Sunday, 31 October 2010
Tuesday, 26 October 2010
Essay
“Discuss the issues and patterns which enable your institution to thrive as a film business with a focus on the production process.”
The main thing that helps a film business to thrive is the amount of funding it has for each film it produces. For example, Working Title films are part of a conglomerate of which Universal is the parent company. Universal is a huge American film institution which is known world wide. This therefore means that Working Title have an advantage as they can receive better funding and have access to widely known actors and other above the line costs. The fact that Universal and Working Title are linked also means that Working Title films will have more credibility and be more recognised by different audiences. Another thing that Working Title does in order to thrive as a film business is to use stock actors. For example; Emma Thompson, Simon Pegg, Renee Zellweger and Hugh Grant. These people are all very well known and successful actors. If a previous film by Working Title did well by using these stock actors then a future film with them in is more likely to entice an audience and therefore make the business thrive even more.
Warp films are an independent film company. This means that they have to find their own funding when a producer has an idea for a film as they don’t have a conglomerate like Working Title do. In a way, it could be said that Warp have to work harder to promote and market their films or come up with a ‘must see’ idea in order to gain a profit. Warp generally gets their funding from government grants which they then use to make and produce their films. The main bulk of the profit that Warp makes is through ancillary sales rather than the film being at the cinema so this means that this is something they may chose to work harder on. One of Warp’s most famous productions is ‘This is England
Universal is a huge Hollywood production company that can make worldwide famous films with very high budgets, in comparison to Warp which is much less well known and has to work very hard to get a small budget for a film.
In conclusion, the production process is the most important thing in determining a films success. All things from the script to the budget to the actors contribute to this.
Representation and Stereotypes - Shameless
How are Regional Identity and Sexuality represented in the opening sequence of Shameless episode one?
As a class we discussed stereotypes for gay and straight people, and then the differences between people from the north and south of the country. We came up with a few ideas, for example; gay men are camp and flamboyant, have a mincing walk and a limp wrist. A straight man is insensitive and drinks beer, read lads mags and are metro-sexual as they take care of their appearance.
We then discussed regional identity and decided that people from the north are generally poorer, have strong accents and swear a lot, are heavy drinkers and old fashioned, and they are funny and uneducated. For people from the south, we came up with the ideas that they are rich and posh, intelligent and into golf, have expensive houses and a high disposable income.
We then watched the first episode of Shameless series one, this programme is about the Gallagher family who are from the north and this is very clear even from the first scene. From this opening to the episode it is clear to see that the characters fit the regional identity stereotypes we came up with very well as they are uneducated and swear a lot, along with a few other things.
To start with, I looked at the character of Lip. He is a very stereotypical straight male teenager. Lip has a sexual encounter in the opening sequence of which he later boasts about to his brother which, again, is a stereotypical thing for a straight teenage boy to do.
I then looked at how Ian, Lip's brother, fitted in with sexuality stereotypes. Lip finds out that his brother is gay after finding his porn stash, however this could have been said to be obvious already as Ian had a 'Kylie' poster on his wall. Ian does fit the gay stereotype when we see him crying as this shows his emotional and feminine side. There are also other things though, for example his appearance that doesn't fit a gay stereotype.
Steve and Fiona are two other characters from the opening scenes. They meet at a club and are both clearly straight due to the stereotypes we came up with earlier, and they end up having a sexual encounter that they both believe will be a 'one night stand'. It is apparent to the viewer that Steve and Fiona are both straight as they are obviously attracted to each other and when they are alone, there is romantic music that has purposely been put to play in the background to make the scene more intimate.
Stereotypical aspects of regional identity are shown throughout the opening scenes. This is mainly done by the characters broad northern accents that they all have. It is also apparent to the viewer that they are a poor family. This can be assumed by the clothes they are wearing and where they live. Their clothes look worn and dirty and they live on the 'Chatsworth Estate' which, judging on appearance and using stereotypes, looks like somewhere that a poorer person would live.
Shameless represents stereotypes well and they generally fit in with the ones that we came up with as a class which shows that it is possibly a programme that uses stereotypes to portray its characters.
TV Drama - Generic Conventions
You will find that TV dramas all have the following ingredients:
Characters – even particular kinds of characters: eg, at its most simple, ‘good’ and ‘bad’ characters.
