ICONOGRAPHY..

1. ICONOGRAPHY.. The images that I have selected all correspond with each other, as they all represent the gangster way of life. These images have been chosen specifically as they come from movies such as Scarface and Goodfella, these are the movies that I have looked at to gain inspiration for my own media trailer. By gathering these images into a mood board I am able to see the different props I will need in order to portray my genre effectively. Also, looking at these images I can see that most gangster/mafia’s lived a high status life as money and power was everything. This showed in the way they dressed and lived. For my trailer, I will need to show scenes of violence, drugs, love, money and power in order for people to understand the concept and genre of my trailer.

2. GENRE RESEARCH.. THE HISTORY: GANGSTER films are seen as subgenre of crime films which are organised by the Mafia. The start of gangster films also known as Mob films originated in the 1930’s. The early gangster movies were shown in black and white as they were filmed before technology could advance into colour. This was in the time era of Al Capone who was the ultimate gangster of his time. He was dedicated to smuggling and bootleg liquor, he was also involved into other crimes such as prostitution which took place in Chicago, America. There were many movies that were made as time went on, that portrayed Al Capone’s gangster life. Movies that were produced in the 1930’s were not allowed to show bad guys as winning at the end of the violence. This was stated in the production code which showed what was acceptable and what wasn’t. The production code in the 1930’s said that films had to show the ‘good’ guys as winning at the end of the films. This was so that society understood that these crimes would not be tolerated in America. However, due to the countries economical situation crimes like Al Capone’s were on a rise. Movies that were being made would show the bitter truth of what was actually happening around America, this was shocking to see as this violence, drug dealing and high crime was all a result of the economical situation America was facing. During the 1940/50’s the production code was not being followed as movies showing scenes of sexuality were rising, women actors were portraying scenes of sexual nature, showing they were not in a relationship. This was breaking production code as it clearly stated that movies had to be produced under moral censorship.

3. GENRE RESEARCH.. THE FILMS.. GOODFELLA 1990: An American crime film that was directed by Martin Scorsese, was a film adaption from the 1986 fiction book called ‘wiseguy.’ this movie shows the rise and fall of a family and friends over a period of time, from 1955-1980. the main character has wanted to be a gangster since childhood, for this reason he quits school to join the Lucchese crime family. Learning important values of gangster life Henry is able to make a good living for himself. As the movie goes on we see the rise and fall of Henry as he becomes an established gangster and enjoys his money and countless women by his side. But towards the end of the film we see reality kick in as he is left penniless and forced out of his gangster life. "I'm an average nobody. I get to live the rest of my life like a schnook." THE GODFATHER 1972: Another American crime film that was directed by Francis Ford Coppola. This movie was based on a novel of the same name, film stars such as Al Pacino, James Caan and Marlo Brando whom are leaders of a powerful New York Family. Marlon Brando is the main Don of the mafia family, Al Capone returns from world war 2 for his sisters wedding. Al Pacino wants to live a normal life far from his mafia family. Due to his fathers death, Al Pacino enters the life that he did not want to live due to revenge tearing the great mafia family apart. SCARFACE 1983: This is another American crime film, that was directed by Brian De Palma. This movie stared Al Pacino as Tony Montana who was a Cuban refugee who came to Miami in the 1980. Becoming a drug cartel kingpin during the cocaine boom in the 1980’s we see the life of Tony and his friends becoming world renowned drug dealers gaining major power and many enemies. This movie however created a lot of drama as the Cuban community said that it portrayed Cubans as criminals and drug traffickers. Soon later this movie became one of the most popular movies of all time.

4. GENRE RESEARCH THE DIRECTORS FRANCIS FORD COPPOLA: An American film director, producer and screen writer, Francis was born April 7 1939. known for being Hollywood’s most innovative and influential film directors. He was an director with unconventional ideas that challenged contemporary film-making. Francis Ford also won an Academy Award for Original Screenplay for a movie named Patton. However his directional flame raised with the release of The Godfather, this movie revolutionised movie making in the gangster genre. The godfather won three Academy Awards and was the reason why Francis became a prominent film director. After the success of The Godfather, Coppola followed it with a sequel The Godfather II which was also successful, becoming the first sequel to winning the Academy Award for Best Picture. Brian Russell De Palma: Another American film director and writer, known best for his suspense and crime thriller films. He is well known for Scarface, The untouchables and Mission Impossible. He was born September 11 1940in new jersey, America. During the 1960’s Palma started to make documentary films but his breakthrough came in 1970’s when he started making films in Hollywood. Martin Scorsese: Known for being an American film director, screen writer, producer, actor and film historian. Scorsese was born November 17 1942, in Queens, New York. During the 1990’s Scorsese founded the Film Foundation which was an organisation that was dedicated to film preservation. In 2007 he founded The World Cinema Foundation. Martin Scorsese has won multiple awards such as Academy Award, Palme d’Or, Emmys, Golden Globes, BAFTA’s and DGA A wards.

5. GENRE RESEARCH PUBLISHING.. CINEMA TRAILERS: People often go to the cinemas to experience watching movies at the peak of its entertainment. By showing trailers, it is an effective way of capturing the audiences attention as they have very little to focus on except the huge screen and loud sound in front of them. By watching a trailer in the cinemas we as the audience are automatically trapped into watching the movie when it comes out as the trailers sound and vision is enhanced in comparison to watching it at home on a regular screen. This is an effective way of advertising trailers as you gain all of your audiences attention. Most trailers that are shown in the cinemas are grouped specifically to the genre that you as the audience have gone to watch, by doing this, it makes it more effective as you are more likely to enjoy the trailers that they will preview. POSTERS: By producing posters of the upcoming movie, we see images of the main character that can often attract the target audience to see the movie. Posters create awareness as many people driving, walking by are likely to be attracted to these large posters that are plasted on huge billboards etc. Little information is put up on a poster, normally the release date and the characters names are written for people to see, again leaving the audience with vital information. TRAILERS VIA THE INTERNET: Internet trailers are often much smaller, known as a teaser trailer. These are normally around a minute long which shows a smaller version of the original trailer. Internet trailers often show a very small amount of the trailer allowing you to build a quick storyline of the film but not certainly know for sure. These are effective as these small teaser trailers can attract the target audience into watching the film just as effectively, by leaving unanswered questions the audience are more likely to use the internet to find the original trailer or do more research into finding information about the upcoming movie. By using places like YouTube, a well known website for searching videos, many people are able to search and find trailers easily.

6. We have chosen to use the following areas for our location to shoot as these are both local but also high classed areas in London. This fits the genre of our trailer, gangster. We have specifically chosen these places to show the high status life of our Mafia characters. These places are local which means they are easy accessible and will not cause distribution as we spend long hours filming. As these places are well established locations it will be beneficial for us to film there using wide, establishing and birds eye view shots to show the location. Within these locations, we have chosen to use places such as Westfield's car park, houses in Leytonstone, riverside scenes in the Docklands and Tall buildings in Canary Wharf. LOCATION RESEARCH