UK Independent Film - Under the Skin (2013)

Under the Skin (2013) - Jonathan Glazer

Director - Jonathan Glazer (English) - Also produced Sexy Beast, a British crime film.
Produced by - James Wilson, Nick Wechsler
Based on - Under The Skin novel by Michael Faber

Budget - £8 million (low budget independent film)
Box Office - £2.5 million
Stars - Scarlett Johansson, Adam Pearson, Paul Brannigan. Relatively low budget actors aside from Johansson. One big name can attract a wider set of audience although we know this film is an Art House film. 

Issues in Production - Locations were hard come by and locations needed to be altered to fit the desired effects of portrayal. Tree tops were cut off to allow more natural daylight onto the set when the dense tree tops were were in abundance.

Misc. Info.
- Glazer tells us that the view point that the character takes on the film is from the aliens perspective and therefore tried to use the correct visual language to try and make the audience feel this alienation and distance from the world around them. 
- We understand that Art House cinema does not attract the biggest audience and therefore doesn't make it onto the big screens. These films don't attract huge audiences because they are sometimes difficult to understand and therefore wider audiences are not addressed, for example younger audiences may not understand the deeper meanings. Also dark scenes within Under the Skin can put off a younger, less mature audience. A scene which entails a couple and their dog drowning could be saddening and off putting to a young audience.
- Glazer includes long takes of the general public walking around, no extras. They do not know they are being filmed and this can add to the appeal of the alienation within the audience. People's real reactions and real conversations to add to the realism and involvement of the outside world.

Section C - Messages and Values - Badlands (1973)

Section C - Messages and Values

Badlands: Kit & Holly

Themes:

- The American dream is a recurring theme throughout the film, as it is in most lovers on the lam genre films.
- The music that plays at the beginning of the film is similar to true romane, another lovers on the lam film.

Media:

- When police are starting to look for Kit and Holly, the film cuts to an old sepia scene. This makes it look like an old wanted poster, and this style is similar to old western films. Similar settings also support the fact that the film is trying o replicate the western genre.

Entrapment and Freedom:

- The theme of being trapped and being free are frequent throughout the film.
- A cage in the scene indicates the couple are trapped. Wide open scenes of the prairie indicate the couple are free.
- Being in a vast area means that the couple are isolated from society.

Section A Practice

‘Visual effects are a main attraction for audiences.’ How far do you agree with this statement?

Visual effects are an element of film which can invite an audience solely on the fact that the audience likes the thrill of the fantasy environment. To some, visual effects can be a significant role in the film and can decipher whether the audience can get lost within the fantasy world or not. Films such as Life of Pi and Prometheus give evidence that visual effects can attract a wide audience but there are also arguments against this.

Evidence from the film Life of Pi includes the film grossing over $580 million worldwide and winning  awards such as Best Cinematography and Best Visual Effects can tell us that the film was successful but doesn’t tell us that the visual effects were what made the film successful. Although the film may have astounding visual effects, this may not be the reason that the film was successful. We also know that the film was based off a well known book, therefore providing the film with an existing audience. We also know the film had a budget of around $120 million so the marketing campaign would be well done and the cinematography would also appeal to a wider audience.

Westenhofer’s quote simply tells us that visual effects are good at fooling the audience into thinking they're looking at something real when they aren’t. This doesn’t tell us that this particular film was effective on it’s release because of the visual effects. We know that Ang Lee appreciates the special effects technicians that worked on his film but we also know this is a significant part of the film. Visual effects can be seen as an attraction for the audience and can be seen as a feature that can improve a film’s overall quality. We know films can be congratulated from having outstanding visual effects as the 2014, Christopher Nolan film Interstellar won the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects. This is significant as it further cements the importance of VFX in modern day film’s and their success.

However, the 1999 film The Blair Witch Project is a direct counter to this argument. With a budget of only $20,000 and little visual effects. The main attraction of this cult horror film would be the sheer fear factor that the storyline produced. In my opinion I think that the fact this film is a psychological horror is important because the lack of visual effects can force the audience to produce their own idea of the monster/spirit that is killing the characters off. This is evidence that a film should not only rely on the visual effects to become successful. However this film could be countered with the argument that it is a relatively old film in terms of visual effects. Due to it being produced in the late 1990s. We know that visual effects weren’t as effective in that time compared to how advanced they are in modern films.

Although we cannot compare The Blair Witch Project and Life of Pi in this manner due to the time difference between them which causes the advancement of visual effects and how important they become to the audience. I think although visual effects can be a highly significant feature of modern films and attracting an audience but we cannot assume that this is the main reason it attracts these audiences.

