Our trip.

The other week we went to Epic Studios (http://www.epic-tv.com/) to find out about different parts of the media industry. In Epic there is 4 studios and facilities which means you can hire specialised equipment, use thr DUB theatre, a radio station is based thee and a few companys are based there also.

Epic stands for: East of England Production Innovation Centre. It used to be Anglia Television (1998-2004) and where the popular problem-solving show 'Trisha' used to be filmed.

The event gave us students a unique opportunity to learn about the prospects in the media industry from local, regional and national speakers. We got a variety of different people talk to us like; journalists, radio presenters, website designers and people who work in film and television etc. They told what they do in their job and how they managed to get the job. For me, the most interesting people that talked to us were: film and media and journalism. They told us their crazy stories of what they had to do to get a story or to get the perfect shot.

It was quite an interesting day!

Here is some more notes of Film Noirs:

Representations and Stereotypes
- Film Noir came from the phrases 'black film' but it wasn't called 'black' because of the colour, it was because the films were more darker and tragic than anything Hollywood had seen before.
- A lot of the crimes in the films were very dramatic, crimes like murder and assassination were quite popular to create.

Plot and Structure
- The plot structure was often very twisted and complex (could even be described as maze-like).
- There were often flashbacks to see what happened in the past or how somebody committed a crime. For example, in the film 'The Killers' (1946), the main male character is killed but to find out why he was killed, there is flashbacks taking you to the past explaining the reasons for his killing. We did not expect him to be killed near the start of the film as it is not in chronological order.

Stereotypes
- Microcosm - It means the mini world of a big picture. Like Eastenders - not everyone in London has a cockney accent, but most of the people in the programme has the accent.

Iconic Objects
- There is objects that are found alot in Film Noirs because they can be closely associated with crime and stereotypes of people. Objects like guns and cigarettes are used a ot. Guns can be associated with bad people, protection and murder. Cigarettes can be associated with sophistication and gang members.

Diagetic and Non-diagetic sound
- The technologyy we have today wasn't around in the 1940's and 1950's so mainly sound effects were foleyed. The sounds had to fit with the images and had to sound real - as if they hadn't been created after filming.
http://filmsound.org/terminology/foley.htm

Mise-en-scene
- Everybody is dressed to show what type of character they are before they have even said anything. We stereotype a person with a suit, a cigarette and a hat on inside is a baddie. Scenes are often set in dark alleys and bars, places that could create a cold and dark atmosphere.

My research and information of Film Noir.

Film Noir is a genre of films that are bleak, black and white and always have the theme of crime -creating tension and a mysterious and suspicious atmosphere. They originate from old Hollywood and generally were made during the 1940's and 1950's. Films nowadays can look like they have been inspired by Film Noirs but in an up-to-date way. Stereotypically, the main female role in the films is normally very beautiful and the male character is normally handsome and very popular with women. The main male character and female character are typically very attracted to each other creating a love story inside of a crime drama. The lighting in the films are very low-key and dark, this is comparable to the very low-key and dark characters. A lot of long shadows were created and rooms were filled with smoke to create a claustrophobic and pessimistic feel. The contrast of the black and white is very strong (very black and very white, so not as soft as other films around this time) creating a sharp, harsh and dramatic mood. Also many scenes in this film genre were set in dark alleys, steaming hot rooms and quiet eerie streets, all living up to the mysterious characteristics of a Film Noir. The visual aspect of a Film Noir is very important because it can tell us quite a lot about a character before we know who he or she is. For example, in the film 'The Killers' (1946), 2 men walk into a bar dressed in sharp suits, hats and are carrying guns. These men didn’t take their hats off before they entered the bar and are fearlessly holding guns. We assume that these men are in this bar to cause trouble, be rude and not to play by the rules. The person that tries to stop these men doing bad things is normally classed as the hero. The characters we get to know normally have troubles like paranoia, alcoholism, obsession, jealousy and love drama. These make the films more dramatic and make us feel more sorry or protective over the characters.

The ending of a Film Noir is normally a happy one for the hero and heroine of the film. The attraction between them throughout the film then results in them falling in love. Even though we always knew that the male and female characters will get together, we still want to find out more and see them falling in love with our own eyes. The baddies always get what they deserve, whether it is jail, not getting what they wanted or even getting killed themselves. 

Below i have created a prezi that shows my evidence of my research into the Film Noir genre.