Lighting

To help with my understanding of film Noir and our work in our Opening Title Sequence,I found that lighting is a very important feature that is used within noir; It is used as a device that helps set the mood and mystery.


High Key Lighting:

high key lighting aims to reduce the lighting ratio present in the scene. This was originally done partly for technological reasons, since early film and television did not deal well with high contrast ratios, but now is used to suggest an upbeat mood.It it now currently a style of lighting for film, television, or photography. High key uses unnaturally bright lighting to blow out most or all harsh shadows in an image. this method was originally developed as a solution to screens that couldn't properly display high contrast ratios, but has developed into more of a stylistic choice; perfect for a subject that is funny, lighthearted or beautiful.

Low Key Lighting:

Low Key Lighting It is a necessary element in creating a chiaroscuro effect. Traditional photographic lighting, three-point lighting uses akey light, a fill light, and a back light for illumination. This kind of lighting is usually used in black and white filters or in shadowed or dark scenes and photos. It accentuates the contours of an object by throwing areas into shade while a fill light or reflector may illuminate the shadow areas to control contrast. The relative strength of key-to-fill, known as the lighting ratio, can be measured using a light meter. Low key lighting has a higher lighting ratio.

Within our OTS we are considering to mainly focus on Low key lighting. To do so we will have  to consider avoiding intense shadows as the primary element of the composition. It will also have to be filmed in an interior location as manipulating our lighting and the positioning of our actor so that the shadows fall in just the right spots to create the look we want.

Lighting within our ots

When filming our OTS I mainly stuck to these sides of the camera. Although we did not use the same equipment in the one stated below. This ensured that we would get the best shot in our OTS as by using the techniques below this would allow a shot that was well contrasted without a glare on the camera.

Neo Noir

There are many sub genres of film noir and one of which is Neo Noir. The definition is as following:

Neo-noir (Translated as 'New Black')  is a style often seen in modern motion pictures and other forms that prominently utilize elements of film noir, but with updated themes, content, style, visual elements or media that were absent in films noir of the 1940s and 1950s.

To understand key features of the Neo Noir genre, we looked at clips in class of 3 films classed as the Neo Noir genre. We also made notes throughout watching these clips to identify typical and non-typical aspects which helps us determine what makes the Neo Noir different to the Noir genre itself. 

Our first film we watched was 1974 - The Red Riding Trilogy 

Our second film was Bladerunner - set in 2019

The final film was Bound- set in 1990 

When making our opening title sequence we will have to introduce the genre to the audience. Neo Noir will be a possibility for our OTS but we will have to compare the typical and non-typical characteristics with our own in order to find a fitting genre. 

StoryBoard

 Whilst Emily was producing our production company logo, Lilly and I have made a story board including camera positions and angles shown through illustrations.

Most of the shots here are shown using iconography through mise-en-scene  that I have made a post on below and are using our actors Bridie Magee, Adam Burton and Aidan Rawlinson.

This is our basic plot of our Opening Title Sequence however we may add in additional shots including our protagonist to show prevalence.

The first of our shots shows present day and starts with a close up of our femme fatal whispering into her lovers ear with the words 'Do you trust me?' echoes. A sound collage featuring a series of close up shots of her previous life of which she flirts with men.

The next shot would include a front shot of the femme fatal blowing a kiss in slow motion. The sound of her breath when blowing which will create a sound bridge of the bullet being shot from the gun which will be our next shot.  This will pan across where we see the anti-hero staggering as blood will seep through his shirt. This would transition into the femme fetal's hands claw down his chest which then cuts to a close up to her eyes with tears and makeup down her cheeks.

The shot will fade to black and cue titles. Our titles in order will include:

- A title rising from cigarette smoke.
- a glass of alcohol (probably beer in a bottle) and spills to create a title.
- Femme Fatale pulling up a stocking to show a title written on her leg.
- A credit card cutting cocaine with a title written on it. Although our OTS is inspired by old 1950's Noir, we have included current technology and features therefore our noir will be set in no mans land.
- Cards fanned out with poker chips in shot and the title written within the fan.
- A newspaper and a headline displaying our title.
- Lipstick written on a mirror.

We have not yet decided on specific titles and when they will be shown in our OTS however we have decided that we are going to show our main title 'Fatal.

Film Production Company Logo

Emily has made a logo. We thought our ots would look more authentic with a production company so we brainstormed names and we came up with the name 'RED'. This was because the main colour associated with Femme Fatales. Emily was left to create a logo and this is what i came up with.

This was made the logo on Photoshop blood splats and manipulated them to create the letters.

We also came up with a studio name/company we called it 'inc. incorporated studios'. This was also created by Emily using Photoshop.

