Evaluations

Editing Software used for my Short Film

Editing the Audio

• The audio began with me working with Craig 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.

• 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 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', 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 sound effects. 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. 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.

• MixPad to mix the various clips and create the complete soundtrack - tracks including the Voice Over, Main Theme Music, Incidental Music, Foreground Sound Effects, Ambient Background Sound Effects, and the In-Camera Recorded Dialogue. 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, 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. 

Editing the Visuals

• Editing the visuals was a much easier process after I had the soundtrack. As the camera's mic was only needed for the dialogue scene, most of the filming was done in a music video-esque style. What I mean by this is that we played the audio out loud while filming so that the actors knew what to do at certain points. This made it incredibly easy for me to match the footage to the soundtrack as the actors were perfect in keeping in time with the soundtrack, so all I had to do was listen to the soundtrack left on the footage and put the footage inline with the actual soundtrack. Of course, this did not flow perfectly, but it did make the editing process significantly easier. 

• I used Adobe Premier Pro to edit the visuals for my video. As I filmed my movie in 'mono' and created the effects myself by lowering the amount of light the camera picked up on the actual Canon EOS 550D, I did not have to add any effects to make the film look Film Noir in post-production. 

• I used the 'Cross Dissolve' effect to fade the 'One Rehearsal Pictures' Ident in and out at the beginning from black, to black again. This helped to replicate and parody the 30's 'Universal Pictures' Ident. I also used this to fade between shot 3.1 and shot 3.2; the shot of Marshal Mallow lighting the cigarette and the shot of him knocking his knee against the chest of drawers. I did this for two reasons. 1) Fading is a very conventional method used in Film Noir so I felt that it was necessary for me to use it at least one during the actual footage rather than just the film's ident, and 2) shot 3.1 is significantly darker than shot 3.2 so to have it immediately cut from one to the other didn't look right, and was, to me, a clear movie error. 

• I used the 'Luma Waveform' to make the sure that the black surrounding the Globe in the 'One Rehearsal Pictures' ident was completely black as before the background was ever so slightly noticeable. I also did this to make the parts of the walls of the alley that, Lotta was walking down, that the light didn't touch darker, and the parts that the light did touch lighter. This made the contrast of light and dark greater, and conventionally Film Noir. This also lit up the rain more and made it more clear; light shining on the rain is also very conventionally Film Noir. 

• I used the 'Brightness and Contrast' tool to make the opening sequence darker, as before hand it was noticeable that I filmed a screen. I also did this to make the shot of Mallow running through the tunnel, in the Montage sequence, darker as this made emphasised the shadows greatly, making it a lot more conventionally Film Noir. 

• Finally, there were many shots where I had to change the speed of the footage. The obvious one is the sped up shot of Mallow tidying his office, but I also had to change the speed of footage at various other points. For example, in the scene where Mallow is describing the way Lotta's looks, the camera zooms into her eyes when the narrator (Mallow) says "Her eyes were the kind of green that would make envy jealous..." the actress looks up towards the camera as the word "eyes" are said, as well as lifting up her eyebrows when the word "money" is mentioned. However despite the timing of this matching perfectly with the audio, the actress reacts by opening her mouth in shock before the narrator says "As for her breasts". I got around this issue by cutting the footage into two halves, the first half was from the beginning of Mallow's description of Lotta's appearance up until the description of her lips, and the second was from the end of the descriptions of her lips up until the end of the description of her breasts. For the latter, I slowed down the frame rate ever so slightly so that the actress reaction was in time with the audio, but not too much so that it is noticeably slower. The result was unnoticeable as the footage looked the same speed as before, despite the timing now being a few seconds slower.

'The Huge Snooze'- Final Product

The Huge Snooze - Ciaran Davis from Haydon Media on Vimeo.

