The Rise In Gangster Film

Ever since the theater has been around people have flocked to go see movies because they touch them in a certain way or the film has a connection to a certain event that might have played a key role in their lives.  But the gangster genre was a little bit different then the rest of the film genres.  People were not normally notorious criminals like we see on the movies or television shows.  So when the organized crime film came out the cinema going audience was intrigued but not until the start of prohibition did the public flock to go see the likes of people that resemble John Dillinger or Al Capone.

After Capone and his men shot at the St. Valentines Day massacre the public wanted to indulge into gangster life.  They found the closest thing the living the real life of a gangster was to go see what they would produce in the cinema.  Once the gangster film started to catch on many different studios picked up the genre and started to cash in on the phenomenon know as gangster films.  There is one type of gangster that has been an underlying theme of society ever since gangster had come to the knowledge of society and that is the African American Gangster.

The best example of this movie would be that of American Gangster.  These African American kids would look up to these gangsters and idolize them.  When Frank calls his poverty family and tells them to move up into his mansion you begin to see why these kids would idolize an gangster over a business man.  His family moves from a small house to a huge one up on a hillside because of what Frank does.  The have shoes on their feet because what he is doing, and coming from nothing this would look like a very viable option for someone that did not come from very much which was Franks family.

Back when racism and prejudice still ran everything corporate there was no African Americans in the position of power, and as a matter of fact it is still very white male ran organizations.  You can see why this black gangster that has all of this nice stuff, can put money and food on the table could be idolized.  They live the dream that many of us Americans look as a lavish lifestyle.  So when you look at black gangsters I can almost see it as a societal problem and not as one of those of the African American community.  If the only options that they are given were to be poverty stricken their whole live or become a gangster and live a life you could only imagine which would you choose?

The fantasy of having things such as beautiful women, cars, money, and fame is a more common motive then many would like to believe.  These motives drive people to do unimaginable things even when they do have money, if your race had been oppressed for thousands of years and society was not to give you a shot at living the American dream the right way, why would you not reach out and grab for something you never though would be obtainable.  So I ask this question, Is the American Gangster to blame as a person? or is our whole society as American grounds a breed for gangsters that the cinema just helps us fantasize with?

References

Benshoff, H. M., & Griffin, S. (2004). America on film: representing race, class, gender, and sexuality at the movies. Malden, MA: Blackwell Pub..

Goines, D. (1991). Black gangster. Los Angeles, California: Holloway House Publishing Company

Scarface

The next film I would like to indulge into would be that of Scarface.  Tony Montana is Al Pacinos character who trys to live the American dream the only way he knows how, in the most viscous and violent way possible.  The violence and drugs in this movie are extremely apparent but I want to focus on the scene that I believe everyone that has ever seen or heard of gangster film has heard.  The famous words of Tony Montana "Say Hello To My Little Friend".

Throughout the whole movie Tony has a chip on his shoulder that someone always owes him something and that someone is always after him.  So throughout this movie you get an eery sense that something can always happen or might occur.  Sosa's men in this particular part of the movie break into Tony's compound which can be seen on the monitors in Tony's office foreshadowing what we all think is going to happen.  Tony is so high on cocaine that he is unaware of the events that are occurring around him while his men outside are getting slaughtered.

When we get into the scene Tony has finally realized that he is under attack and they have gotten inside of his house.  I want to look at the scene and analyze different aspects of the scene that I think makes this ending one of the best of all time.  First of all the clips going from outside the house showing the struggle on the outside of the house for power.  I love how we can see what is going on through the cameras as well, and in our minds have an idea of what already is going to happen to our villain.  Tony lived the American dream coming up from the slums but its not the right way to get the American dream so in the end as the audience we realize that Tony will end up paying for the way he has lived.

I also love the use of Tony's office in this scene and the colors that are involved with it.  The colors are very dark inside his office, the desk and all the furniture are black which gives the room an eery presence such as that this is his lair and it gives the room a dark feeling.  Also the other color in the room is a very dark red which to me either represents the color of blood or almost a color of fire which in turn makes me think about hell because of the bad things that he has done.  Such as the massive amount of cocaine that is on his desk and all over his suit as well.  The dark surroundings in the mansion give it a foreshadowing that everything is not going to end good.

