Kieron's Blog
Research
Task 1
History of crime/gangster genre
TASK 2
Conventions of gangster films
Task 3
Research in crime and gangster genre
The Godfather
The film production company who made The Godfather is ALFRAN. ALFRAN do not make any other gangster/crime films but they have made drama/romance films like Big Halsy. Paramount Pictures gained the rights to t the novel before it actually became popular. The Godfather is a 1972 American Gangster film directed by Francis Ford Coppola.
Paramount pictures were known as famous players, Lasky corporation. They are based in America and ranked one of the Big-Six film studios of Hollywood. They have made many films.
American Gangster
Film 2
Film 1
Film 3
Reservoir Dogs
Reservoir dogs is a 1972 American crime film that involves the events before the diamond heist. It was directed by Quentin Tarentino and was produced by dog eat productions and Live entertainment. Miramax were the main distribution company.
Miramax films are an American company that mainly involve producing and distributing films and TV shows. They are based in California. Miramax are quite historical due to them being taken over by Walt Disney in 1993. This made them one of the largest production companies around the world. They were involved in films like Pulp Fiction, one of the best crime films around.
As everyone around the world knows, Walt Disney is one of, if not best production companies around the world meaning this was a success.
Film 4
Goodfellas
Goodfellas is an American Crime film and is directed Martin Scorsese. Goodfellas was produced by Warner Bros who are a very successful distribution company.
As many people know Warner Bros productions are a very successful distribution who are involved in many different films. It is owned by Time Warner and their headquarters are also California. They are involved in what is seen as the most seen films around the world, so are classed as highly popular and successful.
Film 5
The Departed
The Departed was also directed by Martin Scorsese and is written by William Monahan. It was produced by many famous actors including Brad Pitt and Brad Grey.
The Departed involves many different production companies including Warner Bros, Initial Entertainment, Vertigo Entertainment, Media Asia Films and Plan B Entertainment. This gives a clear reason for why The Departed is seen to be the best film of it's genre by it having so many production companies.
Warner Bros, Plan B Entertainment and Vertigo Entertainment are all very similar due to them being American Production Companies based in California. They are all large companies and are very successful. They are all involved in some of the most famous films in the world, with many different genres.
Media Asia Films are different put to the other because they are a private chinse production company who are based in Hong Kong. They are involved due to The Departed being very similar to their film "Internal Affairs". Initial Entertainment are a British Production company who was found by Graham King in 1990. They are involved In many famous films like World War Z and The Departed.
By doing this task has helped me realise how much the crime genre has developed. It's showed me how much the big production companies like Warner Bros, Universal Pictures and Paramount and how much affect they have on these films.
What makes them so effective is that they do not only focus on crime, they have many different genres that they are involved with and have such a big affect on these films. This is seen due to them doing crime films and then in other films, these production companies are involved in films that are more family or kid types. This goes to show how advanced they are and how successful or large they are. Disney films are more kid based, and these production companies are also involved with it.
It goes to show how much production companies put so much effort into making a film enjoyable to watch which is why these films are so successful and will continue to be for a long time.
American Gangster is a 2007 gangster film. It was produced by Ridley Scott and written by Steven Zaillian. The production company are Image Entertainment, Scott free productions and Relativity Media. The main distributor was Universal Pictures who are famous around the film world.
Image Entertainment are an independent producer and distributor of television and film of North America. They have sold around 3000 DVD titles. They are headquartered in California
Relativity Media LLC is an American media company headquartered in Beverly Hills, California. They were the third largest until bankruptcy on July 30th 2015. This affected the production company massively as they rely on finance.
Scott Free Productions 1995 are a film and television production company and the director is Ridley Scott. They are involved with blockbuster films like the film Cracks. They are a large production company with increasing budgets.
Task 4
The Departed
Lock Stock
This task has really helped me understand films fully and has helped with my analysis of films. It has taught me that the first two minute of a film, is the most important. This is because it explains the actors, includes Mise En Scene, Producers, Directors etc.. It also includes the location of where it's filmed. These all show why the opening two minutes is the most important and this is why it has helped me a lot.
The Godfather
Task 5
Director - Martin Scorsese
Martin Scorsese's first film was a film called BoxCar Bertha. It was set in the great depression. It involved a young women who becomes a criminal to try and get management of a railroad. This became quite popular so he then made another 9 films after this. This was just crime. He also made other genres including Romance, Sport, and Comedy. He is very well known with making all sorts of different films which is why he has made lots of films with different genres.
