Inspired by true crime stories of Taiwan, this story turned away from the mass appeal and ventured into the waters of film noir. It tells of a cynical private eye – Chi-Wei who skillfully plots and runs all his undercover investigations single-handedly, solving countless cases with his wits and petty tricks. However, in one of his stakeout, a plot went out of hand and this has lead to irrevocable consequences. The Buddhist teaching of Cause and Effect is strongly reflected in the story and hence the title 《Karma》.

The topic for this dissertation came by referencing the 2003 Hong King Original Film

《Running On Karma》with an extended study into the Buddhist teaching of Cause and

Effect. This story has even taken a step further by looking into the psychological being of each character, giving each role not only a solid existence but with a rich depth. In addition, we work to decipher what defines thriller crime and what are the elements that forms this genre by researching on similar or related films from all over the world.

The research was conducted in three approaches – In-depth interview; materials searching and literature referencing.The in-depth interview was conducted with an actual private investigators to fully understand the workings of the agency as well as the challenges and risks involved when on surveillance. Having read through materials of actual cases helps in keeping a sense of reality in the creation of each character and each crime scene. Literature referencing refers to the study of the Buddhist ideology, where some teachings of both the Lotus Sutra and the Earth Store Sutra are reflected in the film and with the guidance of Master Esoteric Buddhism Dorje, the structure of this story was made stronger and more believable.

Key words: karma, cause and effect, crime, film noir, genre