Wednesday, 4 May 2011
Sunday, 3 April 2011
Vladimir Propp's theory in 'The Beach'
The film i have chosen to apply Vladdimir Propp's theory to is 'The Beach'. Vladimir Propp believes that the characters in a film can be broken down into 8 types and from this i have found most of them can be shown in 'The Beach'.
The film is about a backpacker named Richard who is willing to risk his life for just the mind blowing rush you can get only from braving the ultimate adventure. But on a secret, deceptivly perfect beach, he soon discovers that as the level of intensity rises and the stakes climb higher, desire grows stronger... and danger grows deeper.
The 8 character roles:
The first of these is the Hero who is in the film, Richard, played by Leonardo DiCaprio, he is the main character and can be shown as the hero as he is the one who gets the two people he is travelling with to the island and beach and is the one who leads the way, also, he encounters a shark attack and manages to kill the shark and shares the story to everyone and tey think of him as a hero for doing this.
There is also the donor, who in the film is Daffy, played by Robert Carlyle, he is the one who gives Richard the map to find the beach and without the map, Richard would not have known about the beach and the film would not have gone anywere and so Daffy as well as being the donor can be seen as The dispatcher who is the one who Vladimir Propp describes as the character who makes the lack known and sends the hero off.
There is also the helper who in the film is Étienne, a Frenchman who Richard meets in thailand played by Guillaume Canet, Richard manages to convince him and his girlfriend to travel with him to the beach, and along the way they help each other out and so he can be seen as the helper.
There is the Princess who in the film is Françoise, played by Virginie Ledoyen who is the girlfriend of Étienne, and Vladimir Propp describes the Princess partly as the one who the hero deserves thoughout the story, and the hero (Richard) gets her to leave Étienne and be with him after they reach the beach, as Étienne finds out about them having sex.
There is then the Villain(s) who can be shown in the film as a few people, firstly there are Marajuana farmers on the island who will and do kill people who tresspass on the farms, which are on another part of the island and say that no more can join the community of people like Richard who have travelled to the beach and are living there. Another person who could be seen as the villain is Sal, played by Tilda Swinton, and she is the leader of the community living by the beach and towards the end of the film she is given a gun by the leader of the marajuana farmers, to kill Richard as she thinks he has betrayed them by giving away another map to some teenagers who came to the beach and were killed by the farmers, and she pulls the trigger when pointing the gun at Richards face, however there is no bullet inside and so this can portray her as the Villain because if the gun was loaded she would have shot Richard.
The two other character roles in Vladimir's theory are a false hero, which i couldn't really apply to anyone in the film as Vladimir describes this person to be the one who takes credit for something the hero has done, and nothing like this occured in the film. The second of the two was the princess' father, which in the film there is no father and so i could not apply this.
Having been able to apply 6 of the 8 character roles of Vladimir's theory i think that the film i chose was one which Vladimir's theory would work quite well for.
The film is about a backpacker named Richard who is willing to risk his life for just the mind blowing rush you can get only from braving the ultimate adventure. But on a secret, deceptivly perfect beach, he soon discovers that as the level of intensity rises and the stakes climb higher, desire grows stronger... and danger grows deeper.
The 8 character roles:
The first of these is the Hero who is in the film, Richard, played by Leonardo DiCaprio, he is the main character and can be shown as the hero as he is the one who gets the two people he is travelling with to the island and beach and is the one who leads the way, also, he encounters a shark attack and manages to kill the shark and shares the story to everyone and tey think of him as a hero for doing this.
There is also the donor, who in the film is Daffy, played by Robert Carlyle, he is the one who gives Richard the map to find the beach and without the map, Richard would not have known about the beach and the film would not have gone anywere and so Daffy as well as being the donor can be seen as The dispatcher who is the one who Vladimir Propp describes as the character who makes the lack known and sends the hero off.
There is also the helper who in the film is Étienne, a Frenchman who Richard meets in thailand played by Guillaume Canet, Richard manages to convince him and his girlfriend to travel with him to the beach, and along the way they help each other out and so he can be seen as the helper.
There is the Princess who in the film is Françoise, played by Virginie Ledoyen who is the girlfriend of Étienne, and Vladimir Propp describes the Princess partly as the one who the hero deserves thoughout the story, and the hero (Richard) gets her to leave Étienne and be with him after they reach the beach, as Étienne finds out about them having sex.
