Wednesday 10 July 2013
Tuesday 9 July 2013
Films that have influenced society
Films that have influenced society
Media affects society in many ways both positive and
negative, although most of the time it is negative. Films such as Kidulthood, a
British drama set in inner West London shows society the negative side of
teenagers as they stereotype them. The characters in this film are portrayed
as being antisocial thugs that behave in a violent manner; the film also shows
some of the characters part taking in recreational drug use. This is showing
adults, parents and grandparents what their younger generations could
essentially be doing.
Kidulthood represents age and gender in different ways such
as the lads act ‘thuggish' or ‘gangsta’, this could be because they look up to
the older lads in the hoodies and want to be like them, this is show with the
use of “blud” and “fam”. Age is shown as they are at the age where they are
taking part in sexual activities; it is also shown when a group of girls bully
and beat a blonde girl up this suggest that being in high school is difficult
and that violence is active in both the boys and the girls. Another negative
aspect to this film is that the parents of the girl that is being bullied is
that they do not realise that she was being bullied until it was too late, this
sends a message to both the parents and the children viewing this film that if
they are being bullied that they should tell someone and for the parents it
shows certain signs of bullying that they can recognise. One of the main
characters, known as Trevor, is pressured in to getting into the world of crime
by his uncle it is clear to see that he is reluctant to do it but due to peer
pressure he does.
Whereas zombie films such as the Night of the Living Dead,
Evil Dead and Shaun of the Dead influence society as now people dress up as
zombies and embrace the fear and concept of them every year on Halloween. These
films are not based on reality or true events yet people still choose to
believe that it is real. Zombie films feed people needs of being scared which
increases the consumption of horror films. Since zombie film zombies have been
feature in different types of media such as in music videos such as the famous
Michael Jackson’s thriller video. Zombies have also featured in video games
such as, The Walking Dead, which also has its own comic book, TV series, Call
of Duty also have a game which involves zombies and then there are the Resident
Evil games.
Friday 5 July 2013
Analysis of a film promotion website
Analysis of film promotion website
I had a look at Monsters University’s webpage that is
promoting the film which will be released the 12th July. It is made
to look like a real university website showing the recent events of the university, showing their success, and also when to apply to the
university.
The webpages stick to all the colours generally associated
with Monsters Inc. and Monsters University.
The website also introduces the viewer to some of the
characters featured in the film. This is to
familurise the audience to them as some of the charecters will not of been in
the first monsters inc film. I think the use of extra information on the the
teachers from the university is good as it shows what they ‘profecionalise’ in.
I think that
although the film is aimed at a young audience the website promoting it is
quite complex for a child to use. Therefore it will be viewed by children
acompanied by an adult therefore that is why there is a store which they can
purchase memorabillia for their child.
Wednesday 3 July 2013
Evidence of film trailers I admire
Evidence of film trailers I admire
Shaun of the Dead
I watched the film trailer to Shaun of the dead; I admire
this as it is a horror comedy. At the beginning of the trailer it starts off
with news reports warning whoever it is watching that they need to pay
attention as it is for their own safety. I think that this is a good aspect of
the trailer as it has already attracted the attention of the audience as they
have been instructed to ‘pay attention’. The idea of the trailer switching from
the news report to a scene with zombies in but still having the narrative of
the new report and then back to the scene again to see the news caster on the
TV before being introduced to the two main characters sat down watching the TV
has a good effect as it is showing the audience what the character are being
warned about. In a way the trailer for Shaun of the dead feels a lot like a’
how to survive a zombie apocalypse guide ‘ which I think is a good thing as it
make the genre of the film quite clear and is interesting for a film trailer.
The zombies in Shaun of the dead are slow moving zombies,
not very intelligent and covered in blood that also walks around with missing
limbs. I believe that although this film is more based on the comedy side it
still follows the codes and conventions of a zombie film.
I admire this film trailer as it starts of all nice and sunny
showing how calm the surroundings are and how the village is enjoying a nice
sunny day at a baseball match which is interrupted by an infected man. It then
goes to show the audience that the characters in the film have notice a
difference in the infected personnel this is portrayed with the next scene
being in an examiner’s office with a woman replying to the doctors question
“what is wrong?” she replies “I don’t know. Something’s not right.” This is a
crucial clue in what is about to happen in the film trailer. The trailer then
goes on to show how ‘the crazies’ are infected such as the repetition of
sentences, the fading out almost ‘statue like’. Then nearing the end of the
trailer is where all of the action is, such as feeling the sheer panic the characters
are feeling, the infected killing people close to them such as their own family
members in house fires, the loss of signal for mobile devices, the military
killing people and explosions. The use of writing in-between adds effect, such
as ‘this is only the beginning’ makes the audience think that there is more
action to come when watching the whole film. The use of the song Mad world
doesn’t fit in with the scene it is being played with as the scene is hectic
and full of panic, although the song could relate to the title of the film ‘The
Crazies’ as the infected have gone ‘mad’.
