Location planning

Treatment

A desk in a detective’s office (props around the room to indicate it’s a detectives office such as lots of paperwork, police badge etc.) with a silhouette of a man dressed in full black, with a long black coat, and black hat shadowing his face, tapping his nail on the desk. His phone and hand is lit up by a lamp on the table. He receives a message causing his phone to light up. He takes a deep breath and looks at the phone, cuts to over the shoulder shot of the phone. Message from an unknown number, the message reads “Hollywood car park, 42 Angel Street, Norwich, 9^th floor J” He has one leather glove on as he opens a draw, you see him tugging on something but never get to see what. He then puts the item in his pocket and as he walks out of the room he puts on the other leather glove. During all of this, you never get to see the man’s face.

Cuts to a woman with a suitcase walking towards the car park, the shot comes from the neck down so we never see her face. Following the 180 degree rule.  She is dressed in a bright red dress, with black heels. All you can hear is her footsteps as she walks along the pathement. You then see that the lift is out of order, and she makes her way up the staircase, using a low angled shot, level with the staircase. It then cuts to shot of a sign that says “9^th floor”, with a graffiti “J” on it, and the camera slowly moves down, and as it sinks you see the women go up the final step, and the camera then reaches the bottom step and you then hear a scream, followed by a choking sound.

Our opening to our thriller takes inspiration from such thrillers as, “The Third Man”. The way you never clearly see our character has been taken from this film, in the way that it hides one of the main characters, “Harry Lime”. We have decided to take this idea, and use it as our own as it creates tension and enigma in the plot. As for the way our characters look, again this is taken from “The Third Man”, but not only that, also “LA Confidential”. Both films use classic film noir costumes for male and female, and that is approach we would like to take. 

Characters, Costumes and Props

Characters Costumes and Props 2

Mood board

Mood Board on Prezi

If Thrillers were a tube map...

This map shows the key themes and conventions of thriller films linked together like an underground tube map. The colour code shows the conventions and the films match up with the colour coded train routes. Films with more than one station, have more than one of the features mentioned at the side. Films on the same colour route share the same convention/theme. From this we can make links of which themes have which features and which features are shared with other films. For example, The Third Man features moral ambiguity, Metaphorical settings, bleak lighting, a voice over and claustrophobic spaces. 

LA Noire: How does it use features of film noir?

L.A. Noire created by Rockstar Games uses several conventions typical to film noir. For starters the use of the title being written in neon lights grasps the glamour of film noir yet suggests the corruption through the fact it is flickering like it is broken. Within the introduction scene we see the use of low key lighting with single sources of lights such as lamposts lighting up parts of the city in an eery and enigmatic fashion. Expressionist jazz is played throughout the opening which was a popular genre of that time, it adds to the atmosphere and gives a slight feeling of tension. Almost identical to the opening of LA Confidential a voice over of a man with a deep gravelly voice is played. The feature of a voice over is commonly used in film noir, its quite an eery approach to an overview, its as though the audience is hearing the story from a ghost or something similair. The opening is set at night time with several thick clouds and mist which adds to the enigmatic atmosphere of the game, this is seen frequently in film noir, where the setting and lighting gives a very cold and un trustworthy feel to the setting.

In this image we can see the use of chiaroscuro lighting familair to the film noir genre. A strong shadow has been created on the dimly lit and melancholy scene similair to that of scenes in Double Indemnity, Casino Royale and The Third Man. This increases the mystery and tension and sets the mysterious atmosphere present in many film noir movies.

 The outfits featured are also a typical feature of film noir. Suits and hats add to the detective style story lines and add to the enigma of the game. Suits give the men a business like impression and suggests they are of an upper class and have important duties.  

Guns are another significant prop commonly used in film noir. A gun represents the corruption, aggression and violence present in film noir. It builds up the tension as it is inevitable that someone will die. The lighting in this image shows the moral ambiguity that is seen often in film noir movies such as casino royale. It suggests to the audience that the hero is not everything he seems, half bad and half good, represented by the dark shadow across his face.

Many phrases appeared within the opening such as "City of undercurrents where everything is not what it seems". This iniciates the feeling of deception and underlying secrets, typical to film noir movies. "Chasing shadows" and "Who do you trust" adds to the suspence and tension felt by the audience. It draws them into the chaotic and deceptive life lead by the characters in LA Noire.

The use of a torch is very similair to The Third Man. It acts as a high intensity spot light which reveals small amount of the surroundings at a time. This heightens the tension and adrenalin felt by the audience as though a significant discovery will be revealed at any point. This further draws people in to the story, which is a highly recognisable trait of film noir.

An effective camera technique used in LA Noire is that the camera always moves. It gives a better flow and moves the story at a steady pace, keeping the audience involved and alert. There are also the typical film noir style camera shots such as the rule of thirds, over the shoulder shots and obscured shots to suggest the audience is spying.

Discovery of Harry Lime - The Third Man

 This shot introduces the audience to a low key, dark and dingy cityscape. The use of single source lighting created by the street lamp increase the enigma and bleakness of the setting. This makes it feel lonely and suggests to the audience that something significant will happen in this area. The wet look cobble stones and to the cold and melancholy feel of the scene which is familiar to the film noir genre a long with strong shadows and silhouettes. In this case the shadows are caused by the big, gothic looking, looming buildings on a drab looking street.

The Scene starts with Harry's friend wandering around the town square when this view caught his eye. The dim door way with a high intensity spot light focused on a cat at a man's feet. His initial thought is that he is being followed and so calls out to the enigmatic figure in the door way. The use of a tilt shot adds confusion and disorientation which shadows what the character would be feeling. The low intensity street light is a form of natural lighting which makes the scene seem dim and dull. 

In this still we can see a close up of the cat and the man's shoes. Again the cat is lit up with a high intensity spot light which draws the audiences attention to the feet of the man. This heightens the feeling of tension and confusion so as to what will soon be revealed. This use of lighting highlights the enigma which is often present in film noir films. 

In this shot we see the revealing of Harry (Orson Welles) who was believed to be dead. The high intensity spot light and close up on Harry smiling is supposedly caused by a woman opening her window above where he is standing revealing his face. The way his face is lit up is quite ghostly which adds to the enigma of the film, as he was supposedly dead! The light disappears and Harry disappears just as quickly when the shutters above him are closed suddenly.

This shot shows the escape of Harry. We cannot see his actual body but we can see the strong silhouette which has made a feature of the dark, dingy walls. Strong shadows are a common convention used in film noir movies  including Double Indemnity. The use of a shadow in this scene again adds to the mystery of Harry's unexpected introduction as we still have not seen him properly, this will make the audience and the other character question whether they really did see Harry or whether he was just a ghost or figment of imagination.