My Film Noir Movie (2 Minutes) - The Great Jasper Kindell: Shrouded in Debt

My Film Noir Movie (2 Minutes) - The Great Jasper Kindell: Shrouded in Debt 

This blog post will tell you what my plans were when writing my own film noir movie. However, the final product I created was not based off my work I still wrote this as a back up for our media project. 

Story Summary 

Our story starts in a New York looking city, busy and always alive, and begins with a small narration from our main character detective Jasper Kindell as he talks about the past of this city and how that’s effected the people in the city. We see him lounging around in his office which has a few papers scattered around and the odd glass laying around with a linger of whiskey and old ashes from cigarettes remaining inside. his family picture is placed on his desk facing him and his packet of cigarettes by its side. He sits waiting for someone to knock each day, but to day when he least expects it he gets a knock from his secretary asking if a young women named miss oxford, a name he hasn't heard since his last case. The young miss oxford walks inside with a terribly awkward atmosphere, the detective offers her a drink first then a sit until questioning her on what she is here for. And from that moment of miss oxford opening her mouth to the detective another case of the Great Jasper Kindell has begun... 

Characters 

Detective Jasper Kindell 

Also known for a range of different titles such as "The Great Jasper Kindell" Jasper Kindell is a quiet man, but never used to be. After being in his line of work for so long, still basking in the glory of the old days where his title "The Great Jasper Kindell" still meant something, he has disappeared from his place as a detective, only showing up to work to be a unneeded last resort. There's nothing much to be said about Jasper, only that his joy for justice disappeared long ago along with his ability to acted calm in tense situations. His gun is never far from his side. His appearance is nothing as slick as he wishes it would be. short black hair covered up with his typical trilby. Stone cold bony face, straight to the jaw line. Fake white shirt, trouser straps with gun holster included, coal black trousers and brown covered shoes. Typical stuff from an old legend. 

Miss Oxford 

The sister to one of detective jaspers long lost customers, Miss Oxford never uses a first name. She would rather hide behind her well known family name that runs nearly 40% of the city, which was only that start to her dads company until his unwanted destiny. Her appearance is one you could see for miles. Sparkly jewels covered from the neck down, wrists, finger, anywhere she can to show her money. brown fur coat, long dark dress, your stereotypical daddy's little rich girl. yet her attitude if something of a evil witch hiding in the body of an innocent women. she's dangerous but never acts like it in front of those she values the most, whether or not that means she cares about them is another story. 

Film Noir - Femme Fatale

Film Noir - Femme Fatale

The femme fatale in Film Noir movies are one of the most important characters when developing the story around the Film Noir genera. There are seen as quite mysterious and devious characters and have the same transition between films of them becoming evil or being bad from the beginning and all of the film was a roughs for her to get her own way. Here are some of the main characteristics a femme fatale has to make her what she is and even some on the newer takes on the femme fatale character.

In a Film Noir there a number of cliche characters, the hard-boiled detective who is the one who finds out the information and keeps the story going, the murderer who committed the crime which the detective would investigate and the femme fatale, who usually persuades the detective to help and in turn ends up twisting his fate in attempting to kill him but is ultimately doomed from the beginning and karma ends up catching up to her with imprisonment or death. The femme fatale character usually has a distinct visual appearance when on screen. She looks pretty, covered in makeup especially with usually bright red lipstick, hair that reaches her shoulders and in a long dressed looking dressed for a special occasion but rather uses it as daily wear coming off as quite posh and rich. She is also given quite an English accent making her foreign and a threat but ultimately being liked by the detective.

How the femme fatale builds this character over time is by being sweet and innocent before things starts to go her way. This character first becomes a nice and trust worthy character by coming off as an innocent rich flirt who wants the help of this detective specifically, trying to create a romantic connection between the two so that the detective feels obligated to help this woman in the upcoming crimes ahead. She then uses this crime, usually the crime aimed at herself through family members mostly common in fathers dying that owned a lot of money, and makes this detective get involved waiting for him to discover who did it. After which is revealed that the femme fatale was involved in some way however the romantic bond between the two characters has grown so much that the detectives begin to try and protect her in some way, usually in running away together or pinning it one someone else. This is where the femme fatale tries to change the game to play in her way and tries doing a number of things to remove or even kill of the detective and gets rid of him forever but in the end it isn't successful and ends up dead. All though these Film Noir movies, the femme fatale starts to become more defensive, trying to control the detective and starts acting needy to keep him around. She is rather fearless and would do anything to get her way and this is the main core of her personality.

