narrative

OUTLINE OF THE ENTIRE FILM:
The film is set post WW2 in the late 1940s, it is the time of film noir. It is about a deal involving a diamond which takes place between two criminal organisations one larger and one smaller, however the smaller group do not keep up their end of the deal within the deadline, causing "the godfather figure" of the larger group to take drastic action and start taking the lives of innocent victims. The film is about the smaller criminal organisation trying to work out whey "the godfather figure" is killing the people that he is so they can get their diamond back once and for all. The name of the film - anatomy of a murder.

THE OPENING:
The opening is a murder, we see flashes of a chase the footsteps of a girl running then behind her the slow, calm walk of a man. Any glimpses that are seen of their faces aren't slow or focused enough to be able to distinguish them at all. We then here the girl scream and in the reflection of the glasses that the killer is wearing we see him strangle her and her fall to the ground dead. This lasts between 30-45 seconds no longer. Scene is inspired by and similar to the strangling scene in Alfred Hitchcock's "Strangers on a train". Shadows create a spooky scene in the woods.

The next minute cuts between 2 locations. The first is an older man sitting in a chair, he is "the godfather figure" and runs a large scale criminal corporation possibly dealing with smuggling, drug trafficking, weapons smuggling, etc. He wears clothes suggesting he is fairly wealthy but looks like a suspicious character. We see little of his surroundings as the camera slowly zooms in on him, then a close up shows him cutting a cigar with the sound of the blade enhanced, no backing music.

We then cut to a a second man standing in a street he instantly looks far less wealthy but still dressed in a suit and wearing a fedora hat covering most of his face. The man leans against a building or lamppost and has both hands in his pockets, he keeps checking over his shoulder and looking both ways however as soon as another man approaches he tries to act in complete control and to assert his authority.

Cut back to the godfather figure who now smokes the cigar, as he exhales the cigar smoke it covers his face. The mid shot of him is still slowly zooming in towards his face.

Back to the street where the two men are now talking, the second man looks far more scruffy and he is in full view, he is clearly the one that does all the dirty work. The men talk about the murder and discuss how the deal went wrong and innocent people are now being murdered, the victim is only referred to as "the girl" or "she". Meanwhile the camera keeps cutting back to the godfather figure as the camera zooms in on him. Occasionally the camera shows instead a close up on him doing things such as lighting his cigar, smoking his cigar or putting it out.