Idea #1: 'LIMBO' (Working Title)
Three main characters: Ava Colosi, Noah Carter and Caine Smith
The Femme Fatale – Ava Colosi
Our femme fatale is an intelligent, cold, emotionally detached, deceiving, selfish, badass individual who wants to get what she wants. She is edgy and replicate the characteristics of Phyllis and Cora from Double Indemnity (1944) and The Postman Always Rings Twice (1948), respectively. She is completely independent but convince our anti-hero that she is helpless and weak. She represents the fear of society today, terrorism and it’s issues of materialism.
To further my knowledge of how our femme fatale should be portrayed through our audiences, I did some research on the signature aspects of femme fatales in the noir genre. Besides the physical attributes that the femme fatale should have e.g. opt to wearing more dark, sexy, and retro clothes as well as sticking to bold hair colours like platinum blonde and wearing dark red lipstick, having the mysterious personality is key for femme fatales. The mystery proves to be the allure of the femme fatale for audiences because they would have to pay attention more on her actions. An intelligent femme fatale also adds to the sex appeal and that she will be likely to be successful when "manipulating men. Femme fatales also don't need to wear extra revealing clothes because their personalities and the way they act should draw the men in." (1)
Reflection [15/06/16]
Based on this research, my target audience is expecting that our femme fatale should have most of these attributes since they are familiar with the key elements in a film noir after studying it in class. It makes sense for our film's femme fatale to have these attributes that once she enters the scene, she immediately commands attention with her dark red lipstick and bold hair. Of course, the signature dark, sexy and retro clothes will be incorporated to achieve the "femme fatale" aura that it needs to have so all the attention is on her.
Refinements [16/06/16]
Even though we planned to make our film into black & white, we will incorporate the dark, red lipstick especially in the cafe scene by using a mask to specifically make her lips coloured while the rest in black & white. An example of this could be Schindler's List where the film was black & white and had a scene with a girl in a coloured red coat. This will command the audience attention due to the fact it's the only thing coloured in that scene, thus they'll assume that it's important to look at it. This achieves our goal for her lips as well as the lipstick stained cigarette she's holding becomes the main motif that connects her to the murders and theft she committed. As for the dark, retro clothing, we decided to incorporate it at the end because we wanted her to be somewhat trustworthy, or at least become suspicious of her at the start by wearing neutral clothing until the very last scene where she makes an escape - she would be wearing dark clothing confirming her association to the crimes and her intentions.
The Anti Hero – Noah Carter
This character is an arrogant, ignorant, cynical, brooding, obsessive anti hero that is often over shined by our femme fatale. He is ‘the man’ and is expressive of his masculinity. He is often serious and have characteristics derived from all the male characters that we’ve watched, especially Jake Gittes. “The anti-hero is all bout alienation, fighting fate and pushing back against the corruption of the system.”
Reflection [15/06/16]
As per research, "Another aspect that creates the personality of a film noir hero is the relationship between the noir hero and the femme fatale. Most noir films have a strong leading female character that entices the noir hero by manipulating them using their sexual prowess to gain power over them..." and that "...this relates to how each noir male lead is bound to a doomed fate because they tangle themselves with the femme fatales due to their cunning power attracting them. The relationship of a noir hero and the femme fatale displays the juxtaposition of both characters. Most noir lead characters show their way of thinking in flashback, a convention used heavily in film noir, in which how they express their desire, weakness or frustration towards the femme fatale. In terms of physical action, the lead noir hero then shows only lust towards the femme fatale, giving the character a suppressed personality whereas the femme fatale are more outspoken in the way they express themselves. It shows how the male noir lead is a conflicted personality that is easily defeated by the seduction of the femme fatale." (2)
From this research, audience expects a very obvious and immediate relationship between the anti-hero and the femme fatale for they have become the main focus of film noir. Here, they'll be able to distinguish the character's purpose in the film and try figure out their intentions before the film ends. The fact that I'll be incorporating these personality aspects of characters that is commonly found in film noir the high likelihood of understanding the story more compared to an audience that has no idea of the key elements of noir.
Refinements [16/06/16]
By showing that our anti-hero - Noah Carter has a hard-boiled personality but soft spot for Ava Colosi, uses the idea of how the femme fatale can easily take advantage of the anti-hero due to his conflicted personality. We wanted to incorporate this idea into our film because since his father did die unnaturally, Noah would be somewhat confused, angry, and feel conflicted. Because of this, Ava could easily use this to her advantage and be highly successful with her intentions since Noah is in a bad place of mind. It matches closely with our chosen narrative and that by doing this, we would be fulfilling the audience expectations of a doomed anti-hero overpowered by the femme fatale and that it would make sense as to why he wasn't able to be onto her like Sam Spade of The Maltese Falcon.
