What are some of the main factors that influence different kinds of film production today?

Money is definitely one of the main factors that influences different kinds of film production today. High budget film have more money for marketing which can play as a major factor in the films success as the more people see it advertised the more people that will want to go and watch it. The marketing money could be spent on pairing up with a company for example the new Star Wars movie which is due to be released in December paired up with the fast-food restaurant Subway for advertising and this use of advertising is very common with fast-food places that have children's meals. The marketing money can be spent on the advert itself, more money will mean better trailers and they can pay to have these trailers played as adverts with companies such as YouTube which forces people to watch the trailer as they wait for the video they selected to play which spreads the film around the world quickly and guarantees that more people will go and watch the film. A high budget can also play a part in film production as it means that they can pay to employ more well known actors and actresses in the movie which will automatically ensure that people will watch it as the fans of those actors/actresses will want to watch the film so the more well-known they are the bigger the audience attracted will be.

The advance in technology has influenced film production, with digital effects being better than ever the film industry can produce films at a whole new level, even on another planet such as Pandora like in Avatar which took 14 years years to make and is number 1 on top gross in film. The Martian for example set the record for the biggest green screen used ever for the set so that they could digitally create the Mars atmosphere after they were unhappy filming it in Wadi Rum, Jordan. The more money the film has

Popular culture plays a major role in the kinds of film production today, as seen in Item 2, films made from comics has become very popular and there are at least 2 comic films being released each year. Marvel dominates the film production industry as said in Item 1, linking five movies together which led to The Avengers Assemble movie in 2012. The comic industry is not a franchise but an entire universe, with huge events such as Comic-con which play a major role in advertising new films with members of the cast and the Director doing interviews with fans. Marvel films are also popular due to the very popular actors and actresses in them, with marvel films having actors/actresses such as Chris Hemsworth, Robert Downey Junior who is the most paid actor in the world earning $80 million a year, Scarlett Johanson who earns $8 million per role and we see in many marvel films and Bradley Cooper who

Gravity Case Study- UK Production

Gravity:(2015)

PG-13            91min            Sci-Fi, Thriller

Director: Alfonso Cuarón - Harry Potter & the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004), Children of Men (2006)

Writer: Alfonso Cuarón, Jonás Cuarón

Stars: Sandra Bullock, George Clooney, Ed Harris

Tagline: Don't Let Go

Budget:$100,000,000(estimated)

Opening Weekend:$55,785,112 (USA) (3,575 screens)

Opening Weekend:£6,238,375 (UK)

Gross:$274,084,951 (USA) (2 May 2014)

Gross:$716,386,615 (Worldwide) (5 May 2015)

Production Company: Warner Bros

                                     Esperanto Filmoj

                                     Heyday Film

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4VBGG5Qsbs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iA_s0EpniKI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FcaiDi2Mvzo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SjQ3GOqf6EA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lG_CZ29vnBM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SI71BPTFZys
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jrStdu-r8v8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8GBkk6BWWA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8vDsW0D8hQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ebOCpSY46YQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1c2EQP5nIAA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SI71BPTFZys
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jrStdu-r8v8
http://www.metacritic.com/movie/gravity
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/galanty-miller/heres-the-real-reason-gra_b_5108230.html
http://www.empireonline.com/movies/gravity/review/
http://www.empireonline.com/movies/gravity/
http://www.theguardian.com/film/2013/nov/07/gravity-review

Case Study - American Film - The Martian

The Martian:(2015)

PG-13            144min            Adventure, Drama, Sci-Fi

Director: Ridley Scott - Blade Runner (1982); Alien (1979); Prometheus (2012)

Writers: Drew Goddard (screenplay), Andy Weir (book)

              -World War Z (2013)

              -Cloverfield (2008)

Stars: Matt Damon, Jessica Chastain, Kristen Wiig, Kate Mara, Sebastian Stan, Benedict Wong

Tagline: Bring Him Home
Budget: $108,000,000(estimated)
Opening Weekend:$54,308,575  (USA) - 3,831 screens
Opening Weekend:$45,200,000 (Non_USA)
Gross:$218,640,849 (USA) (27 November)
Gross:$103,293,962 (Worldwide) (5 October)

Production Company: Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation
                                    TSG Entertainment
                                    Scott Free Productions

Graham Norton Show-September 2015-Matt Damon-The Martian

Ridley Scott - Prometheus - part of the Alien franchise

Marketing: used astronaut Michael J Massimino- in universe video diary depicting Matt Damon's character and the other characters -- Ars Technica compared this to the similar viral videos marketed for Ridley Scott's 2012 film Prometheus of similar 'style of slickly produced fictional promotional material'

-video of interviews with each of the main crew members
-NASA hosted Martian Day to release another trailer and promote real human mission to Mars
-Fox released a video at the end of August, presented as a special episode of TV show StarTalk-Neil deGrasse Tyson discusses hazards of travelling to Mars
-November 2015 20th century Fox announced The Martian VR Experience, a virtual reality adventure where viewers play as Mark Watney and re-enact scenes from the film - directed by Ridley Scott and Robert Stromberg -- will be released at the end of 2016
-NASA offered declassified look at the psychological testing
-3-minute promo helmed by Mark Watney gives viewers an introduction to the crew of the Hermes shuttle as the vessel travels
-Astronaut Mark Watney's pre-mission training program highlights the rigorous emotional, physical and mental preparation required of the ARES 3 crew in order to prepare for their journey to Mars. This content was part of an integrated partnership with Under Armour and Droga5.



