CRIMES AND GANGSTERS

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."    

Sources:

- https://www.filmsite.org/crimefilms.html 

- http://www.cinemablography.org/blog/the-gangster-film-genre-a-critical-perspective-on-the-american-dream

- http://cinecollage.net/crime-gangster.html

- https://prezi.com/amtnqyqfklq3/conventions-of-a-gangster-film/

  

DRAMA...

Hey everyone!
    So, I’ve been doing some research for my upcoming project and I think I have chosen the genre for my final project. Which is “Period Piece Drama.” But before getting in to details on what a “Historical Drama” is, I am going to explain you what is the genre Drama in films is. Drama films are storylines developed to move the audience emotionally. Most of these films create a conflict or develop realistic characters for the audience to relate to. For instance, “The Help,” “The Post,” or “The King’s Speech”  the protagonists and the set up of the movie are design for the audience to feel engage on what is happening in the film. 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: It reflects the characters personalities.
• Location: The location of a movie or a scene reflects the emotion.
• Sound: Use of non-diegetic sounds and diegetic dialogue.
• Props: It helps contribute the development of the characters and the scene.
• Lighting and color: Mostly these movies use neutral tones of colors and light.
• Camerawork: Use of handheld camera movement, close ups, and medium shots. This is use to transmit an emotion to the audience.
• Editing: Shot reverse shot, point of view shots, eyeline match shot.

    Over the years the popularity of Drama films have increased due to their stories and production, but also the way companies have decided to market it. For instance, trailers for the film show the major plot, but do not reveal any spoilers, and famous actors of Hollywood shown in these movies help increase its anticipations.

Period Piece Drama, in which is a sub-genre for Drama, is a drama film that focuses on a specific time era. This includes the characters costumes, the setting, and the props.

Example #1:

“The Help.” This movie was release in 2011. But by watching it and eating attention to the details, it makes the audience fill as if they were in the 1960’s. This is because of the well selection of costume design, the props, and the set design. Another reason of why this movie created this sensation, it is because of the social topics that the characters were facing. At this time, African Americans from the South were struggling with the issues of discrimination and racism. The director for this movie made an incredible job on how portray this issues of the time.

Example#2:

“The King’s Speech.” Release in 2010, this movie also created an environment of making the audience feel as if they were in the late 1930’s. As stated before, the film used costume design and set design to create this effect. Also, this movie is based on historical events, in which it makes the audience relate because they have in mind that this issues happened to a real person.

Other examples for Period Piece Drama are: “The Post,” “Little Women,” “Les Miserables,” “Lincoln,” “Anna Karenina,” “The Color Purple,” and “Empire of the Sun.”

Sources:

- https://www.listchallenges.com/200-period-films/checklist/2

- https://bubbl.us/MzkxNDQ3My83NzQ5OTg2L2U2ZTY0NzhkY2M3MDdiOWZhNWZhOGYzMjg4MjhkOWU1-X

- https://www.slideshare.net/libbyannjones/research-into-drama-film-genre
- https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1454029/
- https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1504320/

WELCOME!!

Hello everyone! My name is Eugenia Scheuren and this is my first blog post! So, a little background story. I was born and raised in Caracas, Venezuela. I lived in this beautiful country for almost 13 years but, due to political and social reasons, I had to migrate to the United States to find better opportunities for me and my family. Moving here, to South Florida, had opened up for me many opportunities and interests in television production. Currently, I am in a TV Production program at my school, Cypress Bay High School, in which I am one of the producers of our weekly show, Aftershock. But enough about me, now I want to tell all of you that I have created this blog to keep you updated in all the projects I will be working on. I will be taking you to some of the behind the scenes of my projects and show you the final outcome!