music would be more quieter and fluid. However I also conducted research on music and found out that contrapuntal music can also be used effectively and this is done in our Year 12 product, 10/10/10.

Casting
The casting is also a convention of a teaser trailer. However from the extensive research that I conducted I noticed that not all teaser trailers included this, however the films with the major and popular actors all included the casting in the credits and therefore this has shown me that this can also be a way to increase the amount audience. An example of a film that includes the casting is the teaser trailer from, Terminator 4 Salvation.

Voice-Over Narration
Voice-over narration is also another effective method that is used in a teaser trailer. This is used to set the scene of the film and to add more of an understanding in the teaser trailer for the audience. As a teaser trailer can be confusing as it is only 90 seconds long and a lot of information is condensed in that time a voice over narration is commonly used.

Graphics
Finally graphical text is also a convention of a teaser trailer. This is when the teaser trailer contains text; however the font of the text is a way to create and add meaning. For instance the teaser trailer for Terminator 4 Salvation (Science-Fiction) the graphics are metallic and the graphics for the Se7en (Thriller/Horror) are very scratchy. As a result this clearly indicates the genre of the film just from the graphics.

In conclusions there are many conventions of a teaser trailer that are very effective and are a great way to create meaning within the 90 second teaser trailer. As a result I will have to make sure that these conventions are used in my teaser trailer and then there will be a greater chance of my teaser will succeed.