Antagonist – Caine Smith
The antagonist is the main villain of the film. He is the true representation of the fear that society has today – terrorism. He is the leader of an organisation in which he runs to ruin the social structure of his town. He brings terror to the locals and is primarily the bad guy. He uses the Femme Fatale to his advantage and a decoy to destroy our anti-hero.
Revision [5/04/16]
Major Characters -
Basic Story Outline (4/04/16)
The story begins as a mystery that follows the events surrounding Noah Carter, who becomes the sole beneficiary of his family's wealth and business, following the death of his father. His number one priority however, would not just be figuring out who murdered his father, but rather figuring out who he should trust. Especially now that he knows he is the next target.
Reflection [17/06/16]
Audiences expect that film noir will have, "...morally compromised people doing immoral things; stories involved the forbidden, the sinful." Therefore, the character appeal towards my target audience should be "on the fence", meaning that my audiences don't know where to stand with the characters in my film - who to side with, who will commit the crime etc. "A cliché about classical Hollywood films is that they required happy endings. Film noir challenges this generalisation. Many films noirs develop virtually no expectation of happy endings..." (3) Here, we want to convey the idea that sometimes, people could get away with crime without getting caught immediately. This indicates to the audience that there it is not safe to completely trust anyone nor safe to be anywhere at all. This is relevant to the current situations of fears of society where cases where mass murders occur in places that people wouldn't really expect. This develops the idea of the realism of modern society and that audience expects the film noir would parallel with the current fears of society. As for other narrative aspects of film noir, "...the flashback and voice over narration provided by the noir protagonist is a main element and it is heavily used in film noir." (4) Therefore, adding flashbacks and voice over narration adds to the effect of film noir and because of this audiences expect that an access to the thoughts of the anti-hero helps them figure out sections of the narrative as well as his personality.
Refinement [19/06/16]
The main characters - Noah, Ava and Aiden will be depicted as flawed characters to reflect the idea of how the characters in film noir are morally compromised individuals. As for the ending, we chose to make Ava get away with her crimes and leave Noah to get arrested from killing her brother. This conveys the idea of a "non-happy ending" and that good doesn't always win. With this, we want to get our anti-hero Noah, to retell these events in a 'flashback' or 'reverse' order to state to the audiences further that "it's too late, she's already gone away with it and there's nothing else you can do about it."
The Femme Fatale – Ava Colosi
Our femme fatale is an intelligent, cold, emotionally detached, deceiving, selfish, badass individual who wants to get what she wants. She is edgy and replicate the characteristics of Phyllis and Cora from Double Indemnity (1944) and The Postman Always Rings Twice (1948), respectively. She is completely independent but convince our anti-hero that she is helpless and weak. She represents the fear of society today, terrorism and it’s issues of materialism.
To further my knowledge of how our femme fatale should be portrayed through our audiences, I did some research on the signature aspects of femme fatales in the noir genre. Besides the physical attributes that the femme fatale should have e.g. opt to wearing more dark, sexy, and retro clothes as well as sticking to bold hair colours like platinum blonde and wearing dark red lipstick, having the mysterious personality is key for femme fatales. The mystery proves to be the allure of the femme fatale for audiences because they would have to pay attention more on her actions. An intelligent femme fatale also adds to the sex appeal and that she will be likely to be successful when "manipulating men. Femme fatales also don't need to wear extra revealing clothes because their personalities and the way they act should draw the men in." (1)
Reflection [15/06/16]
Based on this research, my target audience is expecting that our femme fatale should have most of these attributes since they are familiar with the key elements in a film noir after studying it in class. It makes sense for our film's femme fatale to have these attributes that once she enters the scene, she immediately commands attention with her dark red lipstick and bold hair. Of course, the signature dark, sexy and retro clothes will be incorporated to achieve the "femme fatale" aura that it needs to have so all the attention is on her.
Refinements [16/06/16]
Even though we planned to make our film into black & white, we will incorporate the dark, red lipstick especially in the cafe scene by using a mask to specifically make her lips coloured while the rest in black & white. An example of this could be Schindler's List where the film was black & white and had a scene with a girl in a coloured red coat. This will command the audience attention due to the fact it's the only thing coloured in that scene, thus they'll assume that it's important to look at it. This achieves our goal for her lips as well as the lipstick stained cigarette she's holding becomes the main motif that connects her to the murders and theft she committed. As for the dark, retro clothing, we decided to incorporate it at the end because we wanted her to be somewhat trustworthy, or at least become suspicious of her at the start by wearing neutral clothing until the very last scene where she makes an escape - she would be wearing dark clothing confirming her association to the crimes and her intentions.
The Anti Hero – Noah Carter
This character is an arrogant, ignorant, cynical, brooding, obsessive anti hero that is often over shined by our femme fatale. He is ‘the man’ and is expressive of his masculinity. He is often serious and have characteristics derived from all the male characters that we’ve watched, especially Jake Gittes. “The anti-hero is all bout alienation, fighting fate and pushing back against the corruption of the system.”
