Soundtrack research

For our soundtrack we wanted something more seductive then suspenseful, to mirror the character of the Femme Fatale. After researching into different soundtracks on the internet, we then defined our search to look for soundtracks from Film Noir films which is our chosen sub genre. We then discovered a particular jazz sound that we are going to reinvent and are planning to put together fro scratch. To do this, we will be sitting in on the schools band practice and listening to the high school students as they rehearse. This will allow us to choose who we want to include, and then we will make a soundtrack of our own to use in our thriller opening.

Here is a youtube video of a piece of music that gave us inspiration to go on and make our own version.

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Shot types	Angle	Movement	Notes
Close up	Eye level shot	No movement	Shot of main character with eyes closed
Close up	Eye level shot	No movement	Main characters eyes snapping open
Medium close up	Eye level shot	No movement	Main character putting red lipstick on
Mid shot	Low angled shot	Tracking	Main character imitating thriller poster
Mid shot	Eye level shot	Tracking to close up	Showing poster of the thriller the main character is imitating
Long shot	High angled shot	Panning	Shows the room of the main character
Medium shot	Eye level shot	Tracking to highlight the wardrobe	Showing the one dress in the wardrobe in her room
Medium shot	High angled shot	Tracking in	Highlights the stuff on the mattress
Point of view	High angled shot	No movement	Shows the main character looking at a newspaper
Close up	High angled shot	No movement	Highlighting the drinks and the cigarette
Close up	Eye level shot	Focus in	Shows main character smirking
Extreme close up	High angled shot	No movement	Shows main character circling picture in newspaper
Close up	Low angled shot	No movement	Shows the clock being upside down
Point of view	Eye level shot	No movement	Showing main character pausing a film on the TV
Close up	High angled shot	Tracking towards	Shows the time paused in the movie
Medium shot	Low angled shot	No movement	Shows the words and items hanging off the back of the door
Close up	Eye level shot	Tracking	Highlights the two items on the back of the door
Close up	Eye level shot	Track backwards	Showing the hanger swinging in the wardrobe

Group discussion about PDE

Production: We have chosen to use DNA films because they are behind some of the most distinctive UK films of recent years. Also because forthcoming projects of theirs include supernatural thrillers. Films they have previously produced include 28 Days Later and The Last King of Scotland.  

Distribution:
UK - Because this is where it will be filmed and will be produced by independent film company.

Germany - Because they have a large English speaking population.

USA - Because many successful American films are popular in the UK, so to test whether independent British films can succeed in America. Also because previous Femme Fatale films were American so the sub genre links back to the original iconic Film Noir movies.

Australia - Again they have a large English speaking population.

China - Their country is very technological so releasing a new film there should produce a widespread audience.

Exhibition: 

Our target audience would be people who favour the thriller genre, but also who like independent film companies. This would provide us with a niche audience who are keen to follow our films. Our film certificate would be 15 as the film would feature scenes inappropriate for younger ages. Social class does not affect our film as it does not relate to any particular one. However people who are well educated in similar films will appreciate watching this as they will be able to identify the homage used in this film. Finally, audiences of an elder age would benefit more as they would be able to relate to original film noir movies and point out 'Fatal Attraction' in the background, where as a younger audience would not be familiar with it.

Aspects of our film will contain things that certify a 15:
Violence
 Strong language
Scene of torture

 This is an image of the BBFC website saying what makes a film a 15.

5 Theories

1. Todorov ~ Narrative theory
Five stages 1. The equilibrium where everything is well and peace is set.
                  2. A disruption to the order so something evil comes to disrupt the peace and course havoc.
                  3. A recognition of the disruption where the audience sees the result of it.
                  4. Attempts to repair where the characters try to bring back the peace but don't succeed at first.
                  5. New equilibrium where everything is peaceful but thing are different from the beginning.



This can be related to modern films such as Click
 The equilibrium is when he has a job and a caring family.
 A disruption when he gets a remote to control life being he started to hate he life due to over working.
 A recognition when the remote goes on auto pilot and his life starts flying by with him having no control.
 Attempts to repair when he tries to get rid of the remote and get his family back.
 A new equilibrium when he wakes up before he got the remote but now loves his life again.

2. Barthe's ~ Enigma Code
 Barthe's enigma code says that with any for of media (television, film) makes the audience question something and draws the audience in. (creates a puzzle to be solved).

