CHASER: A MODERN FILM NOIR
_______________
A Project
Presented to the
Faculty of
San Diego State University
_______________
In Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for the Degree
Master of Arts
in
Television, Film, and New Media Production
_______________
by
Michael S. K. Neel
Summer 2015
iii
Copyright © 2015
by
Michael S. K. Neel
All Rights Reserved
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ABSTRACT OF THE PROJECT
Chaser: A Modern Film Noir
by
Michael S. K. Neel
Master of Arts in Television, Film, and New Media Production
San Diego State University, 2015
Chaser is a story about Devin, a city detective who has been investigating the
kidnapping of the police captain’s wife, Melissa Florek. Devin’s search takes him to a seedy
bar that is suspected to be a front for other illicit activities by the city’s biggest crime lord,
Vincent. Although Devin’s job requires him to be a symbol of justice and good his struggles
with his own demons are revealed through the subtext of his dialogue and his actions.
Chaser is an homage to the independent style of neo-noir. Noir’s dramatic style of
shadows, moral ambiguity, and cynicism is often seen as its own genre, when truly it is a
style that can be applied to various other genres.
This project paper will explore the various stylistic techniques of neo-noir as well as
other movie making aesthetics. More specifically, it will elaborate on the significance of their
presence within this short film and how they will make it similar to that of a modern noir
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
PAGE
ABSTRACT............................................................................................................................. iv
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .................................................................................................... vii
CHAPTER
1
INTRODUCTION .........................................................................................................1
Statement of the Problem .........................................................................................1
Sub-Problems ...........................................................................................................2
Definition of Terms..................................................................................................3
2
REVIEW OF LITERATURE AND FILMS ..................................................................4
Literature on Project Topic ......................................................................................4
Related Films on Project Topic................................................................................6
Literature on Project Style .......................................................................................8
Neo-Noir ............................................................................................................8
Action Sequences ...............................................................................................9
Related Films on Project Style ...............................................................................10
3
METHODS AND PROCEDURES..............................................................................14
Pre-Production: Location Shooting........................................................................14
Production: Lighting ..............................................................................................14
Post-Production ......................................................................................................16
Editing ..............................................................................................................16
Color Correction ..............................................................................................16
Sound Design ...................................................................................................17
4
CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................18
Assessment of Goals and Objectives .....................................................................18
Summary of Lessons Learned and Their Significance ..........................................21
Conclusions from Project .......................................................................................22
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Recommendations for Further Study .....................................................................24
BIBLIOGRAPHY ....................................................................................................................25
APPENDICES
A BUDGET .....................................................................................................................27
B CREW ..........................................................................................................................32
C SCRIPT ........................................................................................................................34
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to thank my family and friends who mean more than anything to me.
Their support has made all of this possible.
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CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
As a kid, I loved action movies and spent my days playing with action figures,
choreographing complex fight scenes. After middle school, I decided that I was no longer
interested in acting in theater. Every time I went to my mom’s house, we would go to the
movies. Afterwards, we would usually go to dinner and discuss what we liked and disliked
about the film. I started making short films and soon realized that is where my true passion
laid. As I got older, I found my preferences of the movies I was watching changed. I started
liking movies that had more than just action sequences. I craved movies that had realistic
approaches, specifically to action scenes. As an audience member, I did not like seeing the
hero pull off an absurd move, such as falling thirty feet and surviving, while the villain died
from the same fall.
For my project, I will be doing a short action film about a city detective, Devin, who
is on the trail of the city’s biggest crime lord, whom he suspects has kidnapped the police
captain’s wife, Melissa. This film will explore moral ambiguity as we discover that Devin
may have ulterior motives for trying to find Melissa. Stylistically, I want to make this short
film as realistic as possible while being simultaneously dramatic and suspenseful. I plan on
doing this by using noir and neo-noir techniques.
While film noir is often confused as a genre, it is really an aesthetic application
typically characterized by stories that have “alienation, moral ambivalence, and
disorientation” (Conard 2). In addition to this definition, noirs are visually recognized by
their dramatic lighting style. The name was given to this style of filmmaking by the French in
the post-World War II era. They identified themes and styles that the Hollywood system was
producing during the 1940s and applied this name to that group of movies. Therefore, film
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noir as a genre was not something that was consciously being made until its revival during
the 1960s.
A stylistic choice that separates film noir from all other genres is the use of dramatic
lighting. Shadows are often used in film noir to conceal identity and to create suspense and
emotion for the characters. As a director, this gives me the ability to add to the story without
using expository dialogue or superfluous scenes. This visual motif also creates suspense by
limiting what the audience can see and therefore allows their imagination to come up with
possibilities. In film noir, the use of shadows is one of the most commonly recognized
aesthetics. Placing shadows throughout the scene provides a visual contrast within the frame,
as well as helping to build a sense of drama. Since Chaser is a short film, it can use this style
to its advantage, because there is not enough time to devote scenes to character development
and empathy towards the character. Using these lighting techniques will serve to add
information within the frame without making it look like a blatant attempt to do so.
My aim is to honor the aesthetics and storytelling of noir to make a short that has
entertaining visuals and an enthralling story.
SUB-PROBLEMS
The main sub-problem that I will be solving is finding a way to light the scenes of my
movie so that they can be categorized as neo-noir. I want my movie to feel as though it is
both visceral and documentary like. When a character walks through the set, I want them to
move through shadows much like that of a neo-noir. This can be accomplished several ways
through various lighting choices.
Noirs from the classic era were filmed in black and white. It was only after they were
identified as noir, when directors went to emulate this style, that the use of color was the
norm, giving them the option to shoot in either black and white or color. Chaser will reflect
these aspects by crushing the blacks and whites, de-saturating the color and then saturating
select colors slightly more to give emphasis to them. Crushing the blacks and whites means
restricting the variance and depth that those two colors can have; it limits the shades of gray
that will exist between the two extremes.
