Bobby's House - Scene five - Part Two

In this scene we chose to use an office that belonged to Antonia's Father, we wanted an authentic office, and i believe this one looks nicely old fashioned with the simple desk layout, white walls and black support beams. It also has a nice triangular ceiling which gives it a unique edge, therefore we can make an audience believe that it belonged to someone wealthy. We had to set up the office to make it look old fashioned, which unfortunately did take a while, for example we had to take pictures off the wall and move the computer off the desk. (As there wouldn't have been flat screen computers in those days) - The blinds were red which projected a dark atmosphere on the room, we also tried to keep the desk simple with an authentic lamp, put of food, large decorative gun and some papers to show that he is working (and a business man).

Detective Carter has on him a slightly smaller gun (pistol or revolver) which he keeps in his pocket, this is because he wants to try and keep it hidden most of the time while he is working, yet he still wants the protection of having a gun on him. What the audience doesn't know is that Bobby has another large gun which he pulls out from under his desk, this is to show his boss like status as he can get hold of weapons whenever he wants to. This increases pressure and danger that Carter is facing because Bobby has two very powerful guns and Carter only has a smaller gun.
Both men wear suit again to show their professionalism and business-man nature, Carter's is normal, sharp, gray/white and black, he also wears his hat as he believes that he is in control of the situation. Bobby however wears a slightly more elaborate suit to show off his wealth and power, he wants to try and intimate the Detective. We attempted to show the nature of conventional Film Noir rivalries here, both of the men are rude and catty (In an attempt to intimate, or show off to the other) despite both of them having been played by Bonnie in similar fashions.

When Bobby get shot he decides to tell Detective Carter about Bonnie's plot (Obviously Bobby also has feelings for Bonnie as he tries to cover up her actions) - When Carter realises Bonnie isn't all that she seems he helps Bobby, telling Chester to help Bobby to the hospital. The Detective has obviously put aside his differences with the mob boss, or has decided he wants to get his revenge when Bobby is actually doing wrong (and therefore named the hero). However there is a strong feeling that he doesn't want to kill Bobby, therefore sending out the ethical issues with murder being wrong. Bonnie gets away with her actions and trickery...but we decided to challenge the convention of a heartless male protagonist (main character).

On the day we had a few problems with shooting, getting some of the props became difficult as other media groups/drama groups had obviously borrowed the same things for their own performances. We also had a problem with one of our actors as he decided to arrive 40 minutes late, this made us really pushed for time as we only had a 2 hour slot. This is why we didn't get as many angles as i wish we had, however overall i am quite Happy with it. I was the main director/camera person of the scene because i didn't have to act in this one, so i really wanted to make it perfect, Hence why i added to mirrored fan on the start to really set the scene.

Carter Office Scene - Scene One

This scene is the first time Detective Carter meets Bonnie Kensington, so we felt it important that she assert her authority within the office. The first thing you see is Bonnie through the door, straight away you notice her red lipstick which stands out against the pale background - we wanted to highlight this so to refer to the femme fatale conventions of film noir, also with accordance with this we had Bonnie (a.k.a me) have big curly hair (which is a sign of lust, and has sexual edge to it), she was also wearing a white dress to try and make the audience believe that she is an innocent and pure character, and she wears a large fur coat - in that time period the coat would have shown wealth and power (as we wanted to show that she has the power over the detective) but also we chose to use a pale coloured fur to again highlight her innocence. We wanted Bonnie to really be able to wow the detective, so when she enters he stands and removes his hat (the metaphor in this film for his control of the situation) - later in the scene the audience may believe he hasn't fallen for her charm "Is there actually a problem here..or do you just want some appreciation" - however this is not the case as we see in the next scene that he has done as she says and taken her out to dinner.

We used on of the school offices for this scene and we were really pushed as the office we had originally booked was being used, but we decided to push ahead and use another office (unfortunately taking us longer to set things up) - We did want to use an office with venetian blinds but in the short period of planning before hand, we couldn't find one, so we settled for the schools blinds which were similar. We also used a number of props to make the setting look authentic and realistic (trying to hide the computer on the desk) -which again made it take a long time to set up the scene.

This scene is very much to do with Bonnie trying to win over Carter, she throws herself on the desk in a very suggestive manner "oh there's a problem, a big problem" - we wanted to make her very flirtatious to try and persuade Carter to do as she wishes using her sexual capabilities to her own favour. We see it has had a big affect on Carter as he jumps on the phone to Chester as soon as she leaves.

