Definition of Sexuality – characterized or distinguished by sex; sexual activity; the concern with, or interest in sexual activity. TV dramas that contain references to sexuality are: Dr Who, Bones, Skins
Definition of Ethnicity – An ethnic group is a group of humans whose members identify with each other, through a common heritage that is real or assumed. TV dramas that contain references to ethnicity are: Hotel Babylon, Spooks, Dr Who
Definition of Disability – unable to perform as a consequence of physical or mental unfitness. TV dramas that contain references to disability are: Glee, Fringe, House
Thursday 6 May 2010
Thursday 22 April 2010
Evaluation of "Immorality"
In what ways does your Thriller use, develop or challenge forms and conventions or real Thrillers?
Our thriller “Immorality” was inspired by other films such as “Layer Cake”, “Essex Boys” and to a lesser extent “The Black Dahlia” and “The Third Man”. The first two films are both British Gangster films and we used a mix of the familiar locations and identifiable male from “Layer Cake” and the lesser known locations and situations from “Essex Boys”, we decided to use aspects of both thrillers because they are equally conventional elements of thrillers.
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As shown in the first picture, “Layer Cake” employs familiar locations and British landmarks to identify the character with the audience, even though the narrative is not something they would come across in everyday life. Familiar locations being associated to crime is very surprising to the audience and creates interest as crime is both unlawful and immoral, this also bonds the audience to the character as they are sharing his secret and being brought into his trust. Similarly the second picture, from “Essex Boys” is another well used convention of thrillers; a bleak and isolated landscape is thought of as the most common place to commit crimes as there is less chance of being caught, this is also a different way of drawing audience attention because the secluded element of the location means that the audience become witness’s to any criminal activity to takes place and makes the audience criminal-by-association and draws them into the action. These two methods utilized by the two films both attract the audience’s attention from the beginning and so we decided to use both methods for similar reasons. In this way we keep to the conventions of thrillers, however, how we draw on the locations aspects deviates from the conventions, both developing and challenging the norm.
In our thriller opening we use the familiar location in the beginning in much the same way that “Layer Cake” does, but we do not associate the criminal activity to the location specifically, we associate the criminal activity to the main protagonist in the voiceover and so the location itself remains somewhat ‘pure’ which we visually show by the children’s toys and homeliness of the house. The protagonist washing his hands in the bathroom is also a visual marker of him trying to ‘clean his hands’ of the immoral tendencies that he talks about in the voiceover which is why we used it for the transition between the locations to imply that this self purification did not succeed.
The second location of the abandoned warehouse is based on “Essex Boys” however we used the isolation and bleakness of the setting to signify his seclusion and depressing lifestyle. The protagonist states in the voiceover that the antagonist is after him and while this associates the location with criminal tendencies like conventional thrillers it also makes the remote spot a refuge for him which gives the location a double meaning depending on whether the audience thinks about it from the point of view of the antagonist or protagonist. The use of the location in this way shows the main characters vulnerabilities and therefore humanises him, this humanisation of the protagonist challenges conventional thrillers as many mainstream films such as “Layer Cake” want the main character to be the be victorious in whatever they do which sometime gives them the surreal element of being perfect in their role. In contrast to that our thrillers protagonist is shown to have flaws very early and thus makes him more real as a character.
“The Black Dahlia” and “The Third Man” had a lesser impact on our thriller choice, “The Black Dahlia” creates many enigmas in its opening and in a way it makes it seem like the audience has been dropped into the proceedings at a point through the film which creates questions that the audience feel they should already have the answer to and this is what hooks the audience into watching, enigma is a common convention of thrillers used to draw the audience and create suspense. Our thriller used some enigmas to catch the attention of the audience and we used a similar method of dropping the audience in at a point where they would normally know what’s happening, but instead of just that one part to draw the audience we showed the very beginning of the film. In essence we gave the audience the beginning and near end of the film to create enigmas of what happened during the time lapse between these two scenes which is a conventional norm of many thrillers.
“The Third Man” uses clips of the area and history of the location to create the setting with a voiceover to lead the audience into the film while still being friendly and seemingly approachable, in our thriller we use a voiceover with a middle class voice because our target audience would either be middle class or aspiring to it, a middle class voice also is quite familiar in Britain and would relax the audience while also drawing them in using familiarity to form a bond between the character and audience. The film also uses highly contrasted clips to create anticipation for the audience and to connote the meeting of law and criminality. In our thriller we used contrasting scenes to create a similar feeling within the audience and to connote the protagonists’ inner fight between decency and corruption. The contrasts in out thriller was mostly between the two parts of the opening, the first part the when the protagonist was outside the lighting was bright but there were moments of shadow to show his slow corruption, but the house remained bright the whole time to show that his corruption had not reached his personal life, in the second part of the opening most of the scenes were dark and gloomy to visually represent his corruption. Contrasting light is very conventional but we developed this to relate it to the character and if we had made the full film the lightening would have most likely darkened as the film progressed to show his downfall and to continue our theme of corruption, making it a subtle clue throughout the film.
