Representation & Stereotype

Similarly to semiotics, respresentation and stereotype are not specific areas of a production that are considered respectively. Instead, they are significant factors that influence all areas of work.

• Representation is the act of communicating an idea with something other than the idea itself. Example: The symbol below represents peace, but the symbol itself does not constitute actual peace; the idea of peace is represented.

• A Stereotype is a standardised representation which usually coincides with social assumption. Example: The statement 'old people are boring,' is stereotypical. The statement represents the idea that elderly people are boring, and is standardised in assuming that this is true of all elderly people. The image below could be seen as stereotypical in the same way as the phrase.

The image above illustrates the way that representation and stereotype are never constrained to one medium of communication. It is important to understand this when constructing a media product, because it implies that representation and stereotype are controlled and affected by all factors included in that product.As an example, lets consider a short film in which the main character is a small-time London criminal. Because the audience are not actually meeting this person, but simply watching a film involving him, the character must be represented with the use of signifiers. Here is a list of areas that would need to be considered in terms of what they signify, and subsequently represent:

• Dialogue - Not only would the script-writer need to write in colloquial language with regard to the character's dialect, but the actor playing the role would need to use the correct accent when performing.

• Mise-en-scene - A lot can be learnt about a character through their surroundings and clothing. It may well be that the character's clothing contrasts with their environment, showing us that they do not belong. 

• Camera - Just as a character's relationship with the surroundings can influence audience interpretation, so can a character's relationship with the camera. This relationship is, of course, indirect, but is still incredibly effective. For example, a low angled shot can make a character appear to have higher status than another character shot from a high angle.

• Editing - As is shown in the video above, Editing is an incredibly effective way of changing a character's representation. Through a basic process of selection and omission, an editor controls what information is exposed to an audience, and can therefore guide their interpretation of a character.

• Audio/Visual Effects - Although these are used to a lesser extent, combinations of grainy, desaturated video and and a faint echo applied to footsteps could make a character seem dark and shifty.

It is the smooth convergence of these separate areas that results in believable and convincing characters.

Character: Building a Film Noir Cast

Noir is an interesting style of film, because the term 'Film Noir' was coined retrospectively, when critics noticed a stylistic trend of American crime and detective films in the 1940s and 50s. The trend was set as directors began to use German Expressionist cinematography to portray adaptions of pulp novels and crime sagas in American Literature. The films epitomised the opposite of the 'American Dream', and expressed pessimistic memes of depression, suspicion, moral ambiguity, disillusionment, moral corruption, guilt, desperation and anxiety. Therefore, in order to build an appropriate Noir persona, all of these ideas and emotions must be reflected in a character that is equally as dark.

In our basic OTS plan, the three characters are a Femme Fatale, the Femme Fatale's 'Goon', and a Victim. Whilst being Film Noir in style, our OTS will fit the Psychological Thriller genre. Most films, regardless of genre, introduce either the antagonist or protagonist in the OTS, and so we decided to involve a stereotype of Noir: the Femme Fatale, as our antagonist. We did not want to involve a protagonist for two reasons:

A) An OTS, particularly for a thriller, is supposed to tease the audience, and revealing the protagonist at this stage would give away a lot of information.

B) Moral ambiguity is a large factor in Film Noir, and concealing the Femme Fatale's true moral worth would instil an immediate sense of mystery as to which of the characters are good, and which are bad, or rather, which to side with, and which to not.



In film Noirs, the basic plot regularly revolves around a struggle for power, which may switch between characters and context's throughout the film. This is evident in this clip of The Blue Dahlia (above), from 4:00 to 6:45, where the power quickly switches from the hotel manager and the two 'Goons' to the Policeman. The switching of power makes the scene incredibly tense, particularly at the policeman's entry, because the audience is waiting for a conflicting power struggle to ensue.

The character above, with scruffy dress and a slightly apathetic expresion, makes a perfect Goon.

If the scripted dailogue is to work well for our OTS, I feel that it must include themes of a similar struggle for power. To achieve this, I will give each character a distinctly different way of acting in order to convey their different levels of status:

• I intend to write the Femme Fatale as a subtly arrogant character who is stern and sly in assuming her own position of power.
  