Foreign Language Film - The Grandmaster (2013) - Case Study

The Grandmaster (2013) - Case Study - Foreign Language Film

Budget - $38.6 million
Stars - Zhang Ziyi, Tony Leung Chiu Wai, Chang Chen
Director - Wong Kar-Wai
Genre - Drama, Martial Arts
Box Office - $6,594,959
Production Companies - Block 2 Pictures, Sil-Metropole Organisation
Distributors - The Weinstein Company
Certificate - 15 - Strong Violence
Marketing
- The trailer for this movie has just over 1 million views on youtube. Showcasing elements of the film and the most thrilling action sequences.
- Film shown in China in its longer version (130 minutes) then shown at the Berlin Film Festival as a slightly shorter version. Then shown in the UK and US as the shorter version which was cut by Weinstein.
- Audiences have said that the longer version is superior however the Western audiences wouldn't have clocked on to some of the Eastern, Chinese references within the plot. This is significant as we can see the different audiences being addressed individually and the film being altered in order to become more appealing for them.
- Kar-Wai instructed the cast to learn the martial arts instead of acting it, this could be significant when addressing the audience as he wanted to reflect the strict, professional values that the characters in the film should carry with them.
- 6 months of preparation and 3 weeks of filming for a 3 minute fight scene.
Release Date - January 8, 2013 (China)/November 29, 2013 (UK)
Reviews - Metacritic - 73%   IMDb - 6.5/10

Pan's Labyrinth (2006) - Film Case Study Research

Pan's Labyrinth (2006)

Budget - $19 Million

Stars - Ivana Baquero, Doug Jones, Maribel Verdú - Not well known actors worldwide as they feature in no well             known worldwide films.

Genre - Fantasy and Drama - Restricted audience

Box Office - $83,258,226 worldwide (54.8% of profit was from foreign countries.

Production Companies - Tequila Gang, Telecinco Cinema, Estudios Picasso.

Certificate - 12 - Wide audience, low limiting factor

Marketing - Marketing campaign doesn't expand past posters and trailers, no well-known actors worldwide.

Merchandise - Limited to DVDs - limiting genre and storyline.

Release Date - October 11, 2006 (Spain) - Halloween - Other blockbusters released in october 2006 include                                 The Departed (Leonardo DiCaprio and Matt Damon) and The Grudge 2 (Amber Tamblyn and                                 Teresa Palmer.)

Reviews - IMDb - 8.3/10, Metacritic - 98%

                - Complaints about the emptiness of the plot

                - "Wonderful scenery" for you to get lost in.

Poster - Horror connotations, storyline is not given away at all, intrigues the viewer.

Trailer - 

The Illusionist - Film Case Study Research

The Illusionist

Budget - $17 million

Stars - Edward Norton (Fight Club), Jessica Biel (Total Recall), Paul Giamatti (12 Years a Slave) - all well known                films

Genre - Fantasy, Romance, Indie, Thriller, Mystery, Crime Fiction - wide audience

Box Office - Worldwide = $87,892,388

Production Companies - Pathé, Django Films

Certificate - PG - elements of drug use

Marketing - Reasonably well known actors, known from films they are in (not particularly main                                                  characters.) Posters highlighting 3 main characters. Trailers include mise-en-scene that sets the                            time and place.

Merchandise - Limited to DVDs as the genre and storyline limit the merchandise available.

Release Date - March 2nd 2007 (UK): - Relatively neutral, film has no real seasonal connotations, therefore the                             film may have been released at a time where no big films were being released. Popular comedy                           Wild Hogs was released on the same day as this film, therefore explaining why it wasn't so                                   successful as Wild Hogs would have stolen the attention of the public. A week later, on the 9th                             of March, popular Drama film 300 was released, therefore stealing some of the existing                                         audience for The Illusionist.

Reviews - Rotten Tomatoes - 74%, Metacritic - 68%

                - Acting was well respected by critics

                - Criticisms include the film not being appealing to the eye - A film should "dazzle the eye as much as                   stir the heart. It does not dazzle."

Poster - Features main characters (size representing their significance in the film) Connotations of the era and the genre due to the mise-en-scene, e.g. clothing and setting.

The Inbetweeners Movie - Film Case Study Research

The Inbetweeners Movie

Budget - £3.5 million

Stars - Simon Bird, Joe Thomas, James Buckley. Blake Harrison - well known by the British public from the TV series "The Inbetweeners."

Genre - Comedy - Wide audience appeal in terms of genre

Box Office - £57,699,138

Production Companies - Young Films, Film4 Productions

Certificate - 15, therefore lowering the potential audience

Marketing - Well known British actors who were loved by their audiences throughout the country as they features in the TV series.

Merchandise - Official merchandise includes mugs and t-shirts among the DVD boxsets
Release Date - August 17th 2011 (UK) - In the summer, relatable to the theme of the movie. Other films                                         released shortly after this film include well-known comedy The Change-Up and Rise of the                                   Planet of the Apes. Which could explain why this film wasn't so popular in the US, along with                               the theme of the movie.
Reviews - IMDb - 6.8/10, Metacritic 44%
              - Many reviews from the audience talk about how the film wasn't as good as the series, due to the                     series coming first it was difficult for people not to compare the two. The director argued this was a                   continuation of the series.

Posters - 
Left - Bright colours to attract a wider audience, main characters/actors featured (character's reactions are relatable to the TV show therefore appealing to the already existing audience.)
Right - Relates to the targeted audience due to the theme. Mise-en-scene suggests partying abroad in the summer which the audience can relate to.

Trailer -

- Fast paced, humorous

- Relatable to the series (wide existing audience)

- Funniest parts of the film shown to appeal to audience

-