Influences of Style

I like the idea of the characters (detectives) wearing suits and hats, as I think it makes them look formal and like they're smart and on the job, to find out who done the crime. I think Doctor Who is a great example, as the audience is shown what great things the Doctor can do. I think costume affects the way the audience see's the character, as the more formal they look, the audience will really believe that they are smart and know what they are doing for the job. This is really important in a detective film, and I will take into consideration of having suits for costumes.

Research into a director

From this I can see how much of an inspiration Quentin Tarantino is, going from 'my best friend's birthday' to a massive hit; Pulp Fiction. I can see how his directing has changed over the years, and how he has improved in time. I can also see that Pulp Fiction is his most famous movies of all time, and am inspired by Pulp Fiction's opening, as the audience don't know what's going on and didn't expect the two characters to pull out a gun. I like the sense of mystery this film pulled at the start, and am inspired by 'mystery'. I will take this into account when making my own opening.

Analysis of gangster films

From these timelines I can see how long the credits have lasted and when they come in, inspiring me for when I make my own gangster film. I can see that the credits last 3-5 seconds long on screen, and fade in or either go to a black screen and just having the credits on the black screen. I have also learnt from this task that sound bridges are quite popular, and music is also popular to use in an opening of a gangster film. I will take this into account when making my own.

Research into existing companies that produce and distribute gangster films

Se7en

Cecchi Gori Pictures and New Line Cinema are the production companies of Se7en.

New Line Cinema has distributed in many film makings, and is a common company, producing a lot of films and distributed in making films. The company has distributed in 500 films, and made 380 themselves, including popular films such as Hairspray, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, The Notebook and the Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. From these films I can see that this company make a variety of films, ranging over the genres. New Line Cinema was founded in 1967.

Cecchi Gori is a much smaller company, and only produced 6 films, including Se7en. The company has mainly made films that are in the genre of romance, drama and comedy, such as Life is Beautiful and Man Trouble. However there is one film, like Se7en called A Bronx Tale which is to do with crime and drama, showing that Se7en wasn’t a one off film in the genre. They are planning to make a new film called Silence, which will be realised in 2015.

New Line is very popular, and became a unit of Warner Bros. Entertainment in 2008. It is an American film studio, and is very well known, large profit organisations. The film Se7en alone made $316, 400, 000 Worldwide, while its estimated budget was $33, 000, 000. Another film made by this company; The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, made $303,003,568 just in the USA by 2013,  and $11,601,538 in the UK by December 2012, after the film was released in 2012.

Cecchi Gori Pictures originally came from Italy, and have produced and developed ‘some of the most creative and talented films to come out of Italy.’ He isn’t as well known as New Line Cinema, but has made some good money out of films. Apart from Se7en, the film Cecchi Gori produced; Life is Beautiful made $57,598,247 by October 1999, 2 years after the film was released.

American Gangster

The film American Gangster has a couple of production companies who helped make the film. Universal Pictures, Imagine Entertainment, Relativity Media (in association with) and Scott Free productions (in association with). American Gangster made $265,495,454 worldwide.

Universal Pictures has distributed in 5623 films and produced 3487 films, including fast and furious. This company is a massive company, and has been around since 1920s, founded in 1912. Universal Pictures is well known worldwide. This is such a big company, they even have their own website.

Universal Pictures in an American motion picture studio. This company is very well known worldwide. The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift (made in 2006) made $62,514,415 in the USA by September 2006, the same year it was released! It made a final of $158,468,292 worldwide in 2006.

I looked at a couple of films from Universal Pictures, such as Forbidden, Mamma Mia, and the Fast and Furious: Tokyo Drift. These films range from the genres: crime, drama, romance, comedy, musical and action. I can see from these films that this company might not do horror as much, and just make films for young adults, however I found out later that Universal Pictures helped produced Scarface, which is another Gangster film. From this I can see that Universal Pictures do create Gangster films.

