How to sell drugs - Inspiration for Thriller

Inspiration for our thriller idea came from numerous videos on vice. This includes "How to Sell Drugs" 

This video was something I found interesting and lead me to find out about silk road and police seizing the website. This video looks at a different aspect of selling drugs, rather than online like silk road. It has influenced our ideas on how to set up a realistic set for our thriller and giving us a real situation to base it upon. There are numerous other videos on vice which have provided us with information on drugs, which we have used on our website to educate ourselves further into the underworld of drugs.

The Mafia

The American Mafia is probably the most famous criminal society in the world, they control most of Americas organised crime and are still regarded as the most dangerous criminal organisation to date.

The Mafia contributed to the idea of an international crime organisation that is virtually immune to law enforcement and whose members are basically untouchable.

Analysing Trance - Poster

Woman is in the middle, this gives her power.

Two men behind the woman are facing different directions which suggest that they not on the same side.

Man holding gun suggests that the film contains violence.

Background symbolises the hypnotic state that the film puts the audience in, it also contains an element of confusion.

The pattern that the background has mimics a fingerprint.

The colours that feature in the background are also very common within the thriller genre and this is another sign that the film is a thriller.

Drug Lords that inspired our thriller

Most Powerful Drug Lords

Pablo Escobar

Pablo Escobar was said to be the most notorious drug lord of around the last 20 years. He was a Columbian drug lord and cocaine trafficker, head of the Medellin Cartel in Columbia. He had a short life, dying at the age of 44 after being shot by Columbian National Police in 1993. At the height of the Medellin Cartel's power they were smuggling 15 tons of cocaine a day, worth more than half a billion dollars into the US. He has an estimated fortune of $25 billion. 

"There can only be one king"
"Sometimes I am god, if I say a man dies, he dies that same day"
"There are two hundred million idiots, manipulated by a million intelligent men"


Khun Sa (“The Opium King”)

Involved in Heroin and operated in Burma. He is famed as the world king of heroin, producing almost one third of the worlds heroin supply. He lived a luxurious life until he died of natural causes in 2007. 

Ross Ulbricht

Ross Ulbricht

Ross Ulbricht, the mastermind behind Silk Road.



Ross was 29 years old, studying Physics and

Engineering from Austin, Texas. He ran Silk Road from his computer in a library using the free Wi-Fi.

He was the most unlikely criminal, described as being pale with dark hair wearing jeans and a t-shirt.  

Silk Road

 

Silk Road was seen as the best-known underground marketplace for the trade of illegal drugs online. Described by an FBI special agent as the  "the most sophisticated and extensive criminal marketplace on the internet today". It was practically an ebay for drugs. It was operated as a hidden website which was only accessible using an anonymous browsing site called Tor.

 

Silk road was highly successful making $22 million in annual sales until it was ordered to be closed down as quickly as possible. In the beginning of October numerous arrests were made in conjunction with the website, including one man, Ross Ulbricht. The man who controlled the whole business.

 

 

Opening Sequence inspiration - Gulf Cartel

The Gulf Cartel is a criminal syndicate and drug trafficking organization in Mexico, and perhaps the oldest organized crime group in the country. It is currently based in Matamoros, Tamaulipas, directly across the border from Brownsville, Texas.
Their network is international, and are believed to have dealings with crime groups in Europe, West Africa, Asia, Central America, South America, and the United States. Besides drug trafficking, the Gulf Cartel operates through protection rackets, assassinations, extortions, kidnappings, and other criminal activities. The Gulf Cartel is known for intimidating the population and for being "particularly violent."
Although its founder Juan Nepomuceno Guerra smuggled alcohol in small quantities to the United States during the Prohibition era, it was not until the 1970s that the cartel was formed and shifted to drug trafficking — primarily cocaine — under the command of Juan Nepomuceno Guerra and Juan García Ábrego.

Cartel Logo

The Gulf Cartel inspired the idea of drug trafficking, criminality and the violence that comes with this business.

We also liked the idea of an international crime organisation.

Evaluation of Prelim Shoot

The prelim task was a very valuable exercise because it enabled myself and the rest of the group to familiarise ourselves with the equipment and terminology commonly used during a film or Tv shoot.
The objective of the prelim was to successfully shoot a scene and edit it.
We had to people acting out a scene and one of the most important things we got used to was the 180 degree rule and continuity.
The actors had to recite the same scene multiple times to make this possible.

Genres

A genre is used to classify a specific piece of artistic work, this applies to films, songs and paintings.
For example in film we have different genres:

Action
Adventure
Drama
Comedy

ThrillerSi-Fi

These genres are there for the audience to understand what type of film they are going to watch and what sort of storyline and content it will feature.
Genres mainly benefit the audience and are generally of no importance to the producer or director.

Camera Shots

Camera Shots

A camera shot is the amount of space that is seen in one shot or frame. Camera shots are used to demonstrate different aspects of a film's setting, characters and themes. As a result, camera shots are very important in shaping meaning in a film. Reviewing the examples on the right hand side of this page should make the different camera shots clearer.

An extreme long shot  contains a large amount of landscape. It is often used at the beginning of a scene or a film to establish general location(setting). This is also known as an establishing shot.

A long shot  contains landscape but gives the viewer a more specific idea of setting. A long shot may show the viewers the building where the action will take place.

A full shot contains a complete view of the characters. From this shot, viewers can take in the costumes of characters and may also help to demonstrate the relationships between characters. For more information on costumes and acting refer to Chapter 4.

A mid shot contains the characters or a character from the waist up. From this shot, viewers can see the characters' faces more clearly as well as their interaction with other characters. This is also known as a social shot

A close-up contains just one character's face. This enables viewers to understand the actor's emotions and also allows them to feel empathy for the character. This is also known as a personal shot.

An extreme close-up  contains one part of a character's face or other object. This technique is quite common in horror films, particularly the example above. This type of shot creates an intense mood and provides interaction between the audience and the viewer.

When analysing a film you should always think about the different camera shots and why they are being used. The next time that you are at the cinema or watching television see what camera shots are being used.

Important: These camera shots are used in all forms of visual texts including postcards, posters and print advertisements.