Tuesday 27 October 2015
Thursday 15 October 2015
Representation of Class and Status
Class and Status representation powerpoint by Eleanor Guiver and Edie Murray
Tuesday 13 October 2015
Ex Machina Essay
Why was Ex Machina a success at the Box Office?
Ex Machina is a British, sci-fi film that was released in 2015. It was produced by DNA films, Film Four and Scott Rudin Productions and was directed by Alex Garland. In the film, a programmer is selected to participate in an experiment involving artificial intelligence by evaluating its human qualities. However this film was made differently to others. It had a low budget ($15 million), little special effects and CGI, and no big fighting scenes... or any huge set pieces for that matter. Yet it managed to earn $38 million in the box office. So, why did it do so well at the Box Office when it's missing all the key features that most audiences today think make a 'good' film? I will be exploring some of the reasons why.
First of all, the audience that Ex Machina is aimed towards seems to be a reason for its Box Office success. It is not a four quadrant picture as there is full frontal nudity involved and so limits the number of people that can watch it. It could be assumed that for this reason the film wouldn't do so well, but the film is aimed at more matured audiences and, very recently, it has been shown that audiences ages 45 and over hold the biggest percentage of UK cinema goers. So having the film aimed at this age group strongly benefited its Box Office success. The genre of the film also contributed to the success of it as sci-fi is a very popular market to viewers.
Another possible reason the film was a success is the marketing that it used to promote the film. Although there were few, they used the most engaging of the advertising techniques; viral. This technique allows the audience to create a hype among themselves about the film, meaning the film makers were also able to advertise at a substantially lower cost. This would also have helped the success at the Box office as there was a smaller budget to make profit from. One of the viral advertising techniques that was used was the avasessions.com website, in which you could talk to Ava and have a portrait drawn for you by her. This was a very clever marketing technique as it was a very different approach and massively grabbed the audiences attention as they are provided with a first hand experience and insight into the main character of the movie.
The way the film was distributed will have also been a reason for its success as it was done in a clever and thought out way. As the movie was released at a very similar to The Avengers movie, which is a very popular blockbuster movie, they only released the movie onto 4 screens around the UK. This allowed them to save money that they knew would be wasted if releasing the film onto over 1000 screens. Instead they gradually increased the number of screens that viewed Ex Machina as The Avengers decreased in the number of screens, thus meaning people were more interested in going to see the movie and boosting up its Box Office earnings.
However, some features of the film that may make it surprising to some people that the film was a success is the lack of big actors, the minimal locations, and the lack of CGI, fight scenes etc. Usually, films that do well involve big names like Leonardo DiCaprio or Angelina Jolie but there were no such actors seen. However, fans of Star Wars would have been aware that one of the main characters in Ex Machina (Nathan) would also be appearing in the new Star Wars film being released this year. As both films are also sci-fi, it could be argued that a lot of viewers would have been trying to get a feel for the actor and in a way, give some insight into Star Wars as well. Another point to make is the actual number of actors; there are very low numbers of extras and only 4 main characters, one of which doesn't speak. There are also minimal locations seen in the film. These factors would usually not appeal to the audience, especially teenagers, as they can find it quite boring. A lack of CGI, which this film has, can also create this effect. However there is again the argument that the film is aimed towards the more mature audience in which less CGI in a film often appeals to.
The effects used to create the body of Ava were made simply by shooting the scene once with her in it and once without her in it, then what they didn't want was digitally painted out and the background restored behind her. This process was done during post-production, and is the extent to which any CGI/VFX/SPX occur. This meant that the film could be edited relatively quickly. The shoots that were used were very long (sometimes up to 10 minutes) and it often took only one or two shoots to get through a scene. Both of these factors meant production of the film took a very short amount of time; six weeks to be exact. These factors also reflect why the budget was small. However, being a British film the budget is actually relatively sizeable for this movie. It was actually Alex Garland's first time directing a movie, but has had experience in writing novels and co-producing movies beforehand. He has written novels such as The Beach in 1996, which was developed into a film starring Leonardo DiCaprio in 2000, and 28 Days Later in 2002, starring Cillian Murphy. Both these films did extremely well at the Box Office also and so Garland is well respected for these reasons in particular.
Overall there are many reasons to show why Ex Machina was successful at the Box Office, whether it was surprising to some people or not. I think the main reason was the strong difference of this film compared to others, including the use of VFX, the minimalistic locations, and the fact that it is outside of the Hollywood system. These factors can appeal to some audiences and attract the 'film buff aficionados'. However I do believe that the fact the fact that it did well at the Box Office does not necessarily affect whether or not it is a good film and whether it was liked by those who saw it. Personally I found the film very slow and dull, but can see the reasons of why it did succeed.
