Noir Clips

Re: Noir Clips

Taylormade,

Isn't 1.66:1 ar the same as single-perf 16 without optical sound? Just curious how you arrived at that ratio when finishing the project.

On your locations and spartan set decoration - it's funny how empty hallways in a great old building can be as visually compelling as a set where a swarm of decos has spent days filling every nook and cranny. I always work thinking that less can be more if you use composition to your benefit. In these clips our focus is directed on the characters who don't get lost in an overly busy setting - I for one love it.

Are you a fan of The Conformist by chance? It's one of the best minimalist noir films no one has seen (in my humble opinion).

If you ever get to North Carolina, look me up as I'd love to sit with you and talk.

Cheers,

e
 
Re: Noir Clips

I can only echo what's already been said about your clips. Inspiring. When I saw the first few seconds of the first clip, I wanted to bolt back to the thread and ask where in the world you get a car like that for the shoot! haha!! I read your reply about you restoring them. Very nice! The lighting and set in the last clip reminded me of Citizen Cane, for something beyond the fact of it being noir. I think it was the high ceilings, too. Very cool...
 
Re: Noir Clips

Actually full screen video is closer to the original aspect ratio of pre fifties films. I cropped a bit because I like the look, but I may go back to full frame - it would be more accurate - haven't decided yet. When Cinemascope came in, non scope films were masked to 1:85 to give them a 'widescreen" look and that masking has stayed standard ever since.
RT
 
Re: Noir Clips

wow unbelievable man... great stuff!

I read how you did the bullet holes and it looks awesome... definately going to give it a try

keep it up
 
Re: Noir Clips

I love the look of the Conformist, although the story itself leaves me a bit cold. That's a film where I have a hard time getting involved with the characters. Visually stunning, emotionally cold. I guess I have to care about the people slowly sinking into an inescapable hell of their own making. Just my opinion.
RT
 
Re: Noir Clips

RT,

Great job. This looks fantastic. My friend (a director who just spent $18 grand on his short) didn't believe me that you shot this for $140.

How did you light the wide shot of the hallway in clip 3? Was it daytime and that was the sun pouring down the hall? Or was it some practical lights in the building?

I find this piece very inspiring.
Thanks
Bill
 
Re: Noir Clips

Glad you liked it, Bill. The hallway was mainly lit by those tall windows that line the walls. The overhead practicals were turned off. The windows gave a nice soft spread, broken by the shadowed walls in between.
I used a 650 Chimira to flood a bit from the left and slightly to the rear of the actors and a 650 with diffusion to throw a little light on the wall with the wood doors. The window in the alcove where the actors were standing gave me all the back lighting I needed for the fat cop and bounce off the cream-colored walls gave a nice soft wash to their faces. The lights weren't changed for the medium two shot or the closeup of the fat cop. The close up of the thin cop had a bit of backlight thrown in from a diffused 350 off to his left rear.
When that long shot came up on the location monitor I just about wept with joy. That was as close to perfect as I could get - it looked exactly the way I imaigined it would when I was writing the script. Maybe better. That doesn't happen often.
RT
 
Re: Noir Clips

And it was daylight through the windows, shot about 4 in the afternoon. I'd scouted the location weeks earlier and knew that was the perfect time to shoot. We lucked out and had kind of a milky sky that day which kept the light from being too harsh. The advantage of going with B&W made gelling the lights unnecessary despite the different color temps between the daylight and Arri lights.
RT
 
Re: Noir Clips

Super job.

I really like the lighting. Some of it reminded me of "Touch of Evil".

Its nice to see how well the Dvx handles black and white.


--Bop
 
Re: Noir Clips

Taylormade - I agree with you on the emotional detachment issues with The Conformist - course, I feel the same way about the characters in Millers Crossing and The Killers too.
 
Re: Noir Clips

I don't feel as detached from the characters in Miller's Crossing, although the Coen's sometimes broad interpretation of the noir/gangster movie is often distracting. Hammet's "Red Harvest", the tone of which Miller's is based on, comes across as pretty silly and plupish to today's reader, too.

