P L A N N I N G
Initial Planning Record
Here, I created a mind map to show my initial planning and ideas. I included all the important elements of the film opening - for example costume, location and sound.
I will try to use nearly all of the ideas written down in my own film opening because, they are things that I believe make a good gangster film.
My film opening will feature a mob gang, kidnapping and assaulting their victim - quite a conventional story line. However to challenge convention I will be having a gender swap so the mob is all female rather than male. The opening will give a glimpse of what they do to their victim and why, the rest of the story would be revealed in the rest of the film if i was to create it. This makes the opening very tense and mysterious, making the audience want to watch more. Also, it will have a cyclical story line, further adding to the mystery.
Company Brand/Name
I have chosen to call my company Platform Productions. I chose this because a platform makes people or objects stand higher up than everything else, indicating that my company is high up and successful. I also like the alliteration of platform and productions - it rolls off the tongue and makes the name memorable.
The first name I chose was Disposition Pictures. After editing the layout a few times, I really liked the logos I created for this name as I like the way the line acts as the 'i' in both words. I also like the simple geometric, monochrome design. However, I eventually decided I could improve the actual name and then decided to change it to Platform Productions.
Having changed the name to Platform Productions, I needed to redesign the logo a few times. Like my first logo, I wanted to keep the square monochrome style as I like the simplicity. Furthermore, conventionally, the title sequences in mob films are simple, and black and white text.
I decided to try out a few more complicated designs featuring triangles and a pop of colour. This was so I had a variety of different ideas to choose from. I decided I do not really like these logo's because I prefer the simplicity of the other designs and the colour is not as effective as I'd have liked.
This is the final logo and name I have decided to use as my production company in my film opening
Costume Plan
As mentioned in my initial planning, the main characters in my film opening are a female gangster squad. I chose females as I really want to go for a classic mob film, but I also want to challenge convention. Having a female gang is very modern and challenges conventions of mob films, as the gangs are traditionally always men.
Despite challenging this, I do want to keep the costume very similar to the traditional male mob gangster. This traditional and classic look involves black suits and white shirts, long coats and a trilby hat. I still want to keep this traditional costume so that it is still clear to the viewers that this is a mob gangster film.
I am just aiming to put a twist on convention.
For the bottom half, I want to really emphasise that these characters are female and challenging convention. For this reason, I want to have them in black pencil skirts and black patent heels.
This is overall look I want my characters to have.
Three big components of the costume are the white shirt, black trilby and long coat. These three are very unisex items (aside from cut and fit), which is why I am keeping these the same as a traditional male gangster. I feel that these items help embody the traditional gangster. They're expensive, high end items that suggest the people wearing them are powerful, not to be messed with, and have plenty of money. This is what I want the viewers to think when they see my characters, despite the gender difference.
Location Shoot
Most of my film will take place in this car park shown in my PhotoPeach. I originally wanted to do it in an underground car park, as it would be darker in there, which is more representative of the genre. However, as these car parks are often busy, it would be impractical for me to film there. Also, these car parks tend to close in the evenings, which is when I plan to film. The car park I have chosen is always open. It is also a public car park which has no security around it. I plan to film on a Sunday, so that there was very few people around or parked - as the car park belongs to a few business units in the surrounding buildings.
The photos of buildings I have included will be used for the establishing shots at the beginning of the opening.
There is also some photos from my garage. These will be used in the interrogation scene. This is only a very small part of the film, so I have focused more on the car park shots. I chose this garage as it is secretive from the outside, but inside it looks dirty and messy. It looks like a secret hideout where crime is regularly carried out.
Location Footage
As you can hear in this video, there is a lot of ambient sound aside from the speaking in the background. This is because it is a public area and it is under a main road.
Normally, this could be a problem when filming my footage, as the ambient sounds would be picked up by the camera. This would intervene with any dialogue and make the film sound cheap and unprofessional.
However, for me this will not be an issue, because I will be muting the audio to put music over the top, as there is no dialogue in the car park scenes.
This is the briefcase I will have my victim holding. This type of case generally indicates it is full of money or something important, due to the heavy duty casing and locks.