How does your Thriller represent particular social groups?
The thriller’s characters are both white males, the protagonist represents a stereotypical British business man while the antagonist portrays the business underworld. The main character is a white male to support the image of the male-dominant business world, he is British which is shown by the location of his house and the voiceover is an upper-class British accent. In the opening the protagonist changes from a rich business man to a man on the run from the antagonist, this demonstrates the corruption of the business world and our main character acts as the catalyst in the sequence of events that leads to his own downfall. The antagonist is assumed to be British but there is no definite proof as he doesn’t speak, although the voiceover of the main character implies he is. The antagonist is a stereotype of what people believe criminals to be like. The protagonist mirrors many of the Film Noir and British Gangster genre males where they wear suits and have good jobs, we chose to keep to this stereotype because many males in our target group will aspire to have such a life and the narrative also serves as a warning to them in the same way fables have morals to their stories to teach life lessons (which also links in with our title “Immorality”). We decided against having females in our thriller opening because females are very easy to stereotype in a bad light if we make them the antagonist (femme fatale), protagonist (dominating woman that goes into situations with ‘guns blasting’) or sidekick (innocent partner with no idea about the trouble they are in) which are the types of female that are shown so often in mainstream thrillers (For example: the distressed victim, the sexy sidekick, the strong female that actually has weaknesses and ends up in love with the protagonist, or the evil antagonist). Because we only had one main character with the second character remaining quite mysterious, we had the chance to expand on his character and add more realism to him such as the vulnerability that would not often been seen in business men.
The antagonist is the well-known ‘silent assassin’ type which is one of villain stereotypes, we decided to try and give little clues about the man through his costume and how he acts towards the protagonist. His clothes are smart yet practical and he has a torch to help him search for the main character which implies that he is a well prepared person and this could mean that he is organized to the point of slight paranoia which would be sensible for his line of work as a criminal. The thriller shows him walking slowly and taking his time and this shows that he is a methodical person or perhaps that he isn’t worried about not being able to find the protagonist which would mean he either knew the other man well or is very good at locating people.
The protagonist talks about the antagonist in a familiar way and speaks about him like he was a friend, yet the antagonist never speaks a word to him, nor does he seem to show hesitation in trying to find him which implies that he may have never been his acquaintance and that the antagonist may have tricked the protagonist into thinking so which shows he is manipulative. These are all traits of typical criminals of any social group, although if he had been friendly with the protagonist, even if only for his own personal gain, it would mean that they would have to have been at a similar social standing which is middle/upper class British. Middle/upper class is where many of the male and female target audience would hope to fall and again this serves as a warning to be careful of people in that social class, the thriller shows the extremes of what businessmen can be like and desensitizes the audience to the ruthlessness of business.
What kind of media institution might distribute your Thriller and why?
As written in the Prezi presentation, the target audience tend to watch TV later at night and spend a great deal of time on the internet, so having advertising in these places would spread the message better using viral marketing and, as my audience research suggests, our target audience would prefer to watch films in the cinema with friends so it stands to reason that advertising on a social networking site would appeal to groups of friends. Vue, Universal and Vivendi would most likely be a part of our distribution because they are well-known in Britain and have connections to British companies in all parts of film distributiona dn exhibition. After exhibition on the cinema in Vue or other mainstream cinema's the best place to show the film would be online to widen the catchment area for the target audience, putting the film up on specific TV channels that our target audience favour would increase the chances of the thriller being seen by our target audience.
Who would be the audience for your Thriller?
We decided to target our thriller at late teens/young adult (16 – 25) audience of both genders. Our group is composed of that particular age range so we found that it was easier to make a narrative for that audience as we are a part of it and can actively input suggestions of what we would personally like to see in the film opening. Audience research could be completed with more ease as we could find people within the target audience in our school and ask for them to complete questionnaires, and they could also be asked on their opinions of the thriller as we were editing it so we could change it to suit our audience’s preferences. Many British Gangster films such as “Layer Cake”, “Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels”, “Se7en” “In Bruges”, and “Essex Boys” that are in the same genre as our thriller have similar target audiences, this shows that this particular genre is focused generally on the young adult audience, perhaps because they are still at the stage where action and crime are interesting because of the ‘forbidden’ element that these films normally portray. I think that British Gangster films are exciting for the young adult audience and this is why we targeted our thriller at that specific area.
How did you attract/address your audience?
