@mytechtoday/augment-extensions 0.4.0 → 0.5.0

package/augment-extensions/writing-standards/screenplay/genres/rules/mystery.md

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+# Mystery Genre
+
+**Category**: Screenplay Genre  
+**Type**: Primary  
+**Complexity**: High
+
+## Overview
+
+Mystery films center on solving a puzzle, crime, or enigma through investigation and deduction. The genre emphasizes clues, red herrings, revelations, and the satisfaction of piecing together the truth.
+
+## Core Concept
+
+Mystery screenplays are intellectual puzzles where the audience follows an investigator (professional or amateur) as they uncover the truth. Success depends on fair play with clues, satisfying revelations, and maintaining suspense about the solution. Great mysteries engage the audience as active participants trying to solve the puzzle alongside the protagonist.
+
+## Core Rules
+
+### Rule 1: Play Fair with Clues
+
+**Description**: All information needed to solve the mystery must be available to the audience, even if cleverly hidden or disguised.
+
+**Why It Matters**: Mysteries are puzzles. Solutions pulled from nowhere feel like cheating and frustrate audiences.
+
+**Examples**:
+- ✅ **Good**: Crucial clue shown early but its significance only becomes clear later
+- ❌ **Bad**: Killer revealed to be character never mentioned or shown before
+
+**Film Reference**: Knives Out (2019) - All clues are visible; the fun is in how they're interpreted.
+
+---
+
+### Rule 2: Misdirect, Don't Mislead
+
+**Description**: Use red herrings and false leads to create suspense, but don't lie to the audience or withhold crucial information unfairly.
+
+**Why It Matters**: Misdirection is artful; misleading is dishonest. The audience should be able to solve it with careful attention.
+
+**Examples**:
+- ✅ **Good**: Suspicious character with motive who turns out to be innocent
+- ❌ **Bad**: Showing events that didn't actually happen to trick the audience
+
+**Film Reference**: The Usual Suspects (1995) - Misdirection through unreliable narrator, but clues to the truth are present.
+
+---
+
+### Rule 3: Make the Detective Active
+
+**Description**: The protagonist must drive the investigation through intelligence, observation, and action, not luck or coincidence.
+
+**Why It Matters**: Passive detectives make boring mysteries. The audience wants to see clever deduction and persistence.
+
+**Examples**:
+- ✅ **Good**: Detective notices small detail, follows logical chain of reasoning, takes risks to uncover truth
+- ❌ **Bad**: Clues fall into detective's lap through coincidence; villain confesses for no reason
+
+**Film Reference**: Zodiac (2007) - Obsessive investigation through painstaking research and deduction.
+
+---
+
+### Rule 4: Escalate the Stakes
+
+**Description**: As the investigation progresses, the danger, urgency, or personal cost should increase.
+
+**Why It Matters**: Pure puzzle-solving can feel academic. Rising stakes create emotional investment.
+
+**Examples**:
+- ✅ **Good**: Detective gets closer to truth, killer targets them or loved ones
+- ❌ **Bad**: Investigation proceeds with no consequences or increasing danger
+
+**Film Reference**: Se7en (1995) - Each discovery is more horrific; killer's plan targets the detectives personally.
+
+---
+
+### Rule 5: Deliver a Satisfying Revelation
+
+**Description**: The solution should be surprising yet inevitable - it makes perfect sense in hindsight and recontextualizes earlier events.
+
+**Why It Matters**: The reveal is the payoff. It must feel earned, logical, and emotionally satisfying.
+
+**Examples**:
+- ✅ **Good**: "I should have seen it!" - clues were there, solution is elegant
+- ❌ **Bad**: Random, illogical solution or overly complicated explanation
+
+**Film Reference**: The Sixth Sense (1999) - Twist recontextualizes entire film; clues were always visible.
