Case Study's (Production & Distribution)

Avatar (A) - James Cameron's (A) was given a budget of 237 million US dollars, and therefore explored new technologies such as CGI and 3D to new levels. Recording with two shot camera's Cameron could develop the illusion of depth to the best possible quality and could create a full animated film with the use of motion capture suits and skull caps to enhance the realism of human emotions and actions. Not only did the mass amount of production costs make the film successful but the marketing campaign fuelled by large finances was able to entice and capsulate global audiences. Almost 6 months before its official release date "Avatar Day" was created to show a 25 minute clip of the film in all cinema's around the globe. This allowed mass audiences to become attached and intrigued with the film and advertise the film for the company, by word of mouth spreading the excitement up to the release of the film. This therefore promoted box office figures and synergy for the film, without the finances made available though this would have not been able to be successful showing the finances available to big six companies, in this case "20th Century Fox" importance. Avatar grossed a total of 2.6 billion US dollars up to date.

Slumdog Millionaire (SM) - (SM) was produced by British companies Film 4 and Celador Films with a budget of 15 million US dollars but even so was still a massive success grossing $240 million and winning 8 oscars. They used technology such as SI - 2K camera's to be able to record on location and create costraphobic, closed in scenes which in return was effective in relating to the audience and narrative. The camera men also had hard drives attached to their back so they could record in flowing scenes, sending information back to a main computer, making production costs cheaper and less time consuming. Warner Independent ( a subsidiary of Warner Brothers) pulled out of distributing the film, but Fox Searchlight rescued the film by re-branding the marketing scheme and concentrating the advertising around the romantic part of the narrative, therefore making the film reach out to a larger audience. They also played the film at film festivals which in conclusion founded the start of advertisement by the search engine TUG, which using widgets and click-links that directed 75,000 people to the SM official webpage allowing them to view teaser and official trailers. This could show British films can be just as successful as Hollywood Blockbusters, but it also may critically show how they cannot compete without the help of Hollywood institutions, in this case the subsidiary of 20th Century Fox, Fox Searchlight.


Kick Ass (KA) - Produced by the British company MARV Films (KA) had an inital budget of $28 million, very large for a British company, and this was because $10.5 million was spent on distributing the film by the North American company Lionsgate. This left a budget of $17.5 million on production, which was almost eqaully spent on above the line costs and below the line costs along with script costs. Kick Ass wanted to successful gain an American Audience along with a British and therefore had a larger budget. Location was one way in which production tryed to entice american audience, with allot of filming taking part in Canada & America along with England, and the actor Nicholas Cage (A very famous actor from America) was extra insentive for the American audience to become attracted to the film. Lionsgate's marketing scheme consisted with the constant release of new posters and teaser trailers that slowly revealed the idea of super heroes without powers. The first batch of posters saw each individual charcter have their own, with their back turned to the camera and the word KICK-ASS was spelt if all posters were placed together, this revealed the name of movie but deliberately didn't reveal allot of information about the characters which got the audience wondering and intrigued about what they could be like. A second batch of posters were then distributed out, revelaing each individual character again but this time concentrating on the colour scheme of each and a front shot, which enticed and attracted the audiences attention, each poster had a url adress that seemingly linked them to the characters own website, instead all of them linkign to the (KA) official website were teaser and full length trailers could be watched. (KA) in return had box office figures of $96 million and won Best British FIlm in the Empire Awards. ($48 million grossed in North America).


Cloverfield (CF) - Renown for its distribution and marketing campaign, (CF) had a very small budget in Hollywood terms of $25 million, but still grossed a total of $170 million thanks to one of the big 6 companies "Paramount". With technological convergance and prelliferation of new technologies (CF) had a massive viral marketing campaign. The film was firstly introduced to audiences on screen before the summer blockbuster "Tranformers" so thousands of people would see it. The teaser trailer used engima codes to entice the audience and only gave one peice of information away, that being the director "JJ Abrams". Therefore when audiences searched "JJ Abrams" they found what other rmovies he had directed and could guess at the genre of movie. The marketing scheme then saw a teaser trailer and a poster introducing the title 1-18-08 which would suggest the day of release. When people searched on the internet the offical 1-18-08 website was found and this daily released pictures of the film and studio, increasing the amount of people intrested and wanting to find out more. Facebook and Myspace profiles were then created for the characters, which like a timeline posted and shared interactred with the audience leading up to the teaser trailer clip, which in return only intrigued more the mass audience interested in the film. A widget was then created to make the audience download to find out information about the characters, they had to register to get this information therefore (CF) marketers could send e-mails and updates about the film and any other projects, gaining a larger audience. A final trailer was created revealing the name Cloverfield and the film was released in Janurary 2008, with total box office figures of $107 million.

