Being a free-lance film maker, often many films I make are made to specification or inevitable aim, whether that is a promotional film, or short documentary. I wanted to create something that didn’t need to fit any kind of plan, so could just follow my creative instincts and desires. This drive resulted in Faux Noir.
Faux Noir translates to Fake Black. This title was chosen as there is a constant dialogue within piece with the disjointed images and the black. Faux Noir, was just a stream of my consciousness for a few days, right back to filming the footage, which I filmed entirely on my laptop camera as I wanted to achieve an almost bad quality of footage. This is so when I added layers of effects to them they would become indistinguishable from what they are.
The whole film is based around a collection of footage of a handrail, grass, a painting, a hand, an eye, a balloon, a bedsheet, a hanging basket, and a tree. All of which I filmed around my house. This means there is only ten pieces of footage used in the whole film. This of course does not seem like a lot but that was the creative angle that I wanted for this film. Faux Noir is not about the footage, rather the way the images are crafted together.
One of my main creative influences for Faux Noir would be Ben Wheatley’s 2013 film A field in England. A film in which follows a group of men fleeing Civil War in England, only to find themselves in a more nightmarish situation. There is a specific sequence in the film where the character Whitehead, played by Reece Shearsmith eats a hallucinogenic mushroom that causes to character to have a lurid trip. The sequence is filled with intense visuals and glitch editing that is clearly a device used in my film. Music videos also formed much of my inspiration such as James Blake’s 2018 If The Car Beside You Moves Ahead, and Mount Kimbie’s 2010 Before I Move Off. Both these music videos once again feature harsh editing and on deeper inspection these would also be some of my main musical influences.
The music that accompanies the film by far the most aggressive piece I have ever made. I truly believed that I would never even release the piece. This is as most music I have ever made has been ambient, atmospheric, and textural. However, once I noticed the aggressive and visceral aspects to the film I knew I needed to put that specific piece it.
I don’t want to state Faux Noir other meanings or messages as it is clearly to be interpreted, like any art. Whatever the viewer takes from the film is true and correct.
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