G321 Foundation Portfolio 2011

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2011-04-12T05:37:00.000-07:00

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Evaluation

2011-04-11T04:14:00.000-07:00

Femme Fatal Evaluation2 on Prezi

This is our final evaluation of Femme Fatal by Hannah Liddle, Charlotte Pepper, Dan Mcgovern and Laimis Narsutis.

Product Evaluation

2011-04-11T04:05:00.000-07:00

Final Sequence

2011-04-10T06:58:00.000-07:00

Making of Film Sequence in Final Cut:

2011-03-31T01:28:00.000-07:00

1. I used the chroma key in Final Cut to recreate the sin city effect. The top part of the chroma key allows you to select the colours which are going to taken away. Other options allow to select a very specific range of the spectrum. When the colour is chosen the invert key swaps the selection and keep the colours which have been selected.

2. We also had to use the colour correction to make our footage black & white by reducing the saturation and increasing the saturation in the shots where colour is present.

3. To make the effect seen in this image i used the Luma key which works similarly to the chroma key. This allowed us to present our logo in our sequence in the shape of the moving smoke.

4. When working with the sounds I had to reduce the levels at point of narrative, this enhanced the narrative. I used cross fades so that the audience do not notice the transitions.

5. The timeline is where most of the editing happens; small thumbnails show the short clips of video, by placing them one after the other the video is made. Sometimes more than one track have to be used when using effects which overlay footage.

Updated Sequence

2011-03-29T06:16:00.000-07:00

At the next screening, in our feedback we received that at 1:04 the shot could be improved by having it in full opacity. Because of this feedback we will make this change

Making of Production titles:

2011-03-29T06:07:00.000-07:00

1. By going to File > Place... I used this to insert the background which i created earlier.

2.Then by using the options on the right I added a text layer named 'Blacklist Productions'. I think LiveType is very useful for the project because the titles can be animated and the maker has full control over the effects.

3. To add an additional effect I added some animated smoke, which i then blured and faded on the background. I did this to make the title more interesting and match the original film noir conventions which include dark colours and smoke.

4.Final Production Title

Making of Film LOGO:

2011-03-29T06:01:00.000-07:00


1.To make the film logo I had to start with a background which would suit our film as well as th general conventions. I picked a dark wall textured background.

2.Next I added the film title in a distorted font, again to keep with the harsh and corrupt theme.

3.Lastly I included a layer of a shape which i thought looked lie a blood splat. I placed this behind the text layer.

4.Next I used 'Colour' mode in the blending options to blend the red layer to the background to make the layer fit onto the background.

5. Here is the final result.

Media Product Evaluation

2011-03-28T03:16:00.001-07:00

1.  In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms  and conventions of real media products?

Our opening sequence include different film noir generic conventions  such as the use of a gun, our main character is established within the  opening sequence and is shot at by the typical bad cop character.

In our opening sequence we have also, last minute, included the femme  fatale in the opening sequence having her smoke a cigarette with her  bright red lipstick with a voice over the actual opening sequence giving  more insight as to what is happening in the opening sequence and the  story line of the film.

Our characters are determined in the opening sequence and one of the  characters (being the bad cop) is a silhouette figure, which is a  typical generic convention in a film noir, however more common in  neo-noir’s.

Low-key lighting is also apparent in our film noir as the location was  in an old warehouse and all the natural lighting was very low-key. The  use of the camera light gave a good spotlight effect.

Our main characters were also wearing suits in the opening sequence  making them the dominant characters and also showing their role as good  cop bad cop.

Leaving the blood red when Carter gets shot is similar and has been  inspired from the neo noir Sin City.

2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Men and women are conveyed in a particular, stereotypical way, as far as  film noir goes. The female is a seductive femme fatale and the males  take on a role of an important detective with good cop, bad cop roles.

Target audience: Mature audience, film certificate18+.

3. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product  and why?

Warner bros are more likely to take on our film as there productions has  dominated the film market for many years and has produced many great  film noir and thrillers throughout the years. 

I think after the release date it could be a TV movie, maybe a film4  movie.

Currently film noir is becoming more popular in the media industry, this  is shown by Rockstar’s latest release of LA Noire, and also celebrity  Britney Spears new album Femme Fatale. Our film could be later released  after the big re release of the film noir genre bringing many different  audience types.

