Planning: Characterisation

There will be three characters in the opening of the film:

Mike Denzey: Police Officer
the main character of the whole film, he is a workaholic, divorced with two children which he has no time for then because of work the audience don't find this out in the opening but also he is the top police man in the force and he is a winner of awards.

Drugs Lord
Been in business for a long time, he is one of the largest drug lords in the country and his patch is in Gyppeswick. He is the one person who is not to be crossed.

Drug Dealer
Linked with the drugs lord but is only in the dream sequence of the opening. (Not much needed for the characterisation.)

Planning: Storyboard

These are the storyboards which i used to make the final 2 minute opening of 'The Other Side'

Planning: Distribution Company

After looking at a number of different distribution companies of the two types Major or Independent, i have chosen to have an independent film distribution company and I have chosen to have a company called Finch films and below I have designed a logo for the opening

I  have also made an actual sequence for the distribution company for feature in the opening.

I used Adobe After effects to make my Distribution sequence and I animated the sequence and added music on after doing it.

Planning: Outline of the Opening

The sequence will start with the establishing of the location, and then starts with the main part of the sequence with a dream which the main character and he is a character which is a workaholic  so he is think of how he is trying to catch someone. the dream of him running after a suspect drug dealer and he doesn't catch him and this prompts him to wake up from the dream as he didn't catch his mark.

Then he gets up and looks at the clock because he is late and then he gets ready and at the same time there will be parallel editing which is of the villain of the piece will be getting ready as well and he then gets a phone call when he walks out of the house from the villain who is a drugs lord.

  

Planning: Synopsis of the Whole film

Using parallel storyline  with a police officer and a drug lord to start with showing how similar they are and then they meet at the end of the opening
When doing this I will have the police officer go to the other side to the criminal underworld and become a bent copper He will end up on the wrong side of the law. He has fight his way to the top to make sure that noone knows he is part of the criminal underworld at the same time as making out he is fine in the job of detective in the gyppeswick police. Becoming more and more invovled in the dealings of the drugs lord and then becoming a leak in the police service which he is in. The film will end with us not knowing whether he has been killed by the criminal underworld or getting caught by the police.

Planning: 4 film ideas

After looking through my research I started to think of some narrative ideas and here they are:

·         Narrative 1

A story which is looking from the side of the police officer, we follow him through a case against one of the biggest criminals which has a grudge against him and he has to take him down. The criminal would be the most elusive gang member and a murderer and we see how the police build a case against them. We find out about the main characters back story with the criminal and how they come to meet.  

The Police officer

                                          Crime              Police officer’s quest        Solution

                                                

We find out how they know each other. Also find out the way they maybe will be a problem to each other.

The criminal                     .

·        

      Narrative 2

The story of a fallen police officer as they have to come to terms with being demoted. But they are given the case of trying to take down a criminal who has been in there past and the police officer is the only person who can take them down.

Only person who could take the criminal down, so he had to make a case against him.

Police Officer

                                Wrong decision   Only person to take criminal down   Solves the case                                         

Demoted

·         Narrative 3

This one follows the story of the criminal as they cover their tracks when they have murdered some people and how they become the best in the profession and are finding new ways to kill people. The criminal has a mental disorder which insures he has to keep on repeating things.

Criminal

                        Covering his tracks        Keeps on killing      Doesn’t get caught 

Murder                                                   evades the police

·         Narrative 4

The film follows a police officer as he falls down from being a top cop to a bent cop in the criminal underworld and on the wrong side of the law. He has to cover his tracks and make sure both sides of his life are being played out well and he does this by covering his tracks.

Police

                        Pulled into the underworld        Covering his tracks       Unknown

Druglord                                            

                        

          

Target Audience: Survey of the Audience

Here I have done a a survey of the audience mainly for the expectation of what they would like in a crime film I sent the questionnaire out via email and various social network sites such as facebook and here is the link for the questionnaire, I asked a number of people and I got 34 replies:
https://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?hl=en&pli=1&formkey=dEhneWpRQnAwOHo4TE9NSUttUWZxaWc6MQ#gid=0

Here is a summary of the results for the questions:

What Gender Are You?
	35%

What Is Your Age?
	3%  .

What do you expect in general from a Crime Based film?

A good storyline, with suspense on who dunnit. Don't want all the answers in the first half of the film.To have a good plot with characters that seem real.nigga's getting shankedd!Suspense, Explosions, Guns, Thriller twistA misterious ending, which takes time to work out. lots of violence, guns, fights etc. or very sophisticated high-tech crime... or both. characters are usually darkly clothed and fairly agile. As for location, abandoned buildings, warehouses, rough looking places, like this: http://maps.google.co.uk/?ie=UTF8&ll=52.052095,1.154895&spn=0.008498,0.027037&t=h&z=16&layer=c&cb...

