Final Piece

After receiving feedback we were told to improve the lighting, the duration and the sound.

We swiftly noted these objects and made alterations.
- We adjusted the brightness to give a slightly glossier effect
- Made the sound track one long beat opposed to a break of several
- Finally noting that the sequence was repetitive removed a couple of scenes that were not necessary

Here it is....

How effects are applied

we added effects to make it look less homemade and more professional because we got feedback telling us it needed improving.
As you can see from our screen grabs we have added effects to our shots where we have a characters name to enhance that characters personality, and from the last screen grab we have added a slight yellow tinge which makes our piece look more professionally produced.
You can also see that we changed the colours when it freeze frames to show each characters colour to represent their personality, we felt that the new colours improved the quality of the footage and suited the characters better.
It can also be seen from the screen grabs of how the sound track was composed and created as the original was not long enough to last the duration of the title sequence. There is also a show of the effects added with final cut such as the fades and the RGB colour corrections.

Rough Cut 2

Everyone else' version of the rough cut, its brighter than the other with different colours on the freeze frames. You can decide which one you like better, personally i prefer this version to the other (:Josh).

Consent Forms

In order to use external actors it is necessary to have release forms to show their consent. These are used in real life media situations, as if they are not actors can sue producers for using or exposing their identity. Below is a form that we will need to get filled in.

Sound Track Inspiration

The conventional sound tracks to British crime capers are upbeat dance/trance tracks such as tiesto and prodigy. Here is a track from pendulum

Call Sheet Wednesday 11th February 2009 - 15:00 to 20:00

Contact numbers --- Ben, Josh, Stephen, Tom(Exchanged in class)

Local Emergency Contact Numbers - 999 / 112
Non Emergency
- 01223 358966 (Cambridge Police)
- 01223 245151 (Addenbrookes)
- 01223 376200 (Parkside Fire Station)

Time for filming 15:00 to 20:00 (hopefully recording will be finished within two hours but the worst could occur)

Location - Cambridge cycle and footpath subway - round-a-bout centre near grafton

Actors Required - Josh, Ben, Stephen, Tom and One Extra

group of extras required for crowd

Costumes - Casual clothing for extras smarter "gangster" clothing for main characters

Props -

* Three cups

* One Ball

* Table

* One wall (for jumping)

* Wallet (to be stolen)

* Car (to wheel spin)

Risk Assessment (to be completed)

(all work is being done by Steel Productions - thanks to google maps for supplying map to location and to Long Road for giving equiptment)

Edit:

-Lighting: The lighting was a difficult to get right in the poker scenes and required the bulbs to be taken out of the lights and put a tin over one light to give the right lighting for the scene and make sure it wasnt too bright.

Target Audience

Traditionally with crime capers they are aimed at a mass audience, for example the 'Italian Job' and 'Oceans Eleven'. However we are doing a British Crime Caper which has a nation or regional audience due to the cockney attributes of most British films. Therefore the target audience we are aiming for the UK's population as it has a sarcastic and traditional feel to it.

Call Sheet, Example

This is a professional example of a call sheet. It is a schedule of a days filming it includes:

- Who is acting
- What time filming is
- Who is recording
- Location
- Emergency contact numbers (local)
- Costumes
- Props
- Risk assessment
- Production Roles
- Contact numbers
- Map

Ident and anamatic ... Finally

Finally the anamatic video is online it took four finished files but eventually it has worked

Planning! Post-Shooting

It has got to the point where it is almost time to shoot, this is a bit scary and worrying as we need external actors and non tennage actors so we could be in for a tough ride, however if it is pulled off then there is no reason it cannot work effectively.

Location

We need a good area to do this, in all hope we will be able to find some where like a back street or industrial area, a very quiet place or a run down place time will tell what we can find however here is what we are hoping for (something similar)

Ideas - Cambridge subway near the Grafton Centre

Hustle

As we described in our synopsis we are going to have a crowd gathered around a man trying to hustle them. This idea came from adapting Snatch's title sequence and the program Hustle (BBC). Although still a very primitive idea the ball in the cup is likely to be the game used.

Actors

This is the toughest one I am still not convinced we will be able to find a group of adults to act for us or at very least appear as the extras. The only real way to do this is probably to buy them something and hope for the best. However time will tell on this matter, we might have to scrap it and just try to make people look older. Whatever happens we need all the extras and all the actors in one place at one time, we probably need them for an hour or so at very least.

