Pitch for my ideas

Title: SOLO BUSINESS (translated directly Italian to English "JUST BUSINESS") 
genre: MOB gangster
Time period: Maximum of 2 weeks 
Demographic focus: Male adults aged 17 - 21+

When a 'thug' is caught guilty of 'snitching' by a gang of mobs leading the heaviest drug trafficking and most dangerous organised crime in 'L.A,' business becomes serious and so the 'BOSS' is called to personally lead out the killing and questioning of this suspected 'snitch.' 

A suspected 'snitch' is detained and held by the bosses main man, "BIG ZEE" and new rookie, "Pete" while the boss makes his way through the dark, corrupt streets of L.A. The boss never walks alone and so brings his two biggest henchmen, "old timer Richie' and "Rusty Tony" also known as "Rusty T." The mood suddenly gets a hole lot more intense and pete is told to shoot the snitch in front of the boss. Pete unlike the others has a fear of killing and acts as if he hasn't killed an innocent before which raises suspicion and creates humour for big Zee while making the Boss and followers angry. big Zee later sees the anger in the 'Boss' with the untrusted rookie Pete and makes a move to teach Pete a lesson. Zee slaps Pete while grabbing the gun and shooting the snitch a number of times, while keeping direct eye contact with Pete to show power and seems to show no sign of uncomfortability towards the killing of the snitch. Further dialogue and time for Zee to think, leads to big Zee suspecting of Pete being and member of the police. This raises confusion between the group and leads to anger of the mob. Zee gives the signal to have rookie Pete grabbed up and shoots him a number of times to assure his death towards the boss.    

Actors:

• Zheenyar Karim as 'BIG ZEE'
• Dean Tamagno as 'Rookie Pete' 
• Neil Collins as 'The Snitch' 
• George Tucker as 'Old timer Richie' 
• Tom Phipps as 'Rusty Tony' 
• Commie Miller as 'The Boss' 

backup actors: 

• Kane McEvoy 
• Dadyr Zalme 

Similar films: 

• American Gangster 
• The Godfather Part: 1

other information

This film will be:

• Extremely low budget (almost free of costs) 
• Guerilla filmed 
• independently produced 

Test shots

Below are two videos of my test shots and experimentation's with Adobe After effects CS6

Testing blood hits



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zbtWIxiomSs


Testing the Muzzle flash and debris hits




https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b2LpUQFA5_U

Conventions of a Gangster film

What makes a gangster film?

- Guns?

- A crime family?

- A movie plot that has violence at every corner? 

- Organised crime? 

- Or just a bunch of hoodlums acting tough? 

It is important to remember that all these elements add to a gangster film are alone and do not constitute a good gangster film.

• A gangster film, when looked at from an American perspective, is the warped idea of the "American dream." 

- To be rich and successful with the most power, one can obtain. 

- It speaks to the American public, the evidence being the huge popularity of gangster films in the American film industry. 

• Films from across the Atlantic, namely from Britain have made themselves necessary to Mafia movie junkies. 
• Of course not to forget that our own country has made some notable gangster films too. 

Diegetic Sound

We will be planning to use the built in microphone on a Nikon D3100.

Furthermore, we will also be using a boom microphone but due to high cost and extremely low budget, we have created our own using equipment such as a dynamic microphone that we borrowed from our home academy's music department. We also managed to gather up bits of scrap and a microphone pole from the music department that we used to create a boom microphone, with isolation tape.

These bits of material/equipment included:

• Insulation tape

• Stagg microphone

• microphone stand pole

• microphone head cover

• big jack to small jack converter

• XLR to big jack cable

• sound exorbing sponge

• Popper Stopper (wasn't really required but somehow useful).

Below you can see the outcome of these different equipment/material with the aim of creating a boom mic).

Risk assessment

This is a systematic process of evaluating the potential risks that may be involved in a projected activity or undertaking.

This is helpful because safety comes before everything and until we know that the risks do not out way, we cannot start filming.

Planning of music - soundtrack

For the audio side of my production, I have used my current knowledge of diegetic and non-diegetic sounds of media, and have expanded that with my knowledge of Music technology.

My current knowledge of music technology will allow me to create my own track and produce exactly what I want, which is a slow, quite, instrumental piece. To produce this, I will be using a Apple Mac machine and a special software with the name of 'Logic Pro.' 

