Film Poster Draft

Production Log: 15/09/13

Recently I bought a white globe and this weekend I went over the edges of every country and island with a permanent marker to make them stand out. I then got the production ident, "A One Rehearsal Picture" (parody of "A Universal Picture"), printed onto it:

The reason for this is so that I can begin my short movie, which is a parody of Film Noir and made to look like it was created in the 30's -40's, with a parody of the Universal logo from the time. Universal made many of the popular Film Noir movies from that era: 

I cut a small slot in the side of the globe in which I fitted the end of the wing of a small plane figure, the same plane used in the above picture. As well as this adding to the parody, it also acts as a means of stopping the globe from spinning as the plane hits the globe's stand. The positioning between the plane and the text means that when the plane stops, the text will be inline with the camera to fully reveal the title. With accurate lighting, this effect should hopefully be achieved well. 

Production Log: 08/09/13

Today's lesson was dedicated to working on the film poster that promotes my short film. As I am yet to take the photographs of my models, I was focusing purely on the text for now, and when those images are edited and added, I will then position the images and the text accordingly. 

I started creating a black background for the poster. As the film is to be Film Noir, the colour black would be fitting, as well as being conventional of Film Noir Posters. I found a font on Da Fonts called 'Betty Noir' which had a Great Gatsby-esque, 30's American style to it which I used for the title of the short film, 'The Huge Snooze' (A parody of the famous Film Noir film and detective book, 'The Big Sleep') I made the text white, to contrast with the black background, and created a grey shadow on the title to replicate the shadows consistently used throughout the short film, and film noir as a whole. Hopefully, from the poster alone, it should be clear that the short film is of the genre of film noir. 

When I have taken pictures of the models in 1930's 40's clothing, I plan to use an effect on photoshop to make the images look as if they were painted, as this, again, is conventional of film noir. 

Production Log: 06/09/13

Today was my first lesson back after the Summer and I have been playing around with Photoshop to learn how to create a Film Noir Poster effect. Film Noir posters tend to have images of the actors made to look as if they were painted. I recreated this by using the 'Cut out' filter in 'Filter Adjustments'. This has given me experience for when I come to creating my own movie poster which will be in the style of a Conventional Film Noir Movie Poster. Pre-sixties Film Posters were very often painted, so I wanted to recreate this to make a more authentic product; so that when one looks at my poster they instantly know that my film will be Film Noir. 

Original Image

Edited Image



Analysis of previous student's A2 work

The film begins with a series of close up shots of items within the room as well as of a man's; some sort of doctor, face. This, along with the diagetic sound of a ticking clock, adds suspense to the video. The shot then changes to reveal a man on a therapist chair, terrified as he tells this therapist about 'Him'. This also carries this mystery. When it is revealed that the man is scared of his own shadow, the suspense is broken by humour, however the audience is still confused as to whether or not the man is clearly sick and scared of his own shadow or not. The next scene is of the man walking towards his car, to find his car being driven away. This again illustrates a thrilling vibe, but again is broken when it is revealed that the man's shadow, a man dressed in a black morph suit and a top hat, is driving away in his car. The audience now clearly know that the genre of the film is a black comedy.

Research Equipment

For my short movie, I will be using the Canon EOS 550D to film it. With a 1080p HD video recorder, this camera will allow me to capture crisp footage to allow for the best quality footage. The handling of the camera is very easy due to the large rubber-coated handgrip and a large thumb-grip area on the back of the camera and the buttons and dial are very easy to understand and master, allowing me to be able to increase the contrast and lower the brightness, as well as putting the footage into monotone to allow for the perfect film noir look; pure white against deep black.  

Film Noir Audience Research

It is hard to define a specific target audience for my short film as it could be appreciated for many different reasons. To address the Reception Theory; the belief that a 'text', whether it's a book, a film, a video game etc. cannot be passively accepted by their audience, as all audiences are active, never passive, and is instead interpreted by them based on their own individual experiences and cultural background. For example, in the case of my film, the humour elements would more likely be understood by somebody from the western world than from the eastern as the main protagonist, Marshal Mallow, is a parody of the western, archetypal man. The cultural theorist Stuart Hall came up with three hypothetical models in which audiences read media text; the first being a Dominant (or hegemonic) reading: the audience are fully aware of the text's code and they accept the preferred reading of it that the creator intended; in my case a dominant audience would be somebody who can both understand the Film Noir cliches that have been parodied, as well as seeing the character of Mallow as a mockery of the sexist nature of the 30's - 40's American white male. The second model is a Negotiated reading: the audience partly accept the text's code and they broadly accept the preferred reading of the text that the creator intended, but they modify it to their own interpretation. So, in my case, a Negotiated audience would be somebody who understands some of the cliches of Film Noir that have been parodied but perhaps miss many as they're not as familiar with the genre as a Dominant audience would be. The last model is an Oppositional (Counter-Hegemonic) reading: an audience who has a completely opposite reading  to that of a dominant audience, usually due to their social situation. They tend to understand the preferred reading of the creator, but they but completely disagrees with it; bringing their own alternative frame of reference to it. An oppositional audience for me would be somebody who disagrees that I have parodied any cliches of Film Noir. Due to the cliches that I have parodied being very universally known as cliches of Film Noir, by those who actually know the genre, if somebody where to think that I haven't represented Film Noir at all than it would be more likely that they are just unfamiliar with the genre and therefore do not know it's conventions. An oppositional audience may disagree with my preferred reading of my film, that it is in fact a feminist text; due to it being an on screen illustration of Laura Mulvey's 'Male Gaze'- The belief that media texts are very much seen through the eyes of men by portraying women as sex symbols, by my use of actually having the camera as his own Point of View as Mallow's keeps staring towards the Fem Fatale, Lotta Clivage's cleavage. An oppositional audience may see this as sexist, rather than criticising sexism, by interpreting my intended message differently from how I would have preferred them to do so. If I were to have to choose a demographic for my film it would most probably have to be males aged 20-40 due to the sexually explicit humour and the fact that, as the film follows the story of Marshal Mallow rather than focusing too closely on Lotta Clivage, a male audience could perhaps relate to the lazy, sexually obsessed and money orientated attitude that Mallow has.

Film Noir Theory

Analysis of Film Article

Analysis of Short Film

SOUND

The non diagetic, ambient backing track instantly sets the tone of this short film by adding mystery to it; as well as ambient music often being associated with sci-fi. The sound effects for the games which the protagonist is playing are specifically technological and electronic to again, inform the audience that this short film is a sci-fi. 

MISE-EN-SCENE 

The futuristic, virtual reality game which the man is seen playing, as well as his eyes glowing with a silvery blue colour instantly informs the audience that this film is set in the not to distant future; where gaming is better but the house and the clothing which the man is in is still modern and recognisably normal upon today's norms.  

CAMERA

Certain shots are filmed as if they are from the perspective of the protagonist as he watched the television or cooks food. This, along with the futuristic boarder and app pop ups on the sides; similar to that of The Terminator, helps the audience to visualise the extent in which technology has evolved to within this sci-fi. 

EDITING

The constant switch between game play footage and the protagonist simulating the game makes it easy for the audience to know that he is playing the game. The animation that has been edited onto the footage, such as when the protagonist opens the fridge and a pop up informs him of what food is what by highlighting each item, as well as telling him the temperature of the fridge, has been, again, used to simulate that the film is set in the not so distant future.