Film Noir Screening and Feedback Session

Export to XML File. Submit a folder, with XML file and MOV file, on Monday. Reflect on all films. No huge analysis needed, a few observations is okay. Main focus is reflection on your own film.

1. Unscrupulous Justice 
Storytelling

The plot of our film contains the iconic elements of film noir like props, characters and themes, such as Jolie as the femme fatale manipulating the male protagonist, Justice talking on the telephone, the depiction of a sense of futility, a complex chronological order of scenes involving flashbacks to a irretrievable past. However, after watching our film on the big screen, I realised how complex the plot of our film is for the audience to understand within 7 minutes. When editing, I had some trouble understanding the plot of our film but unlike the audience, I had the script to refer to to help me clarify the parts I don't understand. I also feel that our film lacks a climax and that we failed to create much tension at the part where Jolie kills Justice. Throughout the film, the relationship between the male protagonist and femme fatale felt like it lacks a lot of emotion. This perhaps is due to my poor acting since I was not able to deliver much emotion as the femme fatale. I believe it would have enhanced our film if we found a better actress for the femme fatale role. However, it is also important to note that the exposition took up too much time compared to how fast and sudden the dying scene happened. Faster cuts in the exposition are needed. Some lines seemed too ambiguous or redundant when put on screen, especially the last scene where Justice repeats what he said in the opening scene. The film was sometimes too vague that the audience had trouble understanding what is going on. Since the task is to convey a clear story in 7 minutes, we should have simplified our story and put less emphasis on the exposition / more emphasis on the key points of the story i.e. the scene where the conflict rises between Jolie and Justice to create a more tense and nerve-wracking atmosphere in the film. 

Cinematography

We were able to display film noir mise en scene and major thematic components like low-key lighting, the use of venetian blinds, unconventional angles like medium close ups, etc. Unfortunately, the shots in the scene with the "Knowledge Dude" were all very blurry due to our poor planning and carelessness during the shooting. It was an outdoor scene so we had to film at night, the actor was in a hurry to leave, so we had to rush that part of the shooting and we were unaware of how out of focus the camera is. In addition, we also had to decide on what the shots would be on the spot since the scene was newly added and was not part of the storyboard. If we had planned the shots beforehand and found an actor who was available the entire night, it would have certainly enhanced the quality of that scene. In addition, the audience also said that they could see the film equipment i.e. cords within the shot. Ms. Ward told us that we should take in everything around the subject when filming. I think that we could have taken more risks with the lighting and shot sizes. I would have liked to used more unconventional angles like dutch angles or extreme close ups, as well the use of lines, internal framing, silhouettes, and darker lighting in general - for example in the part where Justice leaves the office with Jolie, it would be nice to film of shot of him exiting the door frame to symbolise how he is entering Jolie's trap. In addition, the lighting of the opening scene and the colour tone of the entire film was inconsistent. Our intention was to keep the present time scenes in colour and the flashback scenes in black and white, however, the audience found it to be too cliche and suggested that a better idea would be to keep the entire film black and white. The colour tone of the present time scene switched between warm and cold, however that was actually due to some miscommunication that occurred in post-production, which I will discuss later in evaluation.

Sudden switch between warm and cold lighting.

Shots in the outdoor scene were out of focus.

Sound

The music helped enhance the tension in our film since originally without the music, our film was very awkward and empty. The music fits our plot well - at the scene where Jolie gets killed by Justice, there is a change in the tempo of the music as well. However, the music was too loud at some point and it covered the dialogue. The audience also suggested that due to the fact that our plot lacks a strong climax, the music was misleading because it makes the audience think that the story would continue to develop and that something would happen to destroy the narrative structure. Aside from the music, I think that the sound effects sounded realistic and the voiceovers for the scene with the knowledge dude were edited in very well / sounded very natural. The foley for the footstep sounds in the opening scene and the music helped remove the construction noises that were originally in our film.  

2. In Justice 

I think that the plot of this film is the most outstanding out of all four films as it had the strongest plot twist. The actors did an very great job delivering the storyline as well. I really liked how they did not show just the dress but not the face of the femme fatale in the final scene when she comes and kills the two male characters, even though the film crew's original intention was to show the femme fatale but due to scheduling issues, they could only use the femme fatale's voiceover to convey to the audience that she is the killer. It helped elevate the suspense when there were suddenly gunshot sounds that did not come from the gun on screen. However, I would have liked to see more of the femme fatale character in the film as she was not able to establish a strong presence in the film until the end, which understates the importance of her role. 

The group was able to apply film noir thematic components in their film. I really liked their use of unconventional angles i.e. the shot of Neil from below in the fighting scene that amplifies his strong presence.

What could be improved is that the camera was unstable in some scenes i.e. the bar scene where it suddenly drifted. It felt unnatural to use the flashes as the transition to the flashbacks. The music was also too loud during the bar scene, as the group stated that they were attempting to cover the construction noises. However, that was counter effective and it distracted the audience from the dialogue. The punching sounds in the fighting scene were overused and too artificial. It sounded to me like it was a cartoon / corny action film. 

3. The Informant 

There were some editing errors in this film regarding the transition and sequence of the scenes. The shots of Kaia walking were a bit too repetitive since the opening scene was supposed to go between the two outdoor scenes. I was also unclear about what role Raghav played in the film. The cuts between the dialogue were too jumpy as the pauses between the lines were evident. It did not sound like a real conversation and the timing was off. In the final scene where the guard kills Derik who was attempting to kill Kaia, it would be a better idea to show the knife and gun at the same time in order to create tension rather than showing Derik charging forward with the knife first then showing a slow shot of the guard pulling out his gun. The volume of the dialogue in the outdoor scene was also too soft and was covered by the natural sounds of the environment. 

What I liked about this film is its lighting, especially in the final scene. The contrast between black and white was so strong that half of Kaia's face was dark while the other half was light, as it can be seen in the following screenshot: 

In the shot above, I also liked how half of the frame was completely dark, and the film crew did a good job creating shadows. The strong contrast in lighting seems to symbolise how two-faced the femme fatale is. 

4. Lowlife

I would have to agree that this film is the most aesthetically outstanding out of all four films. I like how the scenes of the male protagonist walking were comprised of shots filmed from different angles with different shot sizes, as the wide variety of shots helps increase the audience's visual interest:

Extreme Long Shot

Dutch Angle - shot is slightly tilted and filmed from below, medium close up of male protagonist's legs 

Another Extreme Long Shot with the shadow of the male protagonist reflected on the wall

However, the main issue with this film is that there are some plot holes that made the film very confusing. It was unclear what the purpose of the killing was in the end of the film. During our class discussion, the film crew revealed that some crucial dialogue is missing and that the reason why the femme fatale had to kill the male lead was that the male lead was about to turn himself in and expose the femme fatale as well. Another issue is that the shots are quite grainy. Nonetheless, I think that this film has a lot to learn from in terms of its visuals.