Friday 30th January - Yazzmin Fergsuon-Dillon

Gangster Conventions

Definition: A gangster film is a sub genre of a crime film usually associated with characters involved in criminal activity. There are many other sub genres of crime films such as thriller, mystery and drama.

Settings:

• Dark/mysterious back streets


• Busy cities/ overcrowded homes


• Ghetto areas- poverty, high rise flats, dirty streets.


• Casinos nightlife/nightclubs/bars

Narrative:

• Rivalry between gang members


• Violence, murder, action, suspense


• Language is usually slang


• Police/FB1/MI6 usually involved


• Usually a breakdown in family relationships


• Fast cars, women, bling-clothes, jewellery


• Racial discrimation –hood films mainly associated in the USA


• Achieving status and recognition in the community is important

Characters:

• Victims are often innocent but can be involved in organised crime


• Drug dealers, gamblers


• Gang members usually from specific ethnic background : Mafia,Triads, Crips,Bloods


• Young boys,teenagers hanging around street corners- urban culture


• Usually street smart, ruthless,immoral

Example of a Gangster film:

Snatch is a British gangster film directed by Guy Ritchie in 2000.

Clip: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=yE6nKPoWaZw

We watched the opening sequence up until 5:00 minutes where the opening titles begin.

Starring: Jason Statham, Brad Pitt, Vinnie Jones, Dennis Farina,Lennie James.

Age Rating : 18

Target audience: teenagers, adults, usually in the 18-25 category but this film will be enjoyed by anyone who likes watching gangster films.

Analysis of the opening sequence:

• Begins with two men sitting in a dark room,known as Turkish and Tommy


• There is no music, narrator’s commentary- non diegetic


• The dark setting creates suspense


• We know that these two men are criminals from their clothing


• Close up of shots of their facial expressions and body language reveal that there is more to their character


• The Jewish men can be seen on cctv walking into jewellers so the audience assumes that there are imposters and will attempt to cause a scene


• They move together in a group which adds to the suspicion about their true identity


• Music is played as soon as they enter the building (traditional folk music) which contributes to the stereotype of their characters – entertaining for the audience


• The lively music stops as soon as the men enter the back room, fast action music begins so the audience is aware that the men are in fact criminals- tension builds up and meets our expectations.


• The men strip off their costumes and pull out guns- violence is associated with criminals.

Nathan Lawrence`

Conventions Of Various Genres


Gangster Convention



Definition: It is a sub genre of crime film, usually associated with extreme crime, for example murder, drug abuse, theft etc. Many involve various gangs and rivalry




Settings

• Dark and mysterious location
• busy cities
• dark streets
• Ghetto areas
• High rise Flats

Narrative

• Rivalry
• Comedy edge
• Extreme Violence
• Money And valuables
• Pride and Honour
• Language usually slang
• Action and suspense

Characters

• Gang members
• Criminals
• Drug dealers
• Victims
• Police

Gang Members re usually associated in a certain area they live in or from a specific place or ethnicity for example the mafia, triads, crips and bloods

An example we looked at was from the film Snatch (2000)

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=yE6nKPoWaZw

Thriller

Loose genre term referring to any film that generates suspense and excitements a major aspect of its narrative


Setting

• Eerie and bleak locations
  
• Dark Mysterious

Narrative

• Controversial issues
• Moments of suspense
• Complex Moments
• Victims and the innocent
• Enigma codes
• Audience involvement Strong resolution
• Sex/Violence

Characters

• Anti-heroes, Individualists
• Cops/ authority figures
• Mysterious enigmatic characters

Friday 16th January 2009 Yazzmin Ferguson-Dillon

Prelim Task- Evaluation Questions

1.Which aspect of the planning did you find valuable? Explain.

2. What did you learn about camerawork during the practical filming of the preliminary task?

3.How did the editing process contribute to your understanding of the construction of a media task?

4. What are your overall impressions of the construction of your media text in your group?

1. Using the storyboard to begin planning was very useful because it gave you the opportunity to get an idea of what different types of camera shots to use and thinking about which locations would be the most suitable when filming the sequence.

2. I learnt how to hold and position the camera but most of all I learnt that camera work can be very time consuming and it is not as easy as it looks, for example many retakes had to be done to make sure that there were a variety of shots to choose from. When we filmed for the first ,it did not take very long to complete and we uploaded it very quickly unto the computer. Unfortunately, we discovered that the film had not been saved properly on the computer, so this meant that we had to film the sequence again. It did not take a long time to complete as we knew what we had to do so filming it again was quite straight forward.

3.The editing process was equally both interesting and beneficial in terms of understanding more about the construction of the sequence. It was exciting to watch the sequence being played because it showed that we had included a good range of shots and it looked quite realistic. It took more time during the editing process that the actual filming because editing requires a lot of time and you have to be very precise when cutting out the scenes you do not want to use at the correct time.