Stunts are another problem I will face. How will I be able to film Hollywood-quality
stunts with my budget restrictions? I want the action of this film to be very convincing. When
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stunt scenes are poorly shot or executed, the drama and realism fades, allowing audiences to
realize that they are watching a movie. This pulls them out of the scene and ruins the overall
experience. For Chaser, there are several action sequences that I must figure out how to
execute in a manner that is safe for everyone on set and looks realistic. Some of the stunts
that the script calls for are: spilling bourbon in the lap of the villain and lighting it on fire,
hand to hand combat, and using guns that fire blanks.
Another one of the challenges that this production faces is staying away from the
current trend in Hollywood in which fight scenes are shot up close with twenty cuts in thirty
seconds. When Michael Bay was filming insert shots for the car chase in his movie, The Rock
(1996), he shot his actors in a stationary car, using a combination of pans, whips, and zooms.
This meant that the actor would sit in the car while the camera would do all the movement.
According to David Bordwell, “the actor has almost nothing to do, since the cinematography
is carrying the emotional jolt of the movements” (76). I will avoid this type of scene
construction through the use of long takes and quick cuts to emphasize the important beats
within a scene to provide contrast. This style of editing is known as “pause-burst-pause
pattern” and is common in Hong Kong actions movies (82). Although he goes on to say that
this style of editing is not in every Hong Kong action film, it is rarely seen in movies that are
derived from the Hollywood system.
With all of these approaches, hopefully I will be able to give my short film a coherent
stylistic quality that will make it stand out. I believe that this methodology will be feasible
too, because neo-noir aesthetics will provide the drama by disallowing the audience to see
everything, allowing them to question what will happen next. With this approach, I hope to
create a short that has depth and meaning to it. Audiences will be able to understand the
nuances of the characters by the end of the movie, and hopefully understand the inner
struggles of the characters.
DEFINITION OF TERMS
The following terms are used in this project report.

Neo-Noir: Films made with the established conventions of the noir style after the
style was first recognized by the French.

Noir: Name given to a set of films with similar aesthetics and themes by the
French in the post-World War II era.
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CHAPTER 2
REVIEW OF LITERATURE AND FILMS
LITERATURE ON PROJECT TOPIC
At the heart of Chaser is a crime drama that finds its roots in the gangster film genre.
Although gangster films typically focus on the rise and fall of a gang leader, or one of the
lower-level gangsters, the scope of this film is limited to the fall of a gang leader. The choice
to concentrate on this aspect of the genre came from the simple constraints of making a short
narrative. However, by using the gangster genre as a template, and conventions that have
been established in past and present gangster films, it is possible to effectively produce what
is at the core of this genre in little time.
Although not all gangster films have the gangster as a main character, one thing they
do have in common is the illustration of him as a tragic hero. Much like my film, the gangster
Vincent’s life is the embodiment of our aspirations that we cannot act out ourselves. As
Robert Warshow puts it, “In ways that we do not easily or willingly define, the gangster
speaks for us, expressing that part of the American psyche which rejects the qualities and the
demands of the modern life, which rejects ‘Americanism’ itself” (100).
This is important to understand first because this allows the audience to empathize
with him and therefore see him as a tragic hero. His reflection of societal struggles to attain
wealth and success is ultimately what makes him a tragic hero. This is the underlying theme
of Vincent’s actions and reason for elevating his criminal activities. Warshow elaborates on
this, saying that violence is the substance of his, the gangster’s success, and likens it to a
businessman in his/her appearance of achieving their success “by talking on the telephone
and holding conferences and that success is talking on the telephone and holding
conferences” (102). If the audience can understand this mentality about Vincent’s character,
they will realize that he has been on this path for some time. If Vincent were fighting some
low level drug dealer trying to take over his area, then the audience would likewise be
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conscious of the fact that he is just starting out. Through visual storytelling, the audience will
immediately have an understanding of where these characters stand in relation to one another
without any dialogue.
The gangster film genre, like any other genre, is subject to cycles based on the social,
economic, and political climate of the time. Fortunately, the gangster film more so than any
other genre, except maybe the Western, has gone through the volatile swings of demand to be
produced. Consequently, it seems as though with each new revival of the gangster film, the
genre finds a way to explore another focus that had not previously been explored. In the late
1980s to the early 1990s, studios were producing movies that took a look into the ghetto gang
and teenagers that were in gangs. According to Steve Neale, “it was not until the arrival of
The Bronx War in 1990, New Jack City, Straight Out of Brooklyn and Boyz N the Hood in
1991 . . . that the black and Latino urban ghetto strand was first fully established” (39). With
this option to explore diversity, Chaser will use characters that come from diverse
backgrounds. The main character, Devin, deals with alcoholism, which is subtly portrayed
through his actions. This choice was made to emphasize the moral ambivalence of Devin’s
character as he tries to find Melissa.
Another one of the cycles that this genre goes through is the focus of its characters
and what these stories decide to cover. Movies like Reservoir Dogs (1992) are derivative of
the heist theme, but shift away from the focus of planning and executing a heist, like The
Italian Job (2003), to the aftermath of the incompetence of the group who executed a failed
robbery. Pulp Fiction (1994), another Quentin Taratino movie, focuses on the role of the hitman. Chaser will focus more on the struggle between cop and crook. “They [gangsters]
struggle, too, with their own limitations and flaws and with their individual mortality. (It is
here, of course, that the often-argued parallels between gangsters and tragic heroes can most
frequently be found.)” (Neale 37).
Here Neale is talking about how in recent mafia movies, mafia leaders who are
depicted as having a “great deal of power” struggle to maintain it (37). In order to have more
power than the next guy, or to keep from being caught, they are often forced into situations
where they deal with moral ambiguity, or force those around them into similar positions.
Devin is an imperfect character, and through his relationship with Vincent, the audience will
begin to empathize with him as they learn how corrupt Vincent is. The contrast and
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similarities of these two characters will allow for there to be a more dynamic relationship
between the characters and those watching them on screen. This film simultaneously
illustrates the external battle of good and evil between Devin and Vincent, as well as Devin’s
internal battle with alcohol and fidelity.