+
+---
+
+## Guidelines
+
+### Structure
+
+- **Act I**: Crime/mystery introduced, detective takes the case, initial investigation and suspects
+- **Act II**: Following leads, interviewing suspects, discovering clues, red herrings, false solutions, investigation deepens
+- **Act III**: Final pieces fall into place, confrontation with culprit, revelation and explanation, resolution
+
+### Pacing
+
+- Hook with intriguing mystery early
+- Dole out clues and revelations steadily
+- Use setbacks and false leads to maintain tension
+- Accelerate as solution approaches
+- Allow time for explanation without dragging
+
+### Character Archetypes
+
+- **Protagonist**: Detective (professional or amateur), journalist, or ordinary person drawn into mystery
+- **Antagonist**: Killer, criminal, or person hiding the truth
+- **Supporting**: Police/authority, suspects (each with motive/opportunity), informant, victim's family
+
+### Tone and Atmosphere
+
+- Intellectual engagement and curiosity
+- Suspense and unease
+- Can range from cozy (Agatha Christie) to dark (noir)
+- Atmosphere of secrets and hidden truths
+- Satisfaction of puzzle-solving
+
+### Visual Style
+
+- Use of shadows and obscured details
+- Visual clues hidden in frame
+- Flashbacks to show new perspective on events
+- Close-ups on important details
+- Contrast between surface appearance and hidden truth
+
+### Dialogue
+
+- Interrogation and questioning
+- Subtext - characters hiding information
+- Deductive reasoning explained clearly but not condescendingly
+- Revelations through conversation
+- Avoid over-explaining; trust audience intelligence
+
+## Common Pitfalls
+
+### Pitfall 1: Withholding Information Unfairly
+
+**Problem**: Keeping crucial information from the audience so they can't possibly solve the mystery.
+
+**Solution**: Show all clues, even if their significance isn't immediately clear. Fair play is essential.
+
+**Example**: Murder on the Orient Express - All clues are presented; the solution is in how they're interpreted.
+
+---
+
+### Pitfall 2: Overly Complicated Solution
+
+**Problem**: Solution requires such convoluted logic or coincidences that it strains credibility.
+
+**Solution**: Keep solution elegant and logical. Complexity should come from misdirection, not convolution.
+
+**Example**: Knives Out - Complex plot but solution is ultimately straightforward and satisfying.
+
+---
+
+### Pitfall 3: Passive Investigation
+
+**Problem**: Detective stumbles onto clues by accident rather than through active investigation and deduction.
+
+**Solution**: Show detective's intelligence and methodology. Clues should be discovered through effort and insight.
+
+**Example**: Sherlock Holmes films - Holmes actively seeks clues through observation and deduction.
+
+---
+
+## Film Examples
+
+### Example 1: Chinatown (1974)
+
+**Director**: Roman Polanski
+
+**Why It Works**: Noir mystery with layers of corruption, personal stakes, and tragic revelation. Perfect pacing and atmosphere.
+
+**Key Scenes**:
+- **Water Department Investigation**: Following seemingly simple case into deeper conspiracy
+- **"She's my sister AND my daughter"**: Horrific revelation that recontextualizes everything
+- **Tragic Ending**: Truth revealed but justice denied
+
+**Techniques Used**:
+- Protagonist discovers truth gradually through investigation
+- Each revelation leads to darker truth
+- Personal involvement raises stakes
+- Noir atmosphere of corruption and moral ambiguity
+
+---
+
+### Example 2: Knives Out (2019)
+
+**Director**: Rian Johnson
+
+**Why It Works**: Modern whodunit with clever structure - reveals "who" early, then explores "how" and "why."
+
+**Key Scenes**:
+- **Murder Night**: Multiple perspectives on same events
+- **Marta's Interrogation**: Literal inability to lie creates unique dynamic
+- **Ransom's Reveal**: Twist on top of twist, all clues were present
+
+**Techniques Used**:
+- Subverts traditional mystery structure
+- Fair play with all clues visible
+- Ensemble cast of suspects with motives
+- Social commentary woven into mystery
+
+---
+
+### Example 3: The Usual Suspects (1995)
+
+**Director**: Bryan Singer
+
+**Why It Works**: Unreliable narrator mystery where the telling of the story is the mystery itself.
+
+**Key Scenes**:
+- **Lineup**: Introduction of criminals with mysterious connection
+- **Verbal's Story**: Flashback narrative that may or may not be true
+- **Coffee Cup Reveal**: Visual clues to unreliable narration throughout
+
+**Techniques Used**:
+- Unreliable narrator as misdirection
+- Visual clues hidden in plain sight
+- Twist ending that recontextualizes entire film
+- Fair play - clues to truth are present
+
+---
+
+### Example 4: Zodiac (2007)
+
+**Director**: David Fincher
+
+**Why It Works**: Procedural mystery about obsession with unsolved case. Tension from lack of resolution.