When I was getting feedback on my draft for The Huge Snooze, a few people commented on the fact that some shots were too dark, even for a genre like Film Noir, such as the shot of Lotta walking through the alleyway, so I corrected this by using the 'Luma Waveform' in Adobe Premier Pro to make the parts of the walls of the alley that, Lotta was walking down, that the light didn't touch darker, and the parts that the light did touch lighter. This made the contrast of light and dark greater, which is conventional of Film Noir; Film Noir is just standard black and white, it's extreme black and extreme white. The contrast between the two is much greater than that of a standard black and white movie as the genre is greatly influenced by German Expressionist cinema that used the same style to create a contrast. Changing this was beneficial as not only did it make it so Lotta was seen more clearly, but it also lit up the rain more and made it more clear; light shining on the rain is also very conventionally Film Noir.

Film Article

The first of my two ancillary tasks was my film article. As the role of a film article is to promote a film by giving more information about it than that of a film poster, it was important to make sure that there are unifying themes in both ancillary tasks to make sure that they represent the main product to create a synergy between the products; so I make sure that the film article followed the same unifying theme as the short film does in terms of it involving the same style of humour that exists within the article as seen in the short film; in this case Film Noir Parody. For example, the articles headline is "Here's looking at you, Craig" which, as well as making it clear to the reader that the article is going to look into the acting career of Craig Cameron-Fisher (the actor in my film), in particular in regards to The Huge Snooze, but it is also a pastiche of the famous line from another Film Noir movie featuring Humphrey Bogart, Casablanca, in which Bogart's character repeatedly says the line "Here's looking at you, kid" which is also the line he ends the film on. As previously mentioned, the idea of playing homage to popular Film Noir conventions, as well as certain famous films within the genre, was seen frequently throughout The Huge Snooze so for that to continue into the article about the film establishes that parodying Film Noir is the main, unifying theme of my short film. There is an underlying comic tone to the article, as you would conventionally expect from the majority of magazine articles; whether it be film, game, music etc. For example, one of the imaged used on the article, which is a still taken from the short film depicting Marshal Mallows laying back on his chair with his shoes up on the desk, and the caption reads "Craig seems like quite a laid back guy". As well as re-establishing that the article is focused upon the main actor Craig Cameron-Fisher, the use of overly cheesy humour is often used in magazines. The main premise of the article focuses upon an interview between Craig Cameron-Fisher and an invented interviewer who asks Craig questions related to the relationship between Director and Actor as well as about the short film it's self which gave me an excuse to put genuine context, as well as some necessary made up context, to give the reader more of an insight into where the idea to do the film came from and what it was like to create. This also gave me an excuse to address the topic of sexist humour in the short film which firstly made the article more interesting and also made the authenticity of the short film come to life as it was made apparent that the film had been getting complains, which it hasn't really, to appear as if The Huge Snooze was a genuine short film by an established director featuring an established cast. This is emphasized more so within the article with reference to previous films that the director had directed and previous stage and screen performances that Craig Cameron-Fisher had partaken in; both of which were made up for the authenticity of the article. I believe that the film article created a unifying theme between it's self and the short film by following the theme of pastiche and parody of the conventions of Film Noir and individual Film Noir movies; as well as referencing specific moments in the film, for example the shots of Lotta's breasts, to help explain why they were in the film. 

