Discussing development of camera and editing skills… How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

Camera work; the first session of filming… After all my research on film noir and ‘femme fatale’ in particular, I became increasingly keen to start filming the female character. I had watched many ‘film noir’ film trailers on youtube.com, and seemed to associate key ideas that linked with the ‘genre’ and more importantly the era. In the first session of filming, I filmed a mid-shot of my actress sat on a bench. Many of the takes are filmed without any camera movement. I then started to experiment with: a slow pan, extreme close-up, zooming in and out and tilting. When I uploaded this to adobe premiere elements 2.0, it became clear that only a small percentage of my footage would be useable, as a result of the camera movement being too shaky, rain on the lens. In my trailer, I incorporated the extreme close-up, some of the slow pan, and a stationary mid-shot (from this session).

Research and Planning records on the blog; researching existing trailers My starting point for approaching construction of a trailer was to watch and analyse existing trailers and examine the key features which define different genres. Firstly I looked at a trailer designed for TV spots for ‘Alice in Wonderland’ (2010) before then watching and noting the key differences between this and a full length trailer (‘Scott Pilgrim vs. the world’). I inserted links to websites that discussed these differences and quoted points I felt were important and relevant. Following this, I looked at a teaser trailer for ‘Buried’ and discussed the biggest differences between this and the other two types of trailers I watched. This gave me some ideas about how to create dramatic effect and the best way to approach making my ‘teaser trailer’. I also looked at and analysed in more depth, the teaser trailer for ‘The Divide’.

Researching and Planning; exploring Premiere Elements In order to get to grips with the software, I created a short trailer using footage that we filmed in groups at the end of year twelve. This proved most helpful for when I came to starting my editing of the film noir footage as I had had a feel for pace of cutting. I also had the opportunity to experiment with different tools, such as reversing footage, changing speed and visual transitions. I didn't however experiment with inserting audio or titles, however these were easy to find and work with when it came to using them.

Research and Planning; Looking at the conventions of 'Film Noir' So started my journey of researching into the world of 'Film Noir'. I created a powerpoint presentation which covered some of the main aspects and conventions, which I felt was a good, if basic introduction as I gained a perspective and some clarity. It also got me looking at existing Film Noir trailers on youtube, which both inspired and motivated me to get started. It also struck me that there were no legitimately made 'teaser trailers' and that the 'full length trailers' were even longer than modern ones. This posed even more of a challenge, but it was also quite relieving to have a smaller task than a full length noir trailer, as they overview the whole plot and include quite a vast amount of dialogue. This is when I made the subconcious decision to capture a mood as opposed to displaying narrative and work with music as opposed to dialogue to achieve this.

Research and Planning; Planning filming At this point, I moved on to considering how and what I would film. I started planning relevant costume, mise-en-scene, which actors/actresses I would use and possible narratives. I also realised that my aims were achievable, as slight shaking of the camera and use of amateur equipment would work in my favour, as modern trailers and genres demand special effects and transitions of a higher quality than the software provides. Noir on the other hand, was in an era of less advanced composition.

Research and Planning; looking at narrative in depth Before embarking on my filming sessions, it was vital that I formed ideas for narrative and started to think about storyboarding. It became apparent that the core around which most film noir centred around was adultery and/or crime. This lead me to mentally planning the possibilities. It seemed quite apparent almost immediately that crime would be hard to do well. This is why I initially steered away from picking a genre such as horror which involves death. As I knew an actress that has both classical facial features and can act well, I decided that my trailer would focus around the character of the femme fatale and her role as 'the other woman'.

Research and Planning; looking at mise-en-scene and conventional noir camera angles The second thing that I prioritised was figuring out my set and location. One of the most apparent aspects was the manipulation of light ot create atmosphere in noir. It was also evident that extreme close-ups and low and high angled shots are used consistently in noir. I considered public locations, but then realised that any members of the public wearing modern day clothing would ruin the illusion and continuity. Eventually I came to the conclusion that I would use my grandparent's house as it has old-fashioned furniture. This sparked off ideas for scenes as I could picture where my actress and actor would be, the space available, and mise-en-scene that could be used to my advantage.

Research and Planning; Indy Mogul Aside from the coursework, I did some research on camera work and came across a youtube channel called 'Indy Mogul' who has a series of '4 minute film schools'. As I watched the series I came across an episode that explored film noir and it's conventions. As well as being hugely helpful, it also was a bit of comic relief in the midst of researching written work which discusses the negative nature of film noir. This channel is hugely informative as well as comical. :]

Research and Planning; finding the right music After ruling out a voice-over, largely because I felt that the appropriate voice that I would need didn't belong to anyone I know, my quest to find a music track began. To start, I focused on music of a more classical genre, but after testing these over footage, I found that it didn't match the feel and tone of the piece that I was trying to present. This lead me to simply searching for music that came under the title 'Film noir music', and eventually I found an audio track by Inga Liljestrom, titled 'Film Noir', which worked perfectly as the lyrics and tempo matched well with the pace of my filming.

Research and Planning; Analysing Noir film posters Concious of the fact that I still needed to complete a film poster as well as a magazine cover, I hastily looked into Film Noir posters. As magazines weren't a source of advertisement for film noir, I failed to find anything relevant to a magazine cover. I then concluded that the way to go about this would be to look at photographs of femme fatale, and decide on poses which would be aesthetically pleasing and possible to use.

Research and Planning; Neo-Noir So whilst researching Film Noir further, I came across a genre which derives from it – Neo-Noir. I looked at the trailer for 'Sin City' and discussed the possibility of inserting some colour into my trailer, for the purpose of portraying colour symbolism and representation. I moved on from this discussion fairly quickly however, as I wanted to keep some conventional style and authenticity.

Research and Planning; the editing process After several filming sessions, and constantly posting my new footage to the blog, I started editing the material. Another way that I showed my progress visually, was by publishing a couple of print screens in posts. I also made use of photography by photographing my drawn storyboard and uploading accompanied with discussion on my narrative choices. I feel that applying these forms of media text, my blog became more visually engaging as well as being informative of my practical work.