EXCHANGE EXERCISE

EXCHANGE EXERCISE

As part of my AS course work I had to carry out an Exercise, which involves filming and editing an ‘Exchange’. I am in a group with three other people, and everyone in the group has to participate in all the different stages of the production, therefore everyone must complete some of the paperwork before filing, also take part in filming the project and editing the shots to complete the exercise. When producing the ‘Exchange’ we have been told to consider the noir style and the characteristics of noir films.

IDEA FOR A FILM OPENING

Storyline: The beginning of the film starts with the end of the storyline and is told in flashbacks, a girl is tied up in a run down house, crying, with a man lying over the other side of the room, badly injured. You then see the two men discussing what they are going to do with the girl. During the film it explains how they got into that situation, the girl was abducted on her way home from school as she happened to over hear a conversation about two men responsible for a number of burglaries around the area, you see the conversation that the girl over heard. The man in the corner was a detective who had been trying to find her, but the abductor had beaten him as he entered the house to investigate. The film ends with the two men about to kill the girl just as the police arrive, one man is arrested, and the other man escapes but is later arrested when he attempts another burglary.
The film opening: The scene will open with a shot of a house on a run down estate, it then shows the inside on the house with a shot moving up the stairs in a room, where there is a girl tied up, screaming and crying, it zooms in to her face, which has tears running down it. The camera zooms out to a high angle view of the room, which is where you first see the body lying on the floor over the other side of the room. The girl is trying to talk to the person lying on the floor. It then goes to two men having a conversation about what is going to happen to the girl, both men enter the room and walk towards the girl, the girl cries louder and looks scared.

ANALYSIS OF BRICK

The film 'BRICK' by Rian Johnson, made in 2005, has typical noir storylines, scenarios and narratives. In the film there are is someone who is trying to be the hero. He is looking for answers about the death of the

girl he loves, and to find those answers he does a lot of fighting, and gets in to trouble although he attempts to stay out of it, this is down to the gangs some of the time. The main guy tries to make friends with everyone so that he can find the information he is looking for, which sometimes means he gets into more trouble. All he wants to do is look after and protect the girl who he is in love with. Like a typical film Noir there is a storyline based on love, but twists ad complications, and there isn’t a happy ending. Also the way the film is presented and the order of the film is done in a way which is Noir style, as they have flashbacks, and also they start the film from the end of the story line.

This film does contain typical film noir characters, for example, the women who dressed in a red dress at the beginning of the film would be the femme fetale, and she goes after the ‘hero’. Also the ‘bad guy’ has a sidekick, which looks out for him and they stick together. Although at the end they turn against each other which is not like Film Noir. In this film there are mysterious shadowy characters, like in Film Noirs. There is the main guy that is like the hero who gets in lots of trouble for example fights to help the victim.

Mise-en-scene is used in this film by the lighting; there are a lot of shadows, darkness, and poor lighting in places, like other Film Noirs. In places the sound isn’t what you would expect from a Film Noir as it is much more modern and doesn't always fit with what is happening, it is more abstarct, whereas at other times it seems to fit and follow the noir style. There are some particular editing styles that are typical of Film Noir, for example they use flashbacks, as at the beginning you see a flash of what happens at the end. Also they use fade outs throughout the film and other camera techniques to add effect.

FILM OPENING ANALYSIS 2: ET

'ET'

‘ET’

The clip above shows the opening scene to ‘ET’ which is adventure and drama. I think is a good film opening. All the way through the film opening, it is very low key lighting, very dingy and dull, which helps set the scene.
As the film starts there is only non diegetic sound, the music, this speeds up as the action increases, for example when the cars drive up and park the music speeds up a little, then when they are chasing ET the music speeds up a little more. Although the use of diegetic sound increase as people enter the scene, for example car engines, wind and trees. In the opening scene the cinematography uses quite interesting camera shots, for example panning is used to give a wide shot of the location. Also to make the scene more interesting they have filmed some shots through tree branches etc, this gives the impression that someone/something is hiding or doesn’t want to be seen.
As not too much action happens for about 2minutes this makes the scene more exciting to watch. Although the first scene is left on a cliff hanger which grips the viewer, it makes them what to watch more to find out what is going to happen. As ‘ET’ is just left there with all the men around him, it makes you question what is going to happen next, which gets the viewer involved. Therefore I think that this film opening was a success and sets the film up very well.

