conventions of the crime film!

There are six main conventions of the crime genre which are :

• Film Noir
• American Gangster
• Detective 
• Spy
• Police 
• Action 

Each of these have their own uniqueness which i will go through to help get a feel of the differences within each convention.



Film Noir

The main thing you will notice about Film Noir is that, all of their movies are in black and white! (or also known as 'low key'). They are usually based in cities and focus on the higher class, posh characters. The Film Noir films usually also include sex scenes or focus on sexiness, with the women tending to be very attractive and beautiful. They have few minorities; such as black people, where the films are fulfilled with racism and stereotypes. Film Noir is very anti hero, with the men usually being detectives. Film Noir movies also have a use of voice over, such as a Narrator.
The two films i looked at for this convention was Sunset boulevard and Gilda.






American Gangster 

This type of convention is; well, American! With characters having very strong accents and the filming dark and shadowed. The characters tend to have suits, slick hair and mustaches, carrying brief cases or what looks like a violin case. They always tend to have desks within their films, with the 'big man' sitting there with something less fearless, which i found was a cat? this is confusing why would such a scary fearless man have something as pathetic and small as a cat? It gives the sense that maybe the gangsters are just an act. American Gangster films are developed around sinister actions of criminals or gangsters, particularly bankrobbers, underworld figures, or ruthless hoodlums who operate outside the law (corrupt), stealing and violently murdering their way through life. One of the greatest films which suits this convention is 'The Godfather'. 


Detective

This type of convention is based on upper class characters in the country side which are usually rich from an inheritance. It is usually period type and their costumes reflect on the upper class character because of their dresses and corsets and posh suits with bow ties. Detective films usually have a Narrator, which is in fact the detective. The detective introduces the suspects which relates to the audience because it gets us thinking by leaving clues and having enigma. The detective is usually 'different', by having mustaches, being foreign and not dressed like they are within the police. The image on the left is what we imagine a detective to look like in their own quirky way. 
The film i looked at for this convention was The Maltese Falcon. 


Police

 Police crime films aren't that different within britain and america. I looked at two different police films such as "hot fuzz" a British film and "starsky and Hutch" an American film.  These police films are by far more modern than the previous conventions. The first thing we notice about 'Hot fuzz' is that they have a uniform!  They wear the police uniform, including badges, a hat and handcuffs. However, 'Starsky and Hutch' are more less formal and don't wear one, but they still have a badge. Its also legal for them to carry round a gun because they act within the law. When we think of police, we think of fat and lazy characters who take everything in their stride and   

always come as a pair (they always have a partner). Police movies can be based in any location, wether its a city or  a country side. Police films also use narrative, with the characters introducing themselves. The two images on the left, who the differences between the two types of police within these films. 










Action
Action films are more physical, upbeat and energetic than the other conventions and make the audience feel nervous. They are usually fulfilled with one or more heroes which are required to challenge themselves in a series of fights, chases and rescues. They often involve destructive disasters like explosions, natural disasters, floods, and fires, etc. During a class lesson i watched a clip from the movie Lethal Weapon, below is a video trailer of this movie, and you can see by watching it how it creates tension for the audience and how it grabs attention from the amount of action there is within it. Action films can be quite graphic, in terms of fighting, gun use and violence. 







Spy

I have left the spy conventions to last because this is in fact the convention that my group and i have chosen to use for our film! 
Spy films tend to be more modern, upbeat and have a lot of action within them. I like this sub genre because it creates intensity. Spy films are quite often british and include extreme violence and often used free running. We usually find that the spy is someone that never loses and someone you want to trust. The spy is always one step ahead and smart and is ALWAYS the hero! The spy films have a wide range of guns, gadgets, cars and women. Spy films also have a use of flashbacks, which creates different aspects of the film and makes it more interesting. One of the main spy films which most of us have heard of  is James Bond, who is a spy but also a murderer. 
He is a good representation of the spy convention because he shoes the 'average' spy what we expect; having gadgets, weapons, cars and lots of women.