Film

Devan Julian
Film Noir commentary
4th period

For our film, The Hit , I did most of the cinematography and camera work.
Since only two of worked on the project, I did most of the technical work because I had more experience with the equipment then my partner, Mark Lutrell. Mark was more focused on the acting and characters because he was the main character of the movie.
We wrote the story together and all the ideas for the story after the main plot was decided was worked on together. Mark was very helpful in explaining his ideas to me and I did a good job of transferring those ideas to paper in the form of location diagrams and scripts. In the actual filming, I was the cinematographer for most of the movie. In all the shots I made a really strong effort to make the lighting very important. We did several takes on some shots because shadows were too dark or they were not there at all. An example of these really dense shadows can be seen in the shot below:
We also made an effort to keep all scenes at night to keep everything dark and mysterious. We made sure that dark background in the scene where Mark’s characters enters room reinforced the time of day and mood that goes along with it.
I really feel like this a good scene that reinforces the characters and setting. The lights in the background almost add a city like feel. We really had to take extra time to figure out when to film because we wanted to make sure everything was at night. With respect to Mark’s acting, I felt like I did most of the filmic work and “on set” decisions in the production of the film. Most ideas on how to shoot and where to shoot from were mine.

In regards to the finished project I feel like our project excelled in the images and story but lacked in the audio quality and some of dialogue. I really appreciate what Mark did with his character. He played the “badass” assassin very well and was able to keep in his character very well. In most shots, his seriousness and darkness are very apparent. I also believe his large jacket and sunglass help reinforce who he is as a character. His clothes give him much more of an edge and give him a threatening look
I also think Aaron‘s character, the man that has the hit on him, did a good job of acting. I especially like the scene when he is internally assessing his situation. I really feel like his monotone voice and straight face really shows his realization of what he must do.
He was also able to play a very serious part to keep that mood and tone constant through out the film. Aaron was also able to act with more emotion when it was needed like when he begs for more time or wants his girlfriend to stay. Both my main actors did a really good job of doing that. I feel like both of them worked well together and supported each other.
I felt like our film did the best with the very strong lighting. The shadows throughout most of the movie are very obvious and play a major role in the movie and production as a whole. They were one of the most important factors and we relied on our light a lot.
But I feel like the audio quality is where are movie struggled the most. Sometimes the audio levels will be off and it will be very noticeable. And some of the time our audio was too low and we had to redo them with a voice over. We struggled with it the most and I think it becomes apparent in the film.
Our Film reconnects back to the themes and feel of Film Noir best through the lighting and the story. The lighting I believe was the best part of the film. It really helps out the characters and story. Mark looks very evil and sinister in his last shot as well in most of his solo shots. This use of fast fall off and dense shadows is a very important charactistics of Film Noir.
The lighting also helps add the darkness and mystery behind my character. The lighting makes it so my face can not even be seen. My eyes are completely blacked out and it adds that darkness and mystery. The idea of the city underground, mafias, and mobs are important ideas to use when trying to gat that urban feeling. It really adds the idea of shady leaders that do not follow any set laws.
I also think the fact that Aaron kills himself is very film Noir. This story does have a happy ending and ends with an un wanted death. This idea that things to not always turn out how they are supposed to is a Film Noir Theme.