+
+**Key Scenes**:
+- **Lake Berryessa**: Brutal crime that drives investigation
+- **Basement Scene**: Suspense from potential danger during investigation
+- **Cartoonist's Obsession**: Personal cost of seeking truth
+
+**Techniques Used**:
+- Realistic procedural detail
+- Multiple investigators with different approaches
+- Obsession as theme
+- Ambiguous ending mirrors real unsolved case
+
+---
+
+## Integration with Other Features
+
+### Compatible Themes
+
+- **Truth vs. Lies**: Uncovering what's hidden
+- **Justice**: Solving crime to bring closure
+- **Obsession**: Compulsion to solve the puzzle
+- **Corruption**: Systemic cover-ups and conspiracies
+- **Identity**: Who people really are beneath surface
+
+### Compatible Styles
+
+- **Whodunit**: Classic puzzle mystery (Agatha Christie style)
+- **Noir**: Dark, cynical detective stories
+- **Procedural**: Realistic investigation methods
+- **Cozy Mystery**: Lighter, often amateur detective
+
+### Hybrid Combinations
+
+- **Mystery + Thriller**: Suspense with puzzle-solving (Gone Girl, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo)
+- **Mystery + Horror**: Supernatural or slasher mystery (The Wicker Man, Scream)
+- **Mystery + Comedy**: Light-hearted whodunit (Clue, Murder Mystery)
+- **Mystery + Sci-Fi**: Futuristic or speculative mystery (Minority Report, Blade Runner)
+
+## Best Practices
+
+1. **Plant Clues Early**: Foreshadow solution without telegraphing it
+2. **Fair Play**: Audience should be able to solve it with careful attention
+3. **Red Herrings**: Misdirect but don't mislead
+4. **Active Detective**: Protagonist drives investigation through intelligence
+5. **Escalate Stakes**: Increase danger and urgency as truth approaches
+6. **Satisfying Reveal**: Surprising yet inevitable solution
+7. **Clear Explanation**: Ensure audience understands solution without over-explaining
+8. **Rewatch Value**: Solution should recontextualize earlier scenes
+9. **Character Depth**: Mystery serves character development, not just plot
+10. **Respect Intelligence**: Trust audience to follow complex plotting
+
+## Resources
+
+- "Writing the Mystery" by G. Miki Hayden
+- "How to Write a Mystery" edited by Lee Child - Essays from mystery authors
+- "Chinatown" screenplay by Robert Towne - Masterclass in noir mystery
+- "The Big Sleep" by Raymond Chandler - Classic detective novel structure
+- "And Then There Were None" by Agatha Christie - Perfect closed-circle mystery
+
+---
+
+**Depth Coverage**: 85%
+**Last Updated**: 2026-01-31
+**Version**: 1.0.0
+

package/augment-extensions/writing-standards/screenplay/genres/rules/noir.md

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+# Film Noir Genre
+
+**Category**: Screenplay Genre  
+**Type**: Primary  
+**Complexity**: High
+
+## Overview
+
+Film noir is a dark, cynical crime genre characterized by moral ambiguity, fatalism, and distinctive visual style. The genre emphasizes flawed protagonists, femme fatales, and urban corruption.
+
+## Core Concept
+
+Noir screenplays explore the dark side of human nature through crime stories featuring morally compromised protagonists in corrupt worlds. Success depends on creating atmosphere of doom and moral ambiguity, complex plotting with twists, and distinctive visual and dialogue style. Great noir reveals that everyone is capable of darkness and that fate is often inescapable.
+
+## Core Rules
+
+### Rule 1: Moral Ambiguity is Essential
+
+**Description**: Protagonist should be flawed, morally compromised, or drawn into darkness. No clear heroes or villains.
+
+**Why It Matters**: Noir explores gray areas. Clear morality undermines the genre's cynical worldview.
+
+**Examples**:
+- ✅ **Good**: Detective who bends rules, criminal with code, ordinary person corrupted
+- ❌ **Bad**: Purely heroic protagonist fighting pure evil
+
+**Film Reference**: Chinatown (1974) - Jake Gittes is flawed, and truth doesn't bring justice.
+
+---
+
+### Rule 2: Fatalism and Doom
+
+**Description**: Sense that protagonist is trapped by fate, past, or circumstances. Outcomes often tragic or pyrrhic.
+
+**Why It Matters**: Noir is pessimistic. The world is corrupt and individuals are powerless against larger forces.
+
+**Examples**:
+- ✅ **Good**: Protagonist's choices lead to inevitable doom, past catches up
+- ❌ **Bad**: Happy ending where good triumphs and justice prevails
+
+**Film Reference**: Double Indemnity (1944) - Protagonist narrates his own doom from the beginning.
+
+---
+
+### Rule 3: The Femme Fatale (or Homme Fatal)
+
+**Description**: Seductive, dangerous character who lures protagonist into moral compromise or destruction.
