film noir opening analysis
sin city (2005)
Mise-en-scene: It is nighttime and therefore the lighting is low which creates eery shadows to appear over the salesman and the customers face. The colouring is a typical Noir black and white, except the customer's dress and lips are red which makes her look more important and higher up than the salesman. The salesman wears a more modern tuxedo without a typical Noir Theodora hat. The low lightning creates a shadow over half of his face make him look mysterious as the customer's face is lighter as she looks over the city.
Cinematography: A long shot is used as the customer walks to the balcony edge. This allows us to see her backless dress and her figure as she walks. This immediately suggests that she is an admirable character. A mid shot is then used as we see her face for the first time as she looks over the city, this mid shot also allows us to see the salesman walk up behind her.
Sound:
Cinematography: A long shot is used as the customer walks to the balcony edge. This allows us to see her backless dress and her figure as she walks. This immediately suggests that she is an admirable character. A mid shot is then used as we see her face for the first time as she looks over the city, this mid shot also allows us to see the salesman walk up behind her.
Sound:
Double Indemnity (1944)
Mise-en-scene: The lighting is incredibly low key and gives off a mysterious and uneasy feeling as silhouettes and various shadows appear. Typical Film Noir mise-en-sene used in the opening include the typical black and white colouring and also the setting, which is Los Angeles. Walter Neff is wearing a Theodora hat and uses a conventional Noir phone to say his confession.
Cinematography: A mid-shot is used on Walter to allow us to see his injured arm hidden behind his coat. We are also immediately suspicious of Walter as we can see shadows appearing across his face, making it difficult to see his facial features. A low angle shot is used on Walter as he walks into his office, this is used to show his dominance and it shows us something he has done has given him power, despite his obvious injury.
Sound: At the very start the music is quick and energetic, this shows the rush of the car that's swerving around the cars in the road. This creates an uneasy and unsettling mood as the atmosphere is clearly not calm.
The unsuspected (1947)
Mise-en-scene: The lighting in the opening is low key
and creates obvious shadows to appear on the walls as the killer walks through
the house. This creates and uneasy atmosphere and a suspicious mood.
The typical Film Noir mise-en-scene in this opening includes the black and
white colouring and the Noir telephone. The shadow of the murderer is clearly
wearing a typical Theodora hat and one of the woman is dressed in a
glamorous dress and wears gloves as she hold the phone to her ear which suggests wealth.
Cinematography: One camera shot used is a close up/reaction shot as the killer approaches the assistant. This allows us to see the shock and fear on her face and also her recognition of the murderer. This tells us that there is a reason he is killing the assistant and he is someone that the assistant knows. Another camera shot used is a close up of a painting of a woman. This tells us who this mysterious person is possibly after, and who's house it is.
Sound: The non-diegetic music at the very beginning is sinister and slow and begins to gradually increase in volume and the pitch gets lower. This has a nerve-wracking effect upon the audience.
Cinematography: One camera shot used is a close up/reaction shot as the killer approaches the assistant. This allows us to see the shock and fear on her face and also her recognition of the murderer. This tells us that there is a reason he is killing the assistant and he is someone that the assistant knows. Another camera shot used is a close up of a painting of a woman. This tells us who this mysterious person is possibly after, and who's house it is.
Sound: The non-diegetic music at the very beginning is sinister and slow and begins to gradually increase in volume and the pitch gets lower. This has a nerve-wracking effect upon the audience.
film pitch - draft 2
Chicago 1938 - when corrupt police were stealing off gangsters and one woman gets in the middle of it.
A crazy action packed, twisting tale of corruption, lies and murder. A film that will leave the audiences of today leaning on the edges of their seat, thirsty for more of the genre.
The beautiful Delilah Monte'carlos, wife to one of Chicago's most infamous gangsters, Joey Monte'Carlos. With her seductive ways and glamorous looks, she bedazzles her way into a sticky situation - having an affair with Clive Rodriguez, head of a corrupt gang of ex-undercover police who use their skills to steal drugs off gangsters to sell for their own. How will Delilah make a swift exit out of the mess - alive?
I think Robert De Niro should play Joey and Scarlett Johanssen as Delilah because she has stunning features and is a brilliant actress. I'd show my film at independent cinemas then if it proved to be a success then to be moved to multiplex cinemas.
