Equilibrium in Crime films

Equilibrium

The godfather:

Goodfellas starts with no equilibrium it begins with an anaerobic narrative in which a man gets brutally stabbed by a thug who in which kidnapped him and put him in his boot. There is a short break after this scene but soon after the main character creates his own disruption of the equilibrium as he begins taking part in illegal activity soon after being released from prison. His finances hit rock bottom and therefore he began dealing cocaine. There is a recognition of distribution of the equilibrium when the main character realises that he is being followed by a police helicopter. At the end of the film there is a new equilibrium in which the ain character is dropped of all previous charges.

Pulp fiction:

Pulp fiction is another gangster film in which complete averts todorovs narrative theory of the 5 structured stages of equilibrium. This is because there is no state of equilibrium at the start of the film and as a matter of fact there is hardly any moments of equilibrium throughout the film. A forking path is used throughout the film as there are many smaller stories giving clues to uncover the main story. Anachronic narrative is also used as the start is a part of the ending.

Pulp Fiction trailer Analysis

Pulp Analysis

Generic conventions

Generic Conventions 23.9.15

Legends film trailer analysis

Legend trailer

Legend is a gangster film based on the two famous gangsters “The crays”. The trailer opens with an establishing shot in which shows the setting of a bar. Bars and pubs are common conventions in gangster films, this is denoted in the shot as in the background we can see around 50 tough, well dressed , classy men who look like gangsters from the 1900’s. The trailer also opens with synchronous sound. The non diegetic music is played synergitcally to an attractive young female shaking her hips on stage. This links to the male gaze theory as men will want to see this film in order to get glmises of the attractive women characters. A jump cut is then used as the trailer jumps to a zolly of a close up of one of the main characters. The character is well dressed and looks to be wearing an expensive tuxedo. This denotation is the high quality clothing he is wearing, this connotes he is a wealthy man and that gangsters in his time had class.

Diagetic sound is used as the same character is asked by his female guest if he “likes being a gangster” the non diagetic sound then turns Asynchronous and another jump cut is used switching the scene to a more dark and gloomy setting in which see a dark figure lurking through a gloomy tunnel. The audience can vagly make out the character is wearing one of them luxury tuxedos from the previous scenes which leave the audiences wondering who these gangsters really. The non diagetic sound in this scene turns a lot tenser and time lapping is used when the character slowly walks through the tunnel. This connotes that something bad is going to happen in the film and that this character may possibly have something to do with it. The camera in this scene stays static and does not move throughout the characters short walk through the darkness

The scene then changes to another establishing shot of London during an evening sun set. Non diagetic sound is placed over this shot of a voice over introducing the audience to the main characters in the film. The scene then jumps to a medium close up of the two main characters sitting in the back of a car. The fact they are being driven by somebody e could connote that gangsters in that  day and age were very controlling and often got what they wanted. The two characters are very authentically dressed , both are once again wearing classy and luxury tuxedos with their hair very neatly combed over, this connotes that gangsters did still care about the way they looked and that they want to show off to people the income they earn from there illegal on doings.

The next part of the trailer introduces us to the violence and serious gangster aspects of the movie. Synchronies sound is used in this part of the trailer as the music changes its intensity after every punch, which is thrown, and after every bottle smashed over someone’s head. At this part of the film a steady cam has been used as the cameraman is following the gangster round as he assaults numerous people in the bar he is in.

The next shot shows one of the twins looking out of a massive window in which opens a perfect view of the city of London. The connotation of this long establishing shot could be that the gangsters are meant to be in charge of the city. The denotation of them looking down at people through the window of a very tall building connotes that they are the top dogs and people should look up to them.

Throughout the rest of the trailer the typical conventions of a gangster, thriller film are continued. Colours such as grey and black are used more often than not in this trailer, this connotes that the film is a dark mysterious film in which is filled with large amounts of danger and possible death. The colour red is also used rather frequently in the trailer in which connotes that in the film there will be themes of danger, blood and death but also themes of love and possible betrayal.

The trailer finishes with numerous parallel sound during gun shots.. Head butts and fist fights. The speed in which the non-diegetic sound is at increases drastically through out the last 30 seconds of the trailer. The trailer also ends after a montage containing some sneak peaks of the action and fighting scenes in which they will get to see in the full film. This will cause the audience to go and watch the movie as they will know from the trailer of how dramatic and entertaining the film is.

Continuity Editing 

The 180 degree rule is when the camera only stays one side of a 180 degree when filming things such as conversations this rule is an essential rule in the media industry as if you record a conversation but decide to cross 180 line characters eyes will not line up and it will look like the characters are sitting in the same place.

 This picture shows the 180 degree rule 

The shaded blue part of the the picture the half in which the camera must stay through out the whole scene the camera can  move anywhere In this section but cannot cross the axis of action

If the camera man does indeed want to change to the other side of the line he must record this transformation and include in the scene. if he wants to move back to the other side, he must do the same again.

Please view the video at the bottom for a detailed explanatiation






Match on action is another rule in which gives the viewer a much bigger picture of what is happening in the scene. match on action is when a editor cuts from one shot to another view that matches the first shots action. This is commonly used when someone is walking up to a door and pushes the door handle. The camera angle will change twice but the actor will keep action throughout

This image shows the match on action technique being used. As you can see from the image the camera and shot angle changes three time through out the scene even though the character is performing the same thing.

Please click the link below to see a detailed example and explanation of match on action

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mv93covb53w

Shot reverse shot is the third rule. this is a rule in which a character is shown to be looking down at another character. The other character is then shown looking back at the other character. This makes the viewer assume that they are looking at each other. Shot reverse shot is used to deemphasise transitions between shots, so the spectator perceives one continuous action.. Shot reverse shot is an example of eye line match.

This image shows two characters having a conversation as you can see the cameras have been placed in similar positions to the cameras in the 180 degree rule therefore it looks the characters are making direct eye contact and actually having a conversation. the same rules apply to this rule if the camera crosses the line.

The video below shoes and explains shot reverse shot and how vital it is when characters are having a conversation.

180 degree video