Production Company Research

The next step into planning our film was to decide on the production company, and to decide this we had to do our research as to which company would suit our film the best. After researching different production company’s we found that Paramount is often associated with the genre of film that my group and i are doing, paramount was the production company for films such as ‘The Godfather’ and ‘The Untouchables’ which are both Crime and Gangster films There are "Big Six" majors, whose movie operations are based in or around Hollywood, are all centred in film studios active during Hollywood's Golden Age. 20th Century Fox, Warner Bros., and Paramount were part of the "Big Five" majors during that era as well. Columbia and Universal were also considered majors.

Below are just a few of the production companies that group and i thought would relate to our media coursework the most. These are as such:

20^TH CENTURY FOX: Road to Perdition  -   Mike Sullivan works as a hit man for crime boss John Rooney. Sullivan views Rooney as a father figure. However after his son is witness to a killing he has done Mike Sullivan finds himself on the run trying to save the life of his son and at the same time looking for revenge on those who wronged him.

WARNER BROS: Goodfellas  -  The lowly, blue-collar side of New York’s Italian mafia is explored. Henry Hill makes his way from strapping young petty criminal, to big-time thief, to middle-aged cocaine addict and dealer, the film explores in detail the rules and traditions of organized crime. Watching the rise and fall of Hill and his two counterparts, the slick jack-of-all-trades criminal Jimmy Conway and the intimidating Tommy DeVito.

PARAMOUNT PICTURES: The Godfather – It is about the aging patriarch of an organized crime dynasty who transfers control of his clandestine empire to his reluctant son. Genre is a hybrid of Crime and Drama. This is very similar as it is gangster related, it is about authority and violence is present.

UNIVERSAL PICTURES: Public Enemies – It is about the Feds trying to take down notorious American gangsters John Dillinger, Baby Face Nelson and Pretty Boy Floyd during a booming crime wave in the 1930s. Genre is a hybrid of Biography, Drama, Crime and History. This is very similar to our media coursework as the film is gangster related; they wear dinner suits and use weapons.

After doing a lot of research, I think the best production company to use would be Paramount.

Typical Gangster Clothing

1950's
In the 1950's typical gangsters projected the imagine of a typical businessman, the gangsters of the 1950's looked very similar to everyday businessmen, the outfit would usually included a slim-fitting suit, fedora and a skinny tie with a simple design. The pin striped suit with a sharp collared shirt and perfectly centered tie worn underneath a sleek suit with vertical, thin lines has gone down in history as the signature gangster attire.

Fedora
A fedora was a distinctive feature of gangsters in the 1950s; The gangster fedora came in a variety of colours .In the 50’s Some New York designers at the time were requested to make clothing imitating gangsters, which included a fedora. The hat is typically creased lengthwise down the crown and "pinched" in the front on both sides, though the creasing does not define the hat. Fedoras can also be creased with teardrop crowns, diamond crowns, center dents, and others, and the positioning of pinches can vary.

Slim Suits

The typical 1950s gangster almost mirrored a stereotypical businessman not only because of their fedora but also because they wore suits. Men's suit styles in the '50s remained very simple and did not change much from the '40s styles. Men's suit jackets were also much slimmer than they are today, and they typically had two to four buttons. Wool was one of the more popular fabrics used for suits, while sharkskin was sometimes worn by wealthier men. Suits were usually paired with a fedora style hat and a skinny tie. The slim-styled suits that were commonly seen on gangsters in the 1950s.

After all of our research my group and I decided that we will follow the traditional gangster look and not challenge ourselves to create a unique gangster look as it may be portrayed as something else, I feel my group and I have made the best decision to stick to suits for our film.

Target Audience

 To ensure we are targeting the right audience we are going to do a questionnaire to ensure our film is fitting into our audience’s expectations. The questions we asked where 

1. How old are you?

2. Are you male or female?

3. How often do you go to the cinema?

4. What do expect in a gangster film?

5. What ending do you prefer? 

After carrying out our questionnaire we have decided our target audience will be ageing between 18-25, although our main target audience is men as they are more interested in violence and this kind of genre being Crime and Gangster would appeal to them we are also hoping our film will also attract the female audience; we will do this by ensuring we have good-looking boys playing the actors in our film giving girls the incentive to want to go and watch especially if they are going with their boyfriend, dad, brother etc.

