Four women race a ticking clock across a bustling city, readying themselves for the ultimate Smash and Grab showdown.

Director’s Vision for ‘Smash & Grab’

The idea with the film was to create a pastiche of heist films. To lean somewhat into stereotype and genre conventions, but cleverly subvert the audiences expectations with an ending they hopefully don’t see coming. One that is uplifting and positive.

We wanted to keep the cinematography slick and polished in the heist section, before hard cutting to handheld, looser and more relatable coverage with a brighter colour palate when we switch to the ‘real world.’

Working with excellent actors was key to building subtle character traits and hints as their relationships with one another. Fleshing out those details in two mins is hard, so having these small beats really helped to give it something extra.

We tried to be smart with the writing, so that all of the dialogue would have a double meaning. And, should you watch it again, you’d pick up more of the hints to their real ‘heist’ destination on second viewing. We had to make it clear enough for the football references to land second time around to anyone not into football, but not so obvious as to telegraph them on first viewing to those that are. So, that definitely felt like a balancing act.