RELATED FILMS ON PROJECT TOPIC
The gangster films in the early 1980s did what they had done numerous times before:
experienced a decline in interest and were later resuscitated in the early 1990s with movies
like New Jack City (1991) and Boyz N the Hood (1991). With these rejuvenations, there have
been various approaches to the ways in which the stories are told. Movies like Scarface
(1983) showed the rise and fall of a Cuban immigrant, while other movies like Gangster
Squad (2013) show how a group of vigilante cops took down Los Angeles’ biggest crime
boss, Mickey Cohen.
Scarface, although a campy portrayal of “a [fictional] Cuban gangster,” chronicles the
rise and rapid descent of a drug lord as a consequence of greed (Neale 36). There are very
important elements of the gangster genre that are incorporated into it. Its focus is mostly
concentrated on the moves necessary for Tony to become the biggest drug dealer in the
United States, while devoting a subplot to Tony’s chief of security, and his pursuit of finding
happiness in life with Tony’s younger sister. This dynamic is later used to emphasize how far
Tony falls. Chaser uses Vincent’s desires to establish control over the city as a motive to
kidnap the police captain’s wife. This desire for power will ultimately lead to Vincent’s death
more as an inevitability than a storytelling technique. Similarly, Chaser uses greed as a
motivation.
Gangster Squad takes a different approach in order to reach its climactic ending for
the villain, because Gangster Squad was based, albeit loosely, on true events in Los Angeles.
In Gangster Squad, Detective John O’Mara is in charge of bringing down Mickey, and the
audience follows him as he experiences all of the challenges that are associated with this
task. The difference between these two movies is that since one movie is based on a true
story, they are constricted in what they can and cannot do in terms of the story. Since
Scarface (1983) is fictional, they had the creative freedom to create whichever scenes they
would like to. Chaser will follow Devin as he goes through the similar task of bringing down
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the city’s biggest crime lord, like Detective O’Mara did in Gangster Squad. Drawing on this
common ground, I will choose to focus on Devin’s ability to capture a criminal, rather than
show a criminal’s corrupt lifestyle like Scarface did.
Although Chaser shares a lot of common story tropes with these two movies, it is
fundamentally different in regards to the development of its characters. Since this project is a
short, the script has to be more economical when covering the themes that would make it a
genuine gangster film. Instead of being able to put extra scenes in the movie to show how
alcohol has been a problem for Devin, it will be told through him constantly holding a glass
of whiskey and never taking a sip of it. I also cannot afford the time to show questionable
moral actions perpetrated by Devin that would inform the audience of his moral ambiguity.
In both Scarface and Gangster Squad, the villains meet their end by either someone who is
not afraid to cross the line in order to get justice. In Gangster Squad, Mickey is brought
down by John, who gets enlisted to create and lead the squad because of his conscious
decision to save a girl from Mickey’s thugs in a hotel owned by Mickey. Tony Montana is
brought down through his own greed and ignorance when he chooses to not listen to a drug
lord from Colombia who supplies him with cocaine. When Tony makes him mad, the drug
lord sends an arsenal of his henchmen to kill Tony.
However, one thing that both of these movies have in common is that both gangsters
were killed when they were left alone. This is also another common theme that Warshow
elaborates in his essay when talking about Scarface (1932), “Through some monstrous lack
of caution, he permits himself to be alone for a few moments. We understand from this
immediately that he is about to be killed. No convention of the gangster film is more strongly
established than this: it is dangerous to be alone” (102). In both Gangster Squad and Scarface
(1983), the antagonist is killed when they are left alone and in Chaser the same is true. After
all of Mikey’s men are killed, he has a one-on-one fist fight with John. In Scarface, Tony is
gunned down only after he kills the head of his security, his team of guards are then killed
along with his sister. Ultimately, this leaves him alone, illustrating a more precipitous fall
that all gangsters inevitably come to. Again, the same happens in Chaser. At the climax of
the movie, when Vincent no longer has any bodyguards with him, Devin kills him. It is this
convention that allows Chaser to be considered a gangster film even without its ability to
explore other cinematic conventions that feature length movies use. However, by
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incorporating established techniques previously used within the genre, this project will be
able to effectively draw ties to the gangster genre and prove that it belongs in the same
category.
LITERATURE ON PROJECT STYLE
The following section is broken up into two sections that focus on the aspects of neonoir and the action sequences.
Neo-Noir
Film noir is often confused for being its own genre, but in reality, it is a style that can
be added to any genre. “You know a classic noir film when you see it, with its unusual
lighting (the constant opposition of light and shadow), its titled camera angles, and its offcenter scene composition” (Conard 1). With a crime drama being one of the most replicated
genres using the noir conventions, it seemed appropriate to apply to Chaser. However, the
distinction that I should make is that this project will be a neo-noir, because it will be made
after the conventions of noir had been established. Classical noir era films were made before
the conventions of noir had been identified by filmmakers and critics.
When taking a critical look at film noir, the name John Alton will inevitably come up.
His work as a director of photography on movies such as Raw Deal (1948) helped create the
foundation of common lighting motifs. Later on, the neo-noir style used his approach to
influence the way they lit their scenes. One of the reasons that film noir was so captivating to
watch was because the lighting style had so much character to it; it could enforce or subvert
gender identity, or add a heightened sense of drama to any scene. “John Alton writes, ‘where
there is no light, one cannot see; and when one cannot see, his imagination starts to run wild.
He begins to suspect that something is about to happen. In the dark there is mystery’” (Frasca
62).
This is a major influence on which Alton based his creative decisions. By controlling
light, visual information can be exploited or concealed, allowing the audience to participate
at varying levels. As a filmmaker, you want to be in control of how the audience is engaged
and what their experience is. Using less lighting and creating more shadows retains
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information from that audience, allowing them to “suspect the worst” (Frasca 62). Frasca
even comments that this is the best way to produce a mysterious mood for the audience.
This particular approach to filmmaking will be about finding a way to modernize the
neo-noir genre, while still paying homage to the noir constructs that were created more than
fifty years ago. Using similar story telling techniques, such as moral ambiguity, and lighting
setups, I will be able to aptly recreate a neo-noir.