Ex Machina is a British, sci-fi film that was released in 2015. It was produced by DNA films, Film Four and Scott Rudin Productions and was directed by Alex Garland. In the film, a programmer is selected to participate in an experiment involving artificial intelligence by evaluating its human qualities. However this film was made differently to others. It had a low budget ($15 million), little special effects and CGI, and no big fighting scenes... or any huge set pieces for that matter. Yet it managed to earn $38 million in the box office. So, why did it do so well at the Box Office when it's missing all the key features that most audiences today think make a 'good' film? I will be exploring some of the reasons why.
First of all, the audience that Ex Machina is aimed towards seems to be a reason for its Box Office success. It is not a four quadrant picture as there is full frontal nudity involved and so limits the number of people that can watch it. It could be assumed that for this reason the film wouldn't do so well, but the film is aimed at more matured audiences and, very recently, it has been shown that audiences ages 45 and over hold the biggest percentage of UK cinema goers. So having the film aimed at this age group strongly benefited its Box Office success. The genre of the film also contributed to the success of it as sci-fi is a very popular market to viewers.
Another possible reason the film was a success is the marketing that it used to promote the film. Although there were few, they used the most engaging of the advertising techniques; viral. This technique allows the audience to create a hype among themselves about the film, meaning the film makers were also able to advertise at a substantially lower cost. This would also have helped the success at the Box office as there was a smaller budget to make profit from. One of the viral advertising techniques that was used was the avasessions.com website, in which you could talk to Ava and have a portrait drawn for you by her. This was a very clever marketing technique as it was a very different approach and massively grabbed the audiences attention as they are provided with a first hand experience and insight into the main character of the movie.
The way the film was distributed will have also been a reason for its success as it was done in a clever and thought out way. As the movie was released at a very similar to The Avengers movie, which is a very popular blockbuster movie, they only released the movie onto 4 screens around the UK. This allowed them to save money that they knew would be wasted if releasing the film onto over 1000 screens. Instead they gradually increased the number of screens that viewed Ex Machina as The Avengers decreased in the number of screens, thus meaning people were more interested in going to see the movie and boosting up its Box Office earnings.
However, some features of the film that may make it surprising to some people that the film was a success is the lack of big actors, the minimal locations, and the lack of CGI, fight scenes etc. Usually, films that do well involve big names like Leonardo DiCaprio or Angelina Jolie but there were no such actors seen. However, fans of Star Wars would have been aware that one of the main characters in Ex Machina (Nathan) would also be appearing in the new Star Wars film being released this year. As both films are also sci-fi, it could be argued that a lot of viewers would have been trying to get a feel for the actor and in a way, give some insight into Star Wars as well. Another point to make is the actual number of actors; there are very low numbers of extras and only 4 main characters, one of which doesn't speak. There are also minimal locations seen in the film. These factors would usually not appeal to the audience, especially teenagers, as they can find it quite boring. A lack of CGI, which this film has, can also create this effect. However there is again the argument that the film is aimed towards the more mature audience in which less CGI in a film often appeals to.
The effects used to create the body of Ava were made simply by shooting the scene once with her in it and once without her in it, then what they didn't want was digitally painted out and the background restored behind her. This process was done during post-production, and is the extent to which any CGI/VFX/SPX occur. This meant that the film could be edited relatively quickly. The shoots that were used were very long (sometimes up to 10 minutes) and it often took only one or two shoots to get through a scene. Both of these factors meant production of the film took a very short amount of time; six weeks to be exact. These factors also reflect why the budget was small. However, being a British film the budget is actually relatively sizeable for this movie. It was actually Alex Garland's first time directing a movie, but has had experience in writing novels and co-producing movies beforehand. He has written novels such as The Beach in 1996, which was developed into a film starring Leonardo DiCaprio in 2000, and 28 Days Later in 2002, starring Cillian Murphy. Both these films did extremely well at the Box Office also and so Garland is well respected for these reasons in particular.
Overall there are many reasons to show why Ex Machina was successful at the Box Office, whether it was surprising to some people or not. I think the main reason was the strong difference of this film compared to others, including the use of VFX, the minimalistic locations, and the fact that it is outside of the Hollywood system. These factors can appeal to some audiences and attract the 'film buff aficionados'. However I do believe that the fact the fact that it did well at the Box Office does not necessarily affect whether or not it is a good film and whether it was liked by those who saw it. Personally I found the film very slow and dull, but can see the reasons of why it did succeed.
Monday 12 October 2015
Thor: The Dark World Video Script
Pre production:
- Thor: The Dark World is a sequel of the original Marvel film Thor.
