'Cinderella' Cast, Crew and Stills

During the planning process of our Film Noir, we decided to create some stills of each scene we wanted in the film, like a storyboard to refer to. We didn't manage to include one of the more important scenes as we ran out of time and couldn't actually find everything we needed to film the scene. Here is a Prezi of the stills, the cast and crew involved in the making of the film. I may add some music behind this presentation soon. Enjoy!





When creating and taking the stills, we decided to place a lot of them in the photography studio, as the lighting was easier to handle than the shots we took outside. Thankfully, the days we decided to film outside was cloudy, which gave a nice natural effect to those particular photos. It also helped as there wasn't much sunshine or lack thereof to deal with. 

The photos were edited by Chloe, who enchanced eye colour to represent different characters as well as bringing a strong contrast to the photos, and drawing the audience to their eyes as most other things in the photo are either black or white. For example, Cinderella has blue eyes, which is quite a bright, happy colour, but can also represent sadness. The Prince's eyes are red, which is often used to show love, evil, blood, lust and passion. The Fairy Godmother's eyes are a yellow-ish colour. Yellow is often used to represent caution and false hope. This could refer to her warning Cinderella to not meddle with her's and the Prince's relationship, as well as being false hope for the Prince as he wanted to kill her for her money, but ended up being murdered by Cinderella because of it. The fact that in Beth's photo her eyes are the least prominent could show that she does not play a very important role to the other characters but is actually the only one who lives and doesn't get into any trouble with the others.

The shadows and colours were much more enhanced in the editing process, especially in this photo:

In some photos were inspired by Sin City, as red is a prominent colour throughout the film, whilst everything else is in black and white, with a graphic novel feel. We didn't use the graphic novel style in out stills but made sure the red (in the tie for example), stood out, as well as the use of light and dark.

Film Noir Continuity Task: Stills Update

I'm currently in the process creating a Prezi of the stills we created as part of planning our Film Noir, so that should be up soon. I will also be uploading a post on the different roles within our group and the way we changed the narrative of 'Cinderella'  to suit the Film Noir genre within the next few days.

Film Noir Continuity Task: Planning

Over the past few weeks, we were given an assignment to create a Film Noir short, combining the elements we looked studied beforehand and a well-known fairy tale. Our group decided to use the story from Cinderella. We had to plan the characters, how we would change them, as well as the narrative to make it more suitable to the Film Noir genre. The outcome of the task is to create a film including a scene of a character walking through a door, crossing a room, sitting down and having a conversation with someone. Below were the requirements:

• Shot reverse shot
• Match on action
• 180 degree rule
• Set action: a person opens a door, walks through and across a room, sits, and exchanges dialogue with another person

We wanted to make Cinderella the 'every-woman,' more commonly seen as the 'every-man' in classic Film Noirs, as she works hard and as she cleans in the original, we used this has her 'every-day' kind of job. The role of 'femme-fatale' is the Prince, and the villain is the fairy-godmother. We decided to do this as so often in classic Film Noirs, the women are portrayed as bad, and scary and their sexuality is seen as a bad thing, so we wanted to show that women can have good morals and be sexual, instead of having to choose between the two. The villain is the fairy-godmother, although all her motives are reasonable. 

Below is a rough plan of the first ideas we had:

Script 

The script was written predominantly by Chloe, it was rough, so we could work around it if the lines and stage directions didn't feel right or didn't work with where we were filming. I edited the script and re-wrote a few lines that I didn't think felt right or suited the story line. As we had little time to perfect the script, not everything sounds completely serious, and in my opinion occasionally takes away from the darkness of the film. Below are some images of the script. 

Chloe re-drafted the final scene, as we had to come back and make some changes as it was too long to fit into the final film. Here is an image of that:

I will be posting more about the process of making our film soon. 

Analysing Audience

We were given an assignment to analyse audience, including demographics used by film industries, what draws people into visiting the cinema as well as film classifications and some films studied in class.

