Costume Plan (more photos to be added)

Costume Plan

Red Lipstick

  - This links to our film title, and also connotes danger and blood.

Black Wig

  - This links to our influence from Pulp Fiction, and also is a convention for female characters in mob gangster films.

Black Suit

  - This is the most important costume as it is the most common convention throughout mob gangster films

Long formal coat

  - As we are including a female gangster as well, therefore we will dress in formal wear like the head gangster, however she will also appear feminine. 

Black high heels

  - This will create a distinct sound when walking 

Music Plan

The beginning of this compilation will work well with out opening because it is elegant and links with Film Noir, as well as it building up tension. It is not too upbeat so it doesn't distract you from what is happening in the scene.

Editing Software/Plan

Editing Software

As we are using circular narrative in our film opening, we will be adding an effect to our footage to show that is in fact not present time - we are thinking of adding a black and white effect, this will also link to our Film Noir influence as well.

We plan to use Adobe Premiere Pro CS5 for the editing of our video. This is because I have previously used this software in my GCSE and feel it offers us to create high quality videos. Also, we used this in our preliminary, and therefore we have experience using this software. It will allow us to add our titles, cut footage, and add effects with ease, fast speed and high quality.

                                                                        

Narrative Structure

Narrative Structure

Our film opening is about a lead gangster named Tom, he has an female partner who acts as an assistant who does his 'dirty work' e.g: murders. She is called Courtney, who wears a lot of red e.g: lipstick and nails. This links to our film tile 'Rouge'. Within the film opening, we meet Tom, Courtney, and one of Tom's workers - Will. Will is given a task prior to the start of the film (audience will be able to tell this) and fails this task, leading to him asking for more time to finish the deal. Tom lets Will believe that he has an extra day to seal the deal with the buyer, but instead sends Courtney out not long after to murder him with a gun. 

Our opening will be using a circular narrative. Therefore we are starting the film opening with the murder of Will. To show this we are going to put a black and white effect on the footage, to show it isn't in the present time. My group chose to do circular narrative as we admired the use of effects to create a 'flashback' like scene, and we thought we could execute it well. 

Risk Assement

Risk Assessment by megancooper

Script

When doing my research, I found that previous students who had minimal dialogue had the highest grades, therefore to avoid ruining our opening, we have chosen for the first part to have no dialogue - the opening is in separate parts as we are using a circular narrative.

Script:


Part 1: NO DIALOGUE

Part 2

Tom: (fades in over title) 'Take a seat'

Will: (sits down)

Tom: 'So, is it sorted?'

Will: (stutters) 'Sort of'

Tom: (laughs and sits back in chair) 'What's sort of?'

Courtney: (laughs antagonistically)

Will: 'I'm so close, I just need more time'

Tom: 'Who do you take me for Will? Does it look like I built this business on spare time?!'

Will: (laughs) 'Yeh but lets not forget last week, Danny blew our cover on the Chicago deal!'

Tom: (sternly) 'Don't bring Danny into this. You requested to lead this deal, now make it happen for tomorrow night.'

Will: (nods and leaves room)

Courtney: (gets up and heads towards the door)

Tom: 'Got this one?'

Courtney: (flirtatious) 'Of Course'

Titles Plan

Props List

Props List:

Gun (fake)
  - We chose to have a gun as our female character will be executing the murder, and therefore is more suited to a female as a knife would be very gruesome.

Cigarettes 
  - We chose to include cigarettes in our film opening as our film genre is mob/film noir, and therefore has elements of the 1950's within it. In these years, people didn't know the dangers of smoking, and therefore large amounts of people used to smoke, especially women as it was seen as 'cool'.

Black Wig (short style with full fringe)
  - A black wig will be used as we have used the inspiration of a female influence from Pulp Fiction. Also, short black hair is seen in other places on TV, normally on authoritative women with high reputations.

Glass cups 
  - Glass cups will be used for the whiskey to be pored into, this is because I have watched other mob films such as The Godfather, and whiskey appears to be a consistent convention in mob gangster films.

Alcohol bottles (whiskey) 
  - Again we will be using whiskey as it appears to be a consistent convention in gangster films.

Briefcase
  - Our narrative includes a kind of 'package' being delivered, therefore we will use an old fashioned briefcase,

Table
  - For the part of our opening which is in the present time, we will use a old table to act as a desk. This is linked to gangsters thinking their business is professional.

Lamp 
  - Our setting will have low level lighting, however we need to see the characters clearly, therefore a lamp is needed on the table/desk.

Red Lipstick/Nail Varnish
  - These will be used on Courtney, our female character, to connote danger, and blood. Also linking to our film title - 'Rouge'.

Editing Schedule

Editing Schedule

Filming Schedule

Filming Schedule

Location Shoot

Location Shoot

Preliminary Task

Planning Moodboard

Planning Moodboard

Initial Ideas

Influences and Inspirations

Sub-Genre Research

Mob Film Research by megancooper

Audience Research

Audience Research

British Board of Film Classification:

The BBFC is the organisation which controls the classifications and the censorship of films in the UK. The BBFC is entirely funded by the film industry and is an independent company, not controlled by the government.

The classification of films is decided on the type of content within them, for example drugs, sex, violence etc. Age ratings are used to protect those from being exposed to certain actions/language.

