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.