Friday, 16 January 2009
Shots list of first scene.
Crabbing shot of mans feet walking, to have credits coming up.
Tilt shot from mans feet to his head.
Zoom out of mans head down, puff of smoke.
Point of view shot of man watching mysterious lady walking towards him on the pier.
Medium close up of womens feet walking along the pier towards man.
Medium close up of mans feet walking along the pier towards the lady.
Static two shot shot of feet stopping parrelellel to each other.
Tilt up to women passing man a note, stopping for a second and continuing to walk in opposite directions.
Tilt shot from mans feet to his head.
Zoom out of mans head down, puff of smoke.
Point of view shot of man watching mysterious lady walking towards him on the pier.
Medium close up of womens feet walking along the pier towards man.
Medium close up of mans feet walking along the pier towards the lady.
Static two shot shot of feet stopping parrelellel to each other.
Tilt up to women passing man a note, stopping for a second and continuing to walk in opposite directions.
Our first attempt
We did our first attempt at filming to try out our ideas and to see what they would look like, also to show that we have got some footage and are able to edit somthing as it may come in handy later on. We faced a few problems as per usual as the weather wasn't in our favour and we didn't plan to film it in the rain. Therefore this made our original idea not possible to do, meaning we had to come up with a whole new idea on the spot and improvise as we went along. The pouring rain meant we were unable to use a tripod as this would have resulted in the camera getting wet, which was not an option. So this nfootage has showed that no matter what we need a tripod as it isn't good enough. Now when we go to film we will have to choose between our 2 idea's all depending on what the weather is like. On the weekend if it is raining again rather heavily then we will stick to the idea we have just filmed as that is able to be done in the rain, however if its just cold and not raining then we will do our original idea on the bridge which would make it possible to do, as like iv said its not possible to do in the rain, so the weather is deciding our fate. But both are very similar in the type of film opening it is, therefore changing it but not to drastically
Wednesday, 14 January 2009
Meeting 1
Our first meeting that we had was discussing what we are going to do and trying to compromise how and when we will achieve our filming with all the people that we will need at that time, so we were trying to figure out the time. We have both agreed to meet after school on thursday, meeting on sunday and willing to stay behind school friday, monday and tuesday to catch up with all our editing, this is due to the fact that have been faced with a problem that we weren't able to loan a camera as the media teacher wasn't in and exams have been going on. So all together we have been lagging behind a bit and willing to catch up.
Tuesday, 13 January 2009
Planning
We have decided to film around the time of 6 o clock in the evening. As it is January time this enables us to get the setting of dusk. As we are filming on Torquay harbour side, near a main road, this could create a few issues for us, such as the traffic, though our film noir proposal is set in the present day in which cars are a fluent thing, we still need to consider sound editing ect.
Monday, 12 January 2009
Research
Film Noir.
The years immediately following the end of World War Two marked the start of a crucial phase in the creation, definition and popularising of both literary and cinematic noir.
Both literary and cinematic noir can be seen as closely related to the modernist crisis of culture – as reflecting the feelings of nightmarish alienation, disorientation and disintegration that are often taken as hallmarks of the modernist sensibility.
Discussions of noir often centre on visual and specifically cinematic elements – on things like low-key lighting, chiaroscuro effects, deep focus photography, extreme camera angles and expressionist distortion. But it is essential as well to take account of themes, mood, characterisation, point of view and narrative pattern.
The representation of the protagonist's subjectivity is crucial - his perceptions (both accurate and deluded), his state of mind, his desires, obsessions and anxieties. The need for attending to the handling of perspective in film noir is concisely summed up in Fritz Lang's explanation of his subjective camera work: 'You show the protagonist so that the audience can put themselves under the skin of the man'; by showing things 'wherever possible, from the viewpoint of the protagonist' the film gives the audience visual and psychological access to his nightmarish experiences.