What sort of Characters would you expect to see in a crime film?

hero, cause you always have to have a good guy. CSI,'s so that they help with developing the plot. A head/lead detective to be in charge of proceedings.Characters that can be related to the real world. Most films should have a hero and a villain. It is nice if the villain is not reviled until the end.Niggas, black people, afgani people, some more blackies..A Mafia boss type character, Slightly crazy henchman, Clever well thought henchmanA good guy/team, a bad guy/team.The protagonist, a criminal, with 2 forces against them, the police and other criminal gangs. The reason you'd have police an...

Who do you expect to be the protagonist of the film? Would they be male or female?

Mainly male and would be the detective.The main character in the film could be either, but they need to be believable and appear to know what they are doing. big hench black dudeMale, Police officer or someone seeking revengeMaleUsually the protagonist is male, but a female protagonist would at least separate a film from the others. As said above, they would dress darkly, are agile, look grumpy most of the time, probably have stubble, dark hair and be of thin/muscular build.likely to be male, however there is a surge in female protagonists. Depends on the plot.A dude helping out a chick.they...

What sort of plot do you expect from a crime film?

Complex, so that you don't discover all at once. A plot with lots of twists and turns. and dummy leads.Either a murder or robbery. The story can then work round the way the crime is solved.some white boy betraying a nigga, so then the nigga shanks him and his family, including cats and dogs..Drug boss kills someone by mistake, 'Badass' family goes on revenge, said person comes very close to death nut escapes.either a drug deal or prostitution.Organised crime, specifically murder of someone of great importance. Along the way the protagonist will fight and kill nearly every ally of the impor...

 Here is the full summary
https://spreadsheets.google.com/gform?key=0AkBuyCN9Gl_XdEhneWpRQnAwOHo4TE9NSUttUWZxaWc&hl=en&pli=1&gridId=0#chart

These are the full results for the questionnaire
https://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?hl=en&hl=en&key=0AkBuyCN9Gl_XdEhneWpRQnAwOHo4TE9NSUttUWZxaWc&output=html

From my questionnaire I am able to understand that most of the people thought that a male lead would be good for the genre I have picked in crime, they have also said that i should build up suspense and maybe link the film with gangs or drugs involved.  the questionnaire has allowed me to place parts in the film opening which would be expected by the audience watching the film.

Opening Sequence: S.W.A.T.

Camera shots:Within the opening of the Swat there are of different way that the camera has been use and these are the normal way of filming and the use of the footage which is filmed on the police helicopter or a Television. There are a number of closes ups as the Swat team goes through the building is taken by the hostages the closes ups are other the teaming going through the building. there are a number of eye line matches which are there to show how the characters are seeing the action unfolding. The use of the shot which are filmed from the helicopters allow the audience to see the film from the view which would be shown of the television and the footage which is filmed from the small cameras which are used by the swat team also supply some footage giving the film a more realistic approach. 

Editing: There are a number of quick cuts which are used when the characters are being fired at by the hostage takers. the us of techniques like eye line matches showing people on the ground and the match on actions of the firing of the weapons gives an idea of the speed of the firing and of how the characters will try and get the hostages.  

Sound: The sound which is used is of enhance sounds of gun fire and the roaring of the helicopter blades in the air. The use of the radio is used well for the start of the film as the characters speak to each other.

Characters: The characters which are used are featured in the final cut of the film are the characters which are in the start of the film as the start gives us the idea behind how the film will turn out these are Characters which are in the Swat team heavily feature in the film.

Leading into the plot: The opening does lead well into the plot of the film because one of the characters is demoted and then he turns into the villain of the film and without the opening we wouldn't have the idea that he is a good cop gone bad.

Chracterisation: Marcus Burnett and Mike Lowery- Bad Boys

Marcus Burnett-Martin Lawrence
Marcus Burnett is a character to start with looks like he is a normal guy who likes to eat takeaway food. we don't find much about him from the clothing because he is in a car and the film is showing him with the close ups of the face while he is in the car. From when he speaks to  the other character in the car we find out he is married and that he may have been married for a while as he said 'let me have this as i am not getting any at home'. then we find out he may be a bit clumsy as he drops some food in the car and the car is an expensive car which is owned by the other character.
They have a problem when they stop there is a car jacker and this is when we see what he is wearing the clothes are casual and they are the sort of clothes which would be worn in hot places hence the location he is is in. When they are getting car jacked he shows an awareness for the film industry as he talks about the actor Wesley Snipes and that he isn't him they way he talks to the car jacker is in a comical way to make fun out of how how he looks. this suggests he is a bit of a joker and will try and get out of serious situations by making jokes showing he maybe nervous. we then find out that they are cops when his partner says that they have tried to jack a couple of cops and then they punch the car jackers. This suggests that they are strong and will do anything to protect themselves.

