1. 4. Who would be the audience for your media product? Consider the age and gender of your target audience: For us, we thought that our target audience would be people with an interest in mystery films and old classic film noirs. We used the common stereotypes of a film noir to stay true to the style. We incorporated these stereotypes of the the classic film noir to our product. Some of these included, some aspects shot in black and white to stay true to the original style, a mysterious storyline with mystery behind the lead role and the insinuated idea of a femme fetal.
2. What other films are similar to yours and who do they appeal to?A film that influenced our own was Sin City. This film appealed to us as it was a modern day film noir which has a different approach to the opening titles of the film. Straight away there is mystery and ambiguity as to why one of the main characters has just shot a woman on the balcony. We wanted our film to capture the same intense feel that Sin City did. We tried to have a storyline that would engage the audiences attention within the first few seconds. This is why, like Sin City, we had a murder within the first few minutes. Lots of elements from Sin City, such as over the shoulder shots and close ups, are evident in our film which makes this true to the style and conventions of a film noir. Sin City appeals to many audience types but the new talented cast mainly attracts teenagers and young adults.
3. 5. How did you attract/address your audience? Are there particular points in your film that would appeal to your specific target audience? Our target audience for our film would consist of middle aged males and females. We hope that they would have a keen interest in the style of film already. To attract them further, we have the incidental music which is tense and slightly sinister. This, straight away will grab the audiences attention and fill them with anticipation as to what happens next. We also have a wide range of interesting camera movements and angles to create tension and suspense. E.g. During the flash back, there is a moment when the camera turns round a corner. For a brief second there is anticipation of what could be waiting behind it. There is also the scene where our main character kills another man and his hand falls to the floor.
4. The audience are shown the film through the main characters point of view. This immediately gives the audience motives to feel connected to the character in some way. The audience’s judgment is then rocked when our main character gets told some bad news and then commits a murder. This interesting twist will leave the target audience confused as to who is the protagonist of the film, however, even though the audience at this point don’t know too much of the storyline, but they know just enough to make out what's going on.
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6. ‘ The continuity of the film has improved which has made the film easier to understand.’
7. ‘ The twist within the film, which shows the main character killing someone, grabs the audiences attention and makes them wonder why this has happened.’ -‘ The black and white sequence within the film is really effective. You can tell straight away that it is a flashback sequence and this element gives the film another dimension.’
8. 6. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing the product? During the filming process of our product, we used two different types of camera – a tape camera and a HD camera. Although working with the tape camera at first was familiar and something that we were used to, but we eventually decided to use the HD camera due to its better quality of sound and overall picture. We used GarageBand for the background/incidental music that was included in our product. We found this simple to use but it did have some weaknesses such as you weren't able to compose your own music and you had to use what was there. We found this aspect of GarageBand quite frustrating as we weren't able to capture the full potential of the film through the music.
9. 7. Looking back to your preliminary task, what do you feel that you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product? For us, as a group, we had an idea of how we wanted the film to come across and what we wanted to incorporate in it. The storyboard process was where we could be as creative as we wanted but within the film noir boundaries. We made a list of all the things that we wanted our film to include such as a Femme Fetal, a murder, a reason for our main protagonist to go on a mission to find justice and a flashback sequence. Including all of these elements in our film was important to us as we thought it gave the original film noir style a modern twist. Throughout our filming process, I feel that the different camera angles and the camera movements that we used helped us become more aware and comfortable with using the different equipment. We used two different types of cameras when filming. At first we used a tape recorder camera, but when it came to the editing process, we realised that the sound quality wasn’t up to the standard that we need to meet the criteria. We then re-shot our scenes that we recorded on a HD camera. Not only did this change improve the sound quality but also the quality of the overall picture.
10. As a group we have learnt a lot more about film noir films and what they contain. Not only have we learnt what they consist of, but we have learnt how to apply the conventions of film noir using sound, cinematography, editing and mise-en-scene to our final product. We looked into classic film noirs such as The Big Combo, Double Indemnity and also to help with our modern twist on the film noir style we looked at modern day film noirs such as Kill Bill and Sin City. These film noirs inspired us to push boundaries with the film noir genre and helped us create a film with many sub-genres which gives the film different dimensions.
