Advice for a mugging/robbery scene

S

Scott Talbot

Member
Hey everyone,

So I'm a student about to embark on my first filming project. It's a 1 minute branding spot where a couple gets jumped by some guys for "special case". I'm starting to storyboard and then move into an animatic but first I'm looking for scenes that have the same general idea that I can watch and take notes.

The general pacing is to start with shots that cut between the couple walking and having a good time to these guys getting ready to rob. My goal is to create tension by cutting back and forth.

I know its not a lot to go on but really I'm just looking for scenes from movies that will guide me in how I should shoot it. Something sort of like the prologue to the dark knight. The first minute or so.

Thoughts?

Thanks in advanced.
 
Be original is my suggestion.

You already have started a bit of pre visualisation... so work it thru to your shot list and board.
 
im about to blow your mind and get real deep:

CROSS CUTTING IS THE BASIC FUNDAMENTAL FOUNDATION OF CINEMA SINCE DW GRIFFITH!

so youre off to a good start in the way your thinking

so watch movies, especially in your genre, and study how the camera cuts back and forth almost constantly between an ACTION then its REACTION, and between all the different SEPERATE ELEMENTS of one event.

then do up your shot list and try to get the shots you need of the different elements to cut back and forth between as the action unfolds

thats the hard part for me- im writing up the shot list for my next short and its a challenge to pre viz it and decide what i need to get

lil secret:

get VARIANT shots, for example when you get a close up PUNCH IN an grab a TIGHTER close up while the camera is set up there.

thats it the rest is up to you- watch movies closely, study the SEQUENCES (series of shots), try to emulate yourself when you make your own flicks, noone can guide you further
 
Keep in mind something most "action" movies seem to forget - this kind of thing is a life-changing experience for the victim; some people need years of therapy to get over it. Can you make the audience feel the fear, the dread, the uncertainty, the powerlessness and the sudden realization that we're all mortal and fragile and can die at any moment in the most random of ways?

Stories have themes and subtext - but so do really good scenes. Think along those lines and the rest will come.
 
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