We are brought close to the mind of a protagonist whose position vis a vis other characters is not fixed. Treacherous confusions of his role and the movement of the protagonist from one role to another constitute key structural elements in noir narrative. The victim might, for example, become the aggressor; the hunter might turn into the hunted or vice versa; the investigator might double as either the victim or the perpetrator. Whereas the traditional mystery story, with its stable triangle of detective, victim and murderer, is reasonably certain to have the detective as the protagonist, noir is a deliberate violation of this convention.
Shared guilt is often the only common bond amongst noir characters, who are usually doomed to be isolated . The main themes are generalisations of the ill-fated relationship between the protagonist and his society. Characters suffer either from failures of agency (powerlessness, immobilising uncertainty) or from loss of community (isolation, betrayal). Obsessed, alienated, vulnerable, pursued or paranoid, they suffer despair as they act out narratives that raise the question of whether they are making their own choices or following a course dictated by fate.
The years immediately following the end of World War Two marked the start of a crucial phase in the creation, definition and popularising of both literary and cinematic noir.
Both literary and cinematic noir can be seen as closely related to the modernist crisis of culture – as reflecting the feelings of nightmarish alienation, disorientation and disintegration that are often taken as hallmarks of the modernist sensibility.
Discussions of noir often centre on visual and specifically cinematic elements – on things like low-key lighting, chiaroscuro effects, deep focus photography, extreme camera angles and expressionist distortion. But it is essential as well to take account of themes, mood, characterisation, point of view and narrative pattern.
The representation of the protagonist's subjectivity is crucial - his perceptions (both accurate and deluded), his state of mind, his desires, obsessions and anxieties. The need for attending to the handling of perspective in film noir is concisely summed up in Fritz Lang's explanation of his subjective camera work: 'You show the protagonist so that the audience can put themselves under the skin of the man'; by showing things 'wherever possible, from the viewpoint of the protagonist' the film gives the audience visual and psychological access to his nightmarish experiences.
We are brought close to the mind of a protagonist whose position vis a vis other characters is not fixed. Treacherous confusions of his role and the movement of the protagonist from one role to another constitute key structural elements in noir narrative. The victim might, for example, become the aggressor; the hunter might turn into the hunted or vice versa; the investigator might double as either the victim or the perpetrator. Whereas the traditional mystery story, with its stable triangle of detective, victim and murderer, is reasonably certain to have the detective as the protagonist, noir is a deliberate violation of this convention.
Shared guilt is often the only common bond amongst noir characters, who are usually doomed to be isolated . The main themes are generalisations of the ill-fated relationship between the protagonist and his society. Characters suffer either from failures of agency (powerlessness, immobilising uncertainty) or from loss of community (isolation, betrayal). Obsessed, alienated, vulnerable, pursued or paranoid, they suffer despair as they act out narratives that raise the question of whether they are making their own choices or following a course dictated by fate.
First ideas.
Props: Grey coat, Torches, lamppost, Trilby, cigars.
Setting: Dark alley/street/road/ Office: Find a place within the school premises. Setting, torquay harbour bridge.
Music: Sinister trumpet music.
Opening: We need titles. Storyboard and camera shots.
Tilt up shot of a man smoking a cigar, lent against a lamppost, this man is talking on a voiceover talking about how it was the beginning of the end.
Camera shot of a pair of heels walking, and then another one of a man walking, both of these characters are walking toward each other. The man says ‘ You got what I’m looking for?’
Close up of a note being passed from the woman to the man, you do not see the faces. This takes place at night. Fade out.
Woman in a chair spinning round in a long grey coat and beneath the coat she is wearing long slinky dress, to show her femme fetale characteristics.
A different man who she was meeting comes in the office, which has all the original film Noir elements in it; venation blinds? Possible Smokey atmosphere.
Another shot of a man walking toward the women, a man passes the gun to a different woman and this time you can see the face. The man says ‘Pleasure doing business with you’ Screen goes blank, and opening titles comes up along with quite jazzy music.
