Film Noir - Our Plan :)

In our media studies lesson on the 10Th of January all of our team got together to make to big decisions, what kind of film noir are we going to make, what is actually going to happen in our movie, what characters are we having etc.

What type of film noir are we going to make:
Well we all decided that we really wanted to make an authentic conventional film noir, much like the film Double Indemnity (1944) that we had watched and studied as a class. We also really wanted the film the be in a classic black and white format as it would really bring our movie back into the era of films that it is intended for - the storyline should be simple, the camera angles should be unique and different from average films, and we should add many conventions into the film (for example smoking, some of the characters, the dim lighting, minor key music etc)

The story line:
We decided to keep the story line very simple so we can be creative with the settings and camera angles and shots we use, this is all because we have to fit the whole movie into an approximate five minute time slot - so keeping it simple was really our only option. The movie will basically start with just a man, our detective alone at his desk (this is also similar to the beginning of double indemnity)...a voice over of the man (Detective John Carter) speaking to the audience about a drug dealer/mob boss and his female sidekick comes on, the film then turns to a flash back. The boss's female sidekick (Our femme fetale) comes to the detective offering him information about a drug heist that is about to take place, she seduces the detective and asks him to take her out to dinner - the whole situation gets more serious as she reveals that this information could cost her her life. After a romantic dinner and a steamy kiss the lovers split and the detective goes straight to this boss's house to demand answers, he is met by another of the boss's workers who obvious has an attachment to the boss as she tries to prevent his entry. However after revealing he is armed she reluctantly lets him past then leads him to the boss's office, though quickly made to leave the room. There is a confrontation between the two which suddenly turns into a gun fight, the mob boss gets shot - however in a massive turn around the boss reveals that it was his female sidekick (the detectives new lover) who was actually in charge of the drug heist, she wanted to get her boss and the police out of her way by any means possible so she could get away with the money. It is already too late to catch her. At the end the film will return back to present day where the detective speaks directly into the camera and vows to catch her - which is then where the film finishes.

Characters:
Main male character/Detective: John Carter
Female character/femme fatale/sidekick: Bonnie Kensington
Mob boss/drug dealer: Bobby Dents
Mob boss' gang member: Scarlett Jones

We chose these names for each character after some long discussions, we felt each name suited the people we wanted portrayed (which i will go on to describe later on in a different post) - Even though some of the characters names might not even be mentioned in the film we still wanted to create them and a whole back story for each one because we thought it would help when it came to shooting, editing and scripting for each character.

Antonia then started working on the first section of the script while i started on the story board, we all knew that the opening section to our film was the most important so we had to get Carter's speech perfect. This is a first draft of that speech:
Detective John Carter: "I was told that these photographs of the towns latest
criminals contained some of those we have before seen on many occasions. They
were not wrong. 'Bobby' as he had been known had been in these photographs of
the most wanted since he murdered my father. He had also been drug dealing since
I began my job back in '54. This lady was supposedly known to have a connection
with him. I knew it was my job to try and find the two so that I could finally
be at peace with the death of my father. Had I known what wool was to be pulled
over my eyes, things could have ended very differently."

It was then carefully analysed and criticised by all members of the group because this was the first thing that the audience would get to see so it had to be just right. This speech automatically gives an essence of the cynical film noir view on things and really brings the audience closer to the character of Detective John Carter emotionally. I really like having this speech at the beginning of the film as it really starts the movie with a mysterious atmosphere.

Costumes and props:
Detective John Carter (One outfit)-

• Black trilby type hat
• Grey suit
• White Shirt
• Black Tie
• Small pistol
• Paper work at the beginning including photos
• Cigarette

Bonnie Kensington (Three outfits):

• White dress
• black tights
• fur coat
• red heels
• yellow dress
• black heels
• fur shawl
• red dress
• veiled hat
• brief case

Bobby Dents (One Outfit):

• Grey suit
• Grey waist coat
• Shirt
• Patterned tie
• Guns
• Paper work

Scarlett Jones (One Outfit):

• Black dress
• black tights
• black heels

Other props that we will need:

• Glasses/bottles
• suitcases
• lamps/phones/clocks
• letter
• cloths/photo frames/desks/fans
• extras

We will need a number of things to make each an every set and location we use look as authentic as possible and each decision we have made has taken a lot of time and discussion but we are all really 100 percents committed to making this film as good as we possibly can. As our setting is Los Angles, USA we have decided that all the actors that we choose must speak in an American accent otherwise it will set off the whole film and confuse the audience. We want our film to be conventional, sharp talking, dark with an omniscient as much as possible to really set alight the genre that we are working with.