Gangster films often have age ratings of either 15 or 18. This is because of the high amounts of explicit language, violence, sex and drug use. In mob gangster films, a variety of these elements are used, for example drug dealing and murders. Therefore, my target audience will be aged 18 or over, so that the content of the film is suitable for the viewers.

Transcript:

'Hi, I'm Matt and I am 21 years old. I enjoy going out on the weekend with the lads. Mob gangster films are my favorite because they are original and every mob gangster film is different. My personal fave is The Godfather (1972). I also enjoy watching Film Noir based films here and there.'

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Film openings analysis

  

Long Stock and Two Smoking Barrels opening scene analysis

0.0 - WS/ES

0.07 - Zooms into CU, ambient sound, diegetic dialogue.

0.12 - T1, only B&W colours, production company.

0.14 - cuts back to CU.

0.17 - cuts to MS.

0.22 - T2, same design as previous title, film company knowledge.

0.24 - cuts back to MS

0.30 - T3, 'presents'

0.33 - cuts back to MS

0.41 - MS/TS, new characters introduced, new dialogue

0.45 - cuts back to first character, MS

0.48 - T4, producer

0.51 - OTS of more characters (crowd)

0.55 - MS of second character

1.01 - T5, director, non-diegetic music starts

1.04 - MS/WS

1.07 - TS, of second and third characters
1.10 - MS of first character
1.14 - MS, camera arcs around crowd, pace is kept
1.18 - MS, second character, music & dialogue, tension increases
1.21 - POV shot from first character
1.22 - TS
1.24 - ES/LS, camera tracks out, pans to follow movement
1.34 - LS & Low angle, slow motion effect
1.41 - LS & Low angle, cuts back to normal speed
1.43 - LS & Low angle, cuts back to slow motion effect
1.55 - LS & Low angle, cuts back to normal speed
1.58 - T6, name of film, longest title, typed in

The Godfather opening scene analysis

0.00 - T1, distribution company, music starts
0.07 - T2, production company
0.15 - fades to black screen
0.20 - T3, title of the film, screenwriter
0.27 - fades to black screen
0.39 - black screen continues, music stops, dialogue begins
0.41 - black screens fades to CU of first character, diegetic dialogue
0.45 - CU begins to zoom out, diegetic dialogue
1.40 - MS, diegetic dialogue
2.40 - OTS, second character introduced, diegetic dialogue

Reservoir Dogs opening scene analysis

0.01 - T1, black screen and orange writing
0.05 - T2, production company, non-diegetic dialogue
0.09 - T3, credited people

0.13 - OTS, 3 characters introduced, diegetic dialogue
0.14 - starts tacking sideways around the table
0.46 - OTS, then tracks sideways to a CU
1.01 - CU, diegetic dialogue
1.07 - CU, another character, diegetic dialogue, tracks around circle 
1.22 - CU, diegetic dialogue
1.25 - tracks sideways to CU of another character
1.45 - CU of another character, tracking continues
2.00 - CU of another character, tracking & dialogue continues.

There is ambient sound throughout the entire opening.

From analyzing these film openings, I have learned what kind of timings and duration's I have to use in order to create a high quality film opening. For example when to add my titles in, and when to change shot, however when watching The Godfather, I see that there is less shot types used and mainly just the use of zoom/tracking. I could use this in my film opening to create suspense, and draw the audience in, therefore making it more interesting and intense.

Analysis of Previous Students Work

Influences of style

Here I have created a slideshow of inspirations for my gangster film opening. Many of these are very high targets, therefore I will prioritize certain Mise en Scene elements. For example, I plan to include suits, cigars, female main characters and low-level lighting in my film opening.

Producers and Distributors

Narrative Theory

Narrative Theory from megan-cooper

Research into a Director

From researching into Martin Scorsese as a director, I have learned what kind of themes of his I can bring into my work as inspiration. I plan to alter certain themes and make them my own, for example I plan to include a lead male character, however I don't want it to be a surrogate father figure, I want them to appear young, but still have a strong authority. I have also learned that Martin Scorsese brings a lot of his background and personal life into his films, I will attempt to do this in my film opening, to make it look less amateur and plain. 

Conventions of mob gangster films

After finishing my research into conventions of a gangster film, I have learnt what sort of things I need to include, for example I would like to include low-level lighting, have an appropriate location e.g: an office, and appropriate props, such as guns, cigarettes etc. I will try and include these elements into my film opening in order to achieve an opening which fits the mob genre well.

History of the gangster genre

From this research I have learned how the gangster film industry has changed, and also how it can be easily influenced by society. For example the original form of gangster films has been lost since the 1930's, due to The Production Code being introduced. Therefore, I will make my film opening fit the more modern gangster films, which our society will recognise.

HISTORY OF  THE GANGSTER GENRE

The Gangster genre is a sub-genre of films which usually involve crime and organised crime.  The earliest gangster film that is still around now is The Black Hand, which was made in 1906. The Gangster Genre has been regarded as the best crime films as it is developed around criminals and gangsters who make their way through life by operating outside of the law.

Gangster films were tamer and more crime focused in the later thirties, for example they would end in the main gangster being caught due to a fatal mistake they made. The genre died down during the forties and fifties due to 'Film Noir' replacing it, however the genre was revived during the seventies. One notable example is 'The Godfather' by Mario Puzo, which was shot in hard lighting to purposefully give the film a more grim feel. Many gangster films are considered to be classics, however the genre has still died out, which happened around 2007. The Gangster Films are categorized under mystery films and film noir, due to their similarities in cinematic form.