Wednesday 16 December 2015
Friday 11 December 2015
Distribution - What Is It?
What part of the supply chain is distribution?
Third part of the film process
What is distribution often referred to as?
Invisible Art
What does 'vertical integration' mean when discussing distribution?
Where the three stages are seen as part of the same larger process, under the control of one company.
Why isn't 'vertical integration' so common in the independent sector?
Producers tend not to have long-term economic links with distributors, who likewise have no formal connections with exhibitors. Here, as the pig-in-the-middle, distribution is necessarily a collaborative process, requiring the materials and rights of the producer and the cooperation of the exhibitor to promote and show the film in the best way possible.
What three stages are involved in the independent sector?
Licensing, marketing and logistics
What is licencing?
The process by which a distributor acquires the legal right to exploit a film.
What are the two levels of licencing?
1. International distribution ensures that films find their way to the 90+ market 'territories' around the world.
2. By contrast, independent producers have to sell their films to different distributors in each territory.
What is the advantage of being a major US studio?
The major US studios generally have their own distribution offices in all the major territories.
What three different types of rights can you acquire on a local level?
1. Acquiring the licence to release and exploit the film in a particular country.
2. A distributor will usually be offered theatrical rights, for showing the film in cinemas
3. video rights, for video and DVD exploitation; and TV rights, if the distributor is able to sell the film to a broadcaster.
What are royalties?
A fee to secure the film, the licence will stipulate that the distributor will also pay royalties to the producer, taken from the profits that the film generates.
What is the most effective way to increase interest in a film?
A theatrical opening
How long does it take for a film to reach 'free to air' TV?
Two years after opening in cinemas
What are the two key questions surrounding the marketing of a film?
'When?' and 'How?'
What day are films typically released on?
New films are released theatrically on FridaysWhat will a distributor look at before releasing a film on a Friday?
The schedule for forthcoming releases is coordinated and published by the Film Distributors Association. A distributor will assess this schedule to identify a Friday release date where there are only a few films scheduled for release.
What is a 'light' week in terms of distribution?
Screen space and adequate review column inches in the press allocated to any potential release.
What does it mean to 'position' a film distinctively?
Avoid a release date occupied by other films with similar traits (story, subject, country of origin).
Why has this become increasingly difficult in the UK?
The release schedule has regularly featured over 10 new releases in a week.
What are P&A?
The costs of theatrical distribution, met by local distributors, or Prints and Advertising.How much can P&A cost?
Can range from less than £1,000 to over £1 million for the release of a film in the UK.
Typically how many prints will a 'specialised' film have?
Fewer than 10 prints into key independent cinemas
How many will mainstream films have?
Often open on over 200 prints
What is a key factor in developing the profile of a film?
Favourable press response
How else can awareness of a film be raised?
A press campaign
Why is distribution in the UK seen as risky?
The cost of print advertising in the UK is comparatively high
Why are companies looking towards viral marketing?
Because it has a low cost and is effective
What are the benefits of a 'talent visit'?
Supports the film - usually the director and/or lead actors wins significant editorial coverage to support a release. The volume of coverage can far outweigh the cost of talent visits.
In the pre digital film age what was a distributor responsible for?
It is the responsibility of the distributor to arrange the transportation of the film to the cinema, as part of its wider coordination of print use across the UK.
How much does a 35mm print typically cost?
Each print can cost around £1,000
How many reals is a typical feature print?
Around 18-20 mins when run through a projector at 24 frames per second.
Why do 35mm prints get damaged?
They pass through different projectors, and the hands of various projectionists.
Where are prints stored?
The UK's central print warehouse in West London
How long did a theatrical release used to last?
each theatrical print has a finite lifespan
When did digital distribution begin in the UK?
Towards the end of 2005
Name two advantages of digital distribution
1. Digital technology is seen to offer a more cost effective and logistics-light alternative.
2. Eventually, be cheaper and much less stressful to send films as computer files to cinemas across the UK.
Which countries adopted digital distribution early and why?
China and Brazil, where conventional logistics cannot, for one reason or another, efficiently bring together supply and demand
How many screens were digital in 2005 and how many are now (you'll need to Google this)
In 2005 211 screens were digital, now over 90% of screens are digital.
Why has digital distribution radically altered the operating model of distributors?
The comparatively low cost of film copies and additional logistical effectiveness of digital distribution provide the distributor with greater flexibility.
What has happened to the typical release period for a film?
It will dramatically reduce
What is a loss leader (google it) and why are companies using the Cinema as a potential loss leader?
A product sold at a loss to attract customers. Companies are using this to attract companies and in the long run turn over more sales maximising profit.
Third part of the film process
What is distribution often referred to as?
Invisible Art
What does 'vertical integration' mean when discussing distribution?
Where the three stages are seen as part of the same larger process, under the control of one company.
Why isn't 'vertical integration' so common in the independent sector?
Producers tend not to have long-term economic links with distributors, who likewise have no formal connections with exhibitors. Here, as the pig-in-the-middle, distribution is necessarily a collaborative process, requiring the materials and rights of the producer and the cooperation of the exhibitor to promote and show the film in the best way possible.
What three stages are involved in the independent sector?
Licensing, marketing and logistics
What is licencing?
The process by which a distributor acquires the legal right to exploit a film.
What are the two levels of licencing?
1. International distribution ensures that films find their way to the 90+ market 'territories' around the world.
2. By contrast, independent producers have to sell their films to different distributors in each territory.
What is the advantage of being a major US studio?
The major US studios generally have their own distribution offices in all the major territories.
What three different types of rights can you acquire on a local level?
1. Acquiring the licence to release and exploit the film in a particular country.
2. A distributor will usually be offered theatrical rights, for showing the film in cinemas
3. video rights, for video and DVD exploitation; and TV rights, if the distributor is able to sell the film to a broadcaster.
What are royalties?
A fee to secure the film, the licence will stipulate that the distributor will also pay royalties to the producer, taken from the profits that the film generates.
What is the most effective way to increase interest in a film?
A theatrical opening
How long does it take for a film to reach 'free to air' TV?
Two years after opening in cinemas
What are the two key questions surrounding the marketing of a film?
'When?' and 'How?'
What day are films typically released on?
New films are released theatrically on FridaysWhat will a distributor look at before releasing a film on a Friday?
The schedule for forthcoming releases is coordinated and published by the Film Distributors Association. A distributor will assess this schedule to identify a Friday release date where there are only a few films scheduled for release.
What is a 'light' week in terms of distribution?
Screen space and adequate review column inches in the press allocated to any potential release.
What does it mean to 'position' a film distinctively?
Avoid a release date occupied by other films with similar traits (story, subject, country of origin).
Why has this become increasingly difficult in the UK?
The release schedule has regularly featured over 10 new releases in a week.
What are P&A?
The costs of theatrical distribution, met by local distributors, or Prints and Advertising.How much can P&A cost?
Can range from less than £1,000 to over £1 million for the release of a film in the UK.
Typically how many prints will a 'specialised' film have?
Fewer than 10 prints into key independent cinemas
How many will mainstream films have?
Often open on over 200 prints
What is a key factor in developing the profile of a film?
Favourable press response
How else can awareness of a film be raised?
A press campaign
Why is distribution in the UK seen as risky?
The cost of print advertising in the UK is comparatively high
Why are companies looking towards viral marketing?
Because it has a low cost and is effective
What are the benefits of a 'talent visit'?
Supports the film - usually the director and/or lead actors wins significant editorial coverage to support a release. The volume of coverage can far outweigh the cost of talent visits.
In the pre digital film age what was a distributor responsible for?
It is the responsibility of the distributor to arrange the transportation of the film to the cinema, as part of its wider coordination of print use across the UK.
How much does a 35mm print typically cost?
Each print can cost around £1,000
How many reals is a typical feature print?
Around 18-20 mins when run through a projector at 24 frames per second.
Why do 35mm prints get damaged?
They pass through different projectors, and the hands of various projectionists.
Where are prints stored?
The UK's central print warehouse in West London
How long did a theatrical release used to last?
each theatrical print has a finite lifespan
When did digital distribution begin in the UK?
Towards the end of 2005
Name two advantages of digital distribution
1. Digital technology is seen to offer a more cost effective and logistics-light alternative.
2. Eventually, be cheaper and much less stressful to send films as computer files to cinemas across the UK.
Which countries adopted digital distribution early and why?
China and Brazil, where conventional logistics cannot, for one reason or another, efficiently bring together supply and demand
How many screens were digital in 2005 and how many are now (you'll need to Google this)
In 2005 211 screens were digital, now over 90% of screens are digital.
Why has digital distribution radically altered the operating model of distributors?
The comparatively low cost of film copies and additional logistical effectiveness of digital distribution provide the distributor with greater flexibility.
What has happened to the typical release period for a film?
It will dramatically reduce
What is a loss leader (google it) and why are companies using the Cinema as a potential loss leader?
A product sold at a loss to attract customers. Companies are using this to attract companies and in the long run turn over more sales maximising profit.
Thursday 3 December 2015
June 2010 Media Essay
"What significance does the continuing development of digital media technology have for media institutions and audiences?"
In this essay I will be looking at the significance in development of digital media technology in the film industry and how it has changed during the different stages of production and what effect this has had on the industry.
