A Dame with a Clue - Final Cut

Evaluation - Question 7

Question Seven involves a range of explanations and evaluations based on mine and Elona's prelim task of "The Show Must Go On". We discussed some of the faults with our previous production and how we wouldn't make these mistakes in our final cut of the final piece.  

Evaluation - Question 6

Question Six heavily evaluates our use of technology and software throughout our production process. We have spoken about what went well, difficulties we encountered and how our skills and knowledge has developed through our experience with technology. 

Evaluation - Question 5

How did we attract each group?

Relating back to the codes and conventions of Film Noir

• To attract our target audience, we had to focus carefully on the mise en scene. Firstly, the use of the colour red on the title will appeal to the younger audience because it symbolises the modern era – we did this to convey the idea that this film is set in the 1940s but is created in the modern day. As we are teenagers ourselves, we know that generally people our age are hesitant about watching black and white films because black and white films are uncommon nowadays – the ‘normal’ and ‘typical’ type of films that we are used to are colour films therefore we added colour in the title with the purpose of appealing to a younger audience.
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• Additionally, this will also attract the male target audience because red symbolises blood which can be associated with crime and this colour also represents the traditional femme fatale red lipstick. 

• In the exterior shots, the femme fatale acts suspicious – she looks around as if she is hiding from someone which links to the ‘being followed’ theme of Film Noir films. Additionally, most exterior shots are of her back and there aren’t any clear close ups of her face which gives the impression that she doesn’t want to be seen; we did this to create an enigma code – the audience is left wondering who the female is and why she looks so suspicious. The creation of mystery will attract the male target audience because it adds to the dark and crime concept that males prefer.

• Another enigma code that we used in the opening is the ‘you’re next’ note – Lana Lombard hands it to the detective without any details therefore the audience will wonder who and where it came from and it adds to the mystery surrounding the female character - this note will either present her as a victim or a masked/lying perpetrator depending on the audience's judgement - thus luring them into wanting to see the rest of the film.

• Enigma codes are useful in terms of attracting the target audience because these codes get the audience thinking – it creates many questions and as humans, we feel more at ease when our questions are answered therefore the target audience will want to keep watching the film for their questions to be answered. The reason why we chose an older target audience because older people are more experienced and intellectual so they will more likely notice enigma codes.

Mise en scene

• Film critics will be focusing on how we are going to be able to portray the 1940s therefore we focused carefully on the mise en scene by using props such as a rotary dial telephone, old fashioned film cameras and typewriter to convey the time era the film is set in. We also used character costumes and the actors use old American accents to portray the time period. Jazz music is a vital part of film noir therefore we used a jazz piece for the majority of the opening.

• In addition to this, we used typical Film Noir shots: long shot of Lombard walking towards gate, match on action – zoom on window and zoom out of lamp, entering the office, shot-reverse-shot – during conversation. We also used low key lighting throughout the opening.

• Another film noir code is the use of a list to display the titles which can be seen in films such as Brute Force – we included this to be able to show the genre clearly.

 Brute Force Opening

A Dame With A Clue Opening

• This will attract film noir fans as we have included a variety of film noir conventions that the audience will look for and this will hopefully appeal to film critics as we are showing that we have understood clearly the codes and conventions of the genre.

Feedback from the audience:

We set up a survey using Survey Monkey with the purpose of getting audience feedback. We sent emails to people in sixth form as well as people we work, family members and friends. The email included a Youtube link to the opening sequence and the survey.

https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/LTQCTMK

How old are you?

The majority of the people who did the survey are teenagers and adults - these groups are our primary and secondary audience. This shows that these age groups were interested in filling out the survey therefore the opening sequence attracted our ideal target audience. 

What is your gender?

As shown above, most of the people who filled in our survey are female which shows that our film goes against the stereotypical male film noir audience. 15% of the people who took part are still male so it still managed to attract that group. 

Could you tell that the genre was Film Noir?

Everyone could tell that our film was Film Noir meaning that we have managed to use the codes and conventions of the genre effectively. We are relieved by this because we focused carefully and worked hard on the mise en scene by setting up the props and choosing the correct costumes and location. 

What did you like about our film?

People said that they liked the unique choice of genre which made our film stand out in comparison to modern films. They also praised the mise en scene which again, we are pleased with because we really worked hard on this. We made sure to focus on small details such as the titles and the costumes to attract the audience.

What could be improved? 

A few people stated that we need to improve on the voice-over so next time, we will use a better quality microphone instead of our phone to record the voiceover. Additionally, the editing could also be improved by making the pace more consistent and we could have also included more camera angles during the office scene which would have made it more appealing. 

Did you like our film opening?

The majority of the people said yes meaning that we managed to attract the majority of our target audience. This may be due to the enigma codes that we used in the opening which made them interested about what direction the rest of the film will take. 

Evaluation - Question 4

Question Four focuses on our audience members and how our production would appeal to them. We have heavily discussed how we will typically target our primary audience as well as challenging audience stereotypes. We have also designed our typical audience member to our Film Noir.

Evaluation - Question 3

Question 3 discusses distribution and where/how we plan to develop our production further. We evaluate why we chose the distributor and how our future with "A Dame With A Clue" will carry on. 

Evaluation - Question 2

This short video clip answers the question on how representation is used and applied into our opening sequence. In conclusion, we represented gender by reinforcing Film Noir conventions through stereotypical characters, Mise En Scene and cinematography.

Evaluation - Question 1

Our final media product contained many codes and conventions to the genre. However, we have further discussed how we challenged these conventions to make our Film Noir unique. 

Production Diary

The past couple of weeks, we have worked especially hard to direct and construct "A Dame with a Clue". We spent lots of time researching location and costume to match typical Film Noir as well as experiencing different technology for the first time. Below is our production diary, which demonstrates our steps to creating our final cut.