Behind the Characters

Three people star in the opening sequence: -

'Damingo Flake ' - played by Matt Flack,
'Johan Whit' - played by Jon Whyte,
'Alan Hutter' - played by Ali Hunter.

Obviously the characters are more 'exotic' sounding versions of their own names, but we hope that this adds to the comedy element of the crime caper genre. After research, I have found that in many big screen crime caper movies the characters have unusual and/or humorous names. For example, in 'Ocean's Twelve', Steven Soderbergh, 2004, Brad Pitt plays a character named 'Rusty Ryan' and George Clooney plays 'Danny Ocean'. Furthermore, in the sequence to this film, 'Ocean's Thirteen', Al Pacino plays 'Willy Bank'.

When looking at the names we have chosen for the characters in our production, the names appear to be 'subtle' in the way they sound.

Music For Final Cut

After deciding to make our opening sequence a crime caper, we decided the soundtrack needed to have class and style but with an edgy beat to it as well. We felt it was important for the soundtrack to not take itself too seriously, as to take away the whole aura of the genre. We based our soundtrack on the soundtrack of 'Hustle', a popular TV series that is in the same sub-genre as our own film opening.

The music itself, starts off as a lively piece, introducing the beat that will run throughout the soundtrack. The beat is a mix of normal and conga drums, which helps with its lively pace and edgy atmosphere. An 80's style dance synthesizer is then introduced in order to maintain the light-hearted soundtrack whilst introducing the main rhythm. Shortly after this a funky guitar riff is introduced. This gives the stylish sound that helps the listener compare with other soundtracks in the genre. This rhythm continues for a while and then breaks. The music breaks to avoid strenuous repetition.

We are happy with the soundtrack and believe that it is in keeping with the genre and wholly in keeping with the opening sequence.

Behind the Name

'The Grifters'.

Our reasoning for this title is basically just a play on the word 'grafters'.
Grafting suggests someone working for something, but as the crime caper genre has a comedy label attached to it, the 'misspelling' of the word adds that comedy element.

Films of this genre usually have a short, punchy (and sometimes humorous title - getting straight to the point as well as sometimes slightly humorous. We feel that this title has the punchy effect, without giving too much away and maintaining that comedy factor.

--ROUGH CUT--

This is the rough cut for our film opening to 'The Grifters'.
From recording data, we uploaded the footage then edited it into the correct sequence order. We have also incorporated a few effects; black and white in some scenes (which we have recognized as a convention in many crime caper films), and slow-motion editing in appropriate places.

We are aware that there is much work to be done in order to make it a successful presentation; this includes titles that are required, and other editing to be done will make it appear to be a more professional sequence.

When watching our rough cut back, it appears we have a couple of scenes which have been duplicated. In the final cut we will correct this, maintaining continuity. There is also mild swearing, which we will withdraw.

Costume Design

We researched costumes used in existing crime caper movies, auch as 'Ocean's Twelve'. We noticed that they dress very smartly, mostly wearing suits, in an attempt to appear wealthy and more respectable. Their casual dress is still fairly smart, apart from if they are on a job and have to get into character, someeimes they have to dress down.

We are going to attempt to replicate this by wearing smart clothes for our production, for the same reasons as mentioned before. As we may not all be able to locate suits, we will wear white shirts underneath dark (preferably blue or black) jackets.

Below is an image of the notes I made reguarding costuming for our production.
I will explain what the image says as it may be hard to read.

A suit is the sort of formal look we are going for; suave and presentable. They would be worn in the scenes in which the characters are standing in the gallery looking at the painting, as they would need to have a good appearance to be taken seriously in this environment.

In my opinion the smart look can be achieved if just the collar and cuffs on the sleeves are visble, and the rest under a dark overcoat or jacket. Dark trousers / jeans would be best.

Hoodies or other casual clothes will be worn in the scenes showing the planning of the 'job'.

For practical reasons these would be worn under shirts that we will wear for the heist scenes, saving time by not having to do costume changes every time we want to shoot another part of the sequence. It would also provide a contrast between the formal dress code, and also give an insight to the characteristics of each individual; when in suits they are all in the same situation, whereas if they are shown in their own clothes it gives us a chance to show their different personalities.

The same trousers can also be worn in these scenes, for practical reasons.

The Decision

Our choice consisted of:
1. A supernatural thriller with a strong female lead.
2. A British social realist drama.
3. An adventure story for younger audiences.
4. A teenage romantic comedy.
5. A crime caper with an ensemble cast

As none of our group members were female, it would have been difficult to involve someone else in our project in order to have a strong female lead. We also feel we wouldn't enjoy making this opening and couldn't use our talents to create a high quality film opening sequence.

The British social realist drama was one of the options we narrowed these five down to, however again we thought it was not right as it would be to deep and not allow us to express ourselves.

An adventure story for younger audience was another maybe, but we decided it would be unfeasible to shoot a young child, (a convention of a lead character we thought was common)

A teenage romantic comedy was also ruled out because we don't have a female in the group. We were not so enthusiastic on an all male romantic comedy as we felt it would be easier to have a girl in the group for this.

Finally a crime caper. As a group we couldn't find anything wrong with this idea. It didn't need to have a female in the cast and also didn't need young children or old people to fit its genre. We believe this was the easiest option for a group of our nature.

Succesful Crime Caper Movies

We have chosen to replicate a crime caper movie; as it incorporates seriousness, humour and appeals to a massive audience. From research we also knew that a large number of films are crime capers.

A crime caper is a film that is concentrated on an illegal act, but presented in a funny or light-hearted way. Many of the most successful films made have been crime capers. Below is a list of 10 extremely successful crime caper movies.

'The Italian Job' (original 1969)
'The Italian Job' (remake 2003)
'The Pink Panther' (original 1964)
'The Pink Panther' (remake 2006)
'Gone in 60 Seconds' (2000)
'Ocean's Eleven' (2001)
'Oceans Twelve' (2004)
'The Thomas Crown Affair' (1968)
'Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels' (1999)
'Snatch' (2000)