Mike Lowery- Will Smith
Mike Lowery looks different as he starts with sun glasses on giving him this cool man look which Marcus Burnett doesn't have. we find out that he owns the car and that he takes pride in the car as he tell Marcus not to eat in the car. we find out that the car is expensive because Marcus says  'this cost $80,000 and it has not drinks holder and no back seats'. This shows that Mike would spend money on nice cars to impress people. When he speaks to Marcus he says that he sleeps with a beautiful woman every night, this idea suggest that he likes women and that he maybe a ladies man. 
From his clothing we see that he is dressed smarter with a suit jacket and he has a cleaner look to him as if he is well groomed like he cares about the way he looks. when they are car jacked he say that he is a police man and this then gives us an idea of the plot and what may come to head in the film. When they have the car jackers next to them he gets out of the car and then pulls out a gun this suggests it maybe set in a area where the police have to deal with alot. He then say tell me some of them jokes that he has a bit of a sense of humour.       

*This is the dialogue from when the characters are nearly car jacked

Marcus Burnett: Look, now I ain't no Wesley Snipes! I just hang out with stupid ass friends, that drive stupid ass cars, that attract a lot of mother fuckin' attention! 

Mike Lowrey: You know what, I need to jump over this car and smack you in your peasy ass head that's what I need to do. 

Marcus Burnett: Well, you know what you're arguin' over a mother fuckin' french fry. 

Mike Lowrey: It's not about the french fry, it's about your lack of respect for other people's property! 

White Carjacker: Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey! 

Black Carjacker: Shut the fuck up! 

Marcus Burnett: [to Black Carjacker] Hold the fuck on! 

[to Mike] 

Marcus Burnett: You want some bad enough, come get some!  

Marcus Burnett: [suddenly throws coke in the Black Carjacker's face and kicks him in the crotch, while Mike punches the White Carjacker in the face] 

Marcus Burnett: [Pointing gun at the Black Carjacker, who is on the ground] You like that shit? Wesley Snipes, Passenger 57! Now gimme a mother fuckin' handy wipe! 

Mike Lowrey: [Pointing gun at the White Carjacker, who is on the ground] Now let's hear one of those jokes, bitch. 

Opening Sequence: Layer Cake

Layer Cake is a very different type of opening for a film as they use very different techniques for editing and camera shots to bring together a very good and appealing film opening.

Camera shots: The opening of Layer cake is packed with lots of different camera shots but the camera shots are not the main part to the opening. The shots of the van at the start bring the audience straight into the film. Then the close up of the people smoking drugs then give the audience an idea of how the film may pan out which then leads into a pan of the jail. The use of close ups of the bottles in the chemist which have been changed to be well known recreational  drugs in the bottles but they then change to be over the counter drugs. the close ups of the men changing the drugs in the house shows they are having to prepare the drugs very carefully with masks on and gloves. Also there are shots of another number of character which are not involved in the film until later on but these are introduced.  

Editing: The use of a number of techniques which allow the editing to be very good for the opening of a film allows the film to be very good. the use of graphic matches with all of the medication bottles in the chemist and the way the flash backs of the different eras like the the cops and robbers and the summer of love have transitions which link then together. There is also  a graphic match with the police car moving in the street in London and then then it moves to the back of a police car in Amsterdam giving a fast pace to the start of the film. 

Sound: The sound is very different to many films as they have used a voice over all of the way through the voice over speaks in the past tense to start with and then he speaks as if you are having a conversation. The use of the Monologue as a voice allows the audience to get the back story of the character and also to be straight on the side of the character who is speaking.  

Character: We are introduce to XXXX (Played by Daniel Craig)the main character in the start he is the man who is doing the voice over and then Morty, Terry, Clarkie and then the other who are the 'end users' of the drugs which are in Amsterdam. 

Leading into the plot: There are clues to the plot but the plot isn't given fully the clues are the drugs which the character is involved in. And that Amsterdam is used as the film has the parts of the way the film unfolds.

