American War Film (Exam questions)

 Discuss some of the similarities and differences between the two films you have studied for this topic with particular reference to narrative and film genres.

Narrative:

The journey the characters go through, ‘Todorov’s theory or a story plan. Relates to ‘Full Metal Jacket’ And ‘Empire of the Sun’

Genre features?

Common things found in that Genre:

The characters, ‘Propp’ Hero, Villain, Helper. what the character represent in the films. Differences between story and narrative. Empire shows more of a physiological effect. FMJ is both, contains emotion highlighting the sociological side and physical. the journey the characters go through is similar. Both key on showing how war is, they are true. Both have iconic symbols and conventions that are common in a war film.  Genre features, being patriotism… FMJ slates the naivety of Americans and their patriotism. Empire shows that America are in it for their own personal gain, represented by Casey (John Malcovitch).  This is also highlighted in catch 22 with the character that sells medication nad equipment to make money, my personal opinion is that this character is showing how money is the source or most things.

For the other Question, Messages and Values.

Lions for lambs has strong values and messages, a film about the political side of war, and how people word their way around it to conceal their mistakes and try to show its right. Catch -22 can relate in a way. The messages are the main point of the film, the whole Catch 22 being that they only way to leave war is to leave on a section 8 but as soon as you ask to leave on a section 8, you are no longer classed as a section 8 and have to fly.

PLAN!

think about what the question asks?

‘How far do the 2 films you have studied for this topic present messages and values?’

Answered will be based around 2 films and the messages and values they have

what they present?

so not just what they are, what they say. Denotation/Connotation.

How they present them and how much… so the characters, the narrative, the mise en scene. Lions for lambs, the mise en scene shows suits Tye smart dress, college grounds, class rooms, offices. It uses props locations and costume to show that a war is fought just as much on home soil and formally than it is with violence.

Film Assignment

I think American war films have grown as a genre because of the patriotism that is held throughout America. America has been involved in many conflicts over the years and mainy people like to see interibitations of these conflicts, some accurate and some very biast. America alone is a rather large audience, it appeal to them i think because of the patriotism. But it also has the UK audience because these films are sometimes well made, the UK audience is then attracted to the ‘Blockbuster’ aspect. The conventions and forms are common in American war films, they tend to be very biast and the enemy doesn’t normally have names or a personality as such. We are never allowed as as audience to feel sympathy for the enemey, we never see the family or loved ones of the enemy that might be effected. This Genre tends to follow the common film theories and stuctures, the films have the characters that we associate with. You will have the hero, normally an every day person. The Villian, in war films it tends to be a group of people. then you get the less primary roles such as the helper, the donor, the fake hero (commonly an ‘Arrogant’ male, who will eventualy need saving). These conventions follow in most war films, the film structure is also quite common. It always returns back to the equilibruim but the mental state has normaly changed. Empire of the son is a perfect example of this structure, the main character is returned back to his parents to live with his family, but we can see from the facail expression that the child is not mentally the same person and is not who he was. This whole image is symbolized by the suitcase floating away, everything he owned a knew was gone all thats left now is him. Representation i think is reflected in the characters, as i mentioned the ‘Villian’ is not normaly one person. Unlike british action film like the ‘007’ films, the villian is one person and we are shown this person. American war films have a group of people as the enemy, they are established and really never much more. We are told and shown they are bad, but we never get a back story. A man will be shown in a Scarf covering his face and a gun through representation and what we know through films we will know that he is bad, and probably a terrorist, this is the representation that American war film and the actiong films create. The hero will be probably be a male and a character that is very ‘Idilic’ males will want to be him and females will want him. We will normaly see the backgorund and family story of this character, Jarhead is a good example, we know he has a girl friend and that he cares for her we as an audience are allows to see his emotions and share them with him. The one main thing that is always representated next to victory or ‘applause’ is the american flag, in Jarhead the troops return home to a screaming crowd and applause. This genre always shows America to be victoriuos and the characters to be patriotic. A film that goes again this convention is ‘Empire of the son’ the american prisioners are shown as poeple who are only in it for them selves. They are shown as arrogant and selfish, i personaly think this part is very unpatriotic and doesn’t show america in a good way. Although they do help the boy the character Basie (John Malkovic) is very reluctant towards doing so, and insaults the boy. The audience as i mentioned is always going to be a big part of these film, Americans always want to see they’re country winning and doing good. The UK audience will want to see these films because of the blockbuster factor, they will most likely be holly wood prduced and funded so they will be visualy entertaining even if the story lacks. In terms of other audiences i shall research to see where these films sell, because in my opinion i don’t think certain countrys that may have been envolded or part of these events would want to see the patriotic ways of america. I think the institutions will most likely be companies like Warner Brothers, American based companies. the productiong and distribution will concentrate on American audiences. In conclusion i think Amercian war film as a genre will always be a succesful Genre and will continue to grow. These films are aimed at americans made by amercians. Saving Private Ryan is another good example its an america film made by Americans so orcourse it focuses on their exprience. The american flag is something that features a few times in this film, creating the patriotism thats most common in this genre. These are the resons that this genre is succesful and will grow.