Exam Question Edit - AGE

The clip starts off with a tracking shot of two rural builders of different generations. The shot conveys age difference through actions, the younger man carrying more items, 2 over the shoulder to show strength whilst the other man carrying only 2 items in either hand to show with age he has lost mobility/strength. Also through this shot, diegetic sound and proxemics presents the difference between the two characters. The older man speaks, controlling and giving construction orders whilst also walking ahead, showing he is the leader and this therefore a metaphor that with age becomes experience and respect to younger generations. 

The young girl is shown as a timid character by the camera angles and the close up facial expressions of worry. The camera looks down at here from an angle to show her feelings, this angle also shows her vulnerability which may link to the suggestion young generations are vulnerable in modern society. We know she is young because she wears fashionable clothes rather than work clothes. The headmaster is smartly dressed in a jacket and V-neck jumper covering a shirt and tie showing the dignity and formal behaviour through ageing. His language and posture shows an authority which comes with age and this also links with the camera shots, which are low looking up at the character, showing his power over the angle of camera on the girl. The Headmaster and the Father/main farmer both are seen on the same eye level, through this camera shot you can see that they are on a par, which may insinuate that they are both superior compared to the girl because of her age. They importantly talk about education, and take a concern approach to her education, this contrasting the girl running away and fitting with the stereotypes of younger adults and teenagers being rebellious whilst adults and grand ages are very wise and moral setting. This binary opposite shows the representation of age between young and old adults and focuses on the older generations being positively represented compared to younger people being negatively portrayed. 

Film 4 - Facts

•  Film4 was originally known as Film four when established in 1998 as channel 4’s second channel but was for subscription only.
• Channel 4 is a production house company, who's funding comes from adverts/commercial funding.
• FILM 4 - "committed to enhance the British film making industry by nurturing and funding new talent"
• Film 4 has a niche (very specific small audience)
• It was then followed by many other channel 4 further programmes who time shared the air of blockbuster films.
• In 2006 film four modified its name to Film4 and also became a free digital viewing channel and started producing many adverts with celebrities in weird situations to stress and intrigue the audience that this is the only channel to watch free movies continuously.
• Tessa Ross became the Controller of film4 in 2004 and head of TV drama for Channel 4. 
• Film4 is very heavily linked with Channel 4. Channel 4 financed in the helping of production in such films as “The Crying Game” and “Madness of King George”. Channel 4 also decided that there side film channel would be made free on digital networks, therefore becoming the only free film program to boost ratings. 
• Film 4 are currently on some large projects including Tyrannosaur, which Film4 backed in production and distribution closely working with Warp X and Inflammable films. This movie is an example of how Film4 help broadcast and produce English films and not just Hollywood Blockbusters as this was the first film ever to be directed by Paddy Considine. Also Film4 are in the final stages of distributing their own creation of Random originally a theatre play by director Debbie Tucker Green. It is being regularly advertised on channel 4 and competitions have started to try and attract people to see the film in cinemas.
• Film 4 produces about 6 films a year and works along their subsidiary Warp X
• Less of the budget is spent on distribution, because the films can be advertised on their own and parent companies TV channels.
• They have won 5 Oscars in 4 years & 3 BAFTA's in 2007. 8.3 million AB Cl's a month, with an upmarket (42%) and male (55%) profile.
• Successful Films include - Slumdog Millionaire/127 Hours/Four Lions/This Is England/Trainspotting
• Film 4 work closely with specific actors and directors such as Danny Boyle's/Martin McDonagh/Steve McQueen/Peter Mullan/Chris Morris
• Film 4 recently launched Film 4.0 - digital/online arena
• Film 4.0's aim will be to find new talent and discover new ways of making, marketing and distributing films and engaging new audiences online in a multi platform environment.
Films:
• Johhny English - It was wrote in 2009, worte by the same people of James Bond which grossed $160 million. Rowan Atkinson starred and the sequal was released in september 2010.
• Wild-Child - Budget of $20 million. Filmed at Cobham Hall. Was marketed on radio stations, social networking sites and TV adverts - was a financial flop with 2.2 mill opening weekend.
• The Soloist - Based on true Story. Budget $60 mill. Based on books and articles/directed by Joe Wright. Produced by Gary Foster & Russ Krasnof. Grossed $31,720,158 mill. Paramount helped distribute through Dreamworks animation and Universal Pictures. Released a year later than planned, therefore lost oscar potential.

