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

1. S I C A R I U S
The following PowerPoint will discuss the ways in which our trailer uses,
develops and challenge forms and conventions of real media products
S I C A R I U S

2. When constructing the trailer for our neo noir film Sicarius, we knew we had to
conform to the common conventions of professional neo noir trailers such as Brick
(2005) and other successful trailers such as American Sniper (2014). Our most
dominant feature of neo-noir that we applied was the femme fatale. We looked to
mimic similar conventions used in Brick with the femme fatale, Laura. With this in
mind however, we chose to make our main character, a male, the protagonist.
Sicarius (Latin for assassin) is played by our protagonist - Oliver Prior. He is a trained
and employed assassin. As part of a previous mission Oliver kills an important
member of a drug gang. This triggers the leader of the gang to hire Sacha Robinson
(Femme Fatale) to form a close relationship with him to then further kill him. The
complexities in the plot arise when Oliver becomes aware that Sacha knows about
his Assassinations and his title as an assassin and is in turn hired to kill her - this
issue is, he is in love with her, but knows if anyone else finds out about is job, it will
not only affect him, but also his boss. Further still, he could also be killed by her
too.
S I C A R I U S

3. Our first shot in the trailer is of our
production company. All neo-noir trailers we
analysed used a production company so we
stuck to that convention. Next in the
sequence came a shot of our distribution
company: Burial Features – despite using the
distribution company as our next shot, which
was typical of a neo noir film, it did also
challenge the genre. This is because high
quality, high budget films and trailers have
been distributed by bigger companies, such
as Focus Features. We felt it necessary to
create our own however as we felt that with
our limited budget and home filmed style
that it was more likely to be distributed by an
independent as only the most successful
home videos, such as paranormal activity are
distributed by bigger companies.
S I C A R I U S

4. The next shot shows a smooth tracking shot of the gun. This
develops a convention of neo-noir as we felt tracking, despite being
a key convention has been adapted and made more modern with
newer technologies introduced. We deemed this appropriate as the
first image of the gun was graphic and gave an indication as to what
the narrative might involve. Crime, being another prominent
convention neo-noir is shown here through the gun as we associate
a gun with a killing. Film noir was most heavily associated with
being films about or dealing with crime or violence. Due to the
Hays Code, the violence had to often be hinted at or take place off-
screen, but it was there. Frequently, the protagonist was a police
officer or detective who was hired to solve a crime, or a person
who was, either knowingly or unwittingly, drawn into a crime,
either as the victim or the perpetrator. In our case, the gun carrier
is an assassin who is employed to kill another character in the
narrative – this challenges the convention of neo-noir as assassin’s
aren’t usually associated with this genre of film, however, with the
aid of the narrative, we made the assassin out to be a likeable
character, making it doable for our trailer. Following this shot we
see Oliver Prior, our main character in our trailer for ‘Sicarius’ in a
deep focus shot. This shot was carefully constructed to follow
conventions of neo-noir. This clever shot is designed to focus on the
gun and the main character Oliver.
S I C A R I U S

5. The next shot, is of a home video that
we used to aid the narrative. With
the use of editing we made it look
realistic and believable to the
audience. This first person voice over
narration is another convention of
neo-noir that we exploited in our
trailer, however we also furthered
this convention by relaying back to
this image of him speaking. We felt
this appropriate as there were a
variety of audio clips used in the
trailer and it made it clear for the
audience. We also created Oliver
Prior to be a cynical, world-weary
male protagonist in this shot and the
following similar shots as it shows his
flaws, in that he is depressed as well
as a killer.
S I C A R I U S

6. This next shot shows how we followed the conventions of neo-noir
through the location used (urban) as well as with the eroticism and
sexuality. We conveyed a typical male/female relationship through the
use of a pre-kiss. This deep moment showed that the characters may
have or might be in love. Love aids our narrative as the key story
revolves around it.
S I C A R I U S

7. Next, we see in this shot the femme fatale
character taking place. Through the use of
mise-en-scene with the lipstick and the
reflections, another used convention of
neo-noir we portrayed Sacha Robinson to
be mysterious as well as very sexual. With
the key focus on her lips we see that she
might be quite deceiving and an
important character. With the use of
reflection we are also furthered to believe
that this character may create confusion
in the plot. This is commonly used in neo
noir films to create obscurity and present
her as cunning.
S I C A R I U S

8. This title used goes against the neo-noir genre and is used more typically used
by bigger blockbusters. The following text for example was copied from
American Sniper, the other trailer that we looked to emulate conventions from.
S I C A R I U S

9. The next shot again shows another typicality of crime and violence as
it shows a dead man being dragged by the assassin. We felt that this
suggestion of crime was necessary in our trailer as it aided the plot.
S I C A R I U S