British Film in the ‘Swinging 60’s’

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swinging_London

Swinging London

 

• Swinging London was a term applied to the Dynamic cultural trends of the UK and mainly London.
•  It was youth-orientated and emphasized the new and modern. 
• It was a period of ‘optimism’ and ‘hedonism’, the thoughts that the pursuit of life is for pleasure and self indulgence.
•  A cultural revolution in music, fashion, film and a lot more.

Music, fashion and photography were all key and well focused on in this era. Icons were formed and everything became modern. British film thrived and focused on the this society throughout the 60’s, the didn’t seem to be any one outside the bubble. 

Films 

 

 

• Michelangelo Antonioni – ‘Blowup’ (1966)
• Darling (1965)
• Alfie (1966)
• James Bond ‘Casino Royal’
• A Hard Days Night.

 

These are the films i have choose to look into as i feel they relate to Closet to the way the characters were represented, in terms of age, gender and class.

Blowup (1966)

 

Director- Michelangelo Antonioni

Distributed by ‘Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’ (MGM)

British Italian film based around a London photographer whose habits and mannerisms are focused on the Swinging London photographer ‘David Bailey’. Fashion, art, photography and film were key in this era. This film concentrates on these certain aspects ands shows the life and representation of a character in this society.

• This clip has a very strong relation to ‘Alfie’. 
• Representation of women is beyond similar both show women as objects and don’t have names.
• In this clip there is no dialect from the females.
• His first line is  a order, represents him as in command and powerful. He physically moves one of the models and raises his voice, this makes the women look vulnerable and delicate.
• In relation to Alfie the characters behave and act in the same way, the format is also similar… as though we are following a day in the life, both films do this. Both characters in terms of class are middle class but want to be upper, Thomas (Blowup) is a very demanding and arrogant character, he thinks he is more important than he actually is. In the same way with alfie, he acts upper class to get the girls.

Darling (1965)

 

Darling is a film about a Female model who is described to sleep her way to success, this can relate again to Alfie and Blowup in terms of gender, commenting on how women were only good for sexual companions and how they had to use they’re looks to get some where. In Alfie this is shown from the male point of view, seeing how women will be with him, but they might think that they’ll get somewhere from it. Blowup, Thomas uses the Women for modeling, treating them like manikins and they settle for this cause they know it will help them, again using looks and body to get some where.

Class differences between Alfie and Darling

A Hard Days Night (1964)

Directed by Richard Lester

Representation of women relates to most of the films in the 60’s. This for example only has one female character with a name, the rest are shown as young and screaming fans. The characters, band members are all keen to get close to the girls and are very relaxed.

With all films there is a massive sense of ‘Hedonism’ all characters and films follow the journey which is fun living and enjoyable,  A hard Days Night being the best example, Alfie being a good one although it does seem to have a depressing out look towards the end.

Teddy bear’s Picnic- Reflective Analysis.

Reflective Analysis

 

In our film Sequence, ‘The Teddy Bear’s Picnic’ I was allocated the role of director and co-editor. The main aspects I concentrated on were the story line and the Non-diagetic sound. I had an overall aim from the start to create a dividing line between these two aspects, a line which then creates a very strong juxtaposition to contribute more meaning.

            Before filming when we’re was all just developing idea I wanted to use non-diagetic sound of one meaning over video with a totally different meaning. This was to create a disturbing opening sequence and to also create more meaning and to gain a response from the audience. The whole opening sequence that was filmed is now shown to have the song ‘The Teddy Bear’s Picnic’ playing all the way through, after the process of different editing and decision making we decided this fitted best. The reason I had decided to do this was to create a very powerful juxtaposition to disturb the viewer. When hearing the music many people are reminded of happy childhood memories or stories they were told when they were young. Separately, if they were to see the video with no non-diagetic sound it’s would just be a story and fairly confusing. It would have meaning but nothing with the power to create a response from the audience.  The non-diagetic sound when added to the video adds a lot more to the sequence in my opinion; it creates the juxtaposition in the two parts. The music now has a totally different effect on the audience and then creates more response. The audience can now see the footage of a girl killing which is read by the mind as bad and something that we as humans associate with being wrong. This footage then played with a song someone would associate with happiness and childhood not only gets more of a response it messes with their minds. The audience is seeing something which they are not sure how to perceive, they aren’t sure if it’s supposed to please and create nostalgia of supposed to upset and disturb. I think my opening sequence not only creates a response its plays with the viewer’s emotions, they are emotionally confused by what they are seeing and hearing. This can be bad and I think on some viewers it will completely lose its effect due to the confusion, which I have witnessed with a few people laughing at the non-diagetic sound with the video. They couldn’t understand the juxtaposition and therefore couldn’t compress the two opposite meanings to create one whole meaning. I feel my role had a strong impact on the outcome of the opening sequence, from reading the viewers comments the music seemed to be the part that many found the most disturbing. When editing we all agreed that it was the best choice to play the music all the way through. Before this we had a series of different edits with music starting a finishing in different places, we also had different edits of the music which had been cut up and placed in different places. The overall decision was that the song in it original from, although slowed down a few BPM had the most impact due to its relation to peoples childhood memories.

