My film noir Synopsis

Synopsis:
In the questioning room at the police station a man is being questioned, this man is an ex cop who now works at a bar, as he is being questioned over the murder of a rich business man he reveals what really happens. One night at the bar and a mysterious and sexy woman enters the bar and flirts with the barman she talks to him about how badly her husband treats her and how she can’t leave him, when it comes to closing time she kisses the barman and he offers for her to stay at his to avoid an argument with her husband. At his she gets him drunk and he confesses how he has fallen for her but she says she’d feel the same if her husband wasn’t around and she tells him of how her husband is very rich and how he gives her nothing, the man says what a good idea it would be if her husband died and the woman innocently says how if he was murdered they would be caught knowing fully well that he used to be an cop and would know how to commit the perfect murder. Not knowing he has been lulled into a trap he says he knows a way to kill her husband and get away with it. After they have hatched a plan the woman goes home and her husband is waiting for her. the man shows up, she lets him in and locks the doors to the house he then kills her husband, she comes down stairs and see her husband dead and the man embraces her and rejoices in how they can now be together she then breaks down into tears and the police shows up, she rats him outs to the cops and as there is no proof that she was involved the man takes full responsibility as he is so in love with her he lets her get away knowing the police wouldn't believe his story anyway.
Detailed Synopsis of the opening
A dark questioning room a man is siting one side of a questioning table his head hanging looking at his feet, a detective on the other. The tape recorder is going and the detective says "we've got for his murder so you may as well tell us why you did it" the man then looks up from the ground and says "officer i'll tell you what happened it all started with a beautiful woman"
Rough Treatment
My opening sequence will be in black and white this will help to give it a dark and eerie feel making it more thriller/noiresque I'll use close ups of the man as he looks and and of the detective (shot-reverse-shot) There is a going to be a single window in the room covered by a venetion blind creating the typical noiresque type shadows and contrast between dark and light To make my scene contemporary i'm going to use a modern day recorder like the police use to record interviews When the man starts to tell the police what happened there will be a flashback and then his voice over will start this is another noir convention. I will also use backing music consisting of dark minor chords but it will only be quiet in the background.

The Preliminary Excercise

To help us with our camera skill we were asked to do a preliminary excercise, which was a short scene with somone walking down a coridoor into a room. The upbove video is my groups production.

Evaluation
We followed the 180Degree line rule well and our idea was simple effect to try and covee. We had problems wwith the lighting the room when the main character dylan sits down so we used a black and white effect to try and cover this and there was also a fuzzy souund in the background. When Dylan enters the room the as this close up of the handle is wrong as you can bearly see dylans hand on the handle. The match on action is a bit of when Dylan is walking across the room as his posture and postition changes. we also had to cut from an OTS shot of Dylan talking while his hair was moving which makes the piece look messy as we didn't leave enough handles.

Double Indemnity- Billy Wilder 1944, 21.57minutes in.
A man (Walter) is pacing around a dark room, the only light coming from the window, and the wooden beams on the window cause shadows this is a typical film noir characteristic and film noirs are dark and shadowy to create an eerie and tense atmosphere. Walter is doing a voiceover where he is talking about a woman he met, the voice over is synonymous with film noirs it helps us to identify with the character and get inside their heads, it helps to give the audience and sense of connection with the characters, feel their emotions. Then the woman (Phyllis) turns up, her character is the femme fatale character, she is sexy and confident and uses her sexuality to get what she wants this is a typical convention of the film noir genre. When Phyllis comes into the flat and Walter turns on the lights this creates weird shadows again typical of the noir genre. Walter and Phyllis then have a slow and passionate embrace after a small tiff in which Walter says to Phyllis “I’m crazy about you” then she doesn’t say it back, another typical film noir characteristic where the man falls in love with the woman because she makes him but she gives no love in return. Phyllis talks about how she hates her husband and how she dreams of killing him and then as Walter is so in love with her he decides to kill her husband this is a film noir characteristic where the woman seduces a man and then convinces him to commit a crime. While this sequence is happening the weather outside is dull and is set at night and its raining, unpleasant weather is another noiresque feature.

The History of Film Noir

Back at the start of term we were asked to do research into Film Noir, Here is what i found out.

Film Noir literally means “Black Film” in french and was first termed by a french film critic called Nino Frank in 1946. Film Noir was most prominent after world war II as it focused on anxiety and pessimism that the world war left behind. Most critics feel that Film Noir is more a mood or style of film rather than a genre, Film Noirs typically fall into the crime thriller genre. Film Noir was heavely influenced by French Poets, German expressionists and tough guy writers who created the style which was influenced by hard novels and real life. Film Noir's are typically small "B" movies rather than big blockbusters, with directers such as Alfred Hitchcock, Orson Welles and Boris Ignster making classic Film Noir's.

Chracteristics of Film Noir
The primary moods of classic Film Noir were downhearted, loneliness, bleakness, confusion, pessimism, moral corruption, evil, guilt, desperation and paranoia.
Film Noirs usually involve crime and murder and a promiscuous woman. There is a “fall guy” a male character who is more morally flawed and more questionable than normal males such as hard-boiled detectives, private eyes and criminals.
There is a “femme fatale” this is a sexy promiscuous female which brings the fall guy or doomed hero into a situation involving murder or crime and she makes him do this via her sexuality. Film Noir films are mostly shot in grays, blacks and whites which shows the dark and inhumane side of human nature with pessimism and doomed love, and they emphasized the brutal, unhealthy, shadowy, dark and sadistic sides of the human nature, the characters are usually mysterious and not much is known about them, the locations are usually grim and dark and typically big cities like in LA Confidential. Locations are usual set in the dead of the night, with shadows, with alleys, with the back doors of fancy places, with apartment buildings (in cities such as LA, New York etc, giving a labyrinth type effect), with taxi drivers and bartenders who have seen it all. For example LA confidential is set in LA, in the 1960’s and shows the dark side of Hollywood and the conspiracies around it.

As Film Noir brief

I'm Nicola, for my A level media coursework i was given the following brief,

Create a 2 minute opening sequence to a film noir in a contemporary style, aimed at young (15-20year old) cinema goers.

I'm going to use this blog to display all my research and my preliminary pieces.