Planning a Location to Film in.

Planning a Location to Film in.

For my Noir Film I will need a suitable filming location, that correlates with the setting in the script.

Whilst most Noir Films are set in an urban/city location, originally, mine was set in some woods/ forest, however, due to limitations I had to change location to a barn, meaning I still kept the rural setting, which is different to a stereotypical noir film.

This is the sort of location that one would expect a noir film to be set. Many of the most famous neo-noir films have also set their location as a city, such as Blade Runner and of course Sin City




This is the barn I chose to shoot in, as you can see it is old and eerie looking, meaning that there is a sinister feel to it. I felt this was a suitable location and enjoyed shooting there.

Match Cuts in Film and TV

Match Cuts in Film and TV

Match cuts are a technique used by many filmmakers and it is when the camera cuts from one shot, to a separate but related shot. If executed well, they should be seamless and hard to notice by the audience.

There are three types of match cut:

•  Match on Action: Where the movement of objects and characters cut from one shot to another.
• Graphical Match: Where an image or visual element cuts from one shot to another.
• Sound Bridge: Where some noise from the following scene plays over the end of the current scene.

Here are Some examples of Match Cuts being used in film and TV.

Match on Action

This is an example of a match on action shot from the film Crash. In it we see a woman walk out of a shop and push open the door. As the door opens, the camera cuts to a different door being opened, by different people in a different location.

Graphical Match

It is not only in films, that techniques like this are used, in this season one episode of The X-Files, we see a drawing of the murder suspect on a piece of paper, transition into the actual face of the killer.

Sound Bridge
Sound bridges are used all throughout films to take the setting from one location to another. Here is a clip from The Matrix, that uses a sound bridge.

Credit: SUPER-RED-FALCON Youtube

'Show don't Tell' in Alfred Hitchcock's 'Rear Window'

'Show don't tell' in Alfred Hitchcock's Rear Window

I recently watched Alfred Hitchcock's Neo Noir thriller Rear Window. In the film, Hitchcock uses many different techniques in this film to create a tense, dramatic experience. In this particular film he especially focuses on his often used technique of Show don't tell which basically means that instead of having characters use expositional dialogue to explain what has already happened, Hitchcock allows the audience to see and figure it out for themselves. This technique is apparent at the start when the camera shows the audience a shot of the cast, then pans up to a broken camera, then pans along many different pictures of a car crash. This allows the audience to work out that this man is a photographer, due to the many photos and camera parts in house, and was in a car crash, due to the pictures of said crash.

 Clip of the opening scene- Credit goes to: Clint Stivers on Youtube.

Storyboard for my Noir Film

Storyboard for my Noir Film

This is just a rough storyboard of what I plan to happen in my Noir Film.

Interview with Will about his Media Film

Interview with Will about his Media Film.

Recently I was approached by a fellow media student and asked to have a small role in his film. After we had finished filming, I couldn't help but notice the similarities with his gritty crime drama and some of the codes and conventions of the Noir films our class had been studying, so i decided to interview him about his film and what inspired him to make it.