Sophisticated lady - short film

Overview

The client wanted to produce a short video, capturing the very particular Film Noir style, with a look to match the style's defining era (1940s), including costume, set, props, lighting, soundtrack and video.

Ready and waiting endlessly by the phone



The dreaded phone call

Premise

This silent film captures one evening of our protagonist femme fatale, an evening during which she apparently awaits a man, who never comes. We see her ready to go out for the evening, dressed impeccably, until the dreaded call comes, presumably telling her that he will be late. We see her waiting, trying to pass the time, trying on accessories, pacing impatiently, drinking, smoking, listening to music, checking her image and posing, all punctuated by her looking out of the window for the expected arrival, which never comes. In the end, she leaves by herself, and we witness her disappear into the foggy night.

Endlessly looking out of the window

Endlessly peeking out

The video's story presents the anguish of being stood up, and is told in a metaphorical dreamlike sequence, with soft videography and a series of disjointed, house-of-mirrors-like shots, expressing our protagonist's excitement and expectation, followed by her inner anguish and final disappointment.

Drinking to ease the endless wait

Approach

I used a series of lights aimed at creating very directed and focused, hard light, providing a highlight to desired features and details, the dress, glinting jewellery, slits of light across the eyes, with shadow on the rest of the face. The film revolves around the theme of reflections, disjointed sets and oblique angles, presenting her memories and anguish at being made to wait. Thus, we see reflection in many mirrors and windows in the story, and also shadows, smoke and fog, producing a bit of a smoke and mirrors effect.

Endless reflection

Smoking, the downfall of the sophisticated lady

The whole film is shot in very soft focus, using a very narrow depth of field making the film somewhat dream-like, so we never actually know whether what is happening is real or if it is all her imagination or fantasy.

Constantly fidgeting, trying on accessories



Disappointment setting in



The soundtrack triggers unease and a further reinforcement that disappointment is a necessary companion to beauty, style and sophistication.

Listening to music, reflection in the record

The whisky glass waiting for its customer

Outcome

This project demonstrates my videography, lighting and editorial (together with the client) skills in creating artistic, expressionist video. Tight framing and targeted lighting bring the story to a different level, removing our protagonist's actual location from the viewer's mind, concentrating it on emotion, elevating the expression of inner turmoil.

What's going through her mind?

Colouring reduces much visual clutter, concentrating the viewer's eye on a much narrowed visual field. While the video is black and white, it is coloured in such a way to highlight—in black and white—the prevailing colours of the actress' dress, shoes and accessories. The colour is also heavily crushed, making the video appear much harsher than merely a palette of greys in the frame.

Longing and loneliness

Leaving, alone, into the night

Finally, the video contains much post-production in hiding or de-emphasising many elements in-frame, and adding a pleasing level of visual noise to make the video less contemporary and digital, additionally making it appear part of the desired era.