Evaluation

In what ways does you media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
The film noir genre has been occupying our screens since it was established by Nino Frank in the 1940’s. Through research I’ve found the genre has connotations of darkness, death, protagonist men and fem-fatales. In our film opening we’ve used many of these conventions to keep our opening within the noir genre. However, we’ve developed it by using today’s technical advances to create a stylised, modern neo-noir. For example our opening includes circular-tracking shots in the studio, synchronous music throughout and pleonastic sound effects when Chris enters the studio. Another modern touch we’ve used is cohesively referencing to ‘eyes’, with close-up shots and mentions in our voice-over. This is because eyes have connotations of innocence and truthfulness, which contrast against aspects of our narrative and characters. Through research, I’ve found that ‘whole-face’ close-ups weren’t popular in many traditional noirs, but are commonly used in films like Rian Johnson’s (2006) noir ‘Brick’, where its naturalistic style opening uses close-ups to show character’s emotions and build a relationship between them and the audience. Our stylised design idea is also in the opening to Frank Miller’s (2005) ‘Sin City’, where crane shots are used to establish the location and demonstrate power. As well as using modern styles, we’ve also included many traditional noir conventions, like using a gobo to create a Venetian blind effect in the studio scenes, and using metaphorical noir dialogue and voice-overs. So we’ve maintained and developed the noir genre by using both contemporary/neo and traditional styles.

How does you media product represent particular social groups?
Our film opening contains 2 main characters, acted by Chris and Josh. Middle-aged, elderly and young children aren’t in our film as we wanted to represent British teenagers and the ideology behind that age. Today teenagers are represented with youth crime and ‘hoodies’, specifically stereotypically associated with young males. Through mise-en-scene, cinematography and character roles we’ve recreated this representation. A knife and gun feature in our film and the bad villain (Josh) wears a dark hood. ‘Black’ has connotations of death and evil, so our villain character wears an entirely black costume. Josh also wears trainers, which are also associated with the teenage representation. As the main character, Chris is given most screen time, is shown in low-angle shots and contrasts against Josh’s deliberately concealed identity so he has additional importance. Our characters are also typical of the noir genre stereotypes, as Chris plays an innocent character who accidentally involves himself with the wrong person, and Josh plays the evil villain behind every murder in the film. These roles are found in both neo and traditional noirs, though we’ve updated them by using young actors and costumes. I noticed that fem-fatales are common in many noirs, but we haven’t included any in ours as we wanted the audience to concentrate on Chris and Josh’s characters, but if we were to finish our entire film a fem-fatale could appear later in the storyline. The main location we used was the woods, because of its scary/lonely connotations, which represent Chris's emotions. We chose to represent our characters in a realistic way so the audience could relate to them.

What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
The noir genre is known for its cheap-budget B-grade movies. Therefore the media institution that would fund and distribute our film would be a small independent company, like ‘Verve Pictures’ or ‘Optimum’. Our film would be platform released into art-house cinemas, like ‘The Hollywood’ (Ipswich), and would be shown in 5-10 screens across the country. The cost of distributing into cinema multiplexes, like ‘Cineworld’, would be over budget, but may be possible if the platform release is successful. We could also show our film at festivals such as ‘Raindance’ or ‘Sundance’ as this would reach a large film audience inexpensively. After a cinematic release we’d screen our film on television, and aim for channels that appeal to a young audience, like E4 or BBC4, as then it would reach our target audience. Our screening would be past 10pm on a weekday as this would avoid the expense of peak-time TV. We’d also release our film on DVD as we’d follow the example from the neo-noir ‘Brick’, where it gained the majority of its profit from DVD releasing.

Who would be the audience for your media product?
Our film audience would be aged 15-24, as this is the main cinema-going audience. We’d be aiming towards the ‘Experiencer’ social category as they have the money to enjoy regular entertainment. We’d certify our film with a BBFC rating at ‘12’ as our film contains mild weapons/violence and this would broaden our audience intake. Through primary research we found males were interested in genres similar to noir (crime/thriller etc), and females enjoy action scenes and enigmas, though this wasn’t their favourite genre. We’d therefore mainly aim towards males as they prefer the noir genre style, but the action would also appeal to females. The socio-economic class that our film would appeal to would be C1 and below as they could relate to our characters and narrative. Our film would also appeal to a noir genre community: people who specifically enjoy noirs. Our audience would watch our film for ‘Active’ reasons because they’d gain most benefit from our film. The ‘Preferred Reading’ of our film is to intellectually puzzle the audience and let them work out the ‘who-done-it?’ mystery. We’d want our audience to be in the ‘Dominant Audience’ position and admit our preferred reading, and our complicated narrative requires full-attention.

