Chloe's Media Blog: 2012

Wednesday 12 December 2012

Treatment

Blackout. As a jewellery box’s tune begins, the shot of her blood red lipstick fades in as her hand reaches over and gracefully picks it up. The corner of her lips, with her glamorous hair comes into shot, she’s applying the lipstick slowly. This is followed by a behind shot of her, placing her lipstick on the counter and in turn collecting some diamanté earrings from her jewellery box. The shot lingers on the photograph of a happy couple before returning to a side close up of her ear and cheek, as she places her earring in her ear. Her wedding ring is removed and placed under a necklace in her jewellery box, her fingertip lingers across the man in the photo’s face, hesitation…the jewellery box is slammed shut, and the music abruptly stops. She leaves in silence.

Next is a shot of the femme fatale swiftly leading the building, rushing down the steps. She walks into a darkly lit, enigmatic alleyway. As she glances over her shoulder, her face is largely covered by her stylistic hat’s netting. Yet her eyes glancing behind her, whilst swiftly walking, is clear. Due to a long shot of this character rushing, a second character is revealed by their dark mysterious shoulder and neck wandering into the frame. A man, and he’s watching her.

The sub-genre of thriller that we have decided upon is Film Noir, due to the especially creative aspects of filming, editing and music. The Film Noir's theatricality and glamour would make an exciting opening to create, we expect. Inspiration taken from many classic Film Noir's such as the dark mysterious alleyways used in The Third Man, though not a Film Noir the stylistic opening of Casino Royal, we aim to use similar unique camera angles and shots to create an on-edge impression. Our Femme Fatale has many qualities similar to Phyllis from Double Indemnity, the confidence, glamour, and seductiveness are traits that we inivsion being in the character of Scarlett. Not only this, the plot took some inspiration from the theme of adultery that runs through Double Indemnity since it brings such a motive for violence and passion. Also Chinatown's J.J. "Jake" Gittes (the male protgragonist) loosely inspired our protragonist, mainly his flair of character and love of money.

Thursday 29 November 2012

Mood Board

Thursday 22 November 2012

Preliminary Task grade

Thursday 15 November 2012

Working Title essay

How has Working Title adapted its films and marketing for different audiences?

Working Title well known for its iconic British films was first founded by Tim Bevan and Sarah Radclyffe in 1983, with Eric Fellner as co-owner. In 1983 Working Title released its first film, ‘my beautiful Laundrette’, a comedy-drama set in London; the iconic London scenery was used a lot through many other Working Title projects and the comedy-drama genre has also been used in a variety of ways. With the departure of Radclyffe, Eric Feller came on board; Working Title began making a variety of films for Polygram Filmed Entertainment, this became a major competitor in Hollywood and finally in 1999, Polygram merged with MCA Music Entertainment forming Universal Studios. Between the period of 2000 and 2004 Studio Canal and Working Title were owned by the same company, Studio Canal financed many of there films including; Bully and Bridget Jones’s Diary. With Working Title films being watched in North America, this allowed a whole new range of audience; films were now being adapted to please different niche markets.

Films were becoming ironically British with setting, actors and history to please the American market. In 2003, ‘Love Actually’, a comedy-drama was released; Working Title used classic British settings, the main one being London to pull audiences in, comedy-drama as mentioned before was the genre of ‘My beautiful Laundrette’ was used again as it appeals to a wide audience. All actors were British in ‘Love Actually’ examples being; Bill Nighy, Colin Firth, Hugh Grant and Keira Knightley, all these actors have appeared in at least two other Working Title productions.

The trailer for ‘Love Actually’ has been done to appeal to all audiences, a voice over has been used, this is used through a lot of American advertising, there are snippets of each actor, this can appeal to fans of theirs and snippets of other films by Working Title are shown at the beginning (Nottinghill), this can make others watch those productions or if they enjoyed ‘Nottinghill’, it may make them want to watch ‘Love Actually’.

Another example being ‘Atonement’ released in 2007, Keira Knightley also starred along with James McAvoy(British), the film of drama, war and romance is very different to the usual comedy-drama, this brings in a whole new range of audience. War films are likely to being in the older audience both British and American, romance can appeal to all people, this is what resulted in a large box office. British locations were also used in this film, mainly in London, Cambridgeshire and Lincolnshire.

A final example is ‘Bean’ released in 1997; this took on a completely different approach, a family comedy based genre which was filmed in the United Kingdom as well as the United States, this was done a few years before the merge between Polygram and Universal Studios and so I believe producers were testing out what brought in a wider audience.

