Directions Unit: Direction Plan

I have decided that my chosen idea will fall within the line of a crime and dark comedy type film. Encumbering elements from different Scorsese films I have come up with what I feel I can make into an effective Scorsese styled film with elements my own style within. Details of which are below.

Title

"Three's a crowd"

Story

I have chosen to not have a clear and present cut between parts of my film but instead let them flow from one to the next to truly replicate the style of my chosen director.

Part 1

As previously stated my character is an Anti-Hero so I felt it was necessary to make him a conflicting character with the audience. I found that Scorsese often starts his films with a scene which is usually hard to watch and has the audience squirming in their seats or looking away so to replicate this I have chosen to start my film with an adequately noticeable start. We begin within a large barn like storage area as a spotlight presents us a tied up character who is blindfolded and afraid. Then the side door swings open to reveal a silhouette of a man before the door slams shut again. The man who enters walks past the light as the shadow passes over the tied up man, of which is growing more frantic. We hear classical music begin to play, music of which would normally be heard within ballet. The man who enters walks around the tied up man in the chair like a vulture circling its prey appearing and disappearing in the light. As the music grows faster the circling man disappears before the music stops altogether. Suddenly the same time as the music roars back to life the man begins to beat the tied up man as blood sprays out from the punches. This continues for some time until the music finally stops and the tied up man slumps forward apparently dead. As his killer walks away the large garage door begins to open with a close up on the killers bloodied face and freezes frame, and then a voice over begins. 

Part 2

The voice over begins and establishes that the main character is violent man which we just saw beat the tied up man. I chose to use a voice over as this is used commonly within Scorsese film and I found it to be an effective and interesting means to drive the narrative. The voice over and short quick cuts help the audience to understand this gangster Anti-hero’s morning and how his lifestyle is terrifying and exciting all at the same time, in this we establish the reasons for the brutal behaviour in the first part by introducing a love interest, introduced in white as another trademark of Scorsese’s. We also then realise that the deceased man was a detective trying to take down our anti-hero, the detectives wife is having an affair with the anti-hero which results in her being beaten by her husband, which in turn send our anti-hero into a rage resulting in the death of the detective at the start. A complicated plot summarised quickly is a classic trademark of Scorsese as for example in ‘Goodfellas’ when Henry Hill describes the day he was caught be the ‘feds’. This also encumbers Scorsese’s method of starting the film in the middle of the story.

Part 3

The final part is the conversation scene scripted by our course director Simon. This takes place within a small café. The scene is simple and includes Scorsese’s trademark tracked zoom shot within a two shot. I will finish the film by having our anti-hero break the fourth wall and question the audience as what he should do.

Idea behind the Story

I came up with the idea through essentially trying to combine elements from different films Scorsese has made and create a fairly accurate interpretation of his work. The plot of crime and complications within marriage such as affairs are a common place within his films.

Scorsese’s shock factor at the beginning of his films is something I really wanted to have a go at and use as the first part, and by finding a suitable location it was a must.

Also I found as a means of driving the narrative and storytelling Scorsese often uses narration so I felt that again this was a must and something I needed to include especially the profanity and interesting sense of humour.

Introducing characters by the use of shadows is also something I wanted to bring in as it is demonstrated brilliantly in ‘The Departed’ with the introduction of Jack Nicholson’s character.

Locations

Music

With regards to music I want to find something that has a sense of classical ballet to it. This contrapuntal music will hopefully, nicely replicate the opening sequence to ‘Raging Bull’ where the beautiful music is given a dark and twisted representation.

We have been asked to use music which is copyright and royalty free so this may present a challenge but I will surely find a piece that will fit my liking. However I feel that it must be classical as it goes very well with what I imagine the finished product to look like. I could have chosen any music from rap to rock’n’roll as Scorsese uses a variety of different music genres effectively within his work.

Costume

I have three actors, the main actor, the anti-hero will be wearing a dark blue cheque suit with no tie, a white shirt and a pair of brown loafers. In Part 1 he will be wearing the suit without a jacket where braces will be visible and hanging from his hips. Shirt in this part will be covered with spatters of blood.

The second actor, the femme fatal character has two outfits the first we see her in is a white dress with heels and perfectly done curly hair and the second is more business woman wear with a smart shirt of blazer with skirt and heels.

The third actor has one outfit, a white shirt rolled sleeves and tie with smart black suit trousers and loafers.

Crew

I have taken great thought into my choice of crew and have decided to use Wesley Denne as my cameraman. He and I have worked well together in workshops and is a good person to work with as he is very professional and gives information regarding shots and the outcomes of shots. He is very good on camera and will be perfect for the type of filming I have in mind.

I also have Plamen Dimitrov on sound. He has a brilliant eye for detail and is very good with improvisation so in the case of anything going wrong, my crew will assist with back up ideas.

Schedule

I am filming on Saturday 7th and Sunday 8th February. The Saturday we will be filming the entirety of Part 1 at the Garage location and scenes at the Car Park location and Office.

On the Sunday we will be filming the entirety of Part 3 at our Cafe/Restaurant location and scenes involving my femme fatale with other characters with the locations being the car and hallway.

Some pictures of locations are not yet uploaded but will be updated soon.