Location Contract

Personal Release

Personal release from Patch0013

Scouting

SCOUTING

SCOUT 1

 



SCOUT 2

SCOUT 3 

Final Pitch

Script

Script of the Captive by

Story Board

First Pitch

BBFC Ratings

BBFC Rating:

We have decided that our whole film would be a 15 because we are going to be showing a bit of violence and behaviour not acceptable for children to see or understand. We think teenagers are more responsible and do understand behaviour like in our film in not acceptable in real life and are aware of the consequences. As our film is a rated 15, we are following the guidelines set out by the BBFC:

Discrimination

The work as a whole must not endorse discriminatory

language or behaviour.

Drugs

Drug taking may be shown but the film as a whole must not

promote or encourage drug misuse. The misuse of easily

accessible and highly dangerous substances (for example,

aerosols or solvents) is unlikely to be acceptable.

Horror

Strong threat and menace are permitted unless sadistic

or sexualised.

Imitable behaviour

Dangerous behaviour (for example, hanging, suicide and

self-harming) should not dwell on detail which could be

copied. Easily accessible weapons should not be glamorised.

Language

There may be frequent use of strong language (for example,

‘fuck’). The strongest terms (for example, ‘cunt’) may be

acceptable if justified by the context. Aggressive or repeated

use of the strongest language is unlikely to be acceptable.

Nudity

Nudity may be allowed in a sexual context but without

strong detail. There are no constraints on nudity in a

non-sexual or educational context.

Sex

Sexual activity may be portrayed without strong detail.

There may be strong verbal references to sexual behaviour,

but the strongest references are unlikely to be acceptable

unless justified by context. Works whose primary purpose is

sexual arousal or stimulation are unlikely to be acceptable.

Theme

No theme is prohibited, provided the treatment is

appropriate for 15 year olds.

Violence

Violence may be strong but should not dwell on the infliction

of pain or injury. The strongest gory images are unlikely to

be acceptable. Strong sadistic or sexualised violence is also

unlikely to be acceptable.

There may be detailed verbal references to sexual violence

but any portrayal of sexual violence must be discreet and

have a strong contextual justification.

Conventions of Gangster Subgenres

Conventions of Gangster Subgenres



The Gangster is really a subgenre of the Crime genre, however now that it has become increasingly more popular, it now has subgenres of its own, which are:


Film Noir: a distinct branch of crime/gangster sagas from the 1930's. They are normally black and white films featuring a cynical loner hero and a femme fatale in a big seedy city. The mood is normally features guilt, evil and paranoia.

American style-gangster films: Where the characters take the law into their own hands by dealing with someone or something themselves.

Detective and Mystery: Films that focus on an unsolved crime, where the main character tries to solve the crime, usually of the murder or disapperance of a fellow character. The main character normally meets a girl who helps him presue the criminal or solve the crime.

Road Films: All features have one long episodic journey on the road to either escape or reach some goal.

Suspense - Thriller: Known to promote intense excitement, suspense and anticipation, also inculde anxiety, tension, uncertainty and expectation.

British style- gangster films: The only real difference between this and American style is that this one has more artificial lighting and less sound apart from spoken diagetic dialogue.

Narrative

NARRATIVE

 

 

Narrative: Film narrative is the depiction in the medium of film of a series of events in cause and effect relationship occurring in time. Aka what happens in a film.

 

Narration: How the narrative is presented to the audience.

 

There is a basic structure of narrative, its called a Three-Act Structure and it consists of 4 stages - The Four- Part structure, which can be seen in basically every film seen today.

 

1. Exposition - Introduces characters and dramatic action. It also establishes the setting which leads to a turning point.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2. Complicating Action - Protagonist faces obsticals in pursuit of goals.

 

3. Climax and Resolution - Protagonist confronts opposition, question of whether the goal will be achieved or not.

4. Epilogue/Coda

 








As i said before nearly every film has this structure, though now writers are updating the structure as the viewers expect more interesting and complex narratives so they use subversion, which breaks up the chronological order of the film, for example: Flashbacks, Flashforwards and Parallel storylines.



