Foley sounds

We were asked to recreate some of the sounds in a scene from the movie priest. We missed out on a few of the sounds because we felt that they were either too similar to other sounds we had already recorded or we re-watched teh clip to discover that the sound wasn't in the clip.

Noir Film - Continuity Task

For our continuity task we were all assigned different roles. Fabian was the cameraman as he had plenty of experience with cameras. Me and Greg edited the film because I have a decent amount of experience with editing and Greg had a copy of sony vegas pro which is quite an advanced software, and we felt it would work well for this project. Greg did also created the music for the film because he has plenty of experience with music. Me Greg and Jack also acted as the main roles in the short film. In this task we decided to focus more on the noir elements father than focusing as much on the fairytale aspects. We decided to film at my house because we felt that our noir story would fit better if it wasn't outside, it's difficult to film at school and also I live close to the school. Below is the storyboard.

Rumplestiltskin: Noir Storyboard

                           
This slideshare presentation is the result of the task we were set in which we had to re-create a fairytale so that it fitted with the typical conventions of noir film. The purpose of this task was to experiment with different camera angles to fit different scenes of the noir storyboard.This is also linked to our continuity task which we'll be uploading relatively soon.

The Avengers : Analysing one frame

In the image are three superheroes, who are all in costume in a destroyed forest. The superheroes on the right are positioned together and away from the one on the left. This makes us feel that the hero on the left isn't familiar or friendly with the ones on the right, but the ones on the right are familliar and friendly with each other.

The camera is positioned as to the side of the characters so that we can see the distance between the characters. The moody lighting and dark colours suggest that the characters are not on good terms, along with the setting of a ruined forest. The moody lighting also tells us that it's night time.

 Attention is drawn to the characters because of the bright colours they are wearing, when the background is dark. The furthest right character (captain america,) is the focus of the shot because he is wearing the most colourful clothing and is standing in a position which looks like he doesn't want to fight, whereas the others are standing in possitions as if they were ready to fight., 

The Avengers : Genre & Narrative

The Avengers is a superhero action film following a group of superheroes as they set out on a quest to recapture a powerful tesseract stolen by Thor's evil brother Loki. I think this is a fantastic film because of the excellent mixture of superheroes, intense action scenes and slight elements of comedy.

Foley Sound

Foley sounds are sounds that are created in post production to be added above the film. This could be a sound for anything and could be recreated with anything. This could mean that insted of just recreating a sound just by putting a microphone next to something that makes the desired noise you could have a completely unrelated noise that is edited in an audio editing software.

Job roles in the media

I created an emaze presentation for job roles in the media. This was my first time using emaze so I had to learn how to use it. I do however prefer presentation software such as prezi and slideshare. I am however glad I familiarised myslef with emaze just in case I did prefer it to other presentation software

Neo-Noir

Brief overview

Neo noir films are noir films with a twist. This could mean that they have the same plot as noir films, the same typical characters, ect. This twist could be anything from the everyman being a woman (like in bound,) to it being set in the future (like in blade runner)

Red Riding Trilogy

The red riding trilogy is typical to the neo-noir film genre. It has the typical character costumes. It also starts the film with the ending which is very typical to film noir. This film has a very typical everyman because he is a journalist which isn't a particularly exciting job. This film features a brownish filter which makes it feel older.

The red riding trilogy is not typical because the everyman is not middle-aged. The plot is also driven by a crime investigation about a little girl. It isn't not typical to see little girls in film noir. The background music features acoustic guitars. Usually the background music is jazz. The red riding trilogy is also not filmed in black and white.

Blade Runner

Bladerunner is classed as neo-noir because it has an everyman. It is also set at night time, is in an urban city an dis raining which sets the dark mood of a film noir. It is also an american film which fits the noir pattern as noir films are typically american. They also have guns and smoking in the beginning scene.

Blade runner is not typical noir because it is set in the future and has flying cars and robots. This strongly goes against typical noir because typical noir is set in the 1940s. The music in blade runner is also synthesised. The music being electronically produced goes against film noir as it usually uses jazz music. Blade runner is also not shot in black and white.

Bound

Bound conforms to the typical conventions of noir by starting at the end. Some of it is also set in a bar which is a typical place for the everyman to be. Bound also uses dramatic music and jazz, which is typical for noir. The style for the everyman is typical because they have a job which isn't very exciting. Bound is also set in an urban city. Bound also includes a typical femme fatale and smoking.

Bound is however a neo-noir because it doesn't conform to some of the conventions of a noir film. The main thing that makes this a neo-noir is that the everyman is a woman. This makes women seem positive in the noir genre which isn't what happens in regular noir because in noir they made sure to make the women seem far less important than men in terms of job roles, whereas the woman in this is a plumber, not a housewife. The everyman is also not wearing a typical outfit. Instead of wearing a suit with a fedora/trilby she wears a leather jacket and a standard shirt.

