Evaluation Question 4

VLOGS - behind the Scenes

Here you can see an example of the group filming a city scene of the ultimate heist location in central London.

Final Candy Trailer

Question 2

Evaluation Question 3

Evaluation question 1

Film magazine Front Cover.

This is my final draft of my music magazine front cover and I believe this Connotes my genre well which is heist and it is well shown through the mise-en-scene of the main image.

Searching for music Looking for music was quite challenging as we wanted to capture the same musical vibe as Oceans 11, but at the same time, having a track that would suit the level of action that is shown in our trailer. In the end we came across two tracks to choose from which were: Archie Shepp - Blues for Brothers http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRVfNRVoHaE&safe=active Payday 2 - Heist track http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2FMEPAR7sg&safe=active After repeatedly listening to these two tracks, we eventually chose the second track to make our trailer seem as modern as the Now You See Me Trailer, and completely scrapping the other piece of music that we came across.

SEARCHING FOR MUSIC

SEARCHING FOR MUSIC 

We have been looking as a group for a while for royalty free music while other team members start on the editing of our film trailer. Finally after days of looking one of my class members showed me a site called competech.com which has a large range of royalty free music to listen and download.

Right now my main aim is to find something within the jazz genre - definitely modern - as we've all agreed as a group that this would work best for our heist genre. 

Pre-Production

Today we held a group meeting where we planned out a number of shots and looked again at the final storyboards created before we complete another day of shooting. 

SHOT LIST:

Establishing shot

Mid Shot

Close up shot

Shot reverse shot 

Extreme close-up shot

Low angle shot 

360 shot 

High angle shot 

Extreme close up of drugs 

Montage quick shots of heist goods

PLACES:

Roof top

Banks

Casino  

Gambler's table 

Alleyways

Office

Liverpool street

Canary wharf

STORY BOARDS 

Here is a sample of some of the storyboards that Rachel created for the group. 

Locations

location, location, location

Here are 5 different location shots that we collected when we went on a reccy last week. They vary from busy London streets; modern expensive buildings and underground warehouses. We are not certain we will be able to use all of these locations as some of them were quite far from each other and our film schedule slots will not be that long so things will need to be close together. 

Takers

TAKERS Trailer Analysis This film trailer is called Takers which was out in 2010 and features a range of popular celebrities such as T.I who is a rapper and Chris Brown who is a singer/rapper. These celebrities bring in a young audience and a large buzz about the film since they are well known and popular with a huge loyal fan base. The trailer reminds me of Ocean 13 which is a very well known heist film with it's finesse. The trailer followers a lot of heist film trailer conventions which I like and I feel may work well with my trailer. I like the way that sounds from objects are exaggerate for dramatic effect and the there are voice overs of different actors in the film. The use of the narrative voiceovers and shots help explain what the film is about allowing the audience to understand a bit of the storyline. I also like the way each shot is cut to cause a blackout when cutting to the next, this matches with the sudden dramatic sounds. One thing we really liked about the trailer was the way they introduce the actors in the film by adding a shot of them with their name next to it and then it cuts to a shot of them in the film allowing us to understand the type of character they will be playing in the film.

Trailer Analysis

OCEANS 11 This trailer is for the classic movie Oceans 11. It features a non linear structure that is essential for trailers as well as a montage of shots which help piece the trailer together in a way that it does not give too much information away. Another way in which the trailer gives the audience knowledge about the plot is the use of broken dialogue taken from various scenes as well as having a typical Hollywood voiceover. The icons of the heist genre are clear which makes it easy for the audience to establish the genre of the film. The fast paced editing is something we need to be sure to imitate when creating our trailer as well as the editing techniques such as motion control and dips to black. The trailer is also clever in terms of showing the main characters as they feature throughout the trailer, despite having an ensemble cast. They have equal amounts of screen time which tell the audience who the main characters are and what each of their job is in the trailer. As well as showcasing the characters' roles in the movie, they present the A-List actors that star in the film, which attract audiences who are familiar with the cast, which also make them want to watch the film.

Final Poster

This is my final piece of my poster and I have made huge improvements from my first one, i have created the background of my film poster trying to connote the genre of my film which is Heist. I think the mise-en-scene used within the main characters portrayed on my poster supports the genre as they look like the kind of typical 'gangster' type.

Film Poster 1st Draft

This is the 1st draft of my film poster, I had to make significant changes to it as the background image i used was not my image i took or created, however i did like the masthead and decided to keep it and use it on my improved film poster.

Audience Trailer Feedback

Here we allowed a female sample to watch a heist trailer. We filmed her reaction to gain a sense of the highs of the trailer. We noted the points of tension and asked a few questions once she had finished the viewing.

Masthead Analysis

Heist Mood-boards

Heist moodboard

Institutional Context

Institutional context

8 Largest Film Production Companies

Successful Heist Films

Heist films is a sub genre of crime films and I have researched the most successful films of that genre with the highest grossing.

First place is Ocean’s Eleven which was realised in 2001 and is an American comedy-crime caper and remake of the 1960 Rat Pack caper film. The film was directed by Steven Soderbergh with cast including Bard Pitt, Matt Damon & Julia Roberts and with very successful with both box office and with critics. The film had a budget of around $85 million which is about £5,284,070 and grossed about $38million and was at the top of the box office for the weekend. Overall Ocean Eleven had a worldwide gross of $450,728,529 which is $417,728,529 more than the estimate budgeted for the film. Ocean’s Twelve comes second and Ocean’s Thirteen came second showing how poplar the film was.

