The Edit

During editing and piecing our film together we used different effects. 

• transitions - we used this one called "cross dissolve" from when we would go from our film to a title etc... this was to avoid jump cuts.

• colour correction -  Ed had helped us put a colour correction on our opening sequence to make it look more dark and also dreamy.
• sound effects - we used sound effects for when Scarlett pulls the trigger of the gun.
• Non-Diegetic sound - we used some backing music, this will help the audience judge the type of genre we have created in this film, it also helps create suspense. When we heard it we thought it sounded quite like "Harry Potter" music.
• Diegetic sound -  because we did not use a microphone while filming (we used the built in one on the camera) it was hard to hear the dialogue. So we re recorded it and dubbed it over, making sure it synchronised with the lip movement.

   

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Production Diary

DAY ONE - Thursday 23rd February 2012

I met up with Ellen and Lauren in the media classroom. I then went to get changed into my costume, while they prepared the equipment. Once set we left to walk through town towards our destination of our location. We met Hollie along the way to the location as she was running a bit late. 

*Fair Warning* If you ever have to play a Femme Fetale or a character that closely resembles one, be prepared to get some very disgusted and odd looks from citizens. 

We didn't have access to Jae (our male lead) as he was busy filming for someone else's opening sequence. So instead we decided to focus on how we should position the camera, where we should position it and also if it will look good and closely resemble our storyboard.

DAY TWO - Friday 24th February 2012

We did not film this day: instead we looked at the shots we had gathered from yesterday to see how they actually looked. From looking at the shots, we realised what we could and could not do, this resolved in us coming up with a new storyboard. 

DAY THREE - Tuesday 28th February 2012

To save time I prepared my hair & make-up at home, and brought my costume with me to college to change (I was not up for the dirty looks as I was travelling with public transport) along with my make-up bag (because I am a girl and we carry that thing everywhere!)

I met up with Hollie, Ellen, Lauren and Jae. The group went to get the camera, tape and tripod, along with the props while Jae and I got into our costumes.

Then we made our way to the location (which was the alley way behind the night clubs by the Parish Church.) As soon as we got there we set up and briefed Jae on what he should do and being a great actor he is he got right to it without any problems. We were filming just below a man's house, so therefore to seem polite (in my oh how appropriate costume) I asked his permission for us to film here, to which he did not object.
From what we learned from the Prelim task we decided to film everything more than once, and from different angles as well so when it came to editing we had enough footage to play around with. Due to our location we had to put up with the church clock timing every 15minutes, (which is in the shots we did not use.)

DAY FOUR - Thursday 1st March 2012

According to our shooting schedule we planned on filming the Chase Scene on this day. However we couldn't shoot, as our male protagonist was off filming scenes for his opening sequence. So we cancelled.

DAY FIVE - Friday 2nd March 2012

We had a production meeting where we went through our footage and began editing it together. We knew from this that we needed nothing else from this scene and would not have to re-schedule a re-shoot. At this point we decided that we did not want to film the "office scene" because we felt that ending to the allay way scene would leave the audience with more emotional depth and keep them wanting more.

DAY SIX - Thursday 8th March 2012

We planned on filming our final scene which was the chase scene between Scarlett and Garrett. However Jae (who plays Garrett) had a family emergency that morning and wasn't sure if he was going to make it in. So we told him to stay with his family and forget about filming, and if they were okay we could film tomorrow. He reassured us that he would be able to make tomorrow so we rescheduled. We had nothing else to do there for we worked on our blogs.

DAY SEVEN - Friday 9th March 2012  &DAY EIGHT - Tuesday 13th March 2012

For these two days we filmed our Chase scene. On Day Seven we practiced the shots we had written down to see how they would look on camera. On Day Eight it was serious filming, we knew exactly what we needed to do and got along with it. Lauren and I took charge of the camera while we filmed Jae's part. We used variations of shots to see which would look better (i.e just Garrett running, Just Scarlett running, and a shot where you could see them both.)

Once we had finished Jae's shots he left to film his next sequence, also Lauren had an appointment, which left Ellen and Hollie to take control of the camera and all our luggage while I stood in front of the camera and looked pretty... kidding I did help with positioning the camera correctly and lugging all our bags.

*Fair Warning* When filming in a public place (especially a street) be aware of the public who will interfere mainly because of a camera positioned on the street they will stop and wave towards the camera while you are filming and also they will shout "You're supposed to take you your clothes off" charming really. 

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Shot List

So here is our shot list. :)

• Panning shot of Scarlett running down the road consciously looking back to see if she is being followed

• Panning shot of Garrett running down the same road after Scarlett

• Shot of Scarlett running towards the camera

• Same shot, but of Garrett

• Close up of Scarlett on the corner winking and giving Garrett a finger action to follow her round the corner

• Garret running around the corner (shot taken from an onlookers point of view)

• Scarlet at the top of the alleyway steps smoking a cigarette

• Over the shoulder shot from Scarlett's point of view - high angle

• Over the shoulder shot from Garrett's point of view - low angle

• Scarlett's point of view - high angle

• Garrett's point of view - low angle

• Cut in - Scarlett pulling the gun from her pocket

• Over the shoulder from Garrett's point of view (reaction shot) - low angle

• Close up of Scarlett while resisting her signature line.
• Close up of her stamping the butt out.

• Wide shot of Garrett sitting in a detective office.
• Cut in - Telephone ringing
• Close up of Garrett answering the phone.

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Shooting Schedule

When devising our shooting schedule there were a few things we had to take into consideration that we didn't necessarily think of in the beginning.. we honestly thought we could get straight into filming.