First Film
A bit about Martin Scorsese
Martin Charles Scorsese was born on November 17, 1942 in Queens, New York City. He is one of the most successful directors on earth. He started of properly in the 70's and went on to make films in the 80's 90's and 2000's. He is 72 years old and is still going strong. He is still currently making award winning films. He served as assistant director and an editor of the documentary Woodstock (1970) and won critical and popular acclaim for Mean Streets (1973), which first paired him with actor and frequent collaborator Robert De Niro. In 1976, Scorsese's Taxi Driver (1976), also starring De Niro, was awarded the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival, and he followed that film with New York, New York (1977) and The Last Waltz (1978). His long-cherished project, Gangs of New York (2002), earned numerous critical honors, including a Golden Globe Award for Best Director; the Howard Hughes biopic The Aviator (2004) won five Academy Awards, in addition to the Golden Globe and BAFTA awards for Best Picture.
Through my research, I hve learned that Martin Scorsese was more popular than I expected him to be. Scorsese has been involved in a lot of the mst famous films in the film world. He has helped me when it comes to planning because he has given me an idea of what I should do my filming on and how I should do it. He has also helped me because he has shown me that whatever I base my film on, Ill have an idea no matter what. He has given me opportunities.
Task 6
For this task, i explored the differences in fashion throughout the gangster genre. This will help me when planning my costumes for my filming. Throughout the years, the clothing for gangster have changed hugely. This photopeach will show you the fashion of what it was like put to what it is in recent times.
Most of my images on this photopeach shows you what the classical gangster look was. This is shown by them wearing black suits, hats, smart clothing etc.. A lot of gangster films show this including The Godfather, Resevoir Dogs and Goodfellas. Even though these films are mob, this clothing range also includes Film Noir and other gangster sub genres.
In most of these ganster films, the costumes are pretty much the same. This is the classical gangster look. As seen, most of these films are set in the 70s 80s and 90's. This is important to see because whilst looking at these films (The Godfather, Resevoir Dogs) we can see that the style is very similar but does have differences. For example, The Godfather includes having people with black suits, slicked back hair, hat, and white shirts. This is the stereotypical gangster look that everyone would imagine it to have. Some people would say that this isn't a gangster look and would say it's more of a mafia/crook style. This is the perfect fil to show the differences between then and what it is in recent times. For example, films these days include gangsters wearing baggy clothing, caps and trainers. The overall differences between them are massive and actually gets people questioning who the actual gangsters are and why it has changed so much. The only similarities are that both era wear coats and hats. But as we look into both eras, we can tell there is a massive difference between then and now. It also gets peole confused to think what the new "Gangster" look will be in years to come. Will it stay the same, change or go back to what it was. Only time will tell.
By there being such big differences in the style of the gangsters, It will be easier when making films because of the large range of clothing to choose from. It will be easy to find the "Stereotypical" gangster look and it will be easier for n audience to discover that a gangster film is being shown. People are able to show the similarities and difference when talking about old and new gangsters. Some of the clothing used in the old era is used now. For example, hats and coats are used for looks and can hide peoples identity when they are about to commit a crime. Both gangster looks are very stereotypical however it is important to understand the differences in order to discover how the gangster era has changed throughout the long years of the gangster genre.
Task 7
Task 8 - Theory
There are a number of theorists that I have investigated. They have all written about the narrative structures. A narrative is the plot and content of a story in television or films. The four theorists I will be specifically focusing on is Tzvetan Todorov, Vladamir Propp, Claude Levi Strauss and Roland Barthes.
Tzvetan Todorov
Tzvetan Todorov is a Bulgarian Philosipher, Historian, Sociologist, Essayist and a Literary Critic.
Within his theory, he says that they all come in 5 different stages.
1. A disruption of said equilibrium.
2. A state of equilibrium
3. A recognition of the disruption
4. An attemp to restore the disruption
5. A reinstorement of the disruption
Overall, Todorov believes that this can be put into any film. It links to things happening in chronological order. This way of doing it, does not happen much in the crime/gangster genre but can be very simple if used correctly.