Fourth placed is a film called The Italian Job which was realised in 2003 and is a heist film directed by F. Gary Gray.  It is an American remake of a 1969 British film with cast including Edward Norton, Jason Statham and Danald Sutherland. It grossed over $176 million which is about £109,411,000 and had a generally positive response from critics, it also had a worldwide gross of $176,070,171.

Heat is a 1995 American crime film written and directed by Michael Mann and starts people such as Al Pacino and Robert De Niro. The film is kind of a remake if L.A.  Takedown which was also Written and directed by Michael Mann. The film grossed $187 million worldwide which is about to £116,249,000

The town is a  2010 American crime drama film starring, co-written, and directed by Ben Affleck. When the film came out in 2010 it was at number and had numerous amounts of positive reviews. Jeremy Renner was even nominated for an Academy award for Best Supporting Actor. The Town grossed $154 million worldwide and took first place at the box office.

Reservoir Dogs is a 1992 crime film which was directed and written by Quentin Tarantino. This film is defently a classic of independent film and was named the “Greatest independent film of all time” by Empire.  Critics praised the cast and the film made its $1.2 million bugetback by grossing $2,832,029 in the united States. A soundtrack titled Reservoir Dogs: The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack was released featuring songs used in the film, mostly from the 1970s. In 2006, a Reservoir Dogs video game was released, and was banned in some jurisdictions for its violence.

Repertoire of elements, Heist

Repertoire of elements. Heist

Repertoire of elements – heist.

Characters: A heist film conventionally has range of main characters, archetypes to the genre, who hold certain specialities and expertise. There is always –

The leader – (stereotypically a man) This person generally accumulates the rest of the crew members, choosing them either because of past jobs he has pulled with them, connections through other people, or any other source that makes them a reliable selection. He is also the head of the operation, who rigorously thinks through the explicitly thorough planning of the heist, then explains it to the crew, giving them their role.

The roper – this person (can be of either sex) is the one spots the mark (the target) and tries to gain their confidence, keep them under surveillance, and maybe even get to know them so well he/she gets Intel from them that would on the heist. Such as work schedules so they know when it’s safest to pull off the job, etc.

Computer expert – this is the tech guy, who has unrivalled knowledge on almost everything to do with computers and technology, that helps the crew crack system software, that they have technical control of camera’s, pressure sensors, motion lasers, passwords, key codes, lights, traffic lights, phones, other computers etc… this person helps the crew get past the “impenetrable high security system” with a degree of ease.

Explosives expert – this person make everything go KA-BOOM. This person has probably had training in the explosives field, and knows what is needed for what job. They help break through walls when walking in isn’t an option, the help crack a safe open when the code is out of reach, they essentially blow a lot of stuff up, to make the movie look a lot coolers. Sometimes there are gun experts or marksmen, but it is rare, because what makes a good heist movie is the intricacy that’s involved, the smart thinking that goes into robbing people, as oppose just using adulterated brute force.

Then there are other characters who are sometimes put in there for convenience. Such as those smaller, more flexible to fit in tight space when sneaking in a place. A getaway driver for when the heist is done, and they need to make a quick, clean getaway. A temptress, who at times can also be the roper. The safe cracker, who experience in picking locks, opening safes, and getting through doors that need a pass to open. Mechanic, who helps assemble all the equipment that is used during the jobs, or even modify other automated things that are involved cars etc.

Iconography: Things commonly seen in heists are, the planning sheets, blue prints, floor layouts etc. explosives equipment used, cars, crew members in suits, or in disguise as cops, construction workers, employees of the heist setting, at times guns, computers, software on screens, the thing being stolen, be it piles of money, bricks of gold, jewels or anything else.

Setting: Heist settings can vary all the time, mostly depending on what it is they are trying to steal. If say they are trying to steal money; we’d see – a casino. A bank. A warehouse. A van (carrying that money). Same goes for Gold or anything of the like – a gold reserve, a bank, even a vehicle carrying the gold. Jewels don’t get moved a lot. So most likely is that they will stay where they’d been all along.

Then we have the hideout/rendezvous where the crew plan and prepare themselves, where some big part will play in the film.

Themes/Ideology: films like heist play in the thought of “moral ambiguity”. Where the audience see’s the crew doing something that is widely seen as wrong, yet they still want them to succeed. And also the notion of “crime doesn’t pay” in most to all heist films, the crew do a crime, and get away scot free with the goods they stole. Which brings a whole new light/possibility of whether crime pays of not. Most heist films nowadays are not so straightforwardly serious, they have elements of comedy to them (these are called caper films) this in a sense helps the audience turn a blind eye to seriousness of people robbing others, making it easier to deal with and more enjoyable.

Audience: I think heist has a rather wide range in terms of target audience, but I’d say males 16+. These types of films involve some things that would need a person with a mature way of thinking to understand, and enjoy.

Narrative: Plot/Narrative, generally consist of 3 parts.

Part1 – the exposition. The characters are introduced to the audience, their expertise are presented, and they become familiar to them. They then do the planning of the job and the preparations.

Part2 – this is the actual job/heist taking place.

Part3 – the revealing. After the heist is done, and they are getting away, or maybe any implications that come after the heist, whether it be a crew member gets caught, or one of them stitches up the crew due to greed.