Mood Board

The above picture is a mood board I have created to help inspire our group for our opening title sequence. I organised the collection pictures into three groups; anti-hero, femme fetale and noir iconography. As we have previously discussed featuring an anti-hero I focused on getting a range of different types however they all have similar traits such as some kind of iconic costume for example a trilby hat.

Still frame analysis of noir

A presentation showing physical examples of Noir Iconography

Examples Of Film Noir

After researching some old and more modern films I created a short video compiling of a few Noir pieces which I personalty think portray the style well. For example Sin City has many elements which are common in Noir such as black and white scenes and moody lighting. I voice over particular sections of the video, describing what is happening and how it can be linked to noir.

Noir-The genre

Working together to build a picture of what noir is we brainstormed all of the iconic imagery which appears in noir films onto a whiteboard, these included femme-fatale, gangsters and misty lighting. Below is a picture of the finished result after working collectively for one hour.

An introduction to genre.

To fully appreciate the vast amount of variation in film we, in groups, listed down as many genres as we could ranging from less well known such as Martial Arts to very popular genres such as Action. The activity allowed me to gain additional knowledge on sub genre and confirm my thoughts on Noir as before I wasn't sure if it was a genre or style and it is in fact a style.

Final cut of our Saw swede

Below is our groups final cut of our summer project, Saw sweded.

Overall I think that the project went very well considering our combined knowledge of film making. The actual filming element could have gone better as we didn't vary the choice of shot very much making the final piece a little repetitive. The editing was split up into two which allowed every member of the group to see the editing process and contribute.

Summer project: The creation of a Swede film

The term "sweded" comes from the concept which was created with the production of Be Kind Rewind a 2008 film which involved the lead character, played by Jack Black, to create short very low budget versions of major block buster films which cost millions to originally make. Due to its popularity, generating a approximate gross profit of $11,000,000 it sparked a whole new generation to create their own short parodies of block buster films.
We were given the task of creating our own sweded film during the holidays to give the opportunity to practice key skills which will help with the AS level we will be taking in September. Below is the trailer for Be Kind Rewind and a few sweded films generated from amateurs. 

Jurassic Park

Ghost Busters

Filming (Day 2)

As we began our second day of filming we made a portion of fake blood using a recipe researched through the internet. The substance consists of honey, red food colouring and coffee to darken it. Our first attempt was not particularly successful as the coffee we used seemed to give the blood a lumpy unrealistic consistency and therefore during our second attempt we changed the coffee to soy sauce which allowed us to get the desired shade of red and the correct consistency.
            To protect the surfaces around our set we laid down some clear perspex like material which prevented the staining of other things. It came with a slight disadvantage however as it reflected light back at the camera a small amount which does disrupt the verisimilitude for the audience. Overall however the second day of filming was a success and we planned to have another set of filming without myself but as our other group member Harley was back he would be able to contribute to the production.
Below is a link to a video which we recorded on the day which involves a quick visual update on our progress.
Filming Day 1

Filming (Day 1)

After arranging a couple of days to film the majority of the group arrived at Aidan's house to begin filming a few of the beginning scenes of our swede. Once we had skim read the script to the scenes we were producing, we began filming making use of our access to a tripod allowing for more creative and steady shots. As the casting had already been sorted out in the planning stage, I as Doctor Lawrence and Aidan as Adam S, we began filming the first few scenes of our production.

Mis en scene

Once the majority of the planning had been finished we had to obtain the appropriate mis en scene for the production including an actual location for the filming to take place. Due to our groups well thought out choice of film the locations we needed were minimal and so we chose Aidan's Bathroom to be the main filming site of the swede. Also as we needed props, we bought various items from joke shops including fake cigarettes and a bald cap.

The price of the items was then divided between our group members which came to a cost of £5.94. Lastly the purchasing of fake blood was left out as we decide to make it which could end up cheaper and more controlled than buying it.(see later post.)

Structure and story boarding

After watching Saw through we began drafting up a list of key scenes which were necessary in the final swede. This list included the most important scenes to the story and the ones which are the most iconic, this ensures the audience recognises  which film we are parodying and can relate to the production as they are familiar with the original.

After finishing the list we created a basic story board of the final scenes we planned to actually film taking in account of how practical the scenes are and the time which they would take up in our limited production.

Film Technology

Almost instantly after the decided film had been selected it became apparent that we needed to think about cameras and possible scenes which would require a tripod. We realised that we did have a large amount of options when it comes to actually filming the project. Each of us owned a camera
 in some form where it be a handheld video or mobile phone camera. Additionally we also had access to a camera from school which we intend to use on a tripod. These different items allows for more freedom in the creation of a Swede and make it more authentic within the genre of parody.

Brain Storming

Once our group was organised which includes, Aidan Rawlinson, Lily Potter, Harley Goulder and myself, we had to decide on what film we wanted to base our swede off of. There were many factors which affected our final choice but after a session of brainstorming, taking in account of the limited budget we had and our collected knowledge, we generated a list of potential options.

• Shaun Of The dead
• Terminator
• Pulp Fiction
• Saw
• Final Destination

After further discussion and research we decided on Saw, the 2004 horror. The reason why we picked this was because the group was fairly familiar with the film and the limited miss en scene allowed for a smaller budget to accommodate.