Evaluation - Question 5

How did you attract/address your audience?
I address my audience through casting, sound and mise-en-scene. The protagonists in my opening are the same age group as target audience. I also used familiar music, conforming to the expectations of a film noir. The mise-en-scene is set in a familiar setting to the audience. The minority of the establishing shots take place in a working environment, allowing the audience can relate to the protagonist.

Evaluation - Question 4

Who would be the audience for your media product?

My target audience is middle-aged adults of both genders, but more so males as I feel this particular genre is more appealing to men. Noirs have the tendency to represent men as powerful and dominant. Men are represented in this way to maintain the patriarchal society even within a fictional world.
My film is a fresh new approach to the genre noir. It focuses on the alpha-male protagonists struggling, putting males into a different light this is appealing to women. It also features the stereotypical prostitues and promiscuous femme fatales, still maintaining the male side of the audience.

My film will appeal to male and females with an obscure film taste. It will appeal to adults who watch a film for the storyline, not because it has received a lot of publicity. I believe my audience would be a niche intellectual audience who crave films with a twist and leave you thinking.

Evaluation - Question 3

What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

Dimension Films - It distributed such films as Sin City. I chose this institution as I felt my film was similar to Sin City. Visually inspired by the film, both my film and Sin City are sleek, classy yet sinister with mild violence.

Evaluation - Question 2

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

My film focuses on the older generation - middle-aged adults. I feel my opening does not really focus on any social groups in particular but if it were to I feel the film represents the working class.
I cast Alan Fairnie as the role of the protagonist as I thought he would suit the mindset of a murderer and comes across as someone with a lot on his mind. My protagonist is focused, hard-working and always has a lot to do. I needed my character to look tired to create the illusion that he is staying up late. I filmed at the end of the day making sure Fairnie looked a little tired, but not exhausted. I thought this would work perfectly. However I used Ian Elmslie when it came to creating the voice-over. There was something I couldn't articulate with Alan. I think this is partly because Ian is a drama teacher. He is excellent when it comes to getting into character and I thought this would be the most sensible thing to do. I wrote up a script for Ian and described what kind of tone I was going for and he responded outstandingly.

I also cast Leanne Whittaker as the role of the femme fatale. I thought she would be perfect for the part as she is tall, slim and blonde. I thought the blonde and red would together nicely to pull off the seductive look. Whilst working with Leanne I suggested she wore something red. Originally I wanted her to be wearing a red dress with red heels. Fortunately Leanne improvised and suggested a red shirt with lipstick to match. The lips were a lovely feature and add greatly to the sequence.

Evaluation - Question 1

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

An opening title sequence is vital to a film. There are directors who spend millions of pounds just on the title sequence. It is the most important part of the film, it should draw the audience in without giving away too much detail.

My opening title sequence conforms to the codes and conventions of an existing title sequence by:
- establishing the narrative
- introducing the protagonist
- creating enigmas
- and drawing the audience in.

My opening title sequence also challenges the codes and conventions of this genre by:
- representing men in a different light
- portraying women as the more powerful characters

Sins of my Father is based around the genre of a modern film noir. The film itself has been set in 1991, but looks relatively modern. The visual technique used allows the idea to expand and develop further to the genre, neo-noir. Inspired by the film Sin City, the opening sequence shows visual reference to this film.

Although my opening follows the conventions of what is expected from a noir, I feel it also has its very own style. Common themes explored throughout my opening include crime, threat, murder, moral ambiguity and sexual motivation. Crime is an extremely obvious theme that takes place during the sequence. The voice-over works alongside the moving images and anchors these themes. This method is common in other noir style movies such as The Usual Suspects (1995) and Sin City (2005).

Best Noir Titles

http://www.imdb.com/chart/filmnoir

TWO DAYS TILL DEADLINE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well, really its like a day and a half D;
ALMOST FINISHED! But I keep worrying and thinking I've forgotten about something.

Today I edited everything in Final Cut Pro. It's looking alot better.
The plan for the next two days are as follows:

Tomorrow
- add in titles
- find people/teachers, get opinions
- add music

Friday
- get voiceover
- edit edit edit everything
- BLOG THIS!

If all goes to plan, I should be done on time :)

As tomorrow I am looking at titles, I started to think about where I want them, how long I want them for. It was really difficult to judge without watching a title sequence! I was quite suprised at how hard it is to make these decisions.

So here are some title sequences!



Le, Fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain (The Fabulous Destiny of 'Amélie Poulain)
Directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet.
Released in 2001.

This is an AMAZING piece of film.
I posted the title sequence here as I like how the titles are WITH the footage. If you look back at my rough edit (http://videokid-media.blogspot.com/2009/02/title-sequence-rough-cut.html), it features a few titles, but they are over black and I don't want this.
I love how the titles do not remain in the same place.

Depending where the subject is, for example:


The chin here is justified more to the right, hence the text to be placed on the left side.

Here is the opposite, which is still nice. Throughout the title sequence it does this. It features a nice variety of footage, as some of my footage is purposely justified I wish to do this.



I'm a Cyborg, But That's Okay
Directed by Park Chan-wook.
Released in 2007 or 08?

A film Jake influenced me to watch.
NOTE: The video above is the part 1 of the film, not just the title sequence.



I really liked the title sequence!
Of course it lived up to the expectations of the amazing Chan-wook.
I loved the random choice of positioning with the text. I think it's really effective and different.



A Scanner Darkly
Directed by Richard Linklater.
Released in 2006.

Another film that places text at different places.

I really like this technique!
I think this is something I will play around with tomorrow !