Institution

Institution

Mainstream Films Vs Independent

Today we learned about the largest film institutes and ways indie films trying to break their way through into the cinema world. We learnt today that cinemas do not make most of their money from ticket sales,that usually goes to the film and distributors themselves. They make most of their money from popcorn and food sales. For example a cinema can make a large bucket of popcorn for 1p and sell it for it for £5 

To get a film into the cinemas you have to make the film and then use a distributor to get it into the cinemas and they ring up each cinema and find out if they can get a their film to show at the cinema and then decide where they shall show the movie and at what times.

Big Six

Sony

 Warner Bros

20th Century Fox

Paramount

Disney

Universal

Smaller companies have to try and persuade some of the big six to help produce and fund the film. They usually go into cinemas when large blockbusters are not being released and therefore have much less competition.

The mainstream film I will compare with the independent film will be Captain America and Superbad. Superbad being the independent film. 

First of all Marvel Universe created Captain America and Paramount pictures distribute it, The Apatow company produced Superbad and Columbia Pictures distributed it. This would of helped get more viewers interested and would result in more views of the film.

The budget in comparison between the two films is ridiculous.  Captain America had a budget of $170 million US dollars. Compare this to the budget for Superbad which only cost $20 million US dollars to make. This is a difference of $150 million dollars. Captain America made a profit of over $714 million US dollars, compare this to the profit of Superbad which was $169 million US dollars. 

There is a huge gap in popularity between Marvel and The Apatow Company. Most people wouldn't of even heard of The Apatow Company whereas most of the world will know Marvel. Marvel have recently been bought by Disney for $4 Billion US dollars compare this to the worth of Apatow Company which is only worth $90 million US dollars. This means that it cost more to make Captain America than the whole of Apatow Company. 

Captain America was produced by Marvel and only Marvel. Marvel would of had loads of different leaders for certain parts of the film. They would of had large amounts of numbers in teams. This means that there is a higher quality of production as every aspect of the film is covered in more depth and with much larger teams with greater experience. The Apatow Company would still of had different teams for each aspect but they wouldn't of had the depth and the quality that Marvel posses. The film would still of been made to a professional standard but by watching both you would of been able to tell who made what film.

A key similarity for both films would be the fact that they were both given a budget to work to in the hope they would make a much bigger profit than the production cost's. 

Marvel have created several successful films, these include Spiderman , Thor, X-Men, Hulk and The Avengers just to name a few. The Apatow Company have also produced many films but they haven't been anywhere near the success rate of the films listed above. They have produced films such as The 40 Year old Virgin, Bridesmaids, Step Brothers and Pineapple Express. 

Marvel have a huge reputation in the film industry for making cartoon type films. The Apatow Company have some good comedy films such as Step Brothers and Bridesmaids.

Marvel have a huge age range that they appeal to. Many men of today's generation still watch Marvel films because they grew up watching them. The films have been past down through generation and from anywhere around the age of 10 upwards people start watching these films. The Apatow company is not quite the same range in there target audience, many films are rated a 15 and realistically I wouldn't expect a 40 years old to watch their films. I would suggest that they try to appeal to 15-30 year old maximum. 

Marvel is clearly more successful than The Apatow Company, this is reflected in their budgets, profit margins and age ranges. Marvel have such a influence on the film market today they could work with almost any superhero film and make a huge turnover. They have a better advertisement programme, are more likely to get higher quality actors and can put alot more money into the production. 

Film Language

Camera

Frame

Angle   

-Worms eye view- low angle   

-Level

-Birds eye view- high angle 

Movement

-pan right to left

-tilt up and down 

-tracking shot 

-stedicam

-handheld

Editing

-Transitions
-Order of narrative
-Pace- Slow/Quick

-SFX

Mise en scene

-Costume
-Lighting 
-Actors- Their Age, Gender, Ethnicity, Class, Sexuality, Posture, Accent, Clothing.
-Make-up-  - Normal Make-up, Special Effects or No Make-up.
-Props

Sound

-Dialogue

-Music

-Diegetic sound/non diegetic

-Setting

Textual Analysis

Boyz N the Hood

http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=boyz+n+the+hood+dutch+subtitles&FORM=HDRSC3#view=detail&mid=BCA98CE309ED50662AF4BCA98CE309ED50662AF4

At the beginning of the the film we are already introduced to sounds without any picture. Firstly we hear voices then foul language, after that we hear gun shots which then leads to children and high pitch screaming this gives us a very strong clue as to what has happened. From the sound we have gaged the first act is going to have something to do with the shooting that has just taken place.