Action Sequences
Currently in the Hollywood system, movies like The Bourne Identity (2002) and
Elysium (2013) use montage editing with extreme close ups to construct their action scenes.
Whenever Jason Bourne is engaged in hand-to-hand combat with an enemy, the camera is so
close to the action that it is hard to discern what movements each character is doing and the
physical impact that they are having on their opposition, even with the use of foley, the
application of sound effects in post-production, to let us hear the impact. Chaser will
construct its action sequences by using quick, close-ups to punctuate and contrast the long
takes. Bordwell labels this type of filmmaking as “pause-burst-pause” scene development in
which it “creates a regular and recognizable pulse” much like music (81). By using this style
as a template, I hope to avoid the confusion of these Bourne-esque fights scenes and create a
sequence that helps the audience better recognize the scope of the fight; making it feel more
realistic and visceral.
A pause-burst-pause, an editing style in which a montage is put in between two long
takes, approach of assembling a scene really focuses on creating a sequence that holistically
represents the scope of action. Bordwell’s article addresses this when he compares the action
sequences of Lethal Weapon (1987) to the Hong Kong movie Hearty Response (1986).
Bordwell’s analysis comes to the conclusion that the action scene from Hearty Response has
a stronger “kinetic impact” than Lethal Weapon (77). He then elaborates: “The controlled
execution of the act was put at the center of the mise-en-scène, and other film techniques
were devoted to presenting it vividly” (77). Chaser will use this as a reference in order to
create scenes that have both dramatic and realistic representations of action. If I concentrate
my attention on making these scenes follow movies like Hearty Response’s scene
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construction, then I will be able to make the fight scene in the bar look believable and impact
the audience at a the same depth as a full length movie in a short time.
RELATED FILMS ON PROJECT STYLE
Overall, I want to create a neo-noir that is blended with neorealism that uses long
takes to create a movie that audiences will enjoy watching. Movies like Raw Deal (1938) and
Sin City (2005) provide good examples of noir and The Protector (2005) uses long takes
during fight sequences, a similar aim to what I hope to do. Ultimately, Chaser will use a few
conventions from neo-noir and action films to create a fluent and coherent style.
Raw Deal is about Joe, a felon who took the rap for his boss, who promises Joe fiftythousand dollars when he gets out of jail, and even helps with an escape plan. The rest of the
film depicts Joe's trip to San Francisco, where he plans to collect his money and then board a
boat with his girl, Pat, to leave the country and start a new life together.
Throughout this movie, the lighting techniques help accomplish multiple things:
create drama, mystery, and emphasize character. By using certain lighting techniques, the
camera will draw attention and create depth to an actor's performance. In the opening scene
of the movie, Joe is talking with Ann, a paralegal working on his case who is smitten by him.
When the camera cuts to a close-up of Ann, her face has a nice even tone of light, without
harsh shadows, creating a soft gradient that runs across her face. This does several things,
most importantly of which is to contrast with the lighting on Joe's face, which has deep
shadows and edges. The soft light on Ann's face also establishes her as the good-girl who,
throughout the course of the film, wins Joe’s heart.
Not only are the characters lit in dramatic fashion, but so are the sets they occupy.
When Pat is walking down the hallway to see Joe, the hallway is lit with columns of light
that fall from the ceiling, creating isolated areas of light and shadow. This allows Pat to move
through shadows and for large portions of her body to be covered by them when she is
checking in with the guard. Moreover, this lighting reflects the same lighting style that we
first see Joe in, drawing a bridge between the two characters that is supported later, when we
discover that she is going to help him escape the prison.
This style of lighting is often known to be the antithesis of Hollywood lighting,
because normally, actors are separated from the background with the use of a rake light,
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illuminating the subject from behind so that the edges of their silhouette provide separation
from the background. In this suspenseful movie, the drama is heightened by allowing the
background of the image to absorb the character. “In other words, the lack of detail is
precisely the strategy that produces the most mysterious mood. Since we cannot see the space
clearly, we begin to suspect the worst” (Frasca 62). Although we don’t have any reason to
expect the worst in this particular scene, it is frequently repeated throughout the film and
adds tension. By adding just a little bit of shadow to a character, a director has the ability to
tell the audience something about his characters, without relying on dialogue. In this first
scene of the movie, it establishes Joe and Pat as potentially morally corrupt characters. Film
is all about show, not tell, and thus, this style of lighting aids the director in accomplishing
this task. For my story, it gives me another tool to tell a richer story in a shorter amount of
time.
Sin City (2005), directed by Robert Rodriguez, is a useful model to look at when
describing the color palette that Chaser will use, albeit an extreme one. The movie is black
and white, with only a few other colors used to identify character. One of the characters,
Junior, underwent a surgery in an attempt to repair his severed limbs and genitals. A side
effect of having undergone years of surgeries was that his skin and blood turned to a yellow
color and this is the only instance that you see yellow in the movie. There is a chase scene in
the movie in which a cop is hot on his trail in the most literal sense, because the cop follows
a trail of yellow blood.
Chaser will de-saturate the colors, bringing them closer to an overall look of black
and white, but will emphasize a few colors. For the bar scene, there is a close up of Devin’s
wedding ring which will be a bright gold color. If the other colors in the frame are desaturated, this will draw attention to the ring and provide a clue to the audience that this will
be important later. It also draws a metaphorical connection to his badge, both symbols of an
honorable man. During one of the last scenes of the movie, Devin is rescuing Melissa from
Vincent. It is here the color of Melissa’s blue eyes and the red and blue light of a neon sign
will be isolated and saturated. Since these colors represent the passion and lust that Devin has
for Melissa, this will add a deeper meaning to the scene. By distinguishing these particular
colors, I want the audience to understand the character’s desires without any dialogue.
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One way that Chaser aims to look more professional is through the use of long takes.
The Protector (2005) is a movie set in Thailand and Australia about Kham, who has trained
his whole life to be a Jaturungkbart—warriors who would protect the king’s elephant while
the king fought in battles from on top of said elephant. Kham and his father take their prized
elephant to be inspected for the king when it is stolen. Kham then follows the thieves to
Australia where he spends his time searching for them. During his search, his efforts are
constantly subverted by Johnny’s various henchmen.
