Trailers and opening scenes

The Godfather opening scene

Scarface

American Gangster 

Don

Inspirations

DON (2006)

Don is a Bollywood made crime thriller. The story centers around an extremely cunning, highly sought for gangster, residing in Malaysia. Throughout the opening sequence, the protagonist, Don, is shown going  from a casual restaurant setting, being driven in a Mercedes E Class, through the streets of Paris, eventually arriving at a ballet studio. He is led to a backroom, searched, stripped of his gun (much to his dismay). Throughout the end of the scene, in the backroom, Don is talking to a fellow, criminal, business associate when things turn sour. Throughout this entire sequence, there are only 2 types of camera angles used; over-the-shoulder, and facial close-ups. This movie is an inspiration for me in regards to the type of camera shots used throughout the opening 5 minutes, due to the emphasis it places on authority and superiority. 


The opening scene uses the following shots:
- Tracking shot
- Pan shot
- Close up's
- Extreme close up's
- Over the shoulder
- Mid-shot
- Crane shot
- Following shot

Scarface (1983)

Scarface is undoubtedly one of the most  popular and recognised movies in the crime genre ever made. Starring Al Pacino, the story is set in 1980's Miami, California, about a man who arrives from Cuba (as a refugee). His story begins from a job washing dishes in a burger van, eventually becoming the biggest cocaine dealing gangster in Miami. Scarface is an inspiration to me due to the style, attitude and complexity of the main character, Tony Montana. The character, even whilst simply washing dishes, emits a powerful, dominating personality through his presence and style. The confidence and power reflected through his characteristics have enabled him to set the bar extremely high for gangster movies that came later on. Montana, fears nothing aside  from not reaching the very peak of what he wants. This element is what  I want to achieve within my movie; a fearless gangster. 

American Gangster (2007)
American Gangster is a Hollywood film entailed about the criminal career of Frank Lucas. Frank Lucas smuggled huge quantity's of heroine  into the USA on American service planes returning from the Vietnam War. This film was later criticised by Frank Lucas himself in an interview in which he stated that around 1% of the film was true, with the other 99% Hollywood. American Gangster shows the high life and power seeking drug lord living luxuriously, against the dark and miserable job of a cop who is trying to bring down the criminal organisation. 

British crime film list:

The films we watched in class to give us an idea on what type of camera shots we should use and how to set the scene etc were the following:
- Lock Stock & Two Smoking Barrels (1998)
- Snatch (2000)
- The Bank Job (2008)
- The Godfather (1972)

Thursday 1st december 2011

Due to having too many people in the film, and Phil was going to leave, we had to split the group in half with 3 people in each group. Due to this change in the group we also had to get rid of our previous filming. However, this gave us the opportunity to take on a different type of gangster movie, with more of an original scarface type of film with huge quantity's of drugs and a lot of money to be made. Coming up with the idea was down to the Bollywood Blockbuster "Don" starring a bollywood idol Shahrukh Khan (the king of bollywood).


The new group consists of myself, Lewis Bacon and Oliver Cobbin.