Tracing the Mundane Life of Gangsters

The proposed documentary drama film, 'The Gang Life', aims to humanize gangsters by showcasing their ordinary lives beyond sensationalized portrayals. The film will explore the psychological aspects of criminal behavior, highlighting the extraordinary talents and intellects of criminals. Through a non-linear storytelling approach, the film will use dramatic recreations, sound bites, and cutaways to create a visually engaging experience. The marketing plan includes showcasing the film at world cinema festivals, investigative channels, YouTube, and social media platforms.

Running Head: THE TRUNCATED PITCH FOR THE DOCUMETORY “THE GANG LIFE”
Name
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Running Head: THE TRUNCATED PITCH FOR THE DOCUMETORY “THE GANG LIFE”
Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
Synopsis...........................................................................................................................................2
Visual Style and Treatment Note.....................................................................................................3
Suggested Audience and Marketing Plan........................................................................................3
The USP of the Film........................................................................................................................4
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Running Head: THE TRUNCATED PITCH FOR THE DOCUMETORY “THE GANG LIFE”
Introduction
“The literature mirrors society,” when we transform the same literature into a visual and script
and take the support of audiovisual tools to enhance the mood of a story. These efforts can
convert the same literature can also act as a virtual tour in some dark alleys of the world where
most of the people do not want to visit because they are scared.
The entertainment industry primarily thrives on the feel good factor of the viewers; sometimes a
disturbing film or a documentary drama can give them this impression that they are living a
better life or the “life is beautiful.” My proposed documentary drama film “The Gang Life” is an
attempt on these lines where I will portray some real life stories of the Gangsters and churn out
the emotions of pathos in the otherwise sensational life of these individuals. With the help of this
film, I will try to coat the message of criminal reform in the package of information and
entertainment and make it “mass friendly” and commercially viable for the reach and revenues.
Synopsis
The crimes that had been done out of the passion become an industry after a point of time. This
cluttered industry forms an underworld in various localities and finally one fine day the truth
prevails, authorities’ flushes out the underworld players. Names of the gangs and Gangsters keep
on changing but this methodology never changes. The film that we have in our hands is an
attempt to figure out an answer for this question under the light of the life of the subjects that we
are going to encounter during the course of this bold and behind the scene journey of the crime
world.
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Running Head: THE TRUNCATED PITCH FOR THE DOCUMETORY “THE GANG LIFE”
This docudrama film will open with a prolog where we will talk about the contemporary
portrayal of the gangster in various mass mediums like film screens and News channels. We will
talk about the glorification of these characters, how Cinema added a passion and glamor into the
life of these people.
The primary lessons of criminal psychology give us this indication that criminals are
extraordinary people, they are talented and acquire more IQ then an average person involved in a
nine to five job, it this enough to glorify a person? Just because he has a set of criminal activities
under his belt, it never means that he or she is a superior human being. In the current society, we
have two types of storytellers, a bunch of them tells us stories from the point of view of the
champions of justice and social causes. While the others portray criminals in a glorified, light
and establish them as superior human beings. The current film is an attempt to bring out the
ordinariness of the life of hard-core criminals and establish them as ordinary human beings
facing some extraordinary situations in life.
The story will unfold itself with a dramatic recreation of a crime scene where the protagonist of
the film will share is experience after committing a crime. We will try to capture his anger and
remorse over the issues. After taking his point of view, our story will move forward to collect the
point of views of the other sections of the society and experts. After the primary prolog, we will
discuss the life of these gangsters based on various topics. Finally, the film will talk in the terms
of criminal reforms and the legalities associated with it. This film will end with a message where
society and war of classes will emerge as the villain behind the misery of the gangsters.
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Running Head: THE TRUNCATED PITCH FOR THE DOCUMETORY “THE GANG LIFE”
Visual Style and Treatment Note
The storytelling of this film will move in a non-linear fashion, we will supply the adequate
pieces of information with the help of cutaways, dramatic recreations and sound bites. In order to
increase the visual variety in the film, we will also overlap the visuals of the places and faces as
and when possible.
