Similar Storylines

Our stroyline is about a woman who has drugs planted in her bag bewofr she realises.

1) A film with a similar story line to this is ''Enemy of the state'' staring Will Smith and Gene Hackman. This strory is about a man who is framed for a murder alot like our charecter is framed of a drug deal.

2) Another film with a very similar story line is ''Three men and a baby''. Staring Tom Selleck, Steve Guttenberg and Ted Danson. In this film three men that live together are landed with a baby. A package is delievered unbeknown to the three men the package contains heroin.

Similar storylines to ours

Part of research is to look at films that are very similar to ours whether it is from independent or mainstream films.
Pulp Fiction

This is a film all about drugs and the consequences of them. It even involves a gang and what happens when you get in with the wrong crowd. Here is the plot Pumpkin and Honey Bunny are two thieves who, while dining at a coffee shop, decide that the best thing to do is to rob it. Vincent and Jules, two hit men working for mob kingpin Marcellus Wallace, are sent to retrieve a very special and very mysterious briefcase for their boss. Vincent later must also show Mrs Wallace a good time while her husband is out. Butch Coolidge is an ageing prize-fighter who is being paid to "take a dive", but instead, accidentally kills him opponent, and tries to flee town, but not before getting his dead father's lucky golden watch. These four seemingly unrelated stories are interwoven together in a non-linear fashion.

Another film that is particularly relatable to our film is spring breakers where drugs end up in the wrong hands and influence what others do when on them. The plot is Brit, Candy, Cotty, and Faith have been best friends since grade school. They live together in a boring college dorm and are hungry for adventure. All they have to do is save enough money for spring break to get their shot at having some real fun. A serendipitous encounter with rapper "Alien" promises to provide the girls with all the thrill and excitement they could hope for. With the encouragement of their new friend, it soon becomes unclear how far the girls are willing to go to experience a spring break they will never forget. The film is rated an 18 because of the drugs, violence and sexual content in it. 

A violent crazy scene from the film featuring Alien the lead gang member.

Drive is another good film that can be used for inspiration to our storyline. Its about a man who helps his neighbour and lands himself in some serious trouble which could cost him his life.

A mysterious man who has multiple jobs as a garage mechanic, a Hollywood stuntman and a getaway driver seems to be trying to escape his shady past as he falls for his neighbour - whose husband is in prison and who's looking after her child alone. Meanwhile, his garage mechanic boss is trying to set up a race team using gangland money, which implicates our driver as he is to be used as the race team's main driver. Our hero gets more than he bargained for when he meets the man who is married to the woman he loves.

Iconography

Iconography

For my iconography research were going to look at crime thrillers since the genre of our chosen storyline is that.

Iconography is the generic symbols or signs you associate with that genre.

When watching a film about crime we see the same type of characters such as hooligans (always men).  Then a rival groups of people ‘working class’ criminals/rioters and of course the police. Words in the film that are usually said to describe the criminals would be ‘street smart’, ‘chavs’, ‘rioters’ and ‘hooligans’. Green street and away days are very good examples of this.

Iconography in crime thrillers would be graffiti, drugs, weapons, alcohol and poor living conditions like a rough estate or neighbourhood.  There are many weapons in the film killing me softly this gives the audience the hint that it is a crime thriller straight away.

In the genre of crime we see themes such as crime, rivalries, police chases and violence/fights, law breaking and even deaths. In thee kind of films we also see gangs wearing branded jackets and police in the standard uniform.

Mise-en-scene

Setting

The film we are filming is a crime thriller and the generic setting of a crime thriller film is in a large crowded city because it provides a view of the secret criminal world for example, dodgy bars, strip clubs. This portrays what the under world is like. 

mise en scence of crime films

Settings:

Costumes:
For police detectives they are usually always wearing formal clothing such as uniform and suits. This is to show that they are of importance and have a professional career. People who are victims of the crime will just normally be in normal clothes to blend into the public and make it like it could happen to you. This could also be applied to people who cause the crime if they are not wanting to make the character obvious. making them blend in with the public will not make it obvious that it is them. Sometimes the criminal will look like criminals in ragged dirty clothes.

Props:
Common props in crime films/dramas are guns, knifes, handcuffs. The prop that is the cause of the crime will be significant and will be shown clearly on a number of occasions. On the crime scene the weapon is usually shown to emphasis the accident.




