Research begins

After work over last weekend, and a few days spent in Scotland, I have now begun in earnest, my research for this drama. Normally, I'd be hosting my rock music radio show tonight, but decided to pre-record it in order to devote some time to my dissertation. My research began with watching Sin City: A Dame To Kill For, on Netflix. I found this film very useful, a modern take on film noir with a mix of graphic novel, it served to show me some conventions of the genre, such as stormy weather, strong and manipulative women, and gambling. I feel that the film helped inspire some potential story ideas and dialogue. Next, I went in search of crime radio dramas, I found some readings of books, but these were not what I wanted. In the end I settled for two dramas, each an hour and a half long on BBC Radio 4 Extra. They were, Ian Rankin's The Third Gentleman, which wasn't entirely helpful, with it being set in 1790... However, the plot twist did serve to spark my imagination. And the second being an adaption of Dorothy L. Sayer's Wimsey. This drama, entitled, Whose Body again was not really what I was after, however, each drama has useful ideas for identifying criminals and hiding their tracks.

I am thinking that my main character should be called something simple, and uninteresting, like 'Jack' or 'John'. In order to hide some of his history and personality. Furthermore, I think he should begin his journey after a period of unconsciousness and we, the audience, will follow him as he tries to retrace his steps. I'd like to have the drama set in the UK as this is where my actors will be from, and though they may be able to do an American, film noir style accent, it may appear humorous and silly, which is not my intention. I feel that I need to make up a city in order to have more control over it's layout, history and accents. I'm thinking something like 'The Vase', maybe not as the city's actual name, but as a nickname, because it's pretty on the outside or at a glance, but conceals something murky inside.

Unfortunately, I'll not be able to do much more work until Monday, as I'll be at work from 10am to 11pm Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Hard work perhaps, but it means that the money I spend on travel is made the most of, rather than spending so much for only a few hours work.