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.