Analysing films and their budget

According to box office mojo, the budget for Bridget Jones Diary, was $25m. In the UK, this would be considered as a very high budget for a film. However, in the US this would be considered a mid-budget.
Films that have a budget of $100m or more, are known as tentpole films. The companies that are known as the Big 6 are the ones that are mostly known as the tentpole films.

All the Big 6 companies have used the vertical integration strategy. Meaning that they create the three steps themselves:

• Distribution
• Exhibition
• Production

For most Warp movies the age rate is at either 15 or 18. A recent Warp Film called "17" was given an age rate of 15, which is considered to be low, since the most common on is 18.
For nearly every single one of their movies, Working Title uses big american stars such as Renee Zellweger in Bridget Jones Diary (BJD). This is why they have such a large budget. For example the worldwide box office for Bridget Jones Diary was $281m. For a long time, the US revenue for UK films has been around 50%. However, for this movie, the US share of it's revenue was 25%.

The markets in every single country keep changing. The chinese market is likely to become the largest market because of the increase in the population. All the ROM-COMS, that are often produced by Working Title, are romantic so that they can appeal to a large, international female market. However they are also a comedy, so that they can appeal to a large male audience.

For Bridget Jones Diary, the UK owned $60m. There is a rule, called the Gant rule, that argues if a film would be a hit in Britain, it will make 10 times the money then it would in America. Bridget Jones Diary is an example of a movie that was a hit in Britain due to the fact that it is a British production.

The movie, Everest, was distributed in 65 different companies worldwide, because it is owned by such a large company. It totally owned $200m globally, but will probably increase as it is still screened in the cinema.

The movie called Mickybo and me was a film set in Belfast, which is in Northern Ireland. This film, produced by WT2, had a budget of £5m. However, Warp got their highest budget ever when they produced 71' with a budget of £5m. There other movies such as This is England was produced with a budget of £1.5m.
In the movie '71, the social realist genre was established by the hand-held and shacky camera footage.  There are also a lot of political aspects to it, but also a lot of violence. The movie was distributed in 10 different countries, including the UK and won many awards. However, according to Box Office Mojo, it only owned $1.6m.
The film from Warp that owned the most was This is England, which grossed $8m worldwide.  

Tyrannosir Swede

Here below you can see the screenplay, which I created for this Swede: 

Screenplay - Tyrannosir from Sophie2401

Below is the edited version of the funeral scene of our Tyrannosir Swede, which was edited by me and Bronwen Vaughan:



Here is our final cut of our Tyrannosir Swede:

British Cinema

There are 3 types of production company's:

1. Indie
2. Subsidiary 
3. Conglomerate

An independent film or indie film is a film production resulting in a feature film that is produced mostly or completely outside of the major film studio system. It is not owned by anyone.

A subsidiary production company is a company who is more than 50% controlled and owned by another company, usually referred to as the parent company or conglomerate. This conglomerate holds a controlling interest in the subsidiary company. 

A conglomerate is a company that owns companies, which are called subsidiaries. 

Analysing:

You would think that Working Title is a conglomerate however it is a subsidiary, which again owns it own subsidiaries such as Working Title Australia and WT 2. A producer can be both subsidiary and conglomerate. 

Some production companies are on a very big scale and are known globally. These are known as the Big 6 and are all conglomerates. 

• Disney
• Columbia
• 20th Century Fox
• Paramount
• Warner Bros
• Universal Pictures

All of these 5 conglomerates dominate the worldwide film industry and a company such as Working Title is for example a subsidiary of NBC Universal. Some people think that it should be called the Big 7 and that Lionsgate should be part of it, due to the bis success that it has had lately.

Working title is for example a subsidiary of NBC Universal who are owned by Comcast. Besides Working Title, NBC Universal also owns Universal Pictures.
Studio Canal are originally a French company, who also have a subsidiary called Studio Canal UK also known as optimum releasing.   These 2 companies have worked on distribution and production for several Warp films.


There are 3 steps in a film cycle:

1. Production
2. Distribution
3. Exhibition 

When a conglomerate owns many small subsidiaries, which do different things such as distribution, production or exhibition, it is known as vertical integration.

Comparing Warp Films - Working Title Films

In the beginning of the film, there is a voice-over, where it says: "Once again, I found myself on my own and going to my mother's annual turkey curry buffet".

When this movie was tested on an American audience, it was very confusing, since for the Americans, turkey connotes Thanksgiving and for a British person it connotes Christmas.
However later on in the movie, there was a visual intentional humor created and the american test audience laughed at the sight of Mark's jumper and the silly, little, magical sound effect.

This laugh was necessary because American audiences had been very confused after the "turkey curry buffet".

The mise-en-scene of this small, little, stereotypical village with cottages, snow falling down and a very British dialogue immediately connotes the typical image of England. 

Moreover, there are a lot of signifiers to show that it such as the Red Phone Booth (in the background of the shot below) and the Poppy on the monument from 11th of November that is dedicated to fallen soldiers of World War One and World War Two. 

