Jordan, Shaune, Rhys, Joseph

• The Godfather was made in 1972 which was based on a novel of the same name. The film differentiated itself from the past gangster films, being shot with “hard lighting top give it a grim feel”. This lead gangster films to be revived with worldwide popularity for both The Godfather and mob films.

• American Gangster was made more recently in 2007. This movie was seen by many as a revival of the mob and gangster films in the 90s. Gangster films in that period were starting to become more ‘humanised’ with characters that we could relate to and a growing message that “crime never pays”.

Trailer

From watching the trailer, we can see that the style is portrayed through dark mood and tone through:

The colour The performance Special effects

These elements are purposely added by the director to get across audience meaning

The things that we see in the trailer can suggest that the people involved are “business men”

Dialogue Clothes The scene with money However, the guns show that the

business that they are involved with is illegal

Gangsters

The trailer adheres to the conventions of a gangster movie

Guns Money Title

These are even more elements that the director has intentionally included to get across audience meaning to the people watching the trailer

The characters are portrayed as intimidating and brutal members of the Italian mafia who will do anything to get what they want

The guns

A stereotype that we can see is that they are well dressed people. Typical of the mafia as they are always in suits

We are able to understand that there is some sort of deal and something went wrong

The audience is picking up the basics of the movie without the director giving out too much

Use of dialogue Accents Tone of voices

Poster

The poster adheres to the conventions of the gangster genre

As part of the Mise-en-scene, we can see an old man in a black tuxedo and the title stands out in bold white saying ‘The Godfather’.

From the tuxedo, we can tell he is a gangster and the fact it is just him shows he has power and is the godfather who stereotypically is an old man.

Furthermore ,we can see he is holding a cat in his hand which is normally associated with evil villains and is a sign of power.

Trailer

Trailer length is approximately 1 minute and 56 seconds

Fade out used then the Universal logo, special sound effects, text is used when it slides in & gives producers & stars name, blurred text is used of the title, then becomes clear with the shape of a city cut out at the bottom

Cinematography: Close up used for the money, giving the impression that the movie is based around some sort of business & the gun, showing the audience there is violence involved

Editing: The character fired a gun and the resulting gun shot was used as a transition

Mise-en-Scene: The characters clothing but as we see more into him as we see the rest of the trailer

Fast actions scenes where they are using guns and shooting,

Characters wearing smart sophisticated suits

Viewing antagonists though behind closed doors, it shows he’s caring and family orientated, as seen when he mentions “never forgetting where we came from”

He is seen as Frank Lucas a black American being above the mafia & is the most dangerous man walking the streets of the city, who doesn’t run from anyone

This is shown by his nephew looking up to him & admiring him, saying the quote “you be a somebody or a nobody”

The stars are represented by their character on screen, in action and then their name appearing, only with the main stars, the producers name is also shown

The main character (played by Denzel Washington) is perceived as the “big boy” who is undefeatable, however he has his other side of caring and providing for his family

We learn from the trailer that “Frank Lucas” is a black American who is seen as higher than the mafia crew, who is not afraid of no-one or anything

Trailer would get TV air, as a lot of people are into the genre of this film and it could easily be re-modernised

Posters would be placed in places such as bill boards, bus stands, on the side of buses

Poster

Form and Style

• There are only three colours used in this poster

• A dark mood since the main colour of the poster is a very dark black

• The title is split with a red line which is in a brush stroke

• Only two characters on the poster

• Character in the black suit is not fully visible – blends into the background

Technical Aspects

• Cinematography: Wide body shot that isn’t showing their full face

• Editing: The use of colours in the poster, very black and white and chiaroscuro lighting

• Mise-en-scene: The only object within the entire poster is a gun

• Mise-en-scene: Body language and posture – audience knows about the characters already

Genre

• Lack of explicit knowledge what is going on

• Very dark mood poster, very serious

• The only object is a gun

• Body language is quite threatening and open – showing arrogance and confidence

• All of these point towards some type of mob, organised crime or gangster movie

Institutional Context

• This poster would be placed around billboards, cinemas and released into the general public

• Virgin Radio heavily promoted the movie before it came out

• There was a $20 million dollar advertising campaign to raise awareness of American Gangster on a website called Metacafe:

“...was a strong success”

“...illustrates the positive effects...”

“Nearly half of...viewers recall the campaign...”

“ ...and evaluate it positively across the board.”