This week, on the 28th and the 30th, all of the interior shots (the vast majority of my short film) and the remaining external shots (Of Lotta walking through the alleyway in search for Mallow's office). Here is a Prezi summary of what I did to create a conventional Film Noir short film:
Thursday 31 October 2013
Monday 28 October 2013
Production Log: 28/10/13
Set building for the interior shots (the majority of the film) took place today. The set was created within my Father's flat. Our plan was to make a conventional 1930's New York detectives office; a location that is never not in Film Noir. Here is an example of the look we were going for:
We started with the door. In the script, the Fem Fatale's silhouette is seen through the frosted glass of the door to Marshal Mallow's (the film's protagonist) door. We bought a cheap door and painted it brown to give it that varnished wood look, which we fitted to the doorway leading into the room. Then we purchased a large sheet of tracing paper of which we got the words "Marshal Mallow Private Dick" printed onto it, with the word "Dick" crossed out and the word "Investigator" written underneath it":
The tracing paper looks like frosted glass, as well as allowing for a silhouette to be casted clearly on it without blurring or distorting the figure:
The text is purposely facing inside the room rather than outside the room, as it should be, as their is a later joke when the Fem Fatale calls Mallow "Wollam" as she reads his name in reverse. We also purchased Venetian blinds to a) Add more to the door, to make it more interesting, and b) to later double up as a Window when we took the tracing paper off for a later shot:
After this, I began to create the desk. Luckily, my dad is a collector of all things vintage and antique, so it wasn't difficult to find things that were accurate for the period in which the film is set; the 1930's. All of the props are from the right era; including a tin of Brasso, a Tin of Uncle Joe's Meatballs, a 30's Cluedo set, a vintage stapler with boxes of stables around it (these stables are larger than the ones we use today) and all of the books are either pre-30's or contemporary with the era; including The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler; the book which the title of my film The Huge Snooze pastiches:
Monday 21 October 2013
Production Log: 21/10/13
Today, I continued with my film poster. I added a cinema release date, claiming that the short film will only appear in selected cinemas. I also added film reviews from a film magazine a director and a film critic. I can happily say that from today my film poster is beginning to look a lot more legit; with a bold title, actor and directors name, steel tongs at the bottom, reviews, and a release date. All that needs to be done now is a film rating, the pictures of the actors (to also be edited) for film certificates to be added and for film company logos to be added. After all of this is done, I will move everything around if need be until I am 100% happy with the poster.
I also went back to the footage that I filmed a few weeks ago for the montage scene at the end of my short film and decided on which shot out of many that I took I likes most for a particular moment in the montage. The lighting in this tunnel that we filmed in, the Greenwich Tunnel, created a spiral effect of shadow around the tunnel which looks visually stunning. The mono effect on the camera only increases the contrast between the white tiles, capturing the light, and those that have shadows casted upon them. By chance, Marshal Mallow's fedora happened to full of, adding to the humour of the short film:
We replicated the hat falling off again in another shot which worked quite well, however I feel that I will use the former video as in this one, the hat falls off too early, their are people in the background (although their clothing cannot be identified, it is still an annoyance), there is a flashing bike light (which may look like neon so might work, however it might be obviously a bike light) and the run is TOO comedic, despite being a comedy, it's a little too much for this one:
Friday 18 October 2013
Production Log: 18/10/13
After finding suitable copy-right free music, most of which came from Kevin MacLeod (The ones I used were ‘The Devil Rides Tonight’ (Which I used for the main title and the montage scene), ‘I Knew That Guy’ (Which was used for the section where Mallow was in his office alone for the beginning), and ‘Black Stockings’ (Which was used for Lotta’s (the fem fatale’s) theme.) These songs were also cut to size within the edit. I also used ‘We’re in the Money-The Gold Diggers Song’ from the movie ‘Top Hat’ (A very popular film from 1935, featuring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers) however I adjusted the speed and pitch to make it more comical, as well as only using a small section of it.