You literally can not take your eyes off the screen when one person gets killed he turns to the staircase which is double sided and kills someone on the other side.  The staircase is like they are coming at him from all angles and his death is inevitable but he seems to keep hanging on.  We then see the part that Tony has not seen himself the quiet assassin that has snuck through the window to eventually end up behind him killing him.  I feel that the assassin is ironic in the point that he is finally getting killed from something that he never even saw coming.  This is one of my all time favorite ending and a very action packed one as well.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QTeN7jk-IJ8&feature=related

References

Mason, F. (2002). American gangster cinema: from Little Caesar to Pulp fiction. Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan.

Scarface (1983) - IMDb. (n.d.). The Internet Movie Database (IMDb). Retrieved December 5, 2011, from http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086250/

Shawshank Redemption

The next type of gangster film that I wanted to focus on was the type of Prison gangster films.  My favorite one that came to mind was the Shawshank Redemption which aired in 1994 with Morgan Freeman & Tim Robbins.  These types of movies are known to try and show hardship not only for the inmates but also show the hardships for the guards and even the almighty evil warden himself.  Being locked up in the big house isn't the only bad thing that happens in this time and I believe that this movie portrayed that very well.

The scene that I wanted to examine in this film takes place on the rooftop where the inmates are tarring the roof of the prison.  While doing this Tim Robbins the banker accused of killing his wife overhears the guards talking about taxes and the money that his brother had left him.  The guard then complains how the IRS will take most of the money that he gets from his brother and tax him for it.  When Tim Robbins character Andy hears this his mind begins to race, you can see it because he stops mopping the tar on and the camera zooms in on his face which you can see he wants to say something to the guards.

Morgan Freemans character Red, then looks at Andy and tells him to keep mopping the tar on the roof.  This shows the separation of class between the two because Andy thinks he still belongs with the outside world not the inmates.  It also shows the problems that the guards might have even being free men, and working they aren't blessed with some of the brain power that Andy has.  Andy then leverages his skills and offers to help the guard do his tax work so that the IRS won't touch it, and in return all he wants is some ice cold beer for the workers almost like breaking the barrier between the two.

The two things that I liked most about the scene was the costumes that were picked out by the director for the guards on top of the building.  When I looked at them first glance they almost look more of Nazis then prison guards and I think that was the effect he was going for because of the sternness of the guards themselves.  I also extremely like the camera angle of andy being held over the edge of the building because it gives you a feeling that he is now powerless to the guard and that the only way he will get out of this is by talking the guard down.  But when you look at the face of Andy he seems to have no fear of death and I believe that they wanted him like the because he knew that he was not supposed to be in the prison.

The hardship that comes with being in jail also shows that their is hardship outside of jail.  When some leave they go crazy because they can simple not cope with the freedom after being locked up for so long.  But one thing that the movie did show a lot of viewers that I believe I got from it was the notion of hope.  And never to give up hope even though you might be in a bad place there is always room for hope because you never know what can happen.  Below is the clip from the Shawshank Redemption.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w4oPFXWXaDE

References

King, S. (1994). The Shawshank redemption. New York: Penguin Books.

The Shawshank Redemption - overview. (n.d.). AMC Movie Guide. Retrieved December 5, 2011, from http://movies.amctv.com/movie/133417/Shawshank-Redemption/overview

American Gangster & Two Sides to the American Dream

We have all seen the tag at the beginning of the film Based on a True Story.  The best film that I believe that I have ever seen with this line is the film American Gangster which hit theaters in 2007.  The film divulges into different aspects of the american life that we can relate to one way or another.  A way that this film was put that will forever stick with me is that "there is two sides of the American dream".  There are no better words to describe this film that that.

Frank Lucas who is played by Denzel Washington takes over a drug ring on the streets of Manhattan.  This already plays into the hands of the audience because it takes place in a big city which happens to be New York, which also is considered the melting pot of the world.  Frank takes over the ring and begins to see flaws right away with the way the system is working and how their is a middle man in his whole operation trying to get heroin back to the United States.  Franks American dream is to own the drug market in the city of New York and will stop at nothing to accomplish this.  You begin to see his humble upbringing when he calls his family to come live with him from the poverty that they are living down south.

