Production Company

For our film we needed to decide on our own film production company, we wanted to create our own name and idea so we could add it to the start of our film and our posters. Below are some companies I looked at.

WARNER BROS
Warner Bros or Warner Brothers is an American film and television production company. Warner Bros is very well established and has been around since around 1903. The logo is a simple yellow and blue shaped outline with the initials WB in the centre the font is bold and large and easily stands out against any film poster or title.
I looked and researched warner bros and found that they have realeased a Film noir Classic Collection which contains eight films. I chose to look at warner bros as the films created were are inspirations. They produced Mildred Pierce which is a film I researched and influenced me in making our film. They also produced The big sleep, one of the first film noirs we watched in our lessons.



20TH CENTURY FOX
20th century fox is also an American film production company. It is one of the major companies and was founded in 1935. The image used by the company is very bold and powerful and really shows how they see themselves as a big contender in the business.20th Century Fox also produced many film noirs, including Laura and Fallen Angel. This is helpful as they are similar to what we are making and have huge experience across many films.



We then sat down as a group and had a conversation about ideas for production company names. We all put in different ideas and mixed them together, using names and initials. We then decided on 'A Stickman Production'. As a group we wanted this at the start of our film so we wrote it out on the macs and put it at the beggining.

We wanted this to flash up at the beginning and then go onto who was starring in our film. As a group we decided in the end that this looked to boring for the start of our film so we wanted to change it, we had a few ideas and decided that instead of having it on the computer we would write out the production company name and film us doing this. We wrote out the name on black card with white tipex to get the effect we wanted and then uploaded the clip onto the Mac computers and made the speed faster.

Character Profile

The photos to the left are of our three characters in our film, we didn't use anyone that wasn't in our group for actors as using other people would be harder to arrange and would be a longer process. We also printed off sheets for the character profile and for each seperate character filled one out. Below I have included some of the questions:

MARTHA MCCAINE
Who is she : Clark McCaine's wife, Housewife.
Characteristics : Innocent and Reserved, contrasting with her evil side, nice and a pushover but takes very little to get her angry.
See's herself as : Loved by the community, a good friend.
Dress Style : Hidden and doesn't flatter her figure. Outfits for home.

CLARK MCCAINE
Who is he : Martha McCaine's husband, owner of newspaper.
Characteristics : Polite, easily stressed, easygoing.
See's himself as : Hard worker
Dress Style : Smart, Suit and Hat. Loosens outfit when leaving work / stressed


NANCY HARTLEY
Who is she : Celebrity/Actress, Having an affair with Clark McCaine.
Characteristics : Snobby, looks down her nose at people and is very honest. Envious of normal lives (like Martha's).
See's herself as : 'Perfect'
Dress Style : Long dresses, glamorous, fur.




We also as a group did interviews with each of us talking about our characters and being asked questions what they are like. This was helpful as it lets you get to know the character and makes it easier to act and get costumes/props right.
LINK : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BLSh4KbUIig&feature=relmfu

Props / Costumes

PROPS

After we had finished our screen play, decided on our film and sorted our locations we needed to sort out the props that we were going to use.The first image shows the plate, cup and teapot seen in one of the very first scenes when Clark is having breakfast with Martha. The plate, teapot and cup are plain white and simple so easily fit in the shot.Next we decided we needed a glass or something to pour drinks out of. We chose this because it is simple but fits in with the times which we based our films around. This prop features in the scene were Nancy visits Clark at the office and he gives her a drink in. Also in the scene at Nancy's house it is sat on the table where her and Clark are having a conversation.The next photograph shows an image of the setup of Clark's desk. We have newspaper stories which he is reading, a cup, pen, ornament, telephone and camera with pictures of Nancy. The camera shows that he took the pictures of Nancy also it is an old style one so it was in keeping with our theme. We have also used the old phone as shown in the last picture to create this effect. In one scene Clark is on the phone to one of his work colleagues so we made sure that the telephone would be in keeping with our time period and not look out of place. Our props work well and looked effective, we made sure we remembered to keep them fitting with our time period so they did not look out of place in the shot.

