Directions Unit: The LadyKillers ideas/research

For this unit I’ve chosen a few scenes from Alexandre Mackendrick's film ‘The LadyKillers’.
The film is a classic black comedy; a sweet little old lady, alone in her house, is pitted against a gang of criminal misfits who will stop at nothing… Posing as amateur musicians, Professor Marcus and his gang rent rooms in the lopsided house of sweet but strict Mrs Wilberforce. The villains plot to involve her unwittingly in Marcus’s brilliantly conceived heist. The police are left stumped but Mrs Wilberforce becomes wise to their ruse after One Round spills the money. Marcus concludes that there is only one way to keep the old lady quiet…

In the first scene Marcus arrives at Mrs Wilberforce's house. The build up of tension here is crucial to the scene. Marcus explains how he and his group of 'musicians' are looking for a room to let for them to stay and recite their string quartette. Although we are made suspicious of Professor Marcus' true intentions in this scene, its not yet stated the real motive. 

This is why I move onto the scene where the gang all meet in the rented room. Here they discuss their concerns and the details for what is revealed to be a robbery. Louis doesn't trust Mrs. Wilberforce to play her part when she is ignorant to the plan. The others trust Marcus more having previously worked with him. 

The final scene will be when One Round drops all the money on the floor. This scene is intense and supposed to be very dramatic. I wanted to include it because it shows there is a lot more to the film that the gang committing a robbery. Inevitably it all goes wrong due to One Rounds lack of intelligence.

I wanted to keep the film period, set in 1955, when the film was made. Having a modern adaptation pr changing its setting would completely change the characters and the way they are/talk. This isn't something I entered this project hoping to achieve. I also wanted to keep the piece period because I feel like many audiences judge the films credibility because of its age. They see it as dated and would rather see the Coen Brothers rather poor attempt at re-creating the film. Much of the humour in this film would still appeal to a modern audience thanks to Mackendrick's revolutionary directing skills to create/enhance humour. Its also made it more challenging to get locations, costumes and props, but its all experience.

Location

The majority of the film is actually shot in Mrs. Wilberforce's house. As a result all of my scenes have been shot there wether they be internal or external. The only issue I had with this house was the age of it. The house is the style of the 70s more than the 50s. Internally it looks period to the film but externally not so much. This shouldn't be too much of n issue because I don't intend on doing an establishing shot of the whole house. I chose this house because it's setting was a good place between my actors and internally there is a good amount of space for filming and its typical of an 'old ladies' house. The house itself is also slightly lopsided just like in the original film (and mentioned in the script). It may not be as exaggerated on the inside so I still plan on tilting the camera at a slight angle to show its lopsided. 

The film itself is very much British and therefore set in Britain. This means that I didn't have to change the script. However, the script is of the time and making this a period piece could be challenging as the country has changed a lot since 1950. Finding a location accurate to this would also be difficult because the original film required a set.

Props: Since this is a period piece I've been spending quite a lot of time getting the right props. So far I've got an old antique tea trolly. The biggest prop struggles are the fake money and the instruments. I have successfully picked up one violin off free-cycle (although not working it does the job). I have a guitar case of my own which could be used as the cello case the money falls out of. I also already own a 'Guarrard'record player, which will be very fitting to the film. I will be able to find a record (preferably Boccherini but any classical music will do).

Filming/style: I'll be using natural light. AlthoughI can get artificial lighting to look natural, I realise that it will be a lot to carry around and the house I'm filming in will already have enough people, so room will be limited. If this was a higher end project I would consider using a studio and sufficient lighting. The house I am filming in also has large windows which will allow a lot of light to pass through. My filming style will include close up shots of the characters and objects of significance (e.g. the record player). I want my sound design to be effective too; I will build up tension in the opening scene by not having music but silence. The clock will be ticking on its own.