Music composed by Harry Greyson-Williams :Chronicles of Narnia, X-Men Origins:Wolverine, the Shrek franchise

Reflective Analysis - Film Noir Sequence

Our intentions for our sequence was for it to be Film Noir, it is just under a minute long. We decided for the scene to be the reveal scene where the male character discovers the woman is the femme fatale.

The opening shot is an establishing long shot of the Church and then the camera pans right to reveal the two main characters standing in front of a grave. We used the graveyard so we could try and give the Film Noir feel with the setting being outdoors and the two main characters being alone. I also added the non-diegetic sound of rain and thunder over the top of the video to tell you that it is set in a graveyard and that it is raining heavily even though you cannot see it because it was not raining when we filmed it.

We zoomed in to the characters by tracking the camera forwards because we were too far away to be able to make a noticeable difference when zooming in.  We then did an eye-line match shot of a high angle looking down at the grave and then a low-angle mid-shot looking up at "Sandra" and "Jonathan". We then cut to a long-shot from a side angle and panned the camera left, cutting to a mid-shot two-shot of Sandra and Jonathan, leaving space between them in the centre to show the distance between them both in the scene and in their relationship and how the feel between the two of them is quite tense. We did three quick cuts going from an over the shoulder shot from behind Sandra, to Jonathan, to Sandra again. We did this to try and give a sense of panic and paranoia from Sandra who is desperate and doesn't want to lose Jonathan.

The camera pans right to follow Jonathan's movement as he storms off, the the sequence cuts to a close-up shot of Sandra's hand as she pulls out a gun. We used the gun for mise-en-scene to show that it was going to be a murder scene and that it was not going to be a happy ending which is a typical film Noir convention. The camera tracks forwards as Sandra runs after Jonathan, and a non-diegetic gun shot noise is played as she shoots him from a distance. We cut to a high-angle over the shoulder shot from behind Sandra to show that she is the femme fatale and that she is now looking down on Jonathan and is dangerous and more powerful than him, playing another non-diegetic gun-shot sound as she shoots Jonathan for the last time. We then cut it to a long stationary shot from the side to show Sandra as she throws the gun onto the dead corpse of Jonathan and walks away without looking back, we did this to also confirm that she is the femme fatale and that her character must be evil and sly to just kill her husband and leave him there without once looking back. I think the non-diegetic gun shot noises were successful as I managed to get them to play at the right moment that Jonathan was shot, also I think that the non-diegetic rain sound worked well because it wasn't too loud but it was loud enough for you to be able to tell that it should be raining.

The Shining

One of the sequences I chose to analyse from The Shining was the bathtub scene which is about 5 minutes long. The sequence begins with an extra close up shot of Dick Hallorann, the cook, and the focus of the shot appears to be on the eyes. I think that this is done to hint at the audience that although he is alone he is seeing something that is happening elsewhere. At the same time there is also a non-diegetic high pitch sound in the background which sounds almost like screaming. The use of non-diegetic sound is a typical convention of horror and I believe it was used here to tell the audience that what he was seeing is not good at all and to make you feel very tense and on edge as you do not know what he can see. The idea that he is seeing something happening elsewhere is proved when it cuts to a close up of an open door in the hotel, room 237 to be precise, I think that this is done to tell you that he is seeing what is happening at the hotel at this moment of time, this is use of parallel editing as it is showing us him and then the door in the hotel. There is then a cut to a mid-shot of Danny in his bed in an almost fit like state, the camera slowly zooms in to his face to show that he is looking in one spot and there is foam like saliva coming out of his mouth. I think that this is done to show that he is also seeing what is happening in room 237 like Dick even though he is not there.

The sequence then cuts to a long shot of the living room area inside room 237. The camera is at a slight tilt making the angle look weird, I think that this was done to tell you that the situation is not quite right and that there is something wrong with room 237, this is further proved with the lack of rule of thirds therefore it is not symmetrical which gives you the feeling that something is not right and puts you on edge. The camera pans left to reveal steps leading into the bedroom and slowly tracks forward in the direction of the next room, as this happens a non-diegetic low pitch sound is added to the background with the high pitch sound and there is a diegetic footstep sound. The camera moves forward and it jumps upwards a small amount twice, continuing forwards with the high pitch non diegetic sound coming to a halt. I think that this is done to give the impression that it is you in the room walking around, the camera appears to have been one continuously long shot and the use of the diegetic sound of footsteps gives the impression of someone walking around, the lack of the camera showing a character means that you become the first person and you think that it is you in the room.

