Film Noir
Film noir is a style of filmmaking characterized by such elements as shadows, crime, night, corruption and femme fatale. One of the many film noir film's is The Third Man. It uses all the film noir elements with suspense and acoustic jazz music. The scene is introduced as a town centre with people hiding in the shadows.
There is no talking and suspenseful acoustic music as the characters are shown watching and waiting for something. Then they all notice a large shadow coming from behind the building. All the characters are shown facing towards the shadow.
The reveal of the large moves slowly to make viewers more intrigued and curious to see what the shadow is. The shadow turns out to be an old man carrying balloons and the characters waiting to see what it was, all look away with disappointment.
Roles: Film Industry and Games
Games:
Game Artist: They create 2D and 3D models, special effects, characters, background, props, game assets and user interface elements in the game.
Game Designer: Creates the concept, gameplay mechanics, the rules and user experience in a video game. They think of the storyline, characters, levels, rules, instructions, goals, and rewards.
Sound Designer: They create the soundtrack for a game which includes music and sound effects. They can uses any instruments and objects for the sounds.
Game Tester: They are responsible for finding and reporting bugs or issues in games before they are released so the developers can fix the problem so the players can have a good first experience with the game.
Esports producers: They let the fans and players watch the game be played for a beta test or tournament. This is to gain more people in their audience and to get more people to buy game.
Games publishers: They support the developers to make the game and decide where the game will be sold.
Mise En Scene
Mise En Scene is a French term meaning what is put into a scene or frame. The information about the scene is not in dialogue, but visually in front of the camera. This is to create a bigger understanding of the scene and there are five elements that make up Mise En Scene. Set Design is the physical environment where the action takes place. Costumes and Makeup is the clothing and makeup worn by the characters. Lighting is how the light is used to illuminate the scene and the characters within it. Colour is the use of colour in a scene to evoke emotions and convey information. Composition is the arrangement of elements within the frame or on the stage.
Fantasy: The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies
Suspense in Films
Suspense is a feeling of anxiety that accompanies uncertainty about the outcome of a scene and can be found in any situation that causes a change in the life of a character. Alfred Hitchcock, who is an expert in suspense, describes a scene of a bomb underneath a table. If the bomb explodes, the audience is shocked. However, in a suspense film, the audience knows there's a bomb underneath the table and that it's rigged to explode at one and the clock is ticking. Hitchcock explained because of these conditions, it's more "fascinating because the public is participating in the scene." There are different suspense techniques all to make the audience more shocked and intrigued such as:
Suspenseful stories-made with cinematic language language of suspense:
Camera techniques. Handheld camera movement, framing , extreme close ups, point of view shots, canting, camera angle.
Mise en scene. Colour correction.
Editing. Parallel editing, pace cutaways, slow motion.
Lighting. Low key lighting, back lighting, chiaroscuro lighting (treatment of light and tone)
Sound. Diegetic and non-diegetic sound effects, music ,silence.
Audience expectations is manipulating audience knowledge and expectations.
Character identification. The audience must care about the characters, otherwise they won't feel suspense.
For my research on films that use suspense, I'm using the basement scene from Zodiac, which many believe is a great example of suspense. The scene starts off with Robert (the protagonist and journalist trying to find the killer) talking with Vaughn, who might lead towards the killer. At this point of the scene, the lighting is very soft and we can hear a very quiet rain shower in the background. Robert shows the Vaughn posters of what the killer hinted with messy handwriting on it. The camera switches to Vaughn saying that his friend wasn't the one who made the posters with the lines of " I do the posters myself" (cuts back to Robert's face at a standstill) "It's my handwriting". After this there is 5 seconds of silence with water dropping from the rain and Robert looks back at the posters and stutters "I won't-I won't take anymore of your time."
Vaughn then suggests, whilst moving somewhere, about when they made the posters (for a film). Robert refuses the offer with the camera cutting to a shot reverse shot of Robert and Vaughn behind him over his shoulder. Vaughn insists that "It's not a problem" (then switches on a light) "It's just down in the basement." The footage cuts to Robert looking behind him at Vaughn whom is lighted with low-key lighting making him look very suspicious and an eerie out of place sound plays to indicate that something is happening. Robert mentions about the lack of basements in California with Vaughn responding "I do," and starts walking down towards the basement with an immobile Robert. Vaughn asks if he's coming down and Robert starts to slowly make his way to the basement.
