The document discusses the filmmaker's use of conventions from real gangster films and media in their own student media product. It describes employing a classic narrative structure of equilibrium, disruption, and restored order. Themes of darkness and seriousness were chosen to portray the gangster characters accurately. Stock characters were modeled after iconic roles from The Godfather and Goodfellas to make the characters compelling. Settings replicated the style of homes from those films to emphasize this is a British gangster film. Cinematography, editing, sound, and mise-en-scene techniques aimed to build tension and portray the characters as high-class criminals.

1. In what way does your media
product use, develop or challenge
forms and conventions of real
media products?
By Liam Richardson

2. Stock Narratives
In our film we used Tzvetan Tordovs Equilibrium theory.
Equilibrium
Distribution
Resolution
Restore Order
New Equilibrium
• We chose this Narrative technique as is
helps to engage the audience right from the
beginning of the film.
• This is done by showing them some of the
luxury's of a gangster life. For example this
may include the nice car or house at the
beginning of out film. This will make the
audience want to carry on watching.

3. Themes
• The theme for our film was quite a dark theme that aims
to give off the vibe of it being a very serious.
• It also shows that audience what type of people or
characters are, and how they are not ones to be messed
with.
• Other films that use similar themes are Godfather or
Goodfellas .

4. Stock Characters
• James Adams, the head of
the family and leader of the
gang, played by Daniel
Payn.
• I have compared him to
Don Corleone from the
very successful Godfather.
• This is someone we tried to
base our character on, and I
think that Daniels
mannerisms in our opening
reflect this.

5. Stock Characters
• Charlie Doherty, the
recruit, played by Liam
Richardson. I compered
this character to Hennery
Hill from Goodfellas.
• I chose him as the
characters journey is very
similar. They are both
about going through the
ranks in a Mob.

6. Stock Characters
• Joe Martins, the business
man, played by Jacob
O’Neil.
• I have compared this
character to James
Conway from
Goodfellas. I chose this
character as in the film he
covers a large majority of
the business side in the
Gang.

7. Stock Characters
• Frank Adams, the
brother of James
Adams, played by
Alex Ratcliffe. I
compared this
character to Sonny
Corleone.
• I chose him as like in
our film, he is the
brother of the boss.

8. Stock Settings
• We used this setting to base the
introduction to our film as it is a
modern looking house yet has that
old fashioned British feel to it
through the wooden beams. This
emphasises the fact that this is a
British film with a British gang.
• This is different to most Mafia
films as they are set in America,
and therefore fashions are
different.

9. Stock Setting
• This is the house used by
Godfather to be the home of Mafia
boss Don Corleone.
• There are similarities between the
two houses. For example both
have the same English Tudor style.
• Both also have the same dark weather and
have trees with no leaves showing it winter/
autumn.

10. Style of Presentation

11. Camera
We used a POV shot to give the
audience a more personal
experience. This allows them to
put themselves in the position of
the character.
I thing that the dolly out in the hall
helped to build tension In the
opening. It also starts to give the
audience an idea of what is
happening.

12. Editing
One of the editing features hat we
used was altering the lighting by
applying a dark tint. We done this
as it gives a darker, meaner feel to
the film. We want this as a gang
film is not meant to be a bright
and uplifting.
We also used Fade up and Dade
down features. This makes the
footage see slower than it actually
is. There are no sudden cuts which
look out of place.

13. Editing
We inserted the title at this
point in the introduction as we
did not want it to look like a
trailer by leaving it longer. We
chose this font as its elegant
just like the glamorous life of
a gangster. We made it gold
for the obvious reason that,
Our film is called the golden
age.
We used adobe premier
elements to insert a zoom in
feature. This created a bit
more tension when the story
is being told.

14. Sound
The music that we used was a very slow tempo
piece. It involved main violins. This is because
it is a high class instrument, and we tried to
portray this in the film.
Diegetic Sound
We found that even though we have the music
we still needed some diegetic sound at the same
time. For example at the beginning of our film
we still wanted the sound of the car pulling up,
and the characters getting out and walking t the
door.

15. Misè en scene
• We tried to include as much
mafia iconography as possible.
For example the smart looking
convertible car at the start.
• We also used the Desk in front
of the large windows. We used
this as it has been used in
other films of this genre like
Scarface.
• We also put paperwork on the
table. This shows the business
side of the mafia.