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Screenplay – 1984
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Screenplay layout conventions
Definition of a screenplay:
“is a written work by screenwriters for a film, television show, or video game. Screenplays can be original works or adaptations from existing pieces of writing.” – including acting directions
– https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Screenplay
Example of a film with excellent screenplay:
Dif. Between screenplay and script:
Screenplay refers to anything to be played on screen such as the narrative and is more aimed for the use by the director, whereas a script is a written text that includes dialogue between characters (more technical elements).
Comparative Study – Points
| Points: | The lady from Shanghai | Sin city |
| Point 1, Genre: American Film noir – the development of film noir | Classic technical elements used in cinematography, editing, narrative. | Modernised technical elements – greenscreen set, shot on digital, narrative dif |
| Point 2, History: The influence of major historical events and its effect on the theme of film noir, i.e. Post war anxiety, trauma, fear of infiltration, and loss of trust in law enforcement. | 1947 – 2 years after the war ended. Post war Recession – Cold war, anti-communist, Hiroshima. | 2001 – attack on the twin towers by terrorist group al-Qaeda. Trauma, fear of the other, loss of trust |
| Point 3, Post feminism: Historical context and the representation of femme fatale | Elsa Bannister her role as a femme fatale | Nancy Callahan her representation and roles in the film |
Point 1: Tropes, and themes associated with films
Point 2: The fear of the other within the community
Point 3: Post feminist culture – “Objectification to subjectification” – https://doi.org/10.1177/1367549407075898
Comparative Study -References
| Title | Form | Harvard Reference | Last Assessed |
| notes on film noir | article | Author(s): Paul Schrader Source: Film Comment, Vol. 8, No. 1 (SPRING 1972), pp. 8-13 Published by: Film Society of Lincoln Center Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/43752885 | 19/5/22 |
| The Philosophy of Film Noir | article | Conard, M. T. (Ed.). (2006). The Philosophy of Film Noir. University Press of Kentucky. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt2jchn4 | 23/5/22 |
Encyclopedia of Film Noir | book | Mayer, Geoff. Encyclopedia of fi lm noir / by Geoff Mayer and Brian McDonnell. p. cm. https://books.google.je/books/about/Encyclopedia_of_Film_Noir.html?id=RsBHnZoyO4kC&source=kp_book_description&redir_esc=y | 23/5/22 |
The Philosophy of Neo-Noir (The Philosophy of Popular Culture) | book | Conard, Mark T., editor. The Philosophy of Neo-Noir. University Press of Kentucky, 2007. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt2jcts3. Accessed 23 May 2022. | 23/5/22 |
| Film Noir and the Cinema of Paranoia | book | Wheeler Winston Dixon https://doi.org/10.1515/9781474467766 | 23/5/22 |
| American Film Noir: The History of an Idea | Journal | Naremore, James. “American Film Noir: The History of an Idea.” Film Quarterly, vol. 49, no. 2, 1995, pp. 12–28. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/1213310. Accessed 23 May 2022. | 23/5/22 |
| Projecting Trauma: The Femme Fatale in Weimar and Hollywood Film Noir. | Extract | Hales, Barbara. “Projecting Trauma: The Femme Fatale in Weimar and Hollywood Film Noir.” Women in German Yearbook, vol. 23, 2007, pp. 224–43. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/20688286. Accessed 23 May 2022. | 23/5/22 |
| Agency and Fate in Orson Welles’s The Lady from Shanghai | Journal | Pippin, Robert B. Critical Inquiry Vol. 37, No. 2 (Winter 2011), pp. 214-244 (31 pages) Published By: The University of Chicago Press https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/657291 | 23/5/22 |
| Film Noir: From Berlin to Sin City | Journal | Allison, Deborah. “Film Noir: From Berlin to Sin City.” Film Quarterly, vol. 60, no. 2, 2006, pp. 80–81. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.1525/fq.2006.60.2.79.3. Accessed 23 May 2022. | 23/5/22 |
| Crime, Guilt, and Subjectivity in “Film Noir” | Journal | Fluck, Winfried. “Crime, Guilt, and Subjectivity in ‘Film Noir.’” Amerikastudien / American Studies, vol. 46, no. 3, 2001, pp. 379–408. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/41157665. Accessed 23 May 2022. | 23/5/22 |
| Anxiety and hope in the aftermath of ww2 | Article | http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/a/anxiety-and-hope-in-the-aftermath-of-world-war-ii/ | 23/5/22 |
Research Q – Draft
Q: How has the Film Noir subgenre changed over time using the films Sin City (FrankMiller, Robert Rodriguez, 2005, USA) and Lady from Shanghai (Welles, 1947, USA)?