What really distinguishes The Protector is the use of long takes that create a sense of
mystery and excitement. Most action movies use fast cutting to draw the audience in and
create a cinematic chaos that excites the audience. In one of the scenes during the movie,
Kham has finally arrived at the location where one of his elephants is being held. In the
middle of this building there is a long circular walkway that creates a staircase through the
center of the building. As Kahm makes his climb and disposes of each bad guy, the camera
stays with him the whole time. In the middle of this scene, Kahm throws one of the bad guys
over the railing; the camera pans to the right to follow the fall, until he falls out of frame and
down three stories. By not allowing the viewer to see this guy hit the ground, a sense of
uncertainty surrounds his fate. It also withholds information allowing the audience to assume
the worst.
Chaser will offer a similar approach to that of The Protector when constructing its
action sequences. Drawing on The Protector’s ability to entrance audiences with its amazing
acrobatic fighting and stunts, Chaser will establish a slower pace. Bazin attributes this to the
use of deep focus, “[The] refusal to break up the action, to analyze the dramatic field in time,
is a positive action the realists of which are far superior to anything that could be achieved by
the classical ‘cut’” (34). He is simply stating that the use of a long take actually creates
something that cannot be replicated through montage editing. It allows the audience to really
look around the frame and explore what is going on, allowing them to become more
engrossed with the actions taking place in the scene. Through the use of these long takes, I
hope to add a layer of realism that reflects the aims of neorealist directors in their attempts to
make movies realistic.
Once completed, Chaser will come together to create a modern take on the noir
aesthetic. It will be able to execute the complexities of a long take, create a richer storytelling
13
experience through light, and use color as another way of reinforcing the themes of the
movie.
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CHAPTER 3
METHODS AND PROCEDURES
Ultimately, the goal of Chaser is to create a movie that successfully tells a complete
story through the use of neo-noir conventions. From neo-noir I will use dramatic lighting to
heighten the level of suspense and drama in each scene, as well as using it to help convey
character. A unique color palette will also add the depth that these characters have: whites
and blacks will be flattened, the overall saturation of colors will be lowered, and blue, red,
and gold will be emphasized. Long takes during the action scenes will also help bring a more
realistic approach when juxtaposed with modern fighting scenes.
PRE-PRODUCTION: LOCATION SHOOTING
Location scouting will play a huge factor in this production, because I will need to
use a real bar. Finding a bar located in San Diego should not be too hard of a job. Ideally, the
bar that I choose will have an alleyway next to it with an upstairs loft nearby. The hardest
part of the location scouting will be to find a place that I can film the news segment. I am
hoping that with the school’s close ties to NBC or KPBS that I might be able to get into one
of their studios and film the news segment there.
PRODUCTION: LIGHTING
The best way to approach the lighting for this project would be to really embrace the
motifs of noir lighting. Classic noir (more so than neo) and neo-noir are characterized by the
heavy use of shadows that serves several functions as I have discussed previously. Shadows
can be used to create mystery, reveal character, or even, especially in classical noirs,
establish gender roles. The bar scene will be lit using mostly overhead practicals. Practicals
are naturally occurring sources of light within the frame of a shot. By using some of the
lights that exist in the bar, I will be able to mostly avoid the use of big lights that help flood
15
the frame with light. This use of lighting allows for me to give settings an overall natural
look but still have shadows in them to tie in the noir style.
Overall, the bar will be dimly lit to give it an ominous feeling as well as tie into noir
characteristics. The function of the practicals, lights that double as props and help illuminate
the scene, will mean that the whole bar will not be properly exposed, allowing for pockets of
the background to be under exposed, and others a little over exposed. This will add
dimension to the overall look of each shot. One aspect of noir that I intend to capture is the
use of lighting and shadows to identify character. When both Vincent and Devin first make
their appearance on screen, they will be either silhouetted or in shadow, identifying them as
flawed characters. Ultimately, these practices serve not only to provide a beautiful
composition that mirrors neo-noir techniques, but to also provide drama in otherwise
lackluster shots where there are no action sequences.
There are two scenes that will require more than just practical lighting: the alleyway
and loft scenes. The alleyway scene is an exterior scene at night and will more than likely
need the help of a bigger light such as a 1k or 2k, the size of a light in reference to its
wattage, to add fill. This scene runs the risk of being underexposed if there is not enough
ambient light to expose the background properly. For this scene to look coherent with the rest
of the movie it cannot afford to be completely underexposed. This scene will use the ambient
lighting as a middle ground between the high and low lights. The loft scene that takes place
right after the alleyway, as scripted, contains no practical lights. The majority of the light will
come from the streetlights and neon signs attached to the building outside. This scene will
depart from the previous lighting setups in the movie by using more colored light that will
not have been used previously. The neon light that spills into the room needs to be blue and
red to represent the lust that Devin has for Melissa. If planned correctly, when Devin moves
in to kiss Melissa and accomplish his ultimate goal, there will be red tints across his face
alluding to his passions for her. This culmination of lighting techniques will hopefully yield a
visually coherent lighting setup throughout the movie, as well as provide the proper motifs so
that it strongly establishes the noir practices.
16
POST-PRODUCTION
Many of the techniques that were discussed in Chapter 2 dealt with post-production,
and for clarity I have broken up this section into the three main parts of this phase in the
process.
Editing
The pace of this movie will be slower and similar to that of a classic noir allowing me
to take advantage of the positive aspects of filming with deep focus. The use of long takes
will add to the authentic look Chaser is attempting to portray. In Bazin’s article analyzing the
effects of deep focus shots on the audience, he says, “Therefore it is correct to say that,
independently of the contents of the image, its structure is more realistic” (35). It is very
crucial to use long takes during the fight scenes as I not only want to stay away from the
Hollywood way of cutting action scenes with takes that last but a fraction of a second, but to
create a film with visual depth and intellect. Bazin, an influential French film critic, also
states that shooting in longer takes involves the audience in a more “positive contribution”
(36). In conjunction with this style of editing, I will use what is commonly seen in Hong
Kong movies known as the “pause-burst-pause” pattern (Bordwell 81). This can be an
effective way of editing an action scene, especially if the use of long takes is previously
established in the film. By juxtaposing longer takes with shorter cuts, it puts more emphasis
on the shorter takes when contrasted with the longer ones and creates a rhythm to the scene.