When they reach the basement, we can hear the creaking of the stairs and the sudden loud noise of the light switch turned on. Vaughn starts explaining about the movies and posters with it being sounded like an echo and yet it seems I'm not focusing on that because we see Robert being cautious and the camera being focused on him mostly. As Vaughn walks through the basement, he turns the dimmed light switch on one by one and hides behind a corner looking for something whilst Robert is still slowly walking through the basement, still listening to Vaughn's voice. The lighting is very low with a lot of shadows and the lightbulbs in the background don't give off too much light. We then start hearing creaking and Robert looks up showing that the sound is coming from upstairs. He asks if Vaughn lives alone and Vaughn is still talking about when the movie ran. Vaughn finds a book which tells him when the movie ran and found out it ran in May 1969 and mentions how that was before the killer's letter. Robert looks around and says "Yeah". More creaking is heard and the camera zooms towards Robert's face asking again "Are you sure there's nobody else in the house?"
Vaughn slowly comes out and asks if Robert would like to check with Robert replying with a no. Robert starts to slowly move backwards thanking Vaughn for his time and the eerie sound returns again. The camera switches to Vaughn who doesn't move and says he's welcome. Then as Robert starts to run up the stairs, a kettle is heard whistling getting louder and louder. Robert takes his stuff whilst breathing heavily and dashes to door to find out its locked. Vaughn then appears in the mirror behind Robert and he turns around looking scared and terrified. Vaughn then opens the door for him and Robert runs out the door towards his car.
Film Noir Project
This is a team project of film making on the theme suspense. We each had our own ideas for the film project, but we had to stick to one idea. All of our ideas were similar with themes of murder and horror. We went with 'The Outsider' plot because it seemed interesting. The plotline summary is that Jack is trekking through a forest neighboring the village and discovers the dead body of Liam there. Jack reports his discovery to the townsfolk and they all accuse him as the one responsible for the killing. Jack denies being the murderer but the villagers grow all the more suspecting. He does not waste his time in denial as he knows that he has no way of proving it. Fearing he might be banished from the village, he returns to the location at which he found the body in search of anything that might have been left behind by the murderer. While he is searching the scene, he finds a camouflaged camera belonging to a wildlife photography association. He reviews the footage recorded and the footage captures the murderer (Liam's partner) killing the victim en-scene. He returns to the village and shows the footage to the townspersons to demonstrate his innocence and they are finally convinced. Sheriff Grace closes the case by convicting Jack as guiltless and arresting Liam's partner.
Scenario:
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Storyboard:
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Camera shots (with run time estimates)
Scene 1
Long shot/establishing shot (of Jack entering the village) [6-7 seconds]
Scene 2
Shoulder shot (of Jack walking through the forest) [5-6 seconds]
Eye-level shot (of Jack appearing shocked) [3-4 seconds]
Shoulder shot (of Jack discovering the body) [4-5 seconds]
Scene 3
Mid shot (of Jack from behind addressing the angry crowd of villagers; villagers repetitively yell "Murderer!" during the entirety of the scene) [7-8 seconds]
Long shot (of Jack from the midst of the crowd declaring him to be a murderer) [4-5 seconds]
Eye-level shot (of some people in the crowd expressing anger, throwing fists of rage, and persisting in their repetitive and loud remarks) [2-3 seconds]
Mid shot (of Jack's face appearing concerned for his reputation in the village) [2-3 seconds]
Long shot (of Jack from behind standing before the crowd) [2-3 seconds]
Scene 4
Long shot (of Jack searching the scene) [4-5 seconds]
Close-up (of the hidden camera with Jack in the background walking up to the camera and dismounting it) [5-6 seconds]
Mid shot (of Jack reviewing the footage recorded and expressing shock because of the footage which captured the murderer (Liam's partner) killing Liam. Jack runs back to the village intending to show the footage to the townspersons and the investigator (Sheriff Grace)) [9-10 seconds]
END
Total estimated run time: 59 seconds
Actual total run time: N/A
Background material
Uninviting, decaying home
(Scene(s) 1 & 3)
(Disclaimer: This is a view of the file; the source is inaccessible because of an apparent security issue. The author and the date of publication are unknown due to limited accessibility)
(Scene(s) 2 & 4)
Date of publication: 16/01/2015 (16th January)
Author: AVTG
Date of publication: 16/01/2015 (16th January)
Author: AVTG
Media Key Concepts
Media Language
Blue Box Opening:
Media can be still images, leaflet or film poster, or moving images in a film, tv show or game. The multimedia text is the language used to appeal to the audience. The pictures, colours and layout chosen send messages about who the product is for, what it is like and what makes it good or enjoyable. Elements of an image can help understand the ways a picture can communicate through elements like colours, size, inclusion, placement, camera angle and font.