Introduction:
In Miller and Rodriguez’s 2005 film ‘Sin City’ and Welles’ 1947 film ‘Lady from Shanghai’. Both films are widely recognisable as being significant in ways in which they incorporate elements from film noir and apply them to technical and narrative elements. With Sin City and its use of digital visual effects to create the unique visual effects seen throughout the film, and ‘The Lady from Shanghai’ with its use of well-known actors and methods seen in classic Film Noir. These films have been chosen for their applicability to the film noir subgenre and the contrast and influence of the cultural context at the time the film was made.
Comparative Study – Research
Sin city Key scenes:
Marv wakes next to Goldie’s dead body
John receives a letter with a severed finger inside
Lady from Shanghai key scenes:
Mirror scene – shootout between
Social context at the time:
‘The Lady from shanghai – 1947’
- 3 years after WW2 ended
- Post war anxiety – fear of foreigners infiltrating America
- Golden age of capitalism, 1945 – 1975
‘Sin city – 2004’
- September 11 – 19 terrorists hijacked four commercial airlines to conduct a coordinated act of terrorism
- America was struck with a long term anxiety of fear of being infiltrated from the inside
- Idea of law and order being untrustworthy as an easily preventable attack was not handled and prevented
Film Noir
Film noir:
- Usually follows the main protagonist playing a private eye, detective, journalist, etc
- The narrative focuses on the fall of the main character as they question their morals after being forced from one bad situation to the next
- Technical characteristics include Noir color pallets (dark colors/black and white), rarely shooting daytime shots, deep focus, high angle shots, tonal editing, dutch tilt, chiaroscuro, low key lighting
- Narrative characteristics include cynical heroes, intricate plots, tones of despair and madness, manipulation, etc. It usually incorporates current political, social, and economic issues and expresses them by using characters that represent real social figures such as police, detectives, screenwriters, etc.
American Cinema/American Culture, John Belton:
Belton writes, “film noir grapples, as Robert Porfirio suggests, with existential issues such as the futility of individual action; the alienation, loneliness, and isolation of the individual in industrialized, mass society; the problematic choice between being and nothingness; the absurdity, meaninglessness, and purposelessness of life; and the arbitrariness of social justice, which results in individual despair, leading to chaos, violence, and paranoia.”
Sin City:
Camera:
- Deep focus
- Close-ups/XCU
- High angle shots
- Contrasting colors (black, grey, red, yellow)
Narrative:
- Follows the different stories of 3 characters
- Characters are faced with a moral dilemma that eventually leads to their death
- Sin City shows the consequences of individual actions in a mass society
The Lady from Shanghai:
Camera:
- Camera Pan
- Deep focus
- Behind the back
- Low key lighting
- Close-ups and high angles
- Chiaroscuro lighting
Narrative:
- A seaman getting involved in a complicated murder that involves framing the seaman as a murderer
- “Elsa being represented as a Femme fatale – deceiving the anti-hero”
- “Reflecting the post-war period of uncertainty”
References:
JMR – Defining Film noir
Britannica – Characteristics of film noir
Taste of Cinema – Reasons why sin city is a neo-noir classic
A level film fact sheet (WJEC) – Lady from Shanghai
comparative study (focus)
Film Focus
Classic Noir: “The Lady from Shanghai – 1947”
Contemporary Noir: “Sin City – 2005”
Comparative study (Inquiry)
Focus: (ideas)
Femme fatale – feminist theory?
Film noir theory?
Post modernism in film – manipulation of narrative/genre?
Marxism theory in film?
Editing theory – experimental film?
Film movement: (ideas)
South korean new wave?
Soviet constructivism?
No wave cinema?
Classic Hollywood/New Hollywood?
Soviet constructivism?
Films
- Classic Hollywood/film noir : “Touch of Evil – 1958”
- Classic Hollywood/film noir: “The Asphalt jungle – 1950”
- Contemporary film noir: “Nightcrawler – 2014”
- Contemporary film noir: “Sin city – 2005”
- Femme fatale: “The Lady from Shanghai – 1947”
- Femme fatale: “The Woman in the Window – 1944”
- Contemporary Femme fatale: “The Batman – 2022”
- Contemportary Femme fatale: “Gone girl – 2014” / “Atomic Blonde”
- Experimental film: “Stan Brakage – Dog star man, 1964”
- Experimental film: “Maya Derren – Meshes of the Afternoon, 1943”
- Contemporary experimental film: “No data plan – 2019”
- Contemporary experimental film: “Let Each One Go Where He May – 2009”
Questions (“Touch of Evil” & “Sin City” – Film Noir)
- How classic film Noir was modernised?
- Differences in classic and contemporary film noir?
- How classic film noir has been adapted for a modern audience?
French new wave prac task – final
Microsoft stream link:
https://web.microsoftstream.com/video/1e2f8021-b250-42a5-90e8-c95898395aba