Conventions of Gangster Films

Themes and Guns

Violence is a main theme in all gangster movies I don't think you could have a gangster movie without violence.

Power is a main theme in gangster films as in most of the films they do what ever they can to achieve more power than the people around them

Betrayal and loyalty are themes often associated with gangster films, mob films in particular see betrayal as a big thing as the gangster in this film are often very loyal to their boss.

Gangster films will always, always have guns whether guns are used to kill someone or for protection (if there is even a difference between the two) it doesn’t matter because with guns will almost always come blood and violence.

Money, Cigarettes And Suits

Money is a main thing in gangster movies it is ALL ABOUT THE MONEY! It is used to show wealth and whose control, the one with the money is the one with the power. Some gangster films are about jewellery and gem heists which is also linked to the money theme.

All the men in gangster movies generally wear suits and give off a sort of professional look, occasionally with the suits they will also wear hats.

There will always be several gangsters which smoke if not all of them with the bosses generally smoking cigars to show that they’re higher than the rest but this is not always the case.

Other featuresWomen are never main character in gangster films and are often perceived in the traditional way of being weaker than men and are often used in gangster films as sex symbols

The colour red is used a lot in gangster films it represent blood and violence which are main themes of gangster movies. Some opening sequences use red for the colour of their credits this is probably to keep with the theme of red being violent therefore it will be a violent movie.

Gangster films are often set in cities or urban areas, and usually have quite low level lighting compared to films of other genres.

Shot Types

Two shots are used in scenes where the director wants us to understand the what the relationship between two certain characters are, and if they are on good terms with each other.

Mid shots with just one character and a straight on camera angle tend to show you who is boss, or who is of a higher rank of importance.

Trunk shots are also used quite often, these are used to make us empathise with the victim as they are seen as weaker in these scenes due to the low angle. Tarantino often uses trunk shots in his movies