AUDIENCE THEORY

In order to find out more about our audience and what they wanted from a film we created a questionnaire and asked some fellow college students to fill them out. We got a very good response and received some useful information.

We began by asking what genre of film each person had most recently watched and bar far this was Comedy. Only two people had most recently watched a Crime Thriller or Noir. We asked how many people actually knew of the genre Film Noir/Neo-Noir and everyone answered yes. However, there was a slight bias because we asked students that were studying in the area we were so they would have most likely all been Media students. Looking back we should have gone for a wider choice of people in order to get a real idea of how many people know about Noir. We also asked people for the most memorable scene they remember from a film. This was quite an important question as it gave us insight into the sort of things that impact on people and they remember for being well done. The answers ranged from films watched during child hood, such as the start of The Lion King, to recent films with impressive special effects, such as in the film Inception when the dimensions collapse into themselves. We learnt from this that there is no simple recipe for what people enjoy seeing, and what they take from a film. Not every film fits every person, which is why we have to decide who our ideal audience is.

Our ideal viewer would be someone into thriller/noir films who would actively decide to go see the film at the cinema. Alternatively, there would be regular cinema-goers who would watch the film if they had to pick one once arriving at the cinema. Our ideal viewer would be either gender, although a male may be more interested in the action side of the film and be less squeamish towards the violence included in the story. Our film would be rated a 15 and our ideal age range would be around 15-25, although this does not exclude other ages from seeing it as they too might enjoy it.

After researching into our audience and reading the answers from our questionnaires we feel we know a lot more about our target audience and how to approach them. Knowing this means we can shape our film opening to their needs and desires in order to make it a success.

PRE PRODUCTION ROLES

In order to successfully create our group opening we had to work together. There was lot of pre-production work that had to be done and the best way of doing this in a productive amount of time would be for each of us to take on a specific role and do the paperwork related to that role. The four roles were:

• Director
• Producer
• Editor
• Art Director

However, our group was made up for three people meaning someone would have to take on two roles, or we would have to split one amongst all of us. In the end we decided that Courtney would be the Director, Dianne would be the Art Director, I would be the Producer and we would take on editorial roles as this was something that we would all be involved in anyway.

We had thirteen pre-production tasks to complete including allocating roles. This meant we each had three or four tasks to do on our own, as some tasks needed to be done as a group. These included the group target audience report and the treatment. For the treatment each of us wrote detailed notes on the section that related to our role and then we put them all together. As the Producer, I had to write the synopsis, script, decide on the production schedule and keep hold of all the pre-production work we had completed so that we knew it was safe. Courtney did the target audience questionnaire, the call sheets and along with myself and Di picked the music. We spent a long time on this as a group, although originally it was going to be just one persons job. This is because we found it very hard to find the sound we wanted that was both free and without copyright. Di drew the storyboard and filled in all the information on locations, props and costumes. I feel we all completed our tasks very well and this helped us as we had more time to think about filming instead of worrying that someone hadn't done their bit.

STORYBOARD

This is the basic storyboard for our production. It was more of a rough guide in the end and we took some more, or some different shots than we'd scripted. It was really helpful to have it there though because we knew what we were aiming for in the long run meaning we stayed right on track whilst shooting. The storyboard was drawn by Dianne as she is the Art Director.

SCRIPT FOR OUR FILM NOIR

Below are screen caps of our script for the opening scene. It was created by me using a program called Celtx, as this provides a handy and easy to use template for script writers. This was just a rough guide for our actors and on the day we found it worked better if Eve said less during the final scene. However, the rest of the scenes remained pretty much the same.

 

GROUP TREATMENT

The opening sequence will begin with a black screen. The ambient sounds of a restaurant will be heard and then Al will speak over it. The speech will give the impression of being diegetic, as it will fit in with the restaurant noises and sound as if it is part of a conversation. This will create an immediate enigma as the viewer is thrown straight into a situation but cannot actually see what is happening since the sound is contrapuntal. The scene will then change to a low angle point-of-view shot of a dirty room. The location is dark, secluded and quiet. Cutting suddenly from the black screen to this will shock the audience, as the room will not be pleasant to look at. The only sound will be diegetic, this will be the character breathing heavily to create a sense of danger. There will then be a cut in which will be a close up shot of Al’s hands tied up with rope. There will be blood on his hands, showing he has clearly been involved in a struggle. The diegetic heavy breathing will continue. The shot will then change again to a big close up of Al’s eyes as he tries to keep conscious. His eyes will be opening and closing, and later in editing we will make it so the image fades in and out in order to really exaggerate his struggle. Again, diegetic heavy breathing will be the only sound. The lighting for this shot and all the others win the abandoned house will be very dark and there will be a lot of shadows. This will really accentuate the horrible location, making the viewer feel very sorry for Al. The colours will be quite dull and dark, also adding to this feeling. These three shots will be quite fast, as they don’t contain much detail. Their main purpose is to let the audience know that this character is in trouble. The shot will completely fade out to lead onto a flashback, which will take place at a well-lit restaurant. The whole feel of this scene will contrast strongly with the scenes in the abandoned house, showing that this was a much happier time. It will be a mid shot of Al and Eve sitting at a table, they will be framed well in shot as they will both be on vertical thirds. They will both have drinks and the male character will be anxiously playing with his glass. The female character will be dressed in a sophisticated way, giving her the air of a confident femme fatale. The shot will not be very long, but it has to be long enough for the audience to grasp what is happening. The next shot will be back in the abandoned house so the lighting will go back to being very dark and shadowy. It will be a long shot, showing Al tied up on one side and Seth emerging from the shadows, later followed by Eve on the other side. This will establish to the audience everyone who is involved in Al’s situation. The actors will be framed on thirds on either side of the shot, in order to get the best composition possible. Half way through the shot we will begin to hear sirens, which will be diegetic, although we will have to add them in the editing. As well at this, the characters will be talking, which is also diegetic sound. After Eve and Seth depart, the final scene will be a close up of Al’s face as the sirens get louder and louder. We will be able to clearly see his is terrified. The noise will be diegetic, this will be the sirens and his breathing. This scene will be very short, and will just give the audience a hint of his feelings at the time. Then we will cut to the titles, which will mark the end of the opening sequence.