Representation/Mediation - Ethnicity

Representation - Mediation Ethnicity on Prezi

Memento - Narritive Theory & Character Roles

Memento challenges and disrupts the traditional Hollywood linear narrative with a complicated non linear structure. Christopher Nolan uses two narrative theories, one going forward, and one going back, that meet together to complete the story line. The non linear structure is deliberately used to communicate to the audience the character Lenny's short term memory loss, and confuses and disrupts the audiences interpretation, therefore showing how Lenny feels and his state of mind. The film starts with a metaphor towards Lenny loosing his short term memory with a developed Polaroid slowly becoming undeveloped, this metaphor also links to Lenny's short term memory loss, as it represents his memory slowly disappearing. 

Character roles change throughout the movie as the storyline changes due to new information being fed out. Vladimir Propp introduced the idea that there are seven main character roles in a narrative, this being; the villain, the donna, the helper, the princess, the dispatcher, the hero and the false hero. Lenny is one character who changes roles throughout the film - but only once. He starts off as the Hero, being the main character, and trying to seek revenge to make the Villain pay, but in my opinion he changes to become a false hero, this is because we learn he lets himself forget pieces of information that he doesn’t like. One character that also changes is Natalie. She starts off as The Donna, giving the hero pieces of information he’s asked for to help him on his quest, but she also becomes the Villain, as her actions show us that she is using the Hero for her own personal gain. Teddy also changes from to different roles, but in the opposite direction to Natalie. This links in with Levi Straus theory of binary opposites. Teddy (John Gammel) starts off with being the villain, because we see the main character kill him, but as the story progresses we see Teddy become the helper, as he partners the hero on his quest for revenge. Dodd is also a character that starts of as a villain, as he chases and shoot sat the hero, but we learn that this is because of the character Natalie’s using actions, which lead to Dodd to be a passing bystander. The princess character changes through the movie, starting as revenge, which is what the hero seeks, but in my opinion changes to “making his life meaningful”, because through the false-hero role, we can see that Lenny wants a sense of purpose in his life, this being his everlasting goal.

Doug Bihlmaier

This is Doug Bihlmaier, when first being presented images of him I assumed this man was a Tramp/Homelesss person because of cultural codes. In fact he is a very rich man and is one of the top voted fashionable people in New York whilst working with Ralph Lauren. Because of Cultural Codes we believe he is a homeless person because of his appearance. The stereotype of having holes in your trousers, old shoes, a winter hat and tight brown/black jackets gives us the impression of what this person is. Also because we are told what is acceptable and what is fashionable (by the media) I found it hard to understand how this "outfit" was seen as fashionable by the top clothing ranges because of the stereotype, and its because of cultural codes that we create an immediate impression about a person because of there clothing.

Working Title Fact Sheet

1. The Company was co-founded by Tim Bevan and Sarah Radcliffe
2. The Company was founded in 1983

3. The company is based in Marylebone in London, England

4. The Co-Chair-people  are Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner

5. Working title has won the Audience Award for Best International Feature at the LA Film Festival, For its Film Senna, They won the best costume design for the film Elizabeth: The Gold Age, and an Oscar for The Best Original Score, for Atonement.

6. Working title employs 58 people full time.

7. The Philosophy that Working title has it that it should always make films for a wide audience, 8.and play films in a multiplex cinema

9. Hits Include: Four Weddings and a funeral, Bridget Jones, Atonement, Elizabeth: The Golden 10.Age, Pride & Prejudice

11. Flops include: Captain Corelli's Mandolin, The Boat that Rocked, Drop Dead Fred, The 12.Hudsucker Proxy, Moonlight and Valentino.

13. Richard Curtis has wrote the script for many working title films, Including Notting Hill and Four Weddings and a Funeral

14. Working title have worked with numerous directors but one of the most famous being Mike Newell who won a BAFTA award in 1994 for Four Weddings and a Funeral whilst also directing “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire in 2005”. Sharron Maguire is another famous director Working Title have worked with, who is well known for directing “Bridget Jones Dairy” and is now currently working with Film4 on a film called ‘Mail’.

15. Hugh Grant was part of the cast for the award winning Four Weddings and a Funeral.

16. The Coen Brothers (Joel & Ethan) both worked with Working Title when directing and producing the film Burn after Reading.

17. Working Title partnered with PolyGram in 1992 (much of its funding from here) and when Polygram was bought out by Seagram and then later sold to Universal. Tim Bevon and Sarah Radcliffe who founded the company own 67% - 1983

18. Atonement was produced by Working Title and distributed worldwide by Universal in 2007. It had a budget of $30 million and grossed $129,266,061.

19. Hot Fuzz had a budget of £8 million and grossed $80,573,774.

20. Working Title is famous for their variety within the genre of comedy, but are also accounted for films categorized in romance. 

21. They are also produce many comedy romance films, drama films.

22. WT2 was formed in 1999 by Bevan and Fellner. It’s known for the production of Shaun of the Dead, Billy Elliot and The Calcium Kid.

23. I can see the new releases they have been part of, the production of their new films