3. Propp's ~ Character roles
 Valadimir Propp's character theory says there is seven or eight main characters that are in the majority of films. These are: 1.The Hero - The one to save the day (usually male)
                         2. The Princess - The one who the hero marries and is also often a victim
                         3. The Helper - The one who is there to help the hero on his journey
                         4. The Donor - The one to give the hero an important item to help him
                         5. The Dispatcher - The one to tell hero what has to be done, and sends him.
                         6. The Father - The one who rewards the hero at the end of his journey
                         7. The False Hero - The one who tries to hinder the heroes progress
                         8. The Villain - The one who the hero is trying to concur.

This can be seen in many films such as Shrek
  The Hero - Shrek
  The Princess - Princess Fiona
  The Helper - Donkey
  The Dispatcher - Lord Farquaad
  The Villain - Lord Farquaad

4. Levi -Strauss ~ Binary opposites
Says that the way we understand words is not necessarily from its meaning but from the difference from it and the opposite word.
For example the understanding of "coward" comes from the difference between "coward" and its binary opposite "hero".

5. Voglar ~ 12 steps of a heroes journey
The heroes journey:                                   The heroes inner journey:
             1.Ordinary world                                        1.Limited awareness of problem 
             2.Call to adventure                                     2.Increased awareness of need for change
             3.Refusal of call                                         3.Resistant to change (fear)
             4.Meeting mentor                                       4.Overcoming Fear
             5.Crossing threshold                                   5.Committing to change
             6.Tests, allies, enemies                              6.Trying out new conditions
             7.Approach                                                7.Preparing for major change
             8.Ordeal, death & rebirth                             8.Change in feeling of life & death
             9.Reward                                                   9.Accepting consequences of new life
           10.Road back                                             10.New challenge
           11.Resurrection                                          11.Final attempt
           12.Return                                                   12.Mastery

Homage - Resevoir dogs

Homage is used to show respect or dedication to a previous film or director. It can also be used in a comical way for example the scary movie franchise where they mimic scenes from other movie and put a funny twist on them. It is often used now because of the advances in technology, and there are many examples such as the opening scene to Jackie Brown(1997) being an homage to The Graduate(1967) but one of the first uses of homage was in swingers where they imitate the walking scene from Resevoir dogs. In the shots in this post it clearly shows the similarities between the two and how well dome the homage was done by Doug Liman (Director of Swingers).

Vladimir Propp's Character theory

1. The Hero – a character that seeks something
2. The Villain – who opposes or actively blocks the hero’s quest
3. The Donor – who provides an object with magical properties
4. The Dispatcher – who sends the hero on his/her quest via a message
5.  The False Hero – who disrupts the hero’s success by making false claims
6.  The Helper – who aids the hero
7.  The Princess – acts as the reward for the hero and the object of the villain’s plots
8.  Her Father – who acts to reward the hero for his effort

Vladimir Propp came up with his character theory when he was a Russian critic in the 1920's. He mainly looked at the narrative of folk tales, and noticed that the same characters came up again and again.

This can be applied to modern films even if not all of the characters are easily distinguishable.

Such as the Harry Potter franchise.

The Hero - Harry Potter

The Villain - Voldemort

The Donor - Albus Dumbledore

The Dispatcher - Albus Dumbledore

The False hero - Severus Snape

The Helper - Ron Weasley / Hermione Granger

The Princess - Ginny Weasley

Foley artists

Foley artists are the ones behind creating the sound for a movie. They are necessary for movie's because the vast majority of the sound used in movie's (not including speech and music) is recreated by Foley artists after the filming. Foley artists are used because most sound is lost when filming so would not be heard by the audience of the film.

Five examples of how Foley artists recreate sounds: Corn starch in a leather pouch sounds like crunching snow, An old chair makes a good creaking sound, Half a coconut shell sounds like horse feet, a telephone book surrounded in tape sounds like body punches and cellophane sounds like a crackling fire.

This sounds like snow crunching.

Evaluate own work: The difficult part of this was to think of how the sounds could be recreated. This was difficult because Foley artists use items very different to the object making the sound so is not always easy to work out what to use. The easier part was to actually make the sounds after working out what to use to create the sounds. The sounds we used were to tap a shoe against a wall to replicate walking down stairs. This gave the sound of the tapping of the shoes as I walked down the stairs. I did enjoy doing this because it is unusual and not what you would think of when talking about the making of films.

A Foley artist showing what he does.

The knowledge of Foley sounds will be useful in the making of the thriller opening because it means that with a bit of editing, the audience will be able to hear everything clearly. This will help with the building up of suspense and bring the audience into the film.