I looked at audience and influences for our sequence, the age group we are aiming at, suggested by our brief, and is 15-24 year olds as they are the most common age to visit the cinema. We decided to conduct a survey to see what they would like to see in our film noir. We asked them to write down what they associated with the term film noir, common answers were black and white, old, traditional, murder and mystery. When asked if they would go see a film noir at the cinema most said they wouldn't, their favourite genre's were action films, horrors and romantic comedies, this shows that our film would have to have some modern twists on the traditional film noir to attract the attention of the audience, for example using modern fashion and filming in colour so that it doesn't look dull and remind audiences of the old traditional films, they also like fast paced editing to keep their attention throughout. I think our storyline could involve elements of the romantic in the flashbacks and nearer the end of the sequence, fast paced cutting shots to create an anxious atmosphere and an enigma.
However, we will be using traditional features such as a voiceover, according to the questionnaire audiences like these as 'it feels as though they are talking directly to me' and 'it involves me in the movie, helping me understand it'.
Openings that have influenced us are Kill Bill, it uses closeups, a voice over and using tension by using blackouts with just her breathing, i think this really creates a anxious setting and leaves the audience wondering whats happening. Another opening we looked at was Vertigo, we really liked the closeups on the actress's face, the performance made her look scared and that is reflected in the audiences feelings as well, the violins in the background of the music really added to the tension so when looking at music we will take this into account, the whole sequence is simple yet ominous.
To watch Vertigo's opening sequence click the link below;