In the first few seconds of the thriller the camera shows location scenes of the area which is relatable to a British audience, when the first actor walks into shot the voiceover starts which is in a British accent and categorizes him as the protagonist of the film because he is identifiable to the audience. We created enigmas in the first two minutes of the opening to draw in the audience so they would want to watch the rest of the film. One such enigma is what the main character did during the time lapse to have changed his life so dramatically, another question is who the antagonist is and how he relates to the main character and story as a whole. These are two of the main questions we created in the thriller but there are other smaller ones that are made, for example: what is the immoral thing that he speaks about in voiceover, why does the main character hide from the antagonist, (who he speaks about in familiar a tone), and what is his job that brings him so close to the line of criminality. My audience research suggested that our target audience preferred dark and abandoned places
This is what our target audiences like so we put an abandoned warehouse in our thriller, however we wanted to relate to British audiences with a familiar location so we used both which also had the extra use of creating contradictory lighting, a very mild form of chiaroscuro which enhances the effect of a time lapse and the difference of the protagonists life. The warehouse and darker lighting help to show the audience how far he has fallen in both wealth and social standards. The audience also said that the memorable aspects of thrillers were the storyline, CGI, and the soundtrack.
Not many British gangster films have very much CGI so we chose to have an interesting storyline and soundtrack. The storyline has minor similarities to other British gangster films such as Layer Cake although in Layer Cake the main character is a criminal and gets involved with other criminals while in our thriller the protagonist is a good guy that gets involved with thrillers giving us the theme of corruption and we believe that would be a very memorable narrative. The soundtrack is not very memorable but it suits its purpose of setting an eerie theme throughout the opening. This is another hook for the audience as many of them stated that they liked horror thrillers for the suspense and unknowns of the situation which we used to our advantage in our British gangster thriller as the soundtrack creates suspense and the voiceover and action construct enigmas. According to the audience research on the characters most people liked the male to be the hero, helping for family or the distressed character.
We decided to use the distressed character persona for our protagonist because it added more interest to the plot and gave the character more depth and an identifiable personality as many people would react in a similar way if they were being chased by a criminal. The change from the confident man in the first part of the opening and the second part is very engaging to the audience and also gives the audience a visual representation of corruption. The whole thriller opening was based on what our target audience would find the more interesting and appealing to watch, we also used enigmas based on the storyline and protagonist to get the audience to relate to the character and engage with the film.
What have you learnt about technologies from the process of construction this Thriller?
Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
When we did our preliminary task, we had very basic knowledge of using the digital cameras and editing software so we found it hard to edit our films at first while we were trying to learn how to use Adobe Premier. We were very bad at planning our preliminary task, we planned how our camera would move using a shooting map but we didn’t think about the camera angles or the script for our characters. This meant that when we came to the filming we found it hard to decide as a group on what would be best for our task. When we did our thriller opening, we decided in our group to make sure that everything was done before doing any filming so that we would know exactly what to do on the film day.
Now we have finished our thriller production I can use Adobe Premier much better than when we did our preliminary task, I have learned how to change the brightness of the clips and how to and a filter to tint them. I can also use the extra spaces for audio to make the clip transitions seemless in sound rather than having pauses and different sound levels between clips like in our preliminary task. I also learned how to use the effects and transitions for the titles to put them over the video action which we didn't do in our preliminary task.
When we worked in a group in the preliminary task we didn’t expand on our ideas very much so our end product was quite simplistic, we learned that working in groups was better for our overall production as we could use ideas from each other and develop them. I don’t think we would have worked as well in a group if we had not done the preliminary task first, this is because it showed us how hard it is to make a film and edit it so we needed to work together if we wanted the thriller to be as good as it could be.
Tuesday 13 April 2010
Discuss The Ways In Which Media Products Are Produced And Distributed To Audiences Relating To The British Film Industry
The issues with film production in relation to the audience is whether the audience will like the film or not, as such the two film types mainstream and independent have different hooks for the British audience to ensure that the production of the film is not a bust. For mainstream films the genre is very generic because it is a safe topic for the institution and is popular for the audience, mainstream films often use technological advances to help in the distribution of their film, as audiences like technologies that enhance their experience of the film such as HD and 3D. Independent films are the complete opposite of mainstream films, the film genres are usually controversial and challenge normal genre conventions, independent films do not use as many technological developments to enhance the audience experience of the film but rather to make showing films cheaper while still having good quality. Independent and mainstream films such as Cinema City and Vue have a rivalry with each other but not serious competition because of how their films differ so they do not compete over audience as their audience niche is quite different.
Distributing films to audience depends on if the film is mainstream or independent. Mainstream films from companies such as Vivendi (a part of the Universal company) are vertically integrated and can therefore advertise to audiences through lot of different means, internet is one of the main advertising strategies for the younger audiences. Facebook is an excellent place for viral advertising as fan pages can be made which passes the information about films and their actors, the pages can also show trailers and pre-release pictures to interest audiences. Youtube and review sites such as “Rotten Tomatoes” give the audience a chance to discuss newly released films by commenting on reviews and trailers which can create a wider audience. Independent films often distribute films using other means as the films sometimes have selective target audiences, one such method of selective distribution is via Film Festivals and trailers at the beginning of other independent films.
