‘Snake in the Grass’
A film noir opening sequence
Treatment Sheet
By Mathew Bray and Kenya Bell
Contents Page
Cast list
Synopsis
Outline and Reasons
Technical information
Characters and Costumes
Appeal to target audience
Creative ideas
Titles
Cast List
Investigator/Usurper – Mathew Bray
(Dominic Hudson)
Gang Leader – Jack Waterman (Tony
Pensiero)
Gang Members – Luke Larkin, William
Unwin, Aodan o’Neill
Mysterious Woman/Femme Fatal – Beth
Davies (Rebecca Evans)
Police co-operators – Brandon
Kirton(Sgt Smith), Ben Painter (Cpl
Anderson)
Synopsis
The film is about a private investigator, insert
investigators name here (played by Mathew Bray),
which has been given a case to investigate a gang
from the inside. Once inside, the investigator is
corrupted by the power that he now posses and
plans to usurp the gang leaders position and take
over for himself. Unfortunately the investigator
cannot take over the gang single handily so he
decides to convince the other gang members to
side for him and help him in this act.
Outline and Reasons
Beginning: The opening begins with
Dominic Hudson walking down a street and
flashes back to Dominic Hudson and SGT
Smith discussing the investigation in a
diner.
Middle: The scene changes to the gang
hideout where a secret meeting is occurring
about a future job/heist.
End: The minute the Dominic leaves the
diner the shot flashes back into the
future. The narration gets more sincere and
it’s revealed that Dominic is holding a
knife, the camera pans over Dominic’s
shoulder to see Tony Pinserio lying dead
and it quickly cuts to an extreme close up
of Dominic’s face from the side as he says
something sincere and the camera cuts to
black to reveal the title of the film.
Technical Information
Location – Bar/Abandoned Place/Seaton
Sequence Length – yet to be decided
Props:
 Guns
 Cars (Unfortunately only modern available)
 Police Badge
 Possibly Fake Drugs
 Cigars/Cigarettes
Characters and Costumes
Dominic Hudson: This is the private
investigator that was mentioned in the synopsis
earlier. He is a 6ft man of average build with
mucky blonde/brown hair. He wears a full suit and
tie along with a trilby/fedora for headwear. He
plans on usurping the gang.
Tony Pensiero: This is the leader of the gang.
He is a rough looking man that looks like he has
had his fair share of gunfights, knife-fights,
and well, any other type of fight you can think
of. He is very experienced in his ‘profession’.
Rebecca Evans: A beautiful looking woman who
got roped into the gang at a young age. She is a
mysterious woman and not many people know where
she came from, or anything about her.
Sgt Smith: An experienced man. Wears a coat and
fedora and is very logical. He will never enter a
fight where he isn’t 100% sure that he will come
out on top.
Cpl Anderson: The opposite of Sgt Smith. He
will run straight into a fight, driven by the
thrill of action. Wears a police uniform.
Appeal to Target Audience
We intend to stick to a lot of the film
noir conventions. This itself is an appeal
to our target audience as our target
audience is fans of the film noir genre.
It will also attract a secondary audience
of people who are fans of action. As the
film is a 15 it will likely draw in an
audience of thrill-seekers who are of age
15 and over.
Creative Ideas
Please refer to the initial ideas post on
either:
http://g321mathewbray.blogspot.co.uk/
Or
http://g321Kenyabell.blogspot.co.uk/
Both of these blogs contain an initial
ideas post that goes into detail about
different filming locations, props,
costumes and storylines.
Titles
When it comes to the movie titles we had a
few ideas:
 Snake in the grass
 Dead men walking
 Paradigm Shift
All of theses ideas were similar to names
that were common in the film noir genre.
Snake in the Grass went along well with our
storyline; hence this is the one we decided
to use. Dead Men Walking was a name that
stuck to the film noir genre but didn’t
follow our storyline as well as Snake in
the Grass did. Finally Paradigm Shift was
considered as it means a sudden change in
power but when it came down to it, the
phrase wasn’t too common so we decided to
avoid it and instead decided to choose
Snake in the Grass since it is a well known
saying and helps to tell the audience what
the film is about.