The film follows the structure of Voice Over tool followed by a narrator and other recreations. In
order to create a distinction of time in the film, we will employee two color tone in the film. The
present part of the film will follow a gray tone and past recreations will be depicted in Sepia
tone. This type of a distinction is important to win the confidence of the viewers and create a
visual ease for them.
Right now, we are planning to use all the dramatic recreations with the help of Russian tilt and
other angles. We will also use “on the shoulder camera shots instead of static shots. This
movement of the camera will also create a disturbance like feeling. The overall lighting of the
characters will be done with the help of mood lighting effects. We will also employee the
shadow play technique as well. This technique is very effective in capturing the suspense
elements.
It will help us in create the mood of disturbance in the head of the viewers. The editing pattern
of the film will also follow the scheme of abrupt cutting patterns. We are planning to create a
haunting tune for the montages, which will appear in the film from time to time. As a summation
to the treatment note, we can say that we are going to follow the camera angles of legendary film
Maker Alfred Hitchcock. These angles will create an ideal contrast to the theme of our film
where we are going to celebrate the ordinariness of our mundane life.
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Running Head: THE TRUNCATED PITCH FOR THE DOCUMETORY “THE GANG LIFE”
Suggested Audience and Marketing Plan
I am conceptualizing this film for a universal audience, I wish to refrain from the scenes of
extreme blood and gory as they can put down some limiting factor in the terms of the audience
group. Since a major part of this documentary, drama caters to the sources that can be considered
as the non-fiction sources, I am not very sure of certain elements of the film that how they will
shape up. A bit of bloodshed, extreme violence, and scenes in explicit nature can be introduced
as per the demand of the narrative.
I am planning to produce this film for three major venues, first it will be showcased in the
panorama screen of world cinema, second it will be shown on investigative channels like
Discovery investigations etc and finally, I am also looking up to YouTube and other social media
sites for the purpose of consistent revenue.
As far as the active marketing plan is considered, I would like to follow the traditional path of
the publicity first and marketing later. A film on the life of a gangster is always a big draw and I
am optimistic that social interest section of media will acknowledge the positive social intentions
behind this film and give us the desired coverage.
It is my personal tribute to the ordinariness and simplicity of mundane life that we are living
With the help of this film, I wish to garner a tribute to the ordinariness of our mundane life. I
would like to refer to a Hollywood film under the name “ A Long kiss Goodnight” this film
depicts a person suffering from retrograde amnesia, where a dumb protagonist discovers that she
is a secret agent with FBI and has some extraordinary powers.
The journey of the protagonist in this film takes us on a trip where we start feeling that kick that
what if we achieve these extraordinary powers all of a sudden. The current film follows a reverse
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Running Head: THE TRUNCATED PITCH FOR THE DOCUMETORY “THE GANG LIFE”
approach, here a gangster; a face behind a heinous crime is searching out for mundane life
because mundane life has many pleasures associated with it. I wish to create an emotional
journey with the help of this film where we can celebrate the fact that we are living an ordinary
life and we are blessed because ordinary life has more peace in comparison with the thrilling
endeavors that can bring us in front of the law.
The USP of the Film
With the help of this film, I will try to create a journey for the protagonist who is seeking for an
opportunity to reform him and he wants to become a part of the mainstream society, which is not
ready to accept him. Quite ironically, some sections of the same society forced him to become a
criminal and they are still enjoying a normal status in the society.
On a broader level, this film will also raise a soul-searching issue associated with the legal
system. Our criminal procedure acts identify the crime, criminal and weapons. They sometimes
consider extraordinary circumstances in which a person commits the crime. However, on most of
the occasions, these procedures ignore the reason behind the crime.
It might sound a little far-fetched but the fact remains, every bloodshed murder of mass killing
triggers from a white-collar crime. Our society always considers the act of brutality as a supreme
sin, but nobody points a finger towards the white-collar crimes that are the root cause.
This film will also carry an undertone of this statement where we will try to expose the
weaknesses of the legal system and social fabric of the society which is causing a big gap for
social justice and criminals are taking the support of crime to fill in that big gap.
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