Evaluation: How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

Below is a list of the media technologies we used throughout the project.

• Canon 500d (built in microphone)
• Tripod
• Photoshop
• Studio lights for photography
• Sony Vegas 9 Pro
• iTunes
• Windows Media Player
• Youtube
• Microsoft Word

Canon 500d: We used this to film and to record audio. It served us well, with us being able to switch lens types for different shots. One had a shallow depth of field while one was the normal 55mm lens. We also used the in built microphone which did its job well enough for our film. If I redid the film, id  defiantly use a boom mic as it would be able to pick up the sound better than my microphone which often captured the noises coming from inside the camera instead of what the actors where saying.

Tripod: We used my Tripod to reduce shaking of the camera angles and also to match the convention of static panning shots used in many film noirs.

Photoshop: With my extensive knowledge of Photoshop, I used it when ever I could. I used it in my Poster creation and also my review. For my review I erased the review I had print screened which was for Battleship and created a text box where I then copy and pasted my full review into it. I then changed things such as the trailer in the video player at the top and the score (which was at a 2 star). I also changed the films facts such as Director, Cast and Run time using a text box. We used photoshop to create our logo aswell.

Studio Lights: I used the studio lights to highlight key features of our characters and also create a suitable mood for our characters such as low key lighting for our bad guy.

Sony Vegas 9 Pro: This was vital in the editing process which I was in charge of. We used this instead of the Final Cut which the school provided as I had vast knowledge of Vegas and had never used Final Cut before and did not want to waste post production time learning how to use it.

iTunes: It was used to collect the music for our film in a playlist and then reduce the number of songs in that playlist to the ones we defiantly wanted to use.

Windows Media Player: This was used to play our film for our screening and also to review our edits in Post Processing after exporting them.

YouTube: YouTube was vital for two reasons. First was the obvious one that it is hosting our film for anyone to watch and the second is that it helped us find music we needed, such as the Big Fish soundtrack that I did not have on my iTunes prior to using it.

Mircrosoft Word: Microsoft word was used throughout the project. Early stages used it as a place to write our screenplay, script and plot. Also it helped us note down things such as props we needed, our shooting schedule, lighting notes, locations and sound effects needed for scenes.

Evaluation: What have you learned from your audience feedback?

As part of a showing of all our films, we wrote down our feedback for other peoples films and they wrote feedback for ours. These pieces of feedback (shown here) helped me view the film from a fresh perspective and allowed me to see what was wrong with the film and if I did it again, I could improve it based on these comments. These comments also helped me write my review.

Our feedback was generally positive, which pleased me greatly after having worked on it for so long, and being very stressed about whether it would go down aswell. The general good and bad points of the comments where:

Positive


- Good, Interesting Camera Shots
- Lighting was good
- Music was suitable

Negative


- Convoluted, Confusing story
- Below Average acting


If I decided to re do this film, I would take these comments and apply them to the new version, but due to them being such major changes (would require new actors, new or changed plot, new script) we decided it was impossible to change these in the small time we had before the deadline.

Evaluation: How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

My Ancillary texts stood the same amount of research as my main film did, and the same level of detail. My Film Noir poster was researched, as I looked at dozens of Film Noir posters from the time to try and get an idea of how to create a true poster. I noticed common themes among them, including slanted text, characters bigger than other characters and actors last names being in capitals. Also, due to the lack of technology, almost all of them where hand drawn.

Due to me being no artist, I used photos I captured of all the main characters and arranged them in photoshop to create the poster seen below. I created a hand drawn effect using a effect on photoshop which makes photos look like oil paintings. I found it difficult to know where to space the names, as the shape where the faces where in took up most available space, which was frustrating as I am still unhappy with there location.

To fully combine my poster with my film noir, I photoshopped it into a photo so it looked like it was hanging

outside a cinema right next to posters for other big blockbusters such as Clash of the Titans and Book Of Eli.

My review helps add to the believabilty of this film actually being released into the box office, with me thinking like a critic after reading many reviews, analyzing their layout and highlighting what makes a bad film. I found it easier to criticize my film as I can find out things I did wrong and wanted to do again than completely praise it for being a masterpiece which it is not. This is why I gave it 3 stars out of 5. I made my critic ignore the run time, as if you paid full price cinema ticket for a 6 minute film, you would believe its the worst film ever so I had to suspend reality slightly. Click here to see the review.

