"London to Brighton"

Director: Paul Andrew Williams

Year: 2006

Locations/settings:

• central London
• moving through the countryside
• scenes in London are cramped
• scenes in Brighton are wide and open
• Duncan's house- white wash and clinical- indicates creepiness

Narrative structure:

• over-the-shoulder camera angle- make the spectator feel part of the conversation
• director uses the train journey to Brighton to pass the time
• the story covers two days

Characterisation:

• Kelly isn't Joanne's mother but she acts like she is. She takes it upon herself to do this
• Derek seems to be the leader but by the end of the film the spectator can clearly see that he's not
• Joanne- the red lipstick that she wears could represent either lust and passion or danger and blood
• Joanne and Stuart are similar; they both don't have mothers and both have cruel fathers
• Stuart having cigarettes at the end- represents his freedom from his dad

Ideology:

• all the characters are white
• the men control the women- the women are victims, the film is from their POV
• all the characters smoke
• all the characters swear
• the characters are altogether but they are entrapped individually
• characters are working class- like Sweet Sixteen
• this film shows the exploitation of prostitutes
• there is a hierarchy: the girls, then Derek, then Stuart and Duncan

Genre features:

• matching shots
• documentary style film-making
• the London scenes are dark while the Brighton scenes are bright- could represent the amount of freedom the characters have
• the Moonlight Sonata playing in Duncan's house while the action is in slow-mo reflects his wealth and status- this seems to be a defining moment of the film
• this film is more cinematic than Sweet Sixteen or Bullet Boy
• the director unravels the story via the use of flashbacks, not like Bullet Boy or Sweet Sixteen (These films show the story unravelling as it happens)
• at the end of the film there is a sense of hope as Joanne goes to her grandmother

"Sweet Sixteen"

Director: Ken Loach
Year: 2002

Narrative features:

• clear characters
• pushes you into their world, real locations

Locations/settings:

• Public areas: pub, streets, beach
• inside cars and houses
• sets up the characters
• set in a downtrodden area
• the scenery is a paradox

Narrative structure:

• POV from the window of the house
• uses the music in the car to pass the time
• time lapsing- went over 2 months (mum's release from prison)

Characterisation:

• mum in prison, step-dad and granddad
• main character is Liam
• The main character has a sister, a nephew and a friend called 'Pinball'
• real characters- community- got to stick together
• 3rd person POV- walking with them

Ideology:

• all white
• lower class- when they look through someone else's window at the expensive equipment inside
• class- not understanding certain ones
• moves up a class by moving house
• all the boys are in trouble while the girls aren't until we see his mum in prison
• sister tries to better herself

Genre features:

• slightly documentary style filming
• music in the car contrasts to the characters and their lifestyle
• not much background music, only when needed within the scene: in the car, when he's selling the drugs.
• like La Haine because they use their own slang
• slow music

"Bullet Boy"

Director: Saul Dibb
Year: 2004

Narrative features:

• relationships

Locations/settings:

• use of a baron landscape
• block flats
• narrow streets
• flat- safety net
• flat- not safe once the gun squad come into their home

Narrative structure:

• lots of frames of landscapes to pass the time
• pov shots- part of the gang
• happened within a few days
• repeated shot of Ricky in bed in the morning to show the days going by

Characterisation:

• the mum hasn't got much money but is still trying to hold things together
• Ricky is an 'anti- hero'
• Curtis the 12 year old brother is mature as the film progresses
• The brothers are parallel to each other, brotherly influence
• the friends in this film are like the friends in Sweet Sixteen

Ideology:

• mostly black
• most adults smoke
• the white people are like opposition: policeman, man in van and the gun squad

Genre features:

• documentary style like Sweet Sixteen
• matching shots
• parallel action- night club and the house party
• R&B music (culture) and 1960's music (when he's happy)- reflects the narrative
• central London is in the distance- he will never get there: it's ironic

Contemporary 'Film Culture'

Cinema going
For:

• You get high quality picture and sound and you don't get that at home
• It's a night out
• Many cinemas now show 3D and sing-a-long films at special times
• At some Vue cinemas they do "Gold Class" bookings where you get leather seats, waiter service and bar. The website is http://www.myvue.com/cinemas/facilities_detail.asp?SessionID=457BF2F002764C4FABC9FBE4743943F7&cn=1&ci=49&ln=1&did=7017

Against:

• more comfortable sitting at home
• can't pause and do something and then come back to it at the cinema but you can at home
• costs lots for the food
• you don't really see the same film more than twice because of the cost of the tickets
• Dvds are cheap so they are easy to get and can be watched again and again and again
• Downloads are getting to be HD (high definition) and are cheap and quick
• Certification

Online viewing

• Youtube

Home cinema

• VHS
• DVD
• Downloaded
  

Ways in which the film experience is amplified through media convergence

• Orange phone company offer their customers a 2 for 1 ticket offer for Wednesdays
• Saying you could see the film in HD, 3D or Sing-Along special screenings
• Papers show viewing times for different cinemas and may have a mini advert attached to it say how they have new screens or seating
• Lots of trailers for different films on the TV. Use different trailers for the same film to make it see more exciting

Star Image

There are many famous film stars and their image is put to the audience ina many different ways by both the industry and the fans. I am going to focus many on Brad Pitt.




