My Crime Scene Opening

Here is my finished crime scene opening:

This is the YouTube link to my crime scene opening:

http://youtu.be/56uR7yrp-IM

Filming

After looking at my list of conventions that I wanted to include in my opening scene, I made a storyboard that I could follow when filming. I had already decided on the names of my main characters. They are "Druggie Dougie", "Lenny, The Loon", "Aces" and "Fingers". I came up with these names as when looking at real media products, the majority of them had short nicknames that were catchy and unique. The character "Druggie Dougie" is called that simply because "druggie" relates to his role in the opening scene and "Dougie" is a name that rhymed, giving the name more appeal. I named "Lenny, The Loon" after watching Rocknrolla. The main "baddy" in the film is called "Lenny" and I thought it sounded like a good name for the thug in my crime scene. "Aces" and "Fingers" both relate to the characters directly in my opening scene as "Aces" relates to her poker skills and "Fingers" relates to the fact that the character playing him is missing a finger. This makes it seem more realistic as people often get injured in the crime industry.


On Saturday 7th Arpil 2012, I got together with a few friends a filmed two of the scenes:

• The gambling/ poker scene
• The threatening scene

For both of these scenes, I had to use the same actors for the characters in these two scenes as it was difficult to get a diversity of people due their other commitments on this day. I changed the mise-en-scene in both scenes to make it appear that I had in fact used different actors. To create these new characters, their clothing and appearance were altered. I tried to create an abandoned atmosphere by filming the threatening scene in a room that had yet to be carpeted and overall looks quite sterile. You see very little/no other objects in the scene to help add to this. The shots in both the gambling scene and the threatening scene use no establishing shots. This is to create a secluded feel which is used in crime film openings to emphasise that the people committing the crimes are a part of a secluded group. Also, one of the characters was wearing glasses in the gambling scene but not in the threatening scene, he also speaks as he is playing the "bag guy". Because of this, he changed out of his every day clothes and put on a white shirt with a black waistcoat to fulfil the stereotype of the "bad guy" being dressed semi-formally. The man wrapped up in the carpet isn't shown clearly in the gambling scene and so there is no problem with continuity errors.


After watching the footage that I previously filmed, I saw that the "gambling scene" is not what I hoped it would be and have decided to film it again. I have changed my plan for the scene slightly by showing other players hands and the focus being on "Aces" and her face. Also I wanted to put more emphasis on certain parts that I didn't when I filmed it last time.

On Sunday 15th April 2012, I filmed the pub scene with my four main characters: "Fingers", "Lenny The Loon", "Aces" and "Druggie Dougie" for both the beginning scene and the end scene on my opening. I used different angles including close ups and birds eye views.  "Fingers" is boss of my characters and so I used the oldest actor there and he was dressed smartly in order to show his authority. "Lenny The Loon" is the thug character and so he is shown to not contribute a lot to the conversation, instead he is shown with an expressionless face. "Aces" is shown as actively participating in all conversation, drinking a coffee as opposed to beer and tries to stop "Druggie Dougie" from drinking so quickly. "Druggie Dougie" is shown with unruly dark hair streaked with grey and drinking alcohol. "Fingers" brings them all in close so that others can't hear what they are talking about and tells them "the plan".

I also filmed the scene with "Druggie Dougie" in the alleyway where he is sat on the floor smoking. Another unknown person approaches him and there is a drug transaction. "Druggie Dougie" exchanges money for the drugs. I purposely didn't show the other man's face as I wanted to emphasise to be on "Druggie Dougie" and his actions. This scene didn't take very long and I tried to take a number of shots including close ups and medium shots. I zoomed in on the transaction showing the money and drugs being exchanged.

I refilmed the gambling scene with two other characters and "Aces". She is shown clearly to win and the focus is on the other people's hands, her face and the chips. I am a lot happier with this footage and am planning to use it in my coursework instead of the footage I got the first time I shot it.


Editing:
Once I had uploaded all of my footage onto iMovie, I then decided to cut all of the unusable footage out so I knew what I had to work with. I referred back to my storyboard and started to put the clips in order. I started off with Lenny, Aces and Dougie sat in the pub before Fingers joins them so that the voiceover can focus on them.

I started with Dougie's introduction first:
I had a clip of him talking and froze the picture and added a cartoon effect over the top, like in Snatch. I then added his name over the top. The voiceover will introduce him and his character whilst this is playing and run throughout. I then used the footage of Dougie in the alleyway where he is seen smoking whilst siting against a wall. I used a transition in between this clip and the on where he is standing to signify that time has passed. It then shows him waiting for the other person with whom he is going to make a swap with. This character then appears and I edited it so that when he moves his hand out to give Dougie the drugs, it switches to the close up shot I got of it. It then carries on from the medium shot when the other person is walking away.