Analysing the Codes Conventions and Narrative of an Opening Title Sequence: Analysing a Freeze Frame

We were given a task to find one still from an opening sequence to a film and answer some questions on it. I decided to use the opening sequence from 'Goodfellas,' as I felt the lighting, setting and amount of characters in the scene contained a lot to write about. Below is the still I chose and the question I answered.

What can you see in the 'frozen image'?

Three men, dressed in suits, facing the boot of a car. The red brake lights are projecting onto them, and it looks like whatever's happening in the scene is at night.

How are the elements of the image positioned in the frame?

Only the rear of the car is in shot, on the right-hand side, with the three men standing behind it, looking down at the boot, showing that they have more power than it, or whatever's inside. The three men are standing next to each other, with the character farthest from the camera standing a little closer to the car than the other characters. He is also distanced from the other two men in the shot.

How does colour and lighting effect what you see?

The lighting is predominantly red, coming from the brake lights on the back of the car. As this scene seems to be set at night, the audience's focus is pulled to the three men. The fact that the red light is shining on them, could symbolize that they're evil, cunning, possibly loving. The colour red also symbolizes blood and the fact that they're brake lights shows that they have stopped, to handle whatever's going on in the scene.

What is the distance between camera and subject?

The subjects (actors, car) are fairly close to the camera. The shot is not close-up at all nor are they extremely far away. This could be used to show some distance and divide between the audience and the situation going on in the scene.

Why is the shot composed like this?

The audience is able to see what the characters are looking at, and you can see the character closest to the camera is holding some sort of weapon, implying that they could be dangerous. The fact that they are all standing together shows some sort of bond and togetherness, as if they are group working together. If the shot was composed differently, for example, with the characters standing in completely different positions around the car, this wouldn't seem as predatory as they would not be forming a group, and the apparent bond would seem more empty.

Where do you think the camera is?

The camera is to the right of the subjects, achieving an almost profile view.

Why is the camera positioned like this?

Like I said, I think the camera is in this position so everything can be seen by the audience, and we can see that whatever they're looking at, is weaker than them as it's lower. 

What can you tell about time/place/setting?

I can tell it's night time, and it's unknown where the characters are, as it's very concealed, with trees. 

How does the setting contribute to the atmosphere/meaning of the shot?

The fact that it's night-time and in an unknown, concealed area, with red being the predominant colour, gives the audience the feeling that something is not right, and that something's going to happen that could be illegal, something that needs to be hidden.

How are the characters positioned?

They are standing in a line, the character furthest from the camera is standing closer to the car, and slightly away from the other two men. This could show his eagerness, his attitude is different from the other two, and there may be a divide between him and the others.

How is your attention drawn to the characters?

It's very dark, and the only lighting is bright red, shining on them, and them alone.

What can you tell about the characters from how they are dressed?

They are dressed in suits, a little shirts being a little scruffy/un-tucked, which shows that they have authority, but the reason they have authority may be corrupt.

What impression is given of the characters by their body language?

They seem fairly tense, slightly relaxed and all focusing on the boot of the car. Even though they seem to be unsure of what's inside the boot, they are not too fazed, and can keep calm, and possibly aggressive (signaled by the weapon in hand) when under pressure. This could also show that they deal well with intense situations, and are often the ones in power.

Who is the focus in the scene and how can you tell?

The focus, to me, are the three men, as the brake lights are shining onto. I could also see how the boot of the car could be the focal point as all three characters are looking at it.

Is the frame pivotal to the narrative?

I think this shot sets up the relationship between the characters and gives the audience an insight into how they behave, and certain traits each character has.

Analysing the Codes, Conventions and Narrative of an Opening Title Sequence: Synopsis for Goodfellas

We were asked to create a synopsis to the film, as if we were writing for a website/newspaper/magazine etc. Here is what I came up with, for the film Goodfellas. 

From Martin Scorsese, a film following the lives of gangsters living in 1970s New York. Starring Robert De Niro, Ray Liotta and Joe Pesci, doing things that definitely earn them the title of anything other than 'good'.