Target audience
My ideal target audience would be 15+ as the film will include many scenes that younger viewers would not be able to watch such as violence, crime, seductiveness and blood. As the film revolves around gangsters and robberies, I would expect a majority of the viewers to be male, but as I have a female in the position of a leading role I would hope that a female audience would want to watch film instead of a whole male audience.
A crazy action packed, twisting tale of corruption, lies and murder. A film that will leave the audiences of today leaning on the edges of their seat, thirsty for more of the genre.
The beautiful Delilah Monte'carlos, wife to one of Chicago's most infamous gangsters, Joey Monte'Carlos. With her seductive ways and glamorous looks, she bedazzles her way into a sticky situation - having an affair with Clive Rodriguez, head of a corrupt gang of ex-undercover police who use their skills to steal drugs off gangsters to sell for their own. How will Delilah make a swift exit out of the mess - alive?
I think Robert De Niro should play Joey and Scarlett Johanssen as Delilah because she has stunning features and is a brilliant actress. I'd show my film at independent cinemas then if it proved to be a success then to be moved to multiplex cinemas.
Target audience
My ideal target audience would be 15+ as the film will include many scenes that younger viewers would not be able to watch such as violence, crime, seductiveness and blood. As the film revolves around gangsters and robberies, I would expect a majority of the viewers to be male, but as I have a female in the position of a leading role I would hope that a female audience would want to watch film instead of a whole male audience.
Draft storyboard
storyboard
Film noir opening script
A police officer is driving, his face looks serious and stern.
Cops voiceover: It was mistake. Such a mistake. How could I be so god damn stupid? Blinded by my desires got me into this mess and now I'm caught up in this world where I'm fearful of the blackmail she can do to me. This is the consequence for my mistake, and now I must do whatever she requests.
(flashback)
The police officer is in his office, the phone rings. He picks up.
Delilah: Hey there honey!
Tony: Leave me alone.
Delilah: Hang up and you're wife knows everything.
Tony: (pauses, nervously rubbing his forehead and eyes) what do you want me to do.
Delilah: (smiles) Good, I was hoping this would go smoothly. Joey Malone, I want him dead, I'll be with him outside Mclarins bar at 7 sharp. I don't care how you do it but If he's not dead by half 7, expect your wife to be in for a shock. (hangs up)
Back to the officer, he is now walking down an alley way holding a briefcase in his hand. He's wearing a Theodora hat and looks stern.
Cops voiceover: I can't get any blood on my hands, and I have the money. Hopefully this can put an end to all the threats and blackmail.
He hands the briefcase to a stranger, who's face is hidden.
Stranger: Got all of it?
Cop: Every last penny.
The screen fades to black to show the passing of time. Delilah and Joey walk out and say good bye, Delilah walks off. There's a sudden gunshot and slowly she smiles.
Tony sits in his office, tie off and top button undone, he has a glass of whisky in his hand and downs the glass. The screen fades to black.
Weekly Blog
Week 1:
This week I've been filming the phone conversation, I've been the camera man (woman). In lesson I have been deciding costumes, lighting and the setting of our openening scene. Outside of lessons I have been filming my friend as a femme fatale on my phone and doing her makeup and hair. We changed the opening abit, in the credits in the background we'll now show Joe getting put into prison because It will make more sense to the scene. I have learnt how to use the camera and what camera angles are best.
Week 2:
This week I've been filming a shot for the opening credits. Ive been the camera operator again and ive had to think about what shot will be the most mysterious and interesting. I picked lighting and costumes best to fit the mood of our opening scenes and it has taught me alot about how lighting can change the atmosphere so drastically. We've nearly finished filming!
Week 3:
This week I filmed the ending part of our opening scene, I tested which camera angles would look best for the layout of the scene, and where the best setting would be for our scene, we couldn't go out of school to use the alleyway so i suggested we went behind the new sports hall. I think the opening is coming together nicely but as I've been learning more and more about mise en scene and camera gales, I've been noticing little things that are wrong with our opening.
Week 4:
This week we've nearly finished the film, there wasn't alot to do as I finished filming the last scene and helped to find a good soundtrack. We then realised that one of our clips had an audio slower than the video, so I helped and gave ideas of how to sort it out. We ended up separating the audio from the video and moved the audio to pair up to it's position with the video. After the holidays wit should only take 1 or 2 lessons to finish up.
Week 5:
We're back from the holidays and find out that our whole project has been cleared off of final cut pro. We still have some clips left and a whole load of editing to do but hopefully it will all come together again.