Film Noir - Detective

Film Noir - Detective

The detective in film noir movies is usually the main character in the movie; he is hard boiled, cunning and a strong leader but can be easily persuaded by the femme fatale. Usually he is the character who this story is from the point of view of, learning information about the crime when he does trying to keep other things a mystery. Not only that but he would be traditionally the only character in the film noir movie to do voice overs, letting you know little pieces of information like what he’s thinking and back stories that he thinks about in his head. Not only this but the opening sequence to nearly all film noir movies start with the detective giving a short voice over describing the area or himself while establishing shots of the city happen.

In a Film Noir the Detective is the stable character who is a part of every film Noir in some way. There characters are quite straight forward, being quite blunt in their actions in the beginning and coming off as quite a stubborn character but changing his attitude when presented with something out of the ordinary or different which in the film Noir case it’s the femme fatale. The Detectives in film Noir dress in a much distanced way which is part of the codes and conventions of film Noir. They are commonly seen wearing patterned suites with trilbies and ties. They are usually equipped with a police badge and a gun which they keep by their side with a gun holster so they are pretty much your stereotypical police detective. 

Majority of the time this character will be the main foci of this film, the viewers would be by his side more or less the whole time watching, learning new information when he does and solving the mystery at the same time. he becomes more of the underdog when going through the film, when learning about his past and car rear and how downhill it has become be start feeling sorry for him and it answers our questions as to why he has ended up becoming the disaster that he is today. However we also fall victim to the femme fatale of the film just like our main detective does. He is easily stricken by her hard to get attitude and man like qualities which women at the time were thought not to have being the stereotype that was established around that time. Her ways of twisting the detectives mind works wonders and gets him to fall for her footling and sinker. which just so happens to be the villain (Usually the femme fatale) way of deceiving the minds of the cops and detectives leading no traces on what she's done.However usually at the end of the film the detectives has cracked the case and knows just who to turn to. And as the old saying goes "the bad guy never wins" the Femme fatale gets her rightist death and leaves the detective heart broken again. 

Film Noir - Analysis

Film Noir Analysis

Summary of “Film Noir”

Film noir is a term used to describe crime drama movies from Hollywood that are often focused on sex, crime, and corruption. Film noir movies were mostly made from the early 1940s to the late 1950s in the United States, and they were usually filmed in black-and-white. The term "film noir" comes from the French term for "black film." Film noir movies include many different genres of movies, such as gangster movies, police movies, and detective movies. Film noir movies were often filmed so that there were many dark shadows in the movie, even on characters' faces. The Hollywood film noir movies were influenced by German film directors such as Fritz Lang, who used dramatic lighting techniques. Another influence on film noir movies was 1930s French books or movies about heroes who would die at the end of the story or stories with sad endings. Film noir movies were also influenced by crime fiction, such as the detective and crime stories by Dashiell Hammett, James M. Cain, and Raymond Chandler.

History of Film Noir

Film noir Began in America during the Second World War, it continued to be made during the following years around till the fatties. A lot of the work was originally inspired by both literature and pervious film history that came before film noir itself along with social history of the periods before it. In America there was a traditional circulation of a type of novel named hardboiled novels. These novels were crime orientated ones and other being pulp fictions orientated. The American hard-boiled novels represented a completely different world and an altered kind of detective that were found in a lot of earlier kinds of literature. Both its content and style were differentiated; this kind of fiction added a new tradition of realism to the detective fiction. The hero was usually the opposite, more as so an anti-hero, a lot of the action hit the streets in a more violent way then before, this kind of genre change. Its language was also cut short and it was often marked by verbal wit. Instead of upper-class detectives however we were introduced o the tough guy that walked the mean streets, often the character would find him on the edge of law and crime. Contemporary America is described as an urban area where people are in the hands of naturalistic drives. Many of these works were changed in a way to work in film such as the works of Hammet, Chandler, Cain and McCoy. Many of the original authors were hired by Hollywood as screenwriters; obviously this hard-boiled fiction had a considerable influence on the film noir movies.

Film Noir traits

Locations/Setting/Story

The location in which a Film Noir is based in is really important when trying to set the tone of how your movie is, a lot of the time Film noir’s are based in quite popular cities (Places like New York, san Francisco etc.) in the time period of around 1940’s and 1950’s around the time of the war. Most scenes would be set in urban areas like dark alleys, damp streets and in police building, mainly the main detective’s office. These are some of the main traits that establish a film noir setting; usually some establishing shots of the city are used to open up the film with opening credits and a voice over on top describing the life in which the character has lived in the city shown. The introduction to the film noir also helps when trying to display the main story of the film. Usually it begins inside a police office building with a witness or client, usually the femme fatal of the film, explaining that a crime has happened and that the detective is the only one who can help. These crimes that usually happen revolve around things like gangsters, murder, drugs etc.  Having these cliché’s presented to the viewer what kind of film they are about to watch and having these common features across makes it so people know how to feel when watching.