Film Magazine Research

This is a cover for entertainment weekly promoting Sweeney Todd: the demon barber, a remake of the classic musical. Although this film isn't necessarily classed as a horror it does have a strong element in the film as I personally find the storyline quite scary. as you can see the background colour is grey It is quite dull but relates to the colourless time in which the movie was set the other colours on the cover blend well with each other the grey background. The masthead is in a bold blue font at the top of the page making it stand out and catch the reader’s eye. I particularly like the image on the cover, it is sinister and scary - the make up shows the character with an extremely pale face making him look drained and ghost like also there is red under the eyes which makes him look more human, but tired looking, The expression on his face is menacing and angry, making the character seem like a villain - his dark hair is messy but full of volume making him seem slightly eccentric. His costume is very old looking reflecting the time where the film is set. He wears black showing darkness and sorrow, which is the general nature of the film. This front cover does break some of the conventions as although the picture of “Johnny Depp” is in costume his real name still appears below the picture, this is unusual as it would normally be the name that he was allocated for the film, I think this was done as it is a popular actor it may encourage people to buy the magazine or see the film in which the well known actor is starring in. As you can see from the front cover there is not a lot of information on it, The main focus is on Jhonny Depp but overall as far as promoting the film goes I think that this magazine cover promotes the film quite well as even the background and colour scheme relates to the film, Also many other things could link to the film for example the colour red could represent blood.

Typical Gangster Plot

Typical Crime and Gangster films are based upon the actions of criminals that are seen breaking the law through violent and ruthless behaviour, hurting other people on the journey through life to get to were they need to be and reached the goals they are trying to achieve, This genre can sometimes glamorise crime it can also glorify the rise and fall of a specific criminals typically gangs, bank robbers, murderers and lawbreakers experiencing personal power struggles or conflict with law and order figures, a competitive colleague, or a rival gang etc. The setting of this kind of genre is usually locations such as large crowded cities, warehouses or deserted areas, Dark nightclubs also tend to be stereotypical along with fast cars, stacks of money, big houses or very upper class living conditions. 

Stereotypical gangsters tend to be street smart and know the ins and outs of things that a non criminal wouldn’t necessarily know or think of; Gangsters in these types of films tend to have high expectations in life they seem to be materialistic, megalomaniacal, and self-destructive. A typical gangster plot would normally consist of someone or something getting in the way of someone trying to achieve there goal, Crime plots typically include questions, for example how the criminal will be apprehended by police, special agents or lawful authorities, or mysteries such as who stole the valued object or who slaughtered the victim and how, Sometimes in these plots the gangsters true colours are shown and they can sometimes express there sensitivity and gentleness. Although they are doomed to failure and inevitable to a violent death, the criminal gangsters can sometimes be portrayed as the victims of circumstance, as the stories are told from their point of view. 

Coursework Discussion Five- 23rd November

Today my group and I decided it would be a good idea to work together and not split the tasks up between the group. We decided to focus on making a rough version of the music for the trailer, we only made a rough version as we are unaware of a definite trailer structure therefore we made a rough version so we would later be able to come back to it to edit and add to if necessary. We decided that the music for our trailer needed to be quite upbeat  and pacey to reflect the theme, we gained a lot of inspiration from the song used in the trailer of 'Public enemies' by 'Otis Taylor - Million Slaves', We also made a list of blogs we needed to do so we were up to date as a group, we also wrote a list of blogs we need to do in the future such as looking into our target audience and determining a specific group, we could back up these results by creating and sending out a questionnaire.

Coursework Discussion Four- 21st November

Today we where not doing group work as we had a discussion as a class, today we discussed magazine front covers which was a great chance for my group and I to take note of the 'do's' and 'don'ts'. We learnt that usually there is never more than one person on the front cover, which we will have to put a lot of thought and effort into creating as we are hoping to have 5-6 gangsters but stereotypically in groups there is a leader which is normally the main character. The discussion today proved to be really helpful and we were able to take ideas away with us and conform them to our own. We then as a group looked into a number of different magazines covers so we were able to get an idea of an appropriate title and layout.

Coursework Discussion Three- 18th November

Today we chose to separate the roles within the group to enable us to get update and finish all work.  This meant that two members in our group had a chance to catch up on some posts on the blogs and add a bit more detail to some of the blogs that have already been completed whilst that task was being undertaken the other two members decided to research into typical gangster clothing, we researched into where it originated from and how it has changed as time has progressed. Overall we fund this extremely helpful as we could see which films had stereotypical gangster clothing. Also As we were struggling to get a clear idea of what we wanted our trailer to consist of we thought it would be helpful to look into typical gangster plots and what they consisted of, To help us get a better outlook we decided to look in to the plot of the films The Godfather, Reservoir Dogs and Public Enemies for additional help as these were the films that initially caught our eye. Once we had completed these tasks we attempted to develop the music for our trailer using garage band, this software was quite hard to use as a group because it was new to us so to make our ideas all come together we brainstormed them all down onto a piece of paper so we were able to get a rough idea of exactly what we wanted.

