The Swift End + Short Film Evaluation

I extremely enjoyed the processes of creating and making the final film this year and in my opinion it has given me an opportunity to improve my skills on camera. As a group, we are very proud and pleased with the way our final Film Noir short film turned out, I enjoy the fact that we kept with our original first idea to create Film Noir with a more modern twist to the genre. Our group dynamic also worked well in order to get the film finished, even when we encountered some large, almost impossible, hurdles regarding character availability as one of our characters was on holiday and wasn't back till after our coursework had to be handed in,  however we were able to go back to the storyboard and use our imaginations to come up with some more ideas, in order to make up for the character loss. On the other hand, even though we are pleased with our final cut, there are definitely areas where we could have improved on.

What we did well was the use of camera angles in our production. Throughout our project, we used a large variety of camera angles, some of which we consider to be unique. An example would be in the scene where Clive Swift has first knocked on the door of the Roper Household, where we see Mrs Roper walking down the stairs. The camera angle used is a tracking shot, focusing in the lower body of Mrs Roper, leading to a build up of suspense for the audience as all we see is her lower half, jet black knee high boots on contrast to the pure white banister. One more example would be the over the shoulder/pan shot at the beginning of the scene involving Clive and detective Nigel Montjoy, in the quiet park where Clive is sitting down on a bench lower down in the distance, whilst Nigel looks down upon him. We felt this shot represented a convention of film noir, where often the 'hero' looks upon his 'prey'.

An area of criticism for our project would be the scene at the very start. In this scene, Mr Ropers and Clive Swifts heads are cut out of the top of the scene, when Mr Roper stands up to greet Clive. We could improve this scene by when the heads get cut out of the shot that we insert a new high shot camera angle that can fill that section, then cut back to the other clip. However it is difficult to keep cutting camera angles, as Film Noir conventionally has long takes.

Another thing I have noticed is that between some of the shots in our short film are very sudden and sharp transitions. For example, the scene between where Mrs Roper is attempting to seduce Clive, and the one where he phones her back changing his mind. They suddenly cut between the two without no suspense etc. One way we could have improved this is by adding in a fade transition, and in the background apply some slow jazz music, to add more suspense and split the scenes up a little more.

Finally, the last thing I would change is the final scene. This is where Clive Swift is shot, outside on the graveyard. However there is no explanation and it leaves the audience baffled. This scene is different due to the character unavailability. We could include some minor detail of a narration, or name in the book to take away the confusion and questions, however it can be a good thing to leave it on a cliff hangar.

Overall however despite these minor flaws of the project. I feel like we did the best we could do within the time limit, also with the hurdles we faced in order to complete the project.

Magazine Article

The Swift End

The short Film Nor film 'The Swift end' is a film filled with excitement and mystery for the viewers, with a climax at the end leaving us (the audience) to ask questions as to who, what, where and why? In this we see actors Anil Sidhu, Adam Orton, Becca Varley, and Charlie Rodgers with possibly the performance of their lifetime careers along with Director Scott Taylor succeeding again with another amazing short film, this time in the Film Noir genre.

*SPOILER ALERT*

In this short film, we see Charlie Rodgerr as the Solicitor(arranging where Mr Ropers money will go, once he dies) who is having a performance of a lifetime, dressed in a finely fitted designer suit. We meet the character, Clive Swift, in the first scene of the film where we see the character take the long walk up towards the newly built household of the Roper family. He is greeted at the door by the seductive, flirtatious and manipulating younger wife of Mr Roper. Matilda. Once Clive has finished finalising the details of Mr Ropers will, Mrs Roper is left 'hurt' and 'upset' after finding out the will proceedings of Mr Roper has all been left to his son, without a mention of her name at all. She tries her best to seduce Mr Roper (Charlie Rodgers) into putting her name on the will instead of his sons when they are left alone in the kitchen, but her attempts shatter before her eyes,  as she fails to change Clive's mind about tampering with the will.

However as time passes, Clive begins to overthink and allow his emotions to overwhelm him, resulting in him calling Mrs Roper to discuss the plan of action, to kill Mr Roper and change his will. Later that day, Clive is to turn up to the Roper household to sneak in and murder Mr Roper, it is clear that Clive had been reeled in and manipulated by the seduction of Mrs Roper.

Once the murder of Mr Roper is made clear, a slow painful suffocation death for Mr Roper, we are introduced to the blunt, stocky detective Nigel Montjoy who shows little emotion or sentiment for the death of Mr Roper. After a shifty swift confrontation between both Nigel and Clive on a park bench, where it is immensely quiet, Clive Swift is anxious and has to leave suspiciously as Nigel begins questioning him about the Roper families Will. 