OTS- experimenting with sounnd

Lilly has been experimenting with sound collages with our opening title sequence. This is explained in more detail in on her blog

Lilly's blog post: http://sandssallowsasmediaproductionschs2015.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/experimenting-with-garage-band.html

OTS- Mise-en-scene and Location

As I am the production designer, I am mainly the one who organizes the use mise-en-scene and location. So far I have decided in order to take the best shots and construct our titles well we will need to use the following:

Location:
As we are setting our title sequence using various lighting techniques and filming in black and white, we will need full control over the use of lighting. Therefore this rules out any exterior areas in order to film. In order to make our lighting more effective we have decided an interior location would be more practical, so we are using our schools dark room. This is more convenient as it is low cost and we wouldn't need any legal permission to film on the premises. It also happens to have the equipment we need (e.g lighting).

Mise-en-scene:
I have decided that the use of iconography will play a big part in our title sequence and therefore a range of typical props used throughout the titles will not only display this put will also establish the
Noir genre to our audience. We have decided to use:

• Alcohol - for legal reasons we will not be able to use alcohol but instead will use water with a strong colorant to give the effect of a substance such as wine. Liquids such as Blackcurrant squash will also give this effect. 

• Drugs- as above we will not be able to use drugs in our piece so another substance will have to be used to give this effect. We have decided to imply the use of drugs instead of having our character pretend to take it as this will lower the audience certificate and therefore more people will be able to watch. We will use things such as sugar or talcum powder to imply the use of cocaine in our titles.

• Playing Cards and Poker Chips - these are low cost and are very typical in the use of Noir displaying themes of greed, envy and pride. The use of these will not effect our audience certificate and the remains in our red, black and white color scheme.

• Newspapers- We may have some difficulty in using this prop due to the content of the media and the date. Although it is typically used it may result in us creating our own paper or not using the prop. This will have to be discussed further in our group.

• Blood - Fake blood can be bought although it can sometimes be too expensive. I have learnt how to make fake blood from my earlier sweded film using objects found around the house. this will able use to also control the use of pigment in our blood e.g. using less or more red to make it look realistic or stand out more. This will also create a foreboding atmosphere and also foreshadow our character's death. 

• Cigarettes and Smoke- Although we can use fake cigarettes in our piece the effect of smoke will have to be edited on as the use of cigarettes and fire is not allowed in the area chosen. 

•  Lipstick- we have considered the use of lipstick being in our titles and using it to write on a mirror to create a disorientating effect which is seen in film noir. The colour would be red and it is used to signify our femme fetal also displaying lust in our character. 

These mise-en-scene props are all used generally in film noir iconography and will be used in our piece with minor difficulty. As above, we will use this to select themes for our OTS and will present the Noir genre to our audience. Although, the props above will effect our certificate rating and will have to be discussed as the involvement of the props above isn't the only factor that will effect it; the implied significance and how they are used/presented to the audience will also depend on whether our rating is certificate 15 or 18.  

Opening title sequence plot and name

As a group, we decided to call our OTS 'Fatal' which is a play on words from the 'Femme Fetal' character. We decided this as our main protagonist would be our female Femme Fetal instead of the conventional anti-hero. Our plot consists of following the nameless women, who spent her life deceiving men, before falling in love with another and as a result of her previous use of different alias and killings of various men, her lover gets killed by a drug dealer, making her feel distraught.

This is explained further in Lilly's presentation.

Key and conventions of an OTS

A few conventions of our opening title sequence were included in our OTS plan and were shown within. However these are not the only key conventions that are considered and included. For example, Key and conventions of an opening title sequence include:

• Title of the film 
• Key actors involved 
• Cast and crew members 
• Director 
• Producers 
• The production company 
• Distribution company 
• Sound (e.g. voice, sound effects, soundtrack) 
• Graphics/live action/both shots 
• The main themes displayed in the film 
• The genre of the film and how it is displayed to the audience. 
• Pictures/images/clips/introduction of characters 
• Colour scheme included in the film (usually resembling the themes) 
• Establishing shots that show the location

Key and conventions of opening title sequence from ownisr

Noir story task

We cut up lines from a noir story board and rearranged the way in which the story line is presented. For example arranging flashbacks in different parts of the plot creates a more conventional film. From this experience I learnt when plotting a storyline, the noir genre doesn't follow a chronological order and as a result has more of an disjointed effect towards the audience who follow the typical simple story.This can be something we can consider when creating our opening title sequence.   

Notes for our OTS

We created a page of brief notes that includes characters ideas, narrative, mise-en-scene ect. This can be developed and refereed to when later creating our title sequence. I also have recorded a presentation in which I talk about my role within the production. This will be later uploaded to my blog again for an easy accessible reference

Presentation

We are currently composing a presentation in our group to discuss and share ideas planning for our Opening title sequence. Each idea will be presented by one member of our group for a minimum of 5 minutes. This presentation will be recorded and put on our blogs for later reference if needed. Our ideas will include set roles for each group member, a basic plot of our films and iconography ideas that will be used later for Mise-en-scene, Camera and Composition, Sound and Editing.