Research into similar products

 What genre? - Thriller 

What sub-genre? - crime thriller 

Similar products: 

 

Movie	TV show	Video games
The gentlemen	Lilyhammer	Godfather
The Irishman

 

 

The Gentlemen    

 

Studio: Miramax 

Director: Guy Ritchie 

Cast: Matthew McConaughey, Charlie Hunnam, Michelle Dockery 

Year: 2020 

 

The Irishman 

 

 

Studio: TriBeCa Productions Sikelia 

Director: Martin Scorsese 

Cast: Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, Joe Pesci 

Year: 2019 

Lilyhammer 

 

 

Studio: Rubicon TV, Renegade TV 

Creators: Eilif Skodvin, Anne Bjørnstad 

Cast: Steven Van Zandt, Trond Fausa, Steinar Sagen 

Year: 2012-2014 

 

The Godfather (Video games) 

 

Developer: EA Redwood Shores 

Director: Peter Mitchell Rubin 

Cast: Marlon Brando, Robert Duvall, James Caan  

Year: 2006 

 

How the products are similar to my opening title sequence: 

 

The Gentleman 

The gentleman shares a lot of conventions with the concept of my opening title sequence. One of these conventions being costume, lighting and props. The costumes in the gentleman are very smart and very British with signet rings and correctly fitted suits. 

 

These costumes present the same connotations that my group and I are setting out to accomplish, with the smart appearance showing power and wisdom is many ways as well as separating them from street level criminals who would look more like the stereotypical gangster, whereas these old money Mafia family type gangsters being presented here in the gentleman as well as in our sequence show class and how they take pride in their appearance, furthermore these costumes also reflect the money involved with these organised crime groups. The props used are also very similar due to the use of guns and cars, this is almost identical to the main point of our opening sequence being guns and cars. Moreover, the lighting is quite light in many places, this is similar to how we wish to film some opening shots of our sequence as it acts as a connotation of wealth and stability, this is a juxtaposition to the reality of these criminals as they are constantly under threat. 

The gentleman also shares a location with my opening sequence, as they are both based in the UK, the events happening in the gentlemen are relevant to my project. The history of organised crime in the Uk has a long history this is most likely the basis of the gentlemen and is the basis of my project. Although my sequence will be filmed inside a car the style of old English manors and country houses will still be present in my sequence. 

 

 

The Irishman 

The Irishman also shares lots of conventions with my opening sequence, one of these conventions being the narrative. The shared narrative being related to how people get caught up with organised crime. In my sequence Jason gets involved with a mafia and results in him being killed, this is like the Irishman as the truck driver gets involved with crime families. 

 

This is a key similarity as; this is not just a film about these crime families but instead about people get tangled up in these situations and how they are manipulated. This is like my group and I’s opening sequence as the opening scene is a flash forward to Jason being killed who was not originally in the mafia but got tangled into it though undercover work. Although these two scenarios are different, they are still very similar regarding the overall narrative of the Irishman and what our sequence would be if we were able to make the whole text into a film.  

The second similarity between my group and I’s opening sequence and the Irishman is camera techniques. In the Irishman there are many clever camera techniques that anchor the scene in place, they used things such as camera movement to give the illusion of no operator and giving the feel of the film a hint that there is no living observer present. This is important as both my sequence and the Irishman are presenting themes of organised crime and unknown people to the public; this neutral way of filming helps to convey that idea of an almost secret society. 

 

I will adopt similar techniques on my day of filming as I would like my opening sequence to have this effect on the audience. At my school where I will be filming my sequence, we do not have these types of huge dollies, as well as the fact that 90% of the sequence will be filmed inside a car, this means we will have to adopt this technique in a new way, by slowly tracking characters with a neutral feel to have this effect though the connotations of these conventions. 

 

Lillyhammer 

Lilyhammer also shares many conventions with my opening sequence, as a mafia based tv series based in Norway, there are clear differences between the nature of the tv series and my group and I’s opening sequence. One similarity being theme, the general theme of lilyhammer is a runaway New York mobster, although in a Tv series there is time to progress ideas, themes and narratives. This considered it is hard to relate the two as in my opening sequence there is not much of a progression and the audience is left not really knowing what’s going on to interest them to watch the rest of the film if it was ever made. The theme being this idea of a runaway mobster who is an old wise guy, this relates to the final boss in our sequence as he is an old wise mafia boss who in terms of the audience's perspective could be anywhere as he is displayed as very mysterious for clear reasons. Also, the theme of the depiction of the wealth involved in these organised crime organisations Is closely linked to my sequence as they both will have suggestions of huge wealth. Moreover, the theme of death is also consistent though both texts as it’s a big part of the mob and crime in general, linked to the greed of mankind. 

 

The second similarity between the tv series Lilyhammer and my opening sequence is the editing techniques. Through research on the series, I can see that use the rule of thirds to determine status within the sequence. As can be seen above in both photos the character is directly in the canter of the screen as this focuses the whole series on him and reminds the audience who they should be looking at. This is something my group and I are aiming to do within our opening sequence, as we feel that the clip we are aiming to make is so short and has little dialogue that it may be hard from the audiences point of view to recognise who has the higher status in the scenes and hoe that is relevant, this is why we would like to use techniques such as the rule of thirds to make this element very clear. 

 

The Godfather (video game) 

The godfather video game has many similarities with my opening sequence as it is a video game based upon the mafia and the film ‘The Godfather’. As it is based on the same idea then my opening sequence one of the similarities is the Characters.  

 

The characters in this game are based around real mafia/mob members, as you can see on the left the photo of the gangster includes a Triple breasted suit, this is in fact the same type of suit that we have for Dave, one of the members of our cast that will play Jason, the main character. in the scene. This shows how the Godfather although a video game shares lots of conventions with my opening sequence even though it’s a film clip, this helps us determine our target audience and see how other similar products present these types of characters and other stereotypes attached to them.