Like my poster, my Film Article was also made in InDesign. The main premise of the article focuses upon an interview between Craig Cameron-Fisher and an invented interviewer who asks Craig questions related to the relationship between Director and Actor as well as about the short film it's self which gave me an excuse to put genuine context, as well as some necessary made up context, to give the reader more of an insight into where the idea to do the film came from and what it was like to create.This also gave me an excuse to address the topic of sexist humour in the short film which firstly made the article more interesting and also made the authenticity of the short film come to life as it was made apparent that the film had been getting complains, which it hasn't really, to appear as if The Huge Snooze was a genuine short film by an established director featuring an established cast. This is emphasized more so within the article with reference to previous films that the director had directed and previous stage and screen performances that Craig Cameron-Fisher had partaken in; both of which were made up for the authenticity of the article. When I had written this I inserted it into my InDesign document and then I used the 'Split Columns' tool to divide the text into three columns to make it look more like a article, as articles have split columns of 3 rather than a huge block of text. After a fitting Headline and pull quote were added (of which I used the 'text wrap' tool to make the text go around the pull quote rather than be masked underneath it) I took appropriate stills from my film that would work as stand alone photographs; of which I used one of Mallow leaning back on his chair with his feet up as well as the image of him peering out of the blinds that I used for my poster; using the 'place' function to embed them into my article where I wanted them and sized them appropriately. Like in my poster, I also added a five star rating next to the title of my film underneath my headline as well as a film release date. A friend of mine wrote a review of my short film of which I used the shape tool to create a red box and put the review within it. The article was looking a little bare, and didn't quite fully look like a film magazine so I wrote 'Film First | Short of the Month' at the top of the article to make the magazine look more authentic as the magazine's title was added and one would imagine that the fact that the page is labels 'Short of the Month' there would be other issues of the magazine, as well as other pages within this magazine, adding to the magazines authenticity. In photoshop, I creates a film strip and filled it with still shots from my short film and added this film strip to the bottom of my article to make the article look specific to the topic of Film, as well as just adding something a little more interesting and unique to the article as before adding it it looked too generic and very boring. 

Focus Group for my Short Film



I showed my short film to a focus group of media students and then asked them similar questions as that of which my survey asked to try to receive more criticism in order to be able to improve my short film, however I did not receive much in terms of improving my film apart from that of which I got previously on my survey so the effectiveness of the screening of the film followed by the questions was not particularly that effective due to the fact that the survey had acted as a much easier and clearer way for me to receive feedback on my short film; as I made it clear on the survey that I wanted people to explain their answers fully. As it was not particularly necessary for me to change too much about my film, the feedback wasn't overly effective, but it made it clear to me what parts people liked most about my short film, as I asked questions such as How would you rate the different elements of my short film? Of which the majority of people liked the costumes and the music more than anything else, as well as what did you like most about my short film? Of which people liked the lighting techniques and the props the most. I think it was equally as important for me to find out what people liked about my film as it is to know what people thought I ought to improve so that I knew that those parts were safe and well done so that they did not need anything more to be done with them, unless I personally thought that they did. In terms of the feedback that I got that actually did influence me to improve my film, the effects were very effective in making my film both more visually aesthetic, but using 'Luma Waveform' on the exterior shot of Lotta made the film more conventionally Film Noir by creating a greater contrast between black and white as well as making the rain that the light caught more visible; rain being another convention of Film Noir.



Audience Feedback on my Final Draft

How would you describe the relationship between the visuals and the sound?

A good match. Enjoyed emphasis of neon light sound at point character was discussing it.

The mood of the film is carried by both the music, and the camera effect, they work well together to create a noir-esque feel to the film

They were a good match, though the VO was a little too 'radio-y' for a movie.

There was one part that I didn't fully understand due to missing something at the beginning, other than that, they fill very well.

They compliment each other well, suiting the time period and mood of the scenes

The relationship between visual and sound is good

The sound impacts the visuals, they both compliment each other.

The relationship is good and the sounds and visuals work well.

worked well for the most part

I think that they work really well, the type of music adapted to the scene shown, especially with the first scene with the female in walking to the office

Excellent. The music seems to be perfectly in time with the action, and the ambient sound are brilliant.

really effective at enhancing the themes and ambiance of the era it was set in

They are great, and give a clear idea of the protagonists thoughts

Perfect, fits the film noir theme

I think they go rally well as they all link and can understand why you have done it

I think the visuals work really well with the sound as they make sense with the theme that the sound gives.

At times the traffic noises made the dialogue difficult to hear but effects were otherwise good.

The slow music in the background suits the old-fashioned feel. The odd sound effect in the background suited perfectly.

Good

Perfect just too perfect

Very good - works very well

The sounds are extremely well done, better than the visuals. There's still something missing in the visuals, perhaps more contrast or special effects which makes the film more "old."

It works perfectly, you've clearly thought about it a lot and made sure everything fits in which it does.

Overall very good, they both followed the theme.