 

This software will not only allow me to produce and include violin, guitar, etc. with just a keyboard but also allow me to edit and modify diegetic sound which may already be on their, including dialogue to possibly make the sound a little wet (echo).

I will be choosing to use a slow, instrumental and somehow quite piece of music because this is what I thought stood out most from my researching of audio, of MOB gangster openings that I looked at. For example, 'The Godfathers' instrumental piece went on to be extremely famous and successful with the ratings of the film.

 Furthermore, using this 'Logic Pro' software, I will be possibly using some already recorded effects such as 'city noise' or possibly creating my own, in my school studio. 

Mixing the audio tracks can also be done Logic, and can be linked with the video with my chosen editing software. 

Planning of titles

For my opening titles, I hope to stick with the mainstream MOB font titles which is usually, big and simple fonts. Below you can see some examples:

For my main movie title, i plan to use two different fonts for two different words. My title for this movie will be 'Solo BUSINESS' translated to 'just business from Italian. I plan to make the Solo a big chunky font, while having the 'BUSINESS' as a more stylish, funky font. The intended effect of this, is to make the 'Solo' give the impression to the viewer that this is serious while showing the actual business as dirty and bloody as I also plan to add animated blood splatter with adobe after effects to this main title giving the viewer a feeling and clue to a professional and intense film.

During the titles, I plan on adding instrumental music which will increase in volume while reaching the final title 'Solo BUSINESS.' Furthermore, I plan on creating a 'PAN' effect which is basically weather the sound is coming from the left or the right. I plan to create a cinematic effect with this technique and give the viewer the feeling to a staircase, to an intense gangster movie. This will be explained further on the 'Planning of music - soundtrack' post. 

I would like to make this film opening feel like a gangster opening and not, for example an action film opening by avoiding, associating titles with the moving image. An example of this title on top of a moving image is shown below:  

I hope to avoid this and just use plain colors for the background, of the titles.  

Further-on, the company/organisation titles will be a mixture of animated or plain titles with again a plain solid background, with the exception of maybe one title which may fade out towards the start of the moving image. 

Structure of narrative

The boss which is name cannot be mentioned runs one of the biggest drug trafficking business in New York City and when snitch disturbs one of his biggest batches by giving in to the cops, he is not very happy and so sends his most trustworthy henchmen 'Big Zee' and 'Tony' the bosses henchmen. Their has currently been reports of two snitches but only one is caught and this one will serve the ultimate payment of his life to the boss. The boss also had two other henchmen's who both follow the bosses ever move and will risk their lives protecting him in case of a shoot out or police set-up.

Ø Equilibrium
A snitch is stopping rich gangsters from completing a batch by snitching on them. He later gets caught by the gangsters and serves the ultimate punishment leaving the gangsters happy and with no worry's. 

Ø Some sort of problem disrupts this equilibrium
Their is a second snitch which turns out to be a cop and this turns into a problem as they also find out that he is wired so even with the best efforts, the best lawyers in New York cannot save the family any more...

Ø The characters realise that there is a disruption of equilibrium
They find rookie Pete to be suspicious and find that he is wired.

Ø They attempt to fix the problem
Big Zee shoots and kills rookie Pete.

Ø Returns to equilibrium or new equilibrium
They attempt to cover up their tracks and plan an attack to not only assassinate the chief but also pay off the judge. This can be a problem to the other Mafia family's and so a new equilibrium starts with the assassination of the boss himself which leaves Big Zee as the protagonist and Freedo from the apposite mafia family (killer of the boss) as the antagonist.                          

Editing software

For editing software's, I will be exploring three different editing software's in the hope of finding one that best suits me. These include:

Cyber-link Power Director 11

Adobe Premier Pro

Adobe after effects CS6


These are all very successful editing software's and I will be planning to use them for:

• Power Director 11/ Adobe premier for production i.e. putting clips together, putting sound together with clips, etc.
• Adobe after effects for the video editing and effects. This is a very advanced software which i know very little of so video tutorial will come very useful. I will be using this to add: gun shots, blood splatter, muzzle flashes, etc. 

- Another cool feature that Adobe after effects has, is the ability to stabilise a clip and remove any shaky bits. The video below will explain further and show some examples. I may also plan to show the edited version of my final piece in comparison to my new piece. 

