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.