Conventions of the Crime Film

In class we discussed different conventions of film for difference crime sub genres. This was so we could be sure of what we would have to include in our film based on the type of sub-genre we wanted to pursue. We looked at a number of different films representing different sub-genres of crime. These were;

1. Sunset Boulevard (Film Noir) - As with any classic Film Noir film the first major convention that Sunset Boulevard contains is a voice over from the male lead of the movie. Voice over's in Noir are often used to reveal a mystery that will be unfolded by the end of the film, they often depict the classic hard-boiled male lead from their carefully chosen words and they are great for creating instance suspense and atmosphere. Other conventions of Film Noir is the upper class settlements, a usual core factor in Film Noir is money and the want for money, the upper class living environment embodies the want for money in the film. Another core convention of Film Noir is the ever seductive and deadly Femme Fatale, a Femme Fatale is normally the true antagonist of a Film Noir film not that this is normally revealed until the very end of the film.
2. Scarface (American Gangster) - The first notable convention of an American Gangster film is the stereotypical Italian accent the characters have, this is a recognizable conventions that viewers relate to this sort of film. The usage of silhouettes is a convention of the American Gangster film that not everybody may notice, using silhouettes is a great technique in any film as it creates an instant mystery and intense feel to the film. The low key lighting used in these films is another classical convention, it gives the film an overall dark complexion that is sinister, something that can be related to the characters of the film. 
3.  Casino Royal (Spy) - The spy movie is often full of high tech equipment, which is also a James Bond movie convection as well as being a Spy movie convention. The idea of the main character having a sense of Foresight, the character seems to know everything that is going to happen before it happens, usually while the viewers are completely ignorant to what will happen next. This leads to exciting twists in the film where the main lead is able to over come an obstacle thought impossible due to their sense of Foresight. Also a convention of spy movies are a very good looking male spies (this is specially a James Bond convention) the men are normally in top physical condition and are very seductive and appealing in how they look and their mannerisms. 
4. Hot Fuzz (Crime Parody) - The Crime Parody film normally plays on the usage of stereotypes, this can be seen in films such as Starksy & Hutch where the characters dress sense is very extreme stereotype of the period they were in. Hot Fuzz doesn't follow this convention to the key but it does follow other Crime Parody conventions such as the partnership of a very serious character and a more comedic character. Another convention is sometimes the revelation of the killer, in Crime Parody films the killer normally turns out to be a person/persons who you wouldn't think possible, normally its for comedic effect over plot twist. 

We had originally planned to do a film noir are piece for our project, the early plans for the piece where promising but a difficult team member caused problems which meant we had to change our plans and in the end we decided upon a Detective/Interrogation genre for our opening sequence.