Simon Poggi
Aims and context - "Swinging Cats"
- The opening of a motion picture screenplay named "Swinging Cats"
- Influences are : Goodfellas, Reservoir dogs, A Clockwork Orange.
- Target audience : unisex with age rating 18+, crime genre lovers.
Reflective analysis - "Swinging Cats"
I created a crime/caper film set in the fashionable swinging 60s London era. The film is mostly based on 3 professional criminals who take on a major heist for their boss in one of the many jewelries at Hatton Gardens, Diamond district of London. The heist doesn't go too well, but the three criminals seem to have get off scot-free until their boss assures them people know it was them, and orders them to 'ged rid' of the troubles.
After watching a video of screenwriter and director, Quentin Tarantino, talking about what makes a perfect screenplay? He mentioned that its all about the pen on the page, that you should make it all about the page and the making it pleasant for the reader to read it and understand it as a story and not as a technical movie. So I decided to make characterisation key and give the three characters really firm different personalities so they would each give their own unique style to the movie, and also make it more enjoyable for the reader as it can stretch their imagination for who these characters really are.
Johnny is a very slick, smooth talking young man who sweet talks the ladies to get information and pretty much whatever he wants. When brainstorming this character, my influences was the character of Warren Beatty in Bugsy (1991), James Caan in Godfather (1972), George Clooney in Ocean's eleven (2001) and Alain Delon in Le Samurai (1967). I wanted to have a character with that kind of personality as every crime film needs it to glamourise the situation and let the audience be entertained as the female target audience want the character and the male target audience want to be the character.
Butch is very manly, more older and wise and leads the group of bandits in a way. My influences were Sean Connery in The untouchables (1987), Robert De Niro in Goodfellas (1990), Cary Grant in North by Northwest (1959) and Humphrey Bogart in Casablanca (1942). I wanted a character like Butch to really represent a man and a leader, a man who dresses well, deals with the authority and makes sure everything runs smoothly but ultimately has a bad past like any other criminal. The character of Butch puts the organised in organised crime.
Sully, on the other hand, is very different as he isn't attractive as the other two characters, psychically and personality wise as he is very short tempered, loud mouthed, and very violent. My influences were Joe Pesci in Goodfellas (1990), Samuel Jackson in Jackie Brown (1997), Malcolm Mcdowell in A clockwork Orange (1971) and Bob Hopskins in The Long Good Friday (1980). I thought a character like Sully is ideal for my movie as it brings even more drama into the situation and achieves interest for the trigger happy audience members due to his violence. Characters like Sully are used in movies to show the bad side of crime as they indulge themselves in blood soaking violence that puts the audience off, and just like every hollywood film, the character always ends baldly.
I chose to set my screenplay in the mid 1960's London as Ive always been really into the decade and thought it would just fit more into the crime genre and also setting it in the diamond district of London reinforces the heist situation of the movie. Music from british groups from the era such as The Beatles, Rolling Stones, The kinks, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, The who and Deep Purple have always been influential for me from a young age so i wanted to write something about characters in that era. As London was very popular in the 60s, ultimately gaining the nickname, the swinging 60s, actors from around the world would visit to get a taste of 'the good life'. The retro style, the crazy hair, good music, and hippie flower movement was all happening in the 60s which is what I've always found interesting and fascinating. But what made me set my crime story in the 60s was the influential mob brothers, The Krays. Probably the most infamous British criminals alongside Jack the ripper, The Krays basically owned most of London and for me set a cult message as they were the first to inhabit the american mobster way of doing business which was what made them so iconic for London. As i researched more about The Krays, setting a heist/crime movie in London during the time was so ideal as in a way it actually what was happening at the time as London was violent and criminals such as The Krays (and my characters) ruled the criminal underworld.
The opening scene in my screenplay isn't actually the beginning of my story but actually mid way through. The idea of having a non linear structure came from Tarantino and Scorsese films as Ive always been interested how well they've worked and how they drag the audiences attention in such little time. The first time I watched Pulp Fiction, I watched it straight again after as I wanted to figure out the order of the scenes in my head, which is what I want my audience to do. By throwing your audience into the scene mid way through, they look around and look closer as they want to know where they are and where there possibly going, which is much more interesting for them. Also what influenced me to do a heist story without actually seeing the group of 3 entering the jewerelly store and robbing it, was Reservoir Dogs (1992) as the whole film is tense and were following these characters talking about a heist but never actually seeing it. This level of suspense also comes from the films of Hithcock as the simple element of not seeing something makes it even more scary/tense/suspensful. For example in Psycho (1960) You never see the knife penetrate Janet Leigh, but the audience still scream and close their eyes in terror.
I chose to have the character of Johnny speaking over the black as Ive always thought that its the best way to open a movie. From films such as Godfather, A clockwork Orange, Barry Lyndon, Casablanca and Annie Hall opening with a quote or a statement drags your audience in as its the first thing that is said, and the audience will use their judgement to carry on watching. By speaking over the black, the audience wonder who's speaking? what character it is? And why are they saying this?
The opening scene is set in a high class restaurant for aritrocats, politicians and people of wealth. I chose to have the scene in a classy restaurant to show the audience the rich and lavish London lifestyle, and also give to give them a sweet evil taste of what crime can buy you. I had the image of Ernie's restaurant in Hitchcock's Vertigo (1958) as it consisted of a lot of red bright colours and extravagant materials and furniture. the main colour was red, which symbolises passion, beauty and danger and blood which had a double effect and meaning. What made me want to have this very over the top restaurant was also Stanley Kubrick's amazing use of colours, shapes, symmetry and 60s retro as seen in most of films. I liked this as it makes the setting of the scene iconic as the audience would not only remember the characters from the film but also unforgettable setting of the scene if its done well. The costumes for the characters were chose to be suits as it represents business, gentlemen and wealth. As I've always been fascinated by protagonist's costumes in Scorsese films such as Goodfellas and Casino, I wanted to have my characters have similar flashy suits as it almost disguises their bad deeds, and sugar coats the danger that lys behind the blazers. Having the scene cut to different conversations helps the audience ask who these people are but also subconsciously introduces the main characters without making it too obvious as they listen to conversation to conversation and pick up on the different characters trademarks, for example Johnny's flirty self and Sully's short temper.
The opening scene ends with the 3 criminals killing the person they were conversing with and all link at the middle of the restaurant and exit together as a gang and as they walk in the street the camera pans across the street and we see the Jewellery store they were all talking about. I thought this would shock the audience as they wouldn't of expected the men to be together as they were all in different conversations across the room, and also being shocked about the murders. By having the shot of the Jewellery store at the end makes the audience jump of the seat and think 'thats the thing they were talking about!', which also adds a bit of irony as they walk past somewhere they've committed a crime right after they committed another crime. So as Pink Floyd's "Money" plays during the opening credits, the audience would ask themselves Who were they? why did they murder those people? How are they linked? Are they involved in the heist that they were speaking about? All these valid questions helps the audience focus themselves for the rest of the film and motivate themselves to find out the truth.
I re-watched a lot of movies that influenced my idea and story and researched certain particulars such as the setting, clothes and dialogue to make the screenplay correct and candid. I also read some screenplays such as Pulp Fiction (1994) which helped me with writing a scene with non linear structure and making characterisation important to illustrate to the audience who these characters really are and what they do. When showing this idea to peers and my teacher they said it could work really well if it was done well by showing different characters and trying to make the dialogue easy and simple to follow but also be dragged by it and not bored. Different scripts of Tarantino also helped me learn how to make an audience let out a laugh in situations of the story which aren't supposed to be naturally funny.
