Conventions of a Gangster film. James Bryce

Conventions• Guns• Families based around crime• Violence• Organized crime• Generally men acting tough•

Generally the gangster genre of films normally has the motive of someone obtaining the ‘American Dream’ the dream is that you will be as rich as possible with as much power and respect as possible.

There’s a lot of sub genres of the genre itself such as

• Classic (Mafia)• Contemporary Western (British)• Contemporary Eastern (Many countries)

The main sub-genre I intent to be working in will be ‘Contemporary Western’ British based gangster films such as ‘Snatch’ or ‘The Business’ I feel I could excel the most here since I actually live in England and I have watched more British gangster films than Classic or Contemporary Eastern.

Composition and Character Placement: The actors have been placedthere to show that Tony is surrounded by police officers and is in some kind of trouble. Obviously because he’s Cuban and this is set in the Cuban revolt.

Lighting: As you can see Tonys faceIs lit up nicely to make it the vocal pointOf the shot, but everywhere else is notAt lit up.

Tony is in casual clothes, unbuttoned shirt, showing it’s hot inMiami, but the officers are in formal gear showing they’re on theJob and this isn’t some gang Integrity

Close-up shot

Dolly movement

Two shot, to get across these two people areHaving a conversation.

The light is on their facesTo show the expressions theyShow when talking.

Both in casual clothes, doesn’t make much sense since they rob the café.

Mid-shot

Dolly shots,To show a sort ofpoint of viewthat the crowdaround him islarge.

The actors around him have been placed in a certainway so the camera can move so he can find a gapto show the main character.

They’re all wearing coats, to show it’s cold and they’reIn England probably London.

Mid-shot

It’s not exactly a shocker that the lightingIs always on the main character of the scene, there’s obvious exceptions such as ‘The Departed’

The acting of this scene is mysterious but played off wellNothing is really informative just what you see on screen.

The whole opening scene is a weird one I couldn’treally pick much out.

With the opening scene it’s either opening credits orAn object of significance, you can’t actually talk aboutActing and/or actors.

Close-ups onObject of significance