NARRATIVE THEORIES:

Propp's Theory: He proposed that it was possible to classify the characters and their actions in clearly defined roles and functions. The model is useful though it highlights the similarities between really different stories.

Todorov's Theory: Suggested  that most narratives start with a state of equilibrium where life is 'normal'. The equilibrium is then disrupted and the remainder of the film sees the protagonist return to a state of equlibrium. This model can be applied to a range of films. 

 

Levi-Strauss: Looked at the the world described in opposites, And how stories unconsiously reflect the values and beliefs of a culture, expressed in the form of binary oppositions like Night and Day, or Good vs Bad. His research showed underlying themes and symbolic oppositions in media texts.

Barthes' Codes: He said that narrative works with 5 different codes which activate the reader to make sence of it.

Enigma Code:	Something the audience does not know. A narrative device that teases the audience by presenting a puzzle or riddle to be solved. Working to delay the story's ending.
Action Code:	Something the audience knows and don't need explaining. (E.g. Packing a suitcase in a hurry connotes running away). A narrative device by which a resolution is produced through an action.
Semic Code:	Using hints (E.g. Mansion, Sports car, Butler, Posh classical music) to connote certain concepts such as wealth. (denotation)
Symbolic Code:	A structure which organizes meaning such as through the use of binary opposites. (connotation)
Cultural/Referential Code:	Looks at the audiences wider cultural knowledge (they can recognize being part of a culture), morality and ideology.

 



Timeline of Gangster Genre

Production and Distribution Companies

Production and Distribution Companies

A Production Company is generally involved in producing either recorded or live entertainment or its the type of company thats involved in funding, helping to facilitate the making of films or Tv shows. It most often provides the money for the making and distributing. The production company may be directly responsible for fundraising for the production or may accomplish this through a parent company, partner, or private investor. They handle budgeting, scheduling, scripting, the supply with talent and resources, the organization of staff, the production itself, post-production, distribution, and marketing.
Production companies are often either owned or under contract with a media conglomerate, film studio, entertainment company, or Motion Picture Company, who act as the production company's partner or parent company. This has become known as the "studio system". Production companies can work together in co-productions.


Well known Gangster Film Porduction Companies:

Warner Bros. - Goodfellas, Bonnie and Clyde
Dark Castle/Studio Canal - Rock n Rolla
Paramount Pictures - The Godfather Triology
Working Title/Universal - American Gangster



Universal is an American motion picture studio, owned by Comcast. We decided to use Universal as our Production company logo, as it has produced and distributed lots of gangster films like ours.






A Film Distribution Company is a company or individual responsible for the marketing of a film. The distributor may set the release date of a film and the method by which a film is to be exhibited or made available for viewing: for example, directly to the public either theatrically or for home viewing A distributor may do this directly, if the distributor owns the theaters or film distribution networks, or through theatrical exhibitors and other sub-distributors. A limited distributor may deal only with particular products, such as DVDs or Blu-ray, or may act in a particular country or market.


Well known Gangster Film Distributors:

Warner Bros. - Goodfellas, The Departed, Once Apon A Time In America
Paramount Pictures - The Godfather I, II and III
Universal - Scarface, Carlito's Way, Casino
Tri Star - Donnie Brasco

Paramount Pictures Corporation is a film and television production/distribution studio, consistently ranked as one of the largest (top-grossing) movie studios. It also owns Paramount Pictures which is one of the leading independent motion pictures distributors. Its most successful films were Kung Fu Panda, Iron Man and Titanic.