Coursework Discussion Two - 16th November

After discussing our initial genre 'romance' my group and i came to the conclusion that romance would have been a little to advance for us and it would have been very hard to find the time to travel all the way to London to get the perfect shots for our trailer, Therefore we decided to look into different genre's that caught our eye, the genre that caught our our eye the most was 'gangsta and crime'. as a group we decided that this genre would be a lot more beneficial when it comes to editing and creating a film poster etc. we found that brainstorming idea's as a  group regarding this genre came easily as the genre is  little different as well as enjoyable and upbeat. we agreed that the location wouldn't be an issue if we chose a gangster film as they are normally set in dark gritty places such as ,muddy ally ways or garages, this is ideal for our group as it is easily accessible. 


In the discussion today we decided to divide the tasks up between the group as it would be a lot less time consuming if we undertook the task we had most expertise in. i feel that doing things this way was a very good idea as although we where work separately our communication was excellent  in terms of asking one another their opinions asking for advice and sharing ideas to ensure there would be no disagreements in the long run. Today we also looked into different film posters such as:

Casino Royale- my group and I where drawn to the dim lighting and the way that it fits in with ‘bonds’ characteristics. The attractive male on the front cover almost steers away from the target audience, being men as this cover would attract women to go and see the film this is a technique I am particularly fond of as it ensures all types of audience can feel involved I like the way the use of the diluted colours is consistent and there is no need for bright colours to make it appealing. Although the title is relatively subtle in regards to the choice of colour, the editing technique adds a sense of movement, which I am fond of.

'Reservoir Dogs'- my group and I where very inspired by the use of silhouettes in this specific fim poster as the black and white block colours, The colour red on the film poster is very symbolic and it is the only colour used except from the obvious (black and white). Red symbolises blood, vengeance and hate. Overall, my group and i feel that this poster sums up the film well and is very striking.

'Snatch'- firstly my group and i noticed the colour palette used for the characters is in a sepia tone, the use of decaying colours conform to the genre of the film and confirms what the film has to offer; action,We had the idea of giving each one of our 'gangsters' a nick name to conform with the typical Gangster & Crime genre as well as create a sense of bond between the group as they would all have nick names for each other due to personal traits.we were able to relate our idea with this poster in particular as you can see each actor has their nick name written above them.

Coursework Discussion One, 14th November

Today (14^th November) was the first day my group and I started to look in detail at movie trailers of different film genres, In today’s lesson we brainstormed many ideas based on film genres and as a group decided what would be the best genre and the genre that we could put in the most creative ideas. At first we were all set on the genre of romance and we looked into many trailers, some of those being P.S I love you, the notebook and 500 days of summer.  There were many elements of a romantic genre that caught our eye but The key elements that stood out the most regarding a romance genre were the editing techniques such as the slow pace cuts, the non-diegetic music and the voiceover, We had strong ideas on the specific Mise-en-scene such as the stereotypical attractive boy and girl preferably a blonde skinny very striking teenage girl as this would draw in a specific target audience which was young girls and woman as Romance films are usually regarded to be a ‘chick flick’ and less appealing to men. We had a lot of ideas when it came to the location of the film, our original idea was t  film in London, specifically at around the west end, our reasoning behind this was that we are approaching the Christmas season and the decorative Christmas lights would have complimented the theme of our trailer exceptionally well. Although all of our ideas had been very creative we did start to doubt the ideas that we had been brainstorming as we felt some of our ideas could have been unrealistic, for example would we really manage to get ourselves as well as our actors to travel to London? Lighting was also an issue as Romance films use various lighting to conceal blemishes on the actress’ face which adds to the effect which reinforces romance. The weather was also an issue as it is getting rapidly darker in the evenings our time for filming would be limited and we would most probably have to make more than one trip up  to London which was a problem regarding cost. I feel as if we may have rushed into making a decision instead of taking into consideration the finer details as well as the vital aspects.