I then used a transition in order to show that it is moving along with the story to introduce Lenny. I used the same technique of freezing the picture and adding a cartoon effect over the top with the characters name. It then switches to the zooming out of a man wrapped up in a carpet. The floors which he is lying on are wooden and gives it an abandoned look (like a warehouse, which is commonly used in crime films). It then swtiches to Lenny who comes in and a close up of the knife he is holding to look more sinister.

It then goes back to Aces and the same effect is used on her picture. I used a transition to switch from where she is in the pub to her sat around a table playing poker. The focus is on the chips in the middle and then it shows everyone's cards in their hands. I used various angles and shots to make it all look interesting so when they are putting in the ring, phone and keys, I tried to vary the clips used. I sped up where they are putting the chips in the middle as otherwise it would drag on and look boring. Since it is a brief introduction of the characters, I tried to make the poker scene as fast as possible without taking away the fact that they are playing a game.

After this scene, I made it so that it goes back to the pub and Fingers is introduced. Here I wanted to show that he is the boss and so he is wearing semi-formal clothing and is the oldest. He also controls the situation by talking to various characters and then brings them all in close to him so that they can hear what he is saying.


I have now finished the voiceover which I recorded on a dictaphone as it was more effective than the microphone. I had added it over the top of the opening scene and have also recorded some music on GarageBand. The music was inspired by the music in Snatch and so I used similar sounds and instruments. I added this onto the opening scene as well but made it a lot quieter than the voiceover so you can hear both. As the voiceover is more important, it needs to be heard more than the music. 

My Evaluation

I wanted to use a different programme in order to show my evaluation. I used the programme Prezi, the zooming presentation editor. It shows it in a more interesting way than if I had done it on PowerPoint.

Here is the link to my evaluation:

http://prezi.com/4eac_2zb6yif/my-as-evaluation/

Media Coursework Blog:

To get the feel of Crime films and what is included within them, I watched a range of crime films (both British and American to note the differences) including:

• Snatch
• Layer Cake
• The Long Good Friday 
• Rock n' Rolla
• The Godfather
• Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels
• Harry Brown
• The Bank Job
• Pulp Fiction

I noted the different conventions used in each and also common themes and motifs. I recognised that Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998), Snatch (2000) and Layer Cake (2004) were the three films that I thought were typical British Crime films and  took inspiration from.

Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels:

·         Written and Directed By Guy Richie

·         Produced by Summit Entertainment

·         Released 28^th August 1998

·         Stars Jason Flemyng, Dexter Fletcher, Nick Moran and Jason Statham

·         Won British Comedy Award (despite being a Crime film)

·         Won British Independent Film Aware in 1998

·         Won Audience Award at the BAFTA’s  in 1999

·         Was nominated for Best British Film and the BAFTA Film Award in 1999

Snatch:

·         Written and Directed By Guy Richie

·         Produced by Columbia Pictures Corporation

·         Released 1^st September 2000

·         Stars Jason Statham, Brad Pitt and Benicio Del Toro

·         Won Empire Award’s Best British Actor (Vinnie Jones) and Best British Director (Guy Richie) in 2001

·         Won Special Recognition for Excellence of filmmaking in 2001

Layer Cake:

·         Written by J.J Connolly

·         Directed by Matthew Vaughn

·         Produced by Sony Pictures

·         Released 1^st October 2004

·         Stars Daniel Craig, Sienna Miller and Michael Gambon

·         Nominated for the Carl Foreman Award as well as the Most Promising Newcomer (both for Matthew Vaughn)

·         Won Empire Award’s Best British Director (Matthew Vaughn)

·         Nominated for Empire Award’s Best British Director (Vaughn), Actor (Daniel Craig), Film as well as Best Newcomer (for both Sienna Miller and Matthew Vaughn)

Different Types Of Characters That Are Used

The “tough guy”

In these three films, I recognised some common themes and motifs throughout them. Firstly, there are stereotypical characters, the main one being the “tough guy”, which is played by Vinnie Jones in both Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch.

In Snatch, Vinnie Jones plays “Bullet Tooth Tony” who is hired by Avi to go after Frankie Four-Fingers, playing Avi’s debt collector. He is shown to be broad and muscular and is dressed formally for the majority of the time. He is shown to smash a man’s head with a car door (something that is again repeated in Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels) showing that he is a very violent character. He is also shown with a gun throughout the majority of the film.