Preliminary

This is my Preliminary task

Opening Sequence:The Dark Knight

Camera Shots:There are a number of Camera shots used in the opening of The dark knight many of them are used to give the idea of not knowing the identity of the bank robbers until the end when the joker takes the mask off. To start with there is a establishing shot of the tall buildings which then zoomed into where there are to of the robbers in masks firing a grapple towards the roof of a building. Then there is a mid shot of a character with his back to the camera with a mask in his hand and the camera zooms in on the mask for the robbery. When the robbers get in the bank there is a wide shot as they run into the bank. and then there are a number of the shot when they are in the bank of the people which work in the bank. One of the people in the bank in particular gets up and then brings out a gun and starts to fire it to make sure that the robber don't get away with any of the money.


Editing:There are a number of different things they use within the editing of the opening of the film. There are a number quick cuts from the way the robberies are taking place so that the speed of the editing shows that they want the robbery to be fast paced and to have a alot of speed to it. the use of enhanced sounds when the robbers are about to strike and when they are in the bank shows that the sound is needed to give the idea of how the sound becomes more enhanced when there is something bad happening. 


Sound: The film starts with a slow ticking sound which then goes into a louder sound, the ticking  is like a clock for the as if the time is ticking for the robbery to happen and as the louder sounds kicks in the robbery then commences and this is like the start if the robbery. The sound is enhanced for the start of the film.  

Characters:We don't find out about the main character in the start of the film as the film is a sequel and the main characters which are recurring are know by the audience. The people in the clowns masks are not know by the face but by the way they speak and the man who is a vigilante  
in the bank is only seen in his face we don't know his name but he is there to deter the robbers of robbing the bank. The only character we know in the  end is the Joker as he is one of the main character but we don't know that he is involved in the robbery until the end of the opening.
  

Leading into the Plot:The opening of the film gives the audience a large incite into the way the plot will happen because the robbery is of the largest Mob bank and the joker is there to take all of the money to get to them. The film has this as a sub plot on which the money is the main key to the jokers plan

Genre: How does Oceans Eleven's opening comply with the conventions of crime films?

In the first two minutes of the film oceans eleven we can see that the film does follow the conventions of the crime genre and with the plot, setting , character and mood we can say whether the film does.

The setting for the opening of ocean’s eleven is a prison this is and obvious location for a film which is in the crime genre as the prison symbolises a criminal and with the prison. The prison is very much a conventional part in crime film as the prison is the place where the criminals will go for their crimes. The prison is not very elaborate and is very simple and most of the films will start with a prison so we can a get a back story of the main character as they have come from a prison and we will be able to understand the character more. The prison normally symbolises the end but it has been used to show how the end of this side of the characters life is ending and how they may come out of prison and they carry on with the normality of the crime which the criminal is taking part in.

The plot is very much adhering to the conventions of the crime film as we find out that the back story for the character is told to us and this then leads us to think that the film maybe about the confidence tricks which we hear about the main character doing for going into prison for. The plot also is revealing the main character is leaving prison and this is very much a convention of the crime film because the character is normally a repeat offender and for the audience to learn that the character maybe doing more of the same things is normally in a crime film. The plot isn’t fully shown this is also a convention as the crimes which the character may commit normally takes some planning and we don’t want the whole story in the first two minutes of the film but we do get some small hint of the plot from what the character is saying.

The character is shown to us and he is the first character we seen on screen he is wearing a prison uniform and this sets the character up and this is not really a convention but the audience then understands that he is the main character and that he is a criminal. We also find out that he is a criminal from the dialogue between him and characters which are off screen as they say he is a 'confidence trickster' this is using obvious expositional dialogue which tell us the main character Danny Oceans back story and this is conventional because the audience expected to know a back story if the character is in prison. After the dialogue that he is going to be released and this shows he a character which is needed for the crime which is going to be committed. After the interview which Danny Undertakes he changes into a suit this gives him a 

The start of this film is very much adhering to the conventions of the crime genre because of the way the character is introduced and how the setting is used to show the character. The mood of the films opening is used very effectively to show the character   can be released from prison and the plot isn’t told to the audience in  the first two minutes this is good for the audience as the plot normally starts from the end the two minutes.

       

Opening Title:Harry Brown

Harry Brown has titles which are integrated into footage. This is a very easy style of title sequence. The footage to start with is like mobile phone footage like a ‘Happy Slap’ which would be uploaded to the internet the footage isn’t the best giving the idea that the footage has been filmed on a phone. There are no characters formally introduced to us but there are characters shown to us but they are part of the gang which are fighting.