Poster Analyisis - Casino Royale

This film poster is very eye catching as the main character James bond (Daniel Craig) is the main image in the centre of the poster, behind the main character there is a silhouette of a women, this keeps the audience in suspense and keeps them guessing. Although it meets the expectations of an action film that there is always a women that the main protagonist falls for. Again this poster doesn't give too much away but in the background it does show a building which is named the Casino Royale which is obviously the film title so this will play a big part in the film, but again the name of the building is not very visible so most people just taking a quick glance at the poster would probably miss it because the font is so small. On the poster it has James Bond facing the audience in his dinner suit which portrays that he is smart and he is also holding a gun which shows to us that there is going to be action involved and this links this film to its genre of action, Although he is wearing his dinner suit he bow tie is un done which shows a sense of him rebelling. The title “Casino Royale” is at the bottom of the poster so it doesn't’t loose focus of the new James bond. The colour scheme consists of three main colours and they are white, black and grey and this could give the sense of a dark or gloomy atmosphere within the film but of course we as the audience don't know that until we watch it so again we are drawn into watching the film. In the middle of the poster it has the film title in white writing and this stands against the black and grey background so they have generated a positive/negative effect to place emphasis on the title and within the title they have used the text to include the trade mark that is 007 but at the end of the 7 they have included part of a gun to represent a full gun and this once again shows that there will be action included in the film. Also along the left side of the poster there is another sign of 007 with a gun incorporated into it, this is a well known sign that many will relate back to James Bond films. 

Write about the similarities between the representations of youth in “A Clockwork Orange” and “Kidulthood”

•From watching the openings of both Kidulthood and the clockwork orange i was able to spot a lot of similarities but also a lot of differences, in both films you can see that the youths (teenagers) are quite violent, both films also have what some people may call a gang which both have one main leader in kidulthood the main leader is "Sam" and in a clockwork orange its is "Alex", Both films include a lot of violence but it seems that both film include violence for different reasons for example the teenagers in 'kidulthood' use a lot of violence To gain higher statues around the school. in contrast to "Kidulthood", the boys in "A Clockwork Orange,use a lot of violence clearly more for enjoyment, its almost as if they're using the power they have just from being young, Unlike Kidulthood the boys in 'Clockwork Orange' don't seem too worried about gaining social status. Each group have their own specific identity, and by dressing the same in there gangs give them the effect that they are united and as one, Sam's gang are all dressed in baggy tracksuit bottoms and hoodies covering most of their face, and this is seen as very intimidating. Alex’s gang in Clockwork Orange doesn't look so stereotypical of a gang in our days as they are dressed all in white but make it different by adding things such as the use of makeup and fake eyelashes on one eye was very bizarre as it was filmed in the 1970’s, this was an extreme shock. In the opening of both films the audience are immediately introduced to violence, in 'kidulthood' we see some of Sam's gang beat up  another student and in clockwork orange we see Alex and his ‘droogs’ beat up an old man that was just purely minding his own business.  In both films the parents are completely oblivious to there children's lives outside there home. In the film Kidulthood the young teenage girl Katie is obviously extremely depressed and had extremely bad cuts and bruises on her face. Her parents don’t question her on how she said she got the cuts and bruises and trust that she is a sensible and smart girl. Because Katie feels so alone she commits suicide because she feels she has no one, If the parents had intervened maybe they could have prevented this from happening. Similar to the parents in Kidulthood the parents in clock work orange are oblivious as to what there son gets up to they very rarely question him on why he doesn’t go to school and when they do they just take Alex's word for it, If Alex’s parents were aware of his actions they may be able to put a stop to his behaviour. there are also many differences in the two films. A good difference is the language that is used by the characters in each film. Clockwork orange uses a very formal style of old English, In comparison, the film Kidulthood uses extremely informal slang words from the 21st century.

Stuart Hall's Theory

Stuart Hall

Stuart Hall was born in kingston jamacia on the 3rd of February 1932, Stuart Hall was a cultural theorist and sociologist who lived and worked in the United Kingdom since 1951.


Stuart Halls theory was that "young people rebel because they dont want to turn out like there parents", In a rencent article in the Daily Mirror struat hall's theory was proved correct as the artical is based a good samaritan attacked with a knife after going to the aid of a pensioner shoved to the ground by a gang of teenagers who then urinated on him. The man, 30, pushed one yob out of the way after seeing them pick on their victim, in his 60s. But then they turned on him.


Here is a quote taken from the man that was attacked.
He said: “They were like a pack of wolves. I was tackled to the floor and the leader tried to stab me. He didn’t care if I died.”