I then had to find suitable and royalty-free sound effects; of which I got from findsounds.com, sound-effect-library.com and pond5.com. The Diagetic Sound Effects had to be sourced, edited, and slotted in to match the footage. These included a DC3 propeller plane, which had to appear to be coming closer, louder, then moving away as it circled the globe of the One Rehearsal Ident sequence. (This was a parody of the Universal Pictures ident of the 1930’s and 40’s) Then there was the electrical short of the "neon sign with a nervous tick", which was a single, short spark sound effect, with I copied and arithmetically looped, to form the continuous sound throughout the office sections. This had to rise in volume when Mallow, the camera, and the audience’s ear, were closer to the window. Then there was the creaking wooden door, which similarly had to be louder when Lotta opened the door, as the camera was closer, than it was when she closed it during the two-shot. There were also various sound effects like a match being struck and the sound of Marshal’s leg hitting the chest of drawers which were added in as the footage looked bare without it. Finally, there was the freight train sound, with added doppler effect, and the specific sound of a gun being fired. All of the sound effects in the entire film were added in.
After I had all of the necessary audio that I requires, I used MixPad to mix the various audio clips and create the complete soundtrack - tracks including the Voice Over, Main Theme Music, Incidental Music, Foreground Sound Effects, Ambient Background Sound Effects, and, after the footage was filmed, I added the In-Camera Recorded Dialogue between Marshal and Lotta. All of these specific effects had to be precisely placed, and balanced for sound in with all of the other layers, so as to be audible, without overshadowing anything important. The Background Ambient Sound Effects Track was dedicated to the sound of traffic outside Mallow’s office. For this, I had to source the sounds of a variety of different car horns and engines from the era (1930s/1940s), together with police sirens, trams, bicycles, and such like, and layer them to create a realistic soundscape. No two vehicles are repeated, yet the sound runs throughout. Like the neon sign, the traffic ambiance has to rise in volume when Mallow is at the window, and also when his office door is open. Finally, the dialogue, recorded on the camera mic (after the visuals were filmed) had to be extracted, run through WavePad to convert it to mono and add the ‘old fashioned’ sound, then dropped into this soundtrack as the final track of the five, but precisely, so that the background music of Lotta’s Theme exactly matched that playing was already playing as a separate track, so that the later could be faded out without any noticeable jump in the sound. From here, all I had to do was to match the audio file with the video. However, while editing the footage I noticed that the transition the dialogue in each shot would sound odd; and sometimes the dialogue would over lap when I was trying to make the audio continue from one clip to another; so in Adobe Premier Pro I used the ‘Constant Gain’ tool to make the transition a lot smoother as this made the audio fade seamlessly over each other. After this, the error was almost completely unnoticeable.
I then had to find suitable and royalty-free sound effects; of which I got from findsounds.com, sound-effect-library.com and pond5.com. The Diagetic Sound Effects had to be sourced, edited, and slotted in to match the footage. These included a DC3 propeller plane, which had to appear to be coming closer, louder, then moving away as it circled the globe of the One Rehearsal Ident sequence. (This was a parody of the Universal Pictures ident of the 1930’s and 40’s) Then there was the electrical short of the "neon sign with a nervous tick", which was a single, short spark sound effect, with I copied and arithmetically looped, to form the continuous sound throughout the office sections. This had to rise in volume when Mallow, the camera, and the audience’s ear, were closer to the window. Then there was the creaking wooden door, which similarly had to be louder when Lotta opened the door, as the camera was closer, than it was when she closed it during the two-shot. There were also various sound effects like a match being struck and the sound of Marshal’s leg hitting the chest of drawers which were added in as the footage looked bare without it. Finally, there was the freight train sound, with added doppler effect, and the specific sound of a gun being fired. All of the sound effects in the entire film were added in.