To conclude I believe that the production and distribution of audiences depends on whether the film is mainstream or independent. Mainstream films often use technological advantages to aid in production and to help draw audiences, while independent films tend to use digital technology to make the films cheaper so they can spend the extra money on increasing the quality of the viewing for the audience. Independent film companies that work in distribution try to make the whole cinematic experience more enjoyable for the British audience with entertainment for before the film and restaurant for after in most of the independent cinemas so the audience comes for a day out. Mainstream films working in distribution tend to have the film alone as the hook for British audiences as they are well advertised by normal and viral advertising and so can easily target their audience.
Distributing films to audience depends on if the film is mainstream or independent. Mainstream films from companies such as Vivendi (a part of the Universal company) are vertically integrated and can therefore advertise to audiences through lot of different means, internet is one of the main advertising strategies for the younger audiences. Facebook is an excellent place for viral advertising as fan pages can be made which passes the information about films and their actors, the pages can also show trailers and pre-release pictures to interest audiences. Youtube and review sites such as “Rotten Tomatoes” give the audience a chance to discuss newly released films by commenting on reviews and trailers which can create a wider audience. Independent films often distribute films using other means as the films sometimes have selective target audiences, one such method of selective distribution is via Film Festivals and trailers at the beginning of other independent films.
To conclude I believe that the production and distribution of audiences depends on whether the film is mainstream or independent. Mainstream films often use technological advantages to aid in production and to help draw audiences, while independent films tend to use digital technology to make the films cheaper so they can spend the extra money on increasing the quality of the viewing for the audience. Independent film companies that work in distribution try to make the whole cinematic experience more enjoyable for the British audience with entertainment for before the film and restaurant for after in most of the independent cinemas so the audience comes for a day out. Mainstream films working in distribution tend to have the film alone as the hook for British audiences as they are well advertised by normal and viral advertising and so can easily target their audience.
Sunday 28 March 2010
How Is Digital Cinema Production Affecting The British Film Industry?
The issue with technological convergence is the audience demand. As technologies advance and converge the end users demand more which can be shown by the advance of mobile phones, originally they could only call or text but now they can do a multitude of thins as more technologies have been added into the phone. The industries behind mobile phones have become ever more competitive to keep up the synergy of technology caused by audience demand. The British film industry is the same as the mobile companies, they are constantly improving the viewing of films by adding technologies such as 3D, and while mainstream films can afford to do this the independent ones cannot and so the digital technology for independent films keep the companies in competition with each other and also keeps up the audiences demand for technology convergence.
Vue and Cinema City are perfect examples of the competition between companies and how digital technology keeps the independent cinema in competition with the mainstream ones. Vue, the mainstream cinema, has the finances to converge technologies such as 3D more than Cinema City the independent, which causes Cinema City to lose out on profits. The digital technology that Cinema City can get because of its independent status makes the films cheaper to buy and exhibit and so the cinema can afford to buy other things with the money they normally would have used on buying the films such as 3D or other technology to make the cinema experience better of the audience.
An advantage of technological convergence from an institutional point of view is the ease of distribution, digital films can easily be formatted for DVDs and quality remains very high because the films are not converted from film reels to digital which costs more and reduces quality. Digital films can also be distributed easily by uploading straight onto the internet via the film rather than the DVD or illegal uploads which both cost the industry a lot of money so the industry themselves can upload good quality films on the internet which the audience can pay for which has the added benefit of a wider audience. Digital to digital conversions, film to DVD, cost less money to the industry and so increases the income. An advantage of technological conversions for the audience is cheaper costs of films in other formats such as DVDs. It is easier to convert digital films to DVD so the cost would be less thus saving the audience money. Another advantage for the audience, which would be a disadvantage for the industry is the internet, digital films would be much easier to upload onto the internet than film reels and although this can be an advantage for the industry if they did it themselves is can also be a disadvantage because of file sharing sites and illegal downloading. A disadvantage of technological convergence for audiences is the cost of non-convergent technology such as cassette tapes and videos which, like film reels, are more costly to format into digital and are fast becoming outdated because of the need to buy specialist machinery for them.
Vue and Cinema City are perfect examples of the competition between companies and how digital technology keeps the independent cinema in competition with the mainstream ones. Vue, the mainstream cinema, has the finances to converge technologies such as 3D more than Cinema City the independent, which causes Cinema City to lose out on profits. The digital technology that Cinema City can get because of its independent status makes the films cheaper to buy and exhibit and so the cinema can afford to buy other things with the money they normally would have used on buying the films such as 3D or other technology to make the cinema experience better of the audience.