By using a combination of both of these styles, I will be able to keep the movie entertaining,
as well as develop a faster pace during the action scenes that will hopefully draw the
audience in even more.
Color Correction
This part of post-production may be the most intensive part of the film as it will
include creating an overall color palette to the film, while isolating a few that will enforce
certain themes. The first pass of color correction will include lowering the saturation of the
movie to a level that is just above black and white. I will also need to crush the blacks and
whites; this is a technique that minimizes the varying shades of grey by forcing them to be
either black or white. After that is complete, I will need to go through and isolate the colors
17
blue, red, and gold. Red and blue tie in with Devin’s role as a detective, and red will also
resemble the passion that he has for Melissa. The gold will be isolated to draw a connection
between Devin and his good side; both colors are used in his work, through his badge, and
his wedding band. These techniques will culminate in a dramatic look that will create a
resemblance to classic noir and hopefully come off as the homage I want it to.
Sound Design
To create a neo-noir feel to the film I will need to use non-diegetic sound as sparingly
as possible. I want the sound design to reflect the ambient noises that are naturally occurring
in these scenes. For the bar scene, it would be fitting to fill it with the cracking of pool balls,
light music playing in the background, and the low voice of the news in the background. For
the music being played in the bar, I want to draw on the nostalgic conventions of noir and use
either blues or jazz music led by a smooth saxophone. Foley will only be used to enhance the
natural sounds in the scene that the microphone does not adequately pick up. For the fight
scene, I do not want to foley punches in, because I feel that will take this film farther away
from the realism than I want it to be. I will also be purchasing prop guns that shoot blanks to
eliminate the need to foley in gunshots in post-production. While we are recording I want the
boom mic to be able to pick up how the gunshot naturally reverberates off of the walls in
each setting. This eliminates the need to labor in post-production of recreating the sounds of
a gunshot to replicate the exact sounds and create a realistic feel to the overall sound design
of the short.
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CHAPTER 4
CONCLUSION
After almost a year, I have finished filming my movie. For reasons both in and out of
my control, it took nearly twelve months to finish this movie that has a runtime of about
twelve minutes. Last minute details, both minor and major, fell through at the 11th hour that
forced me to postpone the shoot until further notice. Twice. Overall, I am proud of the movie
I have created and proud to have worked with the people who helped me turn my ideas into
reality.
ASSESSMENT OF GOALS AND OBJECTIVES
Through my research, I discovered that in addition to the noir style I would apply to
my movie, I would use the story structure of a gangster film to portray it. I wanted to use
lighting, color, and sound to help create the aesthetic that reflected a noir. I also decided for a
portion of the movie to use longer takes for the action sequences so that I could provide a bit
more realism to them.
Earlier in my project paper, I mentioned that I wanted to use the gangster film as a
template for the story. Specifically, I wanted to highlight the demise of the gangster. In my
movie, when Vincent is killed, he has no one from his organization around him. During my
film, Vincent leaves the main room of the bar, after Devin has been knocked out, to bring
Melissa into the adjacent room. Devin then kills the bodyguard, leaving Vincent alone in the
bar with Devin and Melissa. As Vincent finishes restraining Melissa to a chair, Devin pops
through the curtain separating the two rooms. Now that both hero and villain are alone,
without hesitation, Devin puts one bullet straight into Vincent’s heart.
Scarface (1983) had a similar moment at the end of its story, when Tony is all alone;
his henchmen have been killed and he stands atop his staircase perched alone. This trope is
19
replicated through various movies in both the noir and gangster film. Having done this in my
movie makes it easier for me to call it a gangster film.
Although the heavy use of shadows is not necessary in a gangster film, they are
almost always used in noir. Therefore, it was a goal that I too hoped to accomplish. In the
middle of the movie, as Devin surveys the bar, to try and figure out if and when Melissa will
be brought to it, he walks over to the pool table where the bodyguard is playing a game
alone. As he steps out from behind the bar to the table, he moves through shadow and into
the light. This helped add a level of tension to the scene through visuals, rather than using
dialogue. This motif is repeated throughout the film; the first time we introduce both Devin
and Vincent to the screen. Each of them is shrouded in a level of darkness with their backs to
the camera.
I believe this combination of blocking and lighting is the strongest part of my movie.
By not using a lot of lighting and adjusting the lights that were already in place above the
pool table, I was able to keep large sections of the frame in shadow while still giving enough
information to the audience so that they could follow the action. It also added the right
amount of character that I was hoping it would. The camera introduces Vincent and Devin in
a similar manner, making them almost equals at the beginning. It suggests that the two are
not so different after all, even though they stand on opposite sides of the law. This portion of
my research was what I thought was paramount to its success, and I could not be happier that
I was able to do it correctly.
The action sequences, however, are another matter. I managed to shoot them
coherently, which was a big concern of mine at the beginning, since I had never shot one
before. Unfortunately, I was not able to film the way that I originally planned. It would not
have been feasible to have the actors themselves do the hand-to-hand combat and take the
hits without some safety precautions. Therefore, I was unable to shoot the fight scene in one
long take.
With the help of the stunt coordinator, his stuntmen, and their equipment, we were
able to shoot a cohesive sequence. We did manage to get the fighting in one long take, but
the hits were not too convincing, so they had to be cut around. This was deliberate while on
set, because I also knew that I wanted to incorporate the “pause-burst-pause” pattern into my
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movie. While the fighting sequence alone does not reflect this technique, I was able to apply
this to the movie’s pacing.
The movie opens up with three long takes and then gets a little faster in terms of
pacing with its edits, before transitioning back to longer takes. Looking at the movie as a
whole, it does resemble what the pause-burst-pause pattern is meant to look like, but it does
not exactly follow the rules. It is supposed to provide a stronger impact on certain moments
of a scene or sequence. When it is stretched out over the course of the entire story, it loses
some of the impact it is expected to deliver. Although I did not stick to the plan, I do think
the scene plays out very well. Ultimately, this was my goal. So, even though I did not do it
exactly how I envisioned, I am still happy with the results.
