Logo Designs

Logo designs

Last night i drew up two possible designs for our logo.

This first design is a clock face with the two hands saying 'Clockwork Productions.' Whilst we like the simplicity of this one we thought it might be too plain and boring and so decided to use the second design.

As a group we agreed that this design looked more professional and interesting. We thought we could have the cogs moving to make it look good and catch people's eyes. Overall, we prefer this design and so this will be the one we use for our film.

Discussing Institutions

A video of us discussing the work we did in today's lesson

Institution Research

Institution Research

We looked at different film noirs and their institutions as a starting point for our research into institutions. We then looked into more depth into each institution as can be seen in the power point below.

Institutions Research from Cassia Lima

Questionnaire research

Questionnaire research

As a group, we created a questionnaire about film noir and handed it out to a range of people to get feedback on our ideas and see if there are any changes we should make to suit our target audience. Once we collected all our questionnaires back, we put all the data into Microsoft Excel and created pie charts on each question to show the range of answers and percentages. Our pie charts show the results of the questionnaires and allow us to see what our target audience looks for in a good film so that we can take into account this information when making our own film.

Research - Enigma

Research - Enigma

An enigma is an unanswered question created in a film. They are used to intrigue the audience and make them want to know what has happened and why. The audience usually feels satisfied when their questions are answered during the film and so it makes the audience active.

An enigma was used in Double Indemnity when at the start all we see is protagonist Walter Neff making a confession into a Dictaphone. The audience don't know who he is or why he is confessing and so it sparks our interest. We also see later that he has been shot and every time the film returns to him there is more blood from where he has been injured. This furthers our interests and makes us want to know what happened.

We thought we could use this in our film by having the protagonist shoot someone at the start and all the audience knows is that someone's been shot, not who they are or why. This will hopefully create interest and make the audience want to watch it to find out why this has happened.

Research - Theories

Laura Mulvey's male gaze theory

The male gaze theory is the theory that female's are presented in a sexual and objectified way for the pleasure of male characters and viewers. This links to film noir as the femme fatale is ultimately a character put as an object to be gazed at. She is often wearing little or provocative clothing and generally has long hair and is wearing a lot of makeup.
"Vicious, and yet could charm you."

Levi Strauss' Binary Oppositions

The theory that conflicts between two opposing elements are set up and need to be resolved. One element within a pair is usually dominant and this pair of binary oppositions generally structure a narrative. The most common binary oppositions within film noir is good versus evil. Whilst the story lines usually follow the idea of good against evil, the lighting also reflects this binary opposition. The contrasts of light and dark, particularly in earlier black and white films, are harsh and so represent the idea of the good versus evil binary opposition within film noir.

Propp's Character theory

Propp identified a group of characters that are common in narratives to perform essential functions in the development of story lines. These characters include a hero, villain, donor, dispatcher, false hero, helper and princess. Film noir particularly subverts this theory as it included new characters such as a anti-hero, femme fatale and corrupt detectives. Detour (Producers Releasing Corporation 1945) also introduced the idea of the murderer escaping without arrest and subverting the endings of previous films but the Hollywood Production Code did not allow this and director Edgar G. Ulmer was forced to change the ending proving that films noir generally go against the stereotypical characters in Propp's character theory.

Research - codes and conventions

Background
The term 'film noir' meaning black film was originally applied by French critics to dark, doom laden Hollywood crime dramas from the 1940's. 'Black' is usually associated with things like death, mystery and despair and so we associate films noir with these themes too. Films noir usually involve money, murder and sex. We don't always know what's happening but we can tell that something bad will happen. 

The genre of film noir developed during and after the Second World War in the context of post war anxiety and cynicism. At the time when films noir were being made, there were lots of psychological discoveries being made and these had an impact on the films. By the early 50's the classic period of film noir had ended but there were still examples of  the genre being made.

Conventions
Films noir have a distinct visual style and follow certain conventions:
Low key lighting/contrasts - This creates the dark setting that shows the audience something bad is going to happen. The contrast of light against dark can reflect the good against evil nature of films noir.
Skewed camera angles - Creates a sense of uneasiness.
Shadows from blinds/railings - Creates a sense of mystery  particularly when obscuring a character's face.

Melancholy music - Helps create a sense of foreboding and despair.
Voice over narration - Helps the audience understand more about the setting and what's going on in a short amount of time.
Cigarettes/alcohol - Characters are usually seen smoking or drinking. The smoke can create tension and mystery and the drinking can make the characters seem sociable and sophisticated.
Dark streets/rain - The dark streets create a gloomy atmosphere and rain can be seen as pathetic fallacy, allowing feel a sense of foreboding.

Characters
The Protagonist - Usually a male anti-hero who is cynical and has a troubled past from which he is trying to escape. 
"a character which is on a downward spiral from which he cannot emerge" - Kathryn Bigelow
Femme Fatale - A main female character who is beautiful and charming but also amoral and double-dealing. 'Femme fatale' translates to 'fatal woman' suggesting that this character is more dangerous than she may seem.
"She's very smart, she's very powerful and she's extremely sexual" - Janey Place

Detectives, police and villains are generally all as corrupt as each other. We are shown the dark side of human nature.