Mostly the sound supported the visuals; however, the comedic sound effects were a bit too out of place.

I thought it worked excellently

I think the relationship is really good. The music is very conventional of film noir and therefore works well with what the audience are seeing on screen.

Complimented each other very well in each section.

It's great, the narrative is very umm film noir / b movie / detective circa 1940's it's great! And funny

It was narrated well and everything was described to you clearly

Extremely important, especially in cases where there is action relating to the visuals, where sound is needed.

The sounds created an atmosphere that coincided with the visuals

Does my short film look like it was made in the 1940's? Please explain your answer.

Title sequence consistent with period. Costume and setting appropriate. Monologue evocative of film noir style. Insufficient experience with the medium to comment further in terms of "made in"; certainly tone and approach consistent with "set in".

Yes AND no, the only reason it doesn't look 1940's is because you would have needed to add an effect to make the camera appear to use film and be of a poorer quality than the obvious digital camera.

The style matched. The lighting and credits layout especially. Only the grain of the film itself seemed a bit too clean and modern.

It I didn't know the person that made it, I would presume that it was from the period.

Film noir style with the use of props, costumes, music and accents. The black and white filming obviously reinforces this.

Yes because of elements such as the lighting and the costumes

Yes; props, costumes, settings and sounds make it feel very authentic.

Yes, it has an authentic feel about it.

yeah, it had an authentic look to it

Yes to a large extent because of the use of props enhancing the era of the 1940's the film could be a bit more grainy to make the quality look older as if the camera was from the 1940's rather than the good quality we have today

Mostly looks set in the 1940s, there are a few bits which don't look totally authentic (there was a light switch which, I think, looked out of place). I think the thing that most sticks out as not made in the 1940s is the aspect ratio, it seems too wide. (1940s would typically be 1.37:1, rather than 1.77:1)

yes, very much so. The extreme highlights and contrast to the imagery, which is not always really clear, is actually a good and deliberate effect which makes it more believable.

Yes, due to the black and white picture and also the costume and props

yes, with the pure black and whites, it really feels as if it was recorded in film.

Yes because of the lighting, sound and way it was filmed

Yes it does due to all the effective effects you have used. I think it is very successful.

Yes - costumes and photography were in keeping with era.

It does VERY much so. It's so believable. The costumes were perfect, especially the male's with the suit and the way his hair was done. Obviously the black and white was a big factor to this too. Also, you even paid attention to even things like the way the voice-over sounds - it's muffled-sounding and sounds completely like it's from the 1940s.

Yes, content, atmosphere , music .

it looks perfect, it is beautifully shot and looks real, looks like a tv show something professional

Yes, black and white theme, colouring, sounds and actors props

Could have. But still missing the special effects in overall, make the frames more "damaged", a filter could've been cool.

Yes, mise-en-scene is spot on, to make it look even further you could create some effects such as a crackling screen if that makes sense?

Yes. Both costumes and props help this allot. And the lighting does feel like something from the 1940s.

I am not an expert in film periods, but while watching it, I felt it had a 1950s vibe.

Yes, the music the lighting and the acting all came together brilliantly to make it look very authentic

Yes definately, the black and white, the muffled sound when the actors are talking and even the simplicity of the camera shots all add to the 1940's feel, as well as the obvious mise-en-scene.

It fits the 1940s movie style brilliantly. Very accurate.

Yes However some of the filming ideas are more modern so looks like a spoof. Which is great!

Yes, the black and white effect and the various props made it clear it was from the 1940's

It has the 1940's feel, but the shots seem too clean, maybe using an overlay to add a little grain

The filming style, lighting and dialogue are similar to those in other "Film Noir" films I've seen

What improvements would you want to see made? Please explain your answer.

Lip syncing in female character main speech was slightly off. Street scene introducing female character approach, whilst atmospheric, was a little too dark - was almost impossible to make out character (rather than "difficult", which would have been fine).

The nature of the film is obviously a comical noir-esque piece, but i think more subtle punchlines would have helped, and maybe the woman needed to be a little less aware of the come ons of the detective, replying to punch lines sort of takes away the comical value.