After I had all of the necessary audio that I requires, I used MixPad to mix the various audio clips and create the complete soundtrack - tracks including the Voice Over, Main Theme Music, Incidental Music, Foreground Sound Effects, Ambient Background Sound Effects, and, after the footage was filmed, I added the In-Camera Recorded Dialogue between Marshal and Lotta. All of these specific effects had to be precisely placed, and balanced for sound in with all of the other layers, so as to be audible, without overshadowing anything important. The Background Ambient Sound Effects Track was dedicated to the sound of traffic outside Mallow’s office. For this, I had to source the sounds of a variety of different car horns and engines from the era (1930s/1940s), together with police sirens, trams, bicycles, and such like, and layer them to create a realistic soundscape. No two vehicles are repeated, yet the sound runs throughout. Like the neon sign, the traffic ambiance has to rise in volume when Mallow is at the window, and also when his office door is open. Finally, the dialogue, recorded on the camera mic (after the visuals were filmed) had to be extracted, run through WavePad to convert it to mono and add the ‘old fashioned’ sound, then dropped into this soundtrack as the final track of the five, but precisely, so that the background music of Lotta’s Theme exactly matched that playing was already playing as a separate track, so that the later could be faded out without any noticeable jump in the sound. From here, all I had to do was to match the audio file with the video. However, while editing the footage I noticed that the transition the dialogue in each shot would sound odd; and sometimes the dialogue would over lap when I was trying to make the audio continue from one clip to another; so in Adobe Premier Pro I used the ‘Constant Gain’ tool to make the transition a lot smoother as this made the audio fade seamlessly over each other. After this, the error was almost completely unnoticeable.
Thursday 10 October 2013
Production Log: 10/10/13
This week I have completed my visual progression and image systems posts: deciding on which props and costumes I will be using; I shall be using props that are associated with the 1930's-40's such as an old fashioned radio. The costumes will also be of this style, for example the gumshoe will be wearing a stereotypical detective outfit; suspenders, a tie, a fedora etc. I have access to props and costumes as I know people in the theater; as well as assess to experienced actors.
Traditionally in Film Noir, the protagonist will narrate the film and the visuals will act out what it is that he is saying; like in a music video, so when making my short film it was essential for me to have an audio track before I could start on the visuals. So, after my script was complete, I began production on the audio track by working with Craig Cameron-Fisher, the actor who played the protagonist Marshal Mallow, to make sure that the entire narration was perfect for how we wanted it. This took a couple of recordings as there were certain things we both didn’t like with the original; for example some parts he spoke without enough enthusiasm and it meant that the joke wasn’t delivered as well as it could have been. As Craig lives right near Heathrow, this meant that we had to record the audio after midnight when the planes had stopped flying. Then, by using WavePad Sound Editor, I was able to remove any unwanted sounds, such as breathing, coughing, unwanted crackle etc. I then cut up the audio into a few different sections, to distinguish each scene or shot.
Traditionally in Film Noir, the protagonist will narrate the film and the visuals will act out what it is that he is saying; like in a music video, so when making my short film it was essential for me to have an audio track before I could start on the visuals. So, after my script was complete, I began production on the audio track by working with Craig Cameron-Fisher, the actor who played the protagonist Marshal Mallow, to make sure that the entire narration was perfect for how we wanted it. This took a couple of recordings as there were certain things we both didn’t like with the original; for example some parts he spoke without enough enthusiasm and it meant that the joke wasn’t delivered as well as it could have been. As Craig lives right near Heathrow, this meant that we had to record the audio after midnight when the planes had stopped flying. Then, by using WavePad Sound Editor, I was able to remove any unwanted sounds, such as breathing, coughing, unwanted crackle etc. I then cut up the audio into a few different sections, to distinguish each scene or shot.
Wednesday 9 October 2013
Visual Progression and Image System in my Short Film
The visual progression that I will be using will be that the short film begins with the detective, Marshal Mallow, alone in his room; bored and poor as he hasn't had a case in ages. When looking out the window he noticed a woman, the fem fatale Lotta Clivage, walking towards his office...
...But than end with the dame entering the room, therefore their will be shot-reverse shots of the detective and the dame in conversation.
The image systems which I will be using will be be composed of 30's- 40's props, such as an old fashioned stereo, aluminium Venetian blinds etc. As well as old fashioned costumes. Hopefully, due to the Private Investigator stereotypical costume, the audience will gather that he is a detective.
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