Developing the Detective

In order to create a convincing and detailed title sequence we'll have to research and find people or characters from film and TV that we can use to help develop the character of Detective Lawrence Ansen and our murderer.


Over the years, TV, books and film have seen a range of detective characters as murder mystery is a very popular viewer experience. Memorable characters such as Sherlock, Dexter, Miss Marple, Hercule Poirot and so on have adapted from books with great description of the characters background, personalities, looks etc and it is difficult to create a memorable Murder Mystery detective or catalyst to the situation without coming from a book. For our characters, this means we can take characteristics of various memorable characters and put them into one for our own detectives and killers.

In the film, Se7en, the film that inspired us to take our title sequence down this route, has two very memorable detectives; Detective Mills, who is played by Brad Pitt and Detective Somerset who is played by Morgan Freeman. It is the character of Mills that I find to mostly fit best with the character we wish to create as he is a detective who needs to prove himself in a big murder case and he is passionate about this case and it takes him over the edge. 

The fact that Mills has a wife and love-life helps the viewer feel sympathetic and connect to the character and his situation. This is what we will aim to portray to the audience in our title sequence; being done through images of his wife and other varying forms of media.

                                        

The Silencer: Characters and Story

This is our original brainstorm for the characters and story.

Developing the Killer

This secret side to our killer is inspired some roles of detectives with other double lives. For example, Sherlock is a very straight talking possibly innocent character who doesn't understand the means of human interaction that is socially acceptable. At one point in the series he has a secret girlfriend to keep the media and the girl happy and to get to where he wants, but he knows full well that the relationship would not go any further than work purposes because that's all he needed her for. This kind of self aware but unaware of society norms is the kind of killer we are going for.

This is much like Dexter; a detective who is very good at his job because he understand the mind of a killer as that is what he does on the side of his day job. Dexter's soul purpose for killing is to take out the 'bad guys' in society. He is driven through a lack of emotions and throughly studies humans and their behavior patterns to integrate himself successfully in the real world. Much like Sherlock, he has a secret girlfriend who he uses as a cover up, to make him seem more human.