Introduction to Gomorrah

1. Homework
Watch the remainder of the text and complete
the A3 Analysis sheet.
Due: TODAY - 14th January

2. YOU MUST write down the following
BEFORE the technical code of the wide
angle shot is revealed:
• Narrative – WHAT happened?
• Character – WHO is the young boy?
WHO plays this character?
Extension – YOU COULD give more than
x5 stereotypes
Entrance Activity

3. Title:
‘Gomorrah’ – Review
Date:
Wednesday 14th January 2014
FM4:
Varieties of Film Experience – Issues and Debates

4. Why?
Aims & Objectives
• YOU WILL re-cap
prior learning.
• YOU WILL review the
film and assess HOW
certain key themes &
issues are addressed
in the film.
• Review the learning.
AO1
Demonstrate knowledge and
understanding of film as an
audio-visual form of creative
expression together and
AO2
Apply knowledge and
understanding, including
some of the common critical
approaches that characterise
the subject, when exploring
and analysing films.

5. “It is not a mob film in the classical vein”
Peter Bradshaw – The Guardian (January 2008)
YOU MUST state HOW the images below challenge the
stereotypes you provided on the entrance activity.

6. Style of filming….
Italian Neo-realism
Realism
On your mini-whiteboards, YOU MUST write down what style of film making this text conforms to.

7. Realism
Italian Neo-realism
http://www.fipresci.org/undercurrent/issue_0609/casella_gomorra.htm
• Defined as a cinematic movement post WW2
• Characterized by stories set amongst the poor and the working class, filmed on
location.
Task 1) – 8 minutes
1. Visit the link above – Note down x6 characteristics/examples of the film the define
the “look” and “feel” of the text.
2. What has the Director – Matteo Garrone – set out to achieve?

8. Realism
Italian Neo-realism
Feedback
• Matteo Garrone's Gomorra subverts the idea that a "mafia movie" has to have a
cohesive narrative structure.
• The word "Camorra” ’signifies’ (De Saussure) a biblical place symbolizing total loss of
decency and of moral order.
• The construction of each and every scene is meant to convey a constant sense of
randomness.
• Garrone's camera follows his film's characters around, sometimes through lengthy
continuous shots.
• Gomorra follows in the tradition of Italian Neorealism, but many have also observed
that it lacks Neorealism's sentimentalism, its warmth, its humanity.

9. Technical Code - High Angle Long Shot
Technical Code -
One character is centrally framed, while dead bodies are strewn around the
edge of the frame.

10. Task 2) – 4 minutes
Watch the scene from the text –
YOU MUST note down HOW the following areas are represented:
• Evidence of total loss of decency and of moral order.
• The text – according to Michael Covino (2009) -
“Shattering any romantic myths we may yet harbour about Gangsters”
'Gomorrah' - Key scene

11. Feedback
“total loss of decency and of moral order?”

12. What have you learnt?
YOU MUST summarise the text into 3 words.
Extension – YOU COULD give examples from the text to support your understanding.

13. Homework
Watch the remainder of the text and complete
the A3 Analysis sheet.
Due: Next Lesson - 14th January