The first thing we had to consider was the lesson times we had and whether a camera would be free at that time and to roll over into the next period if necessary, luckily though we booked the cameras before anyone else so that wasn't too much of a hurdle. :)
Secondly we had to consider when our main actor was free because we needed him for most of the work. It wasn't actually until about a week into filming that we started using Jae because he was starring in 6 other opening sequences including his own.
In between our filming sessions we also had to slot in production meetings so that we could see the progress and whether we needed to re-shoot any scenes.
The only equipment needed was a camera and a tripod and so we didn't ever have to lug round equipment. 




Here is a picture of our shooting schedule. I'll give you a run down of what we planned. :)

So we have planned for our first day of filming on Thursday 23rd Feb. We knew that Our male lead would not be vacant so we planned this to be our "practice day" where we plan our shots and see how they look.

Then Friday 24th Feb, we would look over our shots in the editing suite to see how they look. 

The schedule shows you where we planned on filming and when. It also tells you what equipment, actors, props and hair & make up we need. And finally what we have planned on doing in each lesson time.

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Pitch

So Louise (Our Amazing Media teacher) wanted us to Pitch our idea to the rest of our media class (gee. thanks Louise.


We were also given feedback from the pitch and Louise took photos! (and i didn't have time to powder my nose!)


FEEDBACK FOR THE POWER-POINT PITCH: 

• good use of conventions
• detailed and informative to the audience without giving too much away.
• clear and easy to understand with pictures to explain.

• some aspects planned are not conventional for a noir film.
• More pictures need to be used

We took all the comments into consideration and were very pleased with them also. 

Here are the pictures :) 

Here is the pitch that we presented to the class and our lecturer (Louise)

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Naming Our Characters

To name our characters we made a list of all the names we liked and put them in a hat.

We picked the Male name first. the first name we picked out was our favorite. 

Garrett

We then picked our females name, it took us about 5 dips into the hat until we were satisfied with:

Scarlett

We feel that Garrett is a kind of young name which would fit very well due to the fact we want to challenge  conventional aspects of a crime noir film. 
Scarlett we feel is the most perfect name we could of picked (even if it took us 5 takes to retrieve it from the hat) to name our Femme Fetale, as Scarlett is a shade of red and red is the colour of danger. (see what we did there?)




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Behind The Scenes Of The Preparation

**WARNING**

This Blog Contains References To Many Aspects Of Film Production

Over the past couple of days; my group have been looking at:

• Costume
• Locations
• Hair & Make Up
• Actors
• Props

Costume

When deciding on costume for the male protagonist, we decided to look at classic Noir films, where there was a detective (for instance Phillip Marlowe in "Murder My Sweet") and also Neo Noir films such as Jack in "Romeo Is Bleeding" We studied their costume and took aspects from theirs into ours. 

We gave our male protagonist black trousers and a white shirt, with a brown trench coat, to make our film seem realistic and have some reference to noir films. We also gave him a loose black tie and also black converse. We did this because we didn't want it to just be a typical noir, we also wanted to show that he was not your average detective and was young.

Then we looked at the costume for our female protagonist. We decided to not bother looking at classic noir femme fetales as we thought they had a sense of innocence compared to Neo Noir femme fetales. So we focused on a Femme Fetale called Mona from the film "Romeo Is Bleeding" She wore a business jacket with hold-ups peaking at the hem and high heels. We felt this was a great dress sense for a femme fetale as it gave off a voyeuristic gaze. We added hints of red to our protagonist as red is the colour of danger.

Actors

So now we've decided the costumes, we needed to decide on the actors. Obviously we needed one male one female. Instantly Hollie and I thought of our friend Jae Jones from our other class. We knew he would be perfect for this role and challenge as he is also studying media and he takes drama.

Our Male Lead -
Jae Jones

Our Female Lead - Me
(Patsy Cliffe)

So then we had to look for the right girl to play our female protagonist. We asked our friend Shauna from our media class, she was honoured and was happy to play our femme fatale. However Shauna was also starring in her own opening sequence, so it seemed unfair for her to focusing be on ours rather than her own. So I stepped up to the challenge and put myself forward for being the femme fetale (and I also got a B in drama GCSE, so how hard can this be?!)







Hair & Make-Up


For our male protagonist we looked at different hair styles that would look suitable for a detective. We thought about having it all gelled back, or even him wearing a detective hat, but in the end we decided to let our actor (Jae) keep his hair how it is (which is fairly long and bouncy) as it would add to the unconventional aspect of a detective. We did also consider giving him "make-up wounds" (wounds that are made up from stage make up to look realistic) but we turned against it as it's too messy.
For the female protagonist we instantly decided that she must have long curly hair. As we knew that curly hair was conventional in classic noir. We knew that she should have a face full of flawless make up to attract the male gaze (however I am playing the female protagonist so we will have to make do.)


Locations


Then we considered where we should film. (yaaay) So we jumped onto Google Earth (because we are so lazy we didn't want to walk around in the cold) We found many different places for where we can shoot our opening sequence for example: Behind Central Station, next the the Parish Church etc..
We also considered filming our opening sequence in the TV Studio in Yale College. Ellen and I went to speak to Andy about this so he could help us make our film look similar to the truth. When we requited with Lauren and Hollie we came to a mutual agreement that it would be best to film on location rather than make up the setting.  


Props


The last thing we considered was the props we needed. we made a list :)

• Gun
• cigarettes (conventional for a noir)
• briefcase
• handcuffs
• papers
• phone

Yaaaaaaaay the climax of this blog post. 

I shall leave you with some relevant pictures. 

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Murder My Sweet

         

Romeo Is Bleeding
(Mona Demarkov)

Male Costume
Idea

Female Costume
Idea

Location (by the Church)

Location (behind Central Station)

Props we want to use,
modeled by yours truly