REPORT ON EXCHANGE EXERCISE

In a group of 4 we were asked to create a exercise to be called the exchange where we would use our current  knowledge of filming and editing to develop and learn new techniques and stylistics so that when we came to make our final piece we would have more experience editing and filming . This project further increased knowledge of group work and also got us familiarised with the group we would be in for our final project.

Our task was to create a minute long clip with a minimum of two characters that would exchange an item in our case it was a envelope of money. The scene wasn’t allowed any dialogue but non diegetic music over the top, in order to set the mood for the action. We needed around 8-12 shots to create this scene, in our clip we had 11 different shots . In this exercise we used a wide variety of angles including, close ups long shots cut away shots and also shots through objects such as a fence, which creates effects which are similar to those which are used in classic noirs, this shot also made the character look much more menacing almost giving the effect you get when you see a criminal in a film walking though or up to prison bars.

In our piece we kept to the 180 degree line rule, so our piece made sense and kept continuity. Even though we kept to this rule our group we did have a slight problem with continuity where the held object switched hands, we realised this as we edited and that shot was eventually cut from our final piece as it caused too many problems.

overall I would say our exchange exercise was a good learning curve helping us to bring in a wider variety of skills to our final piece, it also fit the brief very well keeping to the restraints that were set and I am pleased with the final outcome as i believe it was a good attempt at making something feel like a thriller. 

If I could re-film this piece  without the restraints I would film a larger number of shots so we had plenty to create our piece out of also to act as a safe guard to any clips that did not have good continuity so they could easily be replaced with another, I would also keep track of shot continuity throughout filming, which would have prevented the lack in continuity which we experienced in one of our shots when we came round to editing.

COMPLETED SCRIPT

COMPLETED STORYBOARD

GROUP MEETING NOTES ON EDITING STAGES

Tuesday march 8th

• We added Light ray effects added to the flashback of the dead body give mysterious look to it.
• We added car sounds to the main (street) flashback create an urban effect 
• We lowered the sound from the main flashback because it was a windy day and the sound gear picked up too much unwanted noise
• We moved the flashbacks of the dead body to make it fit to the character, because it didn’t fit in because it didn’t make sense being flashback straight after flashback.
• We added an effect called “over drive” To the flashback of the fight scene  and we changed the white and gray colours to create an effect so it was clearly a flashback.
• We shortened the fight scene and sped it up to make it appear more violent and more physical to the audience.

Tuesday march 15th

• We put a fade on the shot where Ashley is opening the bathroom door and we also put a fade on the flashback where the door is being opened in order for the shot to swap over nicely and smoothly from the present to the flashback.
• We put on the title of the film “Bill” and also the production titles such as “ a teleport production” and “BXU” which are our production companies.
• We added a bit of non diegetic music at the beginning of the scene, this is our start off point for music in the scene.
• We deleted the close up shot of Ashley as it appeared too quick on the edit and so was unappealing to the eye.

Tuesday march 22nd

•  We recorded the voice over and cut and paste it onto our film noir style opening
• We typed out and researched the audience views via a questionnaire 

Tuesday march 29th

• We changed the colour on a clip of Ashley as the colouring stood out compared to the other clips as it was too red/orange. Because of the colour difference we altered the orange clips with a colour altering effect.
• We placed the voiceover clips in the correct place so it made the best out of the scene, we placed a large section of the voiceover on a large shot so that the clip appeared less boring to the audience.
• We decreased the volume of the music where the voiceovers were also playing so the voiceovers were audible.
• We faded the music just before the voice clips so the alteration in music was not too noticeable
• We added character titles in so the actors are known within the opening sequence, we placed the titles over the shots on an invisible background so the titles linked in well with the opening scene.