Mood Board

Public Enemies Opening Analysis

Public Enemies

 

 

Mise-en scene: The clothing is in the style of 1930's, as that when the film is set. In the beginning we see John Dillenger dressed smartly, in a tie and waistcoat with a thick overcoat on. The policeman taking John to the Prison was wearing the same as John, but all black, he also had on a police badge. In the prison, Johns crew are prisoner, so are wearing thr regulatory black and white jumpsuit. The Prison officers were wearing navy uniforms with hats and batons. The woman at the farm, was wearing dull, worn clothing, indicating they were not well off, as you could see from the state the farm was in, she wore a green dress and baby blue apron with a brown shawl, the child with her was wearing dungarees. The next scene shows a man in a blue suit, white shirt, carrying a tommy gun, being chased by a federal detective who's dressed in hunting clothes, a grey shirt, beige trousers with suspenders and brown leather boots. In contrast with the woman at the farm earlier, the women at John's house wore much less bestraggled clothing, a black dress with white spots, perfectly fitting in with the steriotypical sthugh of style of the 1930's. Overall the men are in predominantly dark simply tailored suits, we know later in the film, the women are dressed in lavish dresses of bright colours, to show off wealth. The obvious props used were the guns: tommy guns, hunting rifles, machine guns and hand guns and then men wear trilby hats.

Editing:  They use jump cuts and cross-cuts between scenes to cut from one lot of action to the next. In the scenes they used normal cuts to emphasize different people and characters. Also to show different points of view. When the characters are speaking to eachother they use shot/reverse/shot. They also use lots of match on action e.g when the gang is leaving the farm house, then when they are outside heading toward the car.

 

Sound: Apart from the stomping of feet in the opening and gunfire and talking, the only other sound in the opening of the film is the song 'Ten Million Slaves' by Otis Taylor.
 

Lighting: In the beginning of the film the charcters are mostly outside so the lighting is natural , even when they are in the farm house the light's comming from outside, also in John's house, but when the characters are in the prison, that could bethe only time that they use artificial lighting, however the prision is quite dark, probably to portray it being a bad place, so it too may have used natural lighting.

 

Camera Shots: In the first minute the film opens with a shot of the prisoners feet marching, telling us right away by what they are wearing that this is a prison, also by the chains around their feet. Theres then an over the sholder shot of the prisoners and a close up of a guard watching them, there's then a long shot of a prisoner lying dead on the ground. There is then a long eye level shot of the prisoners walking toward the camera. And then an extreme close up of a prisoners hand on another prisoners arm as they walk. After that there's a pan of a car driving, signalling the end of the prisoner scene.



Poster Analysis

Poster Analysis

 

The Goodfellas poster shows the characters above the city, which implies that thay are above the city/law and public, and that they own the city.

Also they seem to be comming out of the dark or shadows, which may indicate the fact that they have a dark side or dark past, which is helped by the fact that they are standing above a dead man, which could say they killed him and are watching him die.

All the men are wearing black suits with a white shirt, but Robert De Niroid also wearing a red tie, which could show he's the boss of the other two, also the fact that he's in the middle and that his name is above the other two men's. The red tie is also associated with danger and blood or the sheading of blood, death.

Without watching the film, you can tell about when it's set via the title's writing and the street background, being old style. You can also see the cars in the background wich are fromaround the 1950's.

Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels Soundtrack analysis

 Soundtrack Analysis

The film Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, classed an an oddity to many people and the sountrack is no exception through its score and pop songs its seen as rather unconventional, though it largely consists of Vintage Punk Rock, R&B and Reggae, it also has Dusty Sprigfields "Spooky", which are fitting in their proper moments in the film. The songs are interspersed with snippets of diaglogue from the filmthat indicate its sarcastic, low-life nature. The sountrack compliments the cinematography, the music works with the cuts,shot and slow motion in the film, by giving the sense that camera is changing to fit the environment, pace and mood by adjusting its focus.



In this scene we see the music start as the man is trying more urgently to sell his products, as soon as the man tell him the police are comming, the music takes on a higher pitch and become quicker, matching the men packing up their good, and running off. The music then takes on a rock quality as the men are racing away from the cops and dodging obsticals. When the men go into slow motion, the music gets dimmed as a male voice talks over it, then louder as the men drop their package, then again louder and quicker as they leave the suitcase behind and sprint off. This is one example of the music fitting with the slow motion, pace and mood.