• Her Goon, as a kind of personal assistant, will submit to her regardless of circumstance. For this reason, and also in order to sustain a sense of mystery, the Goon will not speak during the OTS.
  
• The Victim will also be sly and cunning, but will be overshadowed and outwitted by the Femme Fatale for whom he is working.
  
• To show the difference in status between the Femme Fatale and the Victim, I will deliberately widen the Femme Fatale's vocabulary whilst constricting the Victim's. I will also ensure that the Victim speaks much less than the Femme Fatale, and rarely of his own initiative.

The more attention to detail that is paid to seperate areas of the production, the more professional the final product will look.

Location Ideas

The day after our first group planning session, James and I decided to search our home city of Norwich for locations in which we could set our Film Noir style OTS.

Being both dominant and ominous, the Church of England Cathedral would work alongside the dark, tense atmosphere of our OTS aswell as providing an iconic city backdrop.

The interesting architecture and cobbles of Tombland would work well to connote the 'old city' environment, but the area is popular with both regular visistors and tourists, so it would not be an easy place to film, and is probably best avoided.

Despite the busy nature of Tombland, there are streets around it which are usually quiet, and the buildings still have similar architectural styles. Small features like the old-styled street-lamps would make for an interesting homage to the mise-en-scene of classic film-noir.

Seeing as we originally intended to begin our OTS with the 'victim' character sat on a bench, the seating on Elm Hill will be perfect to use. The following shots could then follow the 'victim' as he runs through the winding streets. The narrow, maze-like nature of the area will allow us to be much more creative in our shots, as we will have lots of patches of varying darkness and light. These could be utilised in order to reveal and conceal characters as we see fit, allowing us to convey a sense of claustrophobia.

Although Gentleman's Walk is another busy area of the city, it is definitely one of the most iconic city environment available. Not only does it boast a vast array of architectural styles, but there is also a taxi rank, covered market and shopping arcade in close proximity. This rich collection of signifiers means that even a short sequence of the 'victim' running through the area would establish the location as a modern city, which is a popular convention of Film Noir.

Similarly to the Church of England Cathedral, City Hall offers an iconic city feature: the clocktower. The plain, bold architecture makes the building look judicial and bureacratic, so the look of the building would juxtapose well with the themes of criminality surrounding the 'victim' character.

There is another bench opposite City Hall, although it is unlikely we will use this in our establishing shot, as it is in an enclosed corner space and is therefore not as versatile as the bench space on Elm Hill. Despite that, it may still be interesting to use the Guildhall in conjunction with City Hall to show a strong orthodox and judicial presence that contrasts with our plot.

The Roman Catholic Cathedral is of particular importance to us, because the building is noticeably more malevolent than the rest of the city, with a sharp, clearly defined geometric shape. We intend to capture the Cathedral in the background towards the end of the sequence, as a reminder of morality and final judgement.

Although we intend to film in the evening in order to utilise patches of darkness to create a contrast in lighting, we are not entirely sure whether the capabilities of the provided camera will be able to cope with such conditions. Because lighting can be affected by a variety of environmental factors, it may be that we film certain sections of the sequence earlier in the day to compensate for the camera's incapabilities. For example, a shot in an alleyway may be too dark for the camera to film in the evening, but better in the early afternoon. If we do this, we will obviously have to ensure that the shots do not reveal the difference in time of day by directly showing the sky, for example. Such shots could be made to look more consistent if filmed skillfully and applied with a tinting effect.

OTS Planning Discussion

For our main practical task, we must produce a 2-minute Opening Title Sequence, as if for a movie of the Film Noir genre and style. I will be working alongside Daniel Knights, James Wigger, and Tom Palmer.



In order to start the process of making our OTS, we decided to meet and collate our basic ideas, so that we all know where we are heading in terms of practical method as well as narrative structure and theme. Above is a twenty-minute audio extract of our planning discussion.

To clarify our aims, I drew up this very basic plan of our OTS:



I also created a basic overview of our ideas with a spider-diagram, which I have since translated into the simple Prezi below:

Film Noir OTS Ideas on Prezi

 Because we intend to overlay the entire OTS with dialogue, I will be devising the characters and writing a script. This will be important to our OTS, because the dailogue will be the subtle factor that explains what the audience see.