Moving onto sound, I will be editing and creating both diegetic and non-diegetic sound using the famous apple product: 

Logic Pro X 

With this software, I hope to accomplish:

• The production of a instrumental beat to use as non diegetic sound  
• Adding and possibly creating our own sound effects to use as diegetic sound i.e. atmosphere, gun shots, etc. 
• The editing of background noise to either make it higher or lower to what it is. 
• The adding of echo to the gun shots (if needed). 
• Possibly adding or editing voices in a studio to be edited with this software (unlikely but possible).

Script for the second draft

initial SCRIPT

Script for our first shoot (initial)

What sub genre will I be basing my gangster movie on?

All my research has led me to the organised crime gangster film, sub genre (MOB). This is because of the many different aspects that British gangster films lack while MOB films include and what sort of effect I want to give the audience. Below, you can see my argument and a poll to get involved, and possibly drag me towards the British gangster sub genre.

Storyboard

For the storyboard, instead of taking boring images and explaining them I have created animated pictures with Pivot animator to fully show the scene and the camera movement, position, etc. Furthermore, below every '.gif'' I will be describing the scene by naming all the different shot types and camera movements.

My first and second title

- I have chosen this particular font and animation because of the type of effect it gave me while watching films such as American gangster. From this film, I was inspired to have similar fonts and animations.

My first shot

-For this shot, I plan to have a close up, almost behind the shoulder shot of the bosses main man talking to the boss as we see the snitch walk towards him. For this, I hope to give the audience the feeling of the tension building while the snitch is almost being set up. 

My second shot

- For the second shot, I hope to capture the chasing of the snitch by the bosses main man. This will be a long shot and will show the snitch being captured just before their is a cut. From this, I hope to show the audience that from this opening, they should realize that nobody is safe and how easily a snitch can be caught. 

My third shot

- This shot will show a long shot of the bosses main man, the snitch and I hope to introduce the second henchmen from the little glance that was shown of him in the previous scene. The camera here will be still, henchmen 1's gun will be declared to the audience and just before he kills the snitch for his crimes towards the family, he gets a call from the boss were he is told to keep the snitch alive and to send him to 'the usual spot' for a private meeting with the boss. By the impression's of the two henchmen's being afraid of the boss and the snitch even more, the audience here should get the impression of this boss being bigger than they thought. 

My fourth shot

- This shot will fade into the snitches face from the last scene and will zoom out of his face, while at the same time showing some of the environment and surroundings. The scene here will be darker and later than the other scene showing the audience that time has progressed and that they have waited for the boss. 

My fifth shot

- My next shot will follow on from the previous by straight cutting to a long shot, completely revealing the surroundings and environment they are in. This will also uncover the situation their in and the camera here will be kept still. The boss here will have his two personal henchmen and the second henchmen here is replaced with another gangster but the bosses main man (henchmen 1) will be kept as the same person and as the person that captured the snitch. 

My sixth shot

- This shot will then fade in from the previous shot, with the camera being from the snitches point of view and first person (POV shot). The camera here will not move. Henchmen 1 here will ask what to do with the snitch and the boss here will pass a gun while giving the indication that he wants to talk to the snitch before he is executed. 

My seventh shot 

- While in the same shot type (POV shot of the snitch), the boss here will come and give the snitch a talk. 

My final shot

- The shot type will again stay the same and the snitch will be picked up by henchmen 1, and executed on the spot with a gun. 

My final and main title

- As the shot goes off, the shot will immediately cut to the main title "SOLO Business." The font here will be big and simple. This is because, after much research I had found that simple big fonts with caps were the most conventional for this genre. Example include: American gangster, The Godfather Part 1/2/3 

Filming/editing schedule

Props list

1.  Hand gun (x1)

Mobile phone (x1)




I know now from this task, exactly what props we will require and will be fully organised for the actual production. If we where to skip this task, we would find ourselves frozen and wasting time, planning and actually finding the props. 

Raw footage of locations





Photographs of location

 

Costume planning

Going back to my research, I had found that it was the formal clothing that stood out most as it gave this feeling of professionalism and organised crime which made the actors not only richer but also powerful showing us that this is not someone to be messing with.

In my opening, I would like to give this feeling to the audience and make it effective by giving the audience fear over them and get the audience to admire one certain character. And this is why I am planning to get my actors in formal suits (ties) and possibly get them black gangster hats with shades only for the two main bodyguards (gangsters). I have chosen to discard the bow-tie idea as I think the bow ties would be too formal and would not look right.

Below, you can see a slideshow of all the potential concepts of suits.  

Initial Planning ideas

In this post i will be presenting my ideas of potentially what my Gangster film could end up to be like.

