Neo-noir (from the Greek neo, new; and the French noir, black) is a style often seen in modern motion pictures and other forms that prominently utilizes elements of film noir, but with updated themes, content, style, visual elements or media that were absent in films noir of the 1940s and 1950s.

Simplifying this, in this writer’s opinion there are several elements associated with a neo noir film that are similar to film noir:

1. A crime or crimes are the central element of the film
2. The crime is typically a crime of passion (anger, revenge, love)
3. The film has a stylized lighting and shooting (cinematography) style
4. A main character has a skewed sense of perspective about life, love and/or what’s right or wrong

This is why “Resurrection of Serious Rogers” is such a perfect fit to the neo noir niche genre. While the film follows a thriller format — and to a lessor extent, the action format –  it was conceived, written, shot and directed as a neo noir film.

We also coined two new phrases during production. Considering the amount of bloodshed in “Serious Rogers” we have a new sub-genre:

“Vicious Noir” — it’s your basic neo noir film with lots of angre killing and bloodshed

“Metal Noir” — it’s your basic neo noir film underscored by ass-kicking action-oriented heavy metal music (Trent Reznor style)

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Noir lighting and emotional context signify neo noir

Moody atmospheres, brooding people...neo noir

Some better-known neo noir films are Blade Runner, Memento, Sin City, Basic Instinct, L.A. Confidential, and Chinatown

AMC has a list of what it considers the 10 best Neo Noir films  ever: http://blogs.amctv.com/photo-galleries/best-neo-noir-movies/introduction.php (opens in a new window – turn your popup blocker off)

These are the post 1980 films Netflix deems as Neo Noir: http://boxofficemojo.com/genres/chart/?id=neonoir.htm (opens in a new window – turn your popup blocker off)

Oh, and here’s a news article you can feel free to read and share this PDF.

The Watermarks have steadily built an international audience due to their unique sound and their willingness to explore the potential of social networking in all of its forms. While the Houston-based band maintains a strong internet presence on all relevant sites, it was on Twitter that they formed their most recent partnership with independent filmmaker Angelo Bell, director of the critically acclaimed romantic comedy, “Broken Hearts Club.”

Read the entire article here…
http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-5745-Houston-Music-Examiner~y2010m1d28-The-Watermarks-music-and-tshirts-to-be-featured-in-Angelo-Bells-new-film

Poster 3

We are jamming on the set of “Resurrection of Serious Rogers” We shot over 30 pages in 3 days. But what’s important is that the footage looks good and the performances were strong. We didn’t rush. We simply moved hastily

Yesterday we finally had Mercedes and Cooper on set at the same time. The chemistry I saw during the auditions was there. Both actresses posses incredibly natural talent. I think I maybe working with future superstars.

Cooper Harris and Mercedes Manning on set

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Resurrection-of-Serious-Rogers/200291381302 (neo-noir photo album)

Agent Hooper

I’m not 100% sure but I think we’ve caught up to the original scheduling plan, even though we had a very short day on Sunday. Jim has been jamming on the lighting setups, Kevin and I lend a hand, and the actors do the damn thing.  I try to rehearse the actors before every scene for lighting, blocking (camera movement) and to fine tune reactions and emotions. But it would never work if they weren’t 99% off book. They are. And there’s a tremendous amount of fricking dialog in the script for them. Humongous. Kudos to you guys, Jamie and Mercedes!

More pics from the set

Kevin and his iPhone APP Clapper/Slate

On set today was Jamie Fishback, and Mercedes Manning returned to give it another, throat rested and ready to go. Despite the hovering police helicopter noise and some unruly commuters honking horns outside, we were able to shoot 11 pages of the script–in like five hours!

The icing on the cake was that the actors had rehearsed on their own prior to today. It showed. With a few little director tweaks the antagonistic chemisty I was looking for between the characters (Trixie and Agent Martin) was spot-on! Am I happy? Heck yeah.

Oh, and thanks to you, Mercedes’ Mom for loaning us your daughter and her wonderful talent. We promise to return her in good shape and with her voice still intact.

Here are some random pics from the shoot.

There are more pics on Facebook

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=194149&id=200291381302&l=9aac9fca32

Two weeks ago I could have went either way: Make the film. Don’t make the film. It was a crap shoot. The luck of the draw. There were a lot of missing pieces to the puzzle. I knew that. I don’t know if anyone else knew that, but I certainly did.

But I forced myself to take action. I set a date and scheduled the table read. Everyone was there. Everyone. It went well and excitement started to grow. The project felt real.

Momentum…

Then Jim, my producing partner for this film who also happens to be the DP and a cameraman and a fine photographer coordinated a photoshoot. It was hot.

Momentum…

Overnight, Jim used the photos from the photoshoot to make some the best key art I’ve ever had for any of my films. It was extraordinary.

Momentum…forward motion…

Kevin, the First AD and Associate Producer drove to my house and basically harangued me until we finished the production schedule and call sheets. I don’t know what I would have done without his initiative and dogged determination to get that damn schedule finished.

Momentum…

Then additional pieces started falling into place. We lost a camera. We got a better camera. Lost a sponsor. We got a better sponsor.  Locations. Gear. Excitement. More actors added to the  family. Test shots of a day for a night scene we envisioned looked exciting!

Then we lost some money. Twice. But things seemed to work out anyway.

And as I thought about all the momentum I started to get an icky feeling in my gut. What if I had called everything off last week when things weren’t going so well? I would never have seen the miracle of all the pieces of the puzzle neatly falling into place.

And so I’m calm. The torrential rain today did freak me out. However, just as I started to chart out Plan B…it stopped.

Momentum.