The development process of media technology has been very evident in the film Mad Max Fury Road, where technical devices were used to support the camera during filming. A prime example of this includes the edge arm which held the camera out of a long crane which could move alongside the car chases in the scenes to capture the fast past action. If it wasn't for these devices filming couldn't take advantage of more adventurous angles and ideas. Because Mad Max Fury Road is filmed in Namibia dessert, the crew faced difficulties in maintaining a clear shot therefore the cameras had to be dust proof and water proof and the digital camera were fixed with an inbuilt cooling system to allow long periods of filming to take place. This shows how technology advances has allowed filming to take place in un easy conditions and capture good shots. Because of media technology advances, long action sequences are now much easier to capture, with a range of different camera to choose from. The choice of Alex, Imax, 3D and 2D cameras can be used to capture many different looks, Mad Max decided to use the digital Arri Alexa, Cannon EOS 5D Mark II, Olympus P5 which enabled them to shoot fast paced moving action in high speed windy conditions and provided them with flexibility allowing them to change the image after filming during the post production stage. They used Panavision Primo Lenses on there Alex Cannon as it made the cameras have extra cut-away point of view angle shots, which were so short they would not even be noticed due to them being of high quality. 'Eye Trace' and 'Cross hair framing' techniques were used during the filming which enabled the editor to keep the important visual information in one spot, the centre of the frame. In Ex Machina the whole filming process was done in digital at 4K resolution. The development in technology has given director of photography's the chance to hide short cuts during filming which has saved time and effort meaning a film can be completed over a shorter time period but to a high quality. The significance in this part of the filming process is massive and has created a new world inside a film, making it seem more visually real and easier to capture more difficult images.
The post production stage has benefited the most from the continuing advances in computer digital technology, especially during the editing stage where films can be completely changed visually without having to re shoot specific scenes. In Mad Max Fury Road computer editing has been used to cut out the wires and ropes during stunts which has allowed the stunt team to combine a variation of complex stunts safely whilst editing can be used to enhance the realism of the scene. For example when certain antagonists are driving down the cannon mountains on bikes they are attached to a wire which has a wheel attached to another rope which follows the actor down the cliff and lifts them off the bike when it is about to crash. The advances in editing has given the editor the power to experiment with the light contrast and brightness and take out certain dark shades, and add/remove cliffs etc. In Mad Max the thunder storm was all visually added in during this stage which shows how the post production stage how become a more effective and crucial stage in the creation of a film. In Ex Machina the use of CGI has enabled them to create a robot by editing the look of an actor during post production, to create Eva the robot they filmed both scenes with the actress Alicia Vikander presence and scenes without her so they could edit in the robotical features in the AI's body. In total the film took 800 VFX shots, of which 350 or near to that were robot shots, this shows that the large proportion of the film only uses post-production CGI to create the robot. Post production has seen a significant increase in its effectiveness due to advances in technology, however this has caused a large proportion of the film industry to be dominated by these type of films , e.g. Mad Max Fury Road where continuous action is created with the help of green screens and CGI, this means audiences have been forced to watch them which isn't a good sign of the future of the industry, as they will lack a range of creativity and unpredictability.
The marketing stage in filming has also been very beneficial due to the result of increased wide spread technology which many films now use to reach out to large audience effectively. Ex Machina is a key film that relied purely on self promoting and the it's audience giving the film extra kudos (viral marketing). The film itself did very little marketing, an app where you could have your face drawn by Eva (the artificial intelligence in the film) was available, also a fake Tinder account was created which pretended to be an attractive 25 year old woman who was actually the actress who was playing the AI (Ava) in the film (Alicia Vikander), and was speaking to men who were then tricked and were directed to an Instagram page which was promoting Ex Machina. This was only done in Austin America which in comparison to other film marketing covers a very small proportion of the US. Because this generated something to talk about, social media became Ex Machina's tool to success which led to increased sales of $36.9 million and fundamentally profit. This example shows how social media has become a very powerful online form of marketing a film. On the other hand one of Mad Max Fury Road's distributors Warner.Bros spent $43.7 million on advertisement for the film, releasing key online marketing techniques such as teaser trailers on YouTube which went viral and created a Facebook and Twitter fan page where information could be leaked about the film to spark excitement. They also created a Mad Max F1 car which advertised the film however wasn't as successful as the online marketing because only the certain fans there would have noticed it, were as online marketing gives you the power of reaching more than just your films targeted audience. Evidence from these two films proves that the development of technology has given marketing a better way of communicating, and suggests that maybe smaller more 'British' films could stand a chance in the film industry if they use online viral marketing to its full potential.
Distributing and exchanging a film with it's targeted audience has become a significant development over the past few years with the introduction of online internet streaming like Netflix and Amazon prime which offer audiences the chance to watch a film in their own homes through 'streaming' it, many fans have used this service to re watch a film after watching it in the cinema, this has generated extra sales for the film industry. Films can also now be downloaded online, which a lot of fans do 'illegally', Mad Max Fury Road was one of the most pirated films (in the top five) in 2015 and had 22.90 million shares on the torrent network. The film had 1.75 million pirated downloads over summer. Blu-ray also been another successful technological development in the exchanging process of a film, Mad Max Fury Road generated 48% of its second week sales from Blue-ray and remained on top of both national home video sales charts for two consecutive weeks. The success of this film has clearly been achieved through alternative methods of exchange like Blue-ray and online downloads which has caused the distribution of the film industry to become bigger and more profitable that ever before. Mad Max Fury Road is also set to release a console video game based of the film series in 2015 which shows how the film has become a success even a year after the original exchanging methods.
The development of digital technology is becoming a huge success in the film industry and helping films to reach a wider audience. This is however giving films with a larger budget spend (typically action/adventures) an advantage over the smaller independent film companies as they can afford to produce more marketing material and dominate the industry, giving film goers less choice and more of the same. But the new advances in technology could have a greater benefit to small companies, if the online tools remain cheaper and easier to produce.
In this essay I will be looking at the significance in development of digital media technology in the film industry and how it has changed during the different stages of production and what effect this has had on the industry.
The development process of media technology has been very evident in the film Mad Max Fury Road, where technical devices were used to support the camera during filming. A prime example of this includes the edge arm which held the camera out of a long crane which could move alongside the car chases in the scenes to capture the fast past action. If it wasn't for these devices filming couldn't take advantage of more adventurous angles and ideas. Because Mad Max Fury Road is filmed in Namibia dessert, the crew faced difficulties in maintaining a clear shot therefore the cameras had to be dust proof and water proof and the digital camera were fixed with an inbuilt cooling system to allow long periods of filming to take place. This shows how technology advances has allowed filming to take place in un easy conditions and capture good shots. Because of media technology advances, long action sequences are now much easier to capture, with a range of different camera to choose from. The choice of Alex, Imax, 3D and 2D cameras can be used to capture many different looks, Mad Max decided to use the digital Arri Alexa, Cannon EOS 5D Mark II, Olympus P5 which enabled them to shoot fast paced moving action in high speed windy conditions and provided them with flexibility allowing them to change the image after filming during the post production stage. They used Panavision Primo Lenses on there Alex Cannon as it made the cameras have extra cut-away point of view angle shots, which were so short they would not even be noticed due to them being of high quality. 'Eye Trace' and 'Cross hair framing' techniques were used during the filming which enabled the editor to keep the important visual information in one spot, the centre of the frame. In Ex Machina the whole filming process was done in digital at 4K resolution. The development in technology has given director of photography's the chance to hide short cuts during filming which has saved time and effort meaning a film can be completed over a shorter time period but to a high quality. The significance in this part of the filming process is massive and has created a new world inside a film, making it seem more visually real and easier to capture more difficult images.
The post production stage has benefited the most from the continuing advances in computer digital technology, especially during the editing stage where films can be completely changed visually without having to re shoot specific scenes. In Mad Max Fury Road computer editing has been used to cut out the wires and ropes during stunts which has allowed the stunt team to combine a variation of complex stunts safely whilst editing can be used to enhance the realism of the scene. For example when certain antagonists are driving down the cannon mountains on bikes they are attached to a wire which has a wheel attached to another rope which follows the actor down the cliff and lifts them off the bike when it is about to crash. The advances in editing has given the editor the power to experiment with the light contrast and brightness and take out certain dark shades, and add/remove cliffs etc. In Mad Max the thunder storm was all visually added in during this stage which shows how the post production stage how become a more effective and crucial stage in the creation of a film. In Ex Machina the use of CGI has enabled them to create a robot by editing the look of an actor during post production, to create Eva the robot they filmed both scenes with the actress Alicia Vikander presence and scenes without her so they could edit in the robotical features in the AI's body. In total the film took 800 VFX shots, of which 350 or near to that were robot shots, this shows that the large proportion of the film only uses post-production CGI to create the robot. Post production has seen a significant increase in its effectiveness due to advances in technology, however this has caused a large proportion of the film industry to be dominated by these type of films , e.g. Mad Max Fury Road where continuous action is created with the help of green screens and CGI, this means audiences have been forced to watch them which isn't a good sign of the future of the industry, as they will lack a range of creativity and unpredictability.
The marketing stage in filming has also been very beneficial due to the result of increased wide spread technology which many films now use to reach out to large audience effectively. Ex Machina is a key film that relied purely on self promoting and the it's audience giving the film extra kudos (viral marketing). The film itself did very little marketing, an app where you could have your face drawn by Eva (the artificial intelligence in the film) was available, also a fake Tinder account was created which pretended to be an attractive 25 year old woman who was actually the actress who was playing the AI (Ava) in the film (Alicia Vikander), and was speaking to men who were then tricked and were directed to an Instagram page which was promoting Ex Machina. This was only done in Austin America which in comparison to other film marketing covers a very small proportion of the US. Because this generated something to talk about, social media became Ex Machina's tool to success which led to increased sales of $36.9 million and fundamentally profit. This example shows how social media has become a very powerful online form of marketing a film. On the other hand one of Mad Max Fury Road's distributors Warner.Bros spent $43.7 million on advertisement for the film, releasing key online marketing techniques such as teaser trailers on YouTube which went viral and created a Facebook and Twitter fan page where information could be leaked about the film to spark excitement. They also created a Mad Max F1 car which advertised the film however wasn't as successful as the online marketing because only the certain fans there would have noticed it, were as online marketing gives you the power of reaching more than just your films targeted audience. Evidence from these two films proves that the development of technology has given marketing a better way of communicating, and suggests that maybe smaller more 'British' films could stand a chance in the film industry if they use online viral marketing to its full potential.
