Film Noir Opening Treatment

Mise-En-Scene & Art Direction

Props


The props used include
: alcohol, cigarettes, drugs, ‘soup’ sick, bed, sofas, system, blood, make up for the bruises.

The Alcohol and cigarettes are typical of noir tendencies, we wanted to keep some classic noir conventions in there so people who watch our opening can identify what type of film it is. The drugs and the ipod docking system give it a modern kick to keep up with the contemporary feel of our opening.


Costume and make up

We want to keep the costume casual, like everyday wear of young adults but we wanted to add a noir flair. We will do this buy keeping the shades of clothing dark, for example blacks, greys and dark/navy blues. Or women with red lipstick and red nails. Not all charecters will dress this way because we need the modern edge once again, to keep the contemporary feel. If we had more charecters and time we would deffinitly keep to these guidlines perfectly. But seeing as we have minimal amount of 'main' charecters we will stick to the guidelines as much as possibly can.We also will use costume make up for the 'femme fatale' to look beaten up and hurt. I will buy some purple lipstick mixed with eyeliner to create a bruised effect on the cheekbones and above the eye. And buy some costume blood to give the extra drama effect.

Location:
  • Cameron's House
  • Kitchen
  • Bathroom
  • Study
  • Bedroom

Location 2:

  • Ben's (my) house
  • Bedroom
  • Living Room

Editing

The editing for this piece will be clean and use continuity editing up until the flashbacks where, to create the effect of disorientation, things aren’t in order, shots are skewed etc. Editing to create flashbacks isn’t intended to look cliché so we’ll go about it differently – Upon pacing the room, I will cut the footage up and apply a dissolve transition to express passing of time before the character places himself back on the bed. During this time, a voiceover will be heard, explaining the character's confusion about the night before. Music will fade in as we enter the first sequence of flashbacks where we see the suspects and the reason they may have committed the murder. As this is a flashback of a drunken party, the editing won't feature continuity editing but jump cuts and discontinuity editing to disorientate the audience. The music we'll use will reflect the action but also the noir characteristics of the piece. We will also use a voiceover for the victim, in the bed. Large amounts of distortion will be added to her voice to add a scary, noir, mysterious tone.


As the action is quite detailed, the opening titles will be placed before the starting scene. The typeface will be simple, but also reflect (along with colour) the noir feel of things.


Cinematography:


Cinematography in our film is going to be vital in our film. The type of shots we use will help distinguish the type of film we are trying to convey to our audience. The opening shots willl all be in the bedroom. These shots will be used with a tripod to give a smooth feel.


As at this point we are in real time so we will use continuity. In this, we will also use high and low angle shots of the charecters to give the impression of the charecter that we want. For example There will be a high angle shot of our charecter 'Ben' sitting on the bed with a cigarette. This will make Ben look vunrable and lonely which is what we to portray. There will be a close up of 'kiras' body in the bed dead. It is important shot, and gives a lot of detail, which is what close ups are perfect for. The shot will need to linger to give a bigger impression of the fact she is beaten, bruised and dead.


In contrast to this the flashbacks we will use will be very gritty, uncontrolled shots. We will get this effect by using a hand held camera. The handheld camera will also make it as point of view shot from bens persepective of that night. We see it through his eyes. When we edit, we will then chop them up in different places to make them even more abnormal to the audience.


There wont be any structure as such. Aka, no continuity. This because they are flasbacks of a very drunk not, and in reality when people remember things it will be at different times and not in order how the night has gone. So we want to make it seem like this with our mixed up shots in different places. The shots will seem uncomfortable and confusing. Which was a convention of classic film noirs.


Written By: Myself, Ben Halliday & Kira Knight, Art Director.

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