Welcome back to my blog! Last week, I wrapped up my weeks-long research of the chosen genre for my brief, now moving forward to the planning stage. Today, I am going to brainstorm and establish a narrative for my opening, so that I have a foundation constructed to base further planning on.
Prior to this post, I have already established the point of view, theme, and style of my opening's narrative. Additionally, since I am only working on the opening for my brief, I do not have to plan as extensively for the rest of the plot (rising action, climax, etc.).
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As you may know by now I am set on making an opening for a noir film, one of the many mystery subgenres. To recap, noir stories often follow a lone protagonist who is (mostly) to themselves, having a past filled with trauma or something similar, this gloomy quality is reflected throughout elements in mise-en-scene and plot.
Murders are a common case that noir stories use, and I want to change that up with mine. If I really want it to stand out, however, it still has to be manageable by a protagonist on their own and should include some secret elements that could be overlooked by authorities to be discovered later. Burglary, drug trafficking, and a large-scale robbery could all make for interesting opening sequences. However, I feel as though a crime involving some sort of identity fraud would make for a more compelling story in the long-run.
Since the opening will only consist of this one crime, it only makes sense to include a few characters, those being the perpetrator(s), maybe some authorities, and if I were to go the identity theft route, some sort of character of importance (both the impersonator and the real person at some other point in the opening).
The protagonist would obviously be the most important to appear in the opening, but I feel as though including them towards the end of the sequence would be the most logical, since it would not make sense for them to do all their detective work if they were present in the crime itself.
As for the setting of the opening, it mostly depends on the crime specifically and where it would take place. For now, I feel as though a gloomy urban setting would be the most appropriate for the noir genre, possibly somewhere secluded where the antagonist(s) frequently goes to. If I end up including the protagonist in the end, I feel as though it would be best for the scene to take place in their office or in a bar, where they then receive their task. I think that giving the protagonist's office some modern-day flair, such as a computer and modern cell phone, would give the scene a bit of flair and contrast with most noir stories which take place in a time more akin to when the subgenre was mainstream.
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Although the narrative for my opening is not completely set in stone as of now, I still feel that this brief planning session will help as an effective basis to work the rest of the planning phase off of, so that I do not have to think of certain elements on the fly. Additionally, this narrative idea is once again helping me picture the final product, as now I can determine what techniques to use (in terms of lighting, camera movements, and the like) for certain parts, such as the shot in the protagonists office or the crime scene.
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Now with a general idea of what my brief's narrative is going to be, I will expand on this brainstorming and create a constructed plot. Thanks for reading todays post, and I will see you again soon!
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