At this point we also filmed the first and last scenes.
The first scene being him just looking at the photos with a voice over and music to set the scene on the whole film. The last being him reviewing the situation "This isn't Over" which is a cliff hanger to maybe a sequel in the future. He finishes off by putting his hate over the camera lense for the black out. He wears his suit through all the scenes to try and keep his professionalism and smartness.

Restaurant Scene - Scene 3

On Monday the 5th we set out to film the restaurant scene of our film noir, we decided to use one of our local pubs situated on the outskirts of Baldock called 'George the fourth' - we chose this because it has a very homely archaic atmosphere and we believed we could use props to make it look like a classy restaurant from that era of time. We also chose to use three extras in this scene (Gemma Inglis, Shiv Handa and Beth Robson) to create the atmosphere of a date in a popular restaurant, we didn't want the tables around to be empty because we would have lost the illusion of the date - we also didn't want to fill the restaurant because firstly, we didn't want to make to much noise for the owners of the George because they were being very kind to let us film there in the first place, but also we didn't want to lose the audience's attention towards the main characters.

The pub allowed us to film the scene in a section of the restaurant after ten o'clock (meaning we were up late and didn't finish til around half eleven/quarter to 12) - by half ten we had set up the camera and the scene using all the props, the actors had got into costume and we were ready to film. We had asked the extras to come in costume of that era so they matched the characters (Bonnie and Carter) so not to look out of place. Bonnie Kensington (me) was wearing a short yellow dress, red heels and a fur coat (when outside) with Detective Carter in a smart suit, he is also not wearing his hat signifying his loss of control of the situation as he falls for Bonnie. We filmed a variety of angles, for example using the femme fatale convention of red lipstick, which we decided to highlight with a close up of her drinking from the glasses - the glasses and most of the props were given by me as i had some that would look right in this era of film. The old furniture gave our scene an antique feel, while the soft lighting gave it a romantic edge that we wanted for this section.
Outside the restaurant we chose a well lit section so we could see the actors in the darkness (of eleven o'clock at night) - Antonia filmed different shots so we had a selection when it came to the editing stage. Unfortunately the one problem we had was that there were cars going past as the pub is next to a busy road, we overcame this by using a voice over on the original filming so we could hear the script. We did this because many of the lines are crucial to the films plot - for example "Is there any way i can repay you?" "Anything for you" this show the detective feelings for Bonnie, and after the night the audience realises why Carter has fallen for Miss Kensington. I really like the way this scene has come together, even if we were one film maker down.

Story Boards

First few scenes : Carter in his office to the flashback where her meets Bonnie Kensington for the first time then takes her out for dinner - which finishes with a kiss outside the restaurant. These storyboards are looking at the angles and shot types that we plan to use while shooting the film.

These story boards are of scene 5 - Where Detective Carter turns up to the house where Scarlett Jones answers the door, she tries to defend Bobby but the Detective insists he talks with her boss. Once he get inside there is stand off/ argument between Bobby and Carter which ends in them pulling guns on each other.

These Story Boards are from the last few Scenes, Bobby gets shot and then spills Bonnie's plans to the detective...he tries to rush out after her but she has already got away in her car.

Name Ideas

Our list of potential names for of film noir title:
• Double Cross
• Scarlett Shadow
• Fatally Female
• Crazed Lust
• Inky veil
• Black soul
• Lady in Scarlett
• Passion for treachery
• The dark Betrayal
• Dark Heart
• A soul for a lie.
• Forgive, Forget, Kill.
• Veiled Conscience
• Money makes the world go round.
• Crime or justice?
• Betrayal of the heart.
• Lustful injustice.
These are some of the names we thought of for our Film Noir.
We decided on: LUSTFUL INJUSTICE :)
It is snappy and classy enough to be recognised with that time era, while combining all the events of the film... Lust and Justice are two major themes of our movie so would thought it would be perfect to put them together for our film title :)

Production Company Name:
We got a little confused about what to name our production company and quite a few different names got suggested. We thought the easiest thing to start us off would be to use the initials of all of our first names, which are AET (Antonia, Ellen, Toby) - then we played around with the order and finally agreed on T.E.A. to start us off with. At first i thought of some ideas like 'Tea time productions' or 'After tea Productions' to symbolize that the films that the production company would make would be more designed for an audience of adults (hence why the film was rated at a 15) and i originally designed a logo of a teacup with the name on the front. However after being given some advice we changed it because it seemed that it didn't actually fit the film noir genre very well. So we changed it to the simple yet memorable 'T.E.A. Productions' as a minimalistic approach to the film - we originally all decided that Toby was the best person to create the logo for the production company name, however when it came to crunch time, we didn't have time to get the text off of the school network and onto our film.