Overall the editing for our opening sequence will be quite quick and choppy to accentuate the danger Al is in (excluding the restaurant scene). The pace will be fast as we want to get all our shot in the allocated time, but they will have to be slow enough that the audience can grasp what is happening. We will only be using two locations, but they will be complete opposites. The abandoned house will be dark, eerie and make the viewer uncomfortable, whilst the restaurant will be light, friendly and make the viewer feel more at ease. The two locations will juxtapose each other in order to keep the viewer alert and on the edge of their seat as we switch between the two. Our characters are quite classic noir characters so we will be dressing them in that sort of style. For example Eve will be wearing a dress and heels in order to give the femme fatale feel. Since Al will have been through a rough time he won’t look as pristine as Eve, and in the abandoned house scenes he will have fake blood on him in order to enhance this. As well as fake blood we will need rope to tie his hands with, drinks for the restaurant scene and sugar to represent the drug Eve puts in Al’s drink. The majority of our sound will be diegetic, however, we will find an appropriate song to put with the titles, as these silent would be quite uninteresting to the viewer. This will be the only non-diegetic sound in our opening.

Our opening will be targeted at 15-25 year olds mainly as we are going for a 15 rating. We would probably be looking at males more than females, as males are more interested in the crime thriller genre. In terms of stylistics, our opening will be slick and fast, keeping the viewer entertained. Although there are signs of violence in terms of Al having blood all over his face, this is only suggested and not shown meaning it is still age appropriate. This is also something that was quite common in classic noir films, which ties in with our contemporary noir feel. We would want our film to be shown in places where our target audience can see it, so this would most likely be in cinemas nationwide. This would also mean it could reach out to any cinema going who just happened to be looking for a film to see and took a liking to it.

SYNOPSIS FOR OUR GROUP FILM NOIR

Our aim is to create the introduction to a neo-noir film, which will be around two minutes long. We will do this in a group of three, made up of myself, Dianne Hamilton and Courtney Smith. I will be working as the producer, Dianne will be the art director and Courtney the director. Dianne and Courtney will also feature in the film as actors, as well as another male who is yet to be decided.

Our film is based around a diamond. The female lead in our film, Eve, played by Dianne, desperately wants this diamond so concocts a clever plan to get it. She is the typical femme fatale, and uses men to get exactly what she wants. She happens upon the slightly downtrodden male lead, Al, played by Courtney. She begins a relationship with him, leading him to believe she loves him. Once he is under her spell, she persuades him to steal the diamond. However, although Al is in love with this woman, he suspects something of her. After a while he realises what he has done is wrong and tries to take the diamond back. He tells Eve this, meaning to save herself she must take drastic action as her fingerprints are all over the diamond as well as Al’s. She enlists the help of her lover, Seth, who she has been secretly seeing the whole time she has been with Al. She arranges to meet Al in a restaurant, where she tries to persuade him to keep the diamond. Again, he refuses, so she drugs him. With the help of Seth, she abducts Al and takes him to an abandoned house. She ties him up and taunts him, leading him to discover she never loved him and was with someone else the whole time. Unbeknown to the audience, Eve has called the police on him, and she reveals this when we hear sirens in the distance. She has given them information that links him to the crime, enough for them to be able to arrest and charge him. She then leaves Al tied up waiting to be found by the police, running away with the diamond, and Seth in tow.

However, as I have previously mentioned, we will be making only the introduction to the film. As our film is a neo noir, in true noir style we will have the end of the story at the beginning of the film and then the story will be told in flash backs. The opening scene will begin with a completely black screen with Al’s voice saying he wants to take the diamond back. We will then see Al tied up in the house, drifting in and out of consciousness. There is then a flashback of him and the Eve in the restaurant, and we see her spike his drink. It then goes back to the abandoned house where she reveals herself and speaks briefly before disappearing with Seth at the sound of the sirens.

The target audience for our film would be 15-25 year olds, as we would hope to market the film as a 15 rating. We believe it would be most appealing to young people as they are the sorts of people who really go for action and crime thrillers. It would also probably be more popular with males, although females could enjoy it too. This is because there would be a lot of action and some violence in the film.