A French drain starts with a pitched trench. Grading away from the start of the drain. You lay filter fabric in the trench. Add a small layer of clean 2b stone. Lay your pvc drain pipe (drilled holes down) into your trench. Fill remainder of trench with clean stone. Take the flaps of your filter fabric overlap them to close the stone filled trench. The fabric will keep dirt from infiltrating your drain system. I personally would top the drain channel with 1-3inch decorative river rock. You can terminate the end of the drain to day light or with a pop up.