4. Who would be the audience for your media product?

Our target audience is of those who enjoy a film noir movie and of those  who are of 18 years and over. We aim to attract a mature audience,  bringing in fans from other film noir films, and with a wide range such  as, Sin City, LA Confidential. 

5. How did you attract/address your audience?

Our advertising would be displayed near other film noir products and  products of a similar nature such as the new release of Rockstar’s game  LA Noire, it would be advertised as commercials on Youtube when people  search other film noir products.

Some camera shots and angles are not so steady and are hand held/canted  as it is action based and quite fast paced. Some POV shots make it  possible for the audience to see from the eye of the characters and put  them in their position making it easy to connect with the character and  feel their emotions, whether it’s fear or power. The impact of this then  ticks the boxes of generic conventions of film noir as a sense of  suspense is felt within the audience, not particularly making it  suitable for a young audience.

6. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of  constructing the product?

Strengths of camera equipment.

We could manually control the shots we got, allowing us to get different  angles and view points such as the Point of view shot and close ups. We used the camera in the manual mode to control the amount of light coming into the camera, therefore allowing us to achieve the dark film noir effect.

The microphone was sensitive to great detail in noise, allowing us to  get great different sound effects and noises. The area in which we shot  the sequence was echoic and the sound of feet running was very effective  because it enhanced the eerie atmosphere and combined with the  breathing turned out to be very successful.

The camera light was also very useful in shooting as the dark atmosphere  was a perfect low-key lighting with the camera light, however without  the camera light the natural lighting would have been to low-key and  unable to see a clear picture.

Tripods also came in very handy as it helped us create steady shots and  closeups without having a jolted hand or camera shake and making the shot more realistic.

Weaknesses of camera equipment.

Unfortunately we were unable to carry a dolly to our destination due to  transportation issues but our hand held camera movements worked just as  successfully. However, with not being able to carry the dolly, we were  limited with our movements and we had to be careful with the cameraman's  footsteps as previously stated the location was echoic and any sudden  random movement was picked up by the sensitive camera microphones.

Using colour correction to turn our footage to black and white was found  very useful because it gives the footage a more film noir effect.  Chroma key was also used in the editing of the footage to get the red of  lips and blood to stand out the most. Chroma key helps take out a section  of the image to add colour on top of the black and white. This effect allows us to create the effect which was used in Sin city. Also other effects such as the Luma key were used for us to achieve the effect for the film logo.

7. Looking back to your preliminary task, what do you feel that you have  learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

Looking back at our preliminary task we can see that it wasn’t so  successful, however, we feel like our group has massively progressed in  the filming area as our rough cut seems to be quite successful already  and with editing knowledge and techniques by Laimis we could have a  winning final piece.

Different opening sequences of film noir’s and neo noir’s helped gather  ideas for our opening sequence such as SIN CITY and USUAL SUSPECTS.  Other film noir enigmas such as the femme fatale and smoking also were  put forward in our thought web when deciding what to include into our  opening sequence.

Shots such as POV shots and close ups were thought of when thinking of  action points in film noir’s such as the POV shot of the feet running  and the noise of the heavy breathing.

Some particular shots such as shot reverse shot is not needed in our  sequence and it is different shots of different movements, the same with  match on action shots.

We feel that our final product is filling the specification as it agreed  that our opening sequence will be quite successful. Our opening  sequence also meets the needs and generic conventions of film noir by  including the conventions of real media products such as other film  noir’s.

Change in original idea

2011-03-28T03:15:00.000-07:00

Some changes have been made to the original  idea of our opening sequence. We have decided to add the narration of  the femme fatale so more conventions are within the film. We also  changed from a back alley location to a abandoned factory, this is  because the factory was easier to film in as no background noise can be  heard. The factory location has been added to the call sheet. We will  use cut scenes of the femme fetal smoking as well as the faded black  screens. The story line and plot have still stayed the same.

Narration Script for The Opening Sequence

2011-03-14T04:10:00.001-07:00

 Charlotte Pepper: [Take a smoke] They could never handle me. [She blows  out the smoke] The two of them, both so alike in poise, but I could only  love one.

I met him at a bar, he was lonely and I was working, I’d see him once or  twice a week. I’d watch his eyes glance over at me, but this time was  different. He held a long hard stare straight into my eyes. [Take a  smoke, and blow out the smoke, shaking her head…]No matter how hard I  tried I couldn’t pull my focus away.

