Treatment for 'Undercover'

TREATMENT FOR 'UNDERCOVER'

We are aiming to create an opening to a neo-noir film set in an urban environment. An undercover officer poses as a gang member and meets a member of a rival gang for an alleged drug deal. The officer aims to arrest the dealer, but the dealer has come to do a hit on the rival gang, so after a minute of dialogue surrounding the drug deal the officer realises that there’s no drugs and the dealer shoots him. It then cuts to a man in a bar reading the story of the failed drug bust in a newspaper, and he checks his phone to find out that he’s assigned to do a similar style drug bust that evening. He sighs, and the title of the film appears on screen.

The credits roll at the very start of the opening . The establishing scene takes place in a dimly lit alley or at a dock. The undercover officer is extremely paranoid about the drug deal, and he phones up his chief to ask why the dealer is late and to give off about how he always gets the bottom of the barrel jobs nobody wants. The chief reassures him, saying that junkies have no sense of time and that the job could lead to a major bust on, the gang leader, Joey Rigatoni's entire drug operation. Suddenly the dealer appears, walking quickly and slightly hunched over with his hands in his jacket pockets. The dealer seems just as nervous as the officer, and they both introduce themselves as members of the rival gangs. After some beating about the bush they both realise that a drug deal isn’t actually going on. Before the officer gets a chance to pull out his badge, the dealer pulls out a gun and says ‘Tell Tony Joey Rigatoni sends his regards’ before shooting at the officer. The screen goes black and it cuts to a man sitting in a bar, reading a newspaper about an undercover drug bust gone wrong. The man gets a message on his phone, and reads it to find out that he has to do a similar style undercover drug bust that night. The man sighs, and the title of the film appears on screen.

'Undercover' Script

OPENING CREDITS

THE FILM OPENS WITH ESTABLISHING SHOTS OF THE DOCKS, STATUES AND DIFFERENT URBAN ENVIRONMENTS AROUND BELFAST.

Mac is waiting at the docks, checking his watch anxiously. He checks his watch, and as the hands reach midnight, he grabs his phone and frantically dials a number and calls it.

MAC

You told me midnight. You told me he'd be here at exactly midnight. He's not here! Where is he?!

CHIEF

Relax, junkies have no sense of time. He'll be there shortly.

MAC

I always get handed these lowlife jobs...

CHIEF

It's that or paperwork. And I know you hate paperwork. 

Mac is getting increasingly nervous, and wipes his brow with a handkerchief.

CHIEF

You're not chickening out on us now, are you? You know the drill, right?

MAC

Yeah yeah... I ask the guy if he's got the stuff, he hands me whatever sludge he's gotten his hands on. I tell him I'm one of Tony's men and I ask him if he's a good friend of Joey's then I show him my badge and I put the scumbag away.   

CHIEF

You realise this isn't just you putting away some small time scumbag, if we get some information out of him we can put an end to Joey's whole drug operation. 

MAC

Yeah yeah...

CHIEF

This setup is a big deal Mac!

MAC

I know. 

Suddenly a shady looking character emerges walking towards Mac slightly slumped with his hands in his jacket pockets. Upon arriving, he somehow manages to seem equally as nervous and agitated as Mac. 

PAUL

Alright... you here for the uh... the drug deal?

MAC

Yeah uh...the drugs

PAUL

So... you one of Tony's men?

MAC

Yeah... and you're one of Joey's goons?

PAUL

Goons?

MAC

Men, one of Joey's men.

PAUL

Yeah, I am... Tony's really been expanding his drug operation, hasn't he?

MAC

Uh... I guess he has

PAUL

Yeah, been really pushing into other gangs turf, hasn't he?

MAC

Uh...

Mac, at his limit, searches Paul up and down. Suddenly he realises that Paul isn't here to do a drug deal, and notices his hand moving back towards his pockets. Mac tries frantically to grab his police badge out of his pocket, but before he has a chance Tony has already pulled a gun on him.

PAUL

Tell Tony Joey Rigatoni sends his regards!

As Paul fires, the screen abruptly goes black.   

  

The next shot opens with a man sitting in the corner of a bar. To his right is a newspaper with the headline 'Undercover officer found dead in failed drug bust'. As he lifts it to read it, his phone buzzes. He sets down the newspaper and picks up his phone to read the text. The text informs him that he has to do a similar style undercover drug bust that night. The man sighs and exhales cigar smoke. 

THE TITLE THEN APPEARS ON SCREEN AS MUSIC PLAYS IN THE BACKGROUND.