The Departed Frame Board

 

 

 

 


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Frame Board

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I looked at the first 3.08 minutes of The Departed, I took screen captures of the different shot types and camera angles: 

 

 

The film starts with a black screen, telling the audience

where and when the following scene is going to be set.

 

 

 The next lot of film looks like hand held footage of

first men fighting at a slight high angle eyelevel shot,

then a bus driving by at an eyelevel medium shot which

then pans, more fighting men at same shot as before, a

shot of a post box with NO spray painted on it at a medium

eyelevel shot, a girl on a bus waving at maybe slightly low

angle eyelevel shot, then a shot eyelevel medium shot of

broken glass on the bus which then zooms out to show

a line of buses outside a school, then a pan of people

protesting at an eyelevel medium shot,

then a man giving a door to door interview at a

slight close up eyelevel shot.

There's background sound of what is going on in the shots,

there's also a voiceover from about 6 second onwards, mainly

talking about the past. There is also some type of jazz music

in the background aswell, which starts at abour 28 seconds.

 

This shot has a pan to the right, while zooming in, obviously

showing us where in Boston the scene is set.

 

The next shot has a man walking and the camera panning

and zooming to the left, in some warehouse, possibly showing

us who the main character is.

 

The next shot is a zoom of the building the following scene

will be set in, a diner.

 

This is an over the shoulder shot of the man who is presumably

the man from 2 shots before and also the voiceover. It shows the

assumed main character collecting money from the shop/diner

owner, which can imply he's a type of mobster.

 

The next shot is a medium eyelevel shot of, as we see from

how the following scene plays out, another presumed main

character.

 

It then has a pan of the young waitress walking over to the older

main character, then a close up shot back to the younger character, then

back to the older character.

 

After a medium shop of the shop owner and father of the waitress, there's an

extreme close up of the young boy's face, in a shot-reverse-shot between him

and the older character as they exchange dialogue, then this shot of a medium

eyelevel of the two characters in the same shot, meeting.

 

After close up shots of food, theres this medium eyelevel shot

of the boy staring at the older character as he gives him all this

food collected for him.

 

Then lastly there's a high angle eyelevel shot of the man giving the

boy the food and a comic.

All the while there's been some background sounds layered with slight

rock music from The Rolling Stones, called Gimme Shelter.

The Godfather Analysis

The Godfather

 

 

The Godfather is seen as one of the best films ever made, especially from a technical standpoint, being one of the most quoted and imitated films of all time. it shows as it was nominated for 11 Academy Awards and winning for Best Picture, Best Actor (Marlon Brando), and Best Adapted Screenplay. The Godfather was followed by a pair of sequels, showing how well it was liked.

The film follows the story of Don Vito Corleone (Marlon Brando) and his son Michael (Al Pacino) in the 1940's New York. It starts at the wedding of Corleone's daughter, Connie, to which Michael brings his girlfriend, Kay, and explains the family buisness to her. Later in the film the Don gets shot down, after barely surviving the first assasination attempt Michael saves him from another attempt on his life. Micheal then tries to persuaded his older borther Sonny (James Caan) that he should be the one to take revenge on the men responsible. After Michael murders the men responsible he holes himself up in Sicily, while there he loves and marries a local girl, who later dies at the hand of a Corleone enemy in an attempt to kill Michael. All this happenes while back in New York a gang war erupts, and Sonny gets killed. When Michael returns to New York he gets Kay (His ex from the beginning of the film). The Don recovers and makes peace with his enemies. Michael is then the new Don and then goes to launch a campaign to get revenge on the people who once tried wipe out the family.