An advantage of technological convergence from an institutional point of view is the ease of distribution, digital films can easily be formatted for DVDs and quality remains very high because the films are not converted from film reels to digital which costs more and reduces quality. Digital films can also be distributed easily by uploading straight onto the internet via the film rather than the DVD or illegal uploads which both cost the industry a lot of money so the industry themselves can upload good quality films on the internet which the audience can pay for which has the added benefit of a wider audience. Digital to digital conversions, film to DVD, cost less money to the industry and so increases the income. An advantage of technological conversions for the audience is cheaper costs of films in other formats such as DVDs. It is easier to convert digital films to DVD so the cost would be less thus saving the audience money. Another advantage for the audience, which would be a disadvantage for the industry is the internet, digital films would be much easier to upload onto the internet than film reels and although this can be an advantage for the industry if they did it themselves is can also be a disadvantage because of file sharing sites and illegal downloading. A disadvantage of technological convergence for audiences is the cost of non-convergent technology such as cassette tapes and videos which, like film reels, are more costly to format into digital and are fast becoming outdated because of the need to buy specialist machinery for them.
Describe The Impact On The Production, Marketing, Distribution And Exhibition Of Working Title’s Films, Made By Universal
Before Universal took over Working Titles all area’s of film making were dealt with by the two producers, Time Bevan and Eric Fellner. The two partners spent most of their time making deals between the various companies needed to get a film into production. In production the directors and actors were generally new talent and unheard of by the wider film community, as such many of the films were independent with original storylines and interesting soundtracks. All companies that dealt with marketing, distribution and exhibition were hired on a film-to-film basis, for example in one film the distributer was Atlantic Releasing Corp, and in another it was Vestron. There was not a set distributer, marketer or exhibition company contracted with Working Titles and because of this Bevan and Fellner had to go around to companies and make deals to get their films out to the audience. The contracts for the areas of film making were so hard to deal with that Working Titles only got out one or two films a year and if those films didn’t do well it left the company in a bad situation, however if the films did well then the money could go towards the next production, it is said by the producers that this “stop and go” process of only putting out one or maybe two films a year left the company “virtually always bankrupt”.
After Universal took over, with 67% of the shares of the Working Title company, Fellner and Bevan said that they preferred it to how they were before because Universal took care of the distribution, marketing and exhibition which left the producers to work on the production without worrying about anything else, this new freedom to focus on their work gave a remarkable improvement of the films that were produced by the company. A company that is a part of Universal called Vivendi has exclusive distribution rights to Working Title films and both marketing and exhibition are also done by Vivendi in most films, this is because Vivendi is what is known as a vertically integrated, meaning they have a part in all the components of film making. Vivendi does what Fellner and Bevan used to do when they were independent producers but Vivendi has links and contracts with many other companies which make distribution, marketing and exhibition much easier for them than it was for Fellner and Bevan. Production for Working Titles is much better now the other aspects of film making has been dealt with, and because Universal is a huge company, it has many other companies working with it which means Fellner and Bevan get the benefits of the other companies help and have often co-produced films with other companies such as StudioCanal which lightens the workload for both teams and therefore gives the producers more time to work on the scripting, and editing to make the films the best they can be. Universal is a worldwide company and is linked to many agencies for actors and directors, because of this Working Title can get mainstream actors and the movie budgets are often much larger than the ones they used to have when they were independent. As such Working Titles has started making more mainstream films rather than the independent films they used to make, but because they do still like to make mainstream films a secondary company was made under Working Titles called Working Titles 2 which focuses solely on independent films and leaves Working Titles free to pursue the mainstream films that Universal prefer.
To conclude, Universal has had a positive impact on Working Title, it deals with the distribution, marketing and exhibition so that Fellner and Bevan can focus on the Production and even supply funds, help hire actors, actresses and directors and gives the producers a lot of freedom to make what ever film they like. Universal helps Working Title by supporting it and giving resources needed in film production. Working Titles has been more profitable and made many more films that are well received by the audience since the take over by Universal which proves that it has had a good effect on Working Titles and will continue to do so over the coming changes in Working Titles such as its expansion out of England and overall growth in power and wealth.
After Universal took over, with 67% of the shares of the Working Title company, Fellner and Bevan said that they preferred it to how they were before because Universal took care of the distribution, marketing and exhibition which left the producers to work on the production without worrying about anything else, this new freedom to focus on their work gave a remarkable improvement of the films that were produced by the company. A company that is a part of Universal called Vivendi has exclusive distribution rights to Working Title films and both marketing and exhibition are also done by Vivendi in most films, this is because Vivendi is what is known as a vertically integrated, meaning they have a part in all the components of film making. Vivendi does what Fellner and Bevan used to do when they were independent producers but Vivendi has links and contracts with many other companies which make distribution, marketing and exhibition much easier for them than it was for Fellner and Bevan. Production for Working Titles is much better now the other aspects of film making has been dealt with, and because Universal is a huge company, it has many other companies working with it which means Fellner and Bevan get the benefits of the other companies help and have often co-produced films with other companies such as StudioCanal which lightens the workload for both teams and therefore gives the producers more time to work on the scripting, and editing to make the films the best they can be. Universal is a worldwide company and is linked to many agencies for actors and directors, because of this Working Title can get mainstream actors and the movie budgets are often much larger than the ones they used to have when they were independent. As such Working Titles has started making more mainstream films rather than the independent films they used to make, but because they do still like to make mainstream films a secondary company was made under Working Titles called Working Titles 2 which focuses solely on independent films and leaves Working Titles free to pursue the mainstream films that Universal prefer.
