Researching chosen genre

Genre: Heist films

Classic Narrative:
 

In this genre there are normally two distinct types of heist films. The first type is a more comedy light-hearted approach; this can be seen in films such as “Ocean’s Eleven” and “The Italian job” (1969), heist films of this type normally follow a similar structure with the beginning of these films mainly being about bringing a group together or being put in a situation where they have to perform a heist to resolve the situation. This can be seen in a film like “Ocean’s Twelve” where they are forced to perform a robbery in order to pay back the man they robbed previously. The middle of these types of films will mainly focus on the planning and then the heist itself, during this segment of the film a lot of the details are kept secret from the viewer. The editing style in a film like “Ocean’s Eleven” blur the lines between the planning and actual heist making it appear as one whole sequence. The final section in these types of films are normally the big reveal of how the plan was executed and/or one character betrays the group.

The second type of heist films is more serious and is portrayed in a more gritty manner. Some examples of these films are “Inside Man” and “The Town”. These types of heist films tend to focus on both the police and the criminals and are more character-driven then about the heist itself. The main difference between both types of heist films is that the more light-hearted ones seem to follow a more generic structure whereas the more serious ones tend to be different from one another. When trying to place my group’s film into this genre I found that it fits more into the light-hearted, more upbeat style of heist film.
 

Characters:
 

In most heist films the characters are very generic and stereotypical with each character filling out a specific role. First of there is the leader who is normally the main character who makes the plans , this character is normally one of the oldest in the group and will normally be dressed in smart clothes. The next character is normally the leader’s protégé who tries to be like the leader but is more youthful. There are several archetypes that appear in heist movies that all fit under the category of specialist, each of these characters generally specialise in a specific field. One of these is the computer specialist this character is generally depicted as being a nerdy young character who is a bit socially awkward. Another archetype that fits in this category is the explosive expert who is depict quite often as a wise cracking, hard man, this character normal is quite scruffy in appearance and is very rough personality wise.
 

Camera work and editing:
 

The camera work in most heist films is quite often non-transparent, with characters looking directly at the camera and with many moving shots being used, such as tracking shots and panning shots. The editing used is also very different from standard editing with their generally being lots of montages used throughout these types films mainly during the planning and heist sections of the films. Transitions are often used in heist films; they are often used to create a sense flow between different scene this is often helpful in montages.