Storyline 1- Storyboard

Sunset Boulevard Analysis

Camera shots & Angles:
Conventionally they aren't complex and complicated, they consist mainly of long angles, mid shots and tracking shots. Film Noirs are well known for their flow of events, a lot of scenes are just one long tracking shot with dialogue and some parallel cuts (going into a different shot then cutting back). Angles that are hard to maneuver out of will ruin the flow of the film.

Editing:
Is very simple, in the 1950's there would not of been technology available to create a large variety of transitions etc, therefore conventionally editing consists of basic straight cuts and the fade out at the end, occasionally there would be sound effects used, but only basic ones.

Lighting:
As commonly seen in film noirs, the lighting of female characters is very soft- this makes the shot of the woman a lot more flattering and makes them look much more attractive than if a harsh and sharp lighting was used for the same shot. This scene is in greyscale, if the director wanted to make the shot more dramatic or to build tension then black and white would be the two main colours used as well as silhouettes. This scene being in grey reflects the mood conveyed by the character- it is bright and uplifting, suggesting they are happy etc.

Mise- en- Scene:
The narrative of the film is clearly conveyed through the mise-en-scene, the cameras show that the film is based in Hollywood, the characters are therefore most likely going to be actors etc. The crowded room shows what a hectic lifestyle the character lives, but she enjoys it. Clothing and costumes suggests higher class and very well off building the character profile and setting the narrative.

Music:
In film noirs' orchestral and dramatic music is common place- it builds tension and suspense and drags the audience into the atmosphere the film wishes to create. It can make a scene feel ominous, mysterious and dark depending on what type of music is used.

Film Noir poster planning

This poster is quite conventional of the film noir genre, it is a drawn poster with the main characters shown. Although the film is in black and white the poster is in colour. This isn't unusual for a film noir poster, like posters for films today, they must be eyecatching in order for people to hold interest. It is clear it is a film noir by the way the charcters are lit, the woman having a very soft lighting and the man a dark ominous lighting. Posters for film noirs and many other genres of film in this era were often drawn as there wasn't technology available to get everything you want into a poster, by photos and digital imagery etc. I like this poster because it has a mysterious and edgy feel to it whilst still maintaining the sophisticated and eligant nature of a film noir. Th fonts are often simple as big fancy fonts and prints were not availble in this era. I think the fonts work well for this poster though as it creates a simplistic feel and does not draw attention away from the characters and the atmosphere the colours create.

This poster is a bit more unusual for a conventional film noir. One colour dominates the poster which gives a dramatic feel about it. There is one central character, with the bright red colour this character could be an evil character who is up against the other two characters who are placed beneath her- she is looking down at them which makes her look powerful compared to hem. The title of the film is more clear and placed across the front of the poster- it is not subtle but it does create a mystery as not much is shown about he film, the audience will want to see the film to see what the story is about, the title of the film noir is shown to be the most important asset of this poster. Although the colours are bright, fonts and titles are more obvious etc the poster is still quite simplistic.  

My draft for a narration (storyline 2)

'It was 9.32, a cold February night. I took my mind off the bitter chill, reminding myself that tomorrow would be Valentines day. I usually have no interest in this pointless, money- making scam of a "holiday", but this year was different... [Pause] Alina. Beautiful beyond reason and as sharp as a tack. Her soft skin as radiant as the moonlight and her eyes as hypnotic as the stars themselves. She had been wanting to help me out on this case for some time now, I was doing well to keep her out of all this, but my oh my is she persuasive. A fine little lady like her could captivate any man long enough for me to lock him up- i never doubted that. Not once. I just can't see her hurt.'

'Following her through the twisting and turning of these god forsaken alleys, darkness in one corner and danger lurking round the next. I stayed a distance behind her, as I was instructed. I'm a private detective you see, following was not so much my forte. leading though- boy oh boy could I lead. Detective Riley- best in this town, solved every unsolvable case so far, solo. Until now- this guy here is John Stokes, nasty little thing he is, but as smart as hell... committed more crimes than all the crooks, murderers and kidnappers I caught all together. Dangerous. I've been trying to catch him for months and now just a few metres away from me... all i can do is wait. And pray.'

