Script for Noir Film Opening

Script for Noir Film Opening.

Film Noir Opening Scene

CUT IN

EXT. SKY – NIGHT

Camera pans down from sky to reveal building, on this building is a door, camera slowly pans closer to door, until suddenly man bursts out through it, he is wearing a suit and holding a brief case. Clearly panicked he looks left and right before running off.

EXT. FOREST – NIGHT.

Man from before is still running from something, but he suddenly trips up on a root in the ground. He tries to get back up but as he’s doing so, he is blinded by a bright light. Clearly panicking, even more he tries to get back the way we came but is stopped when he bumps into a mysterious figure in black. The figure aggressively grabs him and pulls him up.

MAN

No wait! Don’t do it, please! Stop it!

The figure ignores him and keeps pushing the squirming man towards the light.

MAN

Stop it! Why are you doing this? What did I do?

The figure continues to ignore him and continues to push him towards the blinding lamp. The camera pans to a close up of the briefcase, now dropped on the floor. In the background, we still see the man struggling, as the light brightens. There is a flash and we see the shot change to day, still on the briefcase, but this time there is a man with a camera, taking photo of it, camera pans out to reveal that the location is now a crime scene.

DETECTIVE 1

I don’t understand. What would a 32-year-old lawyer be doing in the middle of the woods?

DETECTIVE 2

How the hell should I know?

DETECTIVE 1

Let’s just get this down to evidence. I’m sure that Jones will want to take a look inside.

DETECTIVE 2

Yeah, he’d be keen to. Let’s see how he’s doing with the body.

The two detectives get up and head towards the body of the man. Carefully inspecting it is another man, Detective David Jones. He is a middle aged man and is adamant about his completing job, any case he gets into he’ll stop at nothing to solve it even if that means disobeying orders. The camera follows the two detectives and stops when it reaches the body and Jones.

DETECTIVE 2

Hey Jones, we got a brief case you might wanna check out.

Jones stands up into frame and turns to face his fellow detectives.

JONES

Course, later though, come look at this first.

The two detectives crouch down either side of him, and proceed to examine the body with him.

JONES

What do see?

DETTECTIVE 1

What do you mean? The body?

JONES

Yes, what’s strange about it?

Detective 1 takes a closer look and tries to see what Jones is on about.

DETECTIVE 1

Nothing, I can’t see anything.

JONES

Exactly. Nothing. There are no wounds, no bullet shots, nothing. Doesn’t that seem strange to you?

DETECTIVE 2

Not really, he could have died from a heart attack or…

JONES

Yeah, but that doesn’t explain what he’s doing here, In the middle of the woods, three miles from the nearest offices.

DETECTIVE 1

He could have been taken here? Or maybe he just got drunk and wandered off?

DETECTIVE 2

I don’t think so, it was a work day and he had some important cases coming up. I think he was trying to get somewhere, or get away frome something.

JONES

Yeah, and by the looks of things he was in a rush.

DETECTIVE 1

So he was being pursued?

DETECTIVE 2

I guess so…

JONES

Yes, but by who? We only found one set of footprints. As far as we know, this man was on his own.

DETECTIVE 1

So you’re telling me that a 32-year-old barrister ran off in the middle of the night, three miles away from any offices of his, and just dropped dead in the middle of nowhere, apparently for no reason at all.

JONES

So it would seem…

The three are suddenly covered by a shadow and they all look up at the source. The camera cuts to a shot of high heels and pans up to reveal a mysterious woman. She is in her mid-twenties and is wearing a suit and has on bright red lipstick. Jones and the others get up.

DETECTIVE 1

Excuse me ma’am but this is a crime scene civilians aren’t supposed to…

He is cut off when she pulls out an identification badge, and shows them that she is from the FBI. Her badge reads ‘Detective Jessica Moore’

JONES

How can we help you detective Moore?

MOORE

Well I’m here to dismiss you on this case, Mr Jones. It’s all been sorted we can take it from here.

JONES

You? This is just a local death, nothing serious enough for the FBI to get involved with.

MOORE

Sorry love, but we have reason to believe that this man was involved with some highly classified information. We’ll Need to take the body for an official autopsy.

DETECTIVE 1

Okay, but you’ll need to talk to our chief first. Although I don’t think he’ll be too happy about this.

MOORE

Don’t worry, something tells me that he’ll be happy to comply.

JONES

Well, thank you Detective Moore, make sure you get back to us with the official results.

MOORE

I’m afraid that may be beyond my power at the moment Mr Jones.

Camera cuts to the three detectives sitting down on a hill, looking down at what was the crime scene. Jones has a bottle of water in his hands and has been scratching the label off, he is clearly annoyed at what has happened.

JONES

I just don’t see why they needed to get involved. What was so special about this man that the FBI had to take over.

DETECTIVE 2

I don’t know, but what does seem suspicious is how they were alerted to it, we didn’t contact them.

JONES

Exactly, it almost seems like…

He pauses for a second and looks down the hill. Suddenly he gets up and slowly walks down the hill. Once he’s at the bottom, he bends down and picks up a wallet. He opens it up and looks inside, he pulls out a ripped piece of paper, which reads, DO NOT TRUST! On the back. We see him turn it over and the camera cuts to a close up of the shock on his face.

JONES

Oh my God…

DETECTIVE 1

What, what is it?

 JONES

Come down here and see for yourself.

The other two rush down the hill to see what Jones has found. When they see they both look at each other in shock.

DETECTIVE 2

But, that can’t be...

The camera cuts to the picture that Jones has in his hands,  it is a black and white battered photo of Jessica Moore. The camera slowly zooms into it as the screen fades to black and the titles appear.