Reflection [15/06/16]
As per research, "Another aspect that creates the personality of a film noir hero is the relationship between the noir hero and the femme fatale. Most noir films have a strong leading female character that entices the noir hero by manipulating them using their sexual prowess to gain power over them..." and that "...this relates to how each noir male lead is bound to a doomed fate because they tangle themselves with the femme fatales due to their cunning power attracting them. The relationship of a noir hero and the femme fatale displays the juxtaposition of both characters. Most noir lead characters show their way of thinking in flashback, a convention used heavily in film noir, in which how they express their desire, weakness or frustration towards the femme fatale. In terms of physical action, the lead noir hero then shows only lust towards the femme fatale, giving the character a suppressed personality whereas the femme fatale are more outspoken in the way they express themselves. It shows how the male noir lead is a conflicted personality that is easily defeated by the seduction of the femme fatale." (2)
From this research, audience expects a very obvious and immediate relationship between the anti-hero and the femme fatale for they have become the main focus of film noir. Here, they'll be able to distinguish the character's purpose in the film and try figure out their intentions before the film ends. The fact that I'll be incorporating these personality aspects of characters that is commonly found in film noir the high likelihood of understanding the story more compared to an audience that has no idea of the key elements of noir.
Refinements [16/06/16]
By showing that our anti-hero - Noah Carter has a hard-boiled personality but soft spot for Ava Colosi, uses the idea of how the femme fatale can easily take advantage of the anti-hero due to his conflicted personality. We wanted to incorporate this idea into our film because since his father did die unnaturally, Noah would be somewhat confused, angry, and feel conflicted. Because of this, Ava could easily use this to her advantage and be highly successful with her intentions since Noah is in a bad place of mind. It matches closely with our chosen narrative and that by doing this, we would be fulfilling the audience expectations of a doomed anti-hero overpowered by the femme fatale and that it would make sense as to why he wasn't able to be onto her like Sam Spade of The Maltese Falcon.
Antagonist – Caine Smith
The antagonist is the main villain of the film. He is the true representation of the fear that society has today – terrorism. He is the leader of an organisation in which he runs to ruin the social structure of his town. He brings terror to the locals and is primarily the bad guy. He uses the Femme Fatale to his advantage and a decoy to destroy our anti-hero.
Revision [5/04/16]
Major Characters -
- Noah Carter - Sole inheritor of a business owned by his family, innocent and quiet based on physical looks, hard-boiled and insistent. Anti-Hero. Protagonist.
- Ava Colosi - Manipulative and a sociopath, Friend/Minor Love Interest of Noah Carter, younger sister of Aiden Colosi. Femme Fatale. Antagonist
- Aiden Colosi - A corrupt opportunist, cold and fearless, minor associate in an a law firm, older brother of Ava Colosi. Antagonist.
- Lawyer - Personal lawyer of Mr Frank Carter, informs Noah more about his father's will.
- Mr Frank Carter - Rich and intelligent entrepreneur, father of Noah Carter. Dies at the beginning of the film.
Basic Story Outline (4/04/16)
The story begins as a mystery that follows the events surrounding Noah Carter, who becomes the sole beneficiary of his family's wealth and business, following the death of his father. His number one priority however, would not just be figuring out who murdered his father, but rather figuring out who he should trust. Especially now that he knows he is the next target.
Reflection [17/06/16]
Audiences expect that film noir will have, "...morally compromised people doing immoral things; stories involved the forbidden, the sinful." Therefore, the character appeal towards my target audience should be "on the fence", meaning that my audiences don't know where to stand with the characters in my film - who to side with, who will commit the crime etc. "A cliché about classical Hollywood films is that they required happy endings. Film noir challenges this generalisation. Many films noirs develop virtually no expectation of happy endings..." (3) Here, we want to convey the idea that sometimes, people could get away with crime without getting caught immediately. This indicates to the audience that there it is not safe to completely trust anyone nor safe to be anywhere at all. This is relevant to the current situations of fears of society where cases where mass murders occur in places that people wouldn't really expect. This develops the idea of the realism of modern society and that audience expects the film noir would parallel with the current fears of society. As for other narrative aspects of film noir, "...the flashback and voice over narration provided by the noir protagonist is a main element and it is heavily used in film noir." (4) Therefore, adding flashbacks and voice over narration adds to the effect of film noir and because of this audiences expect that an access to the thoughts of the anti-hero helps them figure out sections of the narrative as well as his personality.
Refinement [19/06/16]
The main characters - Noah, Ava and Aiden will be depicted as flawed characters to reflect the idea of how the characters in film noir are morally compromised individuals. As for the ending, we chose to make Ava get away with her crimes and leave Noah to get arrested from killing her brother. This conveys the idea of a "non-happy ending" and that good doesn't always win. With this, we want to get our anti-hero Noah, to retell these events in a 'flashback' or 'reverse' order to state to the audiences further that "it's too late, she's already gone away with it and there's nothing else you can do about it."