            I have learnt a lot from this experience and gained a lot more knowledge about how to film. In my personal opinion I think the film could be so much better, there are lots of things I have missed out and certain things I know I could have done better. For my first film I am pleased but now, I have a lot more knowledge to make something better. For example the one thing I true missed out on was the different types of shots, when story boarding it all I was to lost in telling the story and not how to tell it. When we filmed, we only really filmed something a second time if the first was wrong, we never went back and shot it from a different angle or tried to get a close up. Being the director I found it very difficult to place what I saw in my head onto camera, I do feel as though because it was my idea took to much control over some things. When we were filming I could see some shots that I wanted but couldn’t get because of time and the fear of taking over. If I was to do this again I would definitely want to be the cameraman as well as being director. Being an amateur photographer I have some knowledge of framing and how to capture an image in its best form, obviously it has its differences but I still think I would suit this role a lot more.

 

 

802 words.

 

Teady Bear’s Picnic- Finished AS Film Project.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-HtWjbfTWs0

Check it out.

Thanks.

Are the attractions of going to the cinema today sufficiently strong to compete other ways in which we can now watch films?

Are the attractions of going to the cinema today sufficiently strong to compete other ways in which we can now watch films?

 

After studying the resource material, an argument appears for both sides, highlighting some good and some bad reasons. In today’s world technology is a key part to its success, the more advanced the better the picture the more we enjoy. Comfort is a very good reason to get the DVD and stay home and watch it. I shall be discussing these reasons and a few more in my answer.

            In the press release, ‘Vue buy Warner village cinema chain.’ Technology is a high factor in their aim for success. I feel that the constant increase in technology and the fast advancing age of cameras and cinema screens is a very strong attraction to go to the cinema.

“We will continue to expand… Cinema circuit in the UK.”

The vue brand will continue to advance to give the audience the best cinematic experience. The dark knight, a 2008 release broke the records for the largest amount taken in its first week end Gross, it took $158.4 million, in the first week end. From my personal view I think this alone is clear enough evidence to show that attractions are still strong in the cinema world. On the technology side, The Dark Knight also had very strong attractions to make people visit the many theatres across the world. The dark knight was the first film to be shot using IMAXR cameras. Warner productions, not only published a press realise detailing the future Advances in the cinematic world. They now have the film to prove that technology is one of the large attractions to going to the cinema. The experience of the latest IMAXR cameras can not be experienced at home, to gain the full Verisimilitude of a movie you have to be sat in front of a mega Screen, watching a film filmed with the latest technology and shown on more. Warner published a press release saying how they want to create the best possible cinematic experience in 2003. 5 Years later, with this advanced technology they spoke of we can now see how this is and will become a bigger attraction for going to the cinema.

            In today’s film industry, the institution and distributor rely on the DVD sales as well as the cinema gross. I think this is not a downfall of the cinematic experience. A DVD is another way of viewing a movie, but in many cases you have to wait a long time after the film has been shown in the cinema. In relation to my case study the Evidence shows that if a film sells with in the cinema, DVD gross sales will reflect that. I think DVD’s the main other way of viewing a film is not taking away the cinematic experience, it just brings in the added gross. As mentioned by Paul Hamilos, a DVD allows you to watch a film in the comfort of your own home, where you can drink, smoke and answer a mobile at any time. Although this may seem a lot more free and enjoyable, the majority of the time you will have to wait a few months before you get the chance to see the film. Cinema is the first way to view a film, if that film is good the DVD sales will be the same. This is most of the time due to viral media (word of mouth), it creates a buzz through the internet and friends any many who saw the film will buy the DVD, some who didn’t will as well. DVD may be a enjoyable way of viewing a film, but by far the attractions, mainly of seeing it a lot earlier are very string in keeping Cinema alive.

Case Study- ‘The Dark Knight’

http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/The-Dark-Knight-Blu-Ray/story.aspx?guid=%7BFB979082-3FDE-4D1A-BFDB-27E8BD45EF88%7D

The DVD has broke records in 2008.

director Christopher Nolan.

On Blu-ray over 1.7 million were sold combined figures for DVD and blu-ray amount to over 13.5 million worldwide.

