EXPLORATION OF

Police Interviews

VISUAL PRODUCTION

Important: this idea has been dropped.

Instead we are going to work on the Making a Hot Chocolate idea.

This page will be kept up for reference.

THE IDEA

Two people, one beige folder and a staring contest. Will the detective get his confession?

We establish an interview room, two people either side of the table. I'd want to make it interesting by showing anxiety with close-ups and fast cuts and to re-use symbolism when the detective's and the suspect's anxiety / feelings are swapped.

Opening

INT - POLICE STATION HALLWAY - NIGHT

THE DETECTIVE is leaning against the door. Behind him is the interview room. They're anxious, gripping tightly a beige-coloured folder. Rhythmically tapping with their fingers or feet as a compulsion. They compose themselves and head through the door.

THE PROCESS

The purpose of a police interview is to ascertain information about a situation; usually a crime that has been commited.

The process will usually involve brnging in witnesses and suspects to see what knowledge they have. In some instances, evidence may already be clear and a detective may just want to bring that to the attention of their suspect - to give them the chance to explain or to extract a confession.

In our scene, the process is getting the confession. Where the detective starts outside the room, unsure whether they have the facts - doubting themselves. They stare eachother down showing intimidation. But by the end of the scene, the suspect know they have been caught.

The detective starts anxious and the suspect is smug and by the end of the process, this should be reversed.

But... how could we film this scene without dialogue?

SHOT LIST

Wide - from down the hallway, looking at the detective off to the side.
SOUND: office noises, quiet murmuring
Close - their eyes are shut, shallow breathing
Close - the folder gripped by his right hand tightly, at waist-level
SOUND: anxious breathing
Close - tapping their right foot up and down on the floor
SOUND: the tapping a foot on hard flooring
Mid - in front, eyes open, breathe out, turns -
SOUND: breathing out, shoe / step movement
Wide - to the side again (as shot 1), enters the room, camera follows sideways through the wall
SOUND: door opening, footsteps
then - inside the room, same distance from subject, camera continues path to
Distant - the other end of the table, the detective sits down keeping folder hidden, camera pulls back behind the right ear of the suspect (establishes camera will be on the detective's left)
Close - the ceiling light flickers
Starting distant - on the detective's end of the table facing the suspect, the camera rolls forward. The suspect opens his eyes with a smug smile and stares down the hero.
MId - The detective looks away, down to the table.
Mid - The suspect smiles more, looks up to the ceiling, camera on suspect's right side
SOUND: We hear the folder drop onto the table. He looks back down
Distant - from above at the detective's end of the table, first on the suspect, then camera pans down and pulls focus down close to the folder in front of the detective. We can read the text
Mid - from side, the detective places their hand on the folder, taps, contemplates it, looks up to the suspect,
Close - from above again, they spin the folder around to be the oriented towards the suspect, pushes it forwards
Mid - from side angle, the suspect holds stare for a few seconds, then opens the folder. Holds the smug smile, we move in slowly as his smile begins to drop
Close - behind his right shoulder, looking down at the folder, we see the contents as he turns the pages.
SOUND: pages turning
LIGHTING: Red and blue lights peek in from behind the curtains
Closer - his right hand grips the folder tightly
Close - he anxiously taps his feet up and down
SOUND: tapping
Close - on suspect's face, dropping, slightly angry, he then looks back at the detective
Starting distant - Mimicking shot 10, on the suspect's end of the table facing the detective, the camera rolls forward. The detective begins a smile.
Close - turns page in the folder for a confession signature
SOUND: page turn
Close - (as shot 20) the suspect still holds the stare but deflated. He's been caught.
Closer - the top of a pen is pushed
SOUND: pen click
Wide - Now side on, showing the whole table for the first time. the detective holds the pen out in front of him

Timing whilst reading this was a little more than two minutes long.

ROLES

Darren - Director
Matt -

SET SPECIFICATIONS

A room with four black walls. One door, one window with the blinds shut. A white table in the middle, tailed with a chair at either end of it.

Lit from above by a small light, a backlight providing highlights out of view.

We should able to shine light in from behind the blinds to provide additional depth.

Visual Inspiration

EXAMPLES FROM MEDIA

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