The Industry

Within the industry he has been circulated greatly, starring in many films including The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Burn After Reading and Mr and Mrs Smith. All these films have done well. With this in mind a director could look at these films and use Brad Pitt for theirs as it could bring them in extra money at the box-office due to his popularity.

Brad also appearing on TV programmes could also add to his star status making him more popular.

Having gone out with Jennifer Aniston (famous due to Friends) and in a long-term relationship with Angelina Jolie (famous due to the Tomb Raider) have also boosted his stardom. The paparazzi always in his life exploits all that happens so he's always there in some way or another whether it's magazines or newspapers.

Fans

The most obvious thing that fans do is set up fan websites for their chosen star. This is not exception for Brad Pitt. Here are a few:

• http://bradpittfan.com/
• http://bradpittweb.com/
• http://www.westlord.com/bradpitt/
• http://www.simplybrad.com/
• http://www.sitevip.net/brad_pitt/

Anotheer way in which fans can boost Brad's stardom is simply via word of mouth. If a fan goes to see a film he's in then they can say how good it is and then their friends can go and see it, etc.

Film Marketing

The film I am looking at is Miss Potter (Chris Noonan, 2007) I am going to look at the advertisement of this film.

There are three websites especially set up for this film to advertise it. They are http://www.misspotter-themovie.com/site/ (USA website), http://www.misspottermovie.co.uk/ (UK website) and http://www.bacfilms.com/site/misspotter/.

They also advised this film via posters on buses and trailers on televisions.

There is also merchandise from this film that you can buy which include:

• the soundtrack (from iTunes and Amazon)
• the film released on DVD

There have also been many different types of posters used in the advertisement of this film.

Film Reviews

The film I am looking at is Mamma Mia (Phyllida Lloyd, 2008) for my case study. I am firstly going to look at reviews by both critics and fans.



There is a review of Mamma Mia in the September 2008 issue of Sight and Sound magazine. The review is good saying that it will "leave you dancing (in the best sense of the word) out of the cinema."

There are reviews on the website imdb.com.
Two of them are newsgroup reviews.One of them is by Tom Elce, who gave the film a scathing review. After having just watched The Dark Knight he said he was sujected to a "A poorly choreographed movie musical-cum-tribute to ABBA helmed by a director whose previous body of work is contained entirely in the theatre, the film is an ineptly staged genre film to begin with". He says that the storyline was flimsey and that the actora acted like idiots. The other review was by Homer Yen who made his opinion short and sweet "Sharp songs, flat story."
The other reviews on the website are external reviews. there are lots. A few include, Black Sheep Review by Joseph Belanger (bad review), Cine Visiones by Miguel Canes (good review) and DVD Talk (good review). IMDB has also put on it's website "user comments" which are both negative and positive.

The Guardian newspaper gave the film a OK review. The writer says that it has lots of charm but it lacks cynicism.
The Times says that it is wonderful, sharp and hilarious.

"Firewall"

Director: Richard Loncraine
Year: 2006

• fast shots used- in this clip 29 shots were used
• music- fast and dramatic
• use of sound- the phone
• the editing includes the spectator
• costumes- the baddies are wearing black
• "star vehicles"- when a film is made around a particular star

other notes from lesson:

• whop is making and controlling the film/
• producers are the people with the money
• if a film is adapted from a book the author sometimes talks to the director and/or goes down to the set, eg: The Harry Potter series and Sim City.
• "conglomeration"- means
• audience empathy
• I can use my borrowed shots for high tech shots if i want to.

The website where I found some information about cult films (Donnie Darko in particular) was:

http://independentfilms.suite101.com/article.cfm/cult_films_donnie_darko

2nd attempt at summary of group work

In our group work we researched a US film ("The Dark Knight") and a UK film ("Cashback"). The amount we found out varied greatly between the films. "The Dark Knight" is a huge Hollywood blockbuster film so we expected a huge amount of information about it including advertising, gross intake and production companies used which we found out. Their marketing went as far as setting up a website (WhySoSerious.com) which slowly revealed elemnets of the film. Being a UK film we didn't expect much information about "Cashback" and we were right. The budget was low as was the marketing and the production companies used. The production companies in the "Dark Knight" were Warner Bros, Legdendary Pictures, DC Comics and Syncopy. The production companies with "Cashback" included Left Turn Films, Lipsync Productions and Ugly Duckling Films. Compared to a huge production company like Warner Bros., Ugly Duckling Productions are relatively uknown as they have less money and therefore can't support as many films. "Cashback" was shown at several film festivals while "Dark Knight" was shown at hardly any. This is unusual as you would think that the high budget film would have been shown at more film feastivals than the low budget ones. In conclusion we compared a high budget USA film and low budget UK film and saw great comparisons.