Color correction was another area where I seemed to have not been able to achieve
the desired effect, or what I had initially meant to create, but for a different reason.
Originally, I wanted to de-saturate the entire color palette and boost a few of the other colors:
blue, red, and gold. In order to do this, I needed certain design elements of the costumes and
set to come together during the shoot. Some elements did not come together for various
reasons, ranging from location restrictions, to writing scenes out of the movie.
Since we were missing some of the design elements that were required to use this
color correcting technique, I realized it was a moot point to try for this design element into
the post-production of the movie. If we did attempt to boost those colors it may have come
off as spectacle, when originally it was written to identify character, much like the
implementation of shadows.
While I was location scouting, I was unable to find a loft that was on the second story
of a building to shoot in, so I had to alter the script to fit the loft scene in another part of the
bar. This part of the bar did not have a sign, much less windows outside so that a blue and red
neon sign could be seen coming through the window. This neon sign was to reinforce the lust
that Devin has for Melissa. It was also written to show how it conflicted with the red and
blue lights of a cop car. In one shot, it was meant to juxtapose the good and bad aspects of
who this hero was, illustrating the moral ambiguity that is often fused into noir stories.
The costumes were also meant to portray a similar theme. Originally, Melissa was to
have red Converse type sneakers that the audience sees when she is thrown from a van. This
shot took place in an alley way that we ultimately had write out of the script, because we
21
were not able to find an alley way to shoot this scene in. When it came to rewriting the script,
the action of her being thrown from a car was cut, and with it, the mentioning of her shoe
color.
In the third chapter of my project paper, I did not elaborate on sound design nearly as
much as I did other aspects of my movie. Although sound design is very important in a
movie, there were not any particular styles of design that I wanted to emulate. I wanted the
sound design to sound authentic. It should be simple and reflect the true nature of the scenes.
Hence, that is why there are very few added sounds in Chaser.
One thing that I should mention about the sound, however, is that our original audio
was recorded at too low of a level to have any real use in post-production. So we had to bring
the actors back into the studio and use Automatic Dialogue Recording (ADR) to recapture
their lines and sync them with the video. This insured that the audience would be able to hear
their lines as well as give us flexibility when it came to the final mix of the audio.
I did specifically mention that I wanted to avoid using foley sounds for the action
sequence’s punching and kicking, but decided that the shots needed them. While the actors
do a convincing job selling the action, there needed to be some level of audio to help
contribute to their performances to make it better. This is why, after watching several rough
cuts, I decided it was best to have them in it.
Although it appears as if I failed to meet the criteria of my own design, I think that
the movie has reached its main objective: to make a short that can be considered a neo-noir.
This short reflects some of the most fundamental characteristics that are commonly found in
noir. Its heavy use of shadows provides drama, tension, and character, much like the early
noir films. The theme of lust adds a level of moral ambiguity that is one of the core pillars of
noir as a whole. Devin’s lust for Melissa crosses the line of professionalism as well as almost
pulls him into the realm of infidelity, as the both of them are already married.
SUMMARY OF LESSONS LEARNED AND THEIR
SIGNIFICANCE
Each short film that I have completed has taught me something that I try to use when
making my next film. While making this film, I seem to have discovered more than on any
previous film. First lesson: have a crew from day one. From pre-production to post-
22
production, this movie would have been much easier to finish if I had a crew that was as
invested in this project as I was. Being a writer/director/producer is one of the hardest roles
to have, even on a short film. I had to keep track of the money spent, track down locations,
schedule auditions, and various other tasks that are usually shared among a few people.
It would have greatly benefitted the project if the key positions of my crew lived in
San Diego. My Assistant Director, Gaffer, and Cinematographer were all from out of town.
While we maintained a fairly regular meeting schedule through video conferencing, I do not
believe that it was a sufficient replacement for in-person meetings that would have occurred
had we all lived in the same city. We would have been able to go to the location together
beforehand to find out potential problems with locations and equipment. One problem that
was not discovered until shooting was that the walls had varnish on them and would reflect
hot spots on the walls when we put up our lights. As a director, my focus while location
scouting was to make sure that we could tell the story the way I had intended to, as well as
ensure that the location had basic necessities for shooting (i.e., bathrooms, parking, etc.) and
thus, this was overlooked.
While the lessons learned are from basic production problems, the ones I learned
from most were about shooting a film based off of research that I had done. My main focus
of this film was to make a neo-noir. Although I do believe that I have made one, since this is
only my second attempt at one, I do not know if I sufficiently encompassed everything from
the noir aesthetic as I had intended. When I first wrote the script, I did not plan for this to
become a noir. I wrote this script a year earlier as a writing assignment for a screenwriting
class. It was only entering the thesis process that I decided to add that as a constraint. It
would have been greatly beneficial for me to go through my script and rewrite it entirely with
the neo-noir conventions that I had learned after my research phase. This would have helped
me add more tropes and opportunities for this short to reflect the noir conventions even more
accurately than they do now.
CONCLUSIONS FROM PROJECT
At the beginning of the thesis process, we were told to have a script or treatment
ready before we could enroll in the first semester of the thesis classes. What I later
discovered that first semester was that once the research portion of the thesis began, that my
23
research was supporting the story of my script and not the other way around. Ideally, I think
a more comprehensive approach would have been to extend the thesis classes into three
semesters.
When I started the thesis process, I had to think of ways to make my movie academic.
I needed to conduct research to find a way to make this movie with themes and aesthetics
that either someone has done before, or creating something new that had not been done
before, but still citing the areas that it was derivative of. The problem with this is that the
research is unable to snap and mold certain aspects of the story. So for me, I had to think of
what style would be most applicable to the movie, while letting the original voice I had
penned the script in, get through.