To conclude, Universal has had a positive impact on Working Title, it deals with the distribution, marketing and exhibition so that Fellner and Bevan can focus on the Production and even supply funds, help hire actors, actresses and directors and gives the producers a lot of freedom to make what ever film they like. Universal helps Working Title by supporting it and giving resources needed in film production. Working Titles has been more profitable and made many more films that are well received by the audience since the take over by Universal which proves that it has had a good effect on Working Titles and will continue to do so over the coming changes in Working Titles such as its expansion out of England and overall growth in power and wealth.
Moving Image Production Has Always Been Led By The Audience’s Demand For New Sensation. Discuss
Since moving image production began there has been many technological improvements, the latest being improvements to CGI (computer generated images). CGI is often used to create action scenes that would otherwise be dangerous to actors and actresses but is used mostly to create scenes and effects that could not be made in real life. I believe films are led partly by audience demand but also by the new technologies themselves which are advertised in a way that makes the audience want to watch them; many storylines of successful films are remakes of older movies using newer technology. “Avatar”, “Transformers” and “Hancock” are all successful films that utilise CGI in some way but I do not believe that the reason all of them are successful is solely because of CGI.
“Avatar” is currently the number one highest grossing film, edging out “Titanic” within two months of its release. The film was made of 60% CGI and many of the landscape scenes were completely CGI which made for some spectacular scenes that had never been seen before by the audience. “Never mind the inadequacies of the story, just savour the spectacle and what can be achieved with the appliance of science” was a review of a critic on the well-known film review site ‘Rotten Tomatoes’. The film is very similar in plot to “Dances with Wolves” but the use of CGI and other fantasy elements such as the new planet ‘Pandora’ and its humanoid species of Na’vi gave it the top spot in the highest grossing films. The trailer (see source 1) heavily exploits the CGI elements of the film to capture audience interest but the director is also shamelessly used to capture audience attention by showing what other popular films he has directed to imply that the film will be as good as, if not better than, his previous films. The poster advertisements (see source 2) show a CGI image of the main character along with his human self as well as some of the planets scenery in the background. “Avatar” is also out in the cinema in 3D which heightens the experience for the audience and has attracted the interest of the audience by combining the CGI elements of the film with the little used 3D technology to draw interest (3D is becoming popular in the world at the moment but there still aren’t many films that are making use of this renewed interest). The film uses the most recent CGI technologies; the fact that it uses an old narrative proves that this particular film is successful mostly because of its use of new technology which supports the theory that the film industry is led by the audience demand for new sensation.
“Transformers” is the 36th highest grossing film. Most of the films effects are a mix of live action and CGI, although the fight scenes between the robots are completely computer generated. The narrative is a variation of the well used ‘doomsday’ and ‘alien invasion’ storylines but uses alien robots that can hide as cars. Many Hollywood movies reuse old narratives but use technology to make them different, the basic storylines under all the CGI and other effects is nearly always from other movies and book or complied from an array of other movies all put together in one film. The trailer (see source 3) focuses a great deal on the CGI and action, but mentions the director and producer who are very well known and respected which helps attract the audience. The advertisement poster (see source 4) similarly spotlights the CGI and the action by using the word “war” which implies action and fighting. “The effects are jaw-droppingly good” was a review from ‘Rotten Tomatoes’, the effects were very well received by many of the critics however the storyline was not as well accepted, many of the reviewers found the storyline dwarfed by the action and fight scenes. This film did very well, reaching the 5th highest grossing film in the year of its debut (2007), although this film has a very well used storyline it still became successful which can only be because of its use of action integrated with the CGI that makes it appealing to an audience.
“Hancock” is the 45th highest grossing film. This films uses some CGI, although not as much as “Avatar” and “Transformers”, the narrative was the main focus of the film as it tried to portray the main character (Will Smith) as an disliked superhero who tries to win the publics affection. The CGI is used mostly to depict the characters superpowers and to enhance the actions scenes. The trailer (see source 5) draws the audiences’ attention to the main character, inserting a little CGI to make him look more impressive, the trailer is very focused on Will Smith as the main character to draw in his fans. The director isn’t mentioned as directly as in the other film trailers; Will Smith brings in his own audience because he is a well liked actor. Similarly the poster advertisement (see source 6) brings attention to Will Smith rather than the CGI used. “With Will Smith's admittedly impressive performance certainly ranking high on the movie's list of positive attributes” was one of the positive reviews from ‘Rotten Tomatoes’ although the reviews were very mixed. This film did fairly well which I believe is more attributed to Will Smiths role rather than the CGI, most of the reviews were about the storyline and portrayal of Hancock and despite how mixed they were it seems that Smith was the reason most people went to watch the film unlike with films such as “Avatar” that rely heavily on its CGI to draw in the audience.