Vladimir Propp
Vladamir Propp was a Russian who had a character theory. He has analysed pretty much 100 Russian Tales to identify their basic components. He has came up with 7 main characters
1. Villian
2. Donar
3. Helper
4. False Hero
5. Dispatcher
6. Hero
7. Princess
Nowadays, these link in too most films. Even though ther may not be a villian or princess, there is always someone playing someone very similar. For example, there may be an enemy which links straight into a villian in some films. Just becasue they are not villians, doesnt mean they do not play a similar role.
Claude Levi Strauss
Claude Levi Strauss was a French Ethnologist who built his theory around binary opposites.
Some of his examples are
Weak and Strong
Male and Female
Good and Evil
He gives a very easy definition of what these all mean. This is quite clear that in most films these days, this shows up. This theory is introduced in most films at this current time. People will see this theory as quite a helpful theory.
Roland Barthes
Roland Barthes was a french theorist and philosopher. He came up with a code theory. In this theory there are 5 different codes.
1. The Hermeneutric code when the story is not telling the truth and reveals codes or mysterys.
2. The Enigma Code which is the way a story builds up tension leaving the audience confused.
3. The Semantic Code which is the points of any elements which suggests a certain meaning.
4. The Symbolic Code which is the sme as the semantic code however operates on a much higher level than the other one
5. The Cultural Code which is when they look at the audience's morality and cultural knowledge.
By doing this task has given me a clear understanding of what the theorys are and who the the theorists are. It has given me a clear understanding of what each of the benefits are and differences. It has helped me massively into giving me an idea of what to do with my filming. It has showed me how they all relate in term of gangster and crime films and what impact they have when analysing them. This has helped me with my filming because I now know all of the theorys meaning It will help with what I need to do throughout my film. It gives me a clear idea of how to set out and what to add in my filming..
RESEARCH
Task 9
RESEARCH
Task 10
RESEARCH
Task 11
Target Audience
When thinking of crime and gangster films, the main target audience would be people aroound the ages of 18 to 25. This is because they are going to be the ones with the most disposable income. This means they are able to go to the cinema with their friends without worrying about finance as much as a 30-40 year old would. 30-40 year old will hve to worry about more important things like having familys etc.. Also, the age 18-25 will most likely enjoy the genre more than the older ones will. This is because it will involve entertaining things like violence, drugs, crime etc.. Also, my age range that i have chosen wil get even more intrigued than older ones will.
When is film is an 18, this means that it is only suitable to adults. This means anyone under the age of 18 is not suitable for this film they are willing to watch. Anyone under 18 must not buy the film also. These 18 films also have thing that children may not watch and involves worse things than a 15 would. Some of them include:
This involves sexual scenes and things where people break the discrimination law. This would not be good for people who are underage because this might tell them that this is a good thing and therefore they might go and do it.
The rating 15 means that only 15 year olds or over are allowed to view a film. No one under the age of 15 should watch film that is a 15 as it has stuff that they should not watch. This also means they can not buy films if they are not the right age for this film.
The main things involved in a 15 are:
Discrimination: It may contain any sort of discriminatory behaviour or language and the themes might be either homophobic,racism or other.
Drugs: It may contain drug taking(not in detailed form.
Imitable behaviour: May contain dangerous behaviour
Language: The content may contain strong language.
Nudity: There might be nudity contained in a sexual content but usually with much detail.
Sex: Sexual activities may be portrayed but usually without much detail.
Threat: Might contain strong threats and also horror, sexual threats are unlikely to be accepted.
Violence: Strong violence may included but to a certain extent. May be be detailed verbal references to sexual violence but must be discreet and justified by context.
This is my character.
VISIT MY SURVEY
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/?sm=t2G0UrLEuqn9MZD_2FaRcLfJpvUlaarskvRlaI_2B_2BnRXE0_3D
The whole point of ths survey is to understand what everyone thinks of the crime/gangster genre and the knowledge they have of it
Awards
Gangs of New York - 45 awards including 1 golden globe and was also nominated for 10 golden globes. This was quite successful.
Cape fear 7 awards including 1 BMI film award. This was one of many awards he has won.
Wolf of Wall Street - 47 awardees including one golden globe, 1 AFI award and was nominated for ten Oscars. This was a big award as there was so many awardees.
Goodfellas included winning 43 awards including 3 Oscars and 5 BAFTAS.