Richie Roberts who is played by Russel Crowe has a different idea in mind when it comes to his American dream.  In a society that is full of crooked cops he remains to stay honest and loyal to what he was sworn to do.  We see this is the very beginning when he forces his partner to turn in the money that they find in a vehicle.  We later see the corruptness of the New York police department when they take the heroin cut it, then sell it back to the drug ring to make more money off of it.  Richie also plays a cop that is trying to make it the right way in America by trying to work his way up in the system to become a lawyer, father, and a good police officer.  As you can see the two have differing views on what the American dream can be but are both family men trying to produce something for their family that they have never had before.

The movie ties into society at this time very well with the trip to Vietnam and the involvement of government officials at the time helping to transport drugs into America.  It also shows the other side of a divorced man with a child that is trying to further himself in his career but is hitting road bumps of not being able to spend enough time with his family and become in danger of losing his son.  In the end the two somehow figure that the are not so different from one another and Richie gets Frank to agree to help him take down all of the crooked government officials that he has been involved with for a decrease in jail time.  We all are entitled to a piece of the American Dream, these two just had a differing view of what it meant to have that piece of the American Dream.

References

Chepesiuk, R., & Gonzalez, A. (2007). Super-fly: the true, untold story of Frank Lucas, American gangster. NY, NY: Street Certified Entertainment.

IMDb - American Gangster (2007). (n.d.). The Internet Movie Database (IMDb). Retrieved December 5, 2011, from http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0765429

Boondock Saints Courtroom Scene

I have chosen to examine a scene from one of my favorite movies which is the Boondock Saints.  The movie itself came out in 1999 and the premise of the film was two Irish brothers taking justice into their own hands.  They do this by plotting and killing the organized crime of boston, within the movie the brothers face against the Italian Mafia along with the Russian Mafia.  Here is the scene from the final part of the movie where the brothers and their father have broken into the courtroom to finally execute the Italian Mafia crime leader in front of all of the media and all of his Mafia Family.

At the very beginning of this scene the Saints bust into the door and the camera jumps from each group of people, it goes from the saints, to the media, to the mafia up top.  The jump cuts from each of these groups creates a type of chaos that sets the tone for the scene because of their hit and run tactics that the saints have been known for.  You can also note the the Saints and their father are dressed in all black, this sets the tone for them being somewhat of an undertaker or executioner.

After the entrance has been established the camera shoots up to a couple with a tilted shot.  The shot looks like it is crooked but it is done intentionally this way so that the audience will get the feeling that the sequence is taking place at a fast pace and out of order.  The father then begins to speak to the crowd in the courtroom.  I think that it is interesting that they have decided not to wear masks to perform the execution and tell everyone to look up front, including the unsuspecting girl.  For me it means that they want everyone to see what they are doing for the greater good of people, and because of the lack of punishment handed out by law enforcement they will take it into their own hands.

The two brothers then jump and together give a speech to the crowd, in which the speech sounds like a reading of a prayer.  The camera is pointing upward towards them uses a swinging motion while each is giving their part of the encounter.  The camera then points to the crowd and uses the columns of the courtroom beams to protect them from the boondock saints which gives the audience a sense of fright that is occurring.

At the last part the three get together to end their statement with a prayer before the execution.  The camera then goes to the view of the two brothers hands which both have a tattoo one being "Aequitas" and the other being "Veritas" meaning "Truth & Justice".  Almost as if they are servants of god taking out a punishment that should be given.  The last part of the prayer goes from each character to say their final part of the speech, it then gives the final cap onto the punishment given out by the saints.

References

Boondock Saints Courtroom Speech- YouTube. (n.d.). YouTube - Broadcast Yourself.    . Retrieved December 5, 2011, from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKzM8xsQ5-U

The Boondock Saints (1999) - IMDb. (n.d.). The Internet Movie Database (IMDb). Retrieved December 5, 2011, from http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0144117/

 

Editing

Every single type of film will have a type of editing.  The style in which the editing is done will enhance the film in a certain way that the editor of the film will want to convey to the audience.  Continuity editing is the concept that the film is edited in a way that the characters within the shot can interact without the audience itself getting confused.  Every film has a type of editing and with each type of editing their are rules that must be applied to these editing shots.

The first rule of continuity editing is the 180 degree rule.  The camera can be set up in any direction within 180 degrees, if the camera breaks the invisible line the scene itself might become to complex or out of whack for the audience itself.  With the 180 degree you can see from character to character without getting confused within a conversation.  The scene will flow very well and the conversation will look seamless.  The point of this type of editing is for the audience not to be aware of the cuts from character to character.