Stills of Vinnie Jones

 as Bullet Tooth Tony

in Snatch

Both of these clips show Vinnie Jones in Snatch. From the clips, you can see that he is dressed formally in black and he speaks with a stereotypical London accent. He carries a gun with him at all times and he also swears frequently. He also appears in control all of the time, getting what he wants by the end of it.

In Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, Vinnie Jones plays a similar character as in Snatch. In Lock, Stock, he plays Big Chris who is Harry's debt collector. He is often seen with his young son, Little Chris, and gets violent and angry if anyone swears in front of him.

Central Characters:

In both RocknRolla and Layer Cake, the story is centred around one main character.

One Two is played by Gerard Butler in RocknRolla and is the main character in the film. The film follows him mostly throughout and shows him as small time crook but also as the leader of the “Wild Bunch”.

Daniel Craig plays XXXX in Layer Cake, named so as his real name is never revealed in the film even though he is the main character.

Although there are many other characters in both RocknRolla and Layer Cake, One Two and XXXX appear to be the focus of the films. By having just the one central character, the audience gets a more in depth, personal story of that one person as opposed to the characters in Lock, Stock and Snatch. 

I think that I will have one “leader” in my coursework that the story could perhaps focus on throughout. I will also have this characters as the voiceover as it will make it seem like it is from his point of view like in RocknRolla and Layer Cake.

Conventions & Mise En Scene

In these films there are certain conventions that I will try and include into my coursework. These include:

• Having males as the main characters as they are stereotypically used in Crime films due to their connotations of violence and crime.

• Drugs- many of the above films include drugs whether it is selling, smuggling or consumption.

• Alcohol- many scenes of the above films are in a pub or an environment where the characters can drink. The main characters are often shown with a pint of alcohol when they aren't committing crimes. 

                                            

• Smoking- characters that smoke are often seen in crime films. This could be due to the connotations surrounding smoking as "cool" from previous decades and it making the characters seem more dangerous.
• Weapons- the majority of the characters rely on guns to do most of the violence in the films but some of them reply on their own two fists to do harm. Vinnie Jones uses both guns and car doors repeatedly in Snatch and Lock, Stock to cause harm to others.
• Swearing- lots of swear words are uttered by the characters throughout the movies.
• Accents- In the British crime films, the majority of characters have a London accent and more specifically cockney accents. This is used to show that they aren't wealthy and that they are just regular people. 
• Original nicknames- some of the names given to the characters in crime films are completely unique and original making them stand out. In Layer Cake, the main characters name is never actually provided and in the credits the character is called XXXX. 
• Names of the bosses- I noticed that in the majority of crime films, the names used end in a "y" or "ie" such as "Lennie", "Harry", "Archie" and "Johnny". This tends to be more popular with the "bosses" in the films such as Archie in RocknRolla.
• Semi/Formal clothing for the "tough guy"- Vinnie Jones' clothing in the films tend to be either formal or semi-formal with him wearing smart black clothing. 
• Voice over- in the opening sequence, most of the films I watched included a voice-over. I thought this was very effective.
• Dark hair- the majority of characters in the crime films have dark hair. There are no/ very little characters with blonde or red hair, they are either dark hair or grey haired. This could make the characters seem more mysterious and alluring as they are the stereotypical conventions of males with dark hair.

Opening Scene Effects

From watching these and the opening scenes specifically, I saw some effects that were used in the majority of the films.I noted which ones I thought looked the best, how they were used and the ones that I could possibly try and incorporate into my coursework.

 In Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, I really liked how it started off with a crime and then introducing the main characters. What I thought made it look so effective is the use of slow motion when the voice over started and how it returned to the high paced action when the voice over had finished. I thought that the voice-over was very effective and is something that I will definitely try to include. 

  

 An effect I liked in Snatch was how each crime is linked to the next one, making it all flow into each bit smoothly. I thought this was a very effective way to introduce each character and it also gives a sense of what he characters will be like in the film. This is important as you will only see the first couple of minutes in the opening scene and need to establish what role each character will have. To stop it looking repetitive, they used different camera angles and shots through the crimes which  makes it all the crimes look separate although it is obvious that they all link together. I want to include this effect into my coursework as I think it is really good editing. However, I think this would be very difficult to try and incorporate into my coursework.

Another effect that I thought was effective was how when each characters name comes on screen, the clip if frozen and it takes a sketch life effect with the name over the top which I like as it makes the character look more "shady" and look like they could carry out the crimes that they are committing.