Film opening (Final)

In this presentation, I will be explaining my final idea for a film opening.

Film plotPhoenix Callahan is a infamous drug pusher who spends his time selling and delivering for his boss who owns a nightclub. Phoenix lives in London. He regularly saves his money and keeps it locked in a safe within his apartment waiting for just enough to leave the country escaping his current lifestyle and redeeming himself. His dream is to move to France for a few years to finally be with his partner and travel around the world. He is regularly speaking and trying to learn the French language in the story and maintains his vintage car in perfect condition, which he stores in a garage a mile away from his apartment.

His boss, Riko Gavlos owns the club and has disposable men at his side that work for him. When two of his men are killed in a drug deal gone wrong with a rival criminal Benny Naso , he asks Phoenix to intervene to settle the situation and promises this will be his last job and will no longer have to work for him.

The deal is to take place in an underground train station, where Phoenix is to leave the bag on a bench and allow one man to make a pick up. Phoenix takes a small gun and puts it in his shoe as the job seems off. When the bag is in place, two men arrive and ambush Phoenix which leads into a gun fight. Phoenix attempts to flee and runs to the escalators. He sees more men making there way down, he lays on the escalators hoping they wont see him on their way down. However, the men in the gun fight make their way to the bottom of the escalators and see phoenix evading the back up men, who have reached the bottom of the stairs. They give away his position and Phoenix fires upon them in panic.

Phoenix makes his way back to the nightclub to alert his boss of what has happened. When reaching his office he sees Benny looking through Riko’s safe amongst dead bodies on the floor, who are all of Rikos henchmen. Riko is no where to be seen. They both look at each other confused until Benny fires his gun at Phoenix stating that he is supposed to be dead. Phoenix again finds himself fleeing, and makes his way back to his apartment for his money as he plans to leave the country.

After packing his money at his apartment, Phoenix heads to his garage on foot a mile away from his house to reach his car, which puts him in a dangerous and uncomfortable position. When leaving his apartment, he encounters a shifty man in the lift and notices a gun on the side of his hip. Phoenix takes a step back leaving a tense pause before pulling the man down by his shoulders and killing him. Phoenix makes his way through alleys and streets to get to his car, he is spotted by members of Benny’s group and they chase after him in a car while Phoenix is on foot. Able to evade them, Phoenix slips through an alley straight to his garage and locks himself in there with his car. Some of the members form a group in front of his garage. Phoenix then drives through the garage doors in his car and attempts to flee the gang by heading for the nearest motorway where he plans to catch a ferry to France.

When he finally reaches the motorway at midnight, he continues to drive until he turns into a small path to get off the main road, which soon leads to a level crossing. Not knowing he is being followed, Phoenix is stopped by the level crossing as there is an oncoming train. When waiting, a black car pulls up behind and drives into the back of him. A mysterious figure gets out and pulls Phoenix from the car and stabs him in the stomach. The figure revealed as Riko then drags Phoenix over to the train tracks. Phoenix manages to hit him over the head with one of the bricks from the train track and leaves him. Phoenix manages to move out of the way of the train. Riko double crossed his men including Phoenix to make a profit from the money and drugs for his partner, Benny. After the train passes, he limps to Rikos car and sits in the drivers seat. He starts the engine…

Genre: Thriller

Film opening ideaThe opening begins with a shot of a bathroom mirror (pictures of France and girlfriend around it).

The protagonist walks into shot and places his hands on the sink. Noticing them shaking he washes his hands and face (Revealing shot of tattoo on arm) Shot of face covered in water –Possible shots: Bloody face when shot of the mirror – character touches and smears the blood in the mirror but the shot of his face is water. He closes is eyes and opens to see nothing is there.

He looks in the mirror and says ‘be calm’ in French (Soyez calma). Then whispers it to himself. (Learning to speak French)

The characters phone rings on the side of the bath tub (low shot with the sink in the background which switches between focus) (Two phones of the side)

He then dries his hands and face before walking over to his phone and picking it up. He walks out of the shot accidently leaving the water running. (Still low shot of the water running)

Shot of the water running from low angle, whilst conversation is heard in the background. Talks about drop off point.

He walks back to the sink realizing he left it on. High angle shot of sink looking down as he turns it off. Still looking down plug hole until water is drained. He puts the phone used in a glass of water.

A low shot from behind will show him putting a knife in his back pocket. Looks back at the mirror and says ‘you talk about me?’ in French (Vous parler de moi).

Shot of his photos on the mirror.

He takes his other phone from the side of the bath tub.

He walks out with a tracking shot following and shots of his feet walking.

He picks up a bag and leaves his apartment.-Possible idea/shots: shots of character walking across the flats and getting into the lift. The lift door shuts and is followed by a blank screen with the title.

Film opening idea

Titles are shown.

Opening shot of London with credits.

Shot of character hailing a taxi.

Shots of the streets from the taxi.

Shot of the character receiving a message from his boss that says ‘Come to the club when you are done.’

More shots of the streets.

Props

Mirror

Pictures of France

Tattoo

Phone

Knife

Bag

Watch

Necklace

Locations

Bathroom (Home)

Iconic places in LondonStreetsBuildings

CostumesFor the costumes, I have taken some pictures of clothing to give an idea of what the protagonist will be wearing.

The protagonist will be wearing black shoes and jeans along with a green t-shirt and a bomber jacket. His hairstyle will be presented in a slicked back style.