The "Killers" - the original, anyway, not Segel's remake, strikes me as one of the ultimate noir films. Characters caught in a web of their own deceit, predestined to fail no matter what they do. Lancaster's character moves me in that film - a man destroyed by the evil forces in the world, forces he could not defeat and eventually joined - to his doom.
RT
 
Re: Noir Clips

RT,

Thanks very much for the detailed lighting setup info on that shot. Looks so good.

I loved "The Killers" too.

I will be shooting a film noir parody (comedy) that a friend wrote early next year, and I showed this to a couple other people involved to get them hyped up.

So you obviously shot in color and made it black & white in post. Did you shoot this pretty clean and then crush the hell out of the blacks in post, or did you do a lot in camera? Care to share any scene file settings? It would be much appreciated.
Thanks again
Bill
 
Re: Noir Clips

File settings were straight default 24pA. I messed around with the blacks in Avid, but not that much as the combination of lighting and camera gave me close to what I wanted. We used a pro monitor on location, correctly set up and then we turned off the color. This gave me a very good idea of the overall look and let me see where I was going when I converted everything to B&W. The secret to the noir look is always the lighting, and the best advice I can give is - don't be afraid of the dark.
RT
 
Re: Noir Clips

These clips should be in everybodies "reasons why the DVX kick ass" folder!

Have you got anymore that you could share, RT? ;)
 
Re: Noir Clips

I guess I'm going to have to cave in and get a website, I can't keep depending on the generosity of other folks to put these clips up. Once I do, I'll post some clips from "The Contract" a COLOR short that has some interesting shots.
RT
 
Re: Noir Clips

Good idea using the monitor and just turning off the color. That's what we'll do I guess.

What may I ask did you use to compress this baby?
Thanks
Bill
 
Re: Noir Clips

It's just a down and dirty mpeg file straight out of the Avid into Sorenson. This is still untimed, unmixed, and with no music or SFX.
RT
 
Re: Noir Clips

Taylormade-

All I can add to what others have said is, You Are God. I really dug these clips, and it is obvious that everyone involved with the project did it for the love of Noir. The actors have fantastic faces. Once you've got foley and music, this will be a slam dunk.

To everyone who is interested in doing Noir, the single best thing you can do when pulling together your equipment for the shoot is to buy, beg, or steal a pro monitor that allows you to see your setups in full black and white. You will cry out for joy.
 
Re: Noir Clips

I couldn't agree more, Speedbump. I use a properly set-up monitor on every shoot where it's possible. It is the only way to get a true picture of what you are shooting. I've been using the DVX100 long enough to have a very good idea what I'm getting viewing off the camera monitor, but in areas where you really want to accurately determine shadow detail or to check subtle color corrections, the pro monitor is the only way to go.

In "Stakeout" I got fantastic detail in the warehouse scenes despite shooting at very low light levels - and the monitor let me see it. Using edge lighting and shadows to help in the composition is an old trick DPs like John Alton used to shoot quickly on these low budget features. I also went in in post and added some shadows in areas that were too big to light properly with my small four light kit. For instance, the shadow on the wall behind the "dame" on the couch was added later.
RT
 
Re: Noir Clips

When you say 'edge lighting', are you talking about a face half in shadow and half in light? Or maybe a hair light from behind to separate out the actor from the background? or what?

I'm still relatively new to moviemaking (only at it for four years) and I realized along the way that cinematic imagery is all about lighting and composition. Duh! Anyway, I also discovered that one should expose first for contrast, then everything else follows. We started shooting color clips by using our pro monitor in blue mode to see the contrast of our setups, then switched back to color once we had the most 'filmic' look we could get. That really helped make our shots look way better.

And now of course we are finally getting to the point where we've intuited some of the rules of lighting, so we have to spend less time on setups, and more on performances. But what that practice has done is created a deep appreciation for good black and white movies, and we're looking for a script which would do a Noir feature project justice.

Thanks for sharing.
 
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