How is your production different from other Film Noirs?
To look at how it is different I must first look at how it is similar to other such productions found in the Film Noir genre. The similarities will follow typical conventions within this genre, for example, the black and white effect used throughout the production. Other such conventions that follow the genre include things such as long title sequences are used in the production as the detectives are walking down the street into the alleyway. By following this particular convention distinguishes the production as a Film Noir. Our production uses a typical convention used in Film Noirs which is the exploitation of detectives and murder investigations. A criminal mastermind is at work in our storyline and the main detectives are trying to solve the murders and hunt down the villain. In typical Film Noir style, the plotline usually follows a detective and/or his partner as they try to solve a murder or a collection of crimes which typically are sourced by a villainous gang. Our Film Noir is however slightly different to this convention as the villain is just a single man and is believed to have no other help in committing the murders. Another difference in our production is that our villains appearance has a slight twist. He is broadcasted as a famous, hench murderer but in actual fact, he is a dwarf and uses the element of surprise to his advantages against his victims. This difference makes our Film Noir production different from any other yet still keeping within a main convention of using a villain. Despite of this another similarity is the situation that one of the detectives, Miles, finds himself in. He goes behind his own partners back and comes out worse off. This is found a lot in Film Noirs people getting themselves into some sort of debt or bad situation which may lead to their death.
How are people represented in your production?
At the start of the production the two detectives are seen. The first is frustrated because he cant hunt down the villainous criminal Bruno, and the second seems to be in another world of his own. Dixon, who is the frustrated character appears as hard-working and determined since he desperately wants the criminal found and put into jail whereas the other, Miles, appears on edge and nervous about something. This may insinuate that he has something to hide. The next character that is seen in the production is Bruno, the dwarf criminal. He is represented as impatient and violent as he stops at nothing to kill detective Miles. This gives the criminal edge to the production as the villain violently empowers himself to the audience bringing a shocking feel about this character due to him killing the detective without a second thought. This stereotypically shows the villains impatient nature. The final character that is seen is the femme fatale of the production; Miles fianc Lola. She is shown as caring and considerate as she kneels at Miles side. This also shows that she was very much in love with Miles which is sometimes a convention used in some Film Noirs a detective falls for a striking femme fatale as the story continues. The impact of this representation on the audience gives you an analytical view on females in the production; it gives the idea that they arent always stubborn or careless to others. In correspondent to Miles being shot, his partner Dixon also is represented as a caring individual as he rushes to his fallen partners side and ask if he should go for help, this shows the audience that all men arent violent in Film Noirs and that some are also caring.
Which media institution would distribute your product and why?
I believe an appropriate media institution that would distribute my media product would be one that has already circulated Film Noir productions in the media world. This sort of media institution could be one like Paramount Pictures. Paramount pictures are maidenly known for their action or crime and mystery productions. This in turn is what our Film Noir consists of. A Film Noir that has been distributed from Paramount Pictures is Sunset Boulevard which is one that I researched in an earlier task. I noticed that murder was a key element in the opening scene as a famous actor had been found dead in a pool of a large establishment. Murder is used in my media product therefore it could contribute to one of the reasons as to why Paramount Pictures would distribute the production. Another factor that may lead me to believe Paramount Pictures is a suitable choice is the use of mystery and crime in my production the audience is left in suspense and thinking as to why Miles had met up with Bruno and what was the information he had. In Sunset Boulevard the audience is against left asking questions thinking; why was this man murdered? One last contributing factor is the use of a voice over, in Sunset Boulevard; one is used throughout the opening scene which is a common aspect in my media product as well. In hindsight, the only realistic institution that would in fact be YouTube. The internet based institution is globally viewed by millions if not billions of people using a computer. Since the site is free to upload and can be viewed by almost anyone, I feel this particular institution would suit an amateur production such as mine because of the small scale and low budget of the product. If the production was to be produced professionally and in doing so, keeping the conventions and storyline, I consider Paramount Picture to be a suitable, larger alternative.
Who is the target audience for the media product and why? From the original target audience that I had completed in a previous blog entry and from the data I collated and then analysed; I came up with the conclusion that the main target audience would be men since these were the majority of people that said that they watched Film Noirs and their sex was male. This gave the production team a clear baseline of where to start with our production and how to incorporate conventions to suit the target audience. I came to the conclusion that the main age group for our production was the 31-50 category since this was the majority of people that said they watch film noir products. Again, this gave us a clear idea as to what the target audience for our production was. The reasoning behind this age range was probably being because at this age Film Noirs were still being watched. Our target audience that generated from being male and aged 31-50 did have a majority of what sub-genre they preferred. Crime was the outstanding sub-genre in which the delegated target audience chose. Murder and romance were the second most popular sub-genre out of the other choices. This further analysis, the additional recognition of economical status, allowed us to identify the target audience our production is aimed a males that are aged between 31 and 50 (and obviously watch film noirs), they enjoy sub-genres of crime murder and romance and also their economical status was generally C1. By having this knowledge gave us our target audience. I believe that this is the target audience because the male gender do usually prefer watching crime and murder and also the age range is what it is due to the genre being popularly based around the 40s, 50s and 60s.