I'll be using this car in my film opening. It is not necessarily a classic American car as seen in the movies, but it is still black and quite slick. It is also not featured very much in my film opening so it should not be too much of a problem.
I will be using this rope to tie the victim up during the interrogation scene. It is important to the narrative as it shows that the victim has been captured and can't escape.
Following on from the rope, this is the chair my victim will be tied up in. I chose this one because it is dirty, old and used. It suggests the genre and looks like it's been used for this sort of thing many times. This suggests the women often carry out these crimes and they are dangerous.
Props Plan
Another prop I will be using is a bloody sheet. This is to wrap the body in in the final scenes of the opening. It suggests violence due to the blood, but never actually shows a body or wounds, so keeps the violence to a minimum. It also looks quite shocking from the red blood on the stark white.
One of my main props is this aluminium baseball bat. It is the used weapon so is very important to the narrative, or we wouldn't know how the victim got his injuries. I chose an aluminum one as it makes a striking sound as it hits something, emphasizing the violence without actually showing it, as this could look tacky. Originally, I had wanted to use a knife, but this was not an appropriate prop to use while filming in a public area. Finally, it is quite a conventional and classic weapon used in mob films.
Filming/Editing Schedule
Story Board
Shot List
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Establishing shots (x8-10) - Buildings, scenery - sets the scene
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Extreme Close Up - Mans eyes
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Close up - Feet walking
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Close up - Legs and feet from behind
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Mid shot - From behind, gangsters looking over city
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Two shot - Main gangster and victim in interrogation
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Establishing shot - Car park
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Long shot - Victim stood in car park looking shifty
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Close up - Hand tightening on briefcase
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Mid shot - Victim from behind
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Mid shot - following man running
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Long shot - Main gangster hiding round corner,victim running towards her
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Close up - Gangsters legs, victim collapses to floor at their feet
Some of these shots will have credits superimposed over the top of them, rather than a credit sequence. They will be worked into the scenes, for example "Starring ..." could be on a poster hung on the wall in the background of a shot. Whilst there is not a huge amount of shots listed here, I am confident that my film opening will be at least two minutes, as each shot will last a minimum of 5 seconds. Also,the 8-10 establishing shots at the start will take up a large chunk of the two minutes.
Script
There is very little dialogue in my film opening. This is because I want the audience to be drawn in by the cinematography, drama and overall feel of the film. I also do not feel that my film needs a lot of dialogue, as it is a non-linear story line. This combined with little dialogue will leave the audience guessing and keep them interested.
Despite this, I do have a few lines of dialogue, just to give the audience a very brief idea of what is happening and what is to come.
Script:
A series of establishing shots appear on screen, showing different buildings and city areas.
Suddenly, an extreme close up of a man opening his eyes and taking a deep breath appears on screen as the music comes to a dramatic climax. Next we see a group of women strutting through a grey, dirty car park area, wearing killer heels and pencil skirt. They stop, clearly having spotted their victim and begin getting ready to take action, one gangster swinging her bat around her heels in an intimidating way. We still only see their feet to knees, they're unnamed, faceless and mysterious to begin with. Next, a shot of them looking out over the city from behind, hair blowing in the wind, and looking extremely powerful, high above the city.
Suddenly, we cut back to the victim, bloodied and beaten with a black eye, gag around his mouth and tied into a chair. Here, we see the main gangster, Isa, and one of her counterparts, Sophie, circling and intimidating the victim. We see their faces for the first time, fully revealing the character as the dialogue begins:
(Off Camera) Gangster #2 (Sophie): “Isa, he’s awake.”
Lead Gangster (Isabelle): “Ah, hello there...Michael. Do you know why you’re here?”
Micheal: *Inaudible mumbling/groaning*
Isabelle: “Actually, don’t answer that. Do you even know how you got here?”
After this last line, the film opening shows what happened to the victim, Michael, and how he got in the situation he is in.
