FILM NOIR EVALUATION QUESTION 2

Ella Amoroso

How did I represent gender, location, age, class, status and ethnicity?

In our finished film noir piece, we showed only 1 location. This is because we set the scene in the detectives office. We also decided to stick to one location so that all of the sequence was in one location. We did this because our scene was set inside and there was no need for us to film anywhere but in the detectives office as the set. This didn’t show much variety of location, however it was certainly easier to film and didn’t cause any hassle.We represented age a little bit differently in our film noir opening sequence. We did this by using the femme fatale as the older person between the femme fatale and the detective. This is unconventional as the detective is usually older than the femme fatale in a film noir. This is conventional and would typically be the case. However, the femme fatale in our film noir opening sequence is older than the male. This makes our film noir opening sequence a little bit different and unconventional, but not too unconventional that it doesn’t look right.

In our film noir, we wanted to give the impression to the audience that the detective is not this rich famous detective that everyone knows. We did this by sowing at the beginning and during the opening sequence that he is stressed and needs to have a drink every now and then. This made our film noir opening sequence a bit unconventional. This is because we thought it would definitely be unconventional for the character. However, we incorporated that the femme fatale has a lot more money in our opening sequence for the film noir. We did this when the detective offers the femme fatale money and she turns it down saying it’s ‘dirty money.’ This s unconventional, because conventionally in a film noir the femme fatale wants money, or something expensive off’ someone, whether it be the detective or ‘bad guy.’ This is an unconventional feature in our film noir opening sequence.

We did not use anything in our film noir opening sequence that would represent ethnicity between the characters. This is something conventional in film noirs, however If I would go back and change something I would of included a character of a different ethnicity. I would do this because it is unconventional and I would like to see how the audience reacted, and their thoughts on having a main character, possibly the femme fatale, of a different ethnicity. However, I don’t think that having both characters of the same ethnicity effected our film noir production at all, I think it made it conventional.

How did you represent “people” in the world of your film (E.g. Violent or

Manipulative).In our film noir opening sequence, we didn’t use any violence in the sequence. We were going to use a gun, but we ended the sequence before we would of used the gun scene. This is because we wanted this to cause the audience to want to watch more. I thought that we achieved this aim very well by not adding any violence into the sequence. We did use the femme fatales character to be manipulative towards the detective when she puts the briefcase onto his desk, and acts seductive. However, when we see the femme fatale refusing the money that he offers her (which is unconventional), we see her being manipulative towards the detective. The Femme fatale goes into his office obviously wanting something from the detective by the way she is acting, but then when she is offered money she refuses it. This comes across manipulative, confusing, and also unconventional. However this is one of the aspects I really liked about our sequence. How we displayed the different reaction to what the audience is probably expecting from the femme fatale.

Were there any stereotypes or anti stereotypes in your movie opening?We did have some stereotypes in our sequence. One of these was the fact that the femme fatale was a very attractive lady, and the detective was a young attractive male too. This is very stereotypical and conventional in film noirs, so I think we achieved this stereotype easily and successfully. However, one of the stereotypes was the femme fatale declining the money that the detective offers her. This is very unconventional as stereotypically in a film noir the femme fatale is after money from someone in the film. So the fact that she is declining this means that this is an anti stereotype in our sequence. However this was deliberate so I like this anti stereo type, as it makes the audience want to watch more as to why she has declined the money and not accepted it. This is what you expect the femme fatale to do. Another anti stereotype in our film noir opening sequence would be that the femme fatale is older than the detective. Conventionally/stereo typically in a film noir the femme fatale would be a lot younger than the detective/protaganist, and this would be why he would be very attracted to the femme fatale. However, having the aged swapped in our sequence makes it unconventional, but it also works well with the script and doesn’t make the whole opening sequence too unconventional. This was a successful anti stereotype that we decided to use in our opening sequence.