COSTUMES
We then needed to decided what type of outfit our characters wear. The outfits shown on the left are Martha's, we selected these outfits down to our thoughts on the characters. The two blue suit skirts are very similar and are the outfits we chose Martha to wear in the day time scenes with plain black shoes and a white top. The flowery one is seen in the first scene at Martha and Clark's house and works well showing her housewife role with Clark. The two outfits aren't hugely flattering on Martha but give her a reserved look.
The black dress was an outfit we chose Martha to wear in our last scene. This outfit contrasting to the others and showing more of Martha giving her a more powerful look but in the end we decided not to use it because you couldn't see the dress under the coat. We chose this coat again as it contrasts against the two dresses, it is long and gives Martha an elegant feel and the fur around the neck makes Martha look much more glamorous than her other housewife role. We used this coat in the last scene to give the character a completely contrasted look.
This next set of costumes is for Nancy. We again selected these carefully deciding what Nancy would wear. The first outfit is the black dress on the left. This dress was shown in the very first scene where Clark and Nancy where at the premier together, with this outfit we wanted to show Nancy as a celebrity hence why we chose a long black dress with sequins and sparkle. I feel this costume does work but I think that we could have got a more flattering and glamorous costume to fit Nancy's personality. The next costume is the blue dress and jacket, we chose this outfit for Nancy to wear in the day and it is shown in the scene were Clark visits Nancy's house. This outfit works quite well as it fits in with the times but is maybe something more that Martha would have worn even though it is quite smart so suits Nancy in that way but isn't hugely glamorous. The grey dress was another option for Nancy to wear in the day, we filmed her wearing it in a scene in the office with Clark but in the end decided that just her in the fur coat would work and you wouldn't actually be able to see the grey dress, also the colour is a bit dull. I think the fur coat works well and is quite glamorous for Nancy.

This photograph shows Clarks costume. We kept it simple with Clark, in film noirs that we had watched the male always wore a suit and maybe a hat. We took this and decided that clark would also wear a suit and hat. He wore a grey trouser suit with thin tie and a white shirt. He also had a grey hat to match the suit and black framed glasses. In some scenes Clark isn't wearing his hat or has his glasses tucked into his pocket. this adds a different edge to his costume and makes him looked relaxed. Overall we wanted Clark to look smart and ready for work which fit in the time era.

Locations

Firstly for our film noir we sat down and discussed places in our group that we thought would be suitable to use. We found this really hard as we thought that everywhere we could think of wouldnt work.

As a group we then decided on using our houses and various places around school. Using our houses as locations was easier as the times we could use them worked better whereas using some areas in school was difficult with noise and lessons taking place in the rooms we wanted.
The first image is of Clark and Martha's kitchen used in one of our very beginning scenes. We decided that this would be a good location as the kitchen size is right for the two characters conversation and it works well for Marthas character. We made sure we covered up any modern applicances that they would not have used or even had in the era we set our film in by moving them or using material. This location also works well as we filmed from the angle this picture is taken which gives a deep shot of full length of the kitchen giving depth of field and giving us chance to get our characters in the shot fully.
The next image is also for Clark and Marthas house. We used this setting in the scene were Clark is running down the stairs and then Martha follows behind. This staircase works really well as we were able to film up the stairs at a low angle if we needed to, giving real height to the shot and the turn of the steps at the tops leave the viewer intrigued more. We could also film from the left of the stairs near the banister as it was the right level with the camera on a tripod. In the end we shot the scene from just to the left of the stairs so we could catch the actors running down the stairs and then past the camera. We also wanted to make sure that the character was visable and not far away that you couldnt see who they were. This location worked really well and was in the same house as the kitchen shown above so was easy enough to shoot both scenes and get them done on the same day, also with the same lighting and bringing it together to actually give the characters a home and kind of back story.

The next location we needed to find was Nancys house where we needed a scene from the outside, a living room scene and then a scene by the front door. In the end we chose a house and it worked quite well. The first image here is the front door which we used, the door looks effective as it is tall and wooden with crosses on the window showing the hidden element to Nancy Hartley and maybe her and Clarks relationship.     We also wanted to use the hallway leading up to this front door in a scene. The lead up to the door works quite well, it leads the viewer out of the living room where another scene was filmed to out the door. the staircase down the right side adds depth to the what would be a plain long corridor. I would have preffered if the radiator was not in the shot but it does not take really any attention away from the characters. We then used the living room in the same house, we needed to make sure it was in the same location as in the scene at one point Martha is by the window looking in. The room worked well we only wanted to include Nancy and Clark sitting on the sofa together so we tried to not include the TV or any modern applicances. We also needed shots outside of Nancys house as part of the storyline so we used the same house so we could use the front door. From the outside the house looked good and worked effectively it stands tall and imposes over the characters. We needed a long shot so we could include Clark and Martha walking separately towards the house. The oval around the door way also worked well giving more shape to the door and shadowing Clark from anyone seeing him even better.  

