Evaluating Genre Conventions in Our Product

Predictions

• As title hints this plot seems to have a lot of twists. You are  able to guess some of them in the beginning two minutes.

• Audience feedback was all about guessing what was going to happen next and who the double agent was.

• This made us feel confident that our sequence was bringing up the right questions.

Title

• The colour of our title is a dark orange colour as this is was a popular colour for heist films in the 80s, and so it gives the feel of smart, sophisticated movie.

• The orange colour makes it stand out from the black background.

• We used a quite simple font to give it a professional and serious look to it, showing that this film is not entirely a comedy, although there are touches of light-heartedness.

• The picture is of all the aces and a joker, linking in with the gambling and the name of the title, we thought it suited it well as the joker implies that there is a cheat or an unexpected element in the group. The card game look is common for the genre e.g. opening credits of TV show "Hustle".

2-6. Credits

• They are the same colour and font as the title, so that they are connected.

• The colour makes it stand out and catches the eyes of the audience.

• When introducing the characters we used freeze frames to allow the audience to recognise them and as a stylistic device which is recognisable for the heist genre e.g. Guy Ritchie films.

• We made the credits very obvious as we were aiming for a non-transparent film so the audience are aware that they are watching something that is not real. This is a more common editing style for this genre.

4-6. Characters

• Generally speaking it is normally young/ middle age adults who are the main characters in this kind of film.

•  The main characters in our film are aged around 17-18, this is younger than usual, and so updates the genre by adding a hybrid teen element.

• Our characters act as cunning, sophisticated people. This is common in heist films.

• Our characters are the type of people you normally see in heist films like James (5) for example, he plays the computer hacker, whose appearance is scruffy and nerdy; you regularly see this as they are needed to break the codes in the film.

7. Mise-en-scène

• There are several different settings we had as we used a lot of cross-cutting between characters.

• We did not use the regular settings like expensive casinos and wealthy houses as we had limited access to our location choice and had to do every scene on location, thought this added to the verisimilitude of it.

• The locations we used were; dark shed, exquisite house, computer room, outside and a dark office - a varied setting which corresponds with the quick changes of scene we associate with the heist genre.

• The lighting varies in the first 2 minutes, like when in the shed (10) it is very dark and the only source of light is coming through the door, this shows that it is place that you do not want to be held up in and so we know he isn’t there by choice.

• The lighting in the office scene was artificial lighting, so it is possible that it is night of he is in a secret location somewhere (11), a key light is also used at this point to give the boss a mysterious feel. However we mostly use natural lighting as is mostly takes place in daylight.

• Had props such as, cards gambling chips, confidential envelope to create verisimilitude.

• Heist films normally have men with suits in. We too have this, with several of our characters showing they are smart due to their choice of clothes.

• The people we casted were teenagers as we thought it would be different to have a younger cast than usual, thus making us stand out from the other heist films.

• The costumes we used tell the audience a lot about the character like for James (5) he is wearing casual clothes meaning he is not a businessman like Jack (4).

• In the shed scene we also have a backlight (7), to create a silhouette of the person so you are not able to identify who the person is.

8. Editing
 

• A lot of short takes are used in our movie as we aimed at having a fast paced movie that is straight to the point, we particularly do this in the gambling scene (8) where we use match on action and unusual angles to create this pace.

• We cross cut from several scenes, this shows that there is a lot going on at one time.

• When we cut to a different scene we use a fade to black to make the transitions smoother and more obvious that it is a change in scene.

• We thought it would be good to use non-transparent editing as this is not seen regularly in any kind of film, but has been known to be used in heist films, especially the TV show ‘Hustle’.

9&10. Camera angles

• We used close ups to establish who the main characters are in the film, this was also helped due to the freeze frames.

• It is usual to see some extreme close ups in heist films, and that is why we decided to have some as well, we did this to elaborate the non transparent editing, with extreme close ups of the boss’ eyes - also usefully helped to keep his identity under wraps. (10)

• Another camera movement you see often in our piece is the panning shot so the audience is able to see more of the action in one shot, this is mainly done during the gambling scene and again is common in the heist genre as we need to see the reactions of all our main characters.

• POV shots are used as well as it allows the audience to identify with the main characters, and enables them to see what they see.

• We have high angles to establish power and who is in control this is normally used in these kinds of films.

11&12. Sound

• Mainly through the two minuets we have a constant non-diegetic music playing throughout, this helps set the mood and pace of the film. The almost 70s jazz feel is conventional for the genre. 

• The non-diegetic music we chose is relaxed and not particularly fast, this makes it seem that everything is in order, and when the music cuts off that feeling of having control is gone so the audience suspects something is not as planned.

• The boss’s dialogue at the beginning introduces what the character wants and what he is attempting to do. Dialogue is key in opening sequences to set plot and character and especially in plot-heavy genres such as ours.

• The synchronous sound is there to add to the verisimilitude of our film (e.g. typing on the computer).

• The silence at the end gives the feel of tension and unease and builds up the suspense as to who the person is and what is going to happen.