I think there needed to be more action. Due to the length of the VO, a lot of the start involved the characters standing still with nothing going on to occupy the eye.

I really can't think of anything.

none

As I do not know the genre too well I am not a very reliable person to judge it if you catch my drift

Some shots appear a little grainy and could be sorted with a little fiddling.

adjustments to the sound during the conversation, levels too high

Perhaps try and make the office scene slightly more grainy to give it more of the effect of an old film, but without reducing the quality (experiment with grain)

None (other than those mentioned above), this is excellent!

I would want to see more!

I dont feel that there is any improvements needed

Nothing.

I don't have any.

N/A

Dialogue louder than background noise.

Perhaps make the start a bit shorter, but apart from that nothing. It's really great, well done

Better sync . Needed bit more content, I.e. Expanded storyline

nothing its perfect

Maybe some of the shots could be stabalised

Improvement of the camera angles (more of them, close-ups, slow movements etc.)

More of an effect on the overall video to make it seem more authentic

For a short film it is a little bit long. Also, more variety in your shots would do.

At one point it appeared a word was missed out in the editing.

Not really the most qualified to answer this, but from a laymans point of view I thought it worked wonderfully. Keep up the work mate, I wish I could create something as wonderful as this

Maybe try a range of different camera shots. Also, some shots are quite long, such as the close up of the actress when she first walks into the office.

I can't think of any. Well done.

Less procrastinating .... Get on with the story the jokes are the salt and pepper! 

No improvements, excellent short film

None. Really good short, maybe some additional story instead of the "trailer" of future events at the end, leave it as a cliffhanger for the audience to demand more

I would like it to feature more characters to further accentuate the costumes and dialogue

Overcoming Any Criticisms:

•  The majority of answers to this question were positive, in terms of people saying that titles, music, costumes, props etc. made the film appear very authentic in terms of trying to look as if it was from the cinematic era in which Film Noir was most popular, however a few people commented on the fact that the quality looked too high for it to appear as if it was from the 1940s. I decided not to change this when editing my film as I disagree. Firstly, at some points in my film, such as the external shots, due to filming at night the quality was lower than that of the internal shots (This change in quality between scenes is normal of classic cinema) and secondly, in the 1940's people were using film to record films and when I was viewing Film Noir movies from the 40's, the quality of the footage wasn't particularly grainy. I assume that peoples reasoning for that criticism was due to the modern generalisation that if a film is old it should be grainy, but that is not necessarily true. If I were to have added in a grainy effect than it would have made the quality of the external shots looks poor and would have ruined some of the styalistic shots that I had captured where the crispness of the shots was key. 

•  A few people said that some of my shots, such as the shot of Lotta standing in the doorway that is narrated by Marshal Mallows as he comments on her beauty, went on for too long. Now, the issue with me asking people to give me feedback on a classic cinema genre such as Film Noir is that the people who were telling me what I should improve had little to no knowledge of the genre and were used to seeing quick cuts every few seconds, as well as a variety of different shots. However, during the 1940's cinema hasn't advanced greatly and it was only till the films of Hitchcock that the way in which films were shot changed drastically in terms of the number of new shots that were discovered; although Hitchcock was directing before and contemporary with this genre, he was much more recognised in the 50's. It is a conventional Film Noir trait to have shots that go on for a while as at these points the audience is supposed to be concentrating more so on the narration than the visuals; and also this shot in particular is supposed to represent Marshal Mallow's POV so, as he is describing the way in which Lotta looks, it would make no logical sense for him to then look away at something else. Even to this day it is not a fundamental rule of film making that one cannot have shots that do not cut for a while; Stanley Kubrick and Alfonso Cuaron, two directors that I admire the styles of, are both well known for their use of unchanging shots. 