It has a single narrative voice told through the main character's point of view (Don Coleone). The storyline is sometimes interrupted, (which can sometimes be confusing and hard to follow), to emphasize important events, like the use of parallel storylines taking place showing Sollozzo’s double dealing with Don Corleone and another family right before the an assassination attempt on Don Corleone. The film is slow, deliberate and precise, reminding us of the head of the Corleone family. There’s plenty from vendettas to power struggles to rising through the ranks to become head of a powerful organization. More than anything, this is Michael Corleone’s (Al Pacino) story. It tells how this youngest son of Don Corleone (Marlon Brando) went from a civilian to the head of his mob family – how he cast aside the promise of a “normal” life for the duty and obligation to safeguard his family. Indeed, “family” is a big part of the film – and a big part of why Michael’s motivations seem so genuine (even if his actions are murderous). Of course, family plays a crucial role in this movie, as it does with many cultures and societies. The family theme is established fromt the first scene  at the wedding, as they are where large extended families come together, its also where the "family buisness" is first intoduced. Throughout the film there's the sence of loyalty, for example when Michael saves his father from the rivals assasination attempt. Overall the film shows that it earned it awards through the acting, music, script and directing. 



Credits Order

Rock 'n' Rolla's Credits Order

1st Production and Distribution Company - Warner Bros. (Logo)

2nd Production Company - Dark Castle Entertainment (Logo)

- "Warner Bros. Pictures presents" (Writing)

- "a Dark Castle Entertainment Production" (Writing)

- "In association with Toff Guy Films"

- "A Guy Ritchie Film"

Film title - RockNRolla

Actors - Gerard Butler, Tom Wilkinson, Thandie Newton, Mark Strong, Idris Elba, Tom Hardy, Karel Roden, Toby Kebbell, Jimi Mistry, Geoff Bell, Matt King

Featuring - Jeremy Piven, Chris Bridges

Casting by - Reg Poerscout - Edgerton

Costumes Designed by - Suzie Harmen

Make up and Hair design by - Kristen Chalmers

Music Supervisor - Ian Neil

Associate Producers - Lauren Meek, Martin Askew, Mickey De' Hara

Music by - Steve Isles

Edited by - James Herbert

Production Design - Richard Bridgeland

Director of Photography - David Higgs

Executive Producers - Steve Richards and Navid McIlhargey

Produced by - Joel Silver, Susan Downey, Steve Clark - Hall, Guy Ritchie

Written and Directed - Guy Ritchie

Rock 'N' Rolla Opening Scene Analysis

The film starts with a non - diagetic narrative from Archie, Mark Strong's character. He speaks to the audience in a informal, friendly slang way. He tells us what a 'RockNRolla' is, a person wants who wants everything - sex, drugs, money, fame and glamour. As the narrator continues talking theres a tracking shot of an old dark warehouse. We see a long shot of a character with his back to us, swaying slowly back and forth, in some dingy den, in time to the non diagetic song 'I'm a man' by Black Strobe of the genre, garage rock, by thissong and the title of the film the audience understand that the film will be about sex, drugs and Rock 'n' Roll. We see the man, from a medium shot, Johnny Quid - who is the same character behind the titles of 'Rock N Rolla', telling us that this is probably the man that Archie is referring to in his narration - take out a pistol lighter from his back pocket to light a bong. There are then flashbacks of this Johnny downing shots, having sex in a toilet and then pulling out two guns and pointing them out in front of him, this picture freezs and then turn into a cartoon, (shown in the picture above) where the film title comes onto the screen. For the opening credits, they stay in the theme of cartoon, introducting all the stars of the film.

After the opening credits, we see a man zooming in and as the the voice over continues, it tells us as an audience, that it's him who had been giving us the narrative before. He introduces himself as Archie introduces himself as Second-in-Command to Lenny Cole (Tom Wilkinson) who appears to be the gangster of the film, Archie introduces him and how he opperates, Archie then continues to introduce the rest og the character for us and we then see One Two (Gerard Butler) and Mumbles (Idris Elba) trying to seal a property deal then getting scammed by Lenny, and end up owing him. This opening sequence gives us the idea that the film will be following One Two and Mumbles and them trying to get their money for Lenny.

When watching the opening credits you get the sense the film is going to violent. The opening sequence is stylish with its animations, so it sets you up to think the rest of the film will be like-wise. The narrative develops a lot in the first five minutes, showing the viewer what the film is going to be about.