I didn’t see him for a while, met this new guy. He was kinda cute, bit  of a rogue. Totally in love with me. Lets just say, he pleased me well.  [Short laugh, take a smoke etc] Poor bastard. 

They both took this fling too seriously, they could never handle me.  [Half smile]

Femme Fatal Opening Sequence Rough Cut

2011-03-03T01:32:00.000-08:00

This is a rough cut of our Femme Fatal opening sequence. The clip contains all the shots and approximate timings. We will aim to keep the clip longer than 1:50 when it is finished.

Audience feedback.

(Rough Cut)

We gathered some feedback  from our rough cut preview and some pointers  where given:

·       Soundtrack needed

·      Make transitions smoother to link the  shots together better

·      Make sure it’s all in black and white

·       Create and test out better gun shot sounds 

Project Call Sheet

2011-02-28T03:19:00.000-08:00

Call sheet

Femme Fatal Logos

2011-02-28T03:17:00.001-08:00

This is our first design for the logo it has typical film noir colours such a black and white. It also has smoke which is an enigma of film noir.

This logo is inspired by Sin City. It contains usual film noir colours such as the dark grey and black. The blood is in red like on sin city.

Femme Fatal Opening Sequence Storyboard

2011-02-08T05:37:00.001-08:00

2011-02-04T15:33:00.001-08:00

Pitch

View more documents from Dan McGovern.

Sum up of pitch in 25 words

Good cop, bad cop, femme fatale. Conflict between detectives causes more than just a ruckus and Detective Carter finds out more than he bargained for.

#1 Movies

2011-02-03T12:52:00.000-08:00

Year	#1 Movie	Worldwide Gross
2011	The Green Hornet	$78.5
2010	Toy Story 3	$1,063.2
2009	Avatar	$2,770.4
2008	The Dark Knight	$1,001.9
2007	Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End	$961.0
2006	Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest	$1,066.2
2005	Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire	$895.9
2004	Shrek 2	$919.8
2003	The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King	$1,119.1
2002	The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers	$923.3
2001	Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone	$974.7
2000	Mission: Impossible II	$546.4
1999	Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace	$924.3
1998	Armageddon	$553.7
1997	Titanic	$1,843.2
1996	Independence Day	$817.4
1995	Die Hard: With A Vengeance	$366.1
1994	The Lion King	$768.2
1993	Jurassic Park	$914.7
1992	Aladdin	$504.1
1991	Terminator 2: Judgment Day	$519.8
1990	Ghost	$505.7
1989	Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade	$474.2

Risk Assesment

2011-02-03T12:47:00.001-08:00

Firstly a main risk for our film is due to the limited amount of Film Noir films that are released. This could result in a lower interest in the film as its genre as it is not popular. Therefore the film needs to be marketed successfully to maximize interest resulting in maximum revenue. To minimize the risks we are going to use viral marketing. For example certain web sights such as youtube and board sheet newspapers would be taken over by a blank screen with a silhouette of the femme fatal smoking a cigarette. This would create suspense and desire creation to no more about the film. Also marketing on such web sights and with the use of a attractive woman this would attract the main audience of older men as they are more likely to watch a film of such genre.

Another risk could be financing the film. We need to ensure that we make the film look believable, realistic and professional on our low budget. In order for use to achieve these elements we need to make sure the location is correct. For a film noir this would be great if it could be a cite like New York however this is not possible therefore we will have to make do with local locations such as streets or disused warehouses.

In order for the filming to go along with schedule we will need to make sure that all cameras use have full charge before we head out filming so make sure we charge them the night before, and also that the actors have the correct costume and are here on time, so reference to the call sheet and filming dates would be needed. Also although we can not control the weather it would be better if we could film on a dull day however if it rains this could result in a delay to filming.

The final risk that we could face is trouble due to the fact we are using guns, although they are fake if a passer by was to see them in a quick glance they could get scared and call the police and this could be a nightmare and not only delay filming but get us in to trouble therefore we need to be careful and not film in a highly populated place.

Nine frame analysis of Sin City opening sequence

2011-02-03T12:46:00.001-08:00

Sin city intro analysis

View more presentations from Hannah Liddle.

Usual suspects 9 frame analysis

View more presentations from Hannah Liddle.