The camera halts its movement when it reaches the door, the camera zooms in to a close up on the door and a hand appears on the left which slowly pushes the door open fully. This reveals a long shot of the bathroom and once again the rule of thirds is slightly off, also the non-diegetic sound in the background is very low pitch and sounds almost like an echoing sound which is a typical convention in the horror genre which we know as it is used in the horror film Dracula for example. I think that this is done to hint to the audience that something weird is about to happen and the use of an echo sound suggests that the character who is in the room is a bit out of it and that something is not right which makes you feel very tense as you are waiting for something to happen because you know that this is the room that Danny was in earlier in which he came out bruised. There is a sudden loud non-diegetic low pitch echo sound, which again is a typical horror convention, as a hand appears and pulls back the shower curtain. I think that this was done to scare you and make you jump as the camera did not reveal anything behind the curtain therefore you assume that there is nothing there. The sequence cuts to a mid-shot of Jack, I think that this was done to show the change in his reaction to the woman and his facial expression, when he first sees her he has the typical reaction and looks quite shocked with his jaw hanging open but then you see his facial expression change to a sinister looking slight smirk which suggests that he does believe that she is really there.

The sequence cuts to a point of view long shot of the bathroom again to show the naked lady getting out of the bath, there is a diegetic water running sound which is a typical horror convention, we know this as the diegetic running water sound is also used in the film The Descent. I think the sound of running water is used to symbolise blood and death as when you are killed the blood runs out of your body like the water runs and at the start of The Shining they said there was murder in one of the rooms and it could have been in room 237. There is a close up shot of them kissing and the non-diegetic high and low pitch sound increases in volume when he opens his eyes, the camera quickly pans right to reveal a mid-long shot of their reflection in the mirror and you see that the woman has become really old and has lots of giant holes in her skin and then there is diegetic sinister laughter. I think that the fact that he only sees her real appearance when he looks in the mirror hints that she is possibly a ghost and that he can only see their real appearance in the mirror because later on in the red toilets he is also looking in the mirror whilst talking to Grady who was the past caretaker that shot himself. This makes you question whether Jack is actually seeing ghosts or if he is just hallucinating as he always appears to only see them by looking into the mirror however he looked directly at her earlier on in the sequence.

Conventions of Two Genres

Drama Conventions:
.Real life representation
.Emotions and events at their true height
.Easy to relate to
.Form of journey
.Plot twist/complex plot
.Vulnerable situations/characters
.Alcohol, drugs, guns, knives, mobile phones

Comedy:
.Bright places
.Social event locations
.Bright happy colours/lighting-daylight scenes
.Idiotic characters/Normal characters/Above average intelligence characters-socially awkward/ Sarcasm
.Natural camera shots-medium shots
.Props-footballs, golf clubs, things that can hurt you

Reflective Analysis

Our intentions for our film Possessed was for it to be a thriller. We didn't want to scare the audience we wanted to make them feel tense and uneasy, hence the thriller genre. It is a 1 minute 40 second long film.

The opening shot is a forward tracking shot into the bathroom and then the camera pans from right to left to create an establishing shot. We used the bathroom to create a creepy feel to the scene as the bathroom is deserted except for the girl who is revealed by the camera panning left. We then did an extra close up shot on her face to focus on her eyes being closed, we did this to try and tell the audience that there is something not quite right and to hint that she is possessed. We then slowly zoomed out into a close up shot revealing her whole face to make it appear as though she was looking in the mirror and that she is almost acting as though she is dead by just staring at the mirror with no emotion.

A lot of the camera movements are slow to try and build up the tension and keep people on edge, We then cut to a mid close shot the allow the audience to see more of what is going on behind her and still make her appear to be looking into the mirror. Then there is the diegetic sound of the bathroom stalls banging closed to try and add to the the tension. We originally wanted to have the lights flickering at the same time to create low key lighting however there were not any light switches so we had to go without. We then moved to an over the shoulder shot to reveal her looking into the mirror so that you can see her face in the mirror, we did this so the audience would realise that she actually was looking in the "mirror" when the camera was in front of her face. We did a panning shot from left to right to reveal her face from a side angle, again to show her looking very dead whilst staring into the mirror.

We then did a mid-shot from outside of the bathroom to show the girl walking out of the bathroom, the camera then pans from left to right to follow the girls movements. This was also an establishing shot to reveal that the girl is in college and that there are other students around who are oblivious to the situation. Also no one looked at her which could hint to the audience that she actually is dead. We then did slow forward tracking to add suspense and tension to the scene, we did it so people would perhaps question where she was going. We then pushed the button for the automatic door to make it appear as if the girl had made it open without touching it. The camera then stops tracking her to tell the audience that something is going to happen. We also had the girl look left to hint that she could see something that the audience could not so the camera was actually concealing it from the angle it was at. We ended the clip with the girl being strangled, we cut the scene before it was actually finished to keep the audience tense as they do not know if the girl is dead or alive and what happened next.

We added non-diegetic music over the top of the film, the music has high pitch noises with deep background under tones to create suspense. I think the music went well with the film and the banging of the doors was in sync with the music so it worked quite well.