Having Films set in particular places is used because people are familiar with what these places are like, making them feel more believable when in film. Having a film noir set in a country side rather than a big city creates the film to be less interesting as the big city is thought to have more stuff going on thus making it more engaging to the viewer. Another thing is when setting up the location of murders or unsettling areas; these are commonly set in quite dangerous areas or areas to be thought as dangerous. In the city, these are thought to be places like dark narrow alley ways and under bridges all set a night for when the murder happened. This is to create a somewhat un easy feeling for not only the characters but the viewers, using this character and viewers connection the immures the viewer into the films world. The only lighter areas are ones which are either in the day and in buildings like police departments and homes. This is to give the idea of safety, using places like police stations and houses are to make things feel safe and once a character step’s out of one of these comfort zones it starts to become darker and dangerous.

Commonly some of the same story plot lines are used to give a full of consistence between stories that happen and that are more believable. Some stories try to create something outside the normal expectations like Amnesia to people like the femme fatal as a plot twist or a double cross between someone in the film. However, these twists are only to give an unexpected change in plot but through a lot of the same codes and conventions they can be slightly foreshadowed by the way that come of the characters act, their outfits or their speech. They would act in a way that would make them seem suspicious or shady in a way which becomes one obvious to the viewer making it a surprise to the characters in the film.

Lighting/visuals

Lighting is a very important feature when talking about Film Noir; it is a key essential aspect of how each scene show look and is presented. Because most Film Noir movies where in black and white, the director had to use shadows and lighting rigs to give the best possible looking image instead of relying on nice looking colour schemes. Using the light in a Film noir setting would normally consist of using somewhat metaphoric visuals such as people coming from the shadows suggesting that they are bad because the colour black symbolizes death and negatives.

The lack of being able to show a lot of important scenes without colour is a real problem because there can be very important aspects that can only be shown through colour. This is when the director decides to use the different shades and shadows to his advantage. Several ways of drawing someone’s eyes to something important is commonly used by light, whether it’s a singular light in a dark room being projected onto something significant or if is the darkness taking over something that was once light. It’s important to see that using the light to highlight an object or person is crucial when trying to bring the viewers’ attention to something you want.

Sound/Music/Dialogue

The music in Film Noir movies can be the quintessential thing that deferrers one Film Noir classic to another. Film Noir’s Slow smooth beat down jazz is what keeps the tone of Film Noir movies. It can establish emotions directly to the viewer to present an ever stronger feeling that is happening in the scene and can be catchy enough to have people remember that film for years. The main genre of music in Film Noir Movies usually comes under orchestra and jazz, mixing the both to create quite a relaxed feeling with the jazz and then turning it into a terrifying or sad moment with the orchestra, And often with these timely tunes you would be accompanied (Usually at the start of the film) with a voiceover by the main protagonist, informing you of the troubled pasted he’s had to induce and live with until this day. He would also tell you how the city is filled to the brim with crime and death, letting you know what kind of stereotyped city you will be seeing. 

Camera/Editing

A lot of camera angles are done purposefully in Film noir movies to either present something quite important to the viewer with lighting or character etc. and also to subtly hint about a hierarchy with character positioning. The first some is very straight forward, some came angles would begin as a close up on a character doing something, maybe cleaning a room or on a phone. The director will then use this as a chance to creatively show the killer and have the character on screen die thus beginning the hook to the movie. Starting with the close up shot they can introduce the killer in multiple ways yet in film noir movies there is on particular and common way that they do this and this is by using the shadow lighting effect to be zoomed or focused on. With this shot it draws not only the camera but the viewer back from the reality they have been presented with the character on the phone or cleaning the house to a much more dangerous place which makes the viewer quite uncomfortable. This is why most film has a small amount of character development at the beginning of the film, to make these effects have a harder impact on the viewer. This slow zoom or change in focus is a great way for the film director have people focus on the bigger picture in the film noir world and can be used form much more than just revealing a killer. The next quite common camera angles used side by side one another are called low and hierarchy. These cameras angles and commonly used, in and out of film noir movies, to present a higher achy to the viewer. This can be done by placing on character upon the top of a balcony looking down onto another character symbolizing that the one on the balcony more powerful than the one at the bottom. There are other ways besides using the camera to present this but this way it is clear to the viewer and the director that this was done intentionally to present this kind of imagery.