Imagine Entertainment is an American film and television production company founded in 1986. They have produced 104 films, including Curious George and Katy Perry: Part of Me. The film Katy Perry: Part of Me made a total of $32,151,701 worldwide in August 2012, the same year the film was released. Imagine Entertainment are quite known, but not as well known as other companies.

I looked at a couple of films from Imagine Entertainment; Take Me Home Tonight, Flightplan, Psycho, and the Nutty Professor. These films ranged from comedy, drama, romance, horror, mystery and thriller, showing me that this company works over a range of different genres. I can see from this that this company like to do horror.

Pulp Fiction

Pulp Fiction is produced by the companies Miramax Films (presents), A Band Apart and Jersey Films. Pulp Fiction made $213,928,762 worldwide.

Miramax Films have distributed in 586 films and produced 238 films, showing that this company is pretty big and well known. This company is big, and was founded in 1979. Miramax is an American entertainment company known for independent and foreign films. Miramax also have their own website.

I looked at a couple of films made by Miramax Films, including Birthday Girl, Muriel’s Wedding, On the Line, Last Night, and The Boys Are Back. The genres of these films are; drama, romance, comedy, family, crime and thriller which was Birthday Girl. Birthday girl seems a bit different from all of the other films, as the others are mainly to do with romance and comedy whereas birthday girl seems on the dark side.

A Band Apart is a smaller film company who have produced 29 films, created by Quentin Tarantino and Lawrence Bender, which has been active since 1991. They have made films such as From Dusk Till Dawn in 1996, which was very popular. It made a total of $33,500,000 worldwide when its estimate was only $18,000,000.

Snatch

Snatch was produced by the two companies: Columbia Pictures Corporation and SKA films. Snatch made a total of $30,093,107 in the USA by March 2001 and $12,137,698 in the UK by October 2000. The film came out in 2000.

Columbia Pictures Corporation have produced 2901 films and distributed in 23. This shows how well known and big this company is, as they have produced a lot of films and are well known anyway for good film making. Columbia Pictures Corporation is an American film production and distribution studio, that is a party of the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, which are all well known. Columbia Pictures got founded in 1924, which shows me that this company is a good company as also it’s been around for so long.

I have looked at some of the films Columbia Pictures have made, including Ghost Rider, The Legend of Zorro, Hero, Stealth. From these I can see what type of films this company makes, ranging from action, adventure, sci-fi, fantasy, thriller, comedy, drama. I can see this company mainly likes to release adventure films.

SKA films have produced only 12 films, meaning they’re quite a small company. This includes; lock, stock and two smoking barrels which is also another Gangster film, they both full under the category of thriller and crime. This company has also produced other films such as Mean Machine and Slept Away, which are comedies and dramas. This shows me that this company mainly work with Gangsters and comedy. 

The departed

The departed is made by Warner Bros. (presents), Plan B Entertainment, Initial Entertainment Group, Vertigo Entertainment and Media Asia Films (in association with). The departed made $289,847,354 worldwide in 2007.  The film came out in 2006.

I think that Warner Bros. is the biggest or one of the biggest film making companies. They have made many Gangster films such as Bullets or Ballots, The Public Enemy, White Heat and Angels with Dirty Faces. They have made many more, too. This company is a very well known company, and makes all sorts of different genres for movies too such as adventure and comedy. One of these examples is  Harry Potter, which is much different than the departed however it is well known throughout the world. They have their own website, and got founded in 1918. This company is based in America.

From this I can see that the Warner Bros are the biggest company and most popular. I could link this to my gangster film as it is a very big company.

Conventions of a gangster film

Media Task 2

History of Gangster Genre

From this Prezi I made, I have more of an understanding of what gangster films are about, and how they have changed throughout the years. I can see that gangster films nowadays include more technologies such as guns and mobile phones to contact one another. This is because technology has been improved over the years. Better editing softwares are around nowadays too, so gangster films nowadays are better edited than they were, thanks to new programmes such as Adobe After Effects. I will use this programme when editing my film, to increase the quality and editing skill.