FILM OPENING ANALYSIS 1: Sin City

‘Sin City’

The clip above shows the opening scene to ‘Sin City’ which is a Classic Film Noir. I think this is a good film opening because of the use of Mise-En-Scene, The costume of the character stands out from the scene as it’s the only part which is in colour, and this is also a great example of the lighting, the whole locations is dark and gloomy where as the ‘femme fetale’ is the focus of the viewers attention.

At the beginning the sound is both Diegetic, and Non-Diegetic, as the sounds you hear are the voice over of the main male character explaining what is happening, but then it cuts to the two characters talking which is Diegetic, this continues to cut between the two throughout the opening scene. All the way through the opening scene you hear quiet, slow, jazz music which towards the end changes to louder music with a fast beat, which is Non-Diegetic.

The Cinematography helps to grip the attention of the viewer as there is a variety of camera shots which makes it more interesting for example, over the shoulder, and close up shots are used. The lighting creates shadow, and uses high contrast lighting, which makes the scene seem more mysterious.

The editing that has been done on this movie adds to the action, as clearly the film does not begin from the begging as the viewer doesn’t know what is really going on, or why it is happening. I think this makes the film more interesting as it ‘hooks’ the viewer into watching the rest of the film. I think that this film opening grips you, so it makes you want to keep watching it to see what happens. As there is a gun shot within the first three minutes, this would imply that there will be action in the rest of the film also that maybe the situation will get explained. Therefore this makes you want to keep watching.

PRELIMINARY EXERCISE EVALUATION

During the making of the project my responsibilities was to have input in script writing, between the three of us we had to prepare a script with about four lines of dialogue, I think our script worked well because it went well with the acting and the environment, also it was interesting for the viewer to watch. Another of my responsibilities was to film and sound recording, everyone in the group had a chance to experience and practise these skills. The last of my responsibilities was using the editing equipment, to cut the shots I needed to make the final clip and put it altogether.

I think that I contributed well as I got involved in everything and tried my best in the work that I done. I also think that we worked well as a team, we all shared the jobs equally so we got to practise and improve our skills this meant we all had the opportunity to do a bit of everything.

I think that this project has helped me improve greatly in working with the camera and editing equipment, as when I started I didn’t know anything, this project was a great opportunity to put what we learnt into practise. Although I did struggle with the editing to start with but during the course of the editing I got more practice so it became clearer and I improved.

I think that the overall technical quality of my finished video was good; considering it was the first time we had done anything like that. This is because we worked very closely on the detail, we worked well as a team, and all focused on the task. Although we did face a problem, when filming we had filmed different shots with speech in but when coming to edit it, they did match up therefore the actor was at a different time in the walk when he started talking, this made it difficult to edit and put different shots together. This resulted in using our ‘backup’ shots, that is why in the final video, when the act is speaking you cannot see there face. If I was to repeat this assignment then I would make sure the different shots are going to fit together during editing and film more ‘takes’ to be sure that we will be able to produce the best video possible.

I think in my final video the use of Editing, Cinematography, Mise-En-Scene and sound was very effective. We used only Diegetic sound, so we added no music or any other sound, the only sound that could be heard was the sound of the characters, and what they could hear.

I think that the ideas I had for the final piece were portrayed exactly how we wanted it to be, I think that the script showed exactly what we wanted it to, and explained to the viewer what the narrative was. The characters in the finished piece came across as we intended.

The feedback that I got from a few people that had viewed my final piece, was that they really enjoyed the video, as it had some comedy,  they also said that they liked the variety of camera shots as we had a extreme close up, a close up, and other shots, also because we used the panning technique. So I mostly got positive feedback. Although one viewer said that I could have improved it by seeing more of the persons face when they are talking.

Overall, I think that the assignment went really well, and if I was to repeat it then there are only a few things I would try and do better. For example I would make sure I get more than one of the same shot so I have more options during editing.