Distributing and exchanging a film with it's targeted audience has become a significant development over the past few years with the introduction of online internet streaming like Netflix and Amazon prime which offer audiences the chance to watch a film in their own homes through 'streaming' it, many fans have used this service to re watch a film after watching it in the cinema, this has generated extra sales for the film industry. Films can also now be downloaded online, which a lot of fans do 'illegally', Mad Max Fury Road was one of the most pirated films (in the top five) in 2015 and had 22.90 million shares on the torrent network. The film had 1.75 million pirated downloads over summer. Blu-ray also been another successful technological development in the exchanging process of a film, Mad Max Fury Road generated 48% of its second week sales from Blue-ray and remained on top of both national home video sales charts for two consecutive weeks. The success of this film has clearly been achieved through alternative methods of exchange like Blue-ray and online downloads which has caused the distribution of the film industry to become bigger and more profitable that ever before. Mad Max Fury Road is also set to release a console video game based of the film series in 2015 which shows how the film has become a success even a year after the original exchanging methods.
The development of digital technology is becoming a huge success in the film industry and helping films to reach a wider audience. This is however giving films with a larger budget spend (typically action/adventures) an advantage over the smaller independent film companies as they can afford to produce more marketing material and dominate the industry, giving film goers less choice and more of the same. But the new advances in technology could have a greater benefit to small companies, if the online tools remain cheaper and easier to produce.
Tuesday 1 December 2015
Audience and institution questions - Topic Aspect Viewpoint Institution
Topic Aspect Viewpoint Instruction
January 2010:-
"Media production is dominated by global institutions, which sell their media products and services to national audiences". To what extent do you agree with this statement?
The Aspects
Disagree - 'British film industry' - what qualifies as 'British' - Influence of 'British' culture on global cinema - British 'service' industry - British 'stars'.
June 2010:-
"What significance does the continuing development of digital media technology have for media institutions and audiences?"
The Aspects
Distribution - Netflix / Download / Illegal download.
Marketing - YouTube / social media / viral marketing.
The Viewpoints
January 2010:-
"Media production is dominated by global institutions, which sell their media products and services to national audiences". To what extent do you agree with this statement?
The Aspects
- Global institutions - The big six - Warner.Bros
- Products - Films Mad Max: Fury Road - your documentary film - Star Wars / Marvel?
- Services - Distribution, studios, SFX, Crew
The Viewpoints
- Dominated - Have power and influence over - aka choose what we watch, choose what 'types' of films are made, choose how we watch films (3D, 2D, IMAX, Download, Cinema, Streaming).
The Instructions
- To what extent do you agree with this statement? -
Agree - Global box office stats - genre which dominates box office - country which dominates box office - format which dominates cinema - franchise(s) which dominate
June 2010:-
"What significance does the continuing development of digital media technology have for media institutions and audiences?"
The Aspects
- Digital media - computers - tech -editing :-
Distribution - Netflix / Download / Illegal download.
Marketing - YouTube / social media / viral marketing.
The Viewpoints
- Developing - improving
- Significance (talk about)
Friday 27 November 2015
Marketing, distribution and production practices essay
"Successful media products depend as much upon marketing and distribution to a specific audience as they do upon good production practices".
To what extent would you agree with this statement, within the media area you have studied?
I believe that a successful film is defined by its ability to make money and win awards. The result of this is down to many key decisions which need to be thought about when marketing a film. The include A-list stars, explosions if it is a Hollywood/American produced film, or introducing new actors profiles and receiving positive critical feedback if it's a British film.
Two films which I have been studying are Mad Max Fury Road directed by George Miller and Ex Machina directed by Alex Garland. Both films are successful but in different ways. Mad Fury Road is more profitable as it had a larger budget and a bigger crew team, it cost $150 million to produce and turned over $374 million at the box office. Ex Machina only made $36.9 million with a budget if $15 million. Ex Machina is a success in response to it's Britishness being unpredictable, the product would appeal to older film aficionados as it contains full frontal nudity where as Mad Max Fury Road aims to target a larger and older audience who enjoy continuous action.
The production practices for Mad Max was long and lengthy which involved 10 years to map to map the story boards. Filming began in 2009 in Namibia but was delayed due to the start if the Iraq war. The film was then delayed again due to heavy rain in Australia where the film was originally going to be set. This had a slow and costly impact on the production team of Mad Max, as it caused more post production editing of the weather to be incorporated and the movement of all the vehicles and filming equipment. Mad Max Fury Road was also made with 80% of real practices, where effects were concerned, placing actors on real pole cats and strapping them to the front of the cars, this is another clear point which highlights the success which the film made, due to the product being more believable to it's audience, which resulted in more people going to watch the film as it offered a more realistic approach, which in turn helped the film make profit. The production practices in Ex Machina on the other hand were much shorter, production took place over four weeks with only a small cast. It's filming took place at Pinewood Studios in London and two weeks at Juvet Landscape Hotel in Vaudalen. The film includes very little SFX , CGI, special effects and has a greater reliance on scripts rather than the action and explosions predominantly seen in Mad Max Fury Road. The Britishness of the film focuses on introducing two new actors into the film industry before they were set to appear in the new Star Wars. (Domhnall Gleeson as Caleb and Alicia Vikander as Ava). This is good as it creates a bigger British acting list which puts more of them out on the scene, available to star in upcoming more expensive British films. The technology and camera work used in Mad Max was technical and focused primarily on the visual look rather than the context of the film. Synergy is used in in Mad Max Fury Road, for example, the edge arm is a large camera structure device used to capture the fast moving action between more than 150 vehicles which were involved in car chases. The film also works in synergy along side Warner.Bros, Village Road show Pictures, Kennedy Miller Mitchell and Rat Pac-Dune Entertainment. Production practices were much cheaper for Ex Machina because there were less actors and extra, and had a smaller filming process in general, working in synergy alongside DNA Films, Film 4 and Universal Studios.
The marketing of Mad Max was expensive costing them $7 million on TV advertising and an extra $4.37 million from Warner.Bros who helped them to advertise. Their image of advertising was going all out and targeting a wide market, by creating posters, turning an F1 car into a Mad Max car which looked rusty, and releasing constant video teasers, the first released on the 10th of December 2014. They spent a large amount of money on advertising because they were targeting their product at a wide audience who were the typical mainstream audience who like predominant action scenes and car chases. Ex Machina on the other hand was successful due to minimalistic advertising which heavily reflects their films context. They made social media their central focus point and made an app where you could have your face drawn by Eva (the artificial intelligence in the film), also a fake Tinder account was created which pretended to be an attractive 25 year old woman who was actually the actress who was playing the AI (Ava) in the film (Alicia Vikander), and was speaking to men who were then tricked and were directed to an Instagram page which was promoting Ex Machina. This was only done in Austin America which in comparison to other film marketing covers a very small proportion of the US. They relied heavily on self-promoting, receiving extra kudos from their fans spreading the excitement for them. The films advertising is almost parallel to its content, for example, the way in which fans were 'tricked' by the App symbolises the same process in the film where Caleb is 'tricked' into believing that he has been randomly selected to win a trip to the CEO of the company he works for. Advertising was also very minimalistic and simple but effective, this is the same in relation to the film as it is slow paced and simplistic where action is kept to a minimum, yet Ex Machina is perceived by a small part of the viral market as unique and a fantastic film, this shows how successful all stages of production and distribution was.
The challenging institutional practices were seen by the very different distribution methods. Mad Max was the most pirated film and had 22.90 million shares on Torrent Network, it remained on top of both national home video sales chart for two consecutive weeks and generated 48% of it's second week sales through synergy from Blue-ray. Ex Machina was distributed unexpectedly and increased slowly in popularity, the product was distributed by Universal Pictures, and was released by piggy backing onto the Avengers ending excitement which then helped Ex Machina to increase it's screens. It was originally released on four US screens, and after a few weeks managed to increase to 1200 screens. A week after Avengers came out it was showing on 2000 screens with a running time of 1 hour and 50 minutes. Mad Max went straight out and came out in 2D and was re mastered into 3D on Imax. The film is still growing and is set to come out as a comic book in a miniseries and also to be created as a game at the start of 2016. Neither Mad Max Fury Road or Ex Machina are four quadrant as they are both rating 15+.
In conclusion I believe that the future of the film industry is looking to be dominated by the big action feature films produced in America with big budgets and big advertising campaigns. Social media is looking to develop over the next 20 years into an even more effective device used to connect a film to a wide audience through advertisement, therefore I think it will become the relevant source and will completely replace posters on public transport, leaflets etc. as the world is turning to an online extension. In the film industry there is set to be another three star wars films in the next five years and another fifty Marvel films in the next twenty years, this is evidence that British films will die out along with the more unique ideas and approach to films, being replaced and outnumbered by sci-fi stories where the hero will always save the day. PG will be the main rating available to watch and anyone who wants to see 'Britishness' in a film or something a bit different and unpredictable won't be able to as the industry will be filled with animated explosions.
To what extent would you agree with this statement, within the media area you have studied?