Setting:
If the criminal is low level selling drugs on the snide and plots about revenge. They can often be from rundown gritty neighbourhoods which reflect their behaviour. Settings can often be in friendly neighbourhoods or small streets that look like they should be quiet and welcoming, in the places you wouldn't expect.Some scenes will be set in the forensic labs looking at the cause of the crime and trying to find out who it was,it is usually what the audience expect.


Makeup:
There is not much makeup in crime films apart from blood, wounds and bruises
from injured people.

Iconography of crime dramas

http://www.slideshare.net/danielfotheringham21/generic-conventions-of-crime-dramas-thrillers

Generic conventions of crime films

Narrative:

Usually highlight the life of a crime figure or a crime victim, or sometimes the rise and fall of a particular criminal.

Story lines usually are:

-gangs
Gangs of boys hanging around on streets.

-bank robber

-murder
Either the life of a murderer or of the victim of the murderer.

-law breakers
could be to do with drugs, murder, robbery, general crime.

-personal power struggles
People struggling with drug and health problems.

-conflict with law

-rival gang
two gangs that are from the same area and clash.

Settings/locations:

Usually set in large crowded cities, dark night clubs and streets. Places that look suspicious and like something is building up.

Settings/ Light and Costumes in Crime Dramas. (Mise-en-scene)

Costumes
A lot of the costumes in crime dramas are very casual clothing but include lots of dark colours. These might be to signify the darkness of that certain character or the type of profession they work in. An example of this is Brian Mills from Taken as we find out that he has done Karate and Self Defence in the past and his costume shows his personality and we see that he is not afraid to hurt anyone severely.

This links a lot to our crime thriller as we want the audience to be able to depict who is the our main protagonist and what personality they have just with the clothes that they will wear. 

Setting 
A lot of settings in crime dramas use city and towns as they show that a certain place couldn't be pleasant and that there are gangs about in the certain city or area doing stuff like drug dealing and doing illegal stuff. An example of this is Attack the block because the movie shows a lot of urban locations and the iconography with gangs drug dealing. This links with our film because we want to use very urban locations to show that something bad is going on in the city. This will be used as a idea of foreboding as our protagonist is falsely accused for drug deal when she didn't do it and has been set up by someone else.

Props
A lot of crime dramas use a lot of props linking to death and illegal stuff to show that the characters are not pleasant. Examples of this can include guns and illegal drugs such as heroin and cocaine as they try to make the audience believe that what they are doing is wrong and against the law. Examples of movies that use these type of props include Pulp Fiction as they show two people breaking the law by taking guns around with them and making illegal drug deals. This links to our film as the villain makes an illegal drug deal by buying a bag of cocaine and slipping it into the protagonists handbag and the irony of the film is that our protagonist is innocent.

Lighting 
A lot of crime dramas use a bit of lighting to show a certain mood about the place. Examples of lighting can include low level lighting as they can determine a certain characteristic about the place, the situation and the villain and what they are like. An example of this is The Joker from The Dark Knight as the lighting represents the Joker's personality as well as Batman. This links to our film as we want to use a lot of low level lighting to show a sense of foreboding and that something isn't right.

settings/lighting/costume- mise-en-scene

Ideas for settings

Since our story line is based in the naughties era 90s/00s, which was 10 years ago the setting is not going to be too hard to find. We was thinking of shooting our film on an empty street then going in a house. We don't want the street looking too rough though as we want it to look believable. To add to this because of our time period we have to make sure it doesn't look modern as we are wanting it to look like it was shot 10 years ago. In the house were thinking of putting up posters of music icons that were big in the 2000s/1990s so the audience will grasp that the film is not shot in the present day. 

The lighting 

We want our lighting to be very particular and whilst doing some research we came across the film noir and how they did their lighting. Were going to take some inspiration because we like the shadows and the way it can form patterns on a person. We are going to use this because the picture below really shows how lighting can be used to form a focus point for example the mans eyes behind the blind. This would work really well for our film as it is a crime thriller so we want it to be mysterious during the beginning. Then we are going to have some bright light focused on the villain to trick the audience into thinking he's an alright guy and just a friend. So were going to create a kind of illusion. 

Costume 

Our costumes are going to be very different due to each role of the characters in our film. We want to create a sophisticated look for the main character as she's meant to be a lawyer. So she will probably be wearing a mac coat a professional kind of look like this. 

