Film Language Task 1

Donnie Brasco is an academy award nominated 1997 film, by Mike Newell, starring Al Pacino, Michael Madsen and Johnny Depp. It is based in New York during the 1970s. Also it was distributed by Sony Corporation.

The characters in the poster are wearing jackets. Joe Pistone (Johnny Depp) is wearing a leather jacket which in the period of time of the film was for younger people. Also Lefty Ruggiero's (Al Pacino) jacket is more sophisticated which may show he is the older of the two.

There is low key lighting which shows darkness. This further connotes danger as most crime such as murder occurs during night. Also there is a spotlight on the two characters which represents a significance of them to the film as the light is focused only on them.

The lighting leads on to the actors. This is because as there is not much light people focus more at the characters expressions. Especially the man at the front as he is right in the centre. Their expressions provide a sense of seriousness and hate. This assists the audience to identify that there is conflict in this film.

There is not much make up used in this poster. Nevertheless there is a lot of detail on the character's faces. Also the lighting used on Ruggiero's face doesn't allow the audience to see his eyes. This may be done so they are unable to guess his true feelings and exactly what he is looking at.

The only real props that can be noticed with the exception of clothing is the end of a brick wall that the two characters are standing next to. This may suggest they have just come out of an alley or a dead end. This also comes under setting. By placing the characters here this allows the audience to make assumptions about what they have just done. Also as the lighting is dark it may assume there was violence and crime going on as most people may predict this in a dark alley.

The typography for the title is simple and spaced out. It is red to connote blood, danger and death. Therefore this allows the audience to identify the genre as by taking everything into account. Such as knowing that Al Pacino consists as a main character this gives the impression it is a gangster genre. In addition by stating it is based on a true story the audience will think that everything that occurs in this movie can happen in the real world. Therefore it makes it more meaningful to the audience and more fear. This also creates more interest from people who know about the true story.