This document provides background information and notes on conventions used and challenged in the filmmaker's noir film titled "Kill Me Slowly". The film is set in 1954 America and follows Detective Inspector Bishop who secretly murders those he feels threaten his knowledge. He is haunted by his crimes. When the beautiful yet dangerous Darcy enters his isolated world, it may endanger her. The filmmaker developed conventions of classic noir locations by using brick walls and narrow streets to create a claustrophobic feel. Costumes for the detective and woman also drew from noir influences while incorporating modern touches. Editing employed black and white with color only for the woman's red lips, mimicking techniques from Sin City.

1. In what ways does your film
develop, use or challenge
conventions of proper films?
NOTAGE TO GO ALONGSIDE THE
FOOTAGE

2. Background to my film…
• KILL ME SLOWLY
• Logline: After the drastic effects of the Korean war, lingering loose threads
of the Great Depression, and the recent outbreak of McCarthyism
splintering an even bigger divide between citizens, America in 1954 is not
the best place to reside. With rumour of another economic Depression due
to shortages, Detective Inspector Bishop (Robson Howes) doesn't know
where he stands.
• Alienated, isolated, and alone, work-a-holic Bishop though committed to his
job, has extreme difficulty with holding any relationship, especially with
women. He resorts to silently murdering those whom he feels knows too
much about him or threatens his knowledge. To escape this, he turns to
whiskey, cigarettes, and chess.
• Business has been slow around town recently and the Detective has just
murdered and covered his tracks for yet another dead woman. But his trails
are not completely covered, and they never are.
• Head smart, dangerously attractive Darcy (Imogen Downes) claws her way
into his alienated world, but is it safe? Can Darcy's charm allure and
contain, or will she end up like the rest of his girls?

3. Location
Locations presented in noirs often give off a ‘claustrophobic’ feel. They are typically
dark, cold and plain – in other words, not places you’d want to ‘be’. Therefore I feel like
I have conformed in this particular region of my film as I used a brick wall, a narrow
street, and a corner of a room. All common locations reflecting an ‘uncomfortable’ feel
to my film.
Although shot in the present day, I tried to closely mimic the classic locations.
Therefore I believe I used the conventions, however also slightly ‘modern-ised’ them.

4. The Detective
I obviously needed a
‘detective outfit’ for Bishop.
I was fairly limited to what I
could choose as
traditionally, a “detective”
has a specific uniformed
look. I however,
approached his costume on
a more modern route,
taking inspiration from
Leonardo Di’Caprio’s
character in ‘Shutter Island’,
the 12th Doctor, and a
modern drawing of an
interpretation of a noir
detective.

5. The Girl
As the audience doesn’t really see her costume a lot in the opening, I focused on her entrance and
first impressions of her, made by the audience. Therefore I had to concentrate on things like how she
was positioned, her make-up, where her eyes were, and where she’d appear in the opening.
I challenged the traditional noir as I took inspiration from Lady Gaga’s video to Paparazzi. I really liked
the eye makeup, and the random second-long flash/bulb/cutaways to the dolled up dead girls.
To the best of my ability, I somewhat tried to re-create some of the shots…
The positioning, the marks on her
neck, the eye makeup and the red lips
were all things I concentrated on
mimicking. I however styled her hair
to fit a more 40’s look, therefore
traditional noir conventions
foreground this!!

6. Titles
USED/DEVELOPED CHALLENGED
Block-y font is used Not always in the
centre
They have a slight shadow Air time is approx 4
seconds
They are an off-white colour Less titles are used
The foreground is pretty plain I framed my shots
around my titles (I feel
noirs tend not to do
that)
The surname is below the first
name
Slightly 'skinnier' font
The first name is in lowercase Positioned diagonally
eg.
Just
Like
This
The surname is in bigger capitals
Slow fade transitions
Words like ‘and’ ‘in’ used

7. Props
Props are very significant in film. Each
prop/set dressing is there for a reason –
whether it’s symbolism, a metaphor, or
subtly foreshadowing the future, ALL
props have a purpose!!
My survey results said that a favourite
part of Noir was the style, therefore I had
to choose props carefully…
Like me, this film
was also trying to
recreate a noiry
look. So I used his
photo to inform me
of the
props/angle/postur
e when filming my
detective at the
desk.

8. Editing
The ‘classic’ image of a Noir consists
of shadows, figures, fog, black and
white, high contrasts.
My opening follows a fairly
conventional ‘noir editing’ path as it is
in black and white, with contrasts
toyed with, enabling me to reveal and
hide certain aspects from the
audience.
The only colour present would be
there for meaning – to signify a
difference between the characters
(power, gender etc.)
I decided to bring out the red in my
female’s lips. This is a challenge of a
‘traditional’ noir as it mimics Sin City
(a neo-noir from 2005)
Noir in a nutshell. I stayed
fairly conventional, however
challenged some ‘editing’
aspects such as fog and
silhouettes as I feel it didn’t fit
into my opening smoothly.

9. Camera shots
CHALLENGED – focus pull - no
opening I watched used this,
therefore I believe this is a
modern twist and a convention
I challenged
USED – shadow/silhouette
effect is widely used in this
genre
USED – he’s ‘reaching’ out of
the shot towards the audience,
making them feel
uncomfortable
DEVELOPED – close ups are
conventional, however the
prominent red lips mark
modern-ness
USED – canted/squiffy angles
are used to make the audience
feel uncomfortable

10. Music/Lighting
Furthermore, I believe I challenged a couple of conventions
due to the music I chose over the top of my film. I did this
in order to add a modern spin on my film (listening to
audience research).
The openings I analysed used classical music quietly in the
background, I however used a saxophone piece loudly over
my video.
I used saxophone as it is similar to the Sin City opening
scene music. Similar to the ‘older noirs’, this music does not
play loudly over the top of the action but quietly,
mimicking ambient music that ‘blends in’ with the scene. I
did not do this, my music ‘blasts’ over the action on screen.
Saxaphones have connotations of jazzy/happy/dance-y
people, therefore my music could be seen as contrapuntal.
Scoresese also uses contrapuntal music in the fight scene in
‘Mean Streets’.
As for lighting, I filmed inside which meant I had the power
to manipulate lighting to my advantage. I experimented a
little bit, using torches, umbrellas infront of lights, and
using a ‘cookie’ which is something you use infront of a
light to get a desired effect, such as the blind effect.
In conclusion I was used the conventions for lighting as
being able to control the lighting meant I could control
shadows/what the audience did/didn't see.