There is then the Villain(s) who can be shown in the film as a few people, firstly there are Marajuana farmers on the island who will and do kill people who tresspass on the farms, which are on another part of the island and say that no more can join the community of people like Richard who have travelled to the beach and are living there. Another person who could be seen as the villain is Sal, played by Tilda Swinton, and she is the leader of the community living by the beach and towards the end of the film she is given a gun by the leader of the marajuana farmers, to kill Richard as she thinks he has betrayed them by giving away another map to some teenagers who came to the beach and were killed by the farmers, and she pulls the trigger when pointing the gun at Richards face, however there is no bullet inside and so this can portray her as the Villain because if the gun was loaded she would have shot Richard.
The two other character roles in Vladimir's theory are a false hero, which i couldn't really apply to anyone in the film as Vladimir describes this person to be the one who takes credit for something the hero has done, and nothing like this occured in the film. The second of the two was the princess' father, which in the film there is no father and so i could not apply this.
Having been able to apply 6 of the 8 character roles of Vladimir's theory i think that the film i chose was one which Vladimir's theory would work quite well for.
The King's Speech
What makes a film British?
The main things that make a film British, that most people would define it as, is that it has reference to obvious cultural elements such as, it is set in the UK or focuses on British people on holiday or abroad,a British cast with most of the cast being British, a storyline about some aspect of British life — past, present or future — or notably by, or based on a work by, a British author. For example the film This is England is full with a British cast, and is set in Sheffield and is set in the 1980's and is focusing on racism in England and how the people regarded as 'skin heads' acted and lived their lives. Another film which is British but is not set in Britain, or has British actors, is British simply because it is made by British people and so it does not fit into the original ideas of what makes a British film, however it did very well with the money it made and awards it won.
Exhibition issues - Box Office in the UK
The King's speech gave an inspiring performance in the Box Office, because of its successful storyline. Its distributor 'Momentum Pictures' had its expectations exceeded with a £3.52m opening weekend, including modest previews of £227,000. There are elements appealing to the older generation from Colin Firth's character as it was set in the 1930's prior to the second world war and so it appeals widely to older people who were around at these times.
Exhibition Issues and reviews: the film's reception
This quote by Christopher Hitchens, shows he is critical about some aspects of the film's historical accuracy and how this can influence audiences wrongly.
There are also many other faults picked up in the film which are mainly historic inaccuracies, including women in seamless stockings which were not invented until later, there is a scene when the character 'Bertie' is wearing a kilt however the kilt he wore isn't Scottish and is infact just an Irish kilt designed in 1997.
The main things that make a film British, that most people would define it as, is that it has reference to obvious cultural elements such as, it is set in the UK or focuses on British people on holiday or abroad,a British cast with most of the cast being British, a storyline about some aspect of British life — past, present or future — or notably by, or based on a work by, a British author. For example the film This is England is full with a British cast, and is set in Sheffield and is set in the 1980's and is focusing on racism in England and how the people regarded as 'skin heads' acted and lived their lives. Another film which is British but is not set in Britain, or has British actors, is British simply because it is made by British people and so it does not fit into the original ideas of what makes a British film, however it did very well with the money it made and awards it won.
Exhibition issues - Box Office in the UK
The King's speech gave an inspiring performance in the Box Office, because of its successful storyline. Its distributor 'Momentum Pictures' had its expectations exceeded with a £3.52m opening weekend, including modest previews of £227,000. There are elements appealing to the older generation from Colin Firth's character as it was set in the 1930's prior to the second world war and so it appeals widely to older people who were around at these times.
Exhibition Issues and reviews: the film's reception
"Tom Hooper's drama transcends its historical setting to present a compelling portrait of quiet heroism" - quote from The Guardian.
"Although it doesn't cut quite as deep as it might, Tom Hooper's film is fraught and fascinating with some excellent performances" - quote from the Telegraph
"Colin Firth's so impressive a Facebook campaign wants him to ascend to the throne" - a quote from The Guardian
From the three quotes above which were from reviews from newspapers, they show the film to portray history well, also the acting to have been presented very well and also Colin Firth to have become an impressive icon to people saying they want him to 'ascend to the throne'. The film did very well by winning 12 Oscars and 14 Baftas, and even though the stroyline used was said to be going to be uninteresting, the film makers turned it into an interesting and moving film which spoke out to people, however, as well as having such good reviews there are also some critical ones....
Critical Reviews of the Film
"The portrayal of Winston Churchill and the royals in The King's Speech is a blatant rewriting of history" - quote from The Guardian
This quote by Christopher Hitchens, shows he is critical about some aspects of the film's historical accuracy and how this can influence audiences wrongly.
