NEO-NOIR OPENING: INDIVIDUAL IDEA

Synopsis: Film set in British working class suburbia in an area with an underworld of crime and drug dealing. Main character is a young teenage male with a troubled and violent upbringing who turns to drugs to try to escape reality of life. He gets involved in the urban underworld and finds himself in debt to dealers and gangs. Becomes enemy to the gang because of this and an affair he has with the girlfriend of one of the members. This leads to his ultimate downfall. Main location will be under a bridge in a park possibly at night or in twilight

Beginning: Film follows non-linear storyline and is narrated in voice-over as a flashback from the main character's perspective. Opening scene is the end of the story. Character stands under bridge smoking cannabis on his own when he gets a distressed phone call from his girlfriend warning him about a gang that is after him. A chase begins as he tries in vain to run away but he is caught and taken somewhere out of camera shot. Audience doesn’t know what happens but the scene is narrated by the main character. Following scene is set around one year previous to this and along with the rest of the opening scenes introduces the character's background and family and begins the story of why he ended up in the situation he was in at the end of the story.

Middle: The middle of the film is where his downfall begins to gather place. He is on a slippery slope and begins to lose his remaining allies. His drug addiction gets steadily worse as does his relationship with his family. During this time he becomes more known to the gangs and drug dealers in the area, even more so when he meets the girl. After she is initially presented as a possible lifeline for him it becomes apparent that she is dating one of the gang members which increases their hatred towards him.

End: The end of the film builds to the finale which we saw at the beginning. He is now known to the underworld in the area and has been targeted. He receives various threats and gets involved in fights. The final scene continues from where the opening scene left of as he is killed.

The opening scene would be shot under a bridge in an area with minimal light. The establishing shot would be a wide shot of the location with the character standing on his own smoking followed by a close up showing a worried and insecure look on his face (for the filming a normal cigarette would of course be used). A voice over from this character begins the narration, voice obviously has a melancholy and reflective tone to it. As he receives the phone call the only voice we hear is his girlfriend’s on the other end, minimal dialogue would be used as she would only say something like ‘get out of there now, they’re after you’. During the conversation there would be heavy breathing by the characters. As the conversation ends he would look around with an extreme close-up of his eyes shifting. Next we see a person running round the corner followed by the character making an attempt to run away. During the chase scene the camera man runs with the camera firstly from the perspective of the character being chased occasionally looking back at his pursuer. Next shot is also running but from the perspective of pursuer with character in front looking back once to show the audience the fear on his face. The character then trips and falls to the ground with a Dutch tilt on the ground being used as he hits the ground. A struggle then ensues as the character tries to get away. To end the scene he is dragged into an area out of shot round a corner, little or no dialogue apart from the voice-over narration is used throughout this sequence.


With the establishing shot being under a bridge it allows for the familiar noir lighting techniques with the character being under a bridge but with the light outide creating a sharp contrast. If it was filmed at night a lamp post could provide the light. Beginning with a wide shot also establishes the location and shows the character is on his own and isolated. The downbeat and reflective voice-over establishes the tone of the film and helps guide the audience through the storyline. The heavy breathing and emotion that can be heard in the telephone conversation helps to reinforce this tone. The extreme close-up that comes next of him looking round shows his fear as well as giving an unnatural and uncomfortable perspective to the audience. During this sequence the music used would be slow and melancholy but also foreboding to fit in with the minimal movement that goes on in this part of the scene. As the pursuer arrives and the chase sequence begins the pace of the music rises and more of a rhythm is established to fit in with the increased movement and the feeling that the scene is building to a climax. With the cameraman running with the camera it creates a realistic feeling to the audience that they are part of the chase and by running from the perspctive of both the hunter and the hunted it gives the audience a chance to experience it from both sides. The shot from the perspective of the characterbeing chased enables some of his fear to transmit onto the audience. Using a dutch tilt shot on the ground as the character falls creates an unnatural and uncomfortable look and creates a sense of falling to the ground with the character. To create a sense of mystery the charecters will have their faces partially obscured by hoods. This will be especially useful for the chasing character as nobody will know who he is thus creating an enigma. The clothes may also reinforce perceptions of teenage stereotypes.

