Day 4 filming

Character profiles

Russell
Ben plays the character Russell, Russell is a police detective who is also good friends with Jack, who is the protagonist of our film. We first see Russel in the bar scene where he is playing pool with Jack, whilst speaking about a Drug Scandal that has recently occurred.
  Russel is then again seen in the office scene where Jack tells him he has a lead, throughout the film we see Russell as a colleague and a good friend to Jack. In the last scene of our film the audience are revealed to Russell's true character, Russell is in love with the femme fatale and has been going behind Jacks back, to secure the money that had been exchanged in the drug scandal. The film ends with Russell killing Jack and running away with Ruby and the money.

Ruby
Ruby is the femme fatale of our film, she is played by Harri, and plays a key part in our film. Like most femme fatales Ruby is seductive and leads to trouble. We gave her the name Ruby after her red dress as this is what she is first seen wearing by the audience. Ruby is first introduced to the audience at the bar scene were she introduces her self to Jack and asks him to help her find lost money, the scene then ends and we see that they spent the night together. Throughout the film we suspect Ruby is up to no good, as she is asking Jack to find her money.
  Ruby then makes an appearance in the final scene were she shows the audience she is with Jacks friend and colleague Russell and is involved in Jacks death.

Jack
Jack is the protagonist in our film, Jack is played by myself. As Jack is the main character in our film, we wanted to make him liked by the audience as it will make the twist at the end of the film more dramatic. The audience are taken through two days of Jacks life, and we have tried to make him seem like the good guy who is committed to doing this good, providing justice and sticking to the law. Jack falls for the femme fatale, we have tried to make the audience sense that this is dangerous by using many various camera shots to show the femme fatals control. We also see that Jack does not call the shots between them in the bedroom scene when she 'get back to him'. Overall we have tried to portray Jack as the kind of guy the audience will like and be intrigued to follow him on his case to find the money.

Day 3 - Group Discussion

Day 2 - Filming summary

Filming - Day 2

 Our second day of filming was filmed at The Old White Horse in Baldock. We chose this pub as it has a large pool table that we wanted to add in to our film.

 This is the pool table we used to open the scene,we thought using the pool table we could get some really good shots, such as the balls breaking and being potted. The table also added a modern/stylish effect to our film.A few problems occurred when doing this scene as the pool table was next to the toilets so members of the public who needed the toilet would have to walk past, this meant we had to film the same scene more times than normal.

  Another problem we came across in the pub was there were already people using the pool table. This was okay, it just meant we had to wait for them to finish and were not left with much time to get our filming done. Due to this we had to come back the next day to finish off the filming we couldn't do originally .

 This is a picture of us filming. This scene is the audiences first encounter with the femme fatale so we wanted to make sure it was a good shot. The setting was at a bar, and the camera pans up to reveal the femme fatale. We liked this shot as the lighting from the window only lit half of her face, maybe showing a split personality, there was also a lot of equipment at the bar that made the shot more realistic and effective.

We did not include this fire place in this scene as it was not needed, but it could fit into our film later on. The open fire could be used to show love, passion or comfort or it could be include in a seen between the detective and femme fatale.
 Venetian blinds are a typical feature in film noir films and we tried to incorporate them into ours. We filmed Ben walking away through them, they were also useful for lighting, as in a shot of the femme fatale, the blinds added effective lighting across her face.

Day 1 Filming

This is a summary of our first day filming. We filmed the scene where two men men meet and exchange something in a briefcase  We decided to film this scene at the back of tesco car park, as it is rarely busy and has good lighting.This photo is of one of the main lights in the car park that we used in most of our shots. As this was filmed at night, we needed good lighting to make sure the audience knew clearly what was going on, this light plus a few torches for inside the car helped us do that. The car in the photo is one of two that are meeting in the car park to exchange a briefcase. We filmed many different quick shots of our characters in the cars driving and opening doors, un-doing seat belts etc. We did this as we aim to make a sequence of quick shots of these sorts of things to build suspense.

This photo is of the flip cam we are using to record our film with in the boot of Bens car. We did this as we wanted a shot from inside the boot of Ben picking up the briefcase. The low canted angle of Ben doing this worked really well and was very effective, it allowed us to show the audience the importance of the briefcase.

Group discussion - Problems/changes

Detective Costume Ideas

 This hip-flask would be a good prop to use in our film. It could be used by the detective, this will tell the audience that they drink or are drinking alcohol. The flask could be placed in the the pocket of the detectives suit, and he could take it out and drink from it. Hip-flasks usually have strong spirits in, this will give the audience an idea of what type of character he is.






This is also a good prop, the briefcase could symbolize mystery, it could be a good way of hiding something from the audience. The briefcase will be exchanged at the start of the film between two men. The combination of the gold clasps and black case make the whatever is in the briefcase a lot more important.

 This plain grey suit is a costume of the another detective who is not the main character. This suit shows the detectives authority and that they take their job seriously. As its grey it also does not make this detective stand out compared to the main detective. The fact the jacket and trousers are not a pair could mean that the detective is not wealthy, this outfit could be used in a scene were the detective is at work.

 This is another costume for the other detective. This one is more smart and suave, it is all black so could be used at a scene of a murder. It once again shows the detective is smart. I think this costume will be more effective in our film than the other as it can connotate many things and could be used to represent his evil side or even his authority.