There are also many other faults picked up in the film which are mainly historic inaccuracies, including women in seamless stockings which were not invented until later, there is a scene when the character 'Bertie' is wearing a kilt however the kilt he wore isn't Scottish and is infact just an Irish kilt designed in 1997.
Red-One
The first feature film shot and completed on the Red One 4K was 'Red Canvas', which starred Ernie Reyes, Jr. Director Steven Soderbergh, who recorded both parts of the movie 'Che' with the Red One camera, is very enthusiastic about the camera, and he says that "this is the camera I've been waiting for my whole career: jaw-dropping imagery recorded on board a camera light enough to hold with one hand. I don't know how Jim and the Red team did it—and they won't tell me—but I know this: Red is going to change everything." he then went on and used the camera again for other films such as 'District 9', 'The Girlfriend Experience' and 'The Informant!'.
Disney's "Mars Needs Moms"
'Mars Needs Moms', another 3D film, has been a mega-flop to put it bluntly and could be seen as the end of 3D's success. Disney expected 'Mars Needs Moms' to strike it rich in cinema's new gold rush however after costing $175m (£110m) to make and market the film grossed less than $7m on its opening weekend in the US. People already are beggining to stop paying to see 3D films and so to have made this film in 3D was not really a good idea, just looking at the figures it took in we can see that, and as the film made such a loss it is evident that the future for 3D films is not good.
Film Distribution
After a film has been produced it needs to get into the cinemas and the company/individual responsible for releasing films to the public is a film distributor, they can do this directly or through theartrical exhibitors and other sub-distributors. A distributor secures a written contract stipulating the amount of the gross ticket sales to be paid to the distributor by the exhibitor after first deducting a "floor", which is called a "house allowance", collects the amount due, to ensure the gross reported by the exhibitor is accurate they audit the exhibitor's ticket sales as necessary, secure the distributor's share of these proceeds, the rest then gets transmitted to the production company.
The distributor is also responsible for making advertising material on each film available which will help the exhibitor attract the largest audience possible. if it is not provided by the production company, such advertising will be created and an arrangement for the physical delivery of the advertising items selected by the exhibitor at intervals prior to the opening day.
The film 'Motherhood' which stared Uma Thurman, and has the plot of...... In Manhattan, a mother of two preparing for her daughter's sixth birthday party has no idea of the challenges she's about to face in order to pull off the event.
The total UK Theatrical Box Office for ‘Motherhood’ was $131 (£86) and les than 10 people in the UK bought tickets to see the film. it was said to be not very good, and also not terrible either, also it was only released in one cinema in London which explains why so little tickets were bought in the UK. As the film only made £86, which is nowhere near enough to cover any distribution costs.
The distributor is also responsible for making advertising material on each film available which will help the exhibitor attract the largest audience possible. if it is not provided by the production company, such advertising will be created and an arrangement for the physical delivery of the advertising items selected by the exhibitor at intervals prior to the opening day.
The film 'Motherhood' which stared Uma Thurman, and has the plot of...... In Manhattan, a mother of two preparing for her daughter's sixth birthday party has no idea of the challenges she's about to face in order to pull off the event.
The total UK Theatrical Box Office for ‘Motherhood’ was $131 (£86) and les than 10 people in the UK bought tickets to see the film. it was said to be not very good, and also not terrible either, also it was only released in one cinema in London which explains why so little tickets were bought in the UK. As the film only made £86, which is nowhere near enough to cover any distribution costs.
3D cinema on the slide
it has started to become apparent that 3D films are becoming less attractive and not as many people want to see them as before. for films like Avatar, about 80% of the people who went to see it, saw it in 3D and it was assumed that the format would quickly overtake theatrical distribution. however after this film, people have started to not see 3D films as they dont want to any longer pay the price of the ticket and so see more 2D films.
This diagram helps to prove my point as there is a decline in how many people are going to see films in 3D, however money is still being made from the 3D films.
This diagram helps to prove my point as there is a decline in how many people are going to see films in 3D, however money is still being made from the 3D films.
“In total, we’re making more money than ever from 3D, but nobody is noticing because we’re all fighting for screens,” added Disney theatrical distribution chief Chuck Viane. and so this can be seen as one of the reasons why there is a decline in how many people see films in 3D, because there are too many to see and not everyone will want to pay to see all of the 3D films.
Wednesday, 23 March 2011
TRON
There have been many ways of targetting audiences by Disney during their production of TRON.
