February 16, 2009

In today's lesson we were introduced to our first assessment; Film Noir. I had heard about it before and acted in my friend's film noir project last semester, but as I found out today, it is so much more than simply just a depressing movie with a mood of pessimism.

From learning a brief history of Film Noir from when it started in the 1920's, I some typical features of film noir movies. This would definitely be useful when creating my own. Film noir, which means a "black film" in French, is usually of a dark and depressing content; thus it's title. Starting off being based on detective stories, it also adapted some crime and spy influences. Film noir explores the theme of "moral ambiguity", usually dealing with obscure good and bad characters. This genre of film is also one of the few ones that do not always have a happy ending.

In a classic film noir movie, there is usually has three main characters, the protagonist, the antagonist and the "good influence." The protagonist is often of a depressing background, not exactly the James Bond type of character. He or she is also usually a loner or an outcast who goes about his own business. A unique feature of film noir movies is that it accounts for the protagonist's internal journey more than his physical story. The protagonist is sometimes also mentally unstable, which allows film noir movies to document the character's internal and person conflicts. The antagonist, usually a woman, is the "evil" figure who is leading the protagonist astray. The advantage of using a woman is that if the protagonist is a male, she would manipulate them through seduction. Lastly, the "good influence" character, acts like the protagonist's conscious who points him in the right direction. This character is somewhat like the opposite of the antagonist. These characters, with their sinister and dark motives all contribute to the film noir atmosphere.

Some symbolism to keep in mind would be of dark alleys, 24 hour cafés, dripping water, alcohol, flickering neon signs, smoke and cigarettes. This imagery helps conjure up the sense of darkness and depression which is expressed in film noir and consequently allows the story to flow more easily. These sorts of imagery will be very useful making our film noir movie and if applied appropriately can be very effective in setting the desired atmosphere. We saw how this imagery was executed in two movies "Heat" and "Infernal Affairs". Especially in "Heat" I saw how the dark and smoky atmosphere plays in creating a dark and depressing atmosphere. I also saw the importance of dialog in film noir films which is something to keep in mind when writing the script. Each line has to be witty to demonstrate the character's usually clever demeanor.

At the end of the lesson we joined with Ashley, Louise and Xiang Yi to do our film noir project. We had assigned the roles writer to Ashely and Xiang Yi, Camera person to Louise, sound editor to Xiang Yi and the editor to myself. I am quite apprehensive about my role as a editor because although I am quite comfortable with Final Cut Pro, I still have much to learn . Despite this, I am still quite confident with my skills and will do a substantial job. I am very excited about this project because it is investigating a type of genre that I am not too familiar with and I am sure that this will be a very enriching experience. Something that I will need to keep in mind is the IB learner profile:

- "Risk Takers": to experiment with new techniques which will be important when exploring a new genre of film. Especially testing out the imagery and angles discussed in this period.
- "Open Mindedness"- to be open to everyone's ideas and not to be self centered and selfish
- "Knowledgeable" - remembering and applying the knowledge learned in class into our film
- "Reflection"- carefully reflecting on my process, the things that I did well and the things that I could have done better.

By paying close attention to these specific aspects of the IB learner profile, I believe that not only will my group be able to produce a good outcome but also gain a lot from it as well.