Short Film Commentary

Section 1:
After finishing our final product, and thinking back to when we had to prepare for this film it was extremely difficult to getting our treatment just right. And then after that doing our script and characterizing the characters in a way that they can be portrayed, as they were in our treatment, through their actions rather than dialogue. Filming was very difficult considering we all had our own commitments during weekends and most of the week. The locations were easy to shoot at but the variation of the shots was difficult because most of them on our script were similar to we tried to think of other ones while filming. Another thing we had to constantly change was the lighting in the rooms; we used many lamps to either add light when all of the lights were off or to make spotlights. Christian, Dee and myself had to act in our short film so despite having to set up each shot and lighting had to try to get decent acting in to be able to get our plot across to our audience. Overall, I believe we were able to get it across to our audience although it was difficult. Our footage was mostly easy to edit since we did a rough cut before we were able to get all our footage. By the dead line we did not have so much stress of it being done since we had all our footage edited and just needed to get our audio in. Most of our footage was good quality, one thing I would change, in a particular the scene when the woman takes the bag off of the man's head, was the lighting in a few shots. Some shots were too bright when compared to others and some too dark to make out who was in the shot.

Section 2:
Conflicts between the two main characters are are expressed well and add to the drama of the short film. The acting is very consistent throughout the film; everyone tried their hardest to portray the characters through their actions, like how they were in our script. The man is constantly shown to be a jerk throughout the film and the woman stays serious. The dialogue shows the characters' true personality towards the situation. In our film there is a flashback that cuts into the present, our movie takes place all in one day. The light was very difficult to deal with so we were not able to obtain the contrasts we wanted to make our film more noir. We made a effort to dress in dark clothing but did not since our film is neo-noir. The color of our clothes and the balance of the color do not interfere with each other so our shots were not grainy. We chose music to add to the tension and drama building up to the end result from our acting and dialogue. We fixed the levels of the background music so it does not interfere with the dialogue. Our choices of location kept the audience focused on the characters and what was happening rather than what was in the background. We used small rooms so that there would not be any distractions to the audience. We struggled with lighting a lot. In some scenes we had too much light and in others too little light. We used lamps to try to create little light as possible but still be able to see the characters' faces and actions. We frequently used close ups and tight shots to keep the characters in focus. We preserved the 180 degrees rule; and ordered the shots in chronological order so the audience can follow the plot.

Section 3:
In film noir the most evident thing is dark lighting and shadows in most of the scenes. Our flashbacks represent film noir, also the man's wardobe in the scenes are mostly dark. Our film consists of many close ups to keep the audience from seeing things around the actors to give a sense of mystery and suspense. The characters are also redolent characters of film noir: the woman is the femme fetale, she is powerful, while the man is corrupt without a sense of sympathy. We used stylized dialogue throughout our film to cause our audience to question the decisions the characters come across. We used tense and low background music to add to the dark mood. The effect of the final outcome, the woman being murdered and the man getting away with his womanizer acts leaves the audience confounded. Our film is neo-noir because it is set in modern times and it is in color unlike the traditional film noir black and white. Our contrasts between black and white are not very drastic.

Script Analysis

The film starts at a dramatic moment in the middle of the drama by the first scene being at a resturant with the main character trying to get his date to go back to his house with him but she tries to kindly refuse and once she agrees he gets kidnapped. The scene that opens the film is when the main character gets kidnapped and when the main charcter kills the woman that kidnapped him will be the memorable scene that ends the film. The character's attitude and position throughout the events portray him as a jerk that does not let anything discourage him. He is very comical with what he says and will do anything to get what he wants. The man is introduced in the begining of the film when the audience can see the way he acts with woman. By using dialogue, props, flashbacks, shadows to emphasize certain objects, and by helping the audience create an imagination by using different angles and lighting you can help the audience discover what is happening rather than telling them. By not having long exaggerated shots that do not have a point, making sure the shots help the plot, and having a mystery to the plot can reduce things to a minimum but can still have an impact.

Chinatown Story Analysis

The narrator of Chinatown is Mr. Gittes, the protagonist in the movie; since he is one of the main characters it is better that he is the narrator so that the audience can see what happens in the situation rather than outside of it. Voice over narration usually took place when Gittes goes further into his thoughts so he could express them to the audience. The movie does put itself together but at the end when the audience knows all the information and can see the relation of everything. The audience has to pay attention to be able to put one and one together to figure out what is happening in the film. This film mostly goes in order of events but sometimes it didn't because later in the film Gittes would reveal the mystery and relate all the events together. Chinatown is a formalistic film.Chinatown is considered film noir but it is a lot more colorful than other film noir films. The film Chinatown states or implies that this time period was moraly corrupt because of everyone going behind each others back and keeping secrets from each other and trying to cover them up the further along they go in life. It also implies that people didn't feel that they could trust other people around them if they couldn't tell each other something and that they disrespected people they didn't care about. This film shows the darker side to humans and what we are capable of.