There has been some above the line advertising of the movie including an IMAX 3D Experience which happened on October 28th. Also Select 3D and IMAX 3D theaters worldwideplayed a 20 minute sneak peekof the movie to get the audience interested. also exclusive new video content, including behind-the-scenes clips, trailers and artwork, was released on the web for advertising of the film to get more people to want to go and see it before it was released. the first trailer of the film was out on March 5th 2010 and featured scenes with Sam, Flynn and the Tron world, this was with Alice In Wonderland, the second trailer was attached to Step Up 3D and another with Resident Evil: Afterlife and on November 9th 2010 a new trailer was released and sneak previews of the film on november 5th 2010 on Disney channel
there has also been below the line advertising to attract audiences and this included the soundtrack of the film with music scored by Daft Punk which was released on December 7th. also alot of products have been revealed, including tech gadgets, clothing, toys and many more. they have even made the video game based on the film, and in addition to all of this Oakley released $150 of 3D glasses.
On December 19th 2009, along with the second still from the movie, a new poster was revealed. also banners promoting the film paved the way to the 2010 Comic-Con convention. On October 19th 2010, a new banner was revealed, combining segments from the original Tron poster in it.
there has also been theme park atttractions to do with the film to attract an audience including a nighttime dance party named "ElecTRONica" which premiered on October 8th 2010 at the Disneyland resort in California and to go with this a sneak peak with scenes from the film was shown in 3D. also a 23 minute clip of the film was screened on many IMAX theatres all over the world except Southern Sweden.
How the marketing of TRON and Moon compare.
first of all, the film Tron is a 3D film and Moon is not and so Moon did not have as much marketing in this sector of the film as Tron did as Tron was able to advertise the 3D element of the film with sneak previews etc whereas Moon could not do this simply as it was not 3D. For the release of Moon, it was first going to be a straight to DVD release but after it premiered at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival in January 2009, it was decided to be cinema released and was fully released in UK cinemas on 17 July. For Tron however, before the release there were sneak previews of parts of the film including a 23 minute clip in many IMAX theatres which sold out within in hour, showing how much attraction the film had. The film was originally set to be released in the UK on December 26th, 2010, but due to high demand, it was released on the 17th.
There has been some above the line advertising of the movie including an IMAX 3D Experience which happened on October 28th. Also Select 3D and IMAX 3D theaters worldwideplayed a 20 minute sneak peekof the movie to get the audience interested. also exclusive new video content, including behind-the-scenes clips, trailers and artwork, was released on the web for advertising of the film to get more people to want to go and see it before it was released. the first trailer of the film was out on March 5th 2010 and featured scenes with Sam, Flynn and the Tron world, this was with Alice In Wonderland, the second trailer was attached to Step Up 3D and another with Resident Evil: Afterlife and on November 9th 2010 a new trailer was released and sneak previews of the film on november 5th 2010 on Disney channel
there has also been below the line advertising to attract audiences and this included the soundtrack of the film with music scored by Daft Punk which was released on December 7th. also alot of products have been revealed, including tech gadgets, clothing, toys and many more. they have even made the video game based on the film, and in addition to all of this Oakley released $150 of 3D glasses.
On December 19th 2009, along with the second still from the movie, a new poster was revealed. also banners promoting the film paved the way to the 2010 Comic-Con convention. On October 19th 2010, a new banner was revealed, combining segments from the original Tron poster in it.
there has also been theme park atttractions to do with the film to attract an audience including a nighttime dance party named "ElecTRONica" which premiered on October 8th 2010 at the Disneyland resort in California and to go with this a sneak peak with scenes from the film was shown in 3D. also a 23 minute clip of the film was screened on many IMAX theatres all over the world except Southern Sweden.
How the marketing of TRON and Moon compare.
first of all, the film Tron is a 3D film and Moon is not and so Moon did not have as much marketing in this sector of the film as Tron did as Tron was able to advertise the 3D element of the film with sneak previews etc whereas Moon could not do this simply as it was not 3D. For the release of Moon, it was first going to be a straight to DVD release but after it premiered at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival in January 2009, it was decided to be cinema released and was fully released in UK cinemas on 17 July. For Tron however, before the release there were sneak previews of parts of the film including a 23 minute clip in many IMAX theatres which sold out within in hour, showing how much attraction the film had. The film was originally set to be released in the UK on December 26th, 2010, but due to high demand, it was released on the 17th.