Ben - Hustler

Josh - Pick Pocket

Tom - Brains

?? - Muscles

?? - Rubber

Costumes

Still undecided on this, conventionally in British crime capers they would wear tacky suits that look dated however had this been the case now there is a possibility they would wear trackies, saying this it would be better to stick to the conventions we have seen and not the comedy conventions.

Story Board - Animatic Deadline Problem

As we all know the animatic deadline was on 30th January unfortuantly we did not meet this as our technology let us down however I have taken the time to take photos of the storyboard and will post them up and use until our mac works with final cut. In all fairness it was just as much our fault as we did not save it but never mind and hopefully soon the storyboard will be on the blog.

Film Title: Hustled

We thought of the Title 'Hustled' because its nice and simple and sums up the idea of the film straight away.

hu$tle
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Review of Pitch

The overall feedback we received was quite good we had a couple of comments from the auidence, such as:

- Follows convention well
- Good knowledge of crime capers
- Reasonable analysis

We also got some comments on how we were going to operate we had to describe our location and some of our boarder line ideas. By this we mean having a budget for our production as we do not just want teenagers around a table chanting and being hustle also the characters cannot all be teenagers, if they are it would be less realistic. Ideally we will be able to locate some 'skin heads' and our people who look 'rough' or 'hard'. This is simply to comply with the stereotypical image of British crime capers. Once again in order to have these people around there might have to be an incentive for example a four pack of beer in a hope that people are easily bought if not there might be a reliance on family friends and acquaintances. However time will tell but soon there will be a published story board which will give a better insight into our storyline.

Pitch

Synopsis: The Opening Scene will be an introduction of all the cast, in total there will five or six characters each one will be shown in their own trade, for example a pick pocket, hustler and getaway drivers. Simple characteristics, it will be a conventional sequence of animation, pictures, acting, etc. it will involve everything we can included to show our knowledge. The camera will move in the direction of the backs of the crowd obviously and then moves towards the characters one by one, it will have cut scenes. By cut scenes, this will show a freeze shot of the character, then change into black and white, finally it will replace the black and white image with a new video that comes across the screen showing the character doing their talent and then finally returning to the actual scene. This will occur with every character showing them at the best. Hopefully there will be a strong cockney accent for the narrator which would follow realism. The cut scenes will continue until the final character who is the lead, this will be a male and will be our main star who is doing the dodgy game. He will be appearing to impress the crowd with his tricks however after taking a wager with a customer he then ruins his hustle and fails revealing he is a cheat at which point he will show a shocked faced, he then grabs the money and runs with the other members of the cast. whilst running it will have a range of shots with titles included. as it is the title sequence.

Analysis of two Comparable Sequence:

Snatch (2000)

This is the sequence which we have used a few ideas from, such as the introduction of the characters, obviously we are not copying this but we like a few of the conventions used.
- Snatch opens with a group of Jewish Rabbi's who are in a diamond bank and it turns into a robbery
- It opens with long shots in the claustrophobic room of the group of Rabbi's (low angle to show dominance) and the bank manager who is isolated from any employees (high angle to show vulnerability)
- It then zooms into the middle Rabbi who has a variety of pistols on him, his colleagues them strip the weapons for themselves at this point the music which non-diagetic begins
- The scenes start moving quickly to show tension and chaos
- This has a good mixture of shot editing, including spinning and frame pushing to follow into the next shot
- The robbers then begin shouting and getting violent, this is a stereotype of criminals at which point we are not meant to identify with the criminals
- It then show them stealing and chaos continues until it stops the music at which point it shows they were stealing diamonds and they are in their get away vehicle
- It then begins to introduce the characters of the film using the freeze frame pictures and gives them their name
- Snatch employs a flowing technique to change the frames from character to character this is effective and makes the introduction flow well
- The title is then shown spinning inside a diamond which gives a huge hint into the films subject






Example 2: Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels

This is another English example of a Crime Caper with an ensemble cast.





Mood Board:
This mood board is designed to show the gritty, tough areas of the developed world. The idea is to demonstrate the type of area these criminals will be operating in, some of this is unconventional of Hollywood films as the characters are portrayed (in Hollywood) to be wealthy, smart, hansom (or pretty). However in British crime capers they are often shown to be in a struggle to get out of their poverty. This is why there is a lump of cash, a ball and cup game (hustling) and a new car, these are the types of things the characters are going to be involved in or aiming towards. Also there is a stereotypical view of two four men gangs, once again men is the key word it is rare for females to be portrayed in crime capers as lead characters.