Film Noir - Evaluation

My objectives for the poster were to produce a film noir poster, made of few photographs suggesting film noir style, as well as text. I think I have achieved my objectives quite well, because I have used 2 photographs that I edited to make them look like cartoon-style photos used in classic film noir posters that I have researched. I have decided on that style rather than black and white photographs because I think color photographs look more appealing to the audience. I have also included text in my poster, as I stated in my brief. The text contains actors' names, title of the movie and a couple of sentences that are supposed to make people want to see the movie.

For the timeline I did not quite follow my brief as I decided to shoot indoors rather than outdoors. Instead of shooting out in the streets I decided to do my shoot in a room, where 2 people would be playing cards. I took photographs as they were playing and put them on my timeline chronologically, so my animation shows the progress of the game. Before I shot I thought about making my timeline be like a scene from a movie that could be used as a part of a trailer. My timeline does not say a lot about the actual movie, instead it makes people curious about the movie as all they can see is just a small bit of the movie - a card game. They do not know who the characters are why are they playing, so it encourages them to see the movie.

However I did not quite fulfill my objectives, I have used one of my ideas for the timeline in my poster. In my brief for the timeline I wrote about a scene in a cafe or a restaurant, with two people sitting at a table. I have used this idea in my poster, where two people sitting at a table, with wine bottle and glasses, are in the middle photograph of the poster.

How to...

How to produce a movie poster in Photoshop

In order to make a movie poster in Photoshop you need a couple of photographs to put in the poster. It is important to include photos in your poster because a poster with just text would certainly not be as interesting. First you need to shoot and process your photographs in Photoshop so they match the theme and style of the movie that the poster is for. For my poster I have chosen to give my photographs slightly cartoon look because in my research I noticed that many classic film noir posters (e.g. "Double Indemnity") were made this way. I have achieved this look of my pictures by using a combination of Artistic filters in Photoshop.
After you make your photographs look as you like you can start creating your poster. First you have to choose background you want to use. I have used plain black background as I think that it works best for film noir posters. Then you can place your photos pm the background and, using layer masks, hide the parts of the photos that you do not want to have in your poster.
Another thing that a poster needs is text. It should include the title of the movie, names of the main actors and other things like date of premiere or a few words that are supposed to encourage people to go and see the movie. Important thing to remember is not to include too much text. The posters are often placed next to streets and are read by drivers so too much text would distract them. Therefore the amount of text in a movie poster should be limited to just the things stated above. It is also good to match the style of the text (font) to the film style. The picture below shows how I have made my poster.

The layers of the poster file are:

• Black background
• Layer 1 and Layer 2 containing the photographs used for the poster. I have added a slight red shadow for Layer 2 by right-clicking the layer and selecting Blending Options.
• Four text layers (one for each line of text), also with effects added.
• Layer containing an 18 age rating picture with Outer Glow effect used to make the picture merge into the background.

How to produce a timeline in Photoshop

In order to produce a timeline of photographs in Photoshop you need to open all the photos as layers in one Photoshop file. To do it, go to File-->Scripts-->Load files into stack and select all your images you want to use in your timeline. Once all the photographs are opened you need to activate the Animation window by clicking Window-->Animation. It will cause the Animation window appear on the screen. Then you need to create the timeline by adding new frames to your animation (small icon called Duplicate selected frame). The rule of adding new frames is that the top visible layer will appear as each frame. In order to select the photo as a new frame you have to create a new frame and Alt+click  the small Eye icon next to the layer. Once you do it, you can set the time for each frame. To do it click the small arrow underneath the frame and select delay time. You can do it for multiple frames at once by selecting all the frames you want to change the time for before selecting the delay time. The picture below shows part of my timeline with time set up for each frame.

Film Noir - Timeline

Film Noir - Final Poster

Film Noir - Brief

For the Film Noir project I need to produce two outcomes (a movie poster and a timeline).

Movie Poster

• Poster should be made of a couple of photographs, with a picture of main characters being the biggest one, and actors' names as well as movie title written over them
• It can be either in color or black and white, however color posters are more appealing to the audience
• Poster should include some of symbols characteristic for film noir movies, like guns or specific kind of clothes
• It should also suggest subject matter of the movie, which, for film noir usually is romance and crime

Timeline

• Slow or moderate speed transitions between photographs with tweening function used to make the transitions smooth
• Black and white, high contrast photographs
• Music appropriate for film noir style movies
• Scene in cafe or restaurant (alternatively a table outside), with two characters (female and male) sitting and drinking coffee, smoking cigarettes (inside of cafe can be seen in the background)
• First person perspective shots
• Low angle portraits
• Wide angle shot of a woman (femme fatale), dressed in a pretty dress and lying on a bed
• Cigarette smoke clearly visible on photographs
• Silhouettes of characters
• Shot in a room/small office, with dim daylight coming through blind, creating characteristic pattern on character's face
• Female character blowing cigarette smoke on a male character while sitting in a cafe