‘Snake in the Grass’ Treatment Sheet

  • 1.
    ‘Snake in theGrass’ A film noir opening sequence Treatment Sheet By Mathew Bray and Kenya Bell
  • 2.
    Contents Page Cast list Synopsis Outlineand Reasons Technical information Characters and Costumes Appeal to target audience Creative ideas Titles
  • 3.
    Cast List Investigator/Usurper –Mathew Bray (Dominic Hudson) Gang Leader – Jack Waterman (Tony Pensiero) Gang Members – Luke Larkin, William Unwin, Aodan o’Neill Mysterious Woman/Femme Fatal – Beth Davies (Rebecca Evans)
  • 4.
    Police co-operators –Brandon Kirton(Sgt Smith), Ben Painter (Cpl Anderson) Synopsis The film is about a private investigator, insert investigators name here (played by Mathew Bray), which has been given a case to investigate a gang from the inside. Once inside, the investigator is corrupted by the power that he now posses and plans to usurp the gang leaders position and take over for himself. Unfortunately the investigator cannot take over the gang single handily so he decides to convince the other gang members to side for him and help him in this act.
  • 5.
    Outline and Reasons Beginning:The opening begins with Dominic Hudson walking down a street and flashes back to Dominic Hudson and SGT Smith discussing the investigation in a diner. Middle: The scene changes to the gang hideout where a secret meeting is occurring about a future job/heist. End: The minute the Dominic leaves the diner the shot flashes back into the future. The narration gets more sincere and it’s revealed that Dominic is holding a knife, the camera pans over Dominic’s shoulder to see Tony Pinserio lying dead and it quickly cuts to an extreme close up of Dominic’s face from the side as he says something sincere and the camera cuts to black to reveal the title of the film.
  • 6.
    Technical Information Location –Bar/Abandoned Place/Seaton Sequence Length – yet to be decided Props:  Guns  Cars (Unfortunately only modern available)  Police Badge  Possibly Fake Drugs  Cigars/Cigarettes
  • 7.
    Characters and Costumes DominicHudson: This is the private investigator that was mentioned in the synopsis earlier. He is a 6ft man of average build with mucky blonde/brown hair. He wears a full suit and tie along with a trilby/fedora for headwear. He plans on usurping the gang. Tony Pensiero: This is the leader of the gang. He is a rough looking man that looks like he has had his fair share of gunfights, knife-fights, and well, any other type of fight you can think of. He is very experienced in his ‘profession’. Rebecca Evans: A beautiful looking woman who got roped into the gang at a young age. She is a mysterious woman and not many people know where she came from, or anything about her. Sgt Smith: An experienced man. Wears a coat and fedora and is very logical. He will never enter a fight where he isn’t 100% sure that he will come out on top. Cpl Anderson: The opposite of Sgt Smith. He will run straight into a fight, driven by the thrill of action. Wears a police uniform.
  • 8.
    Appeal to TargetAudience We intend to stick to a lot of the film noir conventions. This itself is an appeal to our target audience as our target audience is fans of the film noir genre. It will also attract a secondary audience of people who are fans of action. As the film is a 15 it will likely draw in an audience of thrill-seekers who are of age 15 and over.
  • 9.
    Creative Ideas Please referto the initial ideas post on either: http://g321mathewbray.blogspot.co.uk/ Or http://g321Kenyabell.blogspot.co.uk/ Both of these blogs contain an initial ideas post that goes into detail about different filming locations, props, costumes and storylines.
  • 10.
    Titles When it comesto the movie titles we had a few ideas:  Snake in the grass  Dead men walking  Paradigm Shift All of theses ideas were similar to names that were common in the film noir genre. Snake in the Grass went along well with our storyline; hence this is the one we decided to use. Dead Men Walking was a name that stuck to the film noir genre but didn’t follow our storyline as well as Snake in the Grass did. Finally Paradigm Shift was considered as it means a sudden change in power but when it came down to it, the phrase wasn’t too common so we decided to avoid it and instead decided to choose Snake in the Grass since it is a well known saying and helps to tell the audience what the film is about.