Similar storylines to our movie

The 39 Steps 
The 39 Steps links very closely to our storyline. This is because Richard Hannay (The Protagonist) is accused for the murder of Annabella Schmidt and it is up to Richard Hannay to save the day by finding out what the 39 Steps are and to clear his name. This links very closely as our protagonist is wrongly accused for smuggling cocaine and its up to them to find out who it was and to clear their name.
 

The Da Vinci Code
The Da Vinci Code links very closely to our film. Based on the Dan Brown bestseller the Da Vinci Code tells the story of Robert Langdon who is wrongly accused for the murder of Jacques Sauniere - The latest Louvre curator. As a result of this, Langdon is wrongly accused and must not only solve the code but must also prove his innocence towards the French Judicial Police and to his trustworthy companion Sophie Neveu - The granddaughter of Jacques Sauniere. This links to our film as the protagonist is wrongly accused of smuggling cocaine and must not only find out who did it but must also clear her innocence of the crime.

Generic Conventions in Crime Thrillers.

In crime thriller films such as Pulp fiction, Good fellas, Reservoir Dogs etc there are many different generic conventions. for example;

1) Drugs

drugs are a big part of crime films, films such as Scarface and Pulp Fiction are centered around drugs. In our film ''jack pot'' cocaine is placed into our charecters bag.

2) Guns.

Guns are used in crime thriller films either by the police or by the gangsters or even by both, in the film scarface there is the notorious ''say hello to my little friend" scene. 

3) Gangs/Mafia/People in suits. 

People in gangs and in the mafia are very common in crime thriller films, in our film the people that placed the drugs into our characters bag is involved in a gang. The film most notorious for gangs/mafia is The Godfather.  

4) The Police Force.

The police force are a big part of crime thrillers because they are the people that are trying to solve the crime, as well as this may scenes take place in the police station in interrogation rooms etc. 

5)

Characters in Crime Dramas

The Protagonist
One type of characters which link to our movie is a innocent victim who normally is a woman who has try and sort the problem out in which there decisions that the character face are either death or prison. Movies like The Da Vinci Code and Breaking Bad will use this situation because they show the protagonist who has done nothing wrong who needs to sort the situation out. In this case our protagonist is placed a bag of cocaine in her handbag and its up to her to clear her innocence. More famously, The Da Vinci Code links to our movie because it shows Robert Langdon (The protagonist of the movie) accused for a murder he did not commit and as the story carries on its up to clear his name and stop the murderer getting away with the crime.  In our movie it shows a innocent woman which has a bag of cocaine placed in her handbag and yet she is the innocent person.



The Companion
A lot of crime dramas use a trustworthy companion in their movies because the protagonist are able to confide into him and trust them that they will keep the information the protagonist says secret. However, some companions can be two-faced and may make the audience wonder who's side the companion is on until the finale of the movie when the character finally decides which side he's on. One example of this character is Severus Snape from the Harry Potter films because in the Harry Potter films we find out that Severus Snape was once a favoured companion by Lord Voldemort but also was a companion of Albus Dumbledore and throughout the movies we see where Snape's loyalties lie until the end of the series and in the end we find out that he really was on Dumbledore's side. This links to our film because in the film our companion at first decides that she's on our protagonists side and in the end we see her join the villain and deceive the protagonist.

The Villain 
A lot of crime dramas use a double cross villain in the movie. This is because at first they come across as a nice person towards the protagonist and then plant the crime by doing something like putting a knife in their bag which is covered in blood. As a result of this they turn the crime onto the protagonist and therefore the protagonist has a massive chase to clear their name and stop the villain
 get away with the crime. This links to our movie as he gets to bump into her and pretends to be her friend. However, in order to get away with the crime he distracts the protagonists by having a conversation with the protagonist and then plants the bag of cocaine in the handbag. As a result of this he feels that he has got away with this crime and feels he has succeeded in his evil plan. Movies like The 39 Steps use these characters as Professor Jordan turns the murder of Anabella Schmidt onto Richard Hannay to make sure he gets arrested and stop him exposing the secret of The 39 Steps.

Initial Storyline

Initial Storyline

A group of friends are walking through a park and all of a sudden notice that one of the friends is missing. They try to call her mobile but it goes straight to answer phone. They have a walk around but she is completely missing. They hear her voice from the woods next to the park but it is only faint and they cannot make it out. They decide to go through the woods and look for her but her voice keeps on getting further the more they walk in the woods. They decide to come out of the woods as it is getting darker and the voice was disappearing, but they notice another person is missing they then get a text saying 'you won't find her.’ As they then run for help they notice 3 out of 5 of the girls are missing.