Doorstep Photo Edits

I decided to edit these three photographs to give us a good understanding of what the scene will actually look like. This was done using a basic photo editor (rather than photoshop, which we used for our other photographs) therefore the quality isn't brilliant, however this may be a good thing because we want our film and the photographs to look authentic, so we like it if they are slightly blurry or pixelated.

Filming the doorstep scene!

Scarlett and Carter scene:


In this scene Detective Carter shows up at Bobby's doorstep, at which point Scarlett opens the door (one of the mob boss's girls) - she tries to defend her boss and no let the detective in the house, however Carter has come armed so after going inside and checking with her boss, she finally lets him in.
In this picture Scarlett stands in a very protective way in front of the door. The picture is shot from an over the shoulder angle, the darkness of this

shot is very conventional to the film noir era
especially once we change the footage into black and white.

This next photo is a picture of me filming and checking the lighting from different angles (which end up in me sitting on damp grass) - we had to strategise when shooting this because we chose to shoot it in the dark with the only light coming from the house and the porch light.
However we liked this because it gave the film a more mysterious feel because it cast some amazing shadows across the characters faces.

I personally love this next photo of Detective Carter, it took quite a few shots to get this

particular photograph. I like it because of the shadow across the actors face create by the porch light. Also it is seen almost as just a silhouette of the character because of the light from the door. I also like the patterning on the front door because it seems very old fashioned and has a slight 1950s-esque feel to it. The suit he is wearing will also contrast nicely in black and white because it is a grey suit, white shirt and black tie.

This next photo was one of our practice photos

just to make sure we got our actor in the right place when we actually decided to film the scene. We have a few of these kinds of photographs, all from different angles because we had to see what the character would look like at all the times on camera. This is because we didn't want to waste time filming so we wouldn't have too many unwanted minutes of film to sift through when we comes to editing our movie, it will take long enough without loads of film we cant use. We will also make an out-takes video because it took us a few takes to get some good ones because our actors would sometimes forget their lines or start laughing at each other.
However we got some really good takes because our actors accents were spot on for what we needed, as both Antonia and Ed were very convincing in their roles which really brought together our whole scene.
This picture is almost a freeze frame from the action of the scene, as you can see Detective Carter looks very suspiciously towards Scarlett, he knows she is hiding something/covering up for her boss. Scarlett however looks very angry at the Detective especially when she realises that he has come to the house armed. This scene was a very interesting one to film, its only a short scene though it took quite a while to film but we enjoyed every second of it and cannot wait to carry on filming, as we are filming again really really soon :)

Locations!

We have sorted out all our filming locations for our film noir!

We thought long and hard where to do each scene because we want each one to be perfect.

Our first scenes (the ones in a police office) we have decided to do in a spare office in our school, the size is good for what we want. The only problem is that the office isn't very 1950s America authentic, however we plan to kit it out in props from home and the drama department.

Our third and fourth scenes (the restaurant scenes) we more difficult to sort out, but i rang up a reasonably local restaurant that has an American theme to it because we believe that it would be perfect for our movie. We still need to make a few more calls and we have a back up restaurant just in case.

Scene five will be at first outside Antonia's front door (Scarlett and the detective meet) because she has quite an old looking front door. The rest of the scene (Bobby's office) will be shot in Antonia's dads office which we believe will be perfect for it.

The change over scene which will come in in clips of scene 6 will be shot in a small town called bygrave near where we live. A road we know would be perfect for this scene.

We also have a filming schedule:

Scene one	School office	Tuesday 6th march	Phone/lamp/costumes
Scene two	School office/corridor	Tuesday 6th march	''
Scene three	Restaurant	Monday 5th march	Costumes/extras
Scene four	Outside the restaurant	Monday 5th march	Costumes/extra light
Scene five	Front door/Office	Weds 2nd/Thurs 8th	Office things/Porchlight
Scene six	Office/road in Bygrave	Thurs 8th/Thurs 3rd	''/ suitcase/envelope

We are all free at the times we are needed and want to have all our film team there at each session because we want every ones ideas to be used to make it perfect. We are so looking forward to starting to film because we know the editing is gunna take a while to make it as perfect as want it to be.