PRELIMINARY EXERCISE

PRELIMINARY EXERCISE

As part of my AS course work I had to carry out a Preliminary Exercise, this involved filming and editing a short clip, to show what I can do, and to practice the skills I will need to use in my opening sequence. For this exercise I had to work with two other people, everyone got the chance to get hands on with the camera kit and editing software. The task was to complete a continuity task involving filming a character walking to and opening a door, crossing a room and sitting in a chair opposite another character, then exchange a couple of lines of dialogue. After filming this, we then used the editing software to finalise the sequence.

TWO EXAMPLES OF NEO NOIR

My first example of a Neo Noir is ‘Blade Runner’ from 1982, directed by Ridley Scott. This is a great example for a Neo noir because it uses sinister music in the opening titles which immediately gives the film a dark feeling and makes you feel uncomfortable. This is followed by a wide shot of Los Angeles in 2019, showing it in a dark and gloomy way, with high contrasts between light and dark, like in Noir films, although it has been shot in colour. The film is about four biologically engineered humanoids who use to be soldiers and slaves escape and come to earth illegally. The mission is to find them and stop them, although many problems arise.

My other example of a Neo Noir is ‘Memento’ from 2000, directed by Christopher Nolan. This is great example of a Neo Noir because of the camera shots used, for example the first thing you see in the trailer is an extreme close-up. Also it uses flashbacks and at the beginning of the film you see what happens in the end, Leonard kills Teddy. In the trailer the main character is doing a voice over in first person, often asking himself “what have I done”, he does this because he has amnesia, which you find out at the beginning of the film. He talks in a distressed way, often breathing heavily and getting angry, this transmits the his feeling of distress to the audience.

WHAT IS A NEO NOIR?

A Neo Noir is a more modern style of Noir. It uses modern characteristics, although the visual style is very similar to classic noir, in that it uses dark high contrast shots, and has very low key lighting, but it has been modified so is now often in colour and in a modern setting. Similarly the music and titles tend to be quite sinister which helps to give the film a uncomfortable feel to the audience.

TWO EXAMPLES OF A FILM NOIR

My first example of a classic Film Noir is ‘Double Indemnity’ from 1944, directed by Billie Wilder. This is a great example for a classic film noir because it has typical Noir characters, for example it features a ‘femme fatale’, who gets power through her beauty and seduction. Another character is the sales man, who puts everything on the line to get what he wants and to get the girl. The film starts with the ending of the story line; the sales man giving a confession to what he has done, this gives the film a typically non linear storyline. The film is about a plan to kill Phyllis Dietrichson’s husband, most of the film is about the collapse of the plan and Phyllis’ betrayal.

My other example of a classic Film Noir is ‘Maltese Falcon’ from 1941, directed by John Huston. This is about a private investigator Sam Spade, his assistant Archer and the ‘femme fatale’ client ‘Miss Ruth Wonderly’. Wonderly hires him to help find her missing sister. After being hired Spades assistant Archer is killed and the film is about Spade trying to find out why Archer is killed. This is a great classic film noir because  it uses a lot of the main conventions of film noir. Also during the opening titles you see only the face with a complete black background. The way the words are spoken makes you feel uncomfortable because they are spoken in a dramatic way. As the film goes on the music gets more dramatic and threatening.