This my final artefact for my A2 portfolio. It is in the style of French New Wave and is designed to attract only a niche audience.
The first thing the audience sees on their screens is a black background with white writing saying 'sous peu sur cet ecran' in capitalised letters. This means 'soon to show on your screens'. Below this there is a line and underneath it says: 'interdit au moins de 18 ans'. This means forbidden under the ages of 18 years old. The reason I have decided to do this is because, at the time French New Wave films included many violent scenes, much like my film would. Although the boundaries are not like this now, I personally see this as a more playful restriction of age. When restricting those ages it will endear them more into wanting to watch it. This stays on our screens for 5 seconds.
There is no music and no voice-over which creates tension in the audience, what is going to happen? After this another black screen shows with the words 'Par les createurs de 'S'envolver' et 'Jean et Paul' nous vous donnon...' with the subtitle in English: From the creators of 'Fly away' and 'Jean and Paul' we give you...' This is on our screens for no longer than 6 seconds and there is still no music.
Once again the next clip shows, another black title screen saying 'Douce Vengeance' Sweet Revenge. The tension has build up and after 2 seconds the music finally starts. An introduction of trumpets creating a catchy tune. There is a cut to an over the shoulder shot of a girl looking in the mirror, doing her hair. There is a subtitle stating 'The pretty girl'. The girl looks around pass the camera as if she is about to talk to someone.
In the music there is a woman that starts to sing in French, she has a soft and husky voice alluring the audience even more so. There is another quick jump cut to a boy with a cigarette in his mouth, the camera is slightly tilted and it is a mid-shot. And although he looks very sure of himself the camera angle suggests uncertainty rather than stability with him. There is a subtitle saying; 'The bad boy'.
Another jump cut to him walking away from the camera, he turns around looking confused as to where he should go, suggesting that in fact he is not sure of himself and actually a timid character. The subtitle says 'The nice man'. I have chosen to use these subtitles to express the versatile of a person's personality and how people perceive them.
There is a cut to another title screen saying 'Douce Vengeance' in capitalised letters below it is says: A film by Lucille Price. This is on our screens for 5 seconds. The next scene is of the girl lighting a cigarette; it is the side profile of her and it is a rule of two-thirds. She looks serious and as if she is looking at someone outside the shot. The subtitle states 'A cruel woman'. Although she is not cruel we are suggesting, as I said, that there are different sides to everyone's personality.
The next shot is of a different girl, in contrast she is laughing and flicking her hair and a 'want-to-be' carefree manor. The camera is slanted and is looking down at her.I have subtitled this 'The happy girl'. This could be taken two ways: the superficial way, that she is laughing and smiling and therefore she must be happy. Or, that because of the camera angle and the 'not-so-free' care-free manor, is she really happy? Or is she pretending? The song begins to become slightly more mournful, 'Bonsoir John-John' however it is still calm and peaceful.
The scene after this shows 3 people running towards the camera laughing, they look mischievous as if they are running away from something they did. I have subtitled this 'fun'. Fun in a way that it is at the time, but it will always have consequences. The next shot is of a girl lighting a match. It is a close-up of her hand and is subtitled 'Sparks'. Once again this could be taken ambiguously; for example, it could mean sparks in relationships, or it could just mean the sparks of a match.
The next shot is of a girl walking away from the camera, she turns around and looks past it as if she is saying to someone, 'Why aren't you following me?'. The audience is now shown another title screen. 'Douce Vengeance' I have done this to remind them of the title. 'Avec Emilia Belmondo, Leon Seberg et Jean Chabrol.'
The next shot is of a girl walking through the countryside with a bicycle. I have subtitled this 'The Bicycle' simply because in French Culture riding a bike is a big part of life.
The next shot is of a girl sat in a cafe eating cake, talking and looking though her bag. I have subtitled this 'The Cafe' signalling that there is a cafe where all the 'chic Parisian people' go. The next shot is of a girl inhaling a cigarette, it is a rule of two-thirds shot she looks away from the camera to her left as if she is worried or angry at something. I have subtitled this 'smoke', to mean when someone is angry and of course smoking.
After this we see a jump cut to a boy and a girl walking through a bridge, it is a long shot. They look distant from each other. As the boy bends down to tend to a untied shoelace the girl realises and kicks him up the bum. I have subtitled this 'foolishness' because although they are distant, goofiness always helps a relationship come closer.
The next shot is of a girl riding her bike, the camera pans with her. She has her sunglasses on and it looks as if she is living the dream. I have subtitled this 'free' because that's what she looks like, she doesn't know where she's going and she doesn't care.
The next scene is of 2 girls walking towards thee camera arm in arm. They are laughing and talking and show a sense of unity between them. I have subtitled this 'friendship'. After this it shows the boy once again walking through the woods, the sun is shining through the trees, he looks confident about where he is going and is walking away from the camera.
We jump cut to a girl's head popping out from around the tree as if she was hiding. This could symbolise how she has stopped hiding from everything and she can finally face the world. I have subtitled both of these shots: 'adventure'.
The very last shot is of the 3 people walking away from the camera, they share unity and look far more confident. I have subtitled this 'The End'. As the music finishes on 'Bonsoir John John' there is a very last title screen reminding the audience: 'Douce Vengeance' : The best film around now.