Goodfellas Opening Analysis

Goodfellas Opening Analysis


The establishing shot opens with a close-up shot of a group of men driving in a car, with shallow focus to show that the driver is the main focus of the frame. There is non-diegetic sound of bumping and rustling, matched with dialogue of the driver asking what the sounds are.There is a brief ellipsis which cuts to a wide shot of the car pulled over with the men in the car at the back of it. The mise-en-scene of the dark and undisclosed location adds to the atmosphere, as well as the character's mobster attire. There is a zooming shot on the boot of the car, creating suspense.The next shot shows two men brandishing weapons which pans over to the driver walking towards the boot, which leads to an action cut of the driver opening the boot and revealing a wounded and dying man inside. The two men stab and shoot the man viciously, which is followed by a close-up of the driver's face. The frame freezes followed by the third person narrative of the driver saying ''As far back as I can remember I always wanted to be a gangster." This statement sets the premise of the film, and implies the murder of this individual was a regular occurrence to him.The protagonist's slamming of the boot is matched with the jazz film score, which plays throughout the rather minimal film credits. After the credits, there is an extreme close-up of a boy's eye, who we presume to be the protagonist as a child, followed by an eyeline match which pans across the street and zooms in on various different mobsters as the narrator explains their roles and why he as a boy wanted to be a gangster. The next shot shows the boy inside his house, with a tracking shot of his mother bringing us through the mise-en-scene of his cramped studio apartment. The boy then hurries off to his job, while a long-shot shows the mother yelling after him, with deep focus and sound perspective drowning out her voice slightly. This is followed by a sequence of tracking shots following the boy do errands while the narrator recounts his early experiences with the mob, all pieced together by various bridging shots, with upbeat music playing in the background. There is then a tonal shift as the scene is back in the boy's house, while the narrator tells us as to how his father was always angry because of the failures in his life. The father emerges into the frame, with the boy's mother out of focus to show how she has no control over the father's actions. There is then a series of shot/reverse shots between the father and son as the father beats the son for not attending school, followed by the narrator saying 'everybody takes a beating sometime'. There is a brief ellipsis, followed by a shot/reverse shot of the boy telling the mobster at the cabstand that he won't be able to do the job anymore because the postman was delivering letters about his lack of attendance. The mobsters then capture and threaten the postman as they saw the boy as vital to their operation, showing just how important to the mob the boy was.
This is followed by a tracking shot of the boy running with a mobster under his umbrella in the rain making phonecalls for the boss Paulie. The next scene is a panning shot, with the mise-en-scene implying it's a barbecue or lunch of what we can assume is Paulie's garden. The narrator speaks about how important and powerful Paulie is as the camera pans around Paulie and his different underlings and colleagues.

State of Grace Opening Analysis

State of Grace Opening Analysis

The film opens with credits and various titles, all placed over a series of ethereal and blurry shots which dissolve into eachother, all while moody jazz plays in the background. After the credits have finished, there is an establishing shot of the Brooklyn Bridge in order to set the location of the film. This is followed by a shot/reverse shot of two characters exchanging strained dialogue about a shady meetup they will be attending later, followed by the exchange of a bag filled with guns. This is followed by a panning shot and non-diegetic voiceover narration, which soon focues on the first character we were introduced to (who we can assume is the protagonist) and his buddy, who is speaking which makes the sound diegetic. There is a tracking shot as they both make their way to the meetup point. The mise-en-scene and location creates a feeling of urban decay, very typical of a neo-noir film. When the two other characters arrive, we recognize one of them from the opening shots at the Brooklyn Bridge, which alerts us to the fact that the drug meetup is a setup. The second character from the Brooklyn Bridge pulls out a gun and pretends to mug the protagonist and his buddy, even threatening to shoot them. After a series of noddy shots emphasizing the characters' reaction to the ordeal, the protagonist breaks away and shoots at his alleged muggers. The protagonist and his buddy then flee back to their vehicle as a tracking shot follows them back to their car and climactic jazz plays in the background. There is a tracking shot of the car driving away and the protagonist running up a flight of stairs, followed by a brief ellipsis as the shot cuts to the protagonist smoking inside a train. The shot then passes above the train to an extreme longshot showing the New York city landscape lit up at night, filled with many skyscrapers. There is then another ellipsis, followed by the protagonist arriving in a bar and a series of midshots and shot/reverse shots as he speaks with an acquaintance.