Niche markets, this is a film made that is aimed at a specific audience, an example of this can be Anna Karenina, adapted from the novel by Leo Tolstoy, a historical drama which is aimed at the older generation and the American audience. Set in the late 19^th century in Russia, American audiences will enjoy the period look, clothing, seeing as it was first a novel; there is already a large fan base. Keira Knightley stars in yet another Working Title film, taking on the role of the aristocrat with co-stars Jude Law and Aaron Taylor-Johnson. Jude Law has acted in a lot of high earning films, this has resulted in him being well known and many people watching his films, Aaron Taylor-Johnson is much younger and so that brings in a much different audience. This film has adapted to appeal to many audiences.

Through Universal, Working Title has now been able to reach many more people across the world, resulting in a much larger audience. From some of the examples I mentioned above you can see that although they have some of the same features in there films; actors and setting, they have covered most genres which allows them to access a larger audience.

The iconic British style of Working Titles films has now become well known and is what audiences love and crave.

Wednesday 14 November 2012

How does the director of The Third Man use camerawork, mise en scene and sound to control the audiences response and create meaning?

The scene involving the police chasing Harry into the sewers creates a sense of claustrophobia; this is done by the camera zooming in on the characters resulting in the space around them appearing small. The echo of the characters footfalls makes the setting seem more compact. A narrow staircase also adds to the sense of claustrophobia, as the sewers are below ground this can be seen as a visual metaphor for the characters going down to hell. The characters shadows are shown against the brick walls which helps to add claustrophobia, the railings from the staircase are also reflected on the walls, this gives a prison bar like effect giving a sense of unease to the scene.

The use of the water reflecting the walls creates the sense of claustrophobia; this is then added by the shadows on both the ceiling and wall, the ceiling is incredibly low creating the feeling that Harry will be trapped. The camera is in a standing position throughout this shot allowing the character to appear smaller in the distance so the audience can take in the whole scene, this can be called a 'vanishing point' were the ceiling and floor appear to meet. The shot provides a visual metaphor for Harry trying to escape into the light, “the light at the end of the tunnel,” this can be seen as his escape from hell, this also brings a sense of foreboding to the scene making the viewer wonder what is waiting at the end.

This is one of the few close ups shown in the sewer chase, this allows the audience to capture the emotions that the character Harry is experiencing, fear, it also makes the audience feel as though they are there with the character. Half of his face is seen to be submerged in darkness and half in light; this is a visual metaphor of his morals, the good and the bad within him. From the angle of the characters body it makes him appear as though he is in a small space, this provides the audience with a sense of claustrophobia. The rule of thirds is used in this shot; the character is located to the right of the shot allowing the audience to also see what is happening on the level below with the police searching for him.

This shot located towards the end of the film draws on the fact that the character is trapped and 'the light at the end of the tunnel,' is no longer an escape. The light amplifies the tunnel walls making the space appear enclosed; with the character raising his arms to the side it makes the space appear only body width wide. With the character facing the opposite way, the audience has no idea of the emotions he is experiencing, but the use of the light silhouetting his body gives an almost Jesus on the cross effect. The long shot allows the audience to take in his entire surroundings.

Monday 5 November 2012

How does Casino Royale use conventions of film noir, and what meanings/connotations are created?

The opening scene to James Bonds "Casino Royale" is shot completely different to the remainder of the film, while the rest of the film varies far away from the traditional film noir, the opening, shot in black and white uses many film noir conventions.

This first shot to the opening of "Casino Royale", set as a long shot so that the entire outside of the building and some the surrounding can be captured shows a lamppost located central. From some of the very first thriller films a lamppost has been used as an iconic location, another example of this is in "Scarlet Street", the main poster shows the femme fatale character, Kitty, leaning against a lamppost. While the rest of scene remains very much in darkness, the lamppost adds light to the area projecting enigma and allows the audience to see very little detail.

A business office is seen as the main location in this scene, this would suggest that the characters located inside, or arriving, are of high class. Other film noir films will always have a rich business man as one of the main characters, so in this scene without seeing any characters the audience can already see similarities.

The first character the audience gets to see is of a man dressed in a business like fashion. A suit would suggest that the man has wealth and this is an iconic look used throughout film noir, this would also suggest that the man is not out of place being at a group of offices.