In Conclusion I think that in many cases films are advertised to audiences showing their new technologies such as CGI to draw them in because they storylines are reused time and time again but the use of CGI makes it more interesting for the audience. Films such as “Hancock” that have a new narrative don’t need as much technology like CGI to make it good so it seems that CGI is often used to cover up storylines. I think the reason “Avatar” is the number one highest grossing film is because of the amazing special effects it uses, most audience members don’t realise that they storyline is very similar to “Dances with Wolves” because the effects make it look like an entirely different story. The audience don’t seem to mind that the storyline is not original because the CGI is so well done that many people watch the film just to see CGI world that was created for the film. If “Avatar” had been done without the CGI, using just the basic storyline I don’t think that it would have done as well. “Avatar” also had the 3D option which is an old technology that is becoming popular and it is only of the only films showing at the cinema which uses both of these technologies to such an extent. Therefore I agree that film production is led by audience’s demand for new technologies in most case, although there are some films where it is the narrative and not the CGI that makes the film successful.
Bibliography
Source 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aeh2KILn7O4
Source 2: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/b0/Avatar-Teaser-Poster.jpg
Source 3 : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8EKXLwmV7o
Source 4 : http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/6/66/Transformers07.jpg
Source 5 : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OD8qSmkdqJM
Source 6 : http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/c9/Hancockposter.jpg
Grossing Film List: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_highest-grossing_films
“Avatar” is currently the number one highest grossing film, edging out “Titanic” within two months of its release. The film was made of 60% CGI and many of the landscape scenes were completely CGI which made for some spectacular scenes that had never been seen before by the audience. “Never mind the inadequacies of the story, just savour the spectacle and what can be achieved with the appliance of science” was a review of a critic on the well-known film review site ‘Rotten Tomatoes’. The film is very similar in plot to “Dances with Wolves” but the use of CGI and other fantasy elements such as the new planet ‘Pandora’ and its humanoid species of Na’vi gave it the top spot in the highest grossing films. The trailer (see source 1) heavily exploits the CGI elements of the film to capture audience interest but the director is also shamelessly used to capture audience attention by showing what other popular films he has directed to imply that the film will be as good as, if not better than, his previous films. The poster advertisements (see source 2) show a CGI image of the main character along with his human self as well as some of the planets scenery in the background. “Avatar” is also out in the cinema in 3D which heightens the experience for the audience and has attracted the interest of the audience by combining the CGI elements of the film with the little used 3D technology to draw interest (3D is becoming popular in the world at the moment but there still aren’t many films that are making use of this renewed interest). The film uses the most recent CGI technologies; the fact that it uses an old narrative proves that this particular film is successful mostly because of its use of new technology which supports the theory that the film industry is led by the audience demand for new sensation.
“Transformers” is the 36th highest grossing film. Most of the films effects are a mix of live action and CGI, although the fight scenes between the robots are completely computer generated. The narrative is a variation of the well used ‘doomsday’ and ‘alien invasion’ storylines but uses alien robots that can hide as cars. Many Hollywood movies reuse old narratives but use technology to make them different, the basic storylines under all the CGI and other effects is nearly always from other movies and book or complied from an array of other movies all put together in one film. The trailer (see source 3) focuses a great deal on the CGI and action, but mentions the director and producer who are very well known and respected which helps attract the audience. The advertisement poster (see source 4) similarly spotlights the CGI and the action by using the word “war” which implies action and fighting. “The effects are jaw-droppingly good” was a review from ‘Rotten Tomatoes’, the effects were very well received by many of the critics however the storyline was not as well accepted, many of the reviewers found the storyline dwarfed by the action and fight scenes. This film did very well, reaching the 5th highest grossing film in the year of its debut (2007), although this film has a very well used storyline it still became successful which can only be because of its use of action integrated with the CGI that makes it appealing to an audience.
“Hancock” is the 45th highest grossing film. This films uses some CGI, although not as much as “Avatar” and “Transformers”, the narrative was the main focus of the film as it tried to portray the main character (Will Smith) as an disliked superhero who tries to win the publics affection. The CGI is used mostly to depict the characters superpowers and to enhance the actions scenes. The trailer (see source 5) draws the audiences’ attention to the main character, inserting a little CGI to make him look more impressive, the trailer is very focused on Will Smith as the main character to draw in his fans. The director isn’t mentioned as directly as in the other film trailers; Will Smith brings in his own audience because he is a well liked actor. Similarly the poster advertisement (see source 6) brings attention to Will Smith rather than the CGI used. “With Will Smith's admittedly impressive performance certainly ranking high on the movie's list of positive attributes” was one of the positive reviews from ‘Rotten Tomatoes’ although the reviews were very mixed. This film did fairly well which I believe is more attributed to Will Smiths role rather than the CGI, most of the reviews were about the storyline and portrayal of Hancock and despite how mixed they were it seems that Smith was the reason most people went to watch the film unlike with films such as “Avatar” that rely heavily on its CGI to draw in the audience.
