Crime GenreBy Johrul Haque

Props

For crime films the props play a major part. Props are essential because it shows the viewer what genre the film is. Most of the props that are involved in crime films are violent. For example in films like Adulthood, Kidulthood and Menace II Society, they use violent props like;

Weapons e.g. guns, knives

Drugs

Tools e.g. saw, hammer, screwdriver

Machete

Crow bar

Cars

Money

CostumeSimilarly as the props, costumes play a huge part in crime

films. For example, the criminal will be covering their face

most of the time so this means that they would have more

of a darker outfit rather than bright. For a low

budget/hoodlum film they may choose for the criminal to

wear a hooded jacket or fleece set. Whereas, in high

budget films like Godfather, they may wish to dress the

criminal up as an intelligent person wearing a tuxedo or

being smartly dressed.

Editing

A variety of editing techniques are used in these types of films.

For example if there is a drug exchange a shot reverse shot

would be used by the director to show there is a relationship

between both actors and they are having a conversation. Another

edit that may be used is parallel edit; this is an essential edit

because this shows two different things that are happening at the

same time. In crime films this may be used to show a criminal in

action and in another scene the police going to the crime scene.

An action match may also be used in a scene where and actor is

walking to a place where something big is going to happen.

Camerawork

There is a range of camera shots used in crime films. First

of all an extreme close up may be used on the criminals

face which allows the viewers to see details of their face

e.g. scars bruises or injuries. A close up may be used on

the actors’ hands. This will show the viewers what is in the

actors’ possession. In addition there will be a birds eye

view high angle shot, which will show the viewer the

location. Another shot that could be used may be an

extreme long shot this shot allows the viewers to see the

setting and mise en scene.

Sound

There are a variety of sounds that are included in

crime films. For example there may be an upbeat

tune if there is a police chase in addition there

will be sounds such as sirens, when there are

polices in the scene also there will be gunshots

which will emphasize violence in the scene.