Then the footage goes to a title which is on a black background and at this point the footage stop abruptly like the end an internet video. Then there more footage from a bike, yet again  in the home film style and they are going through a run down estate with graffiti and then going onto terrorising people and this gives an idea of how the plot may turn out with the shots of the estate giving us the idea of the location being rundown. 

Target Audience: 4 Golden Rules

When looking into the target audience we have to consider 4 golden rules to ensure that the audience will get what they except and what is best for them in the film.

1. Who is the target audience?  
2. What does the audience expect?
3. How does the text appeal to of cater for the target audience?
4. To what extent does the target audience feel the text is successful in targeting them? 

Target Audience: Certification of Crime Films

To ensure that the target audience is correct, I will look at the certifications of  popular crime films.


Here are some examples of the genre-

The Dark Knight

Oceans Eleven

S.W.A.T.

Sherlock Holmes

Catch Me You Can

Narrative Structure

The simplest way to explain narrative structure is-

Beginning-Middle-End 

But in terms of many film they need to be considered as-

Equilibrium-Disequilibrium-Equilibrium

The largest part of the film is the Disequilibrium as this is where the main character will undertake there main quest. this is where the disruption is restored to the order it was in before.

The last of the ways to explain the structure of narratives is a map of how a film may turn out- 

The Hero/ine are in normaility and then the agent of change occurs either the villian or a problem. The problem then leads onto the quest in which the hero must undertake and when the problem is sorted there is a resolution.

When looking at any narrative this can be applied,

Characterisation: Jules Winnfield & Vincent Vega-Pulp Fiction

Vincent Vega-John Travolta

Vincent Vega is a character which isn’t first shown to the audience but is a character which runs through out the film even though the structure of the film is very different to many.

To start with the Vincent Vega’s occupation is not clear as he is in the car with Jules Winnfield and they are talking about normal things and the idea that he is a hit man isn’t clear. He could be seen as a business man with the suit on and that the other character is his partner. He speaks as if he is well travelled compared to the other character because he is talking about how the ‘cinemas sell beer in Amsterdam’ and that in 'Paris they call a 'quarter-pounder with cheese', a 'royale with cheese’ this shows that he maybe well travelled. The way he talks is very chatty as he is with his friend instead of a hard nosed style of speaking which is conventionally used for hit men and hard men.

From the way he dresses we could say he is a business man or a hit man, who he is, this allows the audience to have questions of the character. The suit is conventional to a hit man but as he is with another character he could have another job which involves using a suit.

We then are able to see that he has a gun in the boot of the car and he puts it in his waist and this is conventional to having a hit man in a film that he has a weapon. There are suggestions that the character is violent because he has the weapon and the audience sees the character as a killer. Also when he has the gun this gives questions for the audience of the character because at this point we don’t know he is a hit man.

Vincent is a lot more careful in the way he acts as a hit man compared to his partner Jules Winnfield he takes a back seat whereas Jules is more forth coming and more the leader of the pair. But in the time which we see him he is a bit more volatile and will snap at any point.

Jules Winnfield-Samuel L. Jackson

Jules also is a character we don’t see for the first part and he only as a few parts within the film compared to the whole which Vincent does feature for most of the film.

Just like Vincent the occupation of Jules isn’t apparent until they go to the boot of the car and take the guns out this then becomes clear that they are not business men but maybe gangsters or even hit men because of the guns. He doesn’t seem to be as well travelled compared to Vincent as he doesn’t know about what Europe is like. When they are talking the way Jules speaks is the opposite way to Vincent as he has the hard nosed approach of speaking.

When he gets to the place of the hit he takes control which gives him this sort of leader to the pair as he takes charge when he gets in the flat and then questions the people in the flat. He uses words which will calm but can be seen as a very crazy in the way he talks to them. He shows he can be very smart as he quotes a passage of the bible and uses it as a reason to kill them. The quote* is from Ezekiel 25:17 this makes him sound like he is intellectual. After he has quoted the bible he shoots the man and Vincent also unloads his whole clip on him.

The way Jules speaks you can see that there is some anger in the way he speaks but also that he is only doing his job because he is only talking in this way when he is on the hit. Jules can be said to be a bit crazy but also a man who will do his job. 

*This is the quote which Jules says

 Jules: There's a passage I got memorized. Ezekiel 25:17. "The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the inequities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he who, in the name of charity and good will, shepherds the weak through the valley of the darkness, for he is truly his brother's keeper and the finder of lost children. And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who attempt to poison and destroy My brothers. And you will know I am the Lord when I lay My vengeance upon you."