                                               
We are then introduced to some primary school children. They are of black ethnicity and live in America, they are walking to school and talking about all the gunshot they heard last night from inside their own homes. This is one of the main settings, the children are in loose fit, brightly colored clothing. Its clear that its a deprived neighborhood from one the shooting that went on last night and the rubbish on the street, the quality of housing and the graffiti on the walls. The children seem very comfortable in this situation, I think that they have grown up with shootings outside their front door has made them more relaxed in this type of situation. I am sure if you put someone from a more fortunate neighborhood in which shooting doesn't happen they wouldn't be so relaxed and settled in this situation. From this we can see that they are individually strong and not phased by much. 

We can see bullet marks on the wall of the abandoned building. One of the female children explains that she sees blood on the floor this then turns yellow, this is the films second graphic match.In this scene the camera is ranging between close up frames and mid-shots, we are also seeing a lot of panning. The next scene is we see is set in the classroom. Two of the boys start to argue in which we can see that they are both strongly opinionated. We are presented with a medium long shot for this part. The two boys have to turn to violence to resolve the argument.

In the final scene it starts off with an extra long shot of the street in which there is violence. Its worrying that a child can walk home on his own past this and not think twice about it but this shows the culture and the differences compared to today. We are watching the boy walk home but we are listening to the mother of the boy on the phone to the teacher, as the mother is black the teacher assumes that she is uneducated and unemployed as this was normal for black people in this time. However his mother is quite the opposite, she is well dressed, very educated and is in a full time job. From the boys upbringing in the community he thinks its acceptable to fight in gangs and his attitude he displayed in the classroom reflects this. The neighbourhood is influencing his attitude and thought trains. 

Narrative

Barthes

• Codes:
• Action
• Symbolic
• Enigma - what questions are asked

Levi - Strauss

• Binary oppositions: 
• Hero - Villain
• Black - White
• Urban - Rural
• Rich - Poor
• Good - Evil
• Female - Male

Todorov

• Structure, how the film plays out

Propp

• Characters:
• Villain
• Donar
• Her father
• Dispatcher
• Princess
• False hero
• Helper
• Hero

Applying Barthes' Theory to The Prestige

1. Hermeneutic/Enigma Code

There are multiple questions that the audience ask when watching this clip of The Prestige. Below are an example of a few:

Who is the man?

Who is the little girl?

What does the bird trick have to do with the stage one?

Why is the man trapped inside a tank?

Who trapped him in the tank?

By creating an opening scene that gives no clues or answers into what is happening, the audience are automatically interested to find out the answers.

2. Proairetic/Action Code

The action in this opening scene instantly creates suspense and mystery for the audience. The action starts off slowly and builds up to an intense ending to the first scene in The Prestige. The scene starts off with two magic tricks happening in unison, and ends with both of them having very different outcomes. The bird in the first magic trick is freed and the man in the second magic trick is trapped. This is an example of binary opposites - the theory of Levi Strauss.

3. Semantic Code

There is a deeper meaning within the opening scene.

4. Symbolic Code

The props/symbols in the opening scene of The Prestige are the magician's hat at the very beginning of the clip (symbolising the theme within the whole film) and the bird (symbolising the freedom and limitlessness of magic/showing the contrast between freedom and captivity - as mentioned in the Proairetic/Action Code).

Film Opening Analysis

Wolf Of Wall Street Film Opening

This film is set in America, Wall Street in the 80's. The 80's era in America was know as the money grabbing era. The setting in a mansion, a sweeping staircase, cleaners, and a chauffeur driven car, all these show us that he is a successful man working on Wall Street. The opening scene focuses on him telling us a little bit about his life and we get a very obvious hint that he is a successful man. We know that this film is going to be a Biological/Comedy genre. From the location on Wall Street we can see that  it will be about the stock market, its also set in the past so as a viewer we can may think that the film may have something to do with the Wall Street Crash.