I believe that a successful film is defined by its ability to make money and win awards. The result of this is down to many key decisions which need to be thought about when marketing a film. The include A-list stars, explosions if it is a Hollywood/American produced film, or introducing new actors profiles and receiving positive critical feedback if it's a British film.
Two films which I have been studying are Mad Max Fury Road directed by George Miller and Ex Machina directed by Alex Garland. Both films are successful but in different ways. Mad Fury Road is more profitable as it had a larger budget and a bigger crew team, it cost $150 million to produce and turned over $374 million at the box office. Ex Machina only made $36.9 million with a budget if $15 million. Ex Machina is a success in response to it's Britishness being unpredictable, the product would appeal to older film aficionados as it contains full frontal nudity where as Mad Max Fury Road aims to target a larger and older audience who enjoy continuous action.
The production practices for Mad Max was long and lengthy which involved 10 years to map to map the story boards. Filming began in 2009 in Namibia but was delayed due to the start if the Iraq war. The film was then delayed again due to heavy rain in Australia where the film was originally going to be set. This had a slow and costly impact on the production team of Mad Max, as it caused more post production editing of the weather to be incorporated and the movement of all the vehicles and filming equipment. Mad Max Fury Road was also made with 80% of real practices, where effects were concerned, placing actors on real pole cats and strapping them to the front of the cars, this is another clear point which highlights the success which the film made, due to the product being more believable to it's audience, which resulted in more people going to watch the film as it offered a more realistic approach, which in turn helped the film make profit. The production practices in Ex Machina on the other hand were much shorter, production took place over four weeks with only a small cast. It's filming took place at Pinewood Studios in London and two weeks at Juvet Landscape Hotel in Vaudalen. The film includes very little SFX , CGI, special effects and has a greater reliance on scripts rather than the action and explosions predominantly seen in Mad Max Fury Road. The Britishness of the film focuses on introducing two new actors into the film industry before they were set to appear in the new Star Wars. (Domhnall Gleeson as Caleb and Alicia Vikander as Ava). This is good as it creates a bigger British acting list which puts more of them out on the scene, available to star in upcoming more expensive British films. The technology and camera work used in Mad Max was technical and focused primarily on the visual look rather than the context of the film. Synergy is used in in Mad Max Fury Road, for example, the edge arm is a large camera structure device used to capture the fast moving action between more than 150 vehicles which were involved in car chases. The film also works in synergy along side Warner.Bros, Village Road show Pictures, Kennedy Miller Mitchell and Rat Pac-Dune Entertainment. Production practices were much cheaper for Ex Machina because there were less actors and extra, and had a smaller filming process in general, working in synergy alongside DNA Films, Film 4 and Universal Studios.
The marketing of Mad Max was expensive costing them $7 million on TV advertising and an extra $4.37 million from Warner.Bros who helped them to advertise. Their image of advertising was going all out and targeting a wide market, by creating posters, turning an F1 car into a Mad Max car which looked rusty, and releasing constant video teasers, the first released on the 10th of December 2014. They spent a large amount of money on advertising because they were targeting their product at a wide audience who were the typical mainstream audience who like predominant action scenes and car chases. Ex Machina on the other hand was successful due to minimalistic advertising which heavily reflects their films context. They made social media their central focus point and made an app where you could have your face drawn by Eva (the artificial intelligence in the film), also a fake Tinder account was created which pretended to be an attractive 25 year old woman who was actually the actress who was playing the AI (Ava) in the film (Alicia Vikander), and was speaking to men who were then tricked and were directed to an Instagram page which was promoting Ex Machina. This was only done in Austin America which in comparison to other film marketing covers a very small proportion of the US. They relied heavily on self-promoting, receiving extra kudos from their fans spreading the excitement for them. The films advertising is almost parallel to its content, for example, the way in which fans were 'tricked' by the App symbolises the same process in the film where Caleb is 'tricked' into believing that he has been randomly selected to win a trip to the CEO of the company he works for. Advertising was also very minimalistic and simple but effective, this is the same in relation to the film as it is slow paced and simplistic where action is kept to a minimum, yet Ex Machina is perceived by a small part of the viral market as unique and a fantastic film, this shows how successful all stages of production and distribution was.
The challenging institutional practices were seen by the very different distribution methods. Mad Max was the most pirated film and had 22.90 million shares on Torrent Network, it remained on top of both national home video sales chart for two consecutive weeks and generated 48% of it's second week sales through synergy from Blue-ray. Ex Machina was distributed unexpectedly and increased slowly in popularity, the product was distributed by Universal Pictures, and was released by piggy backing onto the Avengers ending excitement which then helped Ex Machina to increase it's screens. It was originally released on four US screens, and after a few weeks managed to increase to 1200 screens. A week after Avengers came out it was showing on 2000 screens with a running time of 1 hour and 50 minutes. Mad Max went straight out and came out in 2D and was re mastered into 3D on Imax. The film is still growing and is set to come out as a comic book in a miniseries and also to be created as a game at the start of 2016. Neither Mad Max Fury Road or Ex Machina are four quadrant as they are both rating 15+.
In conclusion I believe that the future of the film industry is looking to be dominated by the big action feature films produced in America with big budgets and big advertising campaigns. Social media is looking to develop over the next 20 years into an even more effective device used to connect a film to a wide audience through advertisement, therefore I think it will become the relevant source and will completely replace posters on public transport, leaflets etc. as the world is turning to an online extension. In the film industry there is set to be another three star wars films in the next five years and another fifty Marvel films in the next twenty years, this is evidence that British films will die out along with the more unique ideas and approach to films, being replaced and outnumbered by sci-fi stories where the hero will always save the day. PG will be the main rating available to watch and anyone who wants to see 'Britishness' in a film or something a bit different and unpredictable won't be able to as the industry will be filled with animated explosions.
Monday 23 November 2015
TV Drama-Generic Conventions
- 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.
The Big Six Film Studios
Warner Bros. Pictures -
Parent Company: Time Warner Incorporated
Parent company: Fox television,founded by William Fox
Divisions inside the company: Fox TV group, Filmed Entertainment,Fox Networks, Endemol Shine Group, Fox Sports, National Geographic Channels and Fox International
Owns: Blue Sky Studios, Fox Star Studios (India)20th Century Fox Home Entertainment, Fox, 20th Television, 20th Century Fox Television, 20th Century Fox Japan, Fox Studios Australia and TSG Entertainment
20th Century Fox has 12.3% market share
Known for: X-men, Avatar, Star Wars, Fantastic Four and The Simpsons
Columbia Pictures -
Parent Company: Sony, CEO: Michael Lynton.
Divisions inside the company: Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group, Sony Pictures Animation, TriStar Pictures and Sony Pictures Imageworks.
Owns: Consumer electronics, Semi conductors, Video games, Media/Entertainment, Computer hardware and Telecom equipment
Columbia pictures has a market share of 8.9%
Total gross: $828.4 million.
Parent Company: Walt Disney Studios, owned by Walt Disney's company
Owns: Live action TV, film production and theme parks.
Walt Disney Pictures has a 16.2% market share.
Buena Vista (divisions of the company): Disney Pixar, Publishing (Marvel and Disney Music), Theatre (Aladdin the musical), Radio (Radio Disney and ESPN Radio Network) and websites such as Club Penguin
Known for: The Avengers, Frozen, Toy Story (1,2 and 3), Wreck-it-Ralph, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest and Finding Nemo
Total Gross: $1,508.0 million.
Parent Company: Time Warner Incorporated
Divisions inside the company: HBO, Time Warner Corporate, Turner Broadcasting System and Warner Brother's entertainment.
Owns: Warner Brothers Television Group, Warner Brother's digital distribution, Warner brothers interactive entertainment, DC entertainment and DC comics.
Warner Bros has 15.6% of the market share.
Known for: American Sniper, Mad Max, The Hobbit, Game of Thrones and FRIENDS
Total Gross: $1,454.4 million.
20th Century Fox -
Owns: Warner Brothers Television Group, Warner Brother's digital distribution, Warner brothers interactive entertainment, DC entertainment and DC comics.
Warner Bros has 15.6% of the market share.
Known for: American Sniper, Mad Max, The Hobbit, Game of Thrones and FRIENDS
Total Gross: $1,454.4 million.
20th Century Fox -
Parent company: Fox television,founded by William Fox
Divisions inside the company: Fox TV group, Filmed Entertainment,Fox Networks, Endemol Shine Group, Fox Sports, National Geographic Channels and Fox International
Owns: Blue Sky Studios, Fox Star Studios (India)20th Century Fox Home Entertainment, Fox, 20th Television, 20th Century Fox Television, 20th Century Fox Japan, Fox Studios Australia and TSG Entertainment
20th Century Fox has 12.3% market share
Known for: X-men, Avatar, Star Wars, Fantastic Four and The Simpsons
Total gross: $1,147.4 million.
Columbia Pictures -
Parent Company: Sony, CEO: Michael Lynton.
Divisions inside the company: Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group, Sony Pictures Animation, TriStar Pictures and Sony Pictures Imageworks.
Owns: Consumer electronics, Semi conductors, Video games, Media/Entertainment, Computer hardware and Telecom equipment
Columbia pictures has a market share of 8.9%
Total gross: $828.4 million.
Paramount Pictures -
Parent Company: Famous Players-Lasky Corporation then Independent then Gulf+Western then Paramount Communications inc and now Viacom.
Divisions inside the company: Paramount Home Media Distribution, Insurge Pictures, Paramount Famous Productions, Paramount Vantage and Paramount Animation.
Owns: Madison square gardens properties, 50% steak in USA networks as well as being involved with TV, music publishing and home video.