The Dark Knight is the best selling Blu-ray DVD on records and will become the best selling blu-ray title in 2008 and history. The films is also the first to be shot using Part IMAX(R) cameras.

http://batman-dark-knight.moviechronicles.com/category/news/sales/

• The dark knight has blown every ones expectations in sales, it has notched up over $500 million dollars in domestic sales in only 45 days.
• Titanic, the only other movie to sell more than dark knight took 91 days to reach the $500 million dollar barrier.
• World wide its made around $921 million dollars making it 9th in the world best sellers chart.

http://popcritics.com/2008/09/the-dark-knight-passes-500m-domestic-gross

http://pro.imdb.com/title/tt0468569/boxoffice

Budget- $185,000,000

Worldwide sales, latest Gross- $994,896,852

UK Latest Gross- £48,246,658

Production, distribution and institution- WARNER BROS

http://www.timewarner.com/corp/newsroom/pr/0,20812,1867459,00.

• The Dark Knight marks the first time that a major feature film has been shot in part using IMAX® cameras, marking a revolutionary integration of film formats.The Dark Knight Blu-ray disc takes advantage of the marriage of IMAX® and 35mm formats by using the hybrid master to replicate the unique theatrical experience. The IMAX scenes are also included on the 2-disc Special Edition as bonus materials.

Latest sales information, Date… 27. 03. 09

Worldwide. $997M

It’s won 2 OSCARS and another 59 wins and nominated for 58

The film made 0ver $158M in it’s opening week end nearly covering it’s overall budget of $185

According to sources.

Christian Bale was paid around $38M for the whole movie, $10 when signing and the rest in bonuses. The bonuses we’re so high due to the movie breaking so many records.

(this may not be correct due to the resources being unreliable.)

Production & Distribution

Produced by- Warner Bro’s

Distributed by- Turner Network Televion (TNT)

$1 Billion?

The Dark Knight has now broken the $1 B mark. With a way to go to get to the top, it ranks 4th in the highest gross rate legue. Still to beat Titanic at $1.8

What are some of the reasons the popularity of U.S produced films for the UK audience?

one of the reasons US films are so popular in the UK is that the audience gets an insight into how the americans live and communicate. We gather a total different view on the culture of america. There are many different genres and they all depict different cultures and way of living. Us as an audience find it entertaining to see the way other people live, it gives the viewer a chance to see the world. It creates a somewhat serial world form the audience, seeing this culture is something there not used to, making the film more entertaining.

An american film such as DC or Marvel films appeal to the UK’s range of ages in the way that kids will love the mystery and the fiction. Adults love them because of the nostalgia, they remember reading the comics and hen seeing the films come to life is something they like. The comic book hero style films appeal to the Uk audience because we love to things that aren’t real, many people love to be able to escape to a fantasy world, and this is what the american films provide, a different world and culture were we can escape from what we see every day. For this same reason many english films appeal vastly to the american audience.

Money is also a major reason american films are successful in the UK. American producers put a lot more money into their productions, so the effects, acting, scenery and all other aspects are some times better, than what we may be able to produce. Most audiences like the special effects and a good performance, its what creates a good film. but the UK audiences love to see this, we are impressed by Creative effects and twisting story lines. American producers and the typical Hollywood films are backed by a lot of money, and strongly funded by investors. This money then creates films that are typical to Hollywood.

The one debate that continues through the movie business is what is actually classed as an american film. many english directors and producers go to Hollywood to be successful, mainly due to the fact thats its the best place to do that, so if the director is english is it an english film? Many films that are american may have had an english influence, this could be why we love the movies so much. Hollywood has always had the upper hand on creating better movies, this is probably the main reason we enjoy them as a UK audience.

Batman Begins.

Batman begins, directed by Christopher Nolan is a film about the the story behind how Bruce Wayne becomes batman.  The story starts with a flash back of Bruce Wayne as a child, where he is attacked by bats when he falls down a well. The story then extends into the story showing him an a Chinese prison. The film progresses to him learning the way of the ‘The league of shadows’. The storyline is basically  the people that train him are the ones trying to destroy Gotham and Batman Stops them.

Some of the reasons i like film are mainly because I love the fact that in this film, everything that Batman has, all his equipment is based on mostly real technology. The film is a fictional film, but the directors have tried really hard to make it seem real. they have tried to make the Batman character seem realistic so that people start to slightly believe the idea of a Character like Batman actaully excisting. They give him equipment that, can and may have actually been made. The story is very detailed and very different to many other different super hero movies. The character of Bruce Wayne is shown as very Mysterious and dark. Although we know he is doing good, the character can be shown as very dark. This film is one of my favoritefilms because i have always been a fan of the Batman films and this one is very different to the others. It has a very strong element of a thriller film in it.