+
+**Why It Matters**: Sexual attraction as path to doom is noir archetype. Desire leads to destruction.
+
+**Examples**:
+- ✅ **Good**: Mysterious, alluring character with hidden agenda who manipulates protagonist
+- ❌ **Bad**: Straightforward love interest with no moral complexity
+
+**Film Reference**: Body Heat (1981) - Matty Walker manipulates protagonist into murder.
+
+---
+
+### Rule 4: Urban Corruption and Decay
+
+**Description**: Setting should reflect moral decay - corrupt cities, seedy locations, institutional rot.
+
+**Why It Matters**: Environment reflects and reinforces noir's cynical worldview.
+
+**Examples**:
+- ✅ **Good**: Corrupt police, crooked politicians, decaying urban landscape
+- ❌ **Bad**: Pristine settings with functional institutions
+
+**Film Reference**: L.A. Confidential (1997) - Corruption throughout LAPD and city government.
+
+---
+
+### Rule 5: Distinctive Visual and Dialogue Style
+
+**Description**: High-contrast lighting, shadows, rain-slicked streets, hard-boiled dialogue, voiceover narration.
+
+**Why It Matters**: Noir has specific aesthetic that creates atmosphere and tone.
+
+**Examples**:
+- ✅ **Good**: Chiaroscuro lighting, cynical voiceover, snappy hard-boiled dialogue
+- ❌ **Bad**: Flat lighting, earnest dialogue, no stylistic flair
+
+**Film Reference**: Blade Runner (1982) - Neo-noir with distinctive visual style and voiceover.
+
+---
+
+## Guidelines
+
+### Structure
+
+- **Act I**: Protagonist introduced in their world, femme fatale or case appears, protagonist drawn into darkness
+- **Act II**: Investigation or scheme deepens, moral compromises escalate, past revealed, web tightens
+- **Act III**: Truth revealed (often devastating), confrontation, tragic or pyrrhic resolution
+
+### Pacing
+
+- Deliberate, moody pacing
+- Complex plotting with revelations
+- Build sense of doom and inevitability
+- Flashbacks common
+- Climax often violent and tragic
+
+### Character Archetypes
+
+- **Protagonist**: Cynical detective, criminal, or ordinary person corrupted
+- **Femme Fatale**: Seductive, dangerous woman (or homme fatal)
+- **Antagonist**: Corrupt powerful figure, or fate itself
+- **Supporting**: Corrupt cops, informants, victims
+
+### Tone and Atmosphere
+
+- Cynical, pessimistic, fatalistic
+- Moral ambiguity and corruption
+- Sexual tension and danger
+- Urban alienation and decay
+- Doom and inevitability
+
+### Visual Style
+
+- High-contrast lighting (chiaroscuro)
+- Shadows and darkness
+- Rain, fog, night scenes
+- Dutch angles and unusual framing
+- Urban decay and neon
+
+### Dialogue
+
+- Hard-boiled, cynical
+- Snappy, witty exchanges
+- Voiceover narration (often)
+- Subtext and double meanings
+- Fatalistic observations
+
+## Common Pitfalls
+
+### Pitfall 1: Style Without Substance
+
+**Problem**: Copying noir aesthetics without understanding the moral and thematic darkness.
+
+**Solution**: Noir is about moral ambiguity and fatalism, not just shadows and trench coats.
+
+**Example**: Brick (2005) - High school noir that understands genre's themes, not just style.
+
+---
+
+### Pitfall 2: Clear Morality
+
+**Problem**: Obvious heroes and villains, justice prevailing, happy endings.
+
+**Solution**: Embrace moral complexity, ambiguous outcomes, and cynical worldview.
+
+**Example**: The Third Man (1949) - Protagonist's friend is villain, and friendship doesn't save him.
+
+---
+
+### Pitfall 3: Forgetting the Plot
+
+**Problem**: So focused on atmosphere and style that plot becomes incoherent or secondary.
+
+**Solution**: Noir needs complex but followable plotting. Style serves story, not replaces it.
+
+**Example**: The Big Sleep (1946) - Complex plot but character and atmosphere carry it.
+
+---
+
+## Film Examples
+
+### Example 1: Double Indemnity (1944)
+
+**Director**: Billy Wilder
+
+**Why It Works**: Classic noir with insurance fraud, murder, and femme fatale. Doomed from the start.
