Influences and Inspirations

Sub-Genre Research

Mob Film Research by megancooper

Audience Research

Audience Research

British Board of Film Classification:

The BBFC is the organisation which controls the classifications and the censorship of films in the UK. The BBFC is entirely funded by the film industry and is an independent company, not controlled by the government.

The classification of films is decided on the type of content within them, for example drugs, sex, violence etc. Age ratings are used to protect those from being exposed to certain actions/language.

Gangster films often have age ratings of either 15 or 18. This is because of the high amounts of explicit language, violence, sex and drug use. In mob gangster films, a variety of these elements are used, for example drug dealing and murders. Therefore, my target audience will be aged 18 or over, so that the content of the film is suitable for the viewers.

Transcript:

'Hi, I'm Matt and I am 21 years old. I enjoy going out on the weekend with the lads. Mob gangster films are my favorite because they are original and every mob gangster film is different. My personal fave is The Godfather (1972). I also enjoy watching Film Noir based films here and there.'

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Film openings analysis

  

Long Stock and Two Smoking Barrels opening scene analysis

0.0 - WS/ES

0.07 - Zooms into CU, ambient sound, diegetic dialogue.

0.12 - T1, only B&W colours, production company.

0.14 - cuts back to CU.

0.17 - cuts to MS.

0.22 - T2, same design as previous title, film company knowledge.

0.24 - cuts back to MS

0.30 - T3, 'presents'

0.33 - cuts back to MS

0.41 - MS/TS, new characters introduced, new dialogue

0.45 - cuts back to first character, MS

0.48 - T4, producer

0.51 - OTS of more characters (crowd)

0.55 - MS of second character

1.01 - T5, director, non-diegetic music starts

1.04 - MS/WS

1.07 - TS, of second and third characters
1.10 - MS of first character
1.14 - MS, camera arcs around crowd, pace is kept
1.18 - MS, second character, music & dialogue, tension increases
1.21 - POV shot from first character
1.22 - TS
1.24 - ES/LS, camera tracks out, pans to follow movement
1.34 - LS & Low angle, slow motion effect
1.41 - LS & Low angle, cuts back to normal speed
1.43 - LS & Low angle, cuts back to slow motion effect
1.55 - LS & Low angle, cuts back to normal speed
1.58 - T6, name of film, longest title, typed in

The Godfather opening scene analysis

0.00 - T1, distribution company, music starts
0.07 - T2, production company
0.15 - fades to black screen
0.20 - T3, title of the film, screenwriter
0.27 - fades to black screen
0.39 - black screen continues, music stops, dialogue begins
0.41 - black screens fades to CU of first character, diegetic dialogue
0.45 - CU begins to zoom out, diegetic dialogue
1.40 - MS, diegetic dialogue
2.40 - OTS, second character introduced, diegetic dialogue

Reservoir Dogs opening scene analysis

0.01 - T1, black screen and orange writing
0.05 - T2, production company, non-diegetic dialogue
0.09 - T3, credited people

0.13 - OTS, 3 characters introduced, diegetic dialogue
0.14 - starts tacking sideways around the table
0.46 - OTS, then tracks sideways to a CU
1.01 - CU, diegetic dialogue
1.07 - CU, another character, diegetic dialogue, tracks around circle 
1.22 - CU, diegetic dialogue
1.25 - tracks sideways to CU of another character
1.45 - CU of another character, tracking continues
2.00 - CU of another character, tracking & dialogue continues.

There is ambient sound throughout the entire opening.

From analyzing these film openings, I have learned what kind of timings and duration's I have to use in order to create a high quality film opening. For example when to add my titles in, and when to change shot, however when watching The Godfather, I see that there is less shot types used and mainly just the use of zoom/tracking. I could use this in my film opening to create suspense, and draw the audience in, therefore making it more interesting and intense.

Analysis of Previous Students Work

Influences of style

Here I have created a slideshow of inspirations for my gangster film opening. Many of these are very high targets, therefore I will prioritize certain Mise en Scene elements. For example, I plan to include suits, cigars, female main characters and low-level lighting in my film opening.

Producers and Distributors

Narrative Theory

Narrative Theory from megan-cooper

Research into a Director

From researching into Martin Scorsese as a director, I have learned what kind of themes of his I can bring into my work as inspiration. I plan to alter certain themes and make them my own, for example I plan to include a lead male character, however I don't want it to be a surrogate father figure, I want them to appear young, but still have a strong authority. I have also learned that Martin Scorsese brings a lot of his background and personal life into his films, I will attempt to do this in my film opening, to make it look less amateur and plain. 

Conventions of mob gangster films

After finishing my research into conventions of a gangster film, I have learnt what sort of things I need to include, for example I would like to include low-level lighting, have an appropriate location e.g: an office, and appropriate props, such as guns, cigarettes etc. I will try and include these elements into my film opening in order to achieve an opening which fits the mob genre well.