The Heist (short film)

infobox
show_name = The Heist


caption =
format = Crime/Musical
runtime = 6 minutes
creator = Campbell Cooley
starring = Marissa Stott, Helen Haskell
country = flag|New Zealand
producer = Campbell Cooley
first_aired = 12 April 2008
last_aired = present
picture_format = PAL

The Heist is a quirky crime-drama about two first-time jewel thieves who stage a bizarre diamond heist... with seemingly disastrous results.

The film was conceived by award-winning director Campbell Cooley who wanted to tell a character-driven story without dialogue. To add to the complexity of the challenge, he also underscored the entire story to a minuet by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

Consistent with his style, the film is full of twists and surprises but perhaps the most fascinating element of the film is how all the action flows in almost perfect harmony to Mozart’s Minuet movement from Divertimento in D Major.

creening history

Completed in March 2008, the film has screened (or was scheduled to screen) at the following festivals:

"Dunedin Fringe Festival", New Zealand, April 2008

"Leith Short Film Festival", Scotland, June 2008

"Cinema da Mare Film Festival", Italy, July 2008

"Shaky Isles Festival of Aotearoa", England, July 2008

"Anonimul International Film Festival", Romania. August 2008

"Naperville Independent Film Festival", US. September 2008

"Big Mountain Short Film Festival", New Zealand. October 2008

‘The Heist’ has been purchased by The Rialto Channel and premièred on Australian TV 4 August 2008.

Trivia

-WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD-

Several years earlier, Marissa Stott worked with Campbell Cooley on Shortland Street playing a character who didn’t speak. Her character in ‘The Heist’ never says a word either.

When ‘Mira’ drops her purse on the sidewalk, a marble bench behind her has the word, ‘WORD’ engraved on the side of it.

All the diamonds in the film are real.

Shots of people entering and exiting the storeroom had to be filmed elsewhere, as the curtains (supposedly leading to the storeroom) in the Main show room were merely covering a wall.

The lead female character was named ‘Mira’ because of its similarity to ‘Mirror’, an allusion to all the mirror relationships and situations in the film.

On the first day of filming, one of the worst storms to hit Auckland occurred. While picking up the lead actress and make-up artist, the director’s car broke down. Upon arrival of the diamond boutique, the owners didn’t show up and the cast and crew were left shivering on the sidewalk in the freezing rain.

To achieve the horrified reaction of ‘Mira’ when firing the gun, the director intentionally scared the actress.

The film was plagued with numerous production problems. What was supposed to be a 6 week production turned into 11 months.

Several weeks before the film was completed, several months of editing (along with all the time-codes) were lost due to a computer problem and the director and editor had to start from scratch.

Before filming was completed, the diamond boutique unexpectedly closed down without warning.

The music during the end credits is the exact same minuet by Mozart but done with a reggae beat.

Current characters

External links

* http://www.dunedinfringe.org.nz/
* http://www.leithshortfilmfestival.co.uk/
* http://www.cinemadamare.com/home.php
* http://www.festival-anonimul.ro/festival_progr_en
* http://www.bigmountain.co.nz
* http://www.rialtochannel.co.nz/