Film Plot Summary
The story follows the life of America's top criminal Italian American Silvano. He introduces himself and begins to tell his tale, about the rise and fall of his empire starting with his roots and how he was drawn into the life that he was. He tells us of the various problems that he faced as a child that eventually lead him down the route of crime where he was noticed and mentored by one of the, then, leading crime bosses. Eventually they went their separate ways due to several severe disagreements that could have cost them their freedom. After separating from his mentor he began to build up his own empire and quickly surpassed all other rival gangs. This continued for years before it all fell apart when his old mentor came into conflict with him.
I intend to stick to the following conventions with my ideas for Gangster films:
- Smartly dressed
- Violent, use of weapons
- Use of dark lighting
- Fairly slow ASD
One of my ideas for a two minute opening sequence was:
[We see a dark room with hardly any lighting, the main light source would be the overhanging light. The camera slowly does a reverse creep to show a close up of a (Very shadowed) young man]
Silvano: *Sighs* "It was never supposed to be like this..."
[Camera cuts to show a close up of his hand as he picks up a glass contemplating as he stares into it, glass would be out of focus with the face still shadowed but of sharper quality]
Silvano: "How could everything change so quickly?... One moment you're at the very top and the next...*Sighs*"
[Reverse creep to midshot, we can now see that he is sitting at a desk. He moves to hold his head in his hands]
Silvano: "I was at the top. I'd surpassed everyone, but it all fell apart..."
[Raises his head and looks at his open hands]
Silvano: "Like sand, it slipped through my fingers... piece by piece until nothing remained."
[Screen fades to black and stark red writing appears with the name of the film 'Quicksilver' this writing fades as more appears 'new york 1978']
As part of our peer assessment we each received criticism from people in our group, for this task I was with Jamie Payne, Alisha Ward and Andrew Bryan. Upon reading my first idea to them it was suggested that my "opening sequence introduces the character very well but doesn't really introduce the film as a whole."
A second two minute opening sequence would be:
[Black screen fades into colour and we see a brief but fast montage of several different scenes, all of Fairly dull colour. Examples of the type of scene shown would be a man meeting with three others, meeting with someone else, exchanging unclear obscure objects, sorting through money that had just been handed over]
Silvano: "What a life, eh?"
[Abruptly cuts from the montage to show a man sitting at a bar, midshot showing him in profile, cuts to a close up(still profile) as he says his next line]
Silvano: "I had everything..."
[Spends a moment thinking, we see another montage in which we are shown the luxuries that he possessed. Mixed in with this we see also some of his desires, the few things he didn't and couldn't have, his family back for example. The camera now pans so that we no longer see him in profile as he leans over his drink]
Silvano: "...Well I had a lot... No man can have everything, and those who think they do?..."
[Looks up at the camera]
Silvano: "Well It certainly won't last... Trust me."
[He sighs looking down once more as the screen fades to black, stark red writing appearing with the title of the film 'Quicksilver' before the screen flashes white, black writing appearing stating the date and place (New York 1978)]
Upon hearing this idea my group offered me the criticisms of:
"Sounds good for a second scene. The first scene needs to be focused more on establishing the genre of the film."
and, (about both of the above)
"Opening scenes all put emphasis on his fall and give some insight into the character."
My final two minute opening sequence was as follows:
[See a table full of old newspaper clippings and photographs, the headlines all about various unexplained, unsolved crimes]
Silvano: "Mine. All of them, they were mine."
[Cuts to show a montage of clips of newsreaders explaining about the crimes mentioned in the newspaper cuttings and the panic they caused. Cuts back to the news clippings as we see someones hands set down on the table over some of the clippings and the back of the mans head moves into the view of the camera.]
Silvano: "I'd never been caught. I was the best of the best."
[Camera cuts from the high angle shot showing his head to a low angle showing his shadowed face as he picks up one clipping and grips it tightly]
Silvano: (Slightly strained voice) "But of course, the best things don't last.Especially not for someone like me..."
Silvano: "This. This was my downfall. I became overconfident. I expected too much. I only just managed to escape with my freedom, but my reputation..."
[He tears the clipping in half, slamming both parts down again and turning to exit the room. The camera pans slightly so that the cutting can be read properly]
Silvano: "... Was left in tatters"
[See a close up of the clipping about a failed crime, the screen fades to black and slowly bleeds away to become red as stark white writing appears with the film title and soon after the date and place appears on screen (New York 1978)]
My Group favoured this idea over the others, stating that it's "Very detailed and uses the plot of a downfall well, using other conventions and such well also." and that "It shows the genre much more clearly than the other ideas did as well as still giving a good representation of the character.
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