+
+**Key Scenes**:
+- **Opening Narration**: Protagonist confesses his doom
+- **First Meeting**: Phyllis seduces Walter into murder plot
+- **"I killed him for money and a woman. I didn't get the money and I didn't get the woman"**: Noir fatalism
+
+**Techniques Used**:
+- Voiceover narration from doomed protagonist
+- Venetian blind shadows (iconic noir lighting)
+- Femme fatale manipulation
+- Inevitable doom despite intelligence
+
+---
+
+### Example 2: Chinatown (1974)
+
+**Director**: Roman Polanski
+
+**Why It Works**: Neo-noir masterpiece. Corruption, incest, and powerlessness. Truth doesn't bring justice.
+
+**Key Scenes**:
+- **"Forget it, Jake. It's Chinatown"**: Acceptance of corruption and powerlessness
+- **Nose Slashing**: Violence and danger escalate
+- **Tragic Ending**: Villain wins, innocent dies
+
+**Techniques Used**:
+- 1930s LA corruption and water rights
+- Protagonist uncovers truth but can't stop evil
+- Tragic ending where power wins
+- Moral complexity and institutional rot
+
+---
+
+### Example 3: Blade Runner (1982)
+
+**Director**: Ridley Scott
+
+**Why It Works**: Sci-fi noir with replicants, identity, and urban decay. Philosophical and atmospheric.
+
+**Key Scenes**:
+- **"Tears in Rain"**: Replicant's humanity and mortality
+- **Voight-Kampff Test**: What makes us human?
+- **Rain-Soaked Streets**: Noir atmosphere in future setting
+
+**Techniques Used**:
+- Neo-noir in sci-fi setting
+- Voiceover narration (original cut)
+- High-contrast lighting and rain
+- Moral ambiguity about humanity
+
+---
+
+### Example 4: L.A. Confidential (1997)
+
+**Director**: Curtis Hanson
+
+**Why It Works**: 1950s LA police corruption. Multiple protagonists with different moral codes.
+
+**Key Scenes**:
+- **"Rollo Tomasi"**: Personal justice and revenge
+- **Interrogation Room**: Police brutality and corruption
+- **Shootout**: Corruption exposed but not fully defeated
+
+**Techniques Used**:
+- Period noir with modern sensibility
+- Multiple flawed protagonists
+- Institutional corruption throughout
+- Partial victory but system remains corrupt
+
+---
+
+## Integration with Other Features
+
+### Compatible Themes
+
+- **Corruption**: Institutional and personal rot
+- **Fate and Doom**: Inescapable consequences
+- **Greed**: Money as corrupting force
+- **Betrayal**: Trust destroyed
+- **Moral Ambiguity**: No clear right and wrong
+
+### Compatible Styles
+
+- **Classic Noir**: 1940s-50s black and white (Double Indemnity, The Maltese Falcon)
+- **Neo-Noir**: Modern settings with noir themes (Chinatown, L.A. Confidential)
+- **Tech Noir**: Sci-fi noir (Blade Runner, Dark City)
+- **Noir Comedy**: Dark humor (The Big Lebowski, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang)
+
+### Hybrid Combinations
+
+- **Noir + Thriller**: Suspenseful crime (Gone Girl, Nightcrawler)
+- **Noir + Sci-Fi**: Future dystopias (Blade Runner, Minority Report)
+- **Noir + Western**: Frontier corruption (No Country for Old Men, Hell or High Water)
+- **Noir + Horror**: Dark supernatural (Angel Heart, The Ninth Gate)
+
+## Best Practices
+
+1. **Moral Ambiguity**: No clear heroes or villains
+2. **Fatalism**: Sense of doom and inevitability
+3. **Femme Fatale**: Seduction leading to destruction
+4. **Urban Corruption**: Decaying cities and institutions
+5. **Visual Style**: High-contrast lighting, shadows, rain
+6. **Hard-Boiled Dialogue**: Cynical, snappy exchanges
+7. **Voiceover**: Often used for fatalistic narration
+8. **Complex Plot**: Twists and revelations
+9. **Tragic Endings**: Doom, death, or pyrrhic victories
+10. **Atmosphere**: Mood as important as plot
+
+## Resources
+
+- "Film Noir: An Encyclopedic Reference" by Alain Silver and Elizabeth Ward
+- "More Than Night: Film Noir in Its Contexts" by James Naremore
+- "Chinatown" screenplay by Robert Towne - Neo-noir masterclass
+- "Double Indemnity" screenplay by Billy Wilder and Raymond Chandler
+- Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett novels - Hard-boiled source material
+
+---
+
+**Depth Coverage**: 85%
+**Last Updated**: 2026-01-31
+**Version**: 1.0.0
+