CRIME caper with an ensemble cast

Elyse, Aiko, Cristina AND Esther

SynopsisOur crime caper with an ensemble cast focus’s on the drug trafficking industry. To avoid the conventional male main characters in crime films, we decided to have a predominantly female cast, mainly for originality, partly for convenience. Our film will centre around four female criminals, renowned for their cunning ability to steal and sell drugs. In the film the girls embark on their biggest drug scandal yet, attempting to heist a copious amount of cocaine and ecstasy from one of England’s most notorious cartels. However, their plan doesn’t run smoothly and many obstacles stand in their way of scoring the drugs such as; fixed poker games, a kidnap and drugging incident and the shocking revelation that one of the team’s members is a fraud, attempting to sabotage the groups efforts from within. All this happens in the space of forty-eight nail-biting hours, with the outcome of the team’s success still debateable at the end of the film.

Moodboard…

The opening sequence of Snatch

• http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=y-xNqj7S54E

Analysis of the opening sequence of Snatch

• Snatch starts with a voice over by a main character, informing the audience what the film is going to be about, and giving a little description of two characters, that we know will have a central role in the film. It then cuts right to the action, showing a diamond raid at a secure site in Antwerp. This anchors the film, identifies the genre, and quickens the pace while grabbing the audience's attention. Following the heist is an introduction to all the main characters. Ritchie uses freeze frames which turns into graphics with the characters name/nickname. Some of the characters names such as "Boris the Blade" and "Doug the Head" gives the characters a gangster feel and identifies their role in the group. Ritchie's freeze frame effect has become an iconic and copied way to introduce the main characters of a film to an audience, especially when it has an ensemble cast, which requires many introductions. Between the freeze frames, the camera follows the journey of the diamond which the main characters have just stolen. This shows the fast transition of the diamond turning into money, through stages such as poker games, and smuggling. The diamond is passed from gangster to gangster. Techniques such as fast transitions, jump cuts, camera rolls and sped up footage makes the sequence more interesting and fast-paced, glamourising the diamond theft, and maintaining the audience's attention. The end of the opening sequence shows the first part of the sequence, when the theives are sitting in the van, looking at the stolen diamond. This shows the cyclical nature of diamond theft and signals the start of the film. The title "snatch" is shown in graphics on the diamond. This shows the relativity of the title concurs to the diamond theft and tells the audience that this is what the film is going to be about.

The opening sequence of layer Cake

• http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=rp2IfdFtAhU

Analysis of the opening sequence of layer Cake

• Crime caper Layer Cake stars Daniel Craig and was released in October 2004.• Layer Cake opens with some simplistic credits on a plain background, possibly suggesting the genre of the film. No sound accompanies

this until the voice-over of the main character begins. This happens when the first bit of footage is shown, a zoom of something the audience cannot yet identify. The camera then begins to zoom out, revealing the object, which turns out to be a van, shot from the back. The zoom is slow and gradual, creating suspense and indicating that something is about to happen. As maybe predicted, the doors of the van are blown open. As smoke and objects such as money float to the ground in slow-motion, following the explosion, calm, soft music begins to play. The camera then zooms out enough to reveal the rest of the set, including the first sighting of characters, and props such as guns used to demonstrate the genre. The slow-motion effect ends, and dialogue is used to realistically portray what has just happened, including threats being made and screams of panic. The calm music continues to play, creating a contrast between diegetic and non-diegetic sound. A smooth and simplistic transition is then used to introduce the next scene which shows a significant time difference from the previous scene. Here we see drugs being used in a recreational manner during the hippie-age, as the voice-over narrates, reminiscing about "the summer of love" when "hashish and LSD arrived on the scene" . A pan is then used, following another smooth transition, making the scenes flow even though the setting and time is completely different to the previous. Next a tracking shot is used to show a prison as the voice-over ridicules the inmates' reasons for being in jail, demonstrating the characters arrogance. Blatant product placement is used in the next scene as the camera tracks over rows and rows of dugs such as cocaine and ecstasy, labelled with the well known brand, 'FCUK'. This glamorizes drugs as FCUK is known as a stylish and popular brand, indicating that drugs have this same label. This is where the audience are first visually introduced to the main character, although it is not yet revealed that he is the voice-over. At the same time, the voice-over is explaining the amount of money to be made in the drug industry in a casual and proud manner, furthering the glamorized perception of drugs, the audience is receiving. Editing is then used to transform the FCUK branded illegal drugs, into legal medicinal drugs, thus revealing the main character is in a chemist. The scene then changes to the main character entering a flat where he and another character start to package cocaine. All the while, the voice-over continues to explain the conventions of drug trafficking, in particular the rules of the trade, in a condoning and casual manner. Overall, this opening sequence, identifies the genre and the content of the film quickly and smoothly. The drug content in this film is dealt with casually, treating the illegal trade as a legitimate business, even glamorizing it in some parts with the voice-over's conceited view of the industry he is so knowledgeable about.