During the planning of my film opening, i have been highly inspired by the opening of 'American Gangster and so will be intending to produce something a little similar. For example,

The screenshot below presents a main boss which does not have any speech. This not only presents him as big and powerful but immediately shows to the viewer that this is not someone to mess with and shows him as 'the boss.' Furthermore, Franklin his side man (main man) is directly beside him also lacking dialogue and shows no fear towards killing a man. This shows to the viewer that this man is not normal and is use to killing, and so should be someone to be afraid of as this is not his first kill and never his last. Franklin in this scene is also smoking a pure Cuban cigar which represents him and his boss as, rich and powerful. Building on this idea even more, we (the audience) can immediately spot and differentiate the boss by the side man, by:

• the way they are dressed as the bosses suit is more formal and worth more, and the extras such as the bowler hat and scarf.
• the movements (boss has no movement)
• facial expressions (the boss has no facial expressions)
• Who is doing the dirty work (Franklin has to do the killing)

 Going further-on, the juxtaposition in this scene shows to the audience who is bigger than who and who has more power. We can see that the victim is lower that everyone else making him defenceless towards the gangsters. Further on, we can also see that even though the boss is further behind and could be seen as in the background, he is keeping is size and still stays, big and tall. This shows to us that the tilt of Franklin's head is intended and effective.



















I admire this scene because it does not give too much away while at the same time showing to the audience who is the boss and who the main character could be, leaving the audience with small enigma codes.

I am planning to recreate my own version of this scene with a different concept but a similar idea of costume, scenery and props with younger actors but still the same body figures. To recreate something similar but our version of this scene, we would need:

• A dark location with a city scape
• Formal costumes (suits) with bowler hats and possibly shades
• Props such as guns, cigars/cigarettes, a lighter and knife
• 6 actors (Mixture between big built actors)
• Background non diegetic build up music (drums) 
• Into - Extreme close up of the snitch and zooming out to a long shot
• Titles - Fully moving, animated CGI titles created with Adobe After effects
• A lot of dialogue (almost like The godfather). 
• low level lighting

I now know what type of location, costumes, props and actors I will be looking for and can make an immediate start towards find these things. 

My preliminary Film opening

During this task, we filmed and edited a British gangster opening with the name of '24/7 Heist.'




This British gangster film opening shows a meeting between two gangsters that are planning a bank heist.

From this, I now know what I can improve on, what to include and what to avoid, etc.

Audience Research

My target audience for my genre will be between young adults and adults (16 - 25).

I know this because almost all gangster genre films have a age rating of 18 but is watched also watched by young adults aged 16+. 

So what does the British board of film classification say about the 18 age rating?

Snapshot taken from BBFC for educational purposes 

© BBFC 2010

I had created a survey and handed it out to 7 other friends to find out what my target audience would expect /want from my film opening. The results are:

• Murder
• dark (night) 
• Traditional i.e. Man being the main character
• Dietetic sound (dialogue)
• City
• Modern gangster theme 

Below, you can see a snapshot of my survey created with 'Survey monkey.' 

I have created a VOKI to represent my target audience and demonstrate my target audiences' interests and likes/dislikes.

From this task, i now know who I am aiming my production at and what I can and cannot include in my production in order to reach my targeted audience.

Analaysis of previous students AS work (film openings)

Below the film names you will find a youtube video of the film opening and my analysis also including a mark out of 60. Their are four levels that can be achieved.
These are:

• Level one [0-23 marks] - The work for the main task is possibly incomplete. Their is minimal evidence in the work of the creative use of any relevant technical skills.
• Level two [24-35 marks] - There is evidence of a basic level of ability in the creative use of some of the technical skills.
• Level three [36-47 marks] - There is evidence of proficiency in the creative use of many of the technical skills.    
• Level four [48-60 marks] - There is evidence of excellence in the creative use of most of the technical skills.

These technical skills include:

• Holding a shot steady, where appropriate;
• Framing a shot, including and excluding elemants as appropriate;
• Using a variety of shot distances as appropriate;
• Shooting material appropriate to the task set;
• Selecting Mise en scène including colour, figure, lighting, objects and setting;
• Editing so that meaning is apparent to the viewer;
• Using varied shot transitions and other effects selectively and appropriately for the task set;
• Using sound with images and editing appropriately for the task;
• Using titles appropriately.