Week 6:
Our video is on 1.36mins and it needs to be at least 2.20mins. I'm filming another part that we're going to add into the opening that should hopefully last around 30 seconds, which could help us out a lot. I'm filming from a low angle shot to show that this character is somehow important.
Week 6:
We've found that our movie is below marks and that it needs to be changed. We've deleted the movie and now over the weekend we made a new idea, went to Gurpreet's house and I filmed our new ideas. I tried to get different shots when filming because my mistake last time was that i made too many boring shots. Hopefully I've made it more interesting this time. In this lesson we're editing and trying to bring it all together.
We then made another film to boost our marks higher.
Cops voiceover: It was mistake. Such a mistake. How could I be so god damn stupid? Blinded by my desires got me into this mess and now I'm caught up in this world where I'm fearful of the blackmail she can do to me. This is the consequence for my mistake, and now I must do whatever she requests.
(flashback)
The police officer is in his office, the phone rings. He picks up.
Delilah: Hey there honey!
Tony: Leave me alone.
Delilah: Hang up and you're wife knows everything.
Tony: (pauses, nervously rubbing his forehead and eyes) what do you want me to do.
Delilah: (smiles) Good, I was hoping this would go smoothly. Joey Malone, I want him dead, I'll be with him outside Mclarins bar at 7 sharp. I don't care how you do it but If he's not dead by half 7, expect your wife to be in for a shock. (hangs up)
Back to the officer, he is now walking down an alley way holding a briefcase in his hand. He's wearing a Theodora hat and looks stern.
Cops voiceover: I can't get any blood on my hands, and I have the money. Hopefully this can put an end to all the threats and blackmail.
He hands the briefcase to a stranger, who's face is hidden.
Stranger: Got all of it?
Cop: Every last penny.
The screen fades to black to show the passing of time. Delilah and Joey walk out and say good bye, Delilah walks off. There's a sudden gunshot and slowly she smiles.
Tony sits in his office, tie off and top button undone, he has a glass of whisky in his hand and downs the glass. The screen fades to black.
Weekly Blog
Week 1:
This week I've been filming the phone conversation, I've been the camera man (woman). In lesson I have been deciding costumes, lighting and the setting of our openening scene. Outside of lessons I have been filming my friend as a femme fatale on my phone and doing her makeup and hair. We changed the opening abit, in the credits in the background we'll now show Joe getting put into prison because It will make more sense to the scene. I have learnt how to use the camera and what camera angles are best.
Week 2:
This week I've been filming a shot for the opening credits. Ive been the camera operator again and ive had to think about what shot will be the most mysterious and interesting. I picked lighting and costumes best to fit the mood of our opening scenes and it has taught me alot about how lighting can change the atmosphere so drastically. We've nearly finished filming!
Week 3:
This week I filmed the ending part of our opening scene, I tested which camera angles would look best for the layout of the scene, and where the best setting would be for our scene, we couldn't go out of school to use the alleyway so i suggested we went behind the new sports hall. I think the opening is coming together nicely but as I've been learning more and more about mise en scene and camera gales, I've been noticing little things that are wrong with our opening.
Week 4:
This week we've nearly finished the film, there wasn't alot to do as I finished filming the last scene and helped to find a good soundtrack. We then realised that one of our clips had an audio slower than the video, so I helped and gave ideas of how to sort it out. We ended up separating the audio from the video and moved the audio to pair up to it's position with the video. After the holidays wit should only take 1 or 2 lessons to finish up.
Week 5:
We're back from the holidays and find out that our whole project has been cleared off of final cut pro. We still have some clips left and a whole load of editing to do but hopefully it will all come together again.
Week 6:
Our video is on 1.36mins and it needs to be at least 2.20mins. I'm filming another part that we're going to add into the opening that should hopefully last around 30 seconds, which could help us out a lot. I'm filming from a low angle shot to show that this character is somehow important.
Week 6:
We've found that our movie is below marks and that it needs to be changed. We've deleted the movie and now over the weekend we made a new idea, went to Gurpreet's house and I filmed our new ideas. I tried to get different shots when filming because my mistake last time was that i made too many boring shots. Hopefully I've made it more interesting this time. In this lesson we're editing and trying to bring it all together.
We then made another film to boost our marks higher.