• A few people commented on the fact that some shots were too dark, even for a genre like Film Noir, such as the shot of Lotta walking through the alleyway, so I corrected this by using the 'Luma Waveform' in Adobe Premier Pro to make the parts of the walls of the alley that, Lotta was walking down, that the light didn't touch darker, and the parts that the light did touch lighter. This made the contrast of light and dark greater, which is conventional of Film Noir; Film Noir isn't just standard black and white, it's extreme black and extreme white. The contrast between the two is much greater than that of a standard black and white movie as the genre is greatly influenced by German Expressionist cinema that used the same style to create a contrast. Changing this was beneficial as not only did it make it so Lotta was seen more clearly, but it also lit up the rain more and made it more clear; light shining on the rain is also very conventionally Film Noir.

Film Article Draft

Alterations Made Along the Way

Planning for my Article

Structure of my Short Film

Technical Difficulties

Technical Difficulties During the Filming Process

The majority of technical difficulties I faced were during the actual filming process of producing my short film:

• The Camera- While I was filming for "The Huge Snooze", on multiple occasions the camera would automatically stop recording the scenes, and would present me with an error message informing me that the "Footage has been Automatically Stopped". I at first put this down to the camera running out of space, but then I'd check through the memory card and it would have more than enough free space, and would immediately allow me to film afterwards without having to get rid of anything. However, we had more takes which were not disrupted by the error message than we did with them so it wasn't too much of an issue; just an annoyance. 

• The Battery Life- The battery life for the Cannon EOS 550D was a ridiculously short duration. We would only get a couple of hours of footage out of it before we had to recharge the battery, which would take anything from 1 hour to 1 hour and a half to do, before we could continue filming again.  The main issue with this was that to achieve a genuine Film Noir effect without the use of black out curtains meant that I needed to film at night; and I needed to make sure my actors weren't too tired or too annoyed that they couldn't go on any longer. We finished filming at 4am on the 31st of October and the actors were both so tired that they were dropping lines and making mistakes throughout the dialogue scene between Lotta Clivage and Marshal Mallows; despite being professional actors who were very much used to acting so don't usually make these mistakes.

• The Tripod- When I borrowed a tripod from the school's media department, there was only the one left and it happened to have one if it's three feet missing. This meant that whenever I used the tripod, I could never get a perfectly straight shot. I got around this issue by putting the footless leg at the back with the two legs with feet at the front, and I lowered the two front feet to try to make all three legs match. This was never much of an issue as the tripod was sturdy enough to keep the camera still, and I did manage to make the camera straight, so the tripod still fulfilled it's function as a tripod. 

Technical difficulties During the Editing Process

However, there were also a few minor issues during editing:

• Matching Footage to Audio- Because I was matching the visuals to the soundtrack; which consisted of diagetic sounds such as sound effects, and non-diagetic sounds such as the music and the narration, I had to make sure that the visuals and the audio lines up perfectly; like making a music video. For example, in the scene where Mallow is describing the way Lotta's looks, the camera zooms into her eyes when the narrator (Mallow) says "Her eyes were the kind of green that would make envy jealous..." the actress looks up towards the camera as the word "eyes" are said, as well as lifting up her eyebrows when the word "money" is mentioned. However despite the timing of this matching perfectly with the audio, the actress reacts by opening her mouth in shock before the narrator says "As for her breasts". I got around this issue by cutting the footage into two halves, the first half was from the beginning of Mallow's description of Lotta's appearance up until the description of her lips, and the second was from the end of the descriptions of her lips up until the end of the description of her breasts. For the latter, I slowed down the frame rate ever so slightly so that the actress reaction was in time with the audio, but not too much so that it is noticeably slower. The result was unnoticeable as the footage looked the same speed as before, despite the timing now being a few seconds slower. It worked perfectly. 

• Filming Footage without a Backing Track- As the majority of the footage was shot with the backing track playing out loud so that the actors knew what to do at certain times, like how one would act if in a music video, it became quite problematic to film edit some parts of the film that would have had to be filmed without a backing track. For example, when we were filming the scene where Mallow is tidying his office in an attempt to make it look presentable for Lotta's entrance; which is shown at 250 frames per second to a sped up version of 'We're in the Money' to create a much more comical scene, the original footage was obviously filmed in normal speed so we couldn't work to an actual time, we just had to estimate. When I came to edit it, the footage was longer than the sped up section from 'We're in the Money' was, and if I made the footage faster to fit in time with it, the footage merely skipped like a movie being fast forwarded rather than Benny Hill style sped up footage. Therefore, I went back to the audio editing program and put the tune back in. This was a positive things though as the extended tune is actually funnier than it was prior to before.  