This is the first initial plan and ideas it is not fixed.
Setting: Dark alley/street/road/ Office: Find a place within the school premises. Setting, torquay harbour bridge.
Music: Sinister trumpet music.
Opening: We need titles. Storyboard and camera shots.
Tilt up shot of a man smoking a cigar, lent against a lamppost, this man is talking on a voiceover talking about how it was the beginning of the end.
Camera shot of a pair of heels walking, and then another one of a man walking, both of these characters are walking toward each other. The man says ‘ You got what I’m looking for?’
Close up of a note being passed from the woman to the man, you do not see the faces. This takes place at night. Fade out.
Woman in a chair spinning round in a long grey coat and beneath the coat she is wearing long slinky dress, to show her femme fetale characteristics.
A different man who she was meeting comes in the office, which has all the original film Noir elements in it; venation blinds? Possible Smokey atmosphere.
Another shot of a man walking toward the women, a man passes the gun to a different woman and this time you can see the face. The man says ‘Pleasure doing business with you’ Screen goes blank, and opening titles comes up along with quite jazzy music.
This is the first initial plan and ideas it is not fixed.
Film opening analysis
Snatch:
The opening sequences of films are important in determining and putting across what the film itself is going to consist of, these things include factors such as what Genre type of genre the film may take place in; Romatic, comedy, crime, horror, science fiction and more. It can also establish setting and character. In this essay I am going to analyse how the opening sequence to the film of snatch uses many different filming techniques in order to identify the films theme, genre, the basic style of the film, what characters the film may be based around and also what this sequence makes the viewer expect from the film itself.
When the film first begins we see a set of credits, white on black is the format of these credits, this colouring instantly sets the film with an enigmatic feel to it, we usually associate mystery with the colours black and white because they are bold and basic and we don’t get much connotation from the colours themselves, just like mystery. We then hear a non-diagetic voice over of a man talking to the viewer. The man is talking about diamonds, now diamonds are something associated the rich and powerful and bearing in mind that the man is talking in a low cockney voice, and his speech isn’t what you would call ‘proper English’ we automatically assume that he isn’t talking about how he has lots of diamonds. Therefore he is more likely to be talking about how to obtain them, and this instantly puts the film into possibly the genre of adventure and mystery. The fact that there is a voice over of a man speaking suggests that he could be one of the men in the room in which the camera focus’s on, or this character whom I speaking may initially play quite an important role throughout the film.
The film begins in a dark room with two men sitting down, the room is dark and grey, the setting here creates a sense of enigma, therefore the film begins with a feel of mystery, again establishing this genre of mystery and adventure, not only does the setting play apart in establishing this enigmatic feel but we also don’t know why the men are sat there, again associating the film snatch with this theme of possible enigma as the setting is already making the viewer ask questions. The beginning of the opening sequence when the men are sat in this room is extremely slow paced. There are not many cuts or transitions; just two men sat in a room whilst the voice over is talking. The voice over at the end of this scene asks a question: ‘ What do I know about diamonds?’ and the viewer instantly gets a feel of what the film is about.
The camera then cuts, after the voice over asks how to obtain diamonds, the camera cuts so a close up view of some security cameras, it focus’s in on one particular cameral in which we can see clearly that it is tracking some Jewish men, cultural Jewish background music also starts playing at this point. This is used in order to make it obvious to the audience what kind of people these men are suppose to be, the camera then tilts down to another security camera in which shows the men walking into the office. The fact that the camera is looking through a security camera at the Jewish men straight away connotes that these men are up to no good. Acton then establishes this because they start to fight, connoting that the Jewish men are violent.