--- John sees Riley, he lunges for Alina (hear Alinas' muffled cries for help) and Riley starts to run after the car as he speeds off ---

'I tried. Everything I had in me went o my feet and I ran. Ran like I never could... [Pause]

---Riley slows down in the distance in the road as the cars speeds off---

A chill hit me, not the cold, not exhaustion, but I had lost her, let her down. I hadn't kept her safe, a broken promise.... [Pause]
And like that she was gone'

Group task delegating

Today the group met up and discussed who would be doing what tasks. We decided a few things about the main task and what we should contribute individually. We chose the storyline we were going to do (Storyline 1) and decided the other one (Storyline 2) would be our second idea. We started making storyboards for both ideas and went about scripting them both. We decided we would look into hiring actors in order to achieve the perfect Film Noir that fit all the conventions, we also decided to study a different period of Film Noir each; Amy Batten- 1940's, Me- 1950's and Ruth Cooper- 1960's, we hope this will help us make the finished product more realistic.

Storylines by Amy Batten

Storyline 1

(Common in a film noir where the opening scene is in fact the end of the film- showing the outcome of the story that is about to be told)

About a love triangle were the Private Detective has fallen for the fem fatale, he begs her to tell him how to find the man who is trying to kill her. All he knows is he has an obsession for her and if he can't get her, no one can.

They are walking fast, she is crying and they stop and kiss- you see someone approaching with a gun, all three of their eyes meet, leading to dialogue and ONE gunshot is heard, then darkness, you do not know who has been shot.

Meanwhile a narrator is talking over this to explain what is happening (could be the private detective narration)

Storyline 2

Set in foggy and dark alley way

Private Detective is following fem fatale down an alley way (while titles are running). As he is following her he then stops and watches the woman, she meets a man who is standing casually against a car, he then pushes her into his car and drives off. The detective runs after them, a long shot of them driving away at a speed and him directly in the centre running into the distance.

New ideas and more research

After it was discussed, we came to the conclusion that our first storyline was not going to live up to the task. Amy spent a lot of time thinking of new ideas and finding common patterns within films so we could develop a new one, Ruth looked into more locations and set about taking pictures to show the group a range of locations. I looked into how we could film a film noir perfectly, learnt some lighting techniques and how to make the most of a film noir atmosphere when taking shoots for the poster. Research is now essential in this stage of planning to make sure all aspects of the production look perfect.  

31st of December- first group meet up

The group came round mine and we all discussed ideas and decided who was going to do what. I had spent time making a double A3 image board as part of research into things such as costumes, make up, hairstyles and overall atmosphere of a film noir. Amy had done research into film noir films and looking into other films to find common conventions. Ruth did research on where we could film and where we would find our perfect set.


We discussed ideas for a storyline and came up with a rough idea for a storyboard that Amy was going to draw up. Based on our storyline we thought of actors and actresses we could potentially use and what shots and angles we could use.


We had some difficulty with the storyline and trying to match it with conventions, I think we planned it too much around what would be most easy to produce and put together (in terms of actors etc) rather than it fitting in with all the film noir conventions. It was a risky storyline as we couldn't think of any male actors to play the role of the victim we decided to chose a female to play the role instead (very unconventional).


Still, early days.

Our Film Noir group

Groupage for the main task:    Job roles:
-Ruth Cooper                        -Camera one, Poster, (Possible) Lighting
-Amy Batten                          -Camera Two, Producer, Photographer, Lighting
-Emily Wilson                        -Director, Editor

'The Morning After'

 

Powerpoint & Evaluation

(Havent got powerpoint yet)

Preliminary Task Evaluation.

When we were put into our groups the first thing we did was see who had what experience and who would be the best for each job. Using the information we gave out roles, as Isla had some experience with camera work and she had done media before, she was chosen to be camera man, Christie was the only one with experience of Photoshop so we put her in charge of posters and photography. As I had experience with editing and knew how to use the software, I was given the task of editing and put in charge of directing. Isla was the producer.

After a week of individual brainstorming for ideas we met up and discussed ideas. We decided to go with the idea I had suggested as it was easy to film, and it could be filmed at my house which was in the middle of the other group member houses.

We split up tasks, we had to decide who would do risk assessment, script, story board, the finishing presentation, production and shooting schedule. I volunteered to do script and storyboarding as the idea was mostly mine. Christie did posters, production and shooting schedule. Isla did risk assessment and the presentation at the end.

I think the best bit of the production was filming as everyone had a good time doing it. I think we are all very independent people and I am glad that the team knew what needed to be done without asking. I think the idea was good as it was easy and didn’t require much forward planning but still having the desired affect afterwards.