Paramount pictures has a market share of 6.3%
Known for: Titanic, Shrek (including 2, 3 and 4), Forrest Gump, Iron Man and The Truman Show
Total gross: $585.4 million.
Parent Company: Famous Players-Lasky Corporation then Independent then Gulf+Western then Paramount Communications inc and now Viacom.
Divisions inside the company: Paramount Home Media Distribution, Insurge Pictures, Paramount Famous Productions, Paramount Vantage and Paramount Animation.
Owns: Madison square gardens properties, 50% steak in USA networks as well as being involved with TV, music publishing and home video.
Paramount pictures has a market share of 6.3%
Known for: Titanic, Shrek (including 2, 3 and 4), Forrest Gump, Iron Man and The Truman Show
Total gross: $585.4 million.
Universal Studios -
Parent Company: NBC Universal, owned by National Broadcasting Company
Divisions inside the company: Universal animation studios, Focus features, Illumination entertainment, Working title films, Universal pictures home entertainment and United International Pictures
Owns: NBC News, NBC sports, NBC Universal TV and Cable.
Universal Studios has a market share of 25.2%
Known for: Jurassic Park/ World, Despicable me/2, Pitch Perfect/2, Jaws, Ted, Fifty Shades of Grey and E.T.: The Extra Terrestrial
Total gross: $2,348.7 million.
Walt Disney Pictures -
Parent Company: NBC Universal, owned by National Broadcasting Company
Divisions inside the company: Universal animation studios, Focus features, Illumination entertainment, Working title films, Universal pictures home entertainment and United International Pictures
Owns: NBC News, NBC sports, NBC Universal TV and Cable.
Universal Studios has a market share of 25.2%
Known for: Jurassic Park/ World, Despicable me/2, Pitch Perfect/2, Jaws, Ted, Fifty Shades of Grey and E.T.: The Extra Terrestrial
Total gross: $2,348.7 million.
Walt Disney Pictures -
Parent Company: Walt Disney Studios, owned by Walt Disney's company
Owns: Live action TV, film production and theme parks.
Walt Disney Pictures has a 16.2% market share.
Buena Vista (divisions of the company): Disney Pixar, Publishing (Marvel and Disney Music), Theatre (Aladdin the musical), Radio (Radio Disney and ESPN Radio Network) and websites such as Club Penguin
Known for: The Avengers, Frozen, Toy Story (1,2 and 3), Wreck-it-Ralph, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest and Finding Nemo
Total Gross: $1,508.0 million.
Wednesday 18 November 2015
Narrative Codes
Narrative Codes
Roland Barthes developed a concept that every narrative is interwoven with five codes that drive one to maintain interest in a story. The first two codes involve ways of creating suspense in narrative, the first by unanswered questions, the second by anticipation of an action's resolution. These two codes are essentially connected to the temporal order of the narrative.
The Hermeneutic Code
The hermeneutic code refers to plot elements of a story that are not explained. They exist as enigmas that the reader wishes to be resolved. A detective story, for example, is a narrative that operates primarily by the hermeneutic code. A crime is exposed or postulated and the rest of the narrative is devoted to answering questions raised by the initial event.
The Proairetic Code
The proairetic code refers to plot events that imply further narrative action. For example, a story character confronts an adversary and the reader wonders what the resolution of this action will be. Suspense is created by action rather than by a reader's wish to have mysteries explained. The final three codes are related to how the reader comprehends and interprets the narrative discourse.
The Semic Code
A seme is a unit of meaning or a sign that express cultural stereotypes. These signs allow the author to describe characters, settings and events. The semic code focuses upon information that the narration provides in order to suggest abstract concepts. Any element in a narrative can suggest a particular, often additional, meaning by way of connotation through a correlation found in the narrative. The semic code allows the text to 'show' instead of 'tell' by describing material things.
The Symbolic Code
The symbolic code refers to a structural structure that organizes meanings by way of antitheses, binary oppositions or sexual and psychological conflicts. These oppositions can be expressed through action, character and setting.
The Cultural Code
The cultural code designates any element in a narrative that refers to common bodies of knowledge such as historical, mythological or scientific. The cultural codes point to knowledge about the way the world works as shared by a community or culture.
Together, these five codes function like a 'weaving of voices'. Barthes assigns to the hermeneutic the Voice of Truth; to the proairetic code the voice of Empirics ; to the semic the Voice of the Person; to the cultural the Voice of Science; and to the symbolic the Voice of Symbol. According to Barthes, they allowing the reader to see a work not just as a single narrative line but as a braiding of meanings that give a story its complexity and richness.
Friday 6 November 2015
Representation Of Disability
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2W2xHM4cWo
(Watch clip from 0:00 to 4:00)
Above is a clip from Game Of Thrones where Tyrion's ability of dwarfism affects the language used against him and results in him being faced with more dis advantages in his historical background. You can also see other people with dwarfism in the clip who are treated as being at the bottom of the hierarchy in the time period and having no identity.
Camera shots, angles, movement and composition
At the start of the clip high angled shots are used to view king Joffrey in comparison to low angled shots which are used to show Tyrion. This is shown throughout the clip especially when the king is looking down at the other dwarfs below him. This shows hows disability is represented as a weakness in strength and power in society. Over the shoulder shots are also used when Tyrion is handing the cup to king Joffrey, this shot emphasises on the intimidation which Tyrion is faced with. The angle of the shot could be seen to show Tyrion as a child, in which king Joffrey is looking down upon him and punishing him. Over the shoulder long shots are also used to show the few dwarfs on the stage below the king, which suggests how they are far from any 'normal' human and are judged as morally different. The camera uses a low angle panning shot technique at 1:17 in the clip to show king Joffrey walking over to Tyrion, this adds to the tension of the conversation and helps you to see the scale of the stage, and how far Tyrion is away from the kings throne, showing discrimination in disability as he is near to the end of the table.
Mise En Scene
The setting is in late medieval period, where king Joffrey is wearing a crown and gold robes which makes him look important. He is also on a higher platform to those affected by dwarfism, who are wearing fancy dress costumes sitting on fake horses. This impacts on the representation on disability as it clearly shows how they are portrayed as being the odd ones out, who are unusual. They are also far from any one else on a stage which suggests they are not liked by anyone or are the entertainment of the crowd, being treated as animals with no voice. Tyrion is wearing a black armoured chest piece which is an unusual representation for disability in a TV drama, because it empowers the disabled which is rarely seen, however King Joffrey takes a glass of wine and pours it over his head, to intimidate Tyrion and show him that he doesn't get respect like any 'normal' person would.
Editing
Quick pace cutting between each shot is consistently used throughout the clip to show the speech between the King and Tyrion. When wine is poured over Tyrion's head the shot is shown for a long period of time with his face in the frame, you would expect him to be building anger and tension, however Tyrion remains calm, which triggers Joffrey to become more argumentative. However the quick pace editing shows that When Tyrion tries to speak he is quickly intercepted by king Joffrey who is the more powerful speaker in the conversation.
Sound
The sound of laughter can be heard in the background behind King Joffrey's voice when he is mocking Tyrion and the other dwarfs who are in front of him on the stage. This adds to the humiliation of the disabled, representing them as something instead of someone. A monotone sound of a violin can be heard from 2 minutes 10 seconds which slowly increases in level as Tyrion approaches Joffrey. Tyrion is being commanded to bring the king his cup full of wine, which suggests how powerless the disabled are represented and the jobs which they are seen to be useful for.
(Watch clip from 0:00 to 4:00)
Above is a clip from Game Of Thrones where Tyrion's ability of dwarfism affects the language used against him and results in him being faced with more dis advantages in his historical background. You can also see other people with dwarfism in the clip who are treated as being at the bottom of the hierarchy in the time period and having no identity.
Camera shots, angles, movement and composition
At the start of the clip high angled shots are used to view king Joffrey in comparison to low angled shots which are used to show Tyrion. This is shown throughout the clip especially when the king is looking down at the other dwarfs below him. This shows hows disability is represented as a weakness in strength and power in society. Over the shoulder shots are also used when Tyrion is handing the cup to king Joffrey, this shot emphasises on the intimidation which Tyrion is faced with. The angle of the shot could be seen to show Tyrion as a child, in which king Joffrey is looking down upon him and punishing him. Over the shoulder long shots are also used to show the few dwarfs on the stage below the king, which suggests how they are far from any 'normal' human and are judged as morally different. The camera uses a low angle panning shot technique at 1:17 in the clip to show king Joffrey walking over to Tyrion, this adds to the tension of the conversation and helps you to see the scale of the stage, and how far Tyrion is away from the kings throne, showing discrimination in disability as he is near to the end of the table.
Mise En Scene
The setting is in late medieval period, where king Joffrey is wearing a crown and gold robes which makes him look important. He is also on a higher platform to those affected by dwarfism, who are wearing fancy dress costumes sitting on fake horses. This impacts on the representation on disability as it clearly shows how they are portrayed as being the odd ones out, who are unusual. They are also far from any one else on a stage which suggests they are not liked by anyone or are the entertainment of the crowd, being treated as animals with no voice. Tyrion is wearing a black armoured chest piece which is an unusual representation for disability in a TV drama, because it empowers the disabled which is rarely seen, however King Joffrey takes a glass of wine and pours it over his head, to intimidate Tyrion and show him that he doesn't get respect like any 'normal' person would.
Editing
Quick pace cutting between each shot is consistently used throughout the clip to show the speech between the King and Tyrion. When wine is poured over Tyrion's head the shot is shown for a long period of time with his face in the frame, you would expect him to be building anger and tension, however Tyrion remains calm, which triggers Joffrey to become more argumentative. However the quick pace editing shows that When Tyrion tries to speak he is quickly intercepted by king Joffrey who is the more powerful speaker in the conversation.