Stories – they all tell stories, whether those stories involve adventure, crime or romance and they often, but not always, end happily.
The stories are told against familiar backdrops: – eg, homes, police stations and offices (for crime dramas), hospitals (for medical dramas) – most of which are created in studios. However, most dramas also use outside locations to create particular effects.
Camerawork – particular kinds of shots are used: eg, sequences involving establishing shots followed by mid-shots of characters, shot/reverse shots to show character interaction and, in particular,close-ups to show the characters’ emotions.
Stories use dialogue to tell the stories. Occasionally, monologues are built in (as voiceovers, a character telling a story).
Music is used to punctuate the action, create effects (suspense, tension) and underline emotional moments.
Particular subgenres tend to have items which make them immediately identifiable – police cars, blue lights, operating theatres and scalpels, triage/reception areas in hospitals. Icons of the genre, they symbolise the (sub)genre.
Thursday, 14 October 2010
Overview of Budget Cuts
Our original budget of £10,000,000 wa cut by a third and therefore, we had to decide which of our above the line costs had to be drppped or reduced first.
We decided to change our B list actors to Z list firstly and by doing this we could help to reduce our budget by a fair amount.
We then changed our director from A list to B list as this meant we could still have qa very good director but it would be cheaper.
After we made these cuts, we decided we had already given the other members of the film crew an amount of money that would also suit this budget so we didnt have to make any further changes.
Tuesday, 12 October 2010
Rushmore
Is Max a Stereotypical Teenager?
Based purely on the montage sequence at the beginning of the film, it is clear to say that, no; Max is not a stereotypical teenager.
At the beginning of the montage, we see the journal that has bee’s on the front cover. Bee’s may have been used for a few different reasons; they could represent flying to imply that Max ‘flies’ from activity to activity. Or, it could simply be to show that he is in the bee keepers club. Another reasons could be that they are linked with famous sayings, for example ‘busy as a bee’ or ‘the bee’s knee’s’ and these could represent Max and how busy is he is, which goes against the stereotype that teenagers are normally lazy.
The first club that we see Max is a member of is the ‘Yankee Review’ which is the school journal and he is the Publisher of it. This shows that he is in charge of it and likes to be the leader. He is more formally dressed than the other people in the scene and he is standing in the middle. This could show that he likes to be in charge and stand out or he wants to make a good impression. This goes against a stereotypical teenager in terms of fitting in as Max is wearing different clothes to everyone else.
We nest see that Max is the president of the French Club. He stands out from everyone else in the picture and is again wearing his full school uniform, which is different to everyone else. This time he is wearing a red beret and he appears to have no self awareness. This is not how a stereotypical teenager would act, as most would prefer not to be Presidents of clubs in school and stand out in the way which Max does.
In the Model United Nations group, Max is representing Russia Mexico and India
Max is the vice president of the Stamp and Coin club. This is an unusual pastime for a teenager to have. It is noticeable that in this picture, no one else is seen apart from Max which may suggest that he is the only member or the club and therefore he either does it for his own enjoyment. However, a stereotypical teenager may spend most of their spare time with friends, and Max may prefer being on his own.
For the Debating Team, Max is the Captain. He is yet again dressed differently to everyone else which could suggest that he is an outsider. The fact that Max continually wears his school uniform, which is different to what everyone else wears, could be for a few reasons. He may be inexperienced so is not sure what to wear or he may just simply want to express his individuality. However, it could also suggest that Max comes from a poor background and he can’t afford any other posh clothes except his uniform.
From then on, the majority of the clubs shown are to do with sport in some way and for most of these he is the; captain, founder or president. However, taking the Kung Fu club as an example, Max is a yellow belt which is lower than everyone else there. This could be because Max wants to be a part of every club available even if he isn’t the best at it. This shows that he makes the most of every possible opportunity which again goes against the stereotypical teenager.
Based on the whole of the Montage, it appears that Max spends a lot of time on extra curricular activities and probably has not time left for his school work. It is unusual for a teenager to do so much at school and this is the main reasons why I believe he is not a stereotypical teenager.
Tuesday, 5 October 2010
Monday, 4 October 2010
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