MAJOR PROJECT: Research: Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels

Gambling Scene

During the rehearsal with the actors, it was brought to my attention from both Nik and Craig that I should watch the 1998 film 'Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels' as contextual research for the film. I had heard of the film but hadn't seen it and so was intrigued to watch it to see why they thought it was a good reference.
The film is a British crime/comedy film written and directed by Guy Ritchie. I have watched some of his other films including 'Snatch' and RocknRolla' and was familiar with his distinctive style as a filmmaker. From my research outside of watching the film, I found out that it was this film that brought Ritchie his worldwide fame and recognition as a Director, due to its success. The film has a well known ensemble cast including Jason Flemyng, Vinnie Jones, Jason Statham and Sting, all of which play rather bold characters.

Film Poster

Instantly, I could see why Craig and Nik brought the film to my attention as it is based on a heist. The group of them gamble money during a card game and end up in £500,000 worth of debt. To be able to pay the money back, they decide to rob some drug sellers to be able to pay the money back. The storyline is driven with comedy throughout, with the characters often messing up the plans or getting caught out which is both funny and very entertaining.
There was a particular scene where one of the characters brought along tights as masks, adding to the comedic value which instantly made me think of our film, as it highlighted that the group were amateurs and just making it all up as they went along.

In terms of how I will use my contextual research for the project, I think that we could play with the visual gags even more, as these were evident throughout Lock, Stock which really sells  the characters to the audience and gives them likability. Although, our film is much lighter in terms of the tone, I think that having watched this film, I can see several likeness' that would be interesting to work with. As the Producer, I shall be pitching some ideas to the Director regarding visual style and script taking into account my research of this film and how I think we could approach the set up of certain scenes.

I have also attached the poster for the film which I think is really interesting. I like that it is two tonal, being in black and white, with a very simple accent of yellow for the text. It will be useful to examine posters for films like this one when designing the poster for our film, as we want it to reflect the genre and nature of the film.