- Unlike the first film, it was directed by Alan Taylor, who is also known for directing Lost, Sex and the City, Game of Thrones, and Terminator Genisys. Taylor became director after the director of the first film, Kenneth Branagh, could not do so due to timing, and Patty Jenkins also backed out.
- It was produced by Marvel Enterprises and Walt Disney Productions.
- It had a 170 million dollar budget compared to the first film which only had 150 million.
- Stars of the film include: Chris Hemsworth as Thor, Natalie Portman as Jane Foster and Tom Hiddleston as Loki.
- The idea of the second Thor film was suggested in April 2011 just before the first film was released. But, in January 2012 the film had to hire a new screenwriter to rewrite the script. Filming commenced in September 2012.
- The start of filming took place in Surrey in England. In mid October 2012 filming moved to Iceland, and in late October it continued in London at Greenwich. Other filming locations included Wembley, Stonehenge, Borough Haymarket and Hayes.
- A lot of the film was done in CGI as the majority of it took place in the city of Asgard. The director of photography decided to film the movie using an Arri Alexa Plus with Panovision Anamorphic lenses, with Red Epic cameras for second unit filming.
- Problems: The production of the film faced some issues when Jaimie Alexander was injured on set by slipping over while walking in the rain. They also faced an issue just before production started as the original director, Patty Jenkins, backed out due to 'creative differences' and so had to be replaced by Alan Taylor.
Post-production:
- A lot of the film heavily relied on CGI and other visual effects to create elements of the film such as Asgard, the alignment of the nine planets, the spaceship and Heimdahl's viewing outpost.
- In August 2013 IMAX corperation and Marvel Entertainment announced that the film would be digitally re-mastered into IMAX 3D format and released into IMAX 3D theatres internationally.
- Also in August, Taylor took some extra shoots (or re-shoots) with Hiddleston and was about to do more with Hopkins. He said that this was only because they were adding ideas for extra scenes as they went along.
Marketing:
- Such marketing techniques used for this film were the trailer, a two-issue comic book prelude, a poster, extra footage released by characters in the film and an attraction at Disneyland.
- The Premiere of the film was held on 8th November 2013 at the El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood.
Wednesday 7 October 2015
Skins - Mise en Scene
During the course of this clip we watched we were asked to
analyse the character of Tony. There are aspects of the clip to suggest he is
just the stereotypical teenage boy, however looking closely into his actions,
appearance and interests it becomes more apparent that this is not actually the
case.
The first view of Tony we get is a bird’s eye view of him in
his bed. Here we see his bed covers of a naked man and woman and he is lying in
between the two of them, which could possibly be showing his sexual orientation
of being bisexual. The lighting on his face causes a shadow on one side which
represents two sides to him, one of which is fairly dark. One way Tony goes
against the stereotypical teenager is his liveliness in the morning. Teenage
boys are often thought to be lazy but Tony is shown differently; he is lying in
his bed with his eyes open before his alarm goes off. What is seen as even
stranger is the fact that his bed sheets and neat and flat, as if he hadn’t
moved an inch since he went to bed the night before. All of these give off the
idea the he does not have normal behaviour, especially for a teenager.
After this we are introduced to Tony’s bedroom. It has a
very dull colour scheme and very little on the walls. This is very boring and
so represents him as a boring person as people’s rooms are often a resemblance
of their personality. The room is also very neat and tidy, and so Tony is again
going against the stereotype of a teenage boy. There are no clothes on the
floor, and his shirts are neatly folded, as if they were still in the shop, in
his draws. This could show that Tony has OCD as he also has a routine in the
morning of working out, timing when to look out the window, and helping out his
sister. It is obvious that it is a routine as his Dad comes in shouting “Every
bloody morning Tony”.
Tony’s relationship with his Dad also allows us to create a
representation of him. He manages to annoy his Dad on a daily basis, showing
that he is almost in charge of his Dad instead of it being the other way
around. It also shows that he is a manipulative person as he can easily
manipulate his Dad whenever he pleases. The fact that he helps his sister out
without his parents ever knowing shows that he’s also very sneaky.
In the bathroom scene we see him reading a book, ‘Nausea’ by
Sartre. This is odd for a teenage boy to read and shows that he is quite
intellectual and pretentious. We also see him in his clothes for the first time:
a t-shirt, jumper, khaki chinos and white trainers. This outfit is not really
fashionable but shows that he has his own style that is well thought out.
Overall, the Mise En Scene of Tony allows us to identify a lot of his personality and show he is not your typical teenage boy, yet little things show that in some ways he is. There are also little things in the clip that still leave questions in our mind of what kind of person he really is.