In the final scene, It is seen that Clive is waiting for somebody. But who? Who is he waiting for so impatiently? Mrs Roper? Nigel Montjoy? However, before we find out. Bang. Clive is shot dead, the killer unseen. This leaves us with so many questions. Who was he waiting for? Who shot Clive? Mrs Roper after seeing he was having second thoughts? Nigel Montjoy, taking the law into his own hands? I guess we'll never know!

 

Editing of my Poster

This is my own version of the poster for 'The Swift End'. I have used a number of conventions for this poster.
The inspiration of my poster came from two different Film Noir films. These are 'The Third Man' and 'The Dark Corner'. Mainly due to the face of the singular man on the poster, and the contrast of light and dark colours.
I used this title font because it is the one that we use in the main project, also because all the letters are joined as if the words are one swift movement that all come to the same end. I used the font for the other wording on the poster because they are simple, don't stray attention from the main title and are also clear to read without struggle.
Another editing feature I used was the gradient tool, with this I used it to fade from the main background picture to black to show the contrast of colours and so that you can read the text without having to concentrate or squint. I used several layers in order to get the curve just right, using the rubber tool to remove any inconsistency with the fade in colour.
Making this poster hasn't furthered my skills on Photoshop as I had already taught myself how to use it, so I already had the ability to make this poster efficiently and to the best of my ability. I used a lot of layers within this poster, to get the best quality. The bottom layer being the picture of me on the bench looking outward(of which was screenshotted and cropped from the final cut.) The gradient layers being on top of the picture, and then the text layer being above the gradient layer.
Shown below are the two posters I took inspiration from:

Film Poster Analysis

Film Poster

Production Company Logo

As I teach myself Graphic Design, Illustration and etc. I was dedicated the role of this, as I do make graphics design/illustration/animation based work in my spare time, so it make sense to allocate me this role.
I actually made this for my AS level coursework in media, we just decided as a group not to put that to waste and reuse and retouch anything up to suit the current coursework theme of Film Noir. The production company is called 'Zodiac'. We changed from the original to add the conventional Jazz Music to the intro. The long black screen at the end is where it transitions into the final piece and is background music for the opening scene so it transitions smoothly into the film.
I wouldn't change a thing as I think it fits well with the theme of Film Noir, however I would try to make it look more like 'Film Noir', which was hard to do with the little amount of time available to me to change it. The original one is shown below for comparison for the changes we made.

Filming Diary

With our filming we aimed to complete it all in 2 days. We feel that this is a very achievable goal as over 50% of our scenes are filmed in the same location, being the house of Mr & Mrs Roper.


Thursday 9th March 2017
Location : Adam's House (house of Mr & Mrs Roper)
Characters involved: Clive Swift, Mr Roper and Mrs Roper
Group members present: Charlie Rodgers, Scott Taylor, Adam Orton
Scenes Filmed: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and half of 7 (phone call from Mrs Ropers side).
Any issues encountered?: No issues were encountered during this session, we were able to stick to the script and storyboard and used every angle we set out to use.
Tuesday 11th March 2017
Location: The Knights Templar School Sixth form common room
Characters involved: Clive Swift
Group members present: All group members present
Scenes Filmed: 6
Any issues encountered?: When filming this scene, we only came across a very minor issue of not being able to find the right location at first to film. It took us a good half hour to find the perfect location, and we then had to wait additional time for people to leave the area.
Saturday 8th April
Location: Ashwell springs, Baldock Church grave yard, Adam's house
Characters involved: Clive Swift, Detective Nigel Montjoy, Mr Roper
Group members present: All group members were present
Scenes Filmed: other half of 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12
Any issues encountered?: One main issue we encountered was the location of filming scene 11, originally this was meant to be filmed in an office, however we could not get a hold of one. We then changed up the scene so that we would film by the duck pond in Radwell (near by village), however this was highly congested with people so we then had to move to another location. Fortunately, Ashwell springs (again apart of another close village) was 'deserted' allowing us to film efficiently. I feel that this was actually fortunate on our behalf, as looking back I do not feel we would have been able to get as many shots and angles from Radwell duck pond.