Ultimately, what happened in the research phase was that I found myself only looking
for articles that would support the story that I had written. I struggled in trying to find content
that would benefit my script the most, as I was looking for a style to fit the movie. While
there was no shortage of bodies of work in regards to noir, I had to choose the work that
would benefit my film the most; that would tell Devin’s story, share his motives and
personality. It was almost as if I was short-changing myself. I was faced with a choice: either
abandon ship and continue research in more general terms so that I could write a new script
tailored to the research, or proceed as before. With all the academic pressures of getting
through this class, I decided to carry on. Looking back on this decision, I feel as though I
made the correct decision. I like the film that I have made, and would only go back to try and
get the missed opportunities that were discovered in the editing room.
What I would suggest when starting the thesis process is to treat it as a three-semester
program, or actually create a third class. After the midway, the project that once passed,
allows us to start our thesis, I think during the summer would be a good time to start
researching themes, aesthetics, motifs, and stories that interest the movie maker. After the
summer, you should have everything you need in order to begin creating your thesis film.
The second semester would be spent working with your committee member(s) crafting a
script that fully epitomizes the work you did in the previous months. This process should not
take the whole semester, which means that once the final draft has been written, preproduction can begin. That way, when you begin the spring semester, it will be time to shoot
and edit your project that you have spent the better part of a year crafting. My hope in
24
implementing a process like this would help streamline the movie-making process as well as
allowing the student to focus on the duality of the project; writing the project report and
making the short.
RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FURTHER STUDY
During my research into noir, I found that it was less of a genre and more of an
aesthetic to which you apply to any genre. This contradicted what I previously thought noir
was. Having said that, I think there are genres out there that have not had this convention
applied and think it would make for an interesting topic of research: to find a genre that has
not had the noir lens applied to it and see what the result is. Adding it to something like a
romantic comedy might make for an interesting research topic, and may result in an even
better film.
Perhaps one could take this idea one step further and take all the noir conventions and
write a film whose core principals are the antithesis of the noir pillars. Instead of having
morally ambiguous characters, you would have very clear-cut characters that are predictable.
Instead of darkly lit rooms where shadows tend to obstruct faces, you have well lit rooms that
convey a sense of levity to certain situations. While I do not think that a genre like this exists,
I do believe that there are genres out there that would have some of these characteristics in
them and that is where I would suggest starting the research. Ultimately, it would be
interesting to see what the resulting film would be and if it does in fact resemble any genre
that exists today. Perhaps it might be something like the noir conventions of the 1940s that
haven’t had a label put on them just yet. Who knows, maybe in twenty or so odd years, some
French or otherwise international critic will identify this motif.
25
BIBLIOGRAPHY
WORKS CITED
Bazin, Andre. “The Evolution of the Language of Cinema.” Trans. Hugh Gray. What Is
Cinema? Berkeley: U of California P, 1967. 23-40. Print.
Bordwell, David. “Aesthetics in Action: Kungfu, Gunplay, and Cinematic Expressivity.” At
Full Speed: Hong Kong Cinema in a Borderless World. Ed. Esther C. M. Yau.
Minneapolis: U of Minnesota P, 2001. 73-94. Print.
Conard, Mark T. The Philosophy of Neo-Noir. Lexington: UP of Kentucky, 2007. Print.
Frasca, William. “The Raw Deal Lighting of John Alton in Hollywood Film Noir.” Film
Matters 3.2 (2012): 60-63. Film & Television Literature Index with Full Text. Web.
11 Oct. 2013.
Neale, Steve. Genre and Hollywood. New York: Routledge, 2000. Print.
Warshow, Robert. The Immediate Experience: Movies, Comics, Theater and Other Aspects
of Popular Culture. Garden City: Doubleday, 1962. Print.
WORKS CONSULTED
Bourne Identity. Dir. Doug Liman. Universal Pictures, 2002. Film.
Boyz N the Hood. Dir. John Singleton. Columbia Pictures, 1991. Film.
Elysium. Dir. Neill Blomkamp. TriStar Pictures, 2013. Film.
Gangster Squad. Dir. Ruben Fleischer. Warner Brothers Pictures and Roadshow
Entertainment, 2013. Film.
Hearty Response. Dir. Norman Law Man. Fortune Star Media Limited, 1986. Film.
The Italian Job. Dir. F. Gary Gray. Paramount Pictutres, 2003. Film.
Lethal Weapon. Dir. Richard Donner. Warner Brothers Pictures, 1987. Film.
New Jack City. Dir. Mario Van Peebles. Warner Brothers Pictures, 1991. Film.
The Protector. Dir. Prachya Pinkaew. Sahamongkol Film International, 2005. Film.
Pulp Fiction. Dir. Quentin Tarantino. Paramount Pictures, 1994. Film.
Raw Deal. Dir. Anthony Mann. Eagle-Lion Films, 1948. Film.
Reservoir Dogs. Dir. Quentin Tarantino. Miramax Films, 1992. Film.
The Rock. Dir. Michael Bay. Buena Vista Pictures, 1996. Film.
26
Scarface. Dir. Brian De Palma. Universal Pictures, 1983. Film.
Scarface. Dir. Howard Hawks and Richard Rosson. United Artists, 1932. Film.
Sin City. Dir. Frank Miller, Robert Rodriguez, and Quentin Tarantino. Miramax Films, 2004.
Film.
27
APPENDIX A
BUDGET
28
29
30
31
32
APPENDIX B
CREW
33
Director
Michael Neel
Producer
Michael Neel
Producer
Director of Photography
Sean Ayers
1st Assistant Director
Daniele De Marco
2nd Assistant Director
1st Assistant Camera
Alex Reynolds
Sound Recorder
Boom Operator
Anna Silva
Gaffer
Chuck Graff
Stunt Coordinator
Carlo Ciarfalio
Grip 1
Joseph Morales
Grip 2
Yasmin Karssing
Grip 3
Production Assistant 1
Joseph Morales
Production Assistant 2
Production Assistant 3
Script Supervisor
Hair and Makeup
Francia Cohen
Wardrobe
Garrett Bazzle
Still Photographer
Production Design
Carly Lujan
34
APPENDIX C
SCRIPT
35
36
37
38
39
40