How did you attract/address your audience?
To appeal to our audience we’ve used young characters and a modern filming style to keep them watching and intrigued with the storyline. E.g: smooth and stylistic editing, casual costumes, mysterious but contemporary music and shots like Dutch-tilts adding a modern atmosphere. However we’ve kept many traditional noir attributes to appeal to noir enthusiasts and an older audience too, such as shadows, darkness and murder. From watching our film audiences would get an adrenalin scare from the violence and chase scenes and mystery/enigma from the ‘cliff-hanger’ ending to our opening. They’d get both an emotional and intellectual pleasure from our film as they’d care about our characters’ fate and have to work out the ‘who-done-it’ mystery. Through initial screenings to our media class, we found they enjoyed the film though didn’t quite understand the metaphorical dialogue. Therefore we’d be aiming towards people aged early 20’s instead of 15-18 as they would understand it more easily. This isn’t too much of a problem for us as this age still fits within the regular cinema-going audience.

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
Many new technologies have helped me through this project. In the researching stage the Internet played a crucial part when learning about the genre. www.imdb.com and www.youtube.com were particularly useful when looking at film clips. Without internet technology it would be difficult to find current noir information and rare examples, like ‘Brick’. In the planning stage we used ‘Windows Movie Maker’ to create our animatic and a scanner to insert our storyboard into this programme. I used www.blogger.com to log my progress and view other group member’s ideas. Since I’ve never used a blog before, I’ve learnt how they allow people to share information easily. Throughout the project our group used email to communicate ideas and ensure we’re organised before shooting our footage. Email is quick and efficient, and allowed us to keep everyone up-to-date. During shooting the production we used a variety of new technology, including: a digital ‘Canon HV30DV’ camera, ‘Yoga Shotgun’ microphone, ‘Velbon DV-7000’ tripod and a ‘DV’ tape to record our footage onto. The lightweight camera and tripod made transporting the kit easier, and the camera viewing panel allowed us to play-back footage before editing. I found the equipment simple to understand and the many adjustments let us shoot the exactly as we wanted. When editing we used ‘Adobe Premiere Pro’ as although it’s a complicated programme, the different functions let us precision our footage to our exact specification. We also compressed our edit into a smaller ‘Windows Media’ file so loading it on to internet would be easier. Throughout the project I've learnt how to use each piece of technology, and how it would be difficult to create our film to the same standard without it.

Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
In the preliminary exercise my skills were basic and I made many simple mistakes. The cinematography involved many errors (e.g. poor framing, the 30° line rule and not leaving handles) however we avoided this in the noir opening. We didn’t capture enough footage in the preliminary, whereas in the noir we had plenty, and more freedom to select the best shots. There were still problems with the noir e.g. the sound effects and synchronised dialogue wasn’t loud enough. We overcome this issue by re-shooting/recording what we needed. There was also a problem with our first music choice (AR.Rahman - ‘Mausam and Escape’) as our film looked like a trailer rather than an opening, but we eradicated this by choosing a new piece and rearranging the sequence. In the noir we had more time to research and produce everything in detail, which we didn’t have in the preliminary. Pre-production work is an important stage in film development as we could plan what we wanted instead of deciding important aspects in a rush. More time let us make script and storyboard drafts and consider locations and music in depth before making final decisions. In contrast to the preliminary, we allocated roles and responsibilities in our noir group so everyone contributed something. In the preliminary we spent less time planning (mise-en-scene, editing, lighting), but with one person attached to a role, all areas were covered. My role was editor. I was therefore main editor and helped search for suitable noir-style music and sound-effects. In the preliminary I found it difficult to edit and required lots of help. In the exchange (a practice sequence in preparation for the noir) I improved but spent too long on rough cuts. By the noir my newly developed skills let me work with sound effects and long-take shots, and be ambitious with effects and transitions. As well as editing I contributed towards other areas, like recording sound and suggesting ideas. As editor I ensured the group were satisfied with decisions I made, and that each aspect followed noir conventions. The music adds atmospheric tension. The voice-over and flashback styles are typical in many noirs (Edgar G.Ulmar’s ‘Detour’). The title font is mysterious but modern (similar to David Fincher’s ‘Se7en’). The pace is fast, but music slows it down. These things associated with my role, plus those from other people’s roles, helped us produce a good-quality finished product in the style we wanted. Compared to the preliminary exercise, the noir opening is better planned and the knowledge I’ve developed through both the preliminary and exchange have helped to produce a higher standard film.