Private Investigations: mise en scene planning sheet

Location:

i have two locations in my film, one is a dark rainy street, lit by lamplight with small narrow terrace houses. the real life area of this setting is a street on Saul Street in Downpatrick. i have chosen this location as it fits the general feel of my film (in the house style and structure) and also becuase i know someone that lives there so i can use his house for the man's entrence at the start of the film. this location will be used for the first and last scene of the film so it is important to show it realistically to the audience.

my second and last location is the private investigator's office where the main part of the film will take place and the scenes between the PI and the man and also the PI and the woman. for this scene i will use a room in my house which will be converted to suit the needs of the scene. it is a small room and will be dimly lit with suitible noir style design and i hope this will help set the mood of the film. it is important that there is room in the office for the camera to move and the woman and man to interact. i also need to film out towards the hallway in the third scene. the locations should be easy enough to use. i only need one actor for the more difficult location, the street, and filming in my own house should be easier than shooting outside or somewhere else.

Props:

i do use a lot of props in my film, most of which are referenced in the dialouge and some which will be used to make the location look better. all of my props will be used within the private investigator's office. those without relevence to the script include (exlcuding the table and chairs), the name plaque on the PI's desk, the lamp on the desk and some file blocks in the room. props in the office which will be mentioned in the script, (mostly in an homage fashion) are the crystal ashtray, which will be used throughout the film (crystal because it will seem more old fashioned),the large poster on the wall of Marlene Dietrch (a classic noir femme fatale) and the rug on the floor. the props used by the man are the photo, which is used to introduce the female character to the plot, and also to provoke a response from the PI, his cigarettes, which are used to promote a sinister feeling about the man (also the bad guys are generally smokers in movies, although most characters in noir smoke, only the man smokes in my film), and the briefcase which the man carries that acts as the central macguffin in the story. the briefacse is on screen at the start of the film and will be an important centrepiece at the end. in the briefcase is contained three other props will will help explain the story, a gun, symbolising death, money, showing payment and corruption, and a passport, showing the PI is goin to run away. the briefcase is important in helping the audience interpret what is going to happen as the story in left on somewhat of a cliffhanger.

below are photos (from the right to left) of the briefcase and its contents, the poster, the PI's name certificate and the desk and what is on it.

Make up:

there will not be any make up on my male actors, mainly because noir actors were not cast for their looks but for their ability or character, i do not wish to make a beauty pagent of the film. the woman character in the film will wear make up, pale make up which will help accentuate her against a dark background (the chiracuso effect used by martin scorsese). her blonde hair will also be worn up in a style similar to that of the heroines and femme fatales of the classic period, perhaps if possible, with a resemblence to the style of Marlene Dietrich in the poster on the PI's wall.

Costume:

the man: old style black hat (rimmed, blues brothers style), three piece black suit -white shirt, blazer, waistcoat - with a black tie and three quarter length trenchcoat, black shoes.

the man is dressed in this fashion not only becasue it would have been the attire of the more wealthy individuals of the time but because the all black look is fairly intimidating and will hopefully create a sense of threat and give the man a powerful superior feel.

the private investigator: black pin stripe trousers, black shoes, white shirt, suspenders, blazer on back of chair.

the man is dressed in his daily formal attire but has began to dress down near the end of the day, he is obviously more casually dressed, making him seem at home. the contrast of style between the two men will also suggest the superiority of the man in full suit.

the woman's costume is also very important as it is integral in creating the chiraocuso lighting effect. she will wear a long white dress and black high heel shoes. the white represents an innocence in contrast to her actual deeds in the film and is used by many directors, especially Martin Scorsese, to introduce female actresses.

below are photos of the costumes being used for the man and the PI.

Sound:

the sound in my film will not play a major role in the film and the majority of sound will be diegetic and in the form of dialouge between the characters. other diegetic sound will include the woman walking down the staircase. the stairs at the location are in close enough proximity for me to able to use them without ehancement or sound effects. the only non-diegetic sound used in the film will be in the form of the soundtrack which will be an instrumental version of the dire straiuts song, private investigations. the sound of this song fits perfectly with the feel of my film and it is probably not coincidental that the band named it private investiagtions as the score seems to come straight out of a classic noir. this soundtrack will feature during the opening and closing scenes of the film where the man is walking down the street. it will also play into the next scenes for example it will continue to play while the man walks into the office and will die down just before the dialouge begins. at the end it will start to play as the PI is closing the briefacse and replies to the woman and will continue until the end of the film. as the only noticible sound outside of dialouge the track is very important and will need to be played to effect, hopefully to create a dark, foreboding yet oddly romantic theme to the film.

Lighting

the lighting in my films plays an important role in creating the classic noir feel. low lighting and making shadows is the key element to film and the use of carravaggios technique of chiraocuso is also very important as one of my main influences. for the intitial and closing street scenes the lighting will take the form of the streetlights only. having been to the location and night i believe this should be sufficient lighting in order to be able to film in the dark. this scene should reference the interpretation of noir mentioned in my statement of intentions that the genre consisted of 'films set in the darkness of night with rainy streets where black and white picture is used to display a world of crime and betrayl. this statement fits my intention for the film perfectly and i hope to recreate this feeling with the street scene and street lamp lighting should be sufficient to produce this effect.

for the scene in which the two men are talking methods of noir lighting (dark and shadowy) and chiraocuso lighting will be used. the man will appear in total shadow throughout the film to hide his face and create a sense of mystery and in the office the PI will appear under the light. to acheive this a desk light will be on beside the PI and focused towards him and a low overhead light will be on above the PI (although if this creates to much light it will not be used). this will create a contrast between the characters and will demonstrate the 'light from darkness' effect used by caravaggio. this effect will also be used when the girl comes on screen. she will appear from the light of the hallway and the PI will remain in the darkness of the ofice, creating a contrast between all the characters; the man in complete darkness (bad) the PI in semi-darkness (troubled) and the girl in light (a sign of innocence, also used by scorsese) but the girl walks into the darkness, showing she is used to it. this may not be relevant to the story as all of the characters have been bad somehow.

Camera

the use of intricate camera angles will not be a nessesary technique in my film as rather than relying on action set pieces my film is more of a character exposition. the most commonly used camera position in my film will bethe POV shot. it will be used from the man's POV for most of the film while he is talking to the PI) and a POV of the PI will be used near the end when he is watching the woman in the hallway althopugh this is just to introudce the female character, the man's POV or over the shoulder shot will tell most of the story and the audience will see most of the film through his eyes - affilliating them with the villian of the piece. as the man speaks most of the films dialouge the audience will feel more like they are part of the film as the man's speech is coming from near to the camera although occasionaly the camera will move to show part of the man, we do not see much of him. this leaves him, as my main character, still steeped in mystery and creates an uneasiness among the audience.

i will make most of the camera movements deliberately slow as it is a slow building film and a film intended to build tension will not usually use pacy and fast camera angles. slow tilts will be used to introduce the wife character. the camera will not stray around the surroundings as this sense of disorientation of the audience not knowing exactly where they are and having part of the room obscured will make them feel uneasy and possibly build a sense of tension. low or high angles will be used to distinguish superiority between the characters, for example the mans POV will be at a hign angle to the PI, making the PI appear lower down. zoom angles will also be used to focus on important objects such as the briefcase or photograph and a slow tilt between the PI and the photo will be used to suggest a connection between the woman and the PI.

costumes being used for the man