Year 11 Film, Television and New Media Film Noir Style Production 

Self-reflection and evaluation:

Please answer each question using complete sentences, including as much detail as possible.

1. Discuss your feelings about the production task: Please justify your responses:

• Are you satisfied with the result? (i.e. did it turn out as well as you hoped?)

I am satisfied with the final result for the amount of time we had and the elements of film noir and the original story. I think due to our organisation and amount of times that we re shot and tried to perfect our shots allowed it to turn out as well as I hoped. 

• Did the project require more/less time than you originally thought?

This project required way more time than I originally thought due to the amount of times we had to film then re film and write and rewrite voice overs and the shortlists. 

• Would like to change or improve any aspects of your final film (storyline, shots, editing etc.)?

I know its not possible with this task but iI wish we could have had a longer amount of time (as in more than four minutes) for the film as film noir story lines, especially ours is very complex and I feel that it would be even clearer if our film could be longer but thats okay.

• If you could start the project again, what would you do differently?

I think our group can get a bit excited and creative in terms of ideas and we immediately come up with the most complex and crazy storylines. I think we could have saved time if we could just simplify our ideas a bit more and not gone so wild with ideas then we could have had more time for planning pre production an essentially filming and editing in general. Not that we didn't have enough time for this but I guess you can never have enough time for these sorts of things. 

1. As this task focused on the Film Noir Style, describe: 

• How you used specific elements of mise-en-scene to depict your film’s genre and enhance the narrative? 

Props/costumes

• We had many costumes that fit the idea of the characters in film noir. Our detective wore something that fit her character, a long trench coat, with minimal makeup and hair and a badge.
• Our femme fatal Anna was dressed like one definitely with a tight dress and winged eyeliner often she looked like she fit the bill of a femme fatal. 
• We used a gun which is an effective prop as there is almost always murder in film noir. 
• We used fake money to reinforce the idea of illegal activity in the underbelly of society.Illegal activity is often a central part in film noir. 

Lighting

• We used a lot of different film noir lighting styles such as long sharp shadows, satchelled shadowy faces and filming through venetian blinds. 

Setting

• The set of the business very much fits the style of film noir. It is an illegal underground company. Film noir often is based off crime and illegal activity. The setting is very dark and very shadowy making it look like a shady place. The setting is also an area in the middle of an urban jungle in the midst of a city. This fits the style well. 

Characters

• The character of Charlie is a central type of character that is often used in film noir. She is a detective and someone who had good intentions but got dragged into an illegal business and shady activities. 
• Anna is the classic example of a femme fatal she is shamelessly evil and is in alliance with no one but herself. She double crosses both Anna and Veronica to get exactly what she wants. 
• Veronica is a corrupt authority who knows what she is doing is illegal but does it anyway because it makes her rich. 

• How you used specific shot types to convey the story using visual language?

• We used many long shots full of long sharp dark shadows to convey the style of film noir and create a shadowy, dodgy and miseries vibe . especially in scene six. 
• We used close up shots where the face is shadowy and dark, escpecially in scene 2 and 4 in the close up shots to create a dark and shadowy mysterious vibe. 
• We used many low angle shots of Veronica while she is covered by the light of venetian blinds to show she has power and emphasise the style of film noir. 
• We used high angle shadowy shots of Charlie to show the style of film noir and to represent that he is the victim and is in a shady and dark situation. 

• Whether the intended genre is depicted clearly or if this could be improved?

- I think that the intended genre is very clearly depicted through the use of these elements however i do feel that some shots don’t exactly follow all the rules of film noir and could be improved somewhat. None of the shots are perfect, there are many good ones but there is always room for improvements. 

1. Personal reflection and evaluation: 

After your previous task, you were asked to reflect upon the project and identify aspects of planning, production and reflection, which could be improved. Please explain which aspect you chose to focus on for this task and how you have made improvements.

Last year I felt while doing my film noir assignment during the production it took way too long for our group to get started on filming and literally the day before the assignment was due we are still filming large scenes and trying to edit them in. I think this time while filming we got started really early and managed to get our film completed with enough time to edit discuss and change things. I feel that this year I have handled the production element the best. 

1. Reflecting upon your completed task, respond to the following points:

• How did other people respond to your rough-edit? Did you use their feedback to make changes to the film?

- There were some elements of our rough edit that needed to be changed. Mr Andrews told us that e could change the shots in scene three to make it more interesting and follow more rules. We took this advice and tried to follow the rule of thirds more and film some more interesting shots. (like for example filming through glass) 

• Did your group use the planning and analysis tools effectively? (ingredients list, storyboards, shot lists).

I feel we did. I spent ages constructing my shot list so It was perfect and re doing it many times and updating it accordingly. It helped with filming very much as when people asked about their characters and situations I was able to tell them exactly what they were doing, where they were and why they were there so they could play the character well. 

• Were there any problems or difficulties during filming and how did this affect your project. (Difficulties may include; shooting, technical, time-management, teamwork, absences or editing etc.);

I think there wasn't any problem during filming so much as there was with pre production. The only problems we had with filming were involved with people having work or prior commitments and not being able to come to filming. The problems lay more in pre production as we tend to get way too excited about our ideas and come up with ideas that are too complicated to execute and we end up using precious time simplifying our ideas. 

• Discuss whether you undertook adequate and detailed reflection to support your work? (Look at your blogs and consider if it looks like a terms worth of work);

I definitely think I took adequate reflection on my blogs. I reflected after every time we filmed and explained why we filmed each shot how we filmed it.