10. Here we used a canted or
dutch angle, another
convention seen in real media
products, for example, this
canted angle is seen in the
trailer for Inception. The
canted angle is a type of
camera shot where the
camera is set at an angle on its
roll axis so that the shot is
composed with vertical lines
at an angle to the side of the
frame. These are used to
create a dramatic effect, show
disorientation or unease.
S I C A R I U S

11. Here we see the strobe lighting effect used on text. This text follows the
conventions of more modern neo-noir films as we mimicked how Batman used
text in their Dark Knight Trilogy. This again made suggestions to the audience as
well as having a dramatic effect over them. Press the play button below to view…
S I C A R I U S

12. In this shot we not only see chiaroscuro lighting but also bars and diagonals. The chiaroscuro lighting
is evident as the confined room shows only limited light coming through the blinds. This allows the
DSLR to only pick up the silhouette of Sacha, we develops a convention of neo-noir, as this is usually
filmed in the dark outside. However, with the widespread use of colour film and advanced
cinematographic techniques, chiaroscuro lighting is no longer necessary to add contrast to a scene.
Contrast can be added through the use of colour instead of just shadow and light. However, true to its
antecedent genre, neo-noir often utilizes chiaroscuro lighting to emphasize characters or details in a
scene. An example of this technique in neo-noir is found in Watchmen (2009). Another example is The
Usual Suspects (1995). Chiaroscuro lighting effects are used extensively during Verbal’s interrogation
scenes. I do regret not utilising this convention more, however when it was used, I feel that it was
used to great effect and had a sufficient impact over the audience. The hostile environments created
by the bars, diagonals and frames within frames present the illusion of bars, like those of a jail cell,
across the characters, or frame the characters within a scene to create a sense of confinement or
entrapment. In this case, Sacha is confined by her job title. We found that this was a very effective
technique decided to use it within our trailer. By using venetian blinds we could create confined
scenes that came across as very obscure. We copied this from scene within Double Indemnity, a
typical noir film.
S I C A R I U S

13. S I C A R I U S

14. A common feature of neo-noir films are extreme close up
shots as they convey tension and put the audience in an
uneasy state. We decided to follow this convention within our
trailer, like this extreme close ups. These help create
ambiguity and show emotion as well as to focus on key areas
of the femme fatales face. The femme fatale is also made very
prominent and obvious in this shot. The femme fatale is a
standard character of film noir. A femme fatale is usually
presented to seduce the hero and lead him astray, though
sometimes the femme fatale could be sympathetic to the
hero’s plight. Often, the sympathetic femme fatale was
plagued by character flaws or a sordid past that served to
cause harm to the protagonist even if she herself did not
intend to cause him harm. It is important to focus on the
femme fatale as she plays a very cunning role in our film. I felt
our trailer has subverted to the focus on the protagonist
rather than the femme fatale however we did attempt to
represent the femme fatale in negative way. Despite
conforming to most conventions of the neo-noir femme
fatale, we did, with our knowledge further our femme fatale
to be more modern, exciting and captivating for our
audience, particularly as our target audience is males aged
16-25.
S I C A R I U S

15. The next shot is an extreme long
shot down the site of the sniper.
This does not follow typical
conventions of neo-noir as the
shot itself is blurred and edited.
We felt however that it was key to
the storyline and by making it look
slightly blurred might make it look
more realistic to the viewers. We
looked to add this as another
convention of neo-noir as it does
also symbolise crime and violence.
S I C A R I U S

16. In this scene, the dramatic change in sound as
well as different narrative are used to great
effect. It uses and develops classic neo-noir
conventions as it poses a steady crescendo
within the non-diegetic music. This creates an
atmosphere for the audience as if also creates
tension. With the change in narrative we can
also find out more about the narrative as well
as the characters involved. Here we hear two
more new characters suggesting there could
be more than one relationship, positively and
negatively. In this shot we also see a frame
within a frame as Sacha, played by Daisy
Marchant is standing in door way. When
planning this shot we felt that she needed to
be leaning over slightly to make herself look
more femme fatale and seductive whilst on
the phone. The phone was another mise-en-
scene convention as it showed the modern
technology in use.
S I C A R I U S

17. In this shot we see an
unusual ray of light beaming
on the protagonist. Despite
this being oxymoronic,
having something shining
positively on a murder who
is negative, we do feel that
we needed to make the
protagonist more obvious as
the protagonist, so by
positioning him to be in the
light we were able to have
this effect. This challenges
conventions of neo-noir, but
it shows that we have an
understanding on how light,
particularly natural light can
impact our main product.
S I C A R I U S

