Film Noir

As a group we have decided to base our film black and white (film noir).

Film Noir of this era is associated with a low key. Black and white visual style. A cinematic term used to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas.

The 'dark' downbeat and back the looks and themes were of many American crime and detective films released in France to theaters following the war.

Examples of Film Noir:

• The Maltese Falcon (1941)
• Murder, My Sweet (1944)
• Double Indemnity (1944)

Film Noir s not a genre, but rather a mood, style, point of view or tone of a film. It's helpful to realize that 'Film Noir' usually refers to a distinct historical period of film history. 

Film Noir films (mostly shot in gloom grays, blacks and whites)

Thematically showed the dark and unhuman side of human and nature. It emphasizes the brutal, unhealthy, seamy, shadowy, dark and sadistic sides of the human experience.

Primary characteristics and conventions of film noir:

Classic Film Noir were: Alienation, Disillusionment, Pessimism, ambiguity, evil, desperation and paranoia. Story lines were often elliptical, non-linear and twisting. Narratives were frequently complex, maze-like and convoluted and typically told with foreboding background music and flashbacks.

Females in Film Noir, 2 types:

(1)- Dutiful, reliable, trustworthy and loving women

(2)- (Female Fatales)- Mysterious, Duplicitous, Gorgeous, Unloving, tough-sweet, unreliable and desperate women.

The male protagonists in film noir wished to elude his mysterious past, and had to choose what path to choose and what to take.

The first detective film to us shadowy, nihilistic noir style was The Maltese Falcon. the film used low key lighting and inventive and arresting angles. unusual camera angles- sometimes low to the ground, revealing ceilings of the room- are utilized to emphasize the nature of the characters and their actions.

Thriller research

What is a thriller film?
It is a film that is suspenseful without depending too much action(Action movie) or violence (Horror movie) to perpetrate its suspense. thrillers heavily stimulate the viewer's mood, giving them a high level of anticipation, uncertainty,surprise and anxiety. It keeps the audience 'on edge of their seats'as the plot builds towards a climax. Literary devices such as red herring, plot twists and cliffhangers are used extensively.

Common sub genres are psychological thrillers, crime thrillers, erotic thrillers and mystery thrillers. successful genres of thrillers are the films of Alfred Hitchcock. One of the films which were popular of his was psycho filmed in 1960.


Thrillers are often hybrids- there a lot of varieties of suspense-thrillers:

• Action or Adventure- thrilers
• sci-fi thrillers (such as Alien (1979)
• crime-caper thrillers (such as The french connection (1971)
• Western- thrillers (such as High Noon (1952)
• film noir thrillers (such as Double indemnity (1944)
• Romantic comedy-thrillers (such as Safety Last (1923)

Characters in thrillers include convicts, criminals, stalkers, assassins, down-on-their-luck losers, innocent victims (often on the run), prison inmates, menaced women, characters with dark pasts, psychotic individuals, terrorists, cops and escaped cons, fugitives, private eyes, drifters, duplicitious individuals, people involved in twisted relationships, world-weary men and women, psycho-fiends, and more. The themes of thrillers frequently include terrorism, political conspiracy, pursuit, or romantic triangles leading to murder.


Alfred Hitchcock is considered the acknowledged mater of the thrillers or suspense genre, manipulating his audience's fears and desires, and taking viewers into a state of association with the representation of reality facing the character. Films he has mastered:

• Marnie (1964)
• Strangers on a Train (1951)
• Rear Window (1954)
• Vertigo (1958)
• Psycho (1960)

BBFC

The BBFC are abbreviated for the British Board Of Film Classification. It is a non-governmental organisation and is funded by the film industry. The BBFC decide the certificate of age rating a film should attain. This is an extremely important stage and initially enforced due to children of young ages being exposed to inappropriate content and further imitating it.

What is allowed in a 15 rated film?

The specification is divided into sub categories: Sex, Horror, Nudity, Language, Discrimination Imitable Behavior, Drugs and Violence. This does not necessarily mean that in 15 rated films these categories are accepted, there are still restriction to a certain extent. For example, drug taking may be shown but the work as a whole must not promote or encourage drug misuse. This mean that the use of drugs is allowed to be shown, however the full use of them is not due to it being seen as promoting to audiences. An additional example is the exposure of sexual violence. Detailed verbal references to sexual violence but any portrayal of it must be discreet and have a strong contextual justification. This means that the topic can be spoken about or referred too in detail however cannot be physically show.