Audience Research

2011-02-03T12:42:00.001-08:00

British Board of Film Classification- BBFC

Suitable for 15 years and over.
Rated 15 films include the following features:
discrimination
drugs
horror
imitable behaviour
language
nudity
sex
violence
and are unsuitable for any persons below the age of 15 to rent or buy films of this certificate.

18 rated films similarly contain the same elements as a 15 but the violent behavior, language and nudity may be of a stronger nature.

These elements contribute towards the rating of the film and are allowed in films but are not allowed to be focussed to much upon in the film.

Femme Fatale Opening Sequence storyboard

2011-02-03T12:33:00.001-08:00

Femme fatale storyboard

View more presentations from lnarsutis.

This is the initial storyboard for our opening sequence, we have decided to include a lot of effects make it as action packed as possible along with all the usual film noir conventions.

Titles Timeline Activity

2011-01-28T06:45:00.001-08:00

Top-Grossing Distributors 1995 to 2011

2011-01-27T02:21:00.000-08:00

		Movies	Total Gross	Average Gross	Market Share
1	Warner Bros.	483	$25,533,257,983	$52,863,888	14.34%
2	Walt Disney Pictures	428	$25,507,319,628	$59,596,541	14.33%
3	Sony Pictures	505	$23,213,138,327	$45,966,611	13.04%
4	Paramount Pictures	326	$20,768,293,154	$63,706,421	11.67%
5	20th Century Fox	340	$19,955,227,222	$58,691,845	11.21%
6	Universal	316	$18,350,486,827	$58,071,161	10.31%
7	New Line	203	$8,742,022,779	$43,064,152	4.91%
8	Dreamworks SKG	77	$5,958,034,817	$77,377,076	3.35%
9	Miramax	377	$5,593,156,769	$14,835,960	3.14%
10	MGM	229	$5,113,116,426	$22,328,019	2.87%

By looking at the list of films each of these studios have produced, Warner Bros. Studios seem to produce the most thriller films which could relate to the film noir genre. Warner Bros. has consistently had dominated the market throughout the years and because thriller films usually require high budgets to produce, Warner is able to cope with these demands being such a dominating franchise.

Information from www.the-numbers.com

Top-Grossing Genres 1995 to 2010

2011-01-25T05:50:00.000-08:00

		Movies	Total Gross	Average Gross	Market Share
1	Comedy	1,613	$42,813,957,070	$26,543,061	24.16%
2	Adventure	454	$34,689,752,966	$76,409,148	19.57%
3	Drama	2,795	$31,789,823,166	$11,373,819	17.94%
4	Action	509	$30,052,605,347	$59,042,447	16.96%
5	Thriller/Suspense	475	$13,202,090,452	$27,793,875	7.45%
6	Romantic Comedy	359	$10,469,787,290	$29,163,753	5.91%
7	Horror	292	$8,560,128,560	$29,315,509	4.83%
8	Documentary	880	$1,957,293,597	$2,224,197	1.10%
9	Musical	105	$1,693,113,591	$16,124,891	0.96%
10	Black Comedy	72	$741,364,700	$10,296,732	0.42%
11	Western	35	$599,639,073	$17,132,545	0.34%
12	Concert/Performance	37	$203,647,126	$5,503,976	0.11%
13	Multiple Genres	12	$3,741,687	$311,807	0.00%
14	Genre Unknown	5	$1,677,435	$335,487	0.00%

Today Thriller is considered as a sub-genre of neo-noir and by looking at the table above we can see that the genre is one of the top of those dominating the industry. From 2008 to present, thriller films are slowly becoming more popular and by producing our opening sequence in this genre. There is a big audience which would be interested in the genre.

Most Popular Film-Noir Feature Films

2011-01-24T04:05:00.000-08:00

The list below shows that the traditional film noir films were produced during the 50s and then this genre was changed into more modern styles to suit the time, film such as this is Sin City. Because film noir had been outdated and has developed into many other genres, we are going to look at more recent conventions such as neo noir.

1.		8.7/10 Sunset Boulevard (1950)
2.		8.5/10 The Third Man (1949)
3.		8.6/10 Double Indemnity (1944)
4.		8.4/10 The Maltese Falcon (1941)
5.		8.3/10 Notorious (1946)
6.		8.3/10 Strangers on a Train (1951)
7.		8.2/10 The Big Sleep (1946)
8.		8.3/10 Touch of Evil (1958)
9.		8.2/10 The Night of the Hunter (1955)
10.		8.2/10 The Killing (1956)