Kwame Mensah-Sarpong: Question 1 - In what ways does yout media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

We used the conventions of the British gangster genre in a very straightforward way.

The narrative follows a very conventional storyline as it is about a young gangster trying to scale the heights of his “profession.” This is also seen in films like Rock’n’Rolla, Layercake and Snatch. We did this to allow the audience to easily identify the films as a British Gangster film. If this was a real media product, this would ensure it commercial success by making its promotional package more accessible to the audience.

The movie poster consists of our main character, Barry White; from a low angle shot makes him look intimidating. This emphasises the idea that he has been through a journey to get to this stage which. This can be seen in other gangster posters like Rock’n’Rolla, and Snatch. This is something that will enable audiences to identify it as a British gangster film. This ensures that its commercial success as it will be able to reach audiences.

The magazine front cover enforces the isolation of our character and encourages our product to be able to emerge into other independent streams of the media. This enables us to reach other audiences ensuring commercial success as it is the main feature of the magazine. Due to the intriguing image that has been displayed on the front cover; this will make audiences want to explore the genre of British Gangster.

The editing in the trailer is a main convention of British Gangster films as we have enabled the fast editing to emphasise the tension that is in the film through the extreme violence and action that will take place in the movie.

The voiceover used in the trailer invites the audience to feel what our main character, “Barry White” is feeling and what his problems are. It also invites the audience to see how he is able to solve those problems.