Sound
The sound of laughter can be heard in the background behind King Joffrey's voice when he is mocking Tyrion and the other dwarfs who are in front of him on the stage. This adds to the humiliation of the disabled, representing them as something instead of someone. A monotone sound of a violin can be heard from 2 minutes 10 seconds which slowly increases in level as Tyrion approaches Joffrey. Tyrion is being commanded to bring the king his cup full of wine, which suggests how powerless the disabled are represented and the jobs which they are seen to be useful for.
Mad Max Fury Road Research - 100 Facts
General Facts
1. Originally slated for a 2003 shoot in Namibia, the film had to be delayed after the beginning of the Iraq War caused trouble with shipping and security in Namibia. Production began again in 2009.
2. Mad Max: Fury Road will be released thirty years after the last film, Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome.
3. Charlize Theron shaved her head for her role of Furiosa, and had to wear a wig for A Million Ways to Die in The West.
4. Rumors flew that Charlize Theron and Tom Hardy, who plays Max, did not get along at all, and that Theron got to the point of not even speaking to Hardy on set.
5. Constant weather delays and location issues caused the film to be delayed more than once, including cold when it was supposed to be hot, and vice-versa. Reshoots also delayed the final product on countless occasions.
6. Liam Fountain auditioned for Max but lost the part to Tom Hardy. Liam Fountain played Max in the 2011 short film Mad Max Renegade, which takes place between the first two films.
7. The film was shot in sequence, which is rare, and the storyboards were completed before the script.
8. Over 80% of the effects seen in the film are real practical effects, stunts, make-up and sets. CGI was used sparingly mainly to enhance the Namibian landscape, remove stunt rigging and for Charlize Theron’s left hand which in the film is a prosthetic arm.
9. Originally, Mel Gibson was going to have a role as a drifter in the film, but this never came to fruition.
Pre Production
10. It took more than 10 years to map out the storyboards for the film.
11. Producer Denise di Novi was assigned to supervise the ongoing production and report any further problems.
12. Miller has a history of going over budget.
13. Much of the expense attributed to the road-ripping vehicles and the creative, but savage weaponry that appear in the film.
14. 3D shooting rigs developed for the film were scrapped.
15. Hardy and Miller had been working on a way to establish a human story within the action-filled movie.
16. The cast were chosen in 2009 including Tom Hardy.
17. Pre production was restarted due to delays.
18. Warner Bros. and Miller agreed to a full 12-month delay so he could continue work on Happy Feet 2
19. Tom Hardy took over the icon role from Mel Gibson.
Production
20. The film was directed by George Miller.
21. Mad Max is part of a franchise.
22. John Seale became the director of photography who developed the testing of the 3D cameras.
23. The 3D camera rig had to be small enough to go through the windows of the truck where a lot of the action takes place.
24. The camera used in the dessert had to be waterproof and dust proof.
25. The digital cameras were fixed with an inbuilt cooling system.
26. Seale faced a challenge between the lighting compromises for multi-camera shooting.
27. Miller announced that the film would be switched to film in 2D after many limited factors which stopped a clear image being present.
28. Mad Max Fury Road was based on a single camera philosophy - the idea that somewhere on the set is a single perfect spot for the camera to record that scene.
29. Following the switch to 2D, they used Alexa cameras (with Primos) to film.
30. John Seale used the Alexa 11-1 zoom camera, which he called the paparazzi camera.
31. The crew used handheld Canon cameras when filming on the vehicles.
32. Originally the camera crew used wide lenses to film the actors whilst on the moving vehicles, but it became expensive to crop out the camera operators, so they were replaced with an edge arm.
33. George Miller had no script when they were prepared to shoot the film, but instead had over 3500 storyboards created by Mark Sexton.
34. The studio insisted they needed a script, George Miller had one but he thought it was not very good.
35. The director began a lengthy 6 month shoot in Namibian Desert, faced with several false starts.
36. More than 150 vehicles are involved in the stunts conceived by production designer Colin Gibson.
37. Key stunt crew members include, Special effects supervisors Andy Williams and Dan Oliver, and supervising stunt coordinator Guy Norris.
38. Mad Max Fury Road was to be released thirty years after the last film, Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome.
39. Further filming for Mad Max was shot in Sydney.
40. The film had to be delayed after the beginning of the Iraq war.
41. Mad Max Fury Road includes insane stunt action and post-apocalyptic landscapes.
42. Visual effects supervisor Andrew Jackson led hundreds of visual effects artists during the film.
43. The visual effects team crafted more than 2000 visual effects shots, helping to transform the exquisite photography into the final film.
44. Colorist Eric Whipp carried out plate manipulation, weaving in a distinctive graphic style for the film with detailed sky replacements and unique day for nights.
45. Jackson was aided by visual effects producers Holly Radcliffe, with Lloura taking on the Lion's share of digital work.
46. More than 1500 shots were overseen by visual effects supervisor Tom Wood and producer Fiona Crawford.
47. An in-house postvis and VFX crew set up at production company Kennedy Miller Mitchell.
48. Addition work was completed by Method Studios and BlackGinger, with early previs delivered by the Third Floor.
49. There is 2000 VFX shots in the film. A very large number of those shots are very simple clean-ups and fixes and wire removals and painting out tire tracks from previous shots, but there are a big number of big VFX shots as well.
50. The Citadel location was produced via a combination of principal photography in Namibia, shooting in Sydney and visual effects work from lloura informed by actual rock cliffs photographed in Australia and re-worked using photogrammetry.
51. The cliffs in the Blue Mountains west of Sydney were used to create the Citadel, Jackson took a helicopter up and flew backwards and forwards with a high res stills camera.
52. They had a chopper standing by for 10 days waiting for the right conditions.
53. The photogrammetry techniques were inspired by Jackson's initial use of an on-set aerial photography drone from Sensefly that he had intended to employ just for ground reference photos.
54. The photography drone was a one meter wingspan plane with a compact camera.
55. The photography drone worked by someone mapping out the area on the ground, you then throw it up in the air and it flies in a grid taking photos every two meters and then lands where it was launched.
56. lloura did all the Citadel work, she started using the software Photoscan to build textured terrain models, and then, experimenting with the software. This involved taking raw materials, chopping it up and bending it around and re-building it.
57. George didn't quite like the black staining over the Blue Mountains, so they were re-coloured and re-textured, in order to keep it as authentic as possible.
58. Photogrammetry acquisition was also carried out at Jenolan Caves south of Sydney for what would become interior regions of the Citadel.
59. There was a practical set piece on the Citadel that was shot in one of the stages at Fox Studios in Sydney, which was completely replaced.
60. Below Joe they had shot about 150 extras which were then extended to 30,000 with crowd sims.
61. Practical rain machines were used on set in front of the very small pieces of rock face. There was also some pouring water where it splashed on some rocks.
Post Production
62. Film Editor Margaret Sixel was given over 480 hours of footage to create Mad Max Fury Road.
63. The final edit of the film ran 120 minutes and consisted of 2700 individual shots.
64. 'Eye Trace' and 'Cross hair framing' techniques were used during the filming which enabled the editor to keep the important visual information in one spot, the center of the frame.
65. George Miller was constantly heard over the walkie talkies saying 'put the crosshairs on her nose' and 'put the crosshairs on the gun', this was to protect the footage for editorial.
66. Every new shot had to occupy the same space as the previous spot, this would allow Margaret Sixel to amplify and accelerate scenes and cut as fast as possible.
67. One bad cut could ruin any moment of the film.
68. There were rumors that Charlie Theron and Tom Hardy who play Max did not get along at all and that Theron got the the point of not even speaking to Hardy on the set.
69. Over 80% of the effects seen in the film are real practical effects, stunts, make-up and sets.
70. Liam Fountain auditioned for Max but lost the part to Tom Hardy.
71. It was important that the cars did not exceed a given speed so that the action depicted would be true to what they could legally and safely shoot.
72. The final twisted mix of vehicle pieces, metal and bungie-corded guitar that fly towards camera were largely practical effects.
Marketing
73. Due to years of delays and cost over runs, Mad Max, Fury Road ended up costing $150 million to produce.
74. Mad Max Fury Road generated $374 million at the box office.
75. Fury Road repeated its No. 1 position on the strength of a slightly lower estimated $7.5 million spent on 957 national airings across 42 networks.
76. The film's marketing kicked into gear at SDCC, when Warner debuted a several-minute sizzle reel, a condensed version of which made it up online a few days later.
77. The first teaser debuted on December 10th of last year.
78. Mad Max, Fury Road had its world premiere on the 7th of may 2015 at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles.
79. Warner Bros spent a total of $43.7 million on advertisement for the film
Distribution
80. Mad Max was one of the most pirated films.
81. Mad Max had 22.90 million shares on torrent network.
82. The five most pirated film, led by Mad Max, were downloaded on torrent networks worldwide 85.34 million times, according to piracy-tracking firm Excipio.
83. 'The Age of Adaline' sold remarkably well, moving more than 57% as many units as 'Fury Road' did in the latter's second week of release.
84. Max Max had 1.75 million pirated downloads over summer.
85. Fury Road generated 48% of its second week sale from Blu-ray Disc.
86. Mad Max remained on top of both national home video sales charts for two consecutive weeks.
87. 'Hot Pursuit' dispersed their spending more.
