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.