After much research of this mark scheme, i have found that the only real difference between a level four and level one is simply either including something or including something and using it excelently. For example, using a extreme close up shot may give you the mark but using it where appropriate and really building on representation, and giving a certain effect will give you them extra marks to get a level four rather than a level one. This has helped hugely with the ideas for the creation of my own film opening as from this, i can see what the examiner will be looking for and what to include to get them extra marks.  

Gangster openings:

Noir opening: Deception

What was good about it?

• Held a shot steadily very good;
• Farmed a shot good, including and excluding elements as appropriate;
• Nicely used a variety of shots and transitions, including other effects selectively and appropriately for the task set;
• The shooting material was appropriate to the task set;

What could of been done better?  

• Their was a lack of titles/credits; 
• It felt out of place;
• It got a little confusing at times;
• It lacked using a variety of shit distances as appropriate; 
• Mise en scène could of been better;
• The editing was somehow effective but could of been done better; 

Score: 35/60 

Roses Are Red

What was good about it?

• Excellently framed a shot, including and excluding elements as appropriate; 
• Used a large variety of shot distances as appropriate; 
• Shooting material was appropriate to the task set;
• Excellent showing of Mise en scène including colour, figure, lighting, objects and setting; 
• very good showing of shot transitions and other effects selectively and appropriately for the task set; 
• good use of sound with images and editing appropriately for the task set; 
• very good use of appropriate titles; 
• Genre was clear;
• great lighting;
• clear narrative; 

What could of been done better?  

• Lack of diegetic sound;
• Shot was not held steady where appropriate and could of been done better (camera was shaky at times).

Score: 55/60 

Karma

What was good about it?

• Framed a shot, including and excluding elements as appropriate;
• Used a variety of shot distances as appropriate;
• Some editing was good and somehow effective;   

What could of been done better? 

• Lighting was not considered; 
• Shots are not steady; 
• Titles got confusing and where too late;   
• Whole scene creates confusion for the viewer;
• Did not feel like a film opening; 
• Editing could of been better; 

Score: 23/60 

The Edge

What was good about it?

• Genre was very clear; 
• Great lighting and  Mise en scène;
• Well use of titles; 
• clear narrative; 
• Framed a shot excellently, including and excluding elements as appropriate;
• Used an excellent variety of shot distances as appropriate;
• Shooting material was appropriate to the task set; 
• Excellent editing to make the meaning apparent to the viewer and was highly effective; 
• Used a varied amount of shot transitions and other effects selectively and appropriately for the task set; 
• Very good use of sound with images and editing appropriately for the task set; 

What could of been done better? 

• Camera was shaky at times 
• Some diegetic sound; 

Score: 59/60 

Born from the streets

What was good about it?

• Shots where held steadily where appropriate;
• Shots where framed, including and excluding elements as appropriate;
• Used a huge variety of shot distances as appropriate, and came to be very effective;
• Shooting material was somehow appropriate to the task set; 
•  Mise en scène was not brilliant but good enough to have an effect; 

What could of been done better? 

• Bad choice of costumes;
• The location could of been better;
• Narrative was not good; 
• It was quite confusing; 
• Some sound effects where unneeded; 
• Shot transitions where not very good;
• Sounds with images and editing appropriately was lacked;
• Titles where not used appropriately;
• The editing was not used effectively and could of improved;

Score: 37/60 

Made man

What was good about it?

• Voice over was somehow effective; 
• Shots where held steadily, where appropriate;
• Shots where framed very good, including and excluding elements as appropriate; 
• Used a variety of shot distances as appropriate;
• Shooting material was appropriate to the task set;
•  Good use of Mise en scène;
• Editing was very effective;

What could of been done better? 

• Jumped into the story straight away;
• Did not feel like an opening;
• Gets boring at times (no sound); 
• Too much dialogue and no music;
• Their was a lack of titles being used appropriately; 

This task has not only created ideas for my own production but also inspired me to create a successful opening and now know what I need to include in my own. An example of the most common mistake people made, was a shaky camera and so from this I now know to use a tripod and not forget even the smallest of things. Furthermore, most of these opening did not really feel like openings as they gave away too much and lacked a lot of dialogue making them a little boring at times.  

 Films such as 'The Edge' in particular has inspired me most due its high success and effectiveness. And so I have took the extra step in contacting the director: 'Toebex.' which can be found on the link below:

https://www.youtube.com/user/Toebex

Films that i admire or that will influence me

American gangster due to its high success, more modern gangster theme and effective opening.