Again this film trailer sticks to the codes and conventions
of a zombie film trailer as the zombies are slow moving, although they don’t
necessarily eat the living like most zombies do in a zombie film the still have
the need to kill the uninfected. This film trailer is focused on the genre its
self horror unlike Shaun of the dead trailer it has only one specific genre.
Tuesday 2 July 2013
Film Trailer Theory
A short presentation on Film Trailer Theory.
How Film Trailers have changed;
What they include;
Where they are shown.
How Film Trailers have changed;
What they include;
Where they are shown.
The Conventions of a film trailer
Conventions
of a film trailer
The main
convention of a film trailer is to promote the film itself as this is the most important part of film marketing. There can be many versions of
film trailers for one specific film, there’s the teaser trailer that shows the most
exciting parts of the film and then there’s the actual trailer that adds extra
details in. There are many trailer versions of one film as some of them can
have certain content that is unsuitable to play on air before the watershed. Film
trailers do not give away any crucial/important plot ideas this is to avoid
giving away too much information and ruining the effect of actually watching
the film. The name of the film is placed at the end of the trailer followed by
the date it is released in the cinema. The names of the actors in the film are
shown throughout the trailer just so the audience know who to expect to be in
the film. This is another way of advertising a film as if the film has an
audience’s favourite actor in it; it is more likely that they will go watch the
film. Some film trailers have the quote “from the director of……” to interest
the audience if the film that has been quoted was good then the film being
advertised must be as well because it’s made by the same person. There is on most trailers the
masculine voice over that reads out the main points in the trailer. Music is an
important aspect of the trailer as it can portray what type of genre and can
also add emphasis on the dramatic bits or the scary moments. The trailer
normally has the production companies’ logo either at the beginning of the
trailer or at the end, they show the film classification that the film has been
given by the BBFC (British Board of Film Classification) this is to show what
is the minimum age that is suitable to see the film such as if it was a 12
rated film you would have to be 12 years old or older. It’s common for trailers
to be fast passed although it could gradually speed up as the trailer gets more
dramatic, the location of the filming is not the same throughout the trailer
this is to show the audience other parts of the film to make them wonder
what the character is doing at that specific location. The length of trailers differs they can be a
few seconds long to a few minutes long, although with film trailers every
second counts to sell the product that they are advertising.
Research into exisitng film trailer makers.
Research into film trailer
makers.
Trailer
makers are often from ‘trailer houses’. These are people that focus on only
making trailers. Trailer houses are usually employed by a production company of a certain film to create a trailer for this film. However, on the contrary, many editors of the film may produce their own trailer for the film if the do not have the funds to ask a company to produce one.
A Big Trailer; this is a trailer company that has
produced trailers for films such as Despicable Me 2 and Crazy Kind of Love. The
company is small and only has 2 main members of staff- Chris Walters and J.J
Nugent, although it has over members of staff. Many of the trailers produced by
‘A Big Trailer’ are for independent films.
Trailerhaus; Trailerhaus is a German trailer house
which has produced over 50 trailers, ranging from Cars 2 and UP to Wrong turn 2. They have produced trailers
for many production companies, like Pixar and Summit Entertainment, showing
they work for various companies and genre of films not just one in particular.
Open Road Entertainment; a trailer house that creates trailers for
films such as ‘The Heat’ and ‘Easy A’. It generally creates trailers aimed at a
more adult audience with the exception of a few films, for example, ‘Tangled’
and ‘Mega-mind’. Open Road Entertainment works for all types of Production companies,
independent and internationally successful, like Lions Gate.
Research into existing film production companies.
Research into existing
film production companies.
DreamWorks Animation; this production company was
established in 1994 in America by Steven Spielberg; David Geffen and Jeffery
Katzenberg.
The company
specialises in animated; films; TV programmes and online virtual worlds. Some of
the company’s most famous works include Shrek and Madagascar- both of which
have spin-off TV programmes. DreamWorks has released 26 films and has another
10 that are upcoming films. All of DreamWorks films are targeted at a lower
audience and as from 2013 are distributed by 20th Century Fox.
Working Title Films; this is a London based production
company owned by Universal Studio’s, an American film production company,
founded in 1983.
The company has produced 60 films since then, with 19 being produced with Universal, as well as several other companies. Some of the most successful works include; Bridget Jones; Hot Fuzz and Nanny McPhee. Each of these with a different age restriction, showing that this company aim’s for all ages, therefore a better rounded company.
Paramount Pictures; Founded in 1912 under the name of
Famous Players Film Company before changing to Paramount Pictures in 1916.
It currently has 4 divisions; Paramount Home Entertainment; Insurge Pictures; Paramount Famous Productions and Paramount Vintage. Paramount has produced over a 100 films and some of the most famous include Iron Man and Pretty in Pink. Paramount Pictures tend to produce films aimed more at an adult audience, as proven by the two films featured.
It currently has 4 divisions; Paramount Home Entertainment; Insurge Pictures; Paramount Famous Productions and Paramount Vintage. Paramount has produced over a 100 films and some of the most famous include Iron Man and Pretty in Pink. Paramount Pictures tend to produce films aimed more at an adult audience, as proven by the two films featured.
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