This picture on the right is another location we used, we used this in one scene near the end. Nancy is visiting Martha at her house and they are sat in the living room talking and plotting against Clark. We chose this location because of the ventian blinds. The sofa being in front of them works really well and shows them reflecting on the characters and the floor. Venitian blinds are a typical convention of a film noir so we wanted to encooperate them to get the good effect. There were many days when we wanted to film this scene but we wanted as a group to make sure that we got the lighting right so had to cancel on a few occasions and eventually used it on a sunny day so the light would cast through the blinds. Overall this is my favourite location, the blinds work perfectly in the shot and the shadows cast on the floor and our characters add to the feel of the film.

Film Review Analysis

This is a film review page from empire magazine. The text on the review page is talking about the film Dr Seuss’ The Lorax. I really like the way this review is set out, down the side in bold font it has different sections of the view including release date, pros, cons and field notes. I think this really breaks it down for the reader and doesn’t bore them with endless pages of writing. However I do think that the text looks slightly boring as it is plain and black on a white background and maybe would look better if the photograph was full size and the writing was on that to interest the reader more. The text is doing what the reader is looking for, giving a short summary of the film and then has a section at the end called the bottom line which basically says if it is worth watching.  
The target audience of the film would maybe be quite a young age compared to the people who would read this magazine. The writing would be too complex for a younger audience but maybe could be read by a family member. Also the text has quite a lot on fox animation boss and maybe should focus more on talking about the film.
The language used in the text is quick and an easy read. It has included straight facts and a lot of quotes giving the reader the real image of the film. I think that the language and form used is effective and works well in this magazine but there are no rhetorical questions or rule of three to entice the reader.
The image is definitely the main focus of this review, it is big and half the page and has bright and bold colours which really stand out next to the writing and the film review on the next page. The main image is eye catching and I think that is mainly down to the colours, it also I think gives you quite a good idea on the film. I think looking at the image the film would be for both male and female and would appeal to everyone. The colours completely contrast to the actual review which makes it easier to read. I also like how they have numbered there reviews and the 11 really stands out and works well on the image. The rest of the text is quite simple and plain just using black on white fonts and the bold for different sections down the side. They have also included a section called Blocked Busters which stands out purely because of the yellow and uppercase used for the busters section also the fact it is on the black background, this slightly breaks down the page.
The review on the other page is smaller but still catches attention. The image is captivating and gives ideas on the film, maybe appealing to a specific audience.  The text is again simple and bold with the same theme but it isn’t this time brightened up and made easier to read by the image.

Second film review - Brick

From the very beginning Brick is intense and intriguing. The story revolves around a telephone ringing and the main character Brendan. It is set in a high school with teenagers which is a different format to typical noirs.

The setting and characters make the film easier to relate to but the twists of death and drugs are dark and sincere. The music sets the mood, with quite an eerie tone leaving the viewer in suspense. The lighting is often dark and dim then contrasted with the harsh light in the daytime often using the sun as a single light source; this is a typical convention of film noir and creates a good effect on the shot.

The symbol of a rounded capital A is shown and a big part of the storyline. This creates mystery to the viewer and then when the viewer knows what it means it creates a sense of panic and worry when it is presented as it features some cruel scenes in the film. 

Overall the film is one to watch. From the beginning it will captivate you and leaves you wanting to keep on watching.

Screen Play

This is the screen play for our film noir Blackmail. we have included the script, props, locations, costumes, editing and sound within this. using the screen play when filming really helped us.

Scene Nine and Ten

SCENE NINE

This next scene begins with Nancy going to Martha’s house to discuss the letter. She waits at the door as Martha lets her in. The two characters then sit in Martha’s house and plan there revenge on Clark.

