Looking at Scenes from the Film Noir Genre for Inspiration - 'The Maltese Falcon'

The first scene is from the 1941 film noir, 'The Maltese Falcon' which contains many typical conventions of the genre.

The title sequence includes low-key lighting, with lots of shadows, alongside the actors' names (such as Humphrey Bogart), many of whom were associated with the film noir genre. The music and the font used on the titles are also typical of the film noir genre.

The setting of the opening scene (San Francisco) takes place in an urban area/city, which is typical of films from the film noir genre which focus on crime and often feature private detectives. The editing technique of the dissolve was far more common during the Studio Era when film noir was a common genre. The scene features a typical setting of the genre, the detective's office, and we see the detective's name on the window. 

The detective wears a dark suit and smokes a cigarette - typical costumes and props of the genre. The typical characterisation presents the male lead as powerful, oozing confidence, bold, providing reassurance to the woman whilst also using terms that may be considered misogynistic today (such as 'sweetheart' and 'darling'). Women are presented in terms of their appearance and the way they will appeal to the male character. Typically, the female character is presented as helpless, vulnerable, in need of male help/protection. The scene features fast-paced dialogue (typical of the genre) and the dialogue is used as exposition (filling in background story information for the audience). 

The scene features low-key lighting, with shadows cast across the screen, which creates a sense of mystery. The scene features static shots (typical of the time) and very conventional over-the-shoulder shots typical of the conversations in dialogue-driven genre films of this type. The female character, typically talks a great deal whilst the man says far less (suggesting he is a man of action and not words).