4. I think that the camerawork was done very well and suitable shots were used howeverI feel that a longer time spent filming would ensure that other types of shots could be included and perhaps the sequence could be a bit longer.

16.1.09- Katie Vandermark

1) Which aspect of the planning stage did you find most valuable?  Explain.

I found the storyboard planning essential during the initial filming of our preliminary task as it saved time, our group did not need to decide which shots we were filming or how to film them as we had already decided during planning.  

All of our shots had been decided, which helped as we filmed our piece in a different sequence than planned, for example we shot all our outside shots first and then shot indoors.  This meant that we knew the order of our shots when it came to editing.

Our storyboard became especially helpful once we had filmed our preliminary task as our computer did not save our initial piece, therefore our group knew we had a limited amount of time to film in order to fit in time for editing.  We used the storyboard and our knowledge of the past piece and were able to create this easily and quickly without any problems.  For this reason in particular storyboard planning helped our group.

It was also helpful to watch previous media preliminary tasks as we could understand what looked professional and what did not.  It allowed us to take these into account while planning on our storyboard and choose which shots we wanted to include and which ones we did not want to choose as they either looked unprofessional or would have taken up too much of our filming time. 

2) What did you learn about camerawork during the practical filming of the preliminary task?

The only problem we came across during filming was that if we chose to shoot with a handheld camera our hands were continuously shaking and it gave the shot a unprofessional look.  After watching the shot back we decided to shoot all of our text using the tripod, which helped our group immensely as we then could shoot using a level and straight camera, in order to stop the shaking and also allow all of our shots to be straight.  The tripod allowed us to raise and lower the camera while still keeping a straight shot, and also allow our shots to all be the same when filming certain scenes several times consecutively.  Using the tripod helped us during the editing process as our shots were all equal and matched up to the same level as the proceeding shots.  

I also learned how to manage filming shots without them being in the same order, in which our storyboard was helpful.  I learned that as a group we were able to film scenes which were in the same setting at the same time, even if they were not consecutively after each other.  For example, we had to shoot over 2 days as our initial film did not save onto the computer and when we came to shoot we knew we had a limited time before we had to begin editing so we chose to shoot all the outside sequences before the indoor sequences and then edit them into an order during the editing process.

3) How did the editing process contribute to your understanding of the construction of a media text?

The editing process was of the biggest importance as I could then see that our media text was not completed by just filming.  Editing took up most of our time and we all had the opportunity to edit certain shots, which was helpful to us all.  

By editing this preliminary task it helped me to understand the best way to film, by filming each sequence several times and choosing the best shot of each sequence, which would allow us to have the best of all our shots.  

I understood that editing took more time than the filming, which will allow us to have better time management during our main task.  

Editing to the accurate split-second was also vital, if we edited our text with a matter of being 2 seconds longer it was clear where the cut was.  Similarly if we edited and cut out too little our shot looked like it was not finished.  Our editing had to be precise in order to make our text look professional.

I also learned that although we had around 30 minutes of film on our camera, once we had edited our text came to around 20 seconds long.  It became clear that in order to have a 2 minute clip for our main task we would need to shoot a lot more, as editing takes away most of our film.  

4) What are your overall impressions of the construction of your media text in your group?

I feel that our media preliminary text was a good learning curve as it allowed us to plan, film and edit a text without it being our final piece.  It meant that we learned how to time our text and how a lot of filming took up only a small piece of film.  

I feel that our media text was of a good quality for a first time planning, filming and editing.  I was especially pleased with the editing as it allowed the whole group to help with the piece.  

I feel that we worked well as a group, and this was probably down to our planning and pre construction before filming as it eliminated any debates during the construction and editing.

16th January Nathan Lawrence

Prelim Task Questions

Which aspect of the planning stage did you find most valuable? Explain?

Individually i found the storyboard very helpful when planning our media production. It was very useful because it gave the sequence a direct routine which then made it easier when filming the clip. It was also very useful because it saved time and prevented us losing track of the certain tasks we had to achieve. It therefore came in great use when we were recording the sequence, it helped setup are set, certain camera shots, dialogue etc . Our Storyboard was especially helpful when filming our sequence for the second time, after accidently losing the first effort on the computer, because it then gave us guidance when filming again.

What did you learn about camerawork in the during the filming of the preliminary?

 I learnt a lot about camerawork during the filming of our preliminary experiment. As the individual responsible for the actual filming, I learnt a great deal about the positioning and angles of the camera as well as the movement. The positioning is crucial and effects the whole clip, i also discovered that it requires a steady hand and great concentration to obtain a good clip.