MR JUDGE FEEDBACK

• Film Noir analysis needs images
• Scream needs some screen grabs
• prelim images arent showing - did you save them to your documents or cut and paste as that can cause problems
• Blue Velvet images are too large and need to be reduced.
• Apart from all that it is looking ok

Task 2:1 Research into existing products-Film Noir

Where did it come from?
Film noir means black film, it comes from the french critic Nino Frank in 1946. A stereotypical film noir includes a detective, femme fatale and corrupt officials. it is best described as a feeling through visual of low key lighting and story conventions.

How did the golden age of hollywood re- inforce genres? 
Due to hollywood expanding and competing for money, more films were being made. for example western films started to be seen as well as gangster. Since the 1920's genres have changed a lot more and more have been developed examples are sci-fi, action, rom coms, horror and thriller. a franchise as a result of competition in hollywood is the fast and furious genre. The golden age at the time of film noir however inforced genres by making money, the audience liked film Noir's so the big studios new this was what they had to make to survive. a lot of these genres followed specific stereotypes, an example would be the female always being evil and weak and the male being strong and powerful. 

Which genres became popular in hollywood?
at the time gangster films which involved a detective/investigator and a crazed female killer or femme fatale were very popular. in addition western films were also very popular in the time of the golden age of hollywood as well as war time times and horror. the most popular films were Frankenstein and Dracula for horror, the big sleep and the killers for film noir. 

Why do audiences like genre films?
audiences like genre films because they have a strict narrative for example the audience know when they go to see a film Noir that the story line is going to be a female who wraps the detective up her web for him to break free and save the day. a horror film will involve a crazed beast trying to kill an innocent and helpless woman. audience like genre films because of the stereotypical narrative. 

Task 2:1 Research into existing products-Scream analysis.

Analysis of scream opening


  The horror genre is well known to follow stereotypes, females are always presented as weak and males are always portrayed as strong and powerful. This is shown throughout the opening of the movie “Scream”.


The scene opens with non-diegetic screams playing at the start to add an intense feeling as well as a rapidly beating heart, it foreshadows the events of the film to come. This then cuts to a close up of an old looking phone, this is picked up by our main character who is the victim of a potential crime, she has stereotypical blonde hair and blue eyes, she is also very innocent looking and friendly like a stereotypical murder victim within the horror genre. She playfully answers a strange man on the other end of the phone, she then tells him to “take it easy” and hangs up.


The character then walks away from the phone, the camera tracks into a close up of her face as the phone rings again, she looks very shocked and it is our first insight to the fact she might be scared.
The camera follows the main character so that the audience can see her facial expressions and she answers the call again, she talks to the stranger in a playful and friendly way again completely unaware of the danger.


  An establishing shot is used to show that the scene is set in a middle class house in the countryside. The house is surrounded by trees and bushes filled with flowers to symbolise the wealth of the family. The camera then cuts to an extreme close up of a flame being lit on a stove, this could foreshadow the characters death, it gives the audience a hint that this is how the character may die. The main character then puts popcorn on the stove to cook. There is then the diegetic sound of the phone ringing again, the character then grunts in frustration and answers the phone. She then talks to the character about popcorn and movies. The camera then cuts to a long shot of the female character holding a knife, this could also foreshadow the death of the character, it creates a feeling of mystery upon the audience as the character has now come across two things that will kill her, which one is it?


  The two characters continue to have a flirty conversation, the conversation suddenly cuts when the strange man on the end of the phone says “I want to know who I’m looking at “ at this point the camera tracks into a close up of the shocked and scared expression on the main characters face. The characters continue having dialogue but the tone in the female characters voice changes to very scared and shook up. The camera uses an establishing shot to show us more about the family, we can see a pool and more flowers and trees to represent the status and wealth of the family. The camera tracks into a close up shot the female characters fear every time the phone rings. Non diegetic music starts to play to show the scene is about to get very intense and scary. The camera then zooms out into a long shot as it tracks the camera running through her house in fear, the intense music continues to represent the fear in the character.