SCENE TEN

The next scene, scene ten is the last scene. The scene begins with a shot of Nancy and Martha in the doorway of Clark’s office. Clark invites the women in and they do not look impressed. The camera then zooms into their side with a close up on the guns. Clark then notices this and then starts to panic and rummage in his draw for a gun. The women split and begin shooting, Clark shoots and aims for Nancy but instead gets Martha, as he his by her side upset that he shot his own wife, Nancy shoots him. Nancy begins to leave the office believing she has shot both of them when Martha stands up and shoots Nancy. Martha walks out with a smug look on her face.

CHANGE TO SCENE TEN
In this last scene we are setting it in Clarks office. When we chose our location of an office at school we realised that it would be too small to film this scene in as a lot happens. We thought about changing the location completely and discussed it happening at Clark and Marthas house but really we would have had to change more of the story. We kept the end scene simple and had a two shot of Nancy and Martha for most of the scene, they shoot Clark and then the scene ends leaving mystery of whether Martha kills Nancy.

Scene Seven and Eight

SCENE SEVEN

The next scene is based in Nancy’s house. She walks past the hallway and notices the letter on her doormat. The camera cuts to a close up of Nancy’s face as she reads the letter as a reaction shot. The scene then ends with the on screen text ‘2 DAYS LATER’.

SCENE EIGHT

The next scene is scene eight. It begins with Nancy knocking on the door to Clark’s office. They then have a talk with Clark sitting at his desk and Nancy standing beside him, we chose to have Nancy standing as it shows how powerful she is over him. Nancy then asks Clark to get her a drink as he leaves the room; she searches for an address to his house. Clark then returns to the office, Nancy drinks the drink and then leaves leaving Clark bewildered.

Scene Five and Six

SCENE FIVE

This scene above begins with the text on the screen saying ‘4 DAYS LATER’ this shows the passing of time in our film. We then have a shot of Clark walking down the stairs and out to work except he drops some papers on the way out.  Martha runs to collect the papers and out to him but doesn’t catch him. Martha then reads the draft of a story about Nancy Hartley. Martha runs out in shock to follow Clark to find out what he is up to.

SCENE SIX

The next scene, scene six begins with a long shot of Clark walking up Nancy’s driveway, he is suspicious and secretive about this. Although as he does not know, Martha is close behind watching him from some bushes. Martha spies through Nancy’s window and finds out they are having an affair. Martha hides as Clark leaves Nancy’s house. Once he has left Martha posts the draft of the story about Nancy and how she is having an affair through her letterbox.

Scene Three and Four

SCENE THREE

This next scene is based in Clark’s office. Clark is at his desk when the phone rings, he has a conversation with someone on the other end about his business failing. The camera then zooms into a photograph like a paparazzi shot of Nancy Hartley. Clark has an idea leaving his office and the scene ends with a long establishing shot of Nancy’s house.

SCENE FOUR

The fourth scene begins with Clark walking up Nancy’s drive way suspiciously. He goes to visit Nancy and she lets him in the house, they chat at the door for a while before the scene ends with the two characters, Clark and Nancy walking up the stairs hand in hand.

Storyboard, Scene One and Two

We then created a story board which we would then work from and use throughout. We wanted it to be more in depth and something that was clear and simple to understand.

On the left I have included a key of the characters in our story and how we differentiated between them. We have put Nancy in a dress and she has got the lips on her face, we have got Clark in a hat and Martha just in a skirt. We wanted to do this so that it was easier to make sense of the story. Below is scene one of the story. As shown we have included what the character is wearing, what the lighting is like, what shot we are using and what is going on in the scene.

This first scene begins with Nancy and Clark at an awards ceremony as Nancy is an actress/celebrity, this is where they first meet and Clark introduces himself to Nancy with wanting to ask her questions about herself. The scene ends with a fade out from Nancy's eyes into Martha's.  

SCENE ONE

The next scene begins as the previous scene ended with Martha's eyes. It then continues into a conversation between Clark and Martha in the kitchen. The scene is set in the morning so the lighting is quite bright. Clark grabs his breakfast and heads off to work leaving Martha at home.

SCENE TWO

Storyboard

On this page I have included two images of the first storyboard we created. This storyboard was a draft rough copy to put our ideas and thoughts across. We wanted to include how the scene would look and who would be in it. We included what type of shot would be in the scene and drew in stick characters to show how our story would pan out.   This storyboard is very basic and doesn’t contain all the information that we wanted but we wanted to plan out all of our scenes after writing the storyline.