I think our group struggled a lot when it came to communication, this is mainly due to the fact that we rarely saw each other, we tried to get together and discuss the production on free periods but we were rarely in the same frees together, and if we were there was always at least one of us that was busy. I think we should of planned a bit better, even though the idea was straight forward I still think we could of added more to the story as it is quite short. I think our group would of excelled in this ask if we had worked more on better communication.

I enjoyed scripting the production as it was challenging to think of how an idea in your head would come together on paper. I enjoyed editing the production as it was quite funny to do. I wish we had continued to be organised until the production was presented.

Being put in charge of the group didn’t bother me at all, I enjoy making productions and I am good at stimulating teamwork and delegating tasks appropriately to team members. One drawback of being put in the role of a director is that people sometimes expect to be told what to do, but i feel we had quite an independant group. To avoid people becoming dependant one person in the team at any point, we sat down and discussed who was going to do what and when, it seemed like people got on with what they were asked, however this affected communication even more as I didn’t know if things were getting done or not, it was stressful not knowing if things were done when the deadline was getting close.

I like to know what is going on especially when I am put in the role of a director, even though I appreciated that everyone was doing what they said they would do, I was never getting any feedback about what had been completed. I think the group as a whole could have used a bit more incentive.

If I had to change some things in the production I would of made sure that the group kept in contact so everyone knew what was going on, and would of made the story a bit longer and made sure all the camera shots and framing were to an excellent standard before we let the actors leave. I enjoyed all the different parts of the production but I think I would of enjoyed the experience more if I was 100% pleased with the end result, i think the we as a team were more than capable of making it look perfect. I know appreciate just how vital comminication is to the success of the tasks.

Some pictures from the set

Our Poster

November 7th- Filming day

11.00 am the group and the actors arrived at my house for filming
Christie- Took photos for the poster and snapshots for blogs, evaluation etc
Isla- Was incharge of filming
and I- directed and prepared the sets for the scenes

We had 5 actors; Cherie Genower, Sophie Batten, Amy Wilson, Heather Tagg and Zoe Baker
We needed to have the camera plugged in the whole time as it didnt charge properly, this made it difficult to move from scene to scene. However we found it was much easier to film the shots in the right order as this meant there wasnt too much unplugging of the camera.

Filming was fairly quick and easy to do and we were finished by 1.00 pm

I think everyone did really well and the filming process run very smoothly because of it. I do wish we were able to do more of each shot though as some arent perfect and the 180° rule was broken in some points.

Our Script

THE MORNING AFTER

BY

EMILY W, ISLA T, CHRISTIE P

DRAFT II

(Fade in)

1.  Ext, a driveway- Day

(A girl walks up a driveway; she looks rough and messy after a night out. She is wearing a short skirt, vest top and one high heel, her makeup is smeared all over her face and her hair is a mess, she avoids the front door so not to be seen by her parents she walks around to the side gate and looks to see how to get over the fence. She stands on a wooden box and clambers over, as she gets to the top and carelessly rolls over the top)

2.  Ext, round the corner of a wall in a back garden- Day

(The girl appears creeping around the corner, she carefully peers through the window and sighs as she sees people inside, she takes a deep breath and storms in through the door)

3.  Int, inside a dining room- Day

GIRL: (as walking in and sitting down, spoken in rushed manner)I haven’t been out late, I was round Lucy’s, I haven’t drunk anything, don’t give me the lecture again, we stayed in, I didn’t do anything stupid, there weren’t any boys, we had an early night, there wasn’t even a party

(Camera cuts to close up of her feet, they are muddy and she is only wearing one shoe)

GIRL: I don’t need yelling at, we have this “talk” every weekend, I know, nothing happened!

(Camera cuts back to her)

(GIRL throws up on table)

(Camera cuts round to the other side of the room which hasn’t yet been shown, there are a group of 4 young girls, they are all very shocked, some look scared and other repulsed, they are dressed in pyjamas and are just eating breakfast)

YOUNG GIRL: (scared) Mummmm….

(Camera cuts back round to the GIRL she slowly raises her head)

GIRL: Oops, wrong house again (stands up and walks to door) I’m so sorry this is the last time I promise (leaving) it won’t happen again.

(She shuts the door, as soon as the door is closed she runs away around the corner)

(Fade out)

Our Storyboard

Starting Our Premilminary Task

Our Group:           Roles in the Group:       
- Isla Tesloff         -Camera
- Christie Pereira  -Set photos and poster
- Emily Wilson      -Director and editing