Neo-Noir OTS: Plot

It took a while for me to come up with an entire plot for the film, as at the beginning I wasn't really sure what kind of story I wanted to tell. In the end I decided on a neo-noir, science-fiction thriller/drama. As I want to use the forking path narrative, there will probably be two different parts of the story. Below is a storyboard of the film.



UPDATE: I have changed the structure of the OTS in some places, using a lot of the same shots, but in a different order. As I have almost finished editing, I will create another storyboard with screenshots from the OTS, a lot of which are reflected in the presentation above, just in a different order.

UPDATE: Here is the final storyboard (which includes screenshots from the OTS as well as drawings from the first storyboard which are being used in the final cut. 

I have also decided to change the way I created the actual titles, which I have spoken more about in another blog post, titled: Neo-Noir OTS: Titles.



Rough/Brief Plot of Entire Film

Two different versions of the same people, a male and female duo, four characters altogether, but from different parallel universes, bringing in a sci-fi element. I was inspired by the film, 'Sliding Doors,' which follows the same person, but in two different timelines, and how small details of her life can make a huge difference. However, for my OTS I want the foursome to end up in the same universe, on the same planet, in the same house, and there is then confusion, conflict and violence ensues.

In terms of characters, I want one of the duo to be a little more villainous than the other, not completely hero/villain, as this is something I want to avoid, but use this to create conflict or a bond.

Plot of OTS

The plot of the opening title sequence I have planned to involve one of the protagonists waking up, drinking some water, going to brush her teeth, and making a cup of tea, before sitting down and turning on the radio, where the music will kick in and the other narrative will unfold, of the same character, but from another universe, with different more un-naturalistic lighting. 

Neo-Noir OTS: Narrative Codes

Narrative Codes and Conventions

After being introduced to a few of the many different narrative structures and the people who invented them (below is a SlideShare which I found this information on, from Ms Humpleby's blog):

Media narrative codes update 2015 from Elaine Humpleby



I have decided to use the Enigma Code, as I want to make the audience think and work out what exactly is going on. As well as this, I want the length of most shots to be fairly slow-paced and the music to compliment that, going down a thriller, science-fiction neo-noir route, so I feel that projecting a mystery to the audience will work alongside the features I want in the OTS as well.

The other narrative code I've decided to try and use is Allan Cameron's Modular Narrative theory, in particular, the forking path, as the idea I have for my film would work with this quite well. I will create another post about the narrative, and what I want to try and achieve.

It helped to choose which narrative codes I did not want to use, and the one I definetley didn't want to use was Levi Strauss' Binary Oppositions. The reason I didn't want to use this was because I don't feel that a character can be purely Hero or Villain, Good or Bad, Light or Dark, as I personally don't think that represents a person truly. I feel I would use this to try and project a message, maybe in a satirical way, and this narrative code can be used well, but in the context of my OTS, I didn't feel it was the right one.

Continuity Task Process

Below are blog posts containing the process of creating and evaluating our Continuty Task.

Evaluating Cinderella Continuity Task

Below is a video of Emily, Chloe and I speaking briefly about our film, before showing it to an audience.







After showing the film, we spoke to the class about what we could improve on, such as sound, and narrative structure. We also discussed the process and issues with timing during filming as well as receiving feedback from the audience.