To what extent does Pitch Black Heist conform to the heist genre?

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  PITCH BLACK HEIST 


To begin with, from my perspective, the 'Pitch Black Heist' almost entirely conforms to the sub-genre of 'Heist'. Professional thieves meet on a simple job to crack a safe and stealing its contents. The catch is a light-activated alarm system in which shuts down obliging the men to commence a pitch black heist.

A narrative like ‘Pitch Black Heist’ includes a twist in which is unexpected towards the audience. The director accomplished this by hinting the twist through the structure of the film, but still somehow managed to catch the audience off guard with the twist. John Maclean pulled in the audience and then immediately diverted their perception of the film with the big reveal at the end of the film.

The entire film is colourless, with a grayscale look. This portrays the battle between light and dark, emphasising the great impact towards the audience and the idea of losing sight throughout the film. For instance, in the scene in which the characters are in a pub looking setting, the characters are the focal point of the scene due to the darkness of the surroundings. Further, this implies how the director wanted the audience's attention to the characters. Furthermore, this gives the audience an insight onto the characters' behaviour and mannerism which helps us understand their point of views and background. This information then follows up to the ending of the film, a big plot twist in which would be difficult to apprehend without understanding the characters first hand. 

The props used in the film are useful indicators of what is going to happen or is happening in the film. For instance, the heist genre is immediately shown in the opening scene of the film, where the camera pans through the characters physical planning of the heist, reaching a box with a word safe on it indicating the goal of the heist. In my opinion, this film is a typical convention of a heist genre, although particular elements of the film also drive away from it. 

During the heist, cinematography becomes irrelevant, yet at the same time, it still holds important implications. In the course of the heist, the screen completely goes black, drawing our full attention towards the characters' dialogue. Moreover, this creates tension further making the audience question whether they will succeed or not. The audience is unable to sit back and watch what is happening, so they are obligated to pay attention to the voices to understand where they are and what is happening. From my perception, this was a really interesting idea from the director, as it allows the audience to interact and engage with the film. Another interesting take of the cinematography is when one of the characters lights his cigarette, his face is shown to be dark and menacing, further reinforcing his characteristics in which are in contrast to his teammate. 

The mystery behind one of the character's background is further explained later on in the film when the two characters have a brief personal conversation. He explains his depressing past, with a harsh tone of discontent. It is clear that he holds a grudge towards his father, which is a reference in which becomes relevant into solving the twist of the film. With this knowledge, we understand why he turned on his own teammate, making the twist effective.





     

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