An establishing shot is shown to begin to establish what happened to Micheal and where it happened - why it happened is not yet revealed, to keep the mystery element. Michael appears in shot, alone in a empty car park and begins to walk along. He stops, realizing something is wrong, after hearing shuffling, movement and the tapping of high heels. Micheal tightens his grip on his briefcase, getting ready to run - this briefcase clearly contains something important. Do the gangsters want him or the contents of his bag? The camera arcs around the Micheal and follows him as he begins to run away, trying to escape the situation before he is caught. Next we see Sophie raise her baseball bat above her head, ready to strike Micheal as he unknowingly runs straight towards her. Michael gets struck with the bat, and lies bleeding on the floor with all the girls surrounding him. Lead gangster Isa takes his briefcase and promptly leaves the scene, leaving her comrades to collect him and bundle him into the back of their car.
The black car gleams in the sunlight as the film title appears on screen.
Title Planning
Music Plan
As there is very little dialogue in my film opening, music will be essential to create the mood and atmosphere of tension that I am trying to create. I want to use quite tense, heavy music which feels like to goes right through you. I'll be using parts from both the tracks below, both of these are royalty free.
This track is Organised Crime by CSoul on CCMixter. I'll be using the first 17 seconds of this track at the very start of my opening. This is because I think that it will fit perfectly with my establishing shots as the shot can change simultaneously each time the music changes. This will also mean I can use a sound bridge, like I said I would in my initial planning.
I also really like the muffled, electronic speaking at around 17 seconds. It will fit really well with my extreme close up where the victim opens his eyes and suddenly realises where he is. The speech sort of represents people speaking around him, instantly giving the impression he is surrounded or kidnapped. Furthermore, it reflects how is is just regaining coniousness as the speech is unclear.
The second piece of music I will be using in my film opening is Gravitational Waves by Airtone on CCMixter. I will be using most of this track, particularly the first minute or two. I like it because it is tense but quiet enough that the audio will still be heard over it.
Health and Saftey Risk Assessment
The below Health and Safety assessment is for the car park, which is my main location.
Pitch and Target Audience Revisit
This is my pitch for my film.
Something that I forgot to mention is that my film opening has a cyclical story line, as inspired by Quentin Tarantino.
Furthermore, I have also chosen my target audience because they have the most disposable income and are most likely to go to the cinema.
Since doing this, I have decided to call it Code 217 after listening to feedback from the class - they liked this name and the reasoning behind it.
Below, I have shown the results from my audience research survey. I am using this information to revisit and reconsider my target audience.
As shown, most of the ages fell between 16-18 which is what I was expecting as they are the younger end of my target market (15-25).
The results here are more dominantly female, which is really not what I was expecting. This is actually a good thing, as I want my film to appeal to women just as much as it would to men. But to make the film more of a 50/50 gender split I could think about increasing the violence and action to appeal more to what men stereotypically like.
British Gangster was the most popular genre with the people who took my survey. This is not the sub-genre my film will be, but it is good to know that 50% of people like this genre. It means I can try to take some inspiration from British Gangster films and add some of it to my own film.
Below, are the reasons why people selected the genre they did. Some of the answers were much more detailed than others so I cannot really draw that much information from this to reconsider my target audience.
64.3% of the people who took my survey do like gangster films. This is good as it means my target audience actually do want to watch what I am making. The 14.3% of people who answered no are quite a small minority, but I aim to make my film opening good enough that they will en joy it and want to watch the rest of they film - same goes for those who answered 'It depends'.
Despite 50% of people saying British Gangster was their favourite sub-genre, all of the answers to this question are American mob films. This suggests people who took the survey were maybe unsure of what each genre consists of so just chose one. Also, it suggests the most successful gangster films ever are mob ones which also appeal to my target audience, hopefully meaning my film will be successful with my target audience.
The answers here range from old style, to modern gangster costume. I will be using the old gangster costume, suits and ties - just as people answered. This is good as it means my film will fulfil what people are expecting, therefore appealing to my target audience.
The answers here are more varied, but some of them are locations I had already planned to use, such as warehouses and the city. Like the costume, the people who took this survey answered how I was expecting, meaning my film should appeal to them.
Again, the target audience answered as I was expecting. Weapons will feature in the opening of my film, and money will be implied (inside the briefcase).Drugs or alcohol will not be used in the opening, but would be used in the rest of the film.