PRELIMINARY EXERCISE & EVALUATION

This excercise presented me with the opportunity to familiarise myself with operating and positioning the camera according to the type of shot illustrated on the storyboard and this was the first opportunity we had to use the hand held microphone and boom to record sound and dialogue. My responsibilities along with the rest of the group included writing a storyboard, shooting and finally editing the piece together. Overall I was able to do this without too many problems although I made a rather basic error when I accidently allowed the boom to briefly appear in the top of a shot. I also need to work on the positioning of the camera in over-shoulder shots with regard to the rule of thirds. For the editing each of us had the chance to contribute and I have now become more familiar with the equipment. For this exercise we were introduced to the basics such as logging each clip with the 'in point' and 'out point' ready for them to be edited, then putting each clip into the correct position on the timeline and I had the chance to try this for myself. Initially I struggled a little with the editing process although once I was shown again I got a better grasp of it. For the next project however I aim to make more of a contribution to the editing process.

 This excercise presented us with our first opportunity to create a storyboard and this helped to enhance my knowledge of appropriate shot types and sizes for the sequence being produced. For this sequence a good range of shot types had to be used. This was my first chance to put what we learnt about shot sizes into practice and see if it had the desired effect such as an initial long shot setting the scene or a close-up showing a persons emotion. As mentioned earlier this exercise enabled us to use the editing machines for the first time so I learnt how they worked and the basics of editing. This will be useful for further projects when the editing and cinematography have to be genre specific. Overall after seeing the finished product I now have greater understanding of the importance of camera positioning as well as editing correctly to make sure the transitions and continuity between shots are seamless and realistic to the audience. I also learnt about the 180 degree line rule which we had to follow.

The technical quality of the finished video was overall satisfactory for the project we were undertaking with the camera movement being smooth and no major continuity errors. However the errors that were spotted gave me an idea of what needs to be improved on by the next project. If I did this exercise again I would be more careful about where I position the camera especially in over-shoulder shots and make sure that I was more vigilant with shot/reverse shot, I would also be more careful when handling the boom as when it moved it affected the quality of the sound. If we did this exercise again during the editing process I would be more vigilant about any continuity errors such as making sure a person is the same length through a door when we change shots.

Overall I think the finished sequence came across as we had planned on the original storyboard. Considering how basic this exercise was most of our ideas worked on the finished piece and the majority of what we eventually produced matched the original criteria for the exercise. The problems we experienced were to do with the positioning of the camera during shots and putting what we had planned on our storyboard into practice was slightly harder than I anticipated although the 180 degree line rule was stuck to throughout. The feedback we got was satisfactory and we were pointed out the errors with framing and shot/reverse shot. Overall it matched the previous examples that we had been show in class.

In conclusion the finished sequence turned out as we had planned with relatively few major errors. If I got the chance to do the project again I would be more vigilant with my shooting with regard to shot/reverse shot and during the editing process I would try to be more aware of any continuity errors.

PRELIMINARY EXERCISE BRIEF

The preliminary excercise was a simple continuity task involving a character walking into a room, sitting down opposite another character and exchanging roughly 4 lines of dialogue. This task required us to shoot and edit. This presented us with the chance to learn the basics of creating a storyboard and shooting as well as introducing us to the editing equipment. As we were all relatively unfamiliar with the camera and the editing equipment all responsibilities were shared out equally amongst the groups of three giving each of us the chance to familiarise ourselves with the equipment. The responsibilities each of us had during the excercise included writing a basic storyboard consisting of around 6 shots and including dialogue, shooting each of these at the right shot size and eventually editing the piece together using 'final cut pro' on the editing machines. One of the main aims of this exercise was to introduce us to the basic rules of filming such as shot/reverse shot and the 180 degree line rule.