The camera cuts then to the same Jewish men, sitting on a train, and the camera uses a medium two shot of two men taking off there masks, telling the viewer instantly that these men are fraudsters. Dressing up in disguise in order to obtain and thieve. The Jewish music also stops playing at this point in which tells us that in fact these men are not Jewish. The camera then zooms in to a close up of a diamond, in which they themselves have just stolen, therefore this film suggesting is definitely about how to acquire diamonds as the man is happy with his accomplishment. The camera goes into a transition with the diamond spinning, the non-diagetic background sound suddenly cuts in to fast pace music, introducing each character, we see a medium shot of each character along with the fast pace music, and the denotation of the characters with what they are wearing and look like, suggests to the viewer that all of these men are in disguise, just like the Jewish men were when the were stealing the diamond, and because the Jewish men were in disguise we therefore know that they are all in the diamond industry, well not exactly, they all partake in thieving of diamonds and after this introduction it is blatant and definite that this is what the film will be based on.
The opening sequences of films are important in determining and putting across what the film itself is going to consist of, these things include factors such as what Genre type of genre the film may take place in; Romatic, comedy, crime, horror, science fiction and more. It can also establish setting and character. In this essay I am going to analyse how the opening sequence to the film of snatch uses many different filming techniques in order to identify the films theme, genre, the basic style of the film, what characters the film may be based around and also what this sequence makes the viewer expect from the film itself.
When the film first begins we see a set of credits, white on black is the format of these credits, this colouring instantly sets the film with an enigmatic feel to it, we usually associate mystery with the colours black and white because they are bold and basic and we don’t get much connotation from the colours themselves, just like mystery. We then hear a non-diagetic voice over of a man talking to the viewer. The man is talking about diamonds, now diamonds are something associated the rich and powerful and bearing in mind that the man is talking in a low cockney voice, and his speech isn’t what you would call ‘proper English’ we automatically assume that he isn’t talking about how he has lots of diamonds. Therefore he is more likely to be talking about how to obtain them, and this instantly puts the film into possibly the genre of adventure and mystery. The fact that there is a voice over of a man speaking suggests that he could be one of the men in the room in which the camera focus’s on, or this character whom I speaking may initially play quite an important role throughout the film.
The film begins in a dark room with two men sitting down, the room is dark and grey, the setting here creates a sense of enigma, therefore the film begins with a feel of mystery, again establishing this genre of mystery and adventure, not only does the setting play apart in establishing this enigmatic feel but we also don’t know why the men are sat there, again associating the film snatch with this theme of possible enigma as the setting is already making the viewer ask questions. The beginning of the opening sequence when the men are sat in this room is extremely slow paced. There are not many cuts or transitions; just two men sat in a room whilst the voice over is talking. The voice over at the end of this scene asks a question: ‘ What do I know about diamonds?’ and the viewer instantly gets a feel of what the film is about.
The camera then cuts, after the voice over asks how to obtain diamonds, the camera cuts so a close up view of some security cameras, it focus’s in on one particular cameral in which we can see clearly that it is tracking some Jewish men, cultural Jewish background music also starts playing at this point. This is used in order to make it obvious to the audience what kind of people these men are suppose to be, the camera then tilts down to another security camera in which shows the men walking into the office. The fact that the camera is looking through a security camera at the Jewish men straight away connotes that these men are up to no good. Acton then establishes this because they start to fight, connoting that the Jewish men are violent.
The camera cuts then to the same Jewish men, sitting on a train, and the camera uses a medium two shot of two men taking off there masks, telling the viewer instantly that these men are fraudsters. Dressing up in disguise in order to obtain and thieve. The Jewish music also stops playing at this point in which tells us that in fact these men are not Jewish. The camera then zooms in to a close up of a diamond, in which they themselves have just stolen, therefore this film suggesting is definitely about how to acquire diamonds as the man is happy with his accomplishment. The camera goes into a transition with the diamond spinning, the non-diagetic background sound suddenly cuts in to fast pace music, introducing each character, we see a medium shot of each character along with the fast pace music, and the denotation of the characters with what they are wearing and look like, suggests to the viewer that all of these men are in disguise, just like the Jewish men were when the were stealing the diamond, and because the Jewish men were in disguise we therefore know that they are all in the diamond industry, well not exactly, they all partake in thieving of diamonds and after this introduction it is blatant and definite that this is what the film will be based on.