Evaluation: In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

As with all Film Noirs, the themes and conventions are vital to create the correct atmosphere, even down to the music and camera angles. Our group researched these, watching numerous Film Noirs such as LA Confindential, Double Indemnity and Brick to find common themes. We discovered common themes where:

 

•       Characters who have broken, shady backgrounds
•       Use Of Mirrors
•       Urban Setting
•       Corruption 
•       Disorientation Devices (such as blur or dutch angle shots)
•       Other than Brick, all of them where set in 1940’s America
•       Smoking was used throughout the film
•       Strong female characters, often bound to death or tragedy (femme Fatale)
•       Lighting was used in all to create an atmosphere of foreboding danger
•       Suits with trilby’s where worn by men, while dresses where worn by women.
•       Low Key Lighting
•       Gang Crime, Murder and Drugs
•       Voice Overs

 

Now we had a strong idea of what it takes to create a believable film noir we used our knowledge to create our film. Starting with what our characters names where and what they wore. Bones Frisco, Adrianna and Barnaby Frisco all decided upon as they were uncommon in today’s society, but not in the 1940’s. We chose what our characters wore as well to highlight who they were, such as Bones and Goodwin wearing grey to highlight the fact that they are not understood fully enough to make judgements and also it creates a link between the two with them wearing the same colour. Adrianna wore a dress, to highlight her key role as a Femme Fatale. A dress is used to create an allure of sexiness while empowering the woman with a sense of high class in society.

 

The use of Black and White was almost not worth thinking about. Creating our film in colour would require more work to make an atmosphere of Film Noir. Black and white creates this atmosphere without any hard work required. While colour Film Noirs exist, they are often high budget unlike our film, where the budget was about £10.

 

Our film title "Le Mortel Liaison" was chosen to be in French due to Film Noirs roots in post world war countries such as France and Germany. These countries where in states of depression and ruin. The first film noirs came from these places and it shows, with the themes of broken society through corruption, characters often having shady, shattered backgrounds and crime taking over a city, much like they where in post war France. 

 

Dutch Angle's are commen in Film Noir's to represent that something is not quite right in the scene, giving a sense that something is off. We used this in the finale, to show Adrianna's state of mind, with her thoughts being off and confused as she has shot Barnaby. It also shows how the world featured in 'Le Mortel Liaison' has been disrupted with the killing of our main character, which follows the conventions of Betrayal in Noir's.

 

 

Lighting was also used in film noirs to create an atmosphere, things such as low key lighting will create an air of mystery or danger around a character from just one light, making a Chiaroscuro effect which was key for our film was in Black and White. An example of this is when Frisco is leaving his house and he turns and enters the light source coming from above. This creates shadows on his face, drowning but also highlighting others creating an uneasy tone for the next few scenes.

 

 

 

Voice overs are also key to Film Noirs, they are used to fill in the background story (like in our film) or to narrate the characters thoughts. I found that when adding our voice over, it immediately felt like a film noir.

 

Our Film Noir challenges the conventions of film noir as our Noir had no set time, unlike many Noirs which are set in 1940’s America. This allowed us to use modern cars for Frisco and in our audience feedback, no one seemed to mind. Also, our film noir is set in England, which is unusual for true film noirs. These choices where all down to budget, and we tried to aim for a 1940’s setting wherever we could, shown in props such as the telephone in Frisco’s office and the gun used in the finale.

Locations Part 2

For our finale, we needed a church exterior and interior. We used Ashwell Church's exterior as it was rural, isolated and more daunting than Baldock Church's which was situated by a busy high street road.

We used the Interior of Baldock Church as we gained permission to use it. It had vast stain glass windows and a large central walk way we used for a shot of Frisco walking down to increase tension. We where fortunate on the day that it was bright so the stain glass stood out even more and was highlighted. I took the advantage and added a few extra shots on the day for this reason such as when Frisco walks into the frame with a stain glass window in the background.

Locations

For all films, location is possibly the biggest star. Setting the emotion, tone and atmosphere without saying anything. For this reason, we thought of scenes with areas we knew already in mind. Here are some stills of the locations we planned to use, and did use.

Frisco's office

The Lighting was soft in here, giving a sense of saftey

The Tunnel used for the Crime Scene.
With the vines and foliage covering the entrance like a cave
it was naturally scary place.

The graffiti creates a striking image. We were originally
going to use this red smear as a blood smear
but on the day we realized the ground had
glass on and didn't want to risk injury.

As all film companys do, we needed to assign jobs to each of our group members as soon as possible to get production rolling.

All Of Us

• Writers: Creating the Plot and Characters for a film to be based around.
• Casting: deciding who would be in our film.
• Actors: performing in our film.

Emilie Cherry

• Screenplay: making our storyline into a script.
• Assistant Film Editor: Provides a second opinion to Chief Editor
• Location Scout: helping to find locations that we can film.
• Wardrobe Supervisor: deciding the costumes.

Matthew Williams

• Cinematography: Keeping track of film timings on set and making sure each shot looks well and is shot well. 
• Film Editing: The Chief Editor of the films post production. 
• Music Supervisor: Finding suitable music

Luke Jones

• Main Actor
• Assistant Film Editor: Provides another opinion 
• Location Scout: helping to find locations that we can film.

Raya Renney

• Secondary Cinematography: making sure the shots looked good as well as filming.
• Assistant Film Editor: helping to edit the film.
• Property Assistant: finding suitable props.
• Location Scout: helping to find locations that we can film.