In Conclusion I think that in many cases films are advertised to audiences showing their new technologies such as CGI to draw them in because they storylines are reused time and time again but the use of CGI makes it more interesting for the audience. Films such as “Hancock” that have a new narrative don’t need as much technology like CGI to make it good so it seems that CGI is often used to cover up storylines. I think the reason “Avatar” is the number one highest grossing film is because of the amazing special effects it uses, most audience members don’t realise that they storyline is very similar to “Dances with Wolves” because the effects make it look like an entirely different story. The audience don’t seem to mind that the storyline is not original because the CGI is so well done that many people watch the film just to see CGI world that was created for the film. If “Avatar” had been done without the CGI, using just the basic storyline I don’t think that it would have done as well. “Avatar” also had the 3D option which is an old technology that is becoming popular and it is only of the only films showing at the cinema which uses both of these technologies to such an extent. Therefore I agree that film production is led by audience’s demand for new technologies in most case, although there are some films where it is the narrative and not the CGI that makes the film successful.
Bibliography
Source 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aeh2KILn7O4
Source 2: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/b0/Avatar-Teaser-Poster.jpg
Source 3 : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8EKXLwmV7o
Source 4 : http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/6/66/Transformers07.jpg
Source 5 : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OD8qSmkdqJM
Source 6 : http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/c9/Hancockposter.jpg
Grossing Film List: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_highest-grossing_films
Tuesday 23 March 2010
Digital Screen Network Questions
What is the Digital Screen Network?
A digital screen network was created by the UK Film Council and Arts Council England; it supplies many independent cinemas with digital projection technology which costs much less than the film reels. There are some provisions that the cinemas with the new technology have to adhere to, such as providing more screening time for more independent films to help the UK audience see more independent films.
How can it help independent producers and exhibitors like Cinema City?
It helps independent producers because they can afford more digital copies than film reels and therefore show a more diverse range of films.
What will it mean for audiences?
The Digital Screen Network gives the audience more chance to view the independent films that are normally harder to come by because of the mainstream films everywhere. The DSN is hoping to increase the audiences viewing of independent films and increase cinema ratings; they want audiences to see a more diverse range of films which gives the audience more of a choice in what they see.
How does your local area benefit?
Norwich is getting two digital ready screens from the DNS which means that the Norwich audience will get to see more diverse independent films in two separate cinemas, this will give audience more choice in what they see and the cinemas can find out what sort of films the Norwich audience likes.
How does it impact your film consumption?
It gives me a greater selection of films to choose from and means that lesser known independent films will be shown which I may want to see.
What will this technology also provide cinemas?
This technology will provide cinemas more chance to diversify their films and attract more viewers to their cinemas as well as the added benefit of finding out which type of film the audience prefers.
What can you suggest this might mean for other technologies?
Digital technology is easier to put out onto the internet and TV than film reels which mean that the cinemas can advertise on the internet or television and even show films on them which increases the potential amount of the viewers.
A digital screen network was created by the UK Film Council and Arts Council England; it supplies many independent cinemas with digital projection technology which costs much less than the film reels. There are some provisions that the cinemas with the new technology have to adhere to, such as providing more screening time for more independent films to help the UK audience see more independent films.
How can it help independent producers and exhibitors like Cinema City?
It helps independent producers because they can afford more digital copies than film reels and therefore show a more diverse range of films.
What will it mean for audiences?
The Digital Screen Network gives the audience more chance to view the independent films that are normally harder to come by because of the mainstream films everywhere. The DSN is hoping to increase the audiences viewing of independent films and increase cinema ratings; they want audiences to see a more diverse range of films which gives the audience more of a choice in what they see.
How does your local area benefit?
Norwich is getting two digital ready screens from the DNS which means that the Norwich audience will get to see more diverse independent films in two separate cinemas, this will give audience more choice in what they see and the cinemas can find out what sort of films the Norwich audience likes.
How does it impact your film consumption?
It gives me a greater selection of films to choose from and means that lesser known independent films will be shown which I may want to see.
What will this technology also provide cinemas?
This technology will provide cinemas more chance to diversify their films and attract more viewers to their cinemas as well as the added benefit of finding out which type of film the audience prefers.
What can you suggest this might mean for other technologies?
Digital technology is easier to put out onto the internet and TV than film reels which mean that the cinemas can advertise on the internet or television and even show films on them which increases the potential amount of the viewers.
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