88. In the U.S box office revenue was the second best on record, after 2014 hit a seven-year low.
89. An art book and a comic book miniseries will be released for Mad Max.
90. An upcoming console game based on the film series is releasing in 2015.
Important facts
91. An invasion and subsequent war in Iraq stopped filming.
92. The film was going to be filmed in 3D as a CG animated movie.
93. Filming was delayed twice.
94. Filming originally first finished on the 17th of December 2012.
95. In 2013 they had to go over filming and re shoot particular scenes.
96. Warner Bros insisted that a script was written during pre-production stage, Miller said that he had one but it wasn't very good.
97. The cast were picked in 2009 for Mad Max Fury Road.
98. The film was originally going to be filmed in Iraq but it rained persistently.
99. Just under $1 million was spent on TV adverts.
100. The crew spent 6 months in the Namibian desert.
1. Originally slated for a 2003 shoot in Namibia, the film had to be delayed after the beginning of the Iraq War caused trouble with shipping and security in Namibia. Production began again in 2009.
2. Mad Max: Fury Road will be released thirty years after the last film, Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome.
3. Charlize Theron shaved her head for her role of Furiosa, and had to wear a wig for A Million Ways to Die in The West.
4. Rumors flew that Charlize Theron and Tom Hardy, who plays Max, did not get along at all, and that Theron got to the point of not even speaking to Hardy on set.
5. Constant weather delays and location issues caused the film to be delayed more than once, including cold when it was supposed to be hot, and vice-versa. Reshoots also delayed the final product on countless occasions.
6. Liam Fountain auditioned for Max but lost the part to Tom Hardy. Liam Fountain played Max in the 2011 short film Mad Max Renegade, which takes place between the first two films.
7. The film was shot in sequence, which is rare, and the storyboards were completed before the script.
8. Over 80% of the effects seen in the film are real practical effects, stunts, make-up and sets. CGI was used sparingly mainly to enhance the Namibian landscape, remove stunt rigging and for Charlize Theron’s left hand which in the film is a prosthetic arm.
9. Originally, Mel Gibson was going to have a role as a drifter in the film, but this never came to fruition.
Pre Production
10. It took more than 10 years to map out the storyboards for the film.
11. Producer Denise di Novi was assigned to supervise the ongoing production and report any further problems.
12. Miller has a history of going over budget.
13. Much of the expense attributed to the road-ripping vehicles and the creative, but savage weaponry that appear in the film.
14. 3D shooting rigs developed for the film were scrapped.
15. Hardy and Miller had been working on a way to establish a human story within the action-filled movie.
16. The cast were chosen in 2009 including Tom Hardy.
17. Pre production was restarted due to delays.
18. Warner Bros. and Miller agreed to a full 12-month delay so he could continue work on Happy Feet 2
19. Tom Hardy took over the icon role from Mel Gibson.
Production
20. The film was directed by George Miller.
21. Mad Max is part of a franchise.
22. John Seale became the director of photography who developed the testing of the 3D cameras.
23. The 3D camera rig had to be small enough to go through the windows of the truck where a lot of the action takes place.
24. The camera used in the dessert had to be waterproof and dust proof.
25. The digital cameras were fixed with an inbuilt cooling system.
26. Seale faced a challenge between the lighting compromises for multi-camera shooting.
27. Miller announced that the film would be switched to film in 2D after many limited factors which stopped a clear image being present.
28. Mad Max Fury Road was based on a single camera philosophy - the idea that somewhere on the set is a single perfect spot for the camera to record that scene.
29. Following the switch to 2D, they used Alexa cameras (with Primos) to film.
30. John Seale used the Alexa 11-1 zoom camera, which he called the paparazzi camera.
31. The crew used handheld Canon cameras when filming on the vehicles.
32. Originally the camera crew used wide lenses to film the actors whilst on the moving vehicles, but it became expensive to crop out the camera operators, so they were replaced with an edge arm.
33. George Miller had no script when they were prepared to shoot the film, but instead had over 3500 storyboards created by Mark Sexton.
34. The studio insisted they needed a script, George Miller had one but he thought it was not very good.
35. The director began a lengthy 6 month shoot in Namibian Desert, faced with several false starts.
36. More than 150 vehicles are involved in the stunts conceived by production designer Colin Gibson.
37. Key stunt crew members include, Special effects supervisors Andy Williams and Dan Oliver, and supervising stunt coordinator Guy Norris.
38. Mad Max Fury Road was to be released thirty years after the last film, Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome.
39. Further filming for Mad Max was shot in Sydney.
40. The film had to be delayed after the beginning of the Iraq war.
41. Mad Max Fury Road includes insane stunt action and post-apocalyptic landscapes.
42. Visual effects supervisor Andrew Jackson led hundreds of visual effects artists during the film.
43. The visual effects team crafted more than 2000 visual effects shots, helping to transform the exquisite photography into the final film.
44. Colorist Eric Whipp carried out plate manipulation, weaving in a distinctive graphic style for the film with detailed sky replacements and unique day for nights.
45. Jackson was aided by visual effects producers Holly Radcliffe, with Lloura taking on the Lion's share of digital work.
46. More than 1500 shots were overseen by visual effects supervisor Tom Wood and producer Fiona Crawford.
47. An in-house postvis and VFX crew set up at production company Kennedy Miller Mitchell.
48. Addition work was completed by Method Studios and BlackGinger, with early previs delivered by the Third Floor.
49. There is 2000 VFX shots in the film. A very large number of those shots are very simple clean-ups and fixes and wire removals and painting out tire tracks from previous shots, but there are a big number of big VFX shots as well.
50. The Citadel location was produced via a combination of principal photography in Namibia, shooting in Sydney and visual effects work from lloura informed by actual rock cliffs photographed in Australia and re-worked using photogrammetry.
51. The cliffs in the Blue Mountains west of Sydney were used to create the Citadel, Jackson took a helicopter up and flew backwards and forwards with a high res stills camera.
52. They had a chopper standing by for 10 days waiting for the right conditions.
53. The photogrammetry techniques were inspired by Jackson's initial use of an on-set aerial photography drone from Sensefly that he had intended to employ just for ground reference photos.
54. The photography drone was a one meter wingspan plane with a compact camera.
55. The photography drone worked by someone mapping out the area on the ground, you then throw it up in the air and it flies in a grid taking photos every two meters and then lands where it was launched.
56. lloura did all the Citadel work, she started using the software Photoscan to build textured terrain models, and then, experimenting with the software. This involved taking raw materials, chopping it up and bending it around and re-building it.
57. George didn't quite like the black staining over the Blue Mountains, so they were re-coloured and re-textured, in order to keep it as authentic as possible.
58. Photogrammetry acquisition was also carried out at Jenolan Caves south of Sydney for what would become interior regions of the Citadel.
59. There was a practical set piece on the Citadel that was shot in one of the stages at Fox Studios in Sydney, which was completely replaced.
60. Below Joe they had shot about 150 extras which were then extended to 30,000 with crowd sims.
61. Practical rain machines were used on set in front of the very small pieces of rock face. There was also some pouring water where it splashed on some rocks.
Post Production
62. Film Editor Margaret Sixel was given over 480 hours of footage to create Mad Max Fury Road.
63. The final edit of the film ran 120 minutes and consisted of 2700 individual shots.
64. 'Eye Trace' and 'Cross hair framing' techniques were used during the filming which enabled the editor to keep the important visual information in one spot, the center of the frame.
65. George Miller was constantly heard over the walkie talkies saying 'put the crosshairs on her nose' and 'put the crosshairs on the gun', this was to protect the footage for editorial.
66. Every new shot had to occupy the same space as the previous spot, this would allow Margaret Sixel to amplify and accelerate scenes and cut as fast as possible.
67. One bad cut could ruin any moment of the film.
68. There were rumors that Charlie Theron and Tom Hardy who play Max did not get along at all and that Theron got the the point of not even speaking to Hardy on the set.
69. Over 80% of the effects seen in the film are real practical effects, stunts, make-up and sets.
70. Liam Fountain auditioned for Max but lost the part to Tom Hardy.
71. It was important that the cars did not exceed a given speed so that the action depicted would be true to what they could legally and safely shoot.
72. The final twisted mix of vehicle pieces, metal and bungie-corded guitar that fly towards camera were largely practical effects.
Marketing
73. Due to years of delays and cost over runs, Mad Max, Fury Road ended up costing $150 million to produce.
74. Mad Max Fury Road generated $374 million at the box office.
75. Fury Road repeated its No. 1 position on the strength of a slightly lower estimated $7.5 million spent on 957 national airings across 42 networks.
76. The film's marketing kicked into gear at SDCC, when Warner debuted a several-minute sizzle reel, a condensed version of which made it up online a few days later.
77. The first teaser debuted on December 10th of last year.
78. Mad Max, Fury Road had its world premiere on the 7th of may 2015 at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles.
79. Warner Bros spent a total of $43.7 million on advertisement for the film
Distribution
80. Mad Max was one of the most pirated films.
81. Mad Max had 22.90 million shares on torrent network.
82. The five most pirated film, led by Mad Max, were downloaded on torrent networks worldwide 85.34 million times, according to piracy-tracking firm Excipio.
83. 'The Age of Adaline' sold remarkably well, moving more than 57% as many units as 'Fury Road' did in the latter's second week of release.
84. Max Max had 1.75 million pirated downloads over summer.
85. Fury Road generated 48% of its second week sale from Blu-ray Disc.
86. Mad Max remained on top of both national home video sales charts for two consecutive weeks.
87. 'Hot Pursuit' dispersed their spending more.
