Evaluative Analysis
A film opening is so important because it has to grab the audience’s attention for them to carry on watching. It must identify the film company because the audience needs to know who produced the film. Other key features that the audience needs to know is who the main characters are, where the location/set is, who directed the film, wrote it and produced it. A opening should also set the atmosphere for the film because it gets the audience more intrigued to what’s going to happen next in the film.
At the start of our film the production company appears, which was Warner Bros. We chose Warner Bros because they are a successful company who have popular film noir movies such as “Possessed” and “Casablanca”. Afterwards the credits appear with the opening scene playing in the background. In the opening scene it introduces the different character such as the detective, the sectary and the criminals that are being shown through the criminal file report. It sets the atmosphere because it shows potential good/evil characters and it makes the audience feel interested or attached to the detective because the audience would want to solve the mystery with the detective.
Our enigma code is the note that the sectary gives to the detective. I believe that this would interest the audience because they would want to know why there was a note for the detective, who wrote it and how it would effect the film later on.
We researched the film noir genre by watching film noir movies and reading about film noirs. Conventions that we identified were Femme Fatales, detectives, shadows, guns and voiceover narrations; all of which we added to our film.
We film in a location where we had a lot of control with lighting which was very helpful for us to make shadows. The office we filmed in has venetian veneer blinds so we were able to create a lot of shadows from different types of angles. We also used a light to help us make the shadows appear much more clear on the camera, the angle of the light made a difference on how the shadows appeared. We used several camera angles to show what the characters were doing and how they were feeling because each shot has a meaning behind it. There was a dutch angle used when the secretary was walking in and out the office. This showed that something bad was going to happen. There was also different shots used on the detectives face as he was reading the letter such as the extreme close ups on his eyes and mouth. We had these shots because when he was reading the letter he was angry and anger can be shown though someones eyes and mouth. Also close up shots help emphasise emotions of a character.
Our film used mise-en-scene correctly we had good lighting when shadows were used and when we filmed outside it was dark/night which is something that is common in film noirs. The costumes went with the characters for example the Femme Fatale in our film wore a long red dress which is conventional and makes her look like a realistic Femme Fatale. Also the costumes in our film went with what people whore in the 1930's so we made sure that their wasn't any clothing that people would wear in this period of time. There were props like guns used to show danger was going to happen.
For sound it must fit your story, what it's about and what’s happening in the scene. If there’s music playing and a character is speaking there shouldn't be a drastic drip in the music. Using ‘Fade in’ and ‘Fade out’ is a good way to represent a different scene being played.
The skill that I have learnt the most about when creating my film opening was using a variation of camera angles because when we were filming I had a say in why we should use that angle and what meaning it would show.
I've learnt about what camera angles connote to and how effective they can be towards the audience. I have learnt that lighting is crucial because it can alter an atmosphere e.g a place with lots of light can show that the atmosphere is calm or happy. However dark lighting can make people think that something bad is going to happen and it would give the atmosphere a more mysterious feel.
The primary audience for our film would be people interested in film noir because our genre is film noir. The secondary audience would be people that are interested in murder and mystery because it's mystery on who the killer is and it involves characters being murdered plus it's quiet aggressive. Also most film noir films have an element of romance, which will appeal to young females so it would bring a variety of people to watch our film.
We had the conventions of murder, a femme fatale, a detective, dark lighting,shadows and slow music. At the ending of our opening scene (the outside scene) we could of used more camera shots but we did use a good variety in the office scenes. We could of also added a longer voiceover which could of had more detail about the detectives emotions and feelings.
- Discuss the codes and conventions of a film opening
A film opening is so important because it has to grab the audience’s attention for them to carry on watching. It must identify the film company because the audience needs to know who produced the film. Other key features that the audience needs to know is who the main characters are, where the location/set is, who directed the film, wrote it and produced it. A opening should also set the atmosphere for the film because it gets the audience more intrigued to what’s going to happen next in the film.
At the start of our film the production company appears, which was Warner Bros. We chose Warner Bros because they are a successful company who have popular film noir movies such as “Possessed” and “Casablanca”. Afterwards the credits appear with the opening scene playing in the background. In the opening scene it introduces the different character such as the detective, the sectary and the criminals that are being shown through the criminal file report. It sets the atmosphere because it shows potential good/evil characters and it makes the audience feel interested or attached to the detective because the audience would want to solve the mystery with the detective.
Our enigma code is the note that the sectary gives to the detective. I believe that this would interest the audience because they would want to know why there was a note for the detective, who wrote it and how it would effect the film later on.
We researched the film noir genre by watching film noir movies and reading about film noirs. Conventions that we identified were Femme Fatales, detectives, shadows, guns and voiceover narrations; all of which we added to our film.
- Describe the technical and creative skills you developed
We film in a location where we had a lot of control with lighting which was very helpful for us to make shadows. The office we filmed in has venetian veneer blinds so we were able to create a lot of shadows from different types of angles. We also used a light to help us make the shadows appear much more clear on the camera, the angle of the light made a difference on how the shadows appeared. We used several camera angles to show what the characters were doing and how they were feeling because each shot has a meaning behind it. There was a dutch angle used when the secretary was walking in and out the office. This showed that something bad was going to happen. There was also different shots used on the detectives face as he was reading the letter such as the extreme close ups on his eyes and mouth. We had these shots because when he was reading the letter he was angry and anger can be shown though someones eyes and mouth. Also close up shots help emphasise emotions of a character.
Our film used mise-en-scene correctly we had good lighting when shadows were used and when we filmed outside it was dark/night which is something that is common in film noirs. The costumes went with the characters for example the Femme Fatale in our film wore a long red dress which is conventional and makes her look like a realistic Femme Fatale. Also the costumes in our film went with what people whore in the 1930's so we made sure that their wasn't any clothing that people would wear in this period of time. There were props like guns used to show danger was going to happen.
For sound it must fit your story, what it's about and what’s happening in the scene. If there’s music playing and a character is speaking there shouldn't be a drastic drip in the music. Using ‘Fade in’ and ‘Fade out’ is a good way to represent a different scene being played.
The skill that I have learnt the most about when creating my film opening was using a variation of camera angles because when we were filming I had a say in why we should use that angle and what meaning it would show.
- Describe the film language, organisations and audiences for your film
I've learnt about what camera angles connote to and how effective they can be towards the audience. I have learnt that lighting is crucial because it can alter an atmosphere e.g a place with lots of light can show that the atmosphere is calm or happy. However dark lighting can make people think that something bad is going to happen and it would give the atmosphere a more mysterious feel.
The primary audience for our film would be people interested in film noir because our genre is film noir. The secondary audience would be people that are interested in murder and mystery because it's mystery on who the killer is and it involves characters being murdered plus it's quiet aggressive. Also most film noir films have an element of romance, which will appeal to young females so it would bring a variety of people to watch our film.
We had the conventions of murder, a femme fatale, a detective, dark lighting,shadows and slow music. At the ending of our opening scene (the outside scene) we could of used more camera shots but we did use a good variety in the office scenes. We could of also added a longer voiceover which could of had more detail about the detectives emotions and feelings.