Film Noir proposal for practical performance.
For our practical performance we have decided to focus of the genre of film noir, as we enjoy the mystery genre. Our opening sequence will continue for a maximum of 2 – 3 minutes, in which we will introduce the film genre and the opening credits to the film. The film noir techniques we use will all be set in the modern day society.
Our opening sequence will consist of firstly a fade out from a dark background and here we see a man walking, but we only see his feet walking with the opening titles appearing along with this. the man then stops walking leans against a post and he crosses his feet over in a relaxed manner. the camera will then tilt upwards to uncover a man, in a trilby, half covering his face, to bring in this element of mystery, sinister music is played along with this. Also we can see cigar smoke coming from his mouth, the camera follows the trail of smoke to look at the white bridge that he is standing by, we then hear the amplified sound of footsteps. The camera cuts to an extreme close up of a woman’s heels walking down the footbridge, the man also starts walking up the foot bridge and we only get a shot of his feet. An extreme close up of a note is then passed from the man to the women and the woman says ‘ she wants to see you now. ‘ We do not see who this women is through this first clip.
The camera then cuts to the scene in a new up to date with technology office. The camera shows a point of view shot from someone who is opening the door of the office, the man who we see in the first clip, he is starring of the back of a chair which is placed behind a desk, there is a lit lamp, paperwork, ash tray and half a class of wine with lipstick on. The chair spins around to reveal a women in which we saw passing the note in he first scene, the women is dressed in a long dark coat, smoking.
The women sees the man, a different man to before, A shot from here point of view of his feet and tilting is then used, this is to show that she is attracted to the man and along with the tilt shot, in cuts some quite seductive music to represent this idea of the ideal femme fatale characteristic in which in classic film noir films have such as we see at the beginning of sin city, when the women gets shot. Except this time there is a slight twist; it’s the gorgeous man in who attracts the women at the beginning of this short beginning.
For our practical performance we have decided to focus of the genre of film noir, as we enjoy the mystery genre. Our opening sequence will continue for a maximum of 2 – 3 minutes, in which we will introduce the film genre and the opening credits to the film. The film noir techniques we use will all be set in the modern day society.
Our opening sequence will consist of firstly a fade out from a dark background and here we see a man walking, but we only see his feet walking with the opening titles appearing along with this. the man then stops walking leans against a post and he crosses his feet over in a relaxed manner. the camera will then tilt upwards to uncover a man, in a trilby, half covering his face, to bring in this element of mystery, sinister music is played along with this. Also we can see cigar smoke coming from his mouth, the camera follows the trail of smoke to look at the white bridge that he is standing by, we then hear the amplified sound of footsteps. The camera cuts to an extreme close up of a woman’s heels walking down the footbridge, the man also starts walking up the foot bridge and we only get a shot of his feet. An extreme close up of a note is then passed from the man to the women and the woman says ‘ she wants to see you now. ‘ We do not see who this women is through this first clip.
The camera then cuts to the scene in a new up to date with technology office. The camera shows a point of view shot from someone who is opening the door of the office, the man who we see in the first clip, he is starring of the back of a chair which is placed behind a desk, there is a lit lamp, paperwork, ash tray and half a class of wine with lipstick on. The chair spins around to reveal a women in which we saw passing the note in he first scene, the women is dressed in a long dark coat, smoking.
The women sees the man, a different man to before, A shot from here point of view of his feet and tilting is then used, this is to show that she is attracted to the man and along with the tilt shot, in cuts some quite seductive music to represent this idea of the ideal femme fatale characteristic in which in classic film noir films have such as we see at the beginning of sin city, when the women gets shot. Except this time there is a slight twist; it’s the gorgeous man in who attracts the women at the beginning of this short beginning.