Sin City

Sin city conforms to some of the typical film noir conventions. One of these is the femme fatale as she wears red lipstick and has a tight dress which is also bright. The femme fatale is also smoking. Sin City starts with an ending like most noir films. There is also an old fashioned car. Sin City is set in an urban area where it's raining to set a dark mood. The everyman also narrates over some parts of the film which is very typical.Sin City is also black and white which is very typical in noir. 

Sin city is however classed as neo-noir because it doesn't meet certain conventions of typical noir. An example of this is the added colour. In certain areas they add bright colour. This happens in the beginning when the femme fatale has red lipstick and a  red dress but everything else in the scene is in black and white. The opening credits are also animated and in a comic book style which doen't fit film noir because of the lack of technology used in usual film noir. The everyman is also too old for typical film noir. Everymen are usually middle aged so that the target audience of middle aged men can relate to them.

Misflits

In Misfits; season 4 episode 4, they created a neo-noir episode. They made this episode a neo-noir by focusing around a character who was a very typical femme fatale. The femme fatale was typical because she manipulated typical men. She is also typical because when she is being focussed on they added a black and white filter, slow motion and had her smoking cigarettes which is also very typical in noir. The episode started at a bar which is a place very often used in noir film. The everyman and the femme fatal both ended up being dead which is also typical in noir.

This Misfits episode is classed as neo-noir instead of regular noir because they used full colour for a majority of the episode. They also added zombies into the episode which is not usually seen in typical noir film. The characters in Misfits are also English and not american like in usual film noir.

Typical Conventions of Film Noir

Characters

In film noir there are typically a few characters: 

• The everyman
• The femme fatale
• The villain
• The girl next door

The everyman is typically a man in his thirties who has very normal and relatively boring job. The everyman will usually be the main focus of the film. The everyman will usually occupy the role of the main protaganist without being a hero. He will usually fall into some sort of trouble with the villain because of the femme fatale. By the end of the film the everyman will usually be dead. The everyman typically dresses in a black suit.

The femme fatale is usually a pretty woman who will have some link to the villain and get the everyman in trouble with the villain by seducing them. She will usually be dead by the end of the film. At the time of film noir (1940s) this was the case to show that women were trouble. She will usually wear a tight dress and have red lipstick on.

The villain is typically a gangster. They will usually be the femme fatale's husband.They will also be leader of a mob.

The girl next door is typically a regular happy girl who is the opposite of the femme fatale and isn't as wanted by the everyman until he has realized that the femme fatale will only land him in trouble.

Narrative Structure

Typically in film noir it will always start with a broken everyman at the end of the film. The film will always start at the end to make the viewer want to find out why the everyman is broken. The everyman will usually fall in love with the femme fatale which will land him in some trouble. By the end of the film the everyman and the femme fatale will both usually be dead.

Mise-en-scene

Noir films are usually set in an urban city. A majority of the time in noir films the scenes are at night time. This sets the dark mood for the film. A bar is also very typical in film noir. This will usually be where the everyman goes. 

The everyman will usually be dressed in a suit and be wearing a fedora. The femme fatale will usually wear a tight sparkling dress and red lipstick. The villain will usually wear something similar to the everyman. The girl next door will usually wear a long dress so that she appears less appealing. There will also typically be guns in film noir.

Sound

In film noir there is typically has jazz music as its background music. Film noir will also usually amplify sounds such as footsteps and gunshots to make the scenes more intense.

Camera and Composition

Film noir is typically shot in black and white. This is the case because most noir films were made around the 1940s because they didn't have cameras with colour. The only case where this isn't true is in neo-noir because neo-noir films are more modern and have cameras with colour. Film noir is shot in areas with dark lighting to create a dark effect on the audience. 

The only camera transitions used in film noir will usually be fades. This is because the technology wasn't very modern. There will also usually be some slow motion shots. This sometimes happens when the femme fatale is smoking to make her appear more seductive. 

Historical context

Film noir was created in america in the 1940s. People were very interested in violence because of the world war 2 happening at the time. Film noir was also trying to teach the audience gender roles. This was because they were trying to make women less free. They did this by making the femme fatale seem dangerous.

My top 10 films

top 10 films from Max Shepherd on Vimeo.
This is my top 10 films project. I decided to download clips from my films from youtube and edited them together using camtasia studio 8

Noir Film Narrative Structure Task

Buster from MaxShepherd

For this task we were asked to rearrange a script into typical noir structure.
We were then asked to recreate these scenes with still images.

Media and me

This is my media presentation which shows the relation I have to the media
This was the first time I'd ever used prezi so I had to learn how to use it.

Fifty Shades Of Grey | Sweded Trailer | Behind the scenes

These are some behind the scenes shots of our sweded trailer

Fifty shades sweded trailer | Behind the scenes from MaxShepherd