Film Noir - Plan

Photoshoot plan

• Black and white photographs
• High contrast scenes
• Use of street lamps - it is best to do the shoot in late afternoon/early evening
• If the shoot will be done with bright daylight, the photos can be made darker in Photoshop
• Photos shot in front of a cafe/restaurant - two characters (a man, dressed in suit, hat and long coat, and a woman - femme fatale) sitting by a table, smoking cigarettes
• Capture smoke on shots
• Possible use of flash light on high power settings, fired straight on models in order to get high contrast and dark shadows

Poster plan

• Poster will be made as a collage of color photographs of characters and/or streets, with movie's title written over them
• Photos can be adjusted in Photoshop to give them slightly cartoon-like look
• One of the characters holding a gun in his hand and a cigarette in the other or in his mouth
• Female character can be holding a long glass pipe with a cigarette on its end and smoke coming from it
• These two characters should be standing close to each other, as it can suggest romance
• Background of the poster should be black or in an other dark, plain color
• The poster, besides a photo of two main characters, can also contain small size photos used in the timeline

Timeline plan

• Smooth, slow transitions between shots
• Close-ups of photographs (first the whole photograph is shown, then the view zooms in and moves to key elements of the shot)
• 40's style music (slow jazz or rock and roll) as background of the timeline
• Quotes from classic film noir movies or sentences in film noir style as a vocal voice-over (e.g. short conversation of female and male characters)

Film Noir - Research

For my research for the Film Noir project I have watched 2 movies; a 1944 classic film noir called "Double Indemnity" and a modern film noir approach, "Sin City" (2005), as well as a couple of animations produced by graphic students for their project.

Double Indemnity (1944)

• The movie starts with a confession of the main character, an insurance rep, who, as we find out later in the movie, has been talked into a murder/insurance fraud scheme.
• The first person narration keeps going throughout the movie; the main character describes events happening and his own thoughts, giving the viewers a chance to analyze him and his thinking pattern, making us get to know him better.
• To make the viewers seem like they interact with the action of the movie, there are a few scenes when we see the action from the point of view of the main character.
• Deep shadows are caused by point lighting of streetlights. It also makes the characters appear on the screen only as silhouettes.
• Mysterious mood has been created in a couple of scenes by making the light coming through blinds the only source of light. It causes most of the screen being black, with quite sharp, but not very strong light with an interesting pattern.
• Male characters are dressed in suits, long coats and hats, while women wear pretty dresses that make them look seductive.
• A key element of the movie are cigarettes smoked by most of the characters. Cigarettes were considered very fashionable in 1940s, they are also responsible for creating specific film noir mood of rooms and bars filled with cigarette smoke.
• Soundtrack used in the movie includes deep, grim orchestral tunes, emphasizing the dark and mysterious mood of the film.

Sin City (2005)

•  The movie is based on a comic book series under the same title. The action is happening in an urban environment of a dark and miserable corrupted town, Basin City. It tells story of three different people that link together at the end of the movie.
• The first person narration is also used in the film, similarly to the Double Indemnity.
• Action is happening also in the background; a couple of scenes include characters both in foreground and background, with events happening in both planes.
• A noticeable difference between Sin City and the classic film noir movie I have watched is the use of color highlights. The movie is shot in black and white, however certain things are emphasized by colorizing them, e.g. blood is always red. One of the characters, Roark Jr, played by Nick Stahl, is also colorized as his body is yellow. He is a negative character and his color makes him stand out from other characters and expresses that he is a negative person.
• The mood of the movie is dark which is distinguished by making most of the screen black, with strong, point lighting directed on characters, key places and objects.
• Another feature characteristic for film noir that has been used in Sin City is showing certain characters just as shadow silhouettes.
• Most characters are dressed like actors from traditional film noir movies, in white shirts, suits and long coats.
• Most of the characters smoke cigarettes, what, just as in Double Indemnity, creates specific film noir mood.

Film Noir animations - graphic interpretations

• Music used in the animations made by graphics students features either slow, depressive music or 40's/50's style soundtrack, often song that were originally used in classic film noir movies.
• Transitions or graphics usually is very slow and smooth, with use of tweening.
• Main color used is black, however one animation I have seen also had red highlights.
• Mood of the animations was disturbing and dark because of use of colors, music and slow transitions. This kind of mood suggests crime or murder, which is the main subject matter of film noir movies.
• One of graphic interpretation was filled with symbols (e.g. film tape) that connect to project's title, Film Noir.