Behind the Scenes

Script

Script:

Interstellar landscape. Comets fly across sky and freeze centre frame. Modern and eerie electronic sound plays. Rising name Zodiac completes the logo. Stars fade to black. Logo flickers. Holds centre shot. (Jazz soundtrack begins to play)

Cut To:

Ext. Day. Quiet suburban neighbourhood

Shot focusses man walking (purposely) up the street. Well dressed and professional (suit)

Title flickers onto screen in time with the soundtrack. The credits and actors roles appear on the screen as the camera pans around to reveal an expensive house. Soundtrack abruptly stops as character approaches the front door. (Camera tracks and follows man up the drive)

Sound bridge between scenes as camera cuts to an over shoulder shot of man knocking on the front door.

Cut To:

Int. House. Day

Looking through the banisters of a staircase. Woman walks down the stairs to answer the door. (Dressed in knee high boots, tight jeans and a red top) House is well decorated. Characters have a brief exchange in the doorway.

CLIVE SWIFT

Hello I’m here for Mr Ropers will

MATILDA ROPER

Yeah Come in!

Mrs Roper leads swift off screen down the hallway…

Cut To:

Int. House. Living Room. Day

Establishing shot of a smartly dressed man leisurely reading on the sofa. With his feet up on the coffee table in front of him he seems completely relaxed…

Mrs Roper enters with Mr Swift… Roper stands to greet them… The greeting is far less formal than we are expecting suggesting a long term client with previous history…

CLIVE SWIFT

You all right Neville?

NEVILLE ROPER

Yeah, I’m not too bad! How are you?

CLIVE SWIFT

I’m fine! I have finalised the details of your will…

Swift Hands Mr Roper a folder… Roper carefully looks through the booklet… Mrs Roper seductively sits on the arm of the sofa looking over her husband’s shoulder at the will… Her expression turns from confident to one of confusion and suppressed anger…

NEVILLE ROPER

Everything seems to be in order

Roper takes a second look over the will and then proceeds to hand the book back to Swift…

NEVILLE ROPER

Yes, everything seems fine! Thankyou…

Mrs Roper seductively gets up and heads towards the door catching the eye of Swift

MATILDA ROPER

I’m making a drink anyone want one?

Roper responds while resuming his previous position while reading

NEVILLE ROPER

Yeah I’ll have one

CLIVE SWIFT

I will help standing up and following Mrs Roper out of the room and into the kitchen.

Cut To:

Int. House. Kitchen. Day

Mrs Roper leads swift into the kitchen… Camera tracks the pair across the roomsettling on a two shot… She proceeds to open a cupboard and remove two mugs- slamming them down on the granite table top in a small show of aggression. She then spins around to face swift on the opposite side of the kitchen letting out a sigh…

Cut To:

Mid shot of Swift casually leaning up against the opposite counter making off screen eye contact with Mrs Roper…

Clive swift

Is everything all right Miss?

Cut To:

Mid shot of Mrs Roper seductively copying Mr Swifts position again making firm eye contact…

MATILDA ROPER

Have I always not been on the will?

Cut To:

Mid shot of Swift still casually leaning up against the opposite counter making off screen eye contact with Mrs Roper…

CLIVE SWIFT

Sorry I’m not actually allowed to discuss this information. If you have any questions you should ask your husband…

This confident response shows Swift’s professionalism and his commitment to his client.

Cut To:

Two shot from over Swifts right shoulder showing the pair in discussion… Still not breaking eye contact…

MATILDA ROPER

Is there any chance you could put my name on the will? (Seductively)

CLIVE SWIFT

I can’t actually do that!

As swift says this Mrs Roper slowly moves forward towards swift never breaking eye contact… As she does this the camera pans around so the two characters are equal in screen positioning…

MATILDA ROPER

Are you sure there’s not any way I can get my name on the will?

(Seductively)

As she says this she begins to grab a hold of Swifts jacket but he stops her…

CLIVE SWIFT

Maybe I should go!

Swift hurriedly picks up his things and walks away leaving Mrs Roper who spins around and watches him leave…

Cut To:

Ext. Car. Day

Mid short shows Mr Swift sat in the driver’s seat… He looks visibly bedraggled and tired as if something has been playing on his mind… He dials raises his phone to his ear as the dial tone rings…

Cut To:

Int. Car. Day/Int. House. Day

The split screen on one side shows a close up of Swift in the driver’s seat of his car while on the other shows Mrs Roper answering the call sat at the kitchen table… Her ringtone sounds as she walks into the shot and sits down…

MATILDA ROPER

Hello?