Film Noir - Script

The Great Jasper Kindell: Shrouded in Debt

1) Ext. San Francisco – Mid day

Title sequence -> Establishing shot

Shot of the city (San Francisco) Showing off the city environment, it’s dark afternoon and it’s raining all-round the city. It is then after the title sequence shows that an establishing shot is directed to a police department panning up into a balcony and fade into the next scene.

Detective: (V.O)

“San Francisco. People think it’s a wonderful city, well they’re wrong. Crime is high and morale is low and the police department is always in a rush. Not for me however, people don’t need a detective anymore; they just need your average Joe to put two and two together.”

2) Int. Detective Jasper Kindell Office Balcony – Mid day

Over the shoulder shot -> long shot

Shot aiming over the shoulder of the Detective looking out of his offices balcony window, the camera zoom’s out away from the detective to bring his desk into frame which shows a picture of his family, cigarette in an ash tray, Whisky in a glass and the detectives name on the desk which reads “Detective Jasper Kindell”

Detective: (V.O)

“So I’ve be standing here, staring out of the same balcony every day, waiting for someone who needs a real detective.”

3) Ext. Detective Jasper Kindell Office Balcony – Continues

Close up (background to the right of the detective) -> Long Shot/Medium shot

Shot facing the detective with the rest of his office behind him. The detective brings up a cigarette to his mouth and proceeds to light it, after he does he draws it from his mouth and releases the smoke into the air.

Detective: (V.O)

“Like me, Jasper Kindell. But of course, that isn’t gonna happen for a long, long time.”

A knock comes from his door. The detective then turns around to his desk, brings up his chair and sits down and calls to the person behind the door.

Detective:

“Come in”

4) Int. Detective Jasper Kindell Office Front Door – Continues

The shot is aimed at the door, which was a knocked in the previous scene, it opens to a young woman, the detective assistant and she walks in holding open the door behind her by leaning on it while facing the detective.

Detectives Assistant:

“Miss Oxford is here to see you, Detective”

When she stops talking another woman, by the name of miss oxford comes slowly behind the assistant looking down at her feet; she steps closer into the office and begins to look up. This is where the camera will come from the floor to miss oxfords face with a slow pan back.

5) Int. Detective Jasper Kindell Office Side view – Continues

Middle shot -> Pan

The shot focuses on the detective, stands up to bring around a chair placing it on the opposite side of his side of the desk. He responds as he moves the chair around.

Detective:

“Come in darling’ I’ll get you a seat. Fancy a drink?”

After this the camera pans round to miss oxford walking in staring at her surroundings nervously still.

Miss Oxford:

“Thank you, but I don’t drink at this hour.”

As this happens our detective goes and closes the door to the balcony and sits on his side of the desk

Detective:

“Well suit yourself”

 6) Int. Detective Jasper Kindell Office Desk shot – Continues

Middle/Over the shoulder shot.

This is over the shoulder of the detective as he begins to question miss oxford. It is framed in a way that allows us to see the back of the head of the detective, miss oxfords face at a middle shot distance, the detectives drink and smoke as well as his family photo. It is in this scene we get to learn about miss oxford and why she is here. A strong light from the table lamp will be shining on miss oxfords face so she becomes the centre of attention.

Detective:

“So tell me what you here for doll face”

Miss oxford:

“Well you see it’s about my father. He’s been acting quite strange lately.”

Detective:

“In what way?”

7) Int. Detective Jasper Kindell – POV of the detective

Close up/POV

In this scene we are slightly closer to miss oxfords face slowly zooming in over time, this is where we get to hear more about why she is here before going into a flash back which starts halfway through her speech and continues into the next scene.

Miss oxford:

“He’s been returning home late every night for the past week, and one of the nights he came home quite distraught and…”

8) Ext. Miss Oxfords second floor bedroom window – Flash Back.

Medium Pan

Fades in to Miss Oxford walking onto her balcony looking very concerned and the camera pans up to put her into shot. Seems to be looking at something shocking

Miss oxford:

“…well he was carrying a large bag from out of his car…”

December feedback

Your film demonstrates a good knowledge of the medium and technical skill.  You should complete this  by the deadline.

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Publish all your posts so that I can make a fair assessment of your progress.

Concentrate on updating the web-log by Christmas.