Tuesday 6 October 2015
Luther - Mise En Scene
One of the points that I made from this video clips is the interior and exterior environment. The exterior environment at the start of the clip takes place in a City area, with busy roads and big buildings. The area is also very dull and bland, for example the grey skies, which is used to highlight the stereotypical British weather. The use of big coats on the characters further emphasises this. The placement of the characters in the frame of this scene makes them seem insignificant and small against the tall buildings that fill the frame behind them.
Moving onto when they enter the woman (Alice's) flat and we are introduced to yet another bland colour scheme. Her flat consists of very little objects and goes against the stereotypical woman's household as it gives off a very masculine feel. In the flat we also get a better view of the characters' clothing. Luther is wearing a coat, shirt, tie and jeans. He also has a very neat and functional hairstyle. All of these features allow him to appear smart yet still be comfortable in his work attire, meaning he still looks suitable for his job description and therefore keeping the respect of the public. Alice has a similar style, but her high heels and smart trousers suggest a more business type of occupation. Her hair is very neat and she is wearing makeup, showing that she likes to make an effort. However, her dark pink/red lipstick leans towards the idea of a lustrous and seductive appearance and therefore suggests she has done her makeup like this to attempt to seduce Luther.
In the apartment scene we also get an impression of the power of the two characters. Although Luther is the broader person and Alice is a slim petite woman, the position of power and 'who's in charge' is actually placed on Alice. This is because of her actions and tones. Her voice is even, cold and almost robotic as she is not giving off any emotions as she speaks. She manages to get in the last word most of the time and also threatens him before he leaves, showing that she is not scared of him in contrast to when she moves in to touch him on the cheek and he flinches and moves away suggesting that he may be scared of her. This role reversal allows Alice to appear overpowering to him as he almost cowards away from her.
Monday 5 October 2015
Camera Angles
Over the shoulder shot:
http://www.tubechop.com/watch/6969248High angle shot:
http://swf.tubechop.com/tubechop.swf?vurl=SixeMd1a-SY&start=0&end=3.42&cid=6957984
Low angle shot:
http://swf.tubechop.com/tubechop.swf?vurl=O3EnnBDgMww&start=185.45&end=191.03&cid=6958007
Extreme long shot:
http://swf.tubechop.com/tubechop.swf?vurl=3Dit-z1O0Qw&start=0&end=5.41&cid=6957456
Mid shot:
http://swf.tubechop.com/tubechop.swf?vurl=DuoyT18qYc8&start=0&end=6.56&cid=6957792
Close up:
http://swf.tubechop.com/tubechop.swf?vurl=5wdj16x6LYc&start=60.44&end=89.9&cid=6952888
Extreme close up:
http://swf.tubechop.com/tubechop.swf?vurl=fuEG_PSb_Ts&start=8.86&end=11.65&cid=6953461
Point of view:
http://swf.tubechop.com/tubechop.swf?vurl=fjNwDQkOBeU&start=50.4&end=56&cid=6952791
Panning shot:
http://swf.tubechop.com/tubechop.swf?vurl=fjNwDQkOBeU&start=50.4&end=56&cid=6952791
Two-shot:
http://swf.tubechop.com/tubechop.swf?vurl=JkUh_tUc18E&start=120.65&end=128.13&cid=6957317
Tracking shot (sideways example):
http://swf.tubechop.com/tubechop.swf?vurl=zOMwDD-T0HU&start=60.84&end=65.26&cid=6957326
Tilt shot:
http://swf.tubechop.com/tubechop.swf?vurl=intmxeW4GT8&start=28.26&end=34.16&cid=6957443
Thursday 1 October 2015
Textual Analysis and Representation
The 7 areas of Representation:
- Gender
- Age
- Ethnicity
- Sexuality
- Class and status
- Physical ability/disability
- Regional identity
The 4 areas of texual analysis:
- Camera shots, angles, movement, composition
- Angle: high angle, low angle, canted angle.
- Movement: pan, tilt, track, dolly, crane, steadicam, hand-held, zoom, reverse zoom
- Composition: framing, rule of thirds, depth of field - deep and shallow focus, focus pulls.
- Editing
Includes transition of image and sound - continuity and non-continuity systems.
- Cutting: shot reverse shot, eyeline match, graphic match, action match, jump cut, crosscutting, parallel editing, cutaway, insert.
- Other transitions: dissolve, fade-in, fade-out, wipe, superimposition, long take, short take, slow motion, ellipsis and expansion of time, post production, visual effects.
- Sound
- Soundtrack: score, incidental music, themes and stings, ambient sound.
- Diegetic and non-diegetic sound, synchronous/asynchronous sound, sound effects, sound motif, sound bridge, dialogue, voiceover, mode of address/direct address, sound mixing, sound perspective.
- Mise-en-scene
- Production design: location, studio, set design, costume and makeup, properties.
- Lighting: colour design
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