Script and Actors

Our next step was to create the script for our film. We began by creating the three main characters:

• Kevin
• How he fits into film noir: Kevin is the "fall guy", as our film documents his downwards spiral. His biggest flaw is his dark history and mentality (like with many film noir heroes)- he suffers from PTSD and dissociative amnesia, which drive him to murder. There is definitely ambiguity to his character- obviously he is a killer, however because he doesn't know this he acts innocent. The audience could sympathise with him although not fully. He allows himself to be manipulated by the femme fatale.
• Violet
• How she fits into film noir: Violet is the "femme fatale" in our film. She is everything Kevin is not; independent, confident, seductive, lacking compassion and career orientated. This makes it easy for her to manipulate him for her own gain; she feels no guilt despite their months together and escapes unscathed. She is nothing like the traditional woman (a domestic housewife) and like the femme fatales in early noirs defies gender roles. We have taken inspiration from characters such as Phyllis Dietrichson in Double Indemnity, an archetypical femme fatale.
• Policeman
• How he fits into film noir: In many film noirs the police are actually shown as corrupt and immoral (for example in LA Confidential), so we have actually subverted this convention. We wanted one character who was clearly good and moral to act as a foil and remind the audience of how terrible the actions of the other characters are. He sees the femme fatale for what she really is and although he is glad to have found the killer he is clearly uncomfortable with how she caught him.

After creating a rough draft of the script, we wanted to record a read through with our actors to see if it ran smoothly and to get any feedback on what we could do to improve the narrative. 

The two main issues were:

1. Kevin and Violet's relationship seemed to move forwards very quickly

We planned to show this though a montage, using no dialogue, so maybe the script didn't make this clear enough. When we film we could perhaps use different costumes and filters to make it clear that a significant period of time has passed, for example from a sunny day to a colder, rainy one. Even a caption could be used to make this explicit.

2. Violet's monologue didn't quite explain how Kevin had committed the murders and needed developing

We will need to adapt our script to make this clear, so perhaps Violet's monologue should be extended slightly. We could name the condition and she could give a definition so the audience can see where it all fits in.

We considered this feedback before creating our final version of the script.

Final Script

Final script from jessfareymedia