STORYLINE AND SYNOPSIS FOR MY FILM NOIR OPENING

Synopsis for opening

Open with a man sitting in a corner, head in his hands covered in a hood. The man appears emotional as he throws objects from nearby over the room. He sits in the room as he thinks. As he thinks he has a flashback, seeing a man walking down a road and seeing a girl, their eyes meet and the problems begin. The film goes back to the man in the room he has various flashbacks which could link to the story which will follow, leaving an enigma for the audience.




Synopsis for rest of narrative 

Later on the man is getting ready for a party with some of his friends, they talk about the girl he saw earlier that day anf he finds out from his friends that her boyfriend is a physco drug dealer.
At the party the guy and girl begin to talk then they get together, the boyfriend bursts in on them and hit’s the guy then proceeds to chase him out the house where he catches him and they both fight. During the fight the guy picks up a metal pipe that’s laying on the ground and brutally attacks the drug dealer, killing him in the process.

DOUBLE INDEMNITY (classic film noir review)

This is a film set in LA which tends to be a classic location for film noirs.

In the first scene the classic stylistics of film noir were instantly on show with venetian blinds in the very first scene, also in the first scene , also the main character Walter smokes in the first scene, smoke in noirs is usually used in noirs to shroud characters to make them more mysterious. Despite rain being used in noirs a lot this film only uses it once however the time it is used works well as it is used at a moment of peril. The femme fatal Phyllis appears at the start to be trying to get her husband insurance.

Walter is a damaged man from the start this is obvious as he limps into a building and begins to explain how much of a mess he is in. Walters first encounter with Phyllis they blatantly flirt and there is a chemistry between them he then comes back later that night telling her he wants to be with her they then hatch a plan to murder Phyllis’ husband when he goes on a business trip on a train the plan was to make it look like he fell to his death off the train. On the way to the date they planned to murder Phyllis’ husband there are two obstacles his daughter told Walter that despite the fact that he is a selfish man he is a good father and a good man however it did not take Walter more than 10 seconds to shake it off, the other problem is that Phyllis’ husband breaks his leg this delays the plan and so Walter has to fake a broken leg when he impersonates her husband on the train.




 The murder happens and they pull it off well. Because of the insurance taken out just before Phyllis’ husband died a man called Keys investigate not suspecting foul play at first but his instincts end up telling him something is wrong he eventually figures it all out after Walter and Phyllis turn on each other because of the stress leading to Walter killing Phyllis the film ties together with Walter going back to his office like at the start then it going back to present time and keys discovering Walter in his office who says he would rather go to Mexico than face death but his wounds from the confrontation with Phyllis are to severe and he collapses in front of the lift.

DEFINITION OF NEO NOIR

Neo noir or (new black) is a film genre which is a newer version of film noir with updated themes, content, style, visual styles or media that were not present in the 1940s-50s unlike classic noirs, neo noir films are aware of modern circumstances and technology, there are a few similarities between neo and film noir , having anti heroes in difficult positions, the striking use on light and shadow and the unusual camera angels.

Two examples of neo noir film are BLADE RUNNER a film set In Los Angeles, November 2019, retired police officer Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford) is detained at a noodle bar by officer Gaff (Edward James Olmos). His former supervisor, Bryant (M. Emmet Walsh), tells him that several "replicants" biologically engineered humanoids who serve as soldiers and slaves in off-world colonies have escaped, and have come to Earth illegally. As a "blade runner" while active, Deckard's job was to track down replicants on Earth and "retire" them. Rick then becomes active once again falling in love with a possible replicant (this is never confirmed or denied directly) and he hunts down four replicants who fled to planet earth eventually retiring them all. Rain is ever-present in this film.

Another example of a neo noir is FAREWELL MY LOVELY Set in Los Angeles in 1941, against a seamy backdrop of police corruption, cheap hotel rooms, illegal gambling and jewel trafficking, private detective Philip Marlowe is holed up in a hotel room and growing more weary by the hour. As he explains to his police lieutenant friend Nulty "I've got a hat, a coat and a gun, that's it."