The Godfather due to its extremely high success and plot.

Scarface due to its high success and amazing plot. 

METHOD

Tzveton Todorov's theory:

Tzveton Todorv had a theory that in every narrative there are always certain people that play certain roles. this is further explained below...

The 'hero' leads the narrative and is usually looking for something (a quest) or trying to solve something (a mystery). The 'hero' does not have to be a male. The 'villian' on the other side is the one that conflicts with the hero and the one that is not intended to be liked by the audience. Furthermore, their is also a 'heroine' which is usually some sorry of price for the 'hero' E.g. If your 'hero' is female, your 'heroine' could be a male. Whats more, their is also normally a 'father' which is an authority figure who offers a reward to the hero for completing their quest. That might be a princess. Additionally, their is also a 'helper' which intends to help the 'hero' and often acts as a 'sidekick.' Whats more, is that their is also normally a 'donor' which intends to give the hero something-a clue which helps them complete their quest. Adding on, we also sometimes have a 'mentor' which is intended to be some sort of 'teacher' and is suppose to guide the 'hero.'

Todorov proposed that all narratives (whether that be plays, book, files etc). contain these five fundamental stages, in this order:

1. A state of equilibrium (all is as it should be).
2. A disruption of that order by an event.
3. A recognition that the disorder has occurred.
4. An attempt to repair the damage of the disruption.
5. A return of Restoration of a new equilibrium (it does not have to be the same old system).

This theory can be applied to any mainstream movie such as: Godfather, The Departed, Scarface, etc.

State of Equilibrium:

In the start of The Godfather, the audience witness the rise of Michael Corleone and the fall of Vito Corleone, and the rest of the story remains a enigma. Then the audience see the attack on Santana leading to confusion and attack on Vito Corleone. After that, we see the murder of the, heads of the five other mafia families. Part one and three of the film series include a linear narrative structure and part two includes a parallel narrative structure. 


I now know from this task, how to structure my own production and can create ideas for my own production. I can now structure my narrative and know what theories I can link with my my own narrative. This will make it simple and easy for the audience creating a effective opening.

Research in to the MOB gangster genre

I have already looked in to the history, and have analysed some film openings of my chosen sub-genre (MOB). So now i will present my findings of my specific sub genre onto this post.  

In my research i have found that the most successful films go as:

Snapshots taken from IMDB.com [1990-2013 IMDb.com, Inc.]

The most profitable films (out of the 4 above) go as: 

1.  The Godfather 
Budget: $6,000,000 (estimated)

Gross: $134,821,952 (USA) (2 May 1997)

2.  The Departed

Budget: $90,000,000 (estimated)

Gross: $132,373,442 (USA) (16 March 2007)

3.  The Godfather Part II

Budget: $13,000,000 (estimated)

Gross: $57,300,000 (USA)

4.  Goodfellas

Budget: $25,000,000 (estimated)

Gross: $46,836,394 (USA)

The most influential film to me, would be 'American Gangster' due to its high success and more modern theme. 

So what are the main conventions of a MOB Gangster film? 

.Firstly the text fonts are usually a lot bigger and in higher case. 

.Next, the overall budget of the mob films are usually quite big and normally higher than a British Gangster films budget. This can be looked up or quite easily noticed while comparing films.

.The filming also seems to be in a slower pace
.The sound is more dietetic than non-dietetic. Non dietetic sound is often a quite instrumental.
.The colors used are often very dark, grey and black are the most common. Red is also used quite frequently, as it represents a variety of themes.
.Low level lighting is commonly seen

.The setting in gangster films is almost always an Urban/City location. Rundown areas and industries estates are commonly seen, as well as some housing estates.

.The costume and make up is usually formal outfits like suits and ties, tuxedos, dresses, etc. The color red often ties in with these outfits also. makeup in gangster films generally consist of blood and scars. Red lipsticks also seen quite frequently on women.

.The props are most commonly guns, cigarettes, drugs and money. These often tie into the story line and theme of gangster films (especially money). 

This task has allowed me to go further into the research of conventions of a gangster film and can now use these conventions in my own production. From this I can also come up with my own ideas for the conventions I can use for my own production. From this task, I did not just look at the common props of gangster film such as 'Scarface' but researched even further by comparing successful MOB films and can now point out the props and costumes that make a gangster MOB film. These films have inspired me for the making of my own and can now apply these to my own production.