His facial expression appears to be very serious, this sets the mood for the rest of the scene and suggests to the audience that he is a task to carry out within the office complex which he wishes to complete.
Moral ambiguity is shown by the light and the dark on the characters face, this shows that his morals are very conflicting. The character looking into the distance it creates a sense of foreboding and makes the audience wonder what will hsappen next.
A low angle shot is used, this suggests that the man has power and is someone of importance. It also portrays him as being a much larger character and that whoever is located inside the office should be scared of him.

This shot mixes old with new. A gun is an iconic weapon used throughout all film noir since it first began, this shows the audience that "Casino Royale" is using some traditional features. The gadget located next to it appears to be new, this shows that the film has taken on some new features while still trying to mix old with new.

This is the first shot the audience gets to see of James Bond, having the character viewed in half light and half in darkness shows that his morals may be very conflicting. The lighting used also makes us wonder if he is the hero of the story or the bad guy, alike the other character he is also dressed in a business like fashion and wears a very serious expression. The lighting used across half of his face appears to be artificial and adds more enigma to the seen. Alike traditional film noir features, lighting and shadows are used well to confuse the audience and make it more mysterious.

And finally from this shot, the camera is zoomed in to show facial details and some of the surroundings, the man appears to look more worried than in the first scene of him, this makes the audience believe he may be the victim. Alike film noir the character seems to be in a more closely in closed space, this shows claustrophobia and also increases the amount of worry the character has, this is used a lot in film noir to show a difference in mood.

The lighting appears to be coming from behind him, this shows that its artificial as its dark outside, this helps to give the scene a very harsh mood.

Preliminary Task

Conventions of Film Noir

Film noir used throughout the thriller genre is split into 4 main sections; Camera work, Themes/Mood, Characters and Mise-en-scene.
Camera work
All thriller movies are to include; obscure shots an example of this can be the camera in the point of view of someone spying, Extreme angles, these can be extreme high and low shots. An example can be seen below of an extreme angle in James Bond.

Compose space between characters, this is used to show suspicion and distance and CU/ECU of emotional response.
Themes/Mood
Thriller films are seen to be very dark and have a lot of enigma. Status is used a lot to symbolise which characters dominate the others; crime, betrayal, lust, discovery and bleak are shown as major moods throughout thrillers.
Characters
All thrillers include the same characters in film; Detectives, Business men, Cops, Suspects, Gangsters (shady people) and Pretty girls (Damsels, Femme Fatale and Love interests). An example of femme fatale, Lana Turner is seen below.

Mise-en-scene
Mise-en-scene meaning everything within the scene, can be split up into 4 sections; Props, Sets/Locations, Lighting and Costume.
Two main props used in thriller are guns and cigarettes; these have been used since the beginning of the genre.
Sets/Location used are: Staircases, Lampposts, Alley, Bridges and very claustrophobic areas to add to the tension of the scene.
Lighting in thriller is very dark, usually there is a single source of light in the scene and its very artificial and harsh light, strong shadows are projected, this is used a lot on staircase scenes and there is a flood light projecting over the characters.

Costumes include a suit, this is usually for the detective like character, this outfit would also include a hat and the women are likely to be old glamour this includes a lot of dresses and furs.

Saturday 3 November 2012

Women in Film-Noir

There are three main types of character that women in film-noir can be seen as; the marrying type, the good woman and the femme-fatale.

• The marrying type was first seen in the late 1940s in “Pitfall” she threatens to domesticate the “hero” and make him fulfil to his social role. He finds this dull and this is what leads him to the femme fatale. The marrying type isn't seen as a dangerous woman, they are socially acceptable, and a sweetheart but they can be seen as dangerous as they are the ones who hold the hero back.

• The good woman is seen to embrace her traditional “place” in the family, but is out of place in film-noir. Although she is seen to offer escapism for the hero the story, she is a mirage that that the hero cannot reach. The good woman offers lack of excitement and contrasts with what is expected of film-noir. In 1946 when “The Killers” was released, it showed that the good woman lost the hero to the femme fatale.

• The Femme-fatale character is an attractive and seductive woman who will ultimately bring disaster to a man who becomes involved with her. She rejects the conventional roles of a woman such as; devoted wife and loving mother that society expects. In the end her transgressions of social norms usually result in her downfall and of the men around her, this supports the existing social order, that a woman will be punished if she is powerful and independent. The femme-fatale character is very independent and if confined within a marriage, she will result to murder in order to escape, in the 1947 "Out of the Past" Kathie Moffett shoots her way out of a relationship.