Representation is the way something or someone is portrayed in media. An image that we see could represent people in a positive or negative way. Representations often use stereotypes, which oversimplifies ideas about a person, place or thing is like and c are usually inaccurate and offensive.
Denotation is what a word literally means e.g. the skull is the bone structure in your head.
Connotations are the ideas or feelings that a word might suggest e.g. a skull conjures up thoughts of fear, morality and death.
Narrative is how the story of a media text (tv programme, film, magazine, video game, newspaper and music) is constructed and how it relays it's information to an audience.
Genre originates from France meaning 'type'. It helps us categorise media texts in a certain way.
Sound
Origin of Diegetic Sound-Diegetic originates from the word 'Diegesis' (Greek) which is telling a story and how the narrator presents it. For films, the director is the narrator and everything they include to create a world around the characters.
Diegetic Sound-This is when the characters can hear the sound like atmospheric sounds, vehicles, weapons, music in the film, dialogue and some forms of voiceover. If the voiceover represents the character's thought, it is internal diegetic sound. Diegetic sound establishes and create the world around the characters and has an impact on the storytelling.
Non-Diegetic Sound-This is sound that characters cannot hear like sound effects, the musical score and forms of narration. The narration has to be used carefully otherwise it will break the 4th wall. These sound effects can enhance motion and movement, be used for comedy and the most used is the score.
Trans-Diegetic Sound-It's when we assume it's non-diegetic, but turns out to be diegetic, which allows the audience to be in the joke.
Creative Exceptions-It can be sound that don't fit neatly into any of the others. It makes the audience uncertain of what type of sound it is.
Analysing Title Sequences
For this session, I am going to be analysing Anime (Japanese animated TV Shows). Their title sequences is mostly known as an opening to the show and all of them are 1 minute and 30 seconds long with a song. This allows a lot of introduction and animation and is still entertaining for all anime fans to watch as it defines how the show will be. There are hundreds of popular ones with different genres and different series, so it will be very hard for me to choose. I will not factor song into this because it is the main reason to why an anime opening is very popular. I will only be factoring the animation, text, colour and the overall feel it gives me.
Haikyuu!!KarasunoVsShiratorizawa Opening:
The opening starts with the camera facing towards the protagonist's back showing the player number 10 and breathing heavily. The camera switches to the mc (main character) staring at a mountain (seen in the eye reflection) still breathing heavily and wind blowing his hair. Then the camera switches to a sideview showing the other volleyball players joining behind him with something like an aura around them. It quickly switches to a mountain with the players looking up towards it. The mountain then changes into an eagle, which spreads its wings, and the camera pans out and a tall volleyball player is faded into the screen, holding a volleyball. It switches to the opposing team standing in front of the volleyball net with eagles flying in the background. A player wearing 9 spins the ball and the title of the show appears with a beam of light striking behind it. The opening is quite long so I'll just summarise what happens. The players make plays in volleyball with light shining down on them and their eyes are lit up.
