Establishing Shots:
1. Albert Clock
2. Black Man Statue and The City Hall
The Belfast City Hall, along with the docks, is quite possibly the most famous location in Belfast, as well as the heart of the city. As soon as this location appears on screen, the viewer will instantly be aware of where the film is taking place, setting the scene. It is also a very old building, giving the film a classic feel. Furthermore, the statue outside of the City Hall will help give the film an ominous tone and help with capturing the traditional film noir vibe.
3. Crown Bar
For us, personally, we would consider the location of The Crown Bar to be one of the most important locations for the establishing shots. This is because we were looking to almost replicate, or at least pay tribute to, shots filmed outside of The Crown Bar in the 1947 noir film 'Odd Man Out'. This is probably the most well known emerald noir film, and the only one I can really think of that was filmed in Belfast, so it would make sense for us to pay homage to it in our film. It is also probably the most famous bar in Belfast, making it perfect for our lineup of establishing shots that are going to play during the credits.
4. Belfast Docks
As mentioned earlier, along with the Belfast City Hall, the docks are quite possibly one of the most famous aspects of the city, specifically with Harland and Wolffe. This is where Belfast's most famous export, the Titanic, was created, almost adding to the dark and ominous noir tone that we are looking to create. This area will also help our film to look and feel more epic and large in scope.
Film Opening
1. Docks at ground level (Encounter with dealer)
After a lot of thought and planning, we concluded that the docks would be the best possible filming location for our opening drug deal scene. We were originally going to film this scene in an alleyway, within Belfast's City Centre. However, we thought that this may be too dangerous and risky, as we will be filming with a replica gun, and with the amount of people around it would attract a lot of attention. We then decided that the docks would be the best option for this scene as there are a lot of abandoned areas, and there are nowhere near as many people around the overall area. Also, this area of the town isn't particularly colourful, it is incredibly dull and dreary looking, which is perfect for the tone we are aiming to achieve. There are an abundance of places to film down by the docks, giving us a good selection in case something goes wrong.
2. Westway Pool (Phone-call with Chief)
This is quite possibly the perfect place for the police chief to be hanging out. This is because it really helps to flesh out his character; he is more old school and engages in a pastime associated with an older generation, foreshadowing possible tension with his methods and the methods of the younger cops in the film. The pool hall also looks more modern, despite the old school feel, as it features a lot of bright colours, almost making it look like more of neo-noir setting. This once again allows us to blend elements of classic noir, emerald noir, and neo-noir effectively.
3. Sunflower Bar (Closing of opening scene, officer at bar)
The Sunflower Bar is one of the best possible locations we could have came up with for this scene. It definitely has a very traditional Irish feel to it, and is also steeped in history due to The Troubles in Northern Ireland, being one of the only bars in the country to still have the cage around the front door. It plays a lot of Irish music and is filled with items and pictures related to Irish culture and history. A bar is also a very stereotypical noir setting, especially for the troubled detective character, making it perfect for our film as this allows us to keep in line with the codes and conventions of both film noir and emerald noir.
No comments:
Post a Comment