Props, characters and locations
The telephone was used for the conversation between the Femme Fatale and Tony. Luckily the school was able to give us a phone that would have been used in the 1940's. The gun was used by the hit man to kill Joey. We decided not to use the whisky in the end but it is a typical Noir convention that the doomed hero's are often seen drinking whisky.
Karam plays the target in our film opening. His name is Joey Malone and he is wanted dead by the Femme Fatale played by Gurpreet. He is in his mid 30's. His outfit is meant to suggest neither wealth or poverty, he is an average man but for some reason is wanted dead. He is wearing a typical Thedora which was very often worn in Film Noir films.
The Femme Fatale in this is called Delilah Montecarlos. She is in her mid 20's. The audience is meant to gather that she and Tony have had an affair and she is now blackmailing him to murder someone and if he refuses she will tell Tony's wife about the affair. She is an evil and suspicious character which is shown by the camera not showing her full face, and low lighting near the window which created a light against dark contrast. Her dress suggests wealth as it is a sophisticated black colour.
The doomed hero of the film is called Tony Santana. He is in his mind 20's. His office and suit, and his officer badge suggest his normality as an average police officer. He appears innocent and also stressed when he finds out he needs to kill someone. He is meant to be a likeable person with no evil morals but is blackmailed into going against his job. The venetian blinds are also another conventional prop for Noir films. The green screen room was used 3 different times in our film. Firstly for when Tony is driving, then when savan is in his office, and lastly when Tony and the hit man meet behind the Hollywood sign. I decided we needed to use the green screen because when Tony is drving it looks more realistic to be able to see outside the back window. Also Tony's office becomes more realistic by putting a picture of a 1940's office behind Tony. For the shooting scene I decided to film behind the new sports hall. This is because the shooting is meant to happen outside a bar so the wall and the secluded area suggest that they are outside the bar. |
Evaluation
We started off talking about who's opening idea we were going to go with, in the end we decided that we'd use none of our own ideas and think up a new idea, so we did. I wrote out a script, Savan was to edit our opening, Gurpreet was to choose sound tracks and costumes and Karan was the director. We decided the best place to film was behind the new sports hall and in the green screen room. After a long time of filming and editting, we scrapped our whole opening and decided to make a new one. We thought of a new idea and filmed our opening in the green screen room and Gurpreets road, where we used her car aswell. In the end our second film was alot better than the first. To create a 1940's American Noir feel to our opening scene we used a picture of New York for an establishing shot to start off the scene. We then switched the scene to the police officer who was inside the building and used low-key lighting for the room. The policeman was also wearing a Theodora hat and drinking whisky. We tried to vary our camera shots as much as possible, especially in the scene where the Delilah shoots the criminal, using long shots and midshots. Also, when the femme fatale is on the phone to the police officer, there is an extreme closeup of her mouth to show the importance of her words. We used a voice over to help explain the storyline, we also used noir music and dialogue learnt through scripts. I learnt how to use final cut pro and how to use the cutting tools and also how to separate the audio from the video. The purpose of our opening scene was to interest our audience into wanting to watch the rest of the film; to do this we tried to leave a cliffhanger onto the end of our film. One of the conventions of a film opening is to easily show what type of film it is, I think my opening scene clearly shows that it is Film Noir through the Noir conventions. The Noir conventions we used in our work included; a shot of 1940's America, a whisky bottle, a corrupt police officer, a gun, a Theodora hat and suits, a Femme Fatale and murder. The Femme Fatale on the phone is represented as an evil and intimidating woman, who can easily get what she wants. The police officer is represented as a weak person, when he is easily threatened by the Femme Fatale. In the voice over, Joey Malone is made out to be a tough, evil and infamous criminal. I think a corrupt police officer, a Femme Fatale and a crook fit Noir character types. We tried to make the death of Joey quite dramatic by Delilah slowly walking away from the camera, with a gun in her hand, and an audio of the car horn going off in the background. We tried to make the opening quite dark and mysterious by using low-key lighting whilst having a closeup of the police officer and also hiding the Femme Fatale's identity by using an extreme closeup. The Femme Fatale on the phone was an Enigma as her identity was not revealed, so hopefully it would draw an audience in to watch the rest of the film to find out who she is. The target audience was 13-19 to try and entice the younger generation back into watching Film noir. Warners Bros produced many famous Film Noir's and made amazing profit in the box office's, so they may have produced a film like this.