Sunday, 11 January 2009
Casino Royal
The scene begins at night with a black and white picture; this connotes enigma and mystery instantly because filmmakers nowadays use this effect in order to create a dark and dim atmosphere for the film. Firstly onscreen a car pulls up in front of a tall building and a high angle camera shot is filming a man in a trilby getting out of the car. This instantly connotes the genre of a type of film noir with the black and white picture, mysterious feel and of course the famous shot of a mysterious looking man in a trilby and the viewer instantly knows that this film is therefore going to be set in the murder, mystery type of adventure genre. The camera tracks this man into a small office, again just like the type you would find in a traditional film noir picture and again suggesting this feel of mystery. Setting is established here through setting and the use of the black and white picture.
Character is also established instantly at the beginning of this film as when the man enters the office the camera cuts to a shot of Bond sat in a chair, he is already inside the office, and we instantly know that this is an unexpected surprise to the man, as he doesn’t look as though he was expecting company. The two characters exchange a sequence of conversation talking about how many characters Bond as killed, and how he isn’t yet of the status ‘00.’ When this is said a connection is instantly made with the title itself of 007. The famous Bond status and we know that this character will play possibly the main character in the film.
Music also plays a part in establishing the films genre, within the opening credits the song that is played is ‘’ you know my name’ performed by Chris Connell, in which can be seen as quite a slow song but also you can associate it with this sense of mystery. When the opening credits begin you see a series of animation of guns and people getting shot and falling down, this also plays a part in generating the basis of what the film will consist of; a lot of gun crime, men in suits, and adventure.
Action is used also to establish character, we see a gun being held in bonds direction, and this connotes that this character dabbles in violence as he himself is a wanted character, but it establishes that the character of Bond is good within the film because of his secret agent status. We also no that this character of Bond can be extremely violent as we see him committing two murders within the first few seconds of the films itself and he does this with no sense of remorse, this is a very strong character. The 2 murders also connote a strong amount of murder and violence throughout the film as we have already witnessed it at the very start, before the opening credits. The last shot before the opening credits establishes the character of bond and what he is about as his quick reflexes showing him turning and killing a man, with a point of view shot from the man he is shooting at, and finally a transition of picture with blood running down the screen with Bond himself in the centre of a gun whole, all of this connotes; the main character, the fact he is violent and the initial genre of the film: adventure mystery.
Character is also established instantly at the beginning of this film as when the man enters the office the camera cuts to a shot of Bond sat in a chair, he is already inside the office, and we instantly know that this is an unexpected surprise to the man, as he doesn’t look as though he was expecting company. The two characters exchange a sequence of conversation talking about how many characters Bond as killed, and how he isn’t yet of the status ‘00.’ When this is said a connection is instantly made with the title itself of 007. The famous Bond status and we know that this character will play possibly the main character in the film.
Music also plays a part in establishing the films genre, within the opening credits the song that is played is ‘’ you know my name’ performed by Chris Connell, in which can be seen as quite a slow song but also you can associate it with this sense of mystery. When the opening credits begin you see a series of animation of guns and people getting shot and falling down, this also plays a part in generating the basis of what the film will consist of; a lot of gun crime, men in suits, and adventure.
Action is used also to establish character, we see a gun being held in bonds direction, and this connotes that this character dabbles in violence as he himself is a wanted character, but it establishes that the character of Bond is good within the film because of his secret agent status. We also no that this character of Bond can be extremely violent as we see him committing two murders within the first few seconds of the films itself and he does this with no sense of remorse, this is a very strong character. The 2 murders also connote a strong amount of murder and violence throughout the film as we have already witnessed it at the very start, before the opening credits. The last shot before the opening credits establishes the character of bond and what he is about as his quick reflexes showing him turning and killing a man, with a point of view shot from the man he is shooting at, and finally a transition of picture with blood running down the screen with Bond himself in the centre of a gun whole, all of this connotes; the main character, the fact he is violent and the initial genre of the film: adventure mystery.
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