Film poster 'The Hard Way'

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Conventions of Film Noir.

Film noir follows a very original and dark theme, being a genre in itself it has its own conventions that most if not all film noir movies include. Here is a list of generic conventions used within film noir:


Narrative Devices

• Convoluted story lines,
• Flashbacks,
• Voiceover narration,
• First person narrative.

Characters

• Corrupt cops,
• Heroes/anti-heroes,
• Hard hearted detectives,
• The 'lone wolf',
• Crooks,
• Gangsters,
• Jealous husbands,
• Women with an appetite for wealthy, older men,
• Alienated protagonists,
• Chauvinist males.

Iconography

• Dark sidewalks,
• Rain drenched streets,
• Flashing neon signs,
• Hostile/villainous citys,
• Guns,
• Alcohol/alcoholics,
• Fedora/trilbies,
• Suits,
• Trench coats,

Settings

• Abandoned warehouses,
• Dark rooms with light slicing through venetian blinds,
• Alleys cluttered with garbage,
• Run down bars,
• Lounges,
• Gambling Dens,
• Industrial settings - refineries, factories and train yards,
• Nightclubs.

I will now try to include as many of these conventions as i can in my short film, as it would give it a true noir feel to it. From looking over the list i specifically want to include a voiceover narration, a hard hearted detective, dark sidewalks, fedoras and dodgy alleys.

Research into Film Posters - D.O.A.

i like this poster because it actually tells you something about the story rather than just displaying the leading actors. It shows a man reporting his own murder to a policeman, now to your everyday person (bearing in mind its from the 50's) that will see this poster that is a confusing scenario and it makes people want to find out whats going on. It Makes them want more.

This poster uses bright colours to draw attention to its title and lead role. It also gives a brief insight to what the film is  going to entail, "A PICTURE AS EXCITINGLY DIFFERENT AS ITS TITLE!". The artist appeals to the audiences curiosity by making it strange and different.

Research into Posters

Research into Film Posters - The Hound of the Baskervilles.

The Genre - Fim Noir.

film noir was produced around the time of World War II and was named first by French film critic Nino Frank in 1946, who noticed how dark many of the American detective films had become. Films like M, Murder My Sweet and D.O.A. 

Noir films became more prominent in the post-war era, and lasted in a classic "Golden Age" period until about 1960. Many films reflected the anxiety and insecurities of the time period and film noir counter-balanced the optimism of Hollywood's happy musicals and comedies. Distrust, fear, misery and obsession are extremely evident in film noir, it shows the true feelings of the Cold War period when the peril of nuclear annihilation was always present. I have read that the violent, greedy and criminal perspectives of anti-heroes in film noir were a metaphor for society's evils, there was rarely a happy or optimistic ending in film noirs.

Risk table

The risk	Severity of risk on filming	Solution to the risk	If the risk did happen what would we do
Actors not turning up	10/10	Ensure our actors are aware of the date and timing of our filming. Plus remind them a day before filming and on the day of filming.	Use one of our group members siblings as they will be more reliable
Actors wear incorrect clothing	7/10	Remind actors of what we would like them to wear the day before filming and on the day of filming. Also bring clothing of our own that could be used as an alternative if our actors forget	As a group we will bring clothing of our own that could be used that would still accurately reflect the genre
Forget camera/ camera not charged	10/10	Complete the charging of the camera a day before filming then pre pack it so that in the morning everything is already done and ready to go.	We would have to re schedule our filming with the station and return on another day
Actors/ Actresses couldn’t play a part in the filming.	7/10	Confirm the actors before filming and make them aware of the importance of the shoot. Also attempt to have back up actors incase either actor is involved in an accident	We would then be able to rely on our back up actor ensuring that we could always film.

Public knocking the camera	4/10	Ensure our group members stand either side of the tripod preventing the public from making contact.	We would re shoot the shot so that it would appear smoother and therefore more effective
Tripod not working	4/10	We would have to film our shots handheld meaning that they may be shakier. We will practice filming handheld before filming so that we become more accustomed to it	We would film our shots handheld
Public walking in shots	3/10	Sometimes it will be appropriate however when it is not we will try to use our group members to block off the area where we are filming so that it is obvious we do not want people to walk in on the shots	We would re shoot the shot until it was successful