18. An extreme close shot is also shown here on one of our props as the focus is on the barrel of the gun. This is
significant as it is direct and really clear to the audience. In addition, I think the clarity of this shot, fits perfectly
to the timing of the overlaying sound as it suggests that the shooting and violence was going to be impactful.
Also, by enhancing the colour ‘blue’ in this image, we made our trailer look more typical to the convention of a
neo-noir film.
S I C A R I U S
Colour Correction: BLUE Colour Correction: RED

19. Here we see the start of a long
tracking shot, yet another
convention typical of a neo-noir
film. We edited this shot however
to appear a variety of different
times to show continuity as well as
to give the audience something to
relate back to from previous
footage. If we played it all in one go
it might be boring, hence why we
split it up and showed in a
chronological order.
S I C A R I U S
1
2
3

20. In this shot, it looks as though I edited
the shot incorrectly as we see the
couple joining arms and then walking
off as though the shooting had just
begun, however, I wanted to make
clear to the audience that their
relationship was fake as we see the
girl link to him as oppose to vice
versa. This is important as it portrays
betrayal and negativity, particularly in
the light of the femme fatale.
Again, here we see a very enclosed
urban environment, a typical
convention of neo-noir that we have
shared.
S I C A R I U S

21. We took inspiration from the American Sniper trailer when shooting
this extreme close up. We thought it was necessary as it creates
tension and hostility.
S I C A R I U S

22. Despite making it clear that our main
character was our protagonist, we still
felt it necessary to put the femme
fatale’s actress name first. This go
against the typical noir genre. We felt
this appropriate because we wanted
to make her look as important as the
protagonist as without her, the
narrative would be unexplainable. It
also creates a minor suspense for the
star character when his name is
revealed. We looked to change this
convention to appear different as well
as to put emphasis on the characters
differently.
This next shot again shows reflections
of an urban area to show a contrast in
locations as well as to conform to the
conventions of noir.
S I C A R I U S

23. The use of editing pace was very important and we made sure we focused on this. From analysing trailers it
became clear that many of them used quick cuts to build suspense. We felt this was a key convention that we
should look to use as a way of creating excitement in our trailer. This convention could be particularly seen in
the trailer to ‘Limitless’ which contains over 20 clips of the film within the 30 seconds, which exemplifies how
in many ways the trailer is more about excitement then the film itself. By making quick cuts in Premiere Pro
and Sony Vegas we made sure that the editing pace increased throughout our trailer. The editing pace
increases in the trailer in this scene as it is the one scene in the film which would have most impact over the
reader as it shows the protagonist with the gun, again this creates suspense and an urge to watch the film.
Press play to watch…
S I C A R I U S

24. It’s worth pointing out that one of my favourite shots in the trailer is
this one showing Oliver Prior opening his eye when taking aim, I feel
this shows mixed signals to the audience, mixing from guilt, desire,
pressure and need.
S I C A R I U S

25. This obscured scene shows the two main
characters having an argument as well as
the female being violent towards the
male. This conforms to Levi-Strauss’
theory of binary opposites, as well as
suggesting the female has a lot of power
too. This obscure scene in an alleyway is
another convention of neo-noir. It made
the two closer together and enables the
audience to concentrate specifically on
the characters without distraction. I tried
making this shot as realistic but also
secretive as possible. It was made
realistic with the plant in the vision of the
camera as though it was seen through
someone’s eyes. It was almost secretive
as the shot is low and tucked away as
though we are looking in at the
conversation they are having.
S I C A R I U S
THE PUSH

26. The high angle, low angle and over shoulder shot here are conventions
of noir as it shows different perspectives of the same scene from
different angles. This was made clear by the narrative which was placed
over the top as it showed that the assassin was in fact employed to do
what he does.
S I C A R I U S

27. The shot of the fire here
was used as an enigma
code to suggest that
something was being burnt
in order to keep something
away from someone. If
something is being burnt in
any film it shows that it
had a purpose, and that
someone was hiding
something. This again
suggested potential
betrayal.
The use of bars in this shot
was inspired by noir classic
Double Indemnity.
S I C A R I U S

28. The bold title again uses the same font and colour as the rest of the text. We felt it
appropriate to use black and white as it conveyed noir like conventions as well to emphasise
the style and class that our characters had, particularly as we focused on assassins. The name
‘Sicarius’ as well was appropriately chosen as it again fits the convention of neo-noir, through
the use of the most significant ‘word’ in the film. Also, the most typical neo-noir films had only
one word in their title which we looked to emulate.
S I C A R I U S

29. Overall there are many examples were we have followed the
conventions of real noir media products such as reflections, bars,
femme fatale and extreme close ups. This has helped us strongly
conform to the genre of neo noir. There are also many examples of
where we have chosen to not to follow particular conventions for
reasons such as cost, equipment, time etc. However we did look to
utilise as many possible conventions possible as well as trying to create
our own and step outside the box and take our own spin on the neo-
noir genre.
S I C A R I U S