Hello!!
Recently, I have been doing some research about another genre that I have been interested. Crime and gangster. Within this genre, it tells the stories about large or small criminal organizations performing illegal acts, such as drugs, contraband, murder, and stealing. Crime stories often highlight the life of a crime figure or crime’s victims. Also, they are usually set in a large, crowded cities to provide a view of the secret world of criminals. For instance in the films, “The Godfather,” “Scarface,” and “Pulp Fiction” all of these characteristics can be portrayed. All of these is not only created through storyline and character development, but also through production techniques. Costume design, location, characters, sound, lighting, color, props, editing, and camerawork.
- Costume Design: black suits, long coats, and cigars.
- Location: Large crowded cities.
- Lightning: Dark scenes, to create drama, and light somewhere near a character.
- Props: Guns and knifes as they are associated with violence.
- Editing: Usually makes the titles with a black background with white writing.
- Sound: Music used during the opening scenes or violent scenes. Diegetic and Non-diegetic sounds are commonly used too.
Since the release of the first gangster film in the early 1930s, these types of films began to stretch the limitations of what they are allowed to show, which made them more violent and brutal. Exposing more brutality between the characters, and explicit content.
Example #1:
Pulp Fiction: Release in 1994. This film told the story of two gangsters, Jules and Vincent, in which the story is told backwards. The film is located in the city of Los Angeles, which it was a common place for gangers to sell drugs at the time. Also the film portrayed very well the characters through costume design, for example the main protagonists, which were gangsters, were wearing long coats and caring a gun as their prop. It also shows different types of violent and explicit content, which is a factor that modern gangster films have developed over the years.Example #2:
The Godfather: Released in 1972. The film tells the story of a New Yorker Italian family. The director made this film to make the audience feel as if they were during the time period of 1945 to 1955. All of these was possibly made due to the fact that the set design was properly made; all the props, the setting, the cars, the costume design, and the location were chose to give the sensation that it was at time. Also the music that was used at this film was a very common technique crime films use.
Other examples for crime and gangster films are: "Scarface," "Goodfellas," "The Departed," "American Gangster," and "Casino."
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