88. In the U.S box office revenue was the second best on record, after 2014 hit a seven-year low.
89. An art book and a comic book miniseries will be released for Mad Max.
90. An upcoming console game based on the film series is releasing in 2015.
Important facts
91. An invasion and subsequent war in Iraq stopped filming.
92. The film was going to be filmed in 3D as a CG animated movie.
93. Filming was delayed twice.
94. Filming originally first finished on the 17th of December 2012.
95. In 2013 they had to go over filming and re shoot particular scenes.
96. Warner Bros insisted that a script was written during pre-production stage, Miller said that he had one but it wasn't very good.
97. The cast were picked in 2009 for Mad Max Fury Road.
98. The film was originally going to be filmed in Iraq but it rained persistently.
99. Just under $1 million was spent on TV adverts.
100. The crew spent 6 months in the Namibian desert.
Wednesday 28 October 2015
Tuesday 13 October 2015
Why Did Ex Machina Succeed At The Box Office?
Ex Machina was directed by Alex Garland born in 1970, who is an English novelist, screenwriter, film producer and director. Previous work by Garland includes, writing the screenplay in 2002 for Danny Boyle's 28 Days Later starring Cillian Murphy, which went on to win best screenplay honor at the 2004 Fangoria Chainsaw Awards. He also wrote the script for the film adaptation of Halo in 2005, and in 2007 he wrote the screenplay for Sunshine. 28 Days Later and Ex Machina both have clear themes running through them, for example, the idea of scientific development (also predominantly seen in Halo) being taken too far and becoming a threat to the world. Also another similarity is that both depict a person/people being removed from their comfort zone in society and being placed into a world of insecurity and being faced with dangerous decisions. Garland also wrote a novel in 1996 called The Beach which is about isolation, which his more recent films are based around. This relates to britishness in the sense that they don't involve continuous action or very little, and also have no clear objective or story established at the start of the film/novel. The film Ex Machina was Garland's directorial debut which was based on his own story and screenplay. It would not of appealed to a large mainstream audience but to film aficionados, as it unlike Hollywood films including very little SFX/CGI, special effects, which means the film has a greater reliance on the script itself to keep the audience's attention. There is also little action/few huge set pieces and slow pace during the film. It also stars very few famous actors, however includes two relatively unknown actors (Domhnall Gleeson and Oscar Isaac) the main roles who are set to appear in the new and upcoming Star Wars franchise. It also includes no closed narrative and isn't suitable for PG (rated 15) as it contains full frontal nudity and cannot be four quadrant. However the film is based containing ideas from films like The Blade Runner directed by Ridley Scott, 2001 by Stanley Kubrick and 28 Days Later by Danny Boyle.
Ex Machina is a low budget, independent British film which was funded by Film Four and DNA films with a budget of $15 million. It is neither culturally or regionally specific and has parts of both in the film. It made $36.9 million at the box office worldwide (managing to gross $3.8 million in the UK and over $25.4 million in the USA), despite the film only originally being released on four screens in the US, which shows that the film has made a substantial profit. Ex Machina has a thoughtful style of sci-fi thriller whereas mainstream audiences appeal to the big blockbusters such as the Avengers and The Hunger Games, this shows the dominance of the US studios. The film won a Jury Prize at the 2015 Gerardmer Film Festival. The film's lead actress, Alicia Vikander, was nominated for a Best Actress award at the Empire Awards.
Pre Production began from an the foundation which Alex Garland evolved from when he was a child, after he had done some basic coding and experimentation on a computer his parents had bought him and which he sometimes felt had a mind of its own. His later ideas came from years of discussions he had been having with a friend with, who claimed machines could never become sentient. This lead to Garland writing down this idea and coming back to it at a later stage in his life. The film is scientific and incorporates a lot of knowledge about the future of our current word in reality and what it could potentially look like in the future, in terms of robots and science which could be developed, this sparked the interest and excitement of many scientists who found they could relate to the film, which increased the audience appeal.
The production of the film took place over four weeks in 2013 at Pinewood Studios in London and two weeks at Juvet Landscape Hotel in Valldalen, Norway. Most of the shots which were taken were all rather long meaning it was easier for it all to bed edited together in post production. It was filmed in digital at 4K resolution. Ex Machina was shot like ordinary live action using no special effects,green screens or tracking markers, all the effects were later edited on during post-production. To create Eva the robot they filmed both scenes with the actress Alicia Vikander presence and scenes without her they so they could edit in the robotical features in the AI's body. In total the film took 800 VFX shots, of which 350 or near to that were robot shots, this shows that the large proportion of the film only uses post-production CGI to create the robot.
Post production involved almost no CGI except for the transition point of creating the artificial intelligence from the actress. The film's running time is 1 hour 50 minutes and was originally released on four US screens, and after a few weeks managed to increase to 1200 screens. After The Avengers was released a week later the Film eventually hit 2000 screens, holding popularity for almost six weeks. Very little advertising and marketing was done to push the film before it was released. A app where you could have your face drawn by Eva (the artificial intelligence in the film) was available, also a fake Tinder account was created which pretended to be an attractive 25 year old woman who was actually the actress who was playing the AI (Ava) in the film (Alicia Vikander), and was speaking to men who were then tricked and were directed to an Instagram page which was promoting Ex Machina. This was only done in Austin America which in comparison to other film marketing covers a very small proportion of the US. The films advertising is almost parallel to its content, for example, the way in which fans were 'tricked' by the App symbolises the same process in the film where Caleb is 'tricked' into believing that he has been randomly selected to win a trip to the CEO of the company he works for. Advertising was also very minimalistic and simple but effective, this is the same in relation to the film as it is slow paced and simplistic where action is kept to a minimum, yet Ex Machina is perceived by its fan as unique and a fantastic film, this shows how successful all stages of production and distribution was. The film was distributed by Universal Pictures and was cleverly planned and released in perfect timing allowing it to achieve the profit it did, this was because it was aimed to be released just after the Avengers came out, which triggered the mainstream stereotypical audiences to create general marketing for the film through word of mouth, however while this happened film buffs went to watch Ex Machina and came out talking about it to the mainstream audience, suggesting that they might like Ex Machina as it's a similar film. This caused an effective increase in sales for Ex Machina and left Avengers to slow down in sales.
The success of Ex Machina at the box office was influenced massively by people's perception, but as the director was Alex Garland people were drawn to see what innovative visionary story he has created. Another big part of the success comes down to audience connecting with the material. and automatically self-promoting it giving Ex Machina extra Kudos and a sense of status.
Ex Machina is a low budget, independent British film which was funded by Film Four and DNA films with a budget of $15 million. It is neither culturally or regionally specific and has parts of both in the film. It made $36.9 million at the box office worldwide (managing to gross $3.8 million in the UK and over $25.4 million in the USA), despite the film only originally being released on four screens in the US, which shows that the film has made a substantial profit. Ex Machina has a thoughtful style of sci-fi thriller whereas mainstream audiences appeal to the big blockbusters such as the Avengers and The Hunger Games, this shows the dominance of the US studios. The film won a Jury Prize at the 2015 Gerardmer Film Festival. The film's lead actress, Alicia Vikander, was nominated for a Best Actress award at the Empire Awards.
Pre Production began from an the foundation which Alex Garland evolved from when he was a child, after he had done some basic coding and experimentation on a computer his parents had bought him and which he sometimes felt had a mind of its own. His later ideas came from years of discussions he had been having with a friend with, who claimed machines could never become sentient. This lead to Garland writing down this idea and coming back to it at a later stage in his life. The film is scientific and incorporates a lot of knowledge about the future of our current word in reality and what it could potentially look like in the future, in terms of robots and science which could be developed, this sparked the interest and excitement of many scientists who found they could relate to the film, which increased the audience appeal.
The production of the film took place over four weeks in 2013 at Pinewood Studios in London and two weeks at Juvet Landscape Hotel in Valldalen, Norway. Most of the shots which were taken were all rather long meaning it was easier for it all to bed edited together in post production. It was filmed in digital at 4K resolution. Ex Machina was shot like ordinary live action using no special effects,green screens or tracking markers, all the effects were later edited on during post-production. To create Eva the robot they filmed both scenes with the actress Alicia Vikander presence and scenes without her they so they could edit in the robotical features in the AI's body. In total the film took 800 VFX shots, of which 350 or near to that were robot shots, this shows that the large proportion of the film only uses post-production CGI to create the robot.
The success of Ex Machina at the box office was influenced massively by people's perception, but as the director was Alex Garland people were drawn to see what innovative visionary story he has created. Another big part of the success comes down to audience connecting with the material. and automatically self-promoting it giving Ex Machina extra Kudos and a sense of status.
Sunday 11 October 2015
Monday 5 October 2015
Self Representation Analysis
Urban -
Stylers
Still representing
status and style, it’s about partying, looking good and staying ahead of cool.
Stylers hold strong on
the UK Tribes map – innately cool and stylish, the rising influence of Urban
fashion and music have made them a hugely aspirational Tribe for youth today.
As luxe sportswear and Urban high fashion has hit the Aspirants (check out the
Hypebeasts), more young people than ever before are looking like a Styler and
aspiring to their luxury lifestyle.
I believe I fit into
this stereotyped UK Tribes category as I am fashion concerned but remain 'cool'
and 'stylish'. I like to purchase expensive clothes/brands because I feel they
are much more comfy to wear. E.g. id purchase Ralph Lauren joggers as they are
of high quality and a luxury item.
Places where I shop -
People who I admire/role models -
Michael Jackson as he has
been my idol and favourite singer of all time, since I was around 6 years of
age. His quirkiness and outgoing attitude in the music industry always made him
stand out and something special. Sometimes I try to follow in his footsteps of
being respectful and thoughtful to other people.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)