The Audio: In this opening, there is a song playing with Japanese lyrics. However the lyrics are very befitting for the visuals. The song starts with a guitar building up with the lyrics saying 'As if lighting a fire with every cell in your body, You sucked in a breath with all your might!'. The build up dies down and continues to gently build up and the lyrics say, 'Let there be light!' with the title of the show.
This is another anime opening and it is very recent but the animation and the song make this opening so perfect that it's one of my favourites.
Planning and Storyboarding our Title Sequence
In this session, we had to make our own storyboard for our own title sequence. The title sequence is our own individual work and supposed to be related to the team's film noir project. The title sequence must be 30 seconds long and must have a film title and credits. We also had to plan an audio storyboard for the sounds that would be put into the title sequence.
Audio Planning
Since the theme is suspense, we had to find audio that will also give the audience the feeling of thrill. I also thought of having some sounds of the forest to add a variety in the audio. In the first few seconds of the title sequence, there'll be audio of wind blowing to introduce the scene. Also, I have added a glitch effect in the title sequence, so I will add a glitch sound effect to transition into the next scene. There will also be additional sounds like leaves rustling and maybe a suspenseful sound track.
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Title Sequence
For my title sequence, I will be making it on adobe after effects and adobe premiere pro. As of now, my title sequence is completed and my planning is very different to the finished product because of the lack of footage that I can shoot with the cameras that we have. Instead I decided to use images and footage from the internet, as well as audio.
For the first part of the title sequence, I wanted to still add in that zooming in effect to make it look like the camera zooming out of the forest. Therefore, I found an image of a forest with an open space in the middle and used Adobe after effects for the zooming effect. I also added a glitch effect for more audio options. The glitch effect was made by adding an adjustment layer with a free license video on Youtube.
I had played around with the effect to see how it will play out and decided zooming out looks better. For the next part of the title sequence, I decided to introduce the next scene by making the footage cut out suddenly and show a dramatic glitch with the forest image and then moves onto a slow moving bird's eye view of a forest showing the title of the film.
As for the audio, I used Pixibay which has free audio to use, so I moved to Adobe premiere pro to compile it all together. I used audio that had an out of focus radio station, introductory music, a glitch sound effect and a slow, sad piano.
The Outsider: Title sequence
Our Own Edit of Suspense Film
After making my title sequence, I moved over to filming our scenario. For the filming location, my team and I used the green screen studio which had a 360 degrees green curtain so we can film anywhere in the room. My role was to setup the room with the curtains and the green floor and to get the props which was a mannequin in a plastic bag which was supposed to resemble a crime scene. My teammates Vlada was the camera-person and Haris was the actor in the film.
We shot around 20+ scenes testing the different camera angles which with all of our best shots adding up to a minute. After that, it was time to edit it in Adobe Premiere Pro which later proved to be difficult for me with the footage that we shot. Since I was not filming, I probably didn't check properly with Vlada about how the footage was. The footage turned out to be really unusable because the aperture, shutter speed, the focus and the camera lens was all not set properly. The footage was blurry and out of focus and constant lines going through the footage.
I also did not think about setting up the lighting for the footage which changed how the footage could be edited. Only the main studio ceiling lights were used which created shadows because there was no other lighting to fill in the shadows. This was a problem for editing because to change the background, we had to pick the colour which would replace all of that same colour into the image. However, since the colour was not consistent on the curtain because of shadows there was a lot of green left in the result.
I talked with my teacher about the footage and what to do with it and the footage is very unusable. Therefore, I made an assembly cut with all the footage we shot in order. However, I made an experimental footage with an edited background to show why it wouldn't work.
The Outsider Unedited Cut
Experimental Green Screen Edit
Indesign Pamphlet
For the last part of my project, I made a pamphlet to promote our short film. This wasn't difficult to make on adobe Indesign. I found the opacity tool very useful to use for making the coffee stains on the map. I wanted to put a map as the background to show the forest and where the person was attacked with an 'X' on the map. For the inside of the pamphlet, I put stained paper as the background and added ink splatters and an ink and quill. I wanted to make the audience feel like they are reading something that someone wrote and left. I am pleased with my pamphlet, however I didn't learn all the skills of Indesign, so in my next projects for marketing, I will improve my skills.
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