  The main character threatens to call the police, this fits in with the stereotype of the female character being stupid as she continues to pick up the phone rather than actually calling the police after the third phone call. The camera continues to follow her as she stumbles around her home which has now become like a maze to her. At this point we know her killer is going to be the stereotypical male on the other end of the phone, whom we will be able to presume is a white or Caucasian male.

Task 2:1 Research into existing products -scream opening

Preliminary evaluation

Preliminary evaluation.

The 180 degree rule is when the camera cannot move over 180 degrees around a person, it is to help people understand what is going on in the scene. We used this when filming as our objective was to follow the 180 degree rule.

A match on action is one shot cuts to another shot portraying the action of the subject in the first shot. We used this in our preliminary when a letter was exchanged between two characters.  We used it as it adds to the intensity.

An eye line match is when the viewers can see what the character is seeing for, this could be the character looking at something off screen and then the camera cutting to what they are seeing. We used this in our preliminary twice, the one that was most successful was when our main character was leaving the scene.

Finally a shot-reverse shot is the way the camera moves between two characters this could be through a conversation where the camera is placed over one characters shoulder then the next. We used this multiple times in our preliminary forconversations with a lot of different characters.

The film making itself was a success we were able to get all the scenes filmed in under an hour. Filming around college was easy as all pupils had gone home or were in a lesson meaning that college was very quiet. Our only issue was when people were let out to go to lesson or the toilet the reception where we were filmed became very crowded for five minutes however this enabled us to prepare for filming our next scene.

Whilst editing our preliminary task I learnt how to add titles to a video and how to add music and sound effects. I also learnt how to use garage band on the mac, I used garage band to create a siren for the end of the film. I finally learnt how to add effective transitions to the film when a certain scene finishes and begins.At first I was very unsure on how to edit our preliminary task as I had never used a mac however throughout the task I was able to rapidly pick up the proper skills for my next practical task.

Blue velevet screen grabs

Task 2:1 Research into existing products-Blue velvet analysis

Blue velvet

In the opening sequence of blue velvet we can hear very intense music, this foreshadows the extract to be quite intense and dark. We then see a tracking shot of the camera, the camera travels down a bright blue sky to a bed of roses and a white picket fence and this represents the American dream, as the American dream was a suburban house with a white picket fence is a sunny state. There is also a use of the colours red white and blue, this shows that the film is very patriotic. In the background we can hear very calm and slow music, this contrasts to the music we heard at the start of the extract. The camera then fades into black.

The scene opens to a red fire truck driving down a street, the fire truck has a dog sitting on it, and this signifies that there is no emergency and that the neighbourhood is safe as they are being watched over. The calm music continues in the background to represent a calm and perfect America. The camera then fades back onto a white picket fence with tulips swaying in the wind. The camera then faded onto a long shot of school children walking across, the children are in a lot of red, the colour red connotes danger, this foreshadows that something bad will happen to this almost perfect American neighbourhood. The camera then fades to an establishing shot of a typical American home.

The shot then fades into a long shot of an elderly man watering grass, he is wearing light colours to signify his innocence. The calm music continues in the background as to this man today is a normal day. This fades to an elderly woman sitting on the sofa with a cup of tea. The camera focuses on a TV, in which a gun is being pointed to someone, the camera immediately cuts to the elderly man signifying that someone is about to happen to the man to do with murder. The camera switches between the man and a hose plugged into the wall to foreshadow an event that will happen to the elderly man. The camera then tracks into the old man falling to the floor. The calm music still continues to play in the background to contrast with the actual event taking place.

The camera then fades into a long shot of the man is a fenced off part of the floor next to a confused child, who doesn’t know what to do, there is also a dog playing with the hose still in the man’s hand as he struggles on the floor, this signifies that the neighbourhood is not perfect, people just ignore any unfortunate events and put a blanket over anything. The camera finally tracks in on the grass, the calm music stops and becomes very intense. The camera tracks deeper and deeper into the grass and a lot of dark colours are used to signify that there is mystery and danger surrounding the event. 

Preliminary