Before working in a group to come up with a group idea for a film opening to a film noir, individually each person in the group first had to create their own idea for a noir opening, which would then be presented to the rest of the group and parts out of each individuals’ idea would be used to create the final finished group idea for the film opening.
So for my idea of a film noir opening I focused on trying to base it around the theme of film noir crime thriller and made it a flashback which would show the end of the film at the start similar to Double Indemnity which also used a non-linear narrative.
My film opening idea starts with a female body lying on the floor presumed dead which is to immediately set an enigma just as classic noirs aimed to. There would then be a cut to a male character wearing all black leaving the scene of the crime in a hurry. He would then be shown throwing a weapon away which is presumed to be what was used on the female. The male then is shown meeting another man and receiving a package from the man. This male who gave the package the presumed hitman would in the next seen be shown going to the seen scene of the crime and finding the body which is followed by a dissolve flashback. In this flashback the hitman receives an email which shows a picture of the victim shown previously (female body on floor).
Moreover for my idea for the noir opening I intended to interpret some stylistics from classic noirs so that there was a certain mood and feel to the opening based largely around mischief and wrong doings so the noir crime thriller edge is portrayed. To achieve I included typical noir scenes and characters in my opening. The female body lying on the floor at the start is the femme fatale and the hitman is the typical male character making a wrong decision and going too far. The scene where the hitman leaves the crime is typical in noirs the feel of tension as he hurries away is similar to that of Neff in Double Indemnity as in the opening he struggles to his office following killing the femme fatale Phyllis. So I think this idea would make and can be improved with the input of the rest of my group’s ideas as well.
For the editing in order to attract viewers when watching the opening I planned to have high action quick cuts between shots. To do this using cuts between close-ups and mid-shots would be important and cutting between characters. A further editing technique which I mentioned before is to use flashbacks in the opening to show how the hitman came to be involved with the hit and at the same time make use of a classic noir feature in the flashback.
Cinematography in the opening I planned to involve using close-ups and mid-shots. The close-ups would be to display character emotion and detail to the audience while mid-shots would be used especially in shots involving the hitman making his way to the hit. Also I had planned to use an establishing shot at some point to set the scene at this is often a helpful shot as a tool for film openings. So using the tripod and maybe free hand to film some shots such as close-ups with the camera in the opening is my intention. In addition shot sizing, framing and shot length would also be elements to think about when shooting. It is important to frame shots so that the subject is well positioned to give the audience a greater visual representation so using the rule of thirds and 180 degree line rule for footage will to achieve this. The shot size to be adequate also to add to the overall look of the footage. Importantly as well shot length is a crucial element to making sure that the footage does not run over the three minute maximum length of the opening. Therefore not having needless shots and making sure that everything shown to viewers is relevant will be something to think about as in such as short sequence and especially an opening engaging the audiences’ attention will be imperative.
In terms of mise-en-scene the clothing of the characters needs to reflect how the viewer is expected to see the character in most cases in film. So the hitman dress code I plan will be likely to be dark clothing maybe black and professional looking due to his line of work. Whereas the female as in many classic noir’s I plan to have a femme fatale look so being seen as the viewer as seductive and attractive. The set for the shoot will likely be on college premises so maybe the studio, park or nearby streets could be possible settings for the sequence. This will in turn achieve the intention of making the viewer realise the background of characters and hopefully relate to the target audience which is teenagers in being shot in more rural surroundings. Props will include the weapon the hitman uses, the package and the computer with the email. Actors casting will be restricted to the people in my group for the task and will all likely be teenage actors so finding the person who most matches the characters will be the method of selecting cast.
Lastly for sound in the opening sequence I plan to have quite fast pace music playing throughout the opening building as it goes along. This will hopefully create tension and add to the action packed footage. Also voiceovers may be helpful in telling to story of characters, so perhaps the hitman telling his story or the femme fatale character telling hers, using two characters for the voiceover could work also as being voices in the hitman’s head or an argument in the voiceover between the characters. These ideas will be to think about when presenting my idea to the rest of my group. Voiceovers were also very common in classic noirs as well but using developing their usual concept or likewise challenging it could be interesting in creating to more contemporary representation of a noir.