By knowing the target audience, how did you attract them?
Since the target audience was clearly identified, myself and the rest of the production team set about fulfilling the needs of this specific area of people. The first stage of action in satisfying our target audience started with the storyline. Since the target audience preferred crime and murder we decided to include a mysterious plot line to our film noir. Miles does in fact get murdered and is left unknown as to why this occurred which is the crime element. The detectives are also working on a long list of murders that are routed by one man, the villain of the story; Bruno. Again this implements the crime aspect as the bad guy is part of a network of crimes. Another action that were used was the location. Other films such as Sunset Boulevard which entail murder and crime used suburban areas to film. In our case, a suburban feel was given to the location since the detectives office was set in his house (which was actually my house). Since various houses were seen in the opening, it implies the use of suburban living in the production which is what the target audience would appeal to. One other aspect was the use of our femme fatale. For the target audience that liked the aspect of romance we incorporated a love encounter between the two characters Miles and Lola. This element gives another factor to meeting our target audiences needs since some of them suggested their favourite sub-genre was romance within a film noir. Also, a last part of our methods which met our target audience was the lighting in the first shot with the voice over. The light is directed at Dixons face, in doing so, keeping his face alight whereas Miles is slightly darker insinuating that he has something to hide and gives connotations that he is the secret villain.
What technologies have you used?
Since this was my first year doing Media because I hadnt taken it at GCSE, using all of the equipment and software was all new to me. I had to learn fast since our productions came quickly, one after the other. Throughout the course I did have a chance to use pretty much every technology available to me. The first technology introduced to me were the HD cameras and microphone kit that came with the camera. Also, I had tripod inductions showing me how to use the kit appropriately and how to perform different shots with the tripod etc. Alongside the camera the microphone as I had mentioned earlier was used in the preliminary task, I had to learn how to use this equipment so that a scene could be shot. In this particular task lighting was a big element of the production, especially the opening scene. Although I did not achieve a lighting certificate, since we only needed one person in our group to use the lights, I still managed to practise with the kit and the different techniques it can provide to a shot. Computerised aspects in technologies that I have used in this media course scope from editing software to areas such as my blog. I did have a chance to edit part of our film noir production since our editor had other matters on at the time. I worked alongside the other team member to assemble part of the alleyway scene and also apply some of the credits over the top of the exterior shot of the detectives walking down the street. Another element of computerised technology used is the website Scribd. This website allowed me to add word documents into my blog without changing the format etc. As well as this, aspects in my blog such as uploading pictures and inserting graphs to the target audience research had to be applied to back up my textual evidence.
What progress have I made over the year 12 course?
From starting a whole new subject for my A levels I had to learn pretty quickly to reach the sufficient theoretical and practical skills so that I achieved a pleasing final grade. I hadnt chosen media for GCSE since the option block abided against me and my other subjects therefore I waited till A level. Over the course of the year I feel that I have improved my knowledge of technical aspects when making a production. Areas such as camera work I have especially enjoyed since this part of production I am most fond of. Another technology that I have improved my skills on is the editing software Adobe Premier. Although this hasnt been a specific main role of mine, I have picked up a lot of hints, tips and skills when using the software. I believe I now have the knowledge on how to edit a production appropriately. Another element that I have improved on is my time management, on the preliminary task we fell behind a few times because pre production elements hadnt been completed on time and areas such as actor availability hadnt been double-checked which lead to additional problems. When it came to the main task of Film Noir, I had learnt from my mistakes and made sure that we werent rushed to deadlines and also tried to finish work the night it was set. Simplistic things such as working with actors and how to control them in the filming process is another skill I have picked up. In the main task, I took the role of director and because of a workshop provided in lesson; I was able to direct the actors to do what exactly they had to do. This then lead to minimal takes and in doing so, reducing the filming time because no less frequent retakes were needed in the filming process. Overall I feel I have made loads of progress since the start of the year from not knowing that much about media and what it entails to then being able to edit, director and use equipment and technologies efficiently.
