Final

Rough Cut

Rough Draft Analysis

Our Rough Cut was not long enough as we still had roughly 40 seconds to go. Therefore we where going to have to come up with some more footage that will fill in the gap and allow us to further connote the female’s dominance. The title sequence that we had put in for the opening was well positioned however we had picked a inappropriate font to be used with our specific sub genre, therefore we choice Serif Sans as it is a much more simplistic font, that will go with the conventions of a Film Noir better, this will also help the shots flow. We found that making our shots flow was harder than we expected, this was mainly down to our film not being properly edited but because of this there was no rhythm making our piece seem jumpy, we tried to correct this briefly by making the shot length nearly the same where possible. This is something that we are definitely going to have to amend for our final cut. We also found that using transitions could be a possibility for our final piece, as this would hopefully make some shots flow easier. The diegetic sounds that where on the piece needed to be re done, as we are unable to hear the conversation-taking place out side. We also needed to change around the dialogue at the pool table as the accents used did not suit the aim of creating a Film Noir opening. Non – diegetic music was not added and this is something that we need to think about for our final piece, as it is essential to build tension in a scene. Lighting was also a problem in our first attempt, as all of our indoor shots where way to dark; we need to over come this by reshooting or changing the contrast on premier. Lastly I felt that there was not enough bold shots like Close Ups and P.O.V.’s used to capture the female’s dominance and help connote her significance over the males.

Extra Research

We found that further research was needed on the conventions of a Film Noir. Sin City is the most recent and well known Film Noir to us, we decided to take a close look at how the camera is used to connote the female’s dominance in the opening. We found that the use of low angles was mainly used to make her look more dominant than him, to the use of dialogue is a powerful tool that we need to take into consideration as our opening has very little dialogue so far. Additionally we where going to use a balcony which is similar to Sin City, we had to be careful that we where not being to Cliché, but most thrillers especially Film Noir use similar conventions to sell for a mass audience.

Editing

As a group we faced many problems with Mac’s however we where able to overcome this and upload all off our footage onto premiere to start editing. It was at this point where we could look at each shot and see whether it was okay, we found that a few shots needed re shooting. Once it was partly edited we where also able to see whether or not it flowed with the each shot being roughly the same length, shots needed to be added to the first 30 seconds of the opening, as it did not flow. When editing we came across the problem of there being no clear storyline in the opening, for example multiple shots of the female both inside and out, but then no hint or shot that the female has gone inside. Consequently we needed look at the rough cut, and see where we can add new shots to make the variation better, but also where we can add shots or redo shots to make the opening flow and have meaning. Whilst experimenting with our shots, we decided to add in dissolves before the black screen, and during a POV of the female, we felt that using this transition will help connote the female’s dominance. The teacher was satisfied with the start of the opening, however was not sure on what was happening, he gave us some instructions on how we could improve it, bearing in mind shot lengths and angles.

Teacher Feedback 2

After speaking to the teacher who gave us some feedback on our progress and how we can improve our opening. First of all we needed to decide how we where going to fill the last 40 seconds, we proposed some of our ideas, and then together we narrowed it down to one with the teachers input keeping in mind the convention of Film Noir. This then lead on to using the extra 40 seconds to make the female more of a violent and aggressive character, furthermore how we were going to film the actions. He advised us to use as many bold and daring shots as possible connoting the female’s dominance. The feedback given on our editing was, we needed to rearrange some of the shots, perhaps add some in to help it flow also we needed to keep in mind the length of each shot as there was no rhythm. Non Diegetic music was not thought of much, however we where told that a contrasting sound track would connote the violence seen on screen. I think that going and getting a teachers opinion on our work was a vital stage as it has allowed us to get the most from the shots that we had, also is a great learning curve to what problems we have faced and how we can improve.

Class Mates Continuity Task Evaluations

Luke –
We gave Luke’s group a level 2 because there was some good shots used. However the dialogue was not great with it being very rushed and people laughing, further more the piece was not finished as it suddenly just ended as they stood up. Overall was an okay attempt with some good shots however needed dialogue needed to be changed and then the piece needed finishing.

Stephanie –
We gave the group a level 3 as they have clearly shown more than a basic level of ability. The majority of shots where held steadily, and people in the frame, hitting the basic criteria of a level 3. However their only downfall was a limited amount of dialogue, and then not using non-diegetic music to composite for it. Overall the best continuity task, but there is defiantly room for improvement with the music / dialogue and perhaps shot distances.

Ellies –
We gave the group a level 3, this was because of good shots throughout and extremely good music that linked with the dialogue. The non-diegetic and diegetic music worked extremely well creating a sense of atmosphere to the piece. However, there was very visible continuity error where Callum had his arms in the air and then next shot they where on the table, this made the task seem amateurish and editing needed to improved.