Odd Man Out Opening Analysis

Odd Man Out Opening Analysis

The film opens with credits rolling over some gloomy stills of Belfast's ports, with moody jazz noir music playing over it. The establishing shots are aerial shots over rural and urban Belfast to set the scene and location of the film to add to the mise-en-scene. The film then cuts to a ground level shot, featuring diegetic sounds of boys playing and non-diegetic sounds of ships and the docks, which then pans to reveal the main character clad in a trench coat and trilby hat smoking a cigar, typical attire and props of a noir film.There is a dissolve transition used, followed by a tracking shot of the protagonist walking down a street and entering the home of his grandmother, before an action cut is used to show him walking up the stairs and into the room upstairs.There are a group of men in this room, with their dialogue indicating that they're planning some sort of mission.A woman walks down the stairs, and engages in dialogue with the old woman, before another woman walks into the house. There is a lot of movement and dialogue within this frame despite the camera being relatively fixed, which adds life to the scene. As the woman returns upstairs, the apparent leader is issuing orders and giving out gear to his men, and there are shot/reverse shots between them as they leave the room.With the man and the protagonist alone in the room, a shot/reverse shot ensues with tense atmosphere between the two men about how the protagonist isn't fit to do the job after being in jail for so long. Soon after the man leaves, and the woman and protagonist are alone. A zoom shot is used to make them both the focus of the frame, while the woman desperately tries to convince the protagonist to forget about the job, while pondering if he'll ever be free.Suspenseful music plays as the protagonist gets up and puts his clothes on, before the shot dissolves into a panning shot of a car driving down a road. This car then collects the protagonist and other men to bring them to their mission.

Aguirre, the Wrath of God Opening Analysis

Aguirre, the Wrath of God Opening Analysis


The film opens with a series of textual slides which set the premise for the film. The slides tell us that after the Inca Empire fell to the Spanish, the Indians created a fake tale of El Dorado, the land of gold. A band of Spanish adventurers set off to find this promised land in the late 16th century, and the film takes place from the remains of the diary of the monk Gaspar de Carvajal. The establishing shot of the film is an aerial shot, overlooking a mountainous region which sets the scene somewhere in South America. As the extreme long shot begins to zoom in on the people walking on the mountains, atmospheric choir music plays in the background, creating a feel of medieval europe. There is then voiceover narration from a narrator, presumably the monk, who mentions how they set off after he had said mass, which along with the choir creates an underlying setting of medieval christianity, despite being in the depths of the Amazon jungle. This contradiction gives us a notion of the confusion and chaos that is to manifest later in the film. Soon, the camera is at level with the voyagers, and the medium shot introduces us to the characters.The mise en scene of their costumes fits the time period perfectly, with europeans wearing chainmail and robes with groups of indian slaves in chains wearing mesoamerican garments. The narrator comments how 'The indians drop like flies due to illness and starvation' and how they didn't even have time to give them a christian burial, showing obvious irony. The voyagers then venture forth into the dense forrest, not sure where their fate lies.

Taxi Driver Opening Analysis

Taxi Driver Opening Analysis

As the opening credits to the film roll, an extreme close up shot is used on Travis’(the protagonist, played by Robert DeNiro) eyes, indicating his troubled nature or regret over past events. As this shot takes place, a series of distorted shots of neon lights begin to fade into eachother, while moody jazz music plays softly in the background. While neon lights and jazz are iconic features of film noir, the sleaziness of the jazz and the decaying frames hint at the filth Travis will be faced with throughout the film. This then fades into the opening shot, a two shot dialogue between Travis and his job interviewer at a taxi firm. The dialogue between the two is dreary and static, often with long pauses, with Travis coming off as quite unhinged and awkward. The ennui surrounding Travis is shown when he tells the interviewer the reason for him wanting the job was ‘I ride around nights mostly. Subways, buses. Figure you know, I'm gonna do that, I might as well get paid for it.’ Travis then gives off a few past details of his, stating that he was in the marines, which is reaffirmed by the Mise-en-scène of his military jacket. When asked about his driving license, Travis replies ‘It's clean, it's real clean like my conscience...’. We can assume that the troubled past of his that is being alluded to is to do with this military past. As Travis leaves, the camera pans past the interior of a Manhattan cab garage. The shot then cuts to Travis reciting an internal monologue of his monotonous activities as he writes in a diary, while the camera pans around the room. The Mise-en-scène of his studio apartment is squalid and dingy, giving an impression of Travis’ petty existence. We are then taken on our first ride with Travis. The camera pans around different inner city scenes of low lifes and urban decay while moody jazz plays , both aspects key features of film noir. Travis talks to us about the filth in the city he has encountered, saying ‘Someday a real rain'll come and wash all this scum off the streets.’ Travis then picks up what we can only assume is a successful man and a prostitute he has hired, and Travis begins driving. During the drive, there is a mid-shot in front of the windscreen looking back at Travis and his customers. As his customers roll around in the backseat, Travis looks back at them from time to time, silently driving them to their destination. We can only imagine the contempt he is feeling.