The document discusses conventions used in the filmmaker's media product about a British gangster film. It summarizes the narrative structure, themes of family, betrayal and revenge, and characters inspired by films like The Godfather and Goodfellas. It also describes stylistic choices like camera work, editing, sound, and mise-en-scene elements that establish the tone and setting of the gangster genre.

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
Disruption
Recognition
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. Our Opening
• We learnt that Film openings are important for
establishing a tone in which the target audience will fall
into. The opening of the film has to grab the audiences
attention, and that does not mean it has to be a big budget
explosive opening. We attempted to grab the audiences
attention by having our first shot panning down from the
sky. This was done to set the atmosphere and setting. By
tinting the shot to make it darker, signifies how what
these people do is a bad and dark thing.

4. Themes
• One of the main themes that we tried to portray in out film is how
important family is to these type of people. However we disrupted
this by adding in a betrayal. This was between Frank and James
Adams, two brothers who don’t see eye to eye. Betrayal of a Member
in the same gang is seen as a major sin, but we decided to go one step
further by making it a family member. we chose to make the betrayal
be between brothers, as it completely Juxtaposes the term Brother.
• Another theme of the film is the killing of someone ranked higher up
in the gang. In real life Mafias and Mobs this is something
punishable by death.
• Our final theme is revenge. This is a large part of the whole storey.
We represented this by having the main character be very close to the
character killed. We made it so Charlie saw the boss of a gang as a
father figure due to not having one of his own. Another film that used
this is the Godfather where

5. James Adams
• 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.
• In looks theses two a very dissimilar. However this strengthens the fact that this
is a English gang with Irish roots, not Sicilian as in the Godfather. The classic
stereo type of an Irish person is fair skin and ginger hair. We matched this by
using this character. But there are some similarities. For example like
Corleone, James Adams has a political voice which tends to make other listen to
him.

6. Charlie Doherty
• 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. Charlie
also has the same type of
relationship with James
Adams, that Henry Hill had
with Paul Vario in Goodfellas.

7. Joe Martins
• 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.

8. Frank Adams
• Frank Adams, the brother
of James Adams, played
by Alex Ratcliffe. I
compared this character to
Fredo Corleone
• I chose him as like in our
film, he is the brother of
the boss. His story is also
very similar.
• As an adult Fredo was seen as the weakest of the three brothers and
was given relatively unimportant business to run. However, he was
also known as a charismatic young man, and was usually sent to pick
important people up at the airport and entertain them before business
meetings.

9. 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.
• We chose this house as it shows
James Adams is a family man just
as much as a gang leader. This the
reason for its unthreatening nature.

10. 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.

11. Style of Presentation

12. 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.

13. 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.

14. 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.

15. 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.

16. 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.