Final Draft for 'The Huge Snooze'

As clearly seen, the role and purpose of my main product, which is my short film entitled The Huge Snooze, was to create a postmodern take on the genre of Film Noir, by parodying many of the genres conventions, in terms of certain shots used, the narrative, the characters and the props and costumes etc. For example, the protagonist's internal monologue is heard through the use of a hard-boiled non-diagetic narration; typical of Film Noir, however  in this case the narration is riddled with subtle jokes, establishing that this is a comedy. Every aspect of the film is a parody, even down to the films ident. Not only does the title 'A One Rehearsal Picture' linguistically resemble 'A Universal Picture', the film company who made most of the famous Film Noir movies, but the idiom replicated the 1930's-40's Universal one; with a DC3 propeller plane orbiting the Earth as it spins on it's own axis and then disappearing from view around the unseen part of the planet. I have also put a lot into the story in order to pastiche popular examples of Film Noir; in particular, possibly the most famous Film Noir movie, The Big Sleep featuring Humphrey Bogart. Not only is my film's title, The Huge Snooze, a clear parody of The Big Sleep, but the film following the life of Private Investigator Marshal Mallow, a clear homage to Bogart's portrayal of the character Phillip Marlowe. I even went as far as to put the book of The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler on Mallow's desk as an intertextual reference. Another reason as to why my film is an example of a postmodern comedy is due to it's near cringe-worthy, black humour in the form of the almost sexist nature of the film; for starters the fem fatale, Lotta Clivage, is played by a woman with a large cleavage; with explicit references to her breasts in the script, and with the narration and, in some cases, the shots representing the POV of Marshal Mallow, representing his voyeuristic nature  as he judges Lotta sexually. This links to the feminist critic Laura Mulvey, who speaks about the concept of the 'Male Gaze' in her Essay Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema by parodying the male gaze by literally having the male protagonists POV moving down very close to, and facing, Lotta's cleavage, which then cuts to a wide shot of the room, revealing that Mallow's face was right up against Lotta's breasts. Another, perhaps more extreme example of this is when Marshal stops paying attention to anything that Lotta says and instead the camera, again from his perspective, moved down towards Lotta's cleavage until the screen blacks out. Due to the previous shot from Mallow's perspective, the audience is shocked to realise that Mallow's entire face has perhaps now dived into Lotta's cleavage. Although this may seem sexist towards woman, I intended for the audience to realise that it was not mocking Lotta; in fact she is who the audience should sympathise with, the film is insulting the sexist nature of 1930's and 40's men, and the way in which they'd treated women; personified by Marshal Mallow's and his grotesquely misogynist and money orientated nature. For this, I was inspired by the comedy film Monty Python's Life of Brian which was criticised by the church for ridiculing Jesus, but really Monty Python intended for the audience to realise that they were mocking the Romans. I believe that my short film has served it's purpose in terms of people understanding that it is a parody of Film Noir, with obvious homage to The Big Sleep in particular. When I was collecting feedback on my short film, I asked an audience of people who had just viewed my film whether or not they felt that the comedy aspects of my film; be it audio or visual, were explicit enough for them to understand that my film was a parody of the Film Noir and not just another Film Noir movie, and they all agreed that it was clearly a comedy, as it contained both explicit and subtle comedy elements. For example, the sped up section when Mallow is tidying his office to a sped up version of We're in the Money is cleary comical; in a Bennie Hill-esque manner. Whereas a quick cutaway shot to the Cluedo board on the wall with red ribbon pinned to it, between cards stuck onto the board, to replicate a detectives cork board is a much more subtle joke.