Synopsis

Our film follows the story of a teenage orphan who is struggling with a drug addiction and turns to crime to fund his habit. After being found stealing drugs from one of his dealers he is beaten and left for dead. However he survives and goes on to pursue and ultimately kill the two people who attempted to murder him. In the opening of the film we see the boy stealing the drugs and consequently being caught by the two dealers who then go on to beat him up and finally suffocate him with a plastic bag, we then go on to see that after they have walked away, assuming that he is dead, he does in fact survive.

Characters Costume

In order to fit the typical conventions of a gangster film, we have chosen for Omar and Curtis (the two gang members) to wear current and standard youth clothing, including hoodies, jeans/chinos and trainers. The hoodies they wear will be dark coloured and they will wear their hoods up to make them look more intimidating and dangerous. Darren will wear clothing which is not as uniformed and more scruffy than the other two because he is poorer and has to look lower in status and power than the other two. This connotes vulnerability and makes him look less intimidating. He will wear a jacket with the hood down and generally scruffy, unorganized items of clothing. Also he will have dirty unstyled hair to make him look very poor and dirty.

Props

In our opening, we have decided to use a variety of props which are essential in our narrative but are also typical of a conventional crime film.
- Flour wrapped in cling film to resemble a big quantity of packaged class a drugs
- Herbal pills to resemble illegal pills
- A cigarette to resemble a joint of cannabis
- A credit card and ten pound note for Darren to make and snort lines of drugs (flower)
- A plastic bag used to execute Darren

Shotlist

1. Medium Close Up shots - Darren smoking/sniffing/swallowing various drugs
2. Mid Shot - Curtis and Omar coming up the stairs
3. Panning Long Shot - Curtis and Omar coming into the warehouse through a door from the stairs
4. Long Shot - Darren's reaction shot through window when he sees them coming
5. Long Shot - Omar and Curtis beating Darren up and dragging him out the room
6. Panning Long Shots - Darren being forced across the warehouse 
7. Mid Shot - Darren being held over a hole in the floor
8. Low Angle Long Shot - Looking up at Curtis and Omar holding Darren over the hole
9. Panning Mid Shot - Darren being dragged to a fence
10. Mid Shot - Curtis knocking Darren out (punch)
11. Low Angle Mid Shots - Darren being suffocated by Curtis with a plastic bag
12. Long Shot - Omar and Curtis' silhouettes walking away 
13. High Angle Mid Shot - Darren choking and coming back into continuousness 

Story Board

This story board will be very helpful when we shoot the opening to our film as it has a list of the main shots and what happens in them. Thus means that we can stick very closely to our original plan and it will ensure we do not forget any essential shots or action while filming the opening.

Target Audience

Our target audience for this film are young males. This is because young males are typically excited and intrigued by gangster conventions like violence and drugs. We questioned twenty young males from the ages of 18 to 24 about what they would expect from a gangster film with regards to props, costume, location and characters. The outcome was that most of the young men we surveyed all came up with expected similar responses to the questions. The majority expected offensive weapons and drugs to be featured in the prop list, urban, concealing clothing like hoodies and bandanas to be used, filmed in an urban location like a low profile warehouse/den or on the street and for characters to be streetwise and craving status and power.

Naming our film

We have decided to name our film 'Dead Man Walking' which is a very appropriate title and is specific to our film. This is because in the opening, Darren is beaten and is supposed to be dead in the eyes of Omar and Curtis. However he survives this attempted murder to walk again, having to avoid these two gang members at all costs. This title will instantly draw the target audience in because it is fairly self explanatory, regarding the genre of the film.

Actors

There are three characters who feature in our opening scene. Firstly theres Darren (played by Sam Sawtell), who is an orphaned boy living on the streets in a city. In Darrens life anything goes and he will do whatever means neccesary to get by. Omar (played by Ned Harvey) and Curtis (played by Sam Luszczak) are two members of a leading gang in the same city. They are both experianced criminals who are very streetwise and will let nothing get in their way of reaching the top.

Music - Song choice

The song is called 'Innocence' by Nero. I have E-mailed MTA records who licence the song to ask them whether we could use this song in our film. They replied saying that its fine because its a non-profit making production.

Music

In our opening, we chose to use a song which is fast paced and instantly interesting in order to build tension and keep the opening scene fast paced to draw in the viewer instantly. The song is unground and not mainstream to fit typical conventions of a gangster film and also it means the song is not easily recognisable which builds on the idea of the opening being unfamiliar and dangerous.

Filming Location

The location we have chosen to film our opening scene in is this big, empty warehouse in saffron walden. I have chosen this location because it sets the atmosphere for the rest of the film as being a grimey, rough and urban gangster film. It also looks like a typical seccluded gang's hide out which is where this opening is set. We have spoken to the owner of this warehouse who agrees to us filming in it.

Synopsis

Our film follows the story of a teenage orphan who is struggling with a drug addiction and turns to crime to fund his habit. After being found stealing drugs from one of his dealers he is beaten and left for dead. However he survives and goes on to pursue and ultimately kill the two people who attempted to murder him. In the opening of the film we see the boy stealing the drugs and consequently being caught by the two dealers who then go on to beat him up and finally suffocate him with a plastic bag, we then go on to see that after they have walked away, assuming that he is dead, he does in fact survive.