Storyboards

Here are the storyboards that my group and I created. The narrative was structured using all of our opinions and we were all aware that when shooting and editing the film there would be evident changes needed due to too ambitious ideas and problems with our shooting schedule and location availabilities.

Characters

Within our thriller opening there are two main characters, an unseen character and a character with an extra's part.

Character 1:

(Holly Dove) Femme Fatale. This Character is played by Holly Delaney. Her role is one that appears to be quite helpless within our opening. However, her character is a victim of abuse and someone who has mixed with the wrong crowd and so there is room for her deviant, dangerous behaviour to come out.



Character 2:

(Jason Viper) The Killer. This character is shadowed and not fully visable throughout most of the opening of the thriller to create tension and fear. His character is involved in money and is a mafia type. he is seeking revenge on the femme fatale's lover and social circle.


Unseen Character:
Lover. This character is the femme fatale's lover. He is murdered by the killer due to involvements in gambling, money etc. He is a apart of the bad crowd that the femme fatale is connected with.


Extra:
Running man. This character is used as part of a red herring in our plot and merely runs by the femme fatale suspiciously, bumping into her.

Femme Fatale Character & Film Noir Conventions Within Our Thriller

In our Thriller, we have tried to make the femme fatale character conform to the conventional film noir femme fatale. In order to do this, we looked closely at the costumes used in existing film noirs that suggest a devient and glamorous woman. Looking into 40's costumes helped rather a lot. In the end we decided to put Holly in a faux fur coat, tights and slightly heeled vintage shoes. To accessroies this we made her wear a pearl necklace and a small black and gold clutch bag. As far as her hair goes, the group decided that she would look a lot more feminine with her hair down and the continuity when filming would be more precise because we were filming different parts on different days. The fur coat is very 40's and conforms to the film noir sub genre. Making her look very feminine created more of an illusion of the seductive, inticing woman that a femme fatale is defined as. A lot of inspiration came from the femme fatale in Once Upon a Time in America. Something we did not use was red lipstick, this is frequently used on femme fatale characters but we decided not to use it because when editing we are going to convert the footage into black and white.

Film noir primarily describes Hollywood crime dramas and they are filmed with a low key black and white iconic style. Both the narrative and cinematography of our Thriller opening conforms to this definition and there are certain generic convention that we utilised in order to create an authentic interpretation of the sub genre. The lighting, shadows and costume all have clear resemblences of the genre and the soundtrack that we are goint to use makes the era and sub genre even clearer. Elements of crime fiction are evident in our narrative and the inclusion of a femme fatale is something that solidifies the clarity of the genre.

Shooting & Intitial to Final Ideas

As far as shooting goes, we got off to a bad start because of the weather. The snow meant that we could not film as we had scheduled; this created minor problems but has not affected the process. Everyone was able to make the filming however another problem occured when a member of our group quit sixth form. In order to resolve this, we have had to change around character parts and the cast list.

Our initial location idea was to have the opening to our thriller filmed down and around Elm Hill- this is somethign we have stuck to because it fits so well with the sub-genre of our film. The costumes and character planning has been followed and so the final outcome reflects our inital ideas quite well. We no longer have the 'lover character because of the problems that occured prior to filming- in order to keep our orginal plot we have just decided to leave him as an unseen chacter; he is still a key part of the story.

When finishing our filming, we are going to shoot at a slightly later time so that we can use lighting to create shadows. This is very important as it is a generic convention of film noir.

Location Shots

These photographs were taken by Ryan Mills and Sam Rogerson, both members of my production group.

All of these images were taken down Elm Hill in Norwich. We chose this particular location for our Thriller opening because it is quite a dark, narrow street meaning that crime could easily happen there. Also, the cobbled road is appropriate for our Film Noir genre- it is something that was inspired by the streets in The Third Man. The bars across the bottom of the church window could also show entrapment or imprisonment. The lack of lighting may be a problem, so when shooting, we must ensure to bring bright torches; This aspect is crucial for creating surgery. The old houses down Elm Hill are also very suitable for the genre. Ideally, we would like the cobbled road to be wet, something generic of the thriller genre, however the light that reflects off of the road creates the illusion of a wet street.

Costume Ideas

All of the costumes that will be used in our thriller are going to be inspired by various film noir's and 40's fashion. Here are some ideas that i have thought of:

High heels are essential for the femme fatale character because they are feminine and glamorous yet can make a character very vulnerable if in the wrong situation. These will be used for our femme fatale character as she will be walking down a cobbled street.

A clutch bag is a small accessory but it is featured in our thriller idea as part of the red herring so it is something we need to consider.

Faux fur coats are vintage and really glamorous- perfect for our femme fatale character. They are also relevant to a modern audience because they are a current trend. The coat fits in with the film noir genre and the 1940's era too. It is also a believable costume as our femme fatale character will be walking down a street at night; the coat is practical for the narrative.

Long coats are going to be used for our male characters because they are something that are seen a lot in crime thrillers and film noir's. They have big shoulders and are oversized, making the male character look large and dominant. This costume idea was inspired by films like The Third Man and Once Upon a Time in America.

Briefcases suggest a businessman, however luggage is often utilised in thrillers as a cover up for criminal activity: it could be storing money, weapons or even drugs. The male characters in our thriller all have suspicious backgrounds so this is an appropriate idea.

Initial Ideas (revised)

Sub-Genre: Film Noir/ Crime/ Thriller
Location: Elm Hill, Old parts of Norwich, Cobbled street, Miadshead hotel area, Bedroom (old looking) - filmed at night (street lights, deserted area)
Cast: Femme Fatale (main character)- Holly Delaney, Running Man-, Killer/ Follower-, Lover-
Costume: Femma Fatale- faux fur coat, heel, beret, clutch bag, Running Man- messy suit, hat, briefcase, Killer/ Follower- long coat, brogues, hat, Lover- white vest (blood-stained)
Props: Cigarettes, Empty vodka bottle, Make up, Jewellery, Nail varnish
Objects: Dresser, Bed
Responsibilities: Ryan, Sabrina, Sam, Dulcie: Casting, Filming, Lighting, Costume, Make-up, Editing

Narrative Structure: Our thriller should sort of follow Todorov's theory as their is suggestion of an equilibrium and disequilibrium in the opening of the the thriller. If the film was to be made fully it would follow have a circular narrative, returning to the opening sequence at the end to explain the situation.

Character Background:

Femme Fatale: been a victim of violent physical abuse as a child (from her father) Then got in with bad crowds to breakaway from her childhood and family - her lover is bad?

Lover: involved in dodgy dealings with money etc

Killer: femme fatales lover owes the man something? did something to him? - all involving money and social status (mafia type?)

Intertextual References:

Tiffany Lamp, pearl necklace, femme fatale character, trilby hats, long coats, killing in the bed- all references from Once Upon a Time in America.

Killer in the shadows with his face not visible, wet cobbled streets- references from The Third Man.

Birds, Black dress (like the black underwear) showing that the femme fatale is bad/ devious- references from Psycho.