 This grey tweet jacket is a costume our main detective will wear. The jacket along with the white shirt, black tie and trousers collectively form a modern, suave look. The suit makes the detective look smart/casual and gives the neo-noir effect. The detective could wear this when at work, out or depressed as the colour grey could be used to connotate depression, dull and troubled.

This navy jacket is more formal than the other, it is more smart and sophisticated. The brown buttons with the navy blazer, bring out a modern, neo-noir look. The detective could wear this in scenes were he is at work outside trying to figure something out, he could also wear it when meeting the femme fatale

Femme Fatale costume ideas

 This long, red dress would fit out femme fatale well. The red could symbolize love, danger and blood, all things involved in our film.It could also show the type of character she plays e.g. loving and passionate. The slit down the side of the dress could suggest a seductive and sexy side to her personality as she is showing a lot of skin.The draped open back to the dress also suggests a provocative side to her personality.
I think this would be a good costume for the femme fatale to wear for when she meets the detective for the first time, as it would grab the attention of the detective and the audience and what type of character she is.
 This outfit is similar to Emma's stones in Gangster squad. She wore a red, floor length dress, with a slit. This shows us that it is a classic 'film/neo - noir' outfit for the femme fatale

This short black dress would be good for the femme fatale to wear during our film. The sparkly neck shows it is more modern and is still revealing, showing her seductive side. It would be good for a scene were the femme fatale is tricking someone, or doing something devious within her role, the black colour of the dress could connotate her evil side.

First group discussion

Location/Shot Ideas

 The Venetian blinds are a typical convention of film noir. The light that shines through the gaps gives a sharp and dramatic effect. The blinds also can hide the identity of someone, and can give them a mysterious look by using low key lighting.

This birds eye view shot makes the character seem weak and vulnerable. The piano also adds a nice effect, and this angle would go well with someone playing eerie music. It also fits in well with the film noir as many film noir's use piano's.

This long shot of me with the large creates create a nice 'neo-noir' effect. The graffiti shows its more modern than the classic film noir. I also think this would be a good shot with detective.

A clock would be a good prop to use in our film. It could be to show how much time is left or you could film the clock and speed it up to show how much time there has been. We could also add a noise of the hands ticking to add tension.

We could use a fight scene between two characters in our film to create tension and show the relationship between the two is not a good one. Having it filmed in an office setting with lots of lockers and cabinets will create more of a dramatic scene as there would be more noise from the banging of the metal cabinets.

This over the shoulder shot of Ben is very good as the mirror could represent a split personality. The slight canted angle also adds tension and that something may be about to happen.

First Ideas

My group consists of myself, Harri, Becky and Ben. In our first meeting we sat down and wrote down some rough ideas of what our film noir could consist of such as props/extras, story lines and locations. This will help us as we can always look back at this to help us when plotting our film

LA Confidential screen shots

 This shot is a very clever one, it is detective Ed Exley being integrated and you can see him and the other officers behind the mirrored wall. It is one way of showing both set of characters when they are different rooms.  This could also show the corruptness throughout the police dept. as the other officers are bigger in the image so are in control compared to Ed who is smaller and the person who believes in justice.




 This shot is between Jack Vincennes an officer and reporter Sid Hudgens. You can tell Jack is in charge due to his body posture and clothing, it also shows the Hollywood lifestyle in the back ground with the palm trees and premiere  Out of the three detectives we see in LA confidential Jack is the mainly in the press due to his corrupt relationship with Sid. 

This is another shot with Jack in and once again shows his and the Hollywood lifestyle. This is a low mid shot and has the writing ‘The Bad and Beautiful’ this could be describing the Hollywood lifestyle as from the outside we see it as beautiful scenery and people such as movie stars, but are shown the bad side throughout this film.

This low shot makes Dudley Smith seem in control. The strong lighting behind him could represent his fierce and over-powering personality. The bullet holes in the walls and the destruction and damage of the room shows how violent the previous events have been.  His gun and the suit he is wearing also show he is in charge.

Story Board

Codes and Conventions of Film noir

Setting – Tends to be set in an urban location, such as cities. This is done as stereotypically urban areas consist of high crime rate and danger and so film noir reflects a realistic sense. The locations can be based on the streets of the cities where it nearly always seems to rain, depicts the darkness of the narrative through the tone of film noir

Lighting – This has a big importance within film noirs. The contrast of light and shadows are used to emphasize the darkness of the narrative, this is known term called ‘Chiaroscuro’
A common technique used in classic film noir is to show lighting through venetian blinds

Props –Typical props used within film noir are Alcohol, cigarettes, weapons, money, things that reflect the narrative as well as the seriousness and reality of it

Sound – Voice over’s tend to be a common thing within film noirs as it helps tell the narrative. The use of music is sometimes downbeat, however it can change to a fast and intense when it reaches to a climax.

Detectives –They are not easily corrupted or bribed within film noirs and work along the side the law. They are either a member of a police agency or a private person. The detective is usually fooled or tricked by the femme fatale. An intelligent, cool, collected character who is often seen as the good man who fights away the bad guys. Always trying to solve a mystery or put on some sort of mission.

Femme Fatale – The femme fatale is a mysterious and seductive character whose charm fools her lovers into bonds of irresistible desire, often leading them into dangerous and deadly situations. The femme fatale maintains an immaculate image throughout the film, perfect hair and make-up, and usually quite revealing, low cut tops or dresses.