Sunday, 20 March 2011
Film4
1. What is Film4's remit (its reason and purpose for being)?
film4's remit is to allow directors that havent had recognition for some time, to once again have recognition and get people to watch their films again and start watching more films by those directors.
2. What types of films are green-lighted by Film4? Give examples of films and genres.
The types of films that are green-lighted by Film4 are ones which are very British, set in Britain, e.g. This is England is a British film set in Sheffield and the Full Monty, also set in Sheffield. They also green-lighted Slumdog Millionare set in India, however it fits in with the British Culture of the UK having a large Asian population. The genres for these films are Crime, Drama, Comedy, Music.
3. Why is Tessa Ross regarded as "the mother of British film-making" and therefore instrumental for Film4's success?
The reason Tessa Ross is regarded as the mother of british film making is because she is seen as the one nurturing new talent and nursing more established directors who might be feeling unloved. Danny Boyle and the rest of the Slumdog Millionaire team went up on stage to collect its four awards at the Golden Globes this month, it was Tessa who was responsible for making this remarkable film project happen and with Slumdog winning 8 Oscars, proves that she instrumental in the success of Film 4. It was Ross who brought all the ingredients together and had the vision to imagine what might result: the originality of Vikas Swarup's novel Q&A, and so from this she is seen as the mother.
.
4. How much is Film4's yearly budget and how much of it did "Slumdog Millionaire take up? ( Be careful with this one as co-productions, UK Lottery money and deals with Pathe, etc. helps make Film4's budget stretch further!)
Film4's yearly budget before slumdog millionare was £10 million, but becuase slumdog millionare took $15 million to make the budget has now been increased by 10% to £15 million because of the sucess the film brought to them.
5. Why does Film4 form partnerships with other companies/individuals?
Film4 forms partnerships so that they can obtain more money for their projects as they cannot afford to fund films on their own as they are a small company, and so if they hadnt formed a partenership, they would not have been able to fund Slumdog millionare.
6. What is the future for Film4 - budget and film-wise?
the budget has increased by 50% from £10 million to £15 million and in 2011 Film4 is hoping to boost the budget to a massive £50 million.
film4's remit is to allow directors that havent had recognition for some time, to once again have recognition and get people to watch their films again and start watching more films by those directors.
2. What types of films are green-lighted by Film4? Give examples of films and genres.
The types of films that are green-lighted by Film4 are ones which are very British, set in Britain, e.g. This is England is a British film set in Sheffield and the Full Monty, also set in Sheffield. They also green-lighted Slumdog Millionare set in India, however it fits in with the British Culture of the UK having a large Asian population. The genres for these films are Crime, Drama, Comedy, Music.
3. Why is Tessa Ross regarded as "the mother of British film-making" and therefore instrumental for Film4's success?
The reason Tessa Ross is regarded as the mother of british film making is because she is seen as the one nurturing new talent and nursing more established directors who might be feeling unloved. Danny Boyle and the rest of the Slumdog Millionaire team went up on stage to collect its four awards at the Golden Globes this month, it was Tessa who was responsible for making this remarkable film project happen and with Slumdog winning 8 Oscars, proves that she instrumental in the success of Film 4. It was Ross who brought all the ingredients together and had the vision to imagine what might result: the originality of Vikas Swarup's novel Q&A, and so from this she is seen as the mother.
.
4. How much is Film4's yearly budget and how much of it did "Slumdog Millionaire take up? ( Be careful with this one as co-productions, UK Lottery money and deals with Pathe, etc. helps make Film4's budget stretch further!)
Film4's yearly budget before slumdog millionare was £10 million, but becuase slumdog millionare took $15 million to make the budget has now been increased by 10% to £15 million because of the sucess the film brought to them.
5. Why does Film4 form partnerships with other companies/individuals?
Film4 forms partnerships so that they can obtain more money for their projects as they cannot afford to fund films on their own as they are a small company, and so if they hadnt formed a partenership, they would not have been able to fund Slumdog millionare.
6. What is the future for Film4 - budget and film-wise?
the budget has increased by 50% from £10 million to £15 million and in 2011 Film4 is hoping to boost the budget to a massive £50 million.
7. What problems did Film Four face in the naughties?
the first problem they faced was in the year of 2001 when due to Charlotte Gray's film that was the most expensive film they had ever made, Film4 lost £5.7 million. In 2006 they were struggling a lot and so they announced a change which was, as there original business model of a pay TV on a subscription basis was failing, they decided to change this and bring in adverts. this was a way in which they thought they would be able to get money.
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