Harry Brown Film Opening

From this short film opening we can tell that the genre is going to be Drama. There are several clues that indicate us to this genre, the fast paced action, the handheld camera that gives us the feeling that we are on the street corner and in with his gang in the thick of the action. There is a noticeable low key lighting, this again makes us feel that we are right in the action and we can grasp the intentions from company from the clothing and props and actions. The weather also intensifies the feelings felt, a dark overcast day, this gives us an indication that something bad is going to happen and it does. 

Clueless Film Opening 

This the film opening for clueless, its the complete opposite to the Harry Brown opening, in Clueless a high key lighting is used. It shows the happy atmosphere that is provoked within the film. Teenagers are used in both this and Harry Brown however the differences between them are unbelievable however the language, props and actions taken are very opposite. The genre is a comedy drama as we almost laugh along with how the girl gets what ever she wants, we can see this from signals lie the car she has without the license crashing every 5 meters. Its a good film to sit down with your family and watch. 

Genre Photo Task

This is the picture for War. To make it look like war we are laying on the ground acting dead or injured replicating soldiers fighting at war. With no other surroundings it looks like we are at war in a desolate waste ground. In this picture you cant see anyone's faces, we did this to emphasize the point that when you die at war your a nameless victim. 

This is the picture for Romance, to make it symbolize romance we have a couple looking into the future together, We have them standing in the centre of the picture to show that they are the main characters, they are in the forefront of the picture. From the picture you can see that they are comfortable together, we can see this by how close they are standing towards one another, however they are not touching. This may show that their is a flaw in there relationship and its not running smoothly. From the picture we can see that both Maisie and Jordan have their hands in their pockets, this can also indicate something is not quite right. 

This is the picture for Drama, In this picture we have Jordan walking out of a building and Evan hiding behind a wall ready to jump out of Jordan. Jordan is mid stride and doesn't see anything about to happen but Evan on the other hand has his intention set, to jump out on Jordan and maybe injure him or do something to him. Jordan looks comfortable with the situation at the moment but I am sure when he gets to the corner it will be a very different story. The definition for drama is 'a genre that depends mostly on in depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes. From this picture I think we have covered the definition, both characters are realistic and there is a emotional theme for Evan to have to jump out on Jordan.

This is the picture for Adventure. In this picture we have Jordan jumping off a fence, In an adventure film you would expect some element of danger. the definition for the genre of Adventure is 'a genre of fiction in which an adventure, an exciting undertaking involving risk and physical danger, forms the main storyline. From this picture we can see that there is some element of danger in it with Jordan jumping off the fence, we are unsure if this is the main story line at this point. 

1. 
   

Bond Sequence

James Bond Video Edit 

Dancing Bear Sequence

Dancing Bear Video Edit. 

Using Adobe Premier Pro for the first time

We got set a task to create two different videos on Adobe Premier Pro. One was animals dressed up in costumes dancing and the other was a montage of James Bond clips from different films. I started off with the dancing animals and as I had never used the software before I struggled to begin with, i couldn't grasp how to change the original footage. I struggled with making the time that the fade out at the end of the required clip. I soon found out and realised that it was the same with every effect you made. In the effect window on the screen on the left you can play about with everything from the brightness to the volume. There is so many different options to pick from and customize your edit its amazing. In the future I hope to develop my skills and be able to know most of the effects and what goes best with what. I would also like to learn some new skills as I am sure there are several that I am unaware of. 

Semiotics

Semiotics

Semiotics is simply the studying of the different signs. 

The semiotics that are apparent in this film poster for fast and furious 7 are the red car, this can evoke passion and the way they are all huddled around the car maybe shows us there a hidden passion for a particular task they don't want people knowing about. By their posture most of them have all taken an aggressive stance, Paul for instance has his arms folded which can symbolise power. Not only that but if you look closely you can see that Dom has a gun in there right hand, this can symbolise violence and death. The picture is taken with the camera lower then normal pointing up at the actors, this is called an upshot and makes the actors look bigger then they actually are. The choice of colour in clothing is also noticeable, Dom who is at the front of the picture is wearing a black vest, as he is at the front playing a main part in the film, his black top may indicate that the film has a bad twist or meaning. On the far right of the picture we can see a man dressed unlike anyone else, this shows that he may not be part of the team and could be an enemy. He is also the only one standing infront of the blue car, everyone else is huddled around the red car. With him covering the blue car it may show that he is cold blooded and maybe the fact that he is still a boy and hasn't matured into a man like the rest of males in the film.