CLIVE SWIFT

Hello it’s me, I’ve changed my mind about your proposition earlier

MATILDA ROPER

Though you might… (Seductively/Confident)

Meet me at seven…

She quickly hangs up the phone and walks out of shot before he has time to reply…

CLIVE SWIFT

All right

Cut To:

Int. Office. Day 

Close up of Matilda ropers name being forged onto a duplicate will and the documents being forged…

Cut To:

Close up looking down on the two documents with the real document outlining the heir as Thomas Roper (Mr Roper’s son from his previous marriage) and the fake document listing the heir as Matilda Roper… The signature is forged…

Cut To:

Int. House. Day (evening)

Mid shot of swift secretly entering the Roper’s residence and heading upstairs being careful not to make any noise… Camera tracks Swift up the staircase looking through the banisters… (Secretive music begins to play) 

Cut To:

Int. House. Day (Evening). Master bedroom

Establishing shot shows Mr Roper sleeping alone in the room coincidentally Mrs Roper is nowhere to be seen… Swift quietly enters and looks around… He picks up a cushion and smothers Mr Ropers face with it… Roper awakes and struggles but it is too late…Ropers lifeless arm falls to the bed Then swift quickly returns the cushion and leaves…

Cut To:

Ext. Lake. Day

Establishing shot of man watching Mr Swift while camera tracks across behind him and zooms in over his shoulder towards his target… Curious/Dangerous/mysterious music begins to play 

Cut to:

Wide angle shot of stepping stones across stream as mysterious man walks into the shot and crosses the stepping stones… Music continues…

Cut To:

Establishing shot of Swift sitting on a bench looking troubled as he stares at a piece of paper in his hand he sees the man approaching and crumples the paper into a tight ball in his fist… Music fades out as man sits down next to swift… 

DETECTIVE NIGEL MONTJOY 

Hello Clive…

CLIVE SWIFT

Hello Nigel, What you doing out here then?

DETECTIVE NIGEL MONTJOY 

You know sometimes I like to come down here and clear my mind, listen to the water… (Stares off camera at the lake)

But… I have a few questions to ask you regarding a client of yours… I was wondering if you could help…

CLIVE SWIFT 

What clients did you have in mind?

DETECTIVE NIGEL MONTJOY 

I was wondering if you could tell me about Mr and Mrs Roper…

Swift looks visibly startled and tries to regain his composure…

CLIVE SWIFT

I didn’t actually know them very well…

I’m sorry I’ve got to go! I have another appointment…

Swift hurriedly and suspiciously walks off screen before leaving he discreetly drops the scrunched up paper into the bin… Montjoy notices

He leisurely gets to his feet and walks over to the bin. He unfolds the scrunched up paper and is surprised by its meaning… Montjoy then walks off in the opposite direction staring at the paper in his hands.

Cut To:

Low angle shot looking up at a church tower… the camera tracks down and swift comes into shot… He seems much more nervous than he has been previously and he appears to be waiting for someone… He looks at his watch on multiple occasions and is shifty… The church bells begin to ring…

Cut To:

Black screen. The church bells continue to ring… A single gunshot is fired…

Cut To:

Establishing shot…Swifts lifeless body lying where he stood before… Jaz soundtrack begins to play… 

Cut To:

Close up of swift’s body on the floor…

Cut To:

Black screen. End credits…

THE END

Shooting Schedule

Characters, Costumes and Props.

Locations

Group Choice

Our group was made up of 4 members. I wasn't in this group for AS Media, as all other three members of my AS Media filming group did not continue with Media in their second year, or left Sixth Form all together. However, all other three members of my A level group were in the same group for AS, so I was a new addition to their already made group dynamic.

Last year, they all had their set roles. As Scott was the most advanced in editing, he did the larger chunk of editing, Anil was camera man/director of the scenes, and Adam was more of an acting role. Adam, has a lot of knowledge about Film Noir so therefore bringing him into more of a directors role will be more beneficial to our group this year. Anil, we thought to bring more into the acting scene as he gives that stern blunt detective look as he is a stocky bloke. Scott, we brought more into the camera man/director role as I am very experienced in the technology side of things with me teaching myself graphic design and illustration, which would benefit this group massively.

We feel that everyone should actin our film, and we should all have main roles such as editing, filming and etc, however everyone should help push their weight within every role..

I think as a group, and our broad range of knowledge, skills and understanding, we should be able to become successful with this project. As individuals, over the past year, we have changed, matured, and can understand each other and be on the same wavelength in order to complete this project to a good standard. I am implemented into the group in order to help improve the dynamic, and make a positive impact on the things they weren't quite as successful with last year. We have decided to work together as we all are comfortable around each other, and get on well so do not feel awkward critiquing each others ideas and implementing our own, helping each other be productive, creative and constructive.

Neo Noire