Research into relevant

gangster genre

By Will Smith

British GangsterSuccess and profits

Some of the most well known British gangster films are Snatch(2000), Lock, Stock And Two Smoking Barrels(1998) and Layer Cake(2004). Even though these are well known they weren’t always a big success. This is shown as Snatch grossed over £12 million in the UK, Lock, Stock And Two Smoking Barrels grossed over £11 million but then Layer Cake only produced just over £4Mil.

Conventions and mise en sceneSome of the main themes include crime which is shown in Snatch and Lock, Stock And Two Smoking Barrels in the opening two minutes. Also all of the main titles of the film are shown in white. This is something that I could use in my opening credits. Snatch and Layer cake both include vehicles but in Snatch they are inside the van – it is not a shot of them in the car as they drive away. But in Layer Cake it shows Daniel Craig getting into his car and driving off into the distance. Also in Layer cake the location is very different to both Snatch and ‘Lock, Stock’ because it shows Daniel Craig walking down a decent street and then driving off in the morning to a big mansion house. In Snatch and ‘Lock, Stock’ they both seem to be set in lower end locations as shown in Snatch because he is selling profitable goods by a back garage. Snatch uses two sound bridges at the same time of Jewish music and a voiceover. The Jewish music suits what's happening on screen as they are dressed as Jewish men. Also the main camera shot used in all three opening scenes is a mid-shot, I think this is because if they used a close up of long shot to many types it creates to much of an impact on the audience which isn't always good as they have only just started watching. All three also use sound bridges which creates questions for the audience as sometimes the music doesn't fit to what's happening on screen.

What have I learnt?I have learnt that most British gangster films usually don't deliberately challenge the conventions of a Gangster film as they all have men as the main character, all involve some sort of violence or crime and the Locations are usually set in the back streets where organised crime takes place. Also many British gangster films use a large white font to show the main title of the film. But some films do challenge this as Sexy Beast shows all the credits in a bright [ink colour which is used deliberately to challenge the conventions of gangsters. Layercake is unusual as it doesn’t give much away about the storyline in the opening scene which this alone does challenge the normal conventions as usually a crime is shown at the very beginning which then sets the rest of the film. I will take everything I have learnt from doing this and try to incorporate as much as possible into my work.