What is allowed in an 18 rated film?

There are no actual limits in an 18 rated film. Almost anything is allowed, just as long as it isn't too disturbing that it could potentially cause the film to be banned. In the past, violence was one the most problematic aspects when passing a film with an 18 certificate, whether it is sexuality or fantasized violence. Horror films were often the culprits for the portraying graphic violence and this often results in a lot of grief to audiences. This means such scenes must be removed before giving it a certificate.

Is there a difference between a 15 and 18?

The answer is yes, depending on what the film contains and presents. Some films may be scraped and argued into a 15 as it all depends on the contents and the effects that may have.

Semiotics revision- How is 50 cent presented?

50 cent
Connote
-The white background
-connotes its pure but the dark colours on him-gangster

Denote
-Fit
-Strong
-Masculinity

Signifier
-Necklace
-Hat

Signified
-Necklace- Religion
-Hat- Urban


This is a image from 50 cents album cover, he is represented as a urban gangster, this is shown from what he is wearing. He is wearing a necklace and a hate, If we signified those objects the necklace implies his religion and the hat implies he is urban. The connotation of this is the white background with patterns on it, he is trying to imply he is a true artist, the white background against him and the clothes he is wearing emphasises him and his body more. The lighting on his chest brings out his body more, his body is also emphasised more by the camera angle, the angle is a low angle making him look bigger and significant. The binary opposition is shown with his religious necklace however on the side of the image it says 'The Massacre' this suggests there are two sides to him.

Post production:Sound

Parallel sounds: Music matches what you see in the film.

Contrapuntal Sound: Sound that opposes what you see in the film.

Sound Bridge: When the music from one scene goes into the next.

Ambient Sound: Sound that you expect to hear in a location, for example: traffic

Foley Sound: Everyday sounds that are added to a certain clip.

In the short clip 'Fast and Furious 2' they use different kind of sounds to create tension. Parallel sound is used, the music is upbeat and fast just like the cars.

What is the purpose of censorship?

So what is the purpose of censorship?  It is to filter out some of the things thats are deemed to the explicit, it is to make sure the media doesn't offend any people or groups that may view the media.

There are 3 main examples of censorship:

The Hays Code

The Hays Code (The motion picture production code) was introduced in 1920. It was set of industry moral censorship guidelines that governed the production of most United States motion pictures released by major studios from 1920 to 1968. The code was made to prevent people using the media to effect the public and prevent any possible harm that could come from abusing the media.

The code was based on three general principles:

-No picture shall be produced thats will lower moral standards of those who see it, hence the sympathy of the audience should never be thrown to the side of crime, wrongdoing, evil or sin
-Correct standards of life, subject only to the requirements of drama and entertainment, shall be presented.
-Law, natural or human, shall not be ridiculed, nor shall sympathy be created for its violation.

There is a whole list of things that isn't acceptable:
-methods of smuggling
-prostitution
-rape
-selling drugs
-scenes of childbirth
-theft/robbery
-surgical operations
-etc...

Music Videos

In music videos theres a set of guidelines which has to be followed.

To make it suitable for as many people as possible, if the music video swears it will be removed either by bleeping it out or cutting the sound of
Another way to make it sensible, is censoring sexual imagery, many distributors wont't allow nudity within videos. On radio and T.V channels swearing is removed until 9pm, this called the watershed when swearing and sexual imagery on T.V is allowed after 9pm...

Watershed
The watershed is used for T.V media which is displayed after a set time. The watershed starts at 9pm, it is made so that young members of a T.V audience won't see something which isn't suitable for them but for the older members. This is because of imitation as they don't want them to copy things on screen as it's considered inappropriate.

How far do you agree with the comments that mass audiences are still passive of media?

Passive audience- an audience that does not actively engage with the media text, they unconsciously learn from the media.

I agree that mass audience are still passiv repients of media. The media puts a lot of messages across to the audience but when you are passive you take in the concept and information without realising it. In other words the audience do not realise they have these ideas and thoughts as the media has told us to believe it.
In the 1920's films and T.V were censored, you would never see someone showing too much flesh, they were covered up more. This is because the audience wouldn't repeat any of their actions also the audience wont get affected by certain aspects wes ee on television, films and magazines.

We have ideas on stereotypes but the media can influence on the way we view it. Women are stereotyped as having the perfect figure and to look pretty. If a man saw a very good looking women in a magazine with a lot of flesh showing, majority of men would like it however some women would not accept this as they don't like being portrayed stereotypically like that.