Research into Detective genres and suitable actors

The detective genre in film is hard to define because the content and conventions of the detective film can be seen as crossing over into other genres, and it can be regarded as a subcategory of crime films (along with gangster films and thrillers). Detective films have two main features, these are; A narrative that follows an investigation and a protagonist who functions as a detective figure. Usually the investigating hero defines the detective film and sorts it into a subgenre. The subgenres include; The Classical Detective, The Transitional Detective and Noir Detective.

We are looking at the Noir Detective genre, here is a bit of background information we collected; In the 1940s, the hard-boiled detective came to the screen as the hero of Film noir. Film noir is said to have started with "The Maltese Falcon" (1941) and ended with "Touch of Evil " (1958), it is a group of films that were visually and morally dark. The films were set in the seedy underbelly of American society and followed a general progression from protagonists with questionable morals like Philip Marlowe in "The Big Sleep" to detectives who were borderline criminals themselves like Mike Hammer in "Kiss me Deadly". Film noir were a comfort for the veterans returning from World War II who struggled with feelings of displacement. American society had changed in their absence and upon their return they faced unemployment, changing gender roles, alienation, and often disablement. These films, with their hard-boiled heroes and anti-heroes, presented audiences with traumatized but tough men that could express and work through America's post-war disillusionment.

 Touch of Evil

The Maltese Falcon

Our Private Detective

Shooting Location

For our thriller we have decided to shot in the studio. Originally we wanted to have two sets, a secretary office and the detectives office but instead we decided to only have one, and place all energy and money into that one set to try and make it realistically close to a detectives office of the 1940's. We found this picture online of what we think is the ideal look of our office. Firstly we want our office to have big wooden furniture, a massive desk with many drawers, we think this will give the old fashioned look. The office should definitely have shutters because through this we can create an amazing light effect. We would really like our office to be quite big but look full of odd bits and pieces so therefor we want to fill it with many old books, newspapers, bit of paper, documents. The walls should have framed qualifications that the detective has gained as well as one of those suspect charts. The room should have a dark but smoky atmosphere. The picture is definitely the image we are aiming for.

Shooting Schedule

Our day for filming is Tuesday the 15th of January in order to stay productive during this day of filming we have come up with this schedule.

9:00 - 9:45- Brief our detective Steve on first couple scenes of opening sequence and do  a run through of all of the shots.

9:45 - 10:45- Shoot the tracking shots within the first hour but only the scenes with Steven walking into and around his office.

10:45 - 11:30 -The next 45 minutes we will do the mid-shots of steven looking at the board, we don't need much time to do this because there are not many mid shots at this point in the sequence.

11-30 - 12:30-The next hour will be the close-ups and zooming shots of when he is sitting at the desk and writing.

12:30 - 12:50- Lunch

12:50 - 1:30- Briefing Dyanna, Alex and Steve on the next part of their sequence, doing a run through of the scene

1:45- 2:45- Take the mid shots of when Dyanna enters the room and the low angles and high angles of her and steven, also including the over the should shots.

2:45- 3:45- Film mid shots of when gun is being taken out and pointed at detective, as well as shots of him looking scared.

3:45 - 5:00- Shot scene where secretary enters, checks on detective, All shots are either mid shots or medium close ups

Hopefully we can get all of our scenes done in this time, the plan should definitely help us stay on task and keep track of time.

Change in Thriller Plot

Welcome to suddenly

The thriller opens with a tracking shot of a 1940s looking private detective going into his office, which is a very stereotypical PIs office. Then there are many close ups of the props that are in his office. We see the detective cast in a dark light placing his hat and jacket on the coat stand. We then see him observing his crime board which links to everything that happens in the crime involving the femme fatale. The detective then writes on a piece of paper “let the sleeping dogs lie” after this we see him typing on his typewriter just doing business. At this point we hear the diegetic voice of the femme fatale saying I need to see Mr Carter to the secretary. Then it cuts to the femme fatale bursting through the door of the detective’s office then there is a shot reverse shot and eyline match of the detective and the femme fatale.  The women elegantly turned out with a European accent says “I know what you did to Freddie you will pay for this” and before john carter has a chance to defend him self she whips out a gun and shoots him. As she does this the secretary rushes in and says “Oh my god what happened to Johnny” then we see the interaction between the femme fatale and the secretary and the last shot is of the secretary checking the detectives pulse.

Change in Narrative Action

1. Tracking shot of the detective walking into his office
2. A mid shot of the detective hanging up his hat and his jacket
3. See a desk with an ashtray, some cigars, papers…
4. Close up on what’s on the desk papers saying top secret
5. Silhouette of Man In the corner smoking billowing puffs of smoke
6. Man walks to the desk and picks up a fountain pen and a paper pad
7. Man writes on piece of paper with a fountain pen
8. Close up on the message he writes, “let the sleeping dogs lie”
9. Hear a voice saying, “I need to see Mr carter”
10. We see the detective’s reaction to the femme fatales voice
11. Femme fatale bursts into the office
12. She’s says “I know what happened to Freddie you will pay” she is frame with a low angle shot
13. Over the shoulder high angle shot showing the detective
14. She pulls a gun out
15. He gets shot in the head
16. High angle shot of the dead detective
17. Secretary runs in “what happened to Johnny”
18. Over the shoulder shot looking at the secretary
19. Femme fatale goes out the office
20. A medium close up of the secretary taking the pulse of the detective 

Change in our thriller

We have decided to alter our thriller marginally instead of having two sets one of the secretaries office and one of the PIs office we have just cut it down so we just have the PIs office therefore we will save time and money which would be used making two sets. Having just the one set will enable us to do it more thoroughly concentrating on the extravagant Mise-en-scene which is integral to our thriller. The fact that we are going to have many close-ups on the materials such as cigars in the office makes the filming much easier and more accessible.  Then it would be spending time on building two sets. Seeing as we are not going to have a secretary’s office the first scene where we see the secretary typing at her desk has been discarded. But we have not taken the role of the secretary’s out of our thriller as you can see from the photographic storyboard she appears at the end as well as this in regard to diegetic sound we will hear her voice in the background when the femme fatale is asking to see the detective. We will then see the detective’s reaction at hearing her voice. This will therefore change our storyboard and our narrative action as well as our narrative plot.