Cross cutting is another type of editing that is very popular in film today.  The shots will show move from one event to another event seamlessly, making it look like the events are happening simultaneously.    Theses types of shots are usually used to create suspense, the shots will eventually shorten which helps create the suspense within the shot itself.  In certain scenes you see each character until they will eventually come to meet within the same place.

In many films their will be a montage which will incorporate many different aspects of the film, this will tie them into a short section of the film which will have short clips but elapse over a period of time.  The time that elapses can be anywhere from a few minutes, to even up to a couple of months or even years.  In this clip shows you a montage from the movie Goodfellas.  In this clip you see the gangsters take part in many illegal activities but it will also elapse over different periods of time.

Another type of editing technique is a Jump Cut.  Within a jump cut the scene will look very choppy and almost to the point where the video itself looks like a mistake.  Many directors will avoid the jump cut because it looks sloppy and will sometimes confuse the viewer or make the viewer have less interest in the film because of this shot but when used effectively the jump cut can be a very effective shot.  In this french film the Jump cut was used to perfection to display the conversation that is happening between the couple within the car.

 

As you can see there are many different ways that a director can use editing to further his films.  But if editing is done the wrong the film itself may become in jeopardy and look very unprofessional.  Personally my favorite of these types of editing is montage, it can give you so much detail and depth into the background of the film and indulge you deeper into the film.  There are many types of editing we have just only grazed the surface of editing, but when you watch a movie thoroughly it will amaze you to see the types of editing portrayed and how it contributes to the film. 

References

Editing. (n.d.). Yale University. Retrieved December 5, 2011, from classes.yale.edu/film-analysis/htmfiles/editing.htm

Moura, G. (n.d.). Types of Transition | Editing. Elements of Cinema | A Student's Guide to the Fundamentals of Filmmaking. Retrieved December 5, 2011, from http://www.elementsofcinema.com/editing/types-of-transition.html

"The Shot"

Even though this is a Gangster Film blog "the shot" is not what you think it might be.  The shot refers to the way a movie is filmed.  There are many different ways that films could be shot and the ways that they are shot have a huge impact on the film itself.  Some shots are very hard to take and others are much easier, the more complex the shot is the more complex the scene may become.  The shot in itself can make or break a movie because it can either indulge the audience even further into the movie or it can distract them away from the important things within the film.

On of the main parts of the getting the perfect shot is making sure to use the shot composition effectively.  When shot composition is used correctly the scene within the film can look brilliant.  There are some main things that shot composition uses the make sure that the shot is useful to the audiences pleasure.  Most importantly the shot should be used to the fullest, if there is empty space in the shot it is deemed as confusing or useless.  If I were to be watching a film where they were standing in a field with nothing extra I would begin to lose focus on that film.  Also by placing objects within the scene you can create depth of the picture itself.  If a room in a shot was empty the viewer of the film would have no perception of the setting that the characters are in.  By placing objects in the front, middle, or the back of the shot it begins to give a viewer a glimpse into the surrounding that the characters would be in while in that specific setting.

One of the most difficult shots to make in a film is the "long" shot.  A long shot is a uninterrupted shot which usually takes a couple minutes to get through.  The long shots are not edited with so you can imagine how difficult that these shots are to make perfect.  Everything must go right in a long shot or the whole shot must be done again, this is why the long shot is not used widely by directors because you can imagine the time that it would take to perfect a shot like this.  Long shots if used correctly can help build suspense in a film, or it can create a dramatic effect in which keeps the viewer on the edge of their seats.  Like this clip from A Touch of Evil, the long shot has so many aspects that must go right for the opening of the film to go right.

As you can see from the clip these shots take careful directing and shooting to make sure the right shot is seen by the viewer.  In this opening a crane was used to film this long shot.  The framing and use of space is crucial to the overall success of a movie, if the film does not used the correct shot or type of shot the audience view of the film may be skewed from that of what the director was trying to portray to the audience.  After researching into the "long" shot the clip from A Touch of Evil is absolutely brilliant, I can only imagine how much time and effort went into making that shot so dramatic and suspenseful.

Film Composition - Film School Online. (n.d.). Film Production Overview - Film School Online. Retrieved November 30, 2011, from http://production.4filmmaking.com/cinematography7.html

Film Glossary. (n.d.). Rice University -- Web Services. Retrieved November 30, 2011, from http://www.owlnet.rice.edu/~engl377/film.html