We chose all our photos from the black and white category, this is because our film is going to be in black and white therefore it is only natural that our photos should be the same - Because of this all the photos that i am going to research and analyse will also be in black and white otherwise it would be no help to our task.
Femme fatale (In our movie, Miss Bonnie Kensington):This first photo we really liked as the lady is slightly lying down, head tilted back a bit in a quite suggestive way. The things we really wanted to focus on was how she looked in the photo, the big curls and her makeup were really helpful to us because we wanted the character to be as authentic as possible. The makeup is simple yet effective and really matches that era of movies, it is a minimalistic eye - mainly just liquid eyeliner, mascara, pencil liner and natural shades of eye shadow. The skin is quite pale with a slight blush to highlight the lady's bone structure, however the main point is the lips...the lips are a dark red, this is very conventional to the femme fatale character - this gives the character a really sexual edge, which we will need in our film as our very own femme fatale is suppose to seduce most of the male characters. She is also wearing very simple jewellery, and a quite low cut tight fitting yet long dress which hints a sexy, but also with class and elegance. The main ideas we have got from this photo is the suggestive 'lying down' pose and the styling of the woman, both of which are very effective and will really help us create that classy yet seducing female character of Bonnie Kensington.
My second photo is of the femme fatale from the film 'Double Indemnity' which we are using a lot of the techniques from for our own film. The actress in this film (Barbara Stanwyck) plays leading lady 'Phyllis Dietrichson'...who seduces the male lead and plots to kill her husband. Again the first thing you notice is the big curls, simple eye makeup and red lipstick - these are all powerful features in this photograph and film noir movies to represent the never before seen confident, powerful, sexy side to women. The white background, mixed with her white clothing really gives her character a sense of innocence, this is done to mislead the audience into thinking that she is genuine - however the lips and hair tell us otherwise. She has on one statement piece of jewellery on (her necklace) which leads the audience to think that she is wealthy, however classy enough no to overdo it. Her top is also interesting, it again confuses the audience - at first glance she looks like a modest innocent woman, first of all the colour (like previously mentioned) and then the style, it covers her up - neither her arms or cleavage are on show, which is what you would first think of when you would describe a 'sexy' photo . However the tightness really (in the un-crudest way possible) draw the eye to her breast because of its shadow underneath, therefore it is a sexy photograph but not in the conventional way. The things that i believe we should take from this photo are as follows: first again the style of hair and makeup, second the mid shot works really well and third (which i believe is the most important) the background and clothing being white, and the clothing having a modest touch because i believe it really puts a unique twist on it.
The Detective (In our movie, Detective John Carter):
The main thing i like about this photo is the shadows, the shadows are created by the direction of the light and the detective's hat that he is wearing. It gives his face a slightly mysterious feel to it, like there is more to the character than what meets the eye. It also gives us a great idea about the type of clothes a character like this would wear - therefore we are going to take inspiration from this photograph and have our detective wearing a black hat, white shirt, black tie and a grey suit - this is because his job (as a detective) would have been quite a professional line of work and therefore he would have had to play the part by looking professional. We can also tell that he is a smoker from the cigarette and lighter in his hands, we do not plan to copy this as none of our film making team smoke so we cannot get a cigarette out of no where for the shot (and we couldn't have it lit anyway in the studio) however at some point in the movie we will have our detective smoking, even if it is just a fake cigarette we have made. I really like this shot because of the shadows and it gives us a lot of ideas to use for our photos/film however i would really like our own still shot to be slightly more intense, which this really could have been if the actor had looked directly into the camera - therefore in our shots of the detective figure i think he should be looking at the camera.
My second photograph of the detective character is from the film 'Double Indemnity' (like the photography of Barbara Stanwyck above) and as we are using so many conventions of this movie we decided we should study the main male character (the protanganist) which in this film is the actor, Fred MacMurray, playing insurance salesman gone bad, Walter Neff. He is interesting because he is not the usual detective, yet uses the same conventions of ones we have seen in other movies. Again like the shot above, I like the shadow cast across the actors face as he looks towards the light - this creates a sense that he is looking back on his innocent good (light) life and about to turn towards the evil corrupt (dark) side. This is a mid shot showing slightly more detail of the characters outfit, however the basics that we want are there...grey suit, white shirt and black tie. Both photos of the main male character show him to have short hair and be clean shaven, this is how most business men of that time period would have looked therefore we want to make sure our actor puts across our detective as this clean shaven professional business man.
Mobb boss (In our movie, Mister Bobby Dents):
This last photo is perfect to help us create the still shot for our mob boss/drug dealer, Bobby Dents. Like the main male character this man is also wearing a suit, this show that like the detective he is a professional business man (just on the opposite side of the law) - he also has short dark hair and is clean shaven which just reinforces this point. What i also like about this photograph which i have said before is the shadow, it really gives the photo a sense of mystery which is one of the main conventions of any character in the film noir genre. The next thing that we also liked about the man in this photo is the fact he is sitting down, it almost gives him the power and authority over the situation, as he feels he doesn't have to stand for any person entering the room - we will play about with this idea and see how the still shots of our mob boss comes out when he is sitting down. The final thing i like about this photo is that as he is sitting down, his arms cross over his chest...this may signify that he is keeping a secret from the audience or other characters in the film which gives surrounds the character in the film noir conventional sense of foreboding mystery.
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