When looking at a Warp Film such as "This is England", which is a social realist genre movie and you compare it to the Working Title Bridget Jones film, you can tell that there are enormous differences between the two companies. 

Warp doesn't use this posh aspect of England, but shows a lot of the urban areas and working class, whereas Working Title enjoys to portray the typical English stereotype. These stereotypes are useful to win an audience.

The first few shots you see in "This is England" is of a small room with pinned wallpaper and an alarm clock on a chair, which indicates that there are no real furniture.

Whereas in "Bridget Jones", we see a big detached country house with a huge garden and a sculpted hedge. Through this mise-en-scene, Working Title are emphasising on the stereotypical English house.
When Bridget enters her mother's house, we see a dutch angle. This angle was chosen, because it was the only shot you could use in order for the audience to see the entire entrance of the house. The director wanted the audience to be able to see the entrance to emphasise the old fashioned and stereotypical English house.

The entire mise-en-scene of the antiques, wallpaper, decor and even the mother's flower dress, is used to underline the stereotypical English house and character, which is considered to be very posh.

Moreover, comparing Warp to Working Title, Warp movies use non-diegetic music, however there is never any singing on the soundtracks. BUT in Working Title films such as Bridget Jones, there is non-diegetic music with singing such as the song "Magic Moments" by Perry Como.

In addition to this, the voice and the accent in Working Title films such as Bridget Jones and Notting Hill is very different from the voice and characters from "Tyrannosaur" or "This is England".
In Warp films, the characters use swear words and have a lot of different accents, whereas in Working Title films, the actors all have a posh British accent and say "jolly gosh".
When Bridget is introduced to Mark, she says "Ding-Dong", which is invented film language, that fits into the stereotypical creation.

Also, when Bridget Jones was filmed, Renee Zellweger had to put on a lot of weight to look as if she was slightly overweight. In the entire film, she wants to lose weight and it is about how women should look slimmer. A film company such as Warp who uses the social realist genre in a lot of their movies such as "This is England", would never ask someone to put on weight, or make a movie about it. They would consider it to be a horrible message to send out to women.

Another significant difference between Warp and Working Title, is that every Working Title film, have never used anyone who is black in their film. If they had used an actor who was black, it would have been to create the racist stereotype of a black dumb man. However, in a movie such as "This is England", there are a lot of black people and one of the main characters Milky, is very intelligent. This is why many people like the social realist genre, since it is very realistic and doesn't try to hide anything.

In terms of Warp and Working Title on the market, there are a lot of differences in for example advertising as well. For Bridget Jones, Working Title decided to put only Renee Zellweger on all the posters that went out internationally, because everyone knows her since she is a big American actress and in the British market Hugh Grant, Colin Firth and Renee Zellweger were on the posters because the 2 men were well known to the English audience back then in 2001. Although Working Title films are known internationally, they don't win any awards. However a company like Warp has big success at film festivals such as Cannes Festivals and Venice. They also win awards, despite the fact that they don't even closely have the same budget as Working Title.  

Comparing: Working Title vs. Warp

Warp Films	Working Title Films
Warp films are filmed mainly in Sheffield and in the local areas around Sheffield	Like many other production companies, Working Title films are mainly produced in London. They also carry out most of their filming in studios and around London area.
Warp mainly use social realism genre in their productions.	Working Titles produce mostly ROM-COM's such as Love Actually, Bridget Jones’ Diary and Pride and Prejudice
Warp films are an independent company and therefore don’t get much funding.	Working Title is a larger company, that are given enormous budgets, hence they are able to spend a lot more on the mise-en-scene, actors etc.
Warp films usually target specific audiences within England.	Working Title tend to target a big audience from children aged 6-12 (Mr Bean’s Holiday) to middle aged woman (Pride & Prejudice) to an entire family movie (Bridget Jones’ Diary).
Warp films focus more on letting the actors develop their own original version of the movie	Working Title uses a reasonably successful cast and crew in order to create their films. Their focus is more on making money.
Warp Films use a lot of urban areas as shoot locations to emphasise on the real life situation of people that the audience can relate with it.	Working Title tend to create more posh and picturesque pictures of their characters and surroundings. For example in Bridget Jones, the garden we see in the beginning of the movie is very prawn and pretty. Also Pride and Prejudice, has a lot of pretty costumes. They are however also able to spend more money on the mise-en-scene, since they are a bigger company with a larger budget.

Film opening 6: This is England (2006) - Shane Meadows

Social Realism is an genre, which is often used by the film company Warp, that produced this film. The genre is based on real life and even though the story's are mostly fiction, the stories are supposed to show a reflection of the world we live in.

The characters, dialogue and the entire mise-en-scene are all used and inspired by the real world.

The film opening from "This is England" is very useful when looking for a good example of the social realism genre.

The film opening also represents a lot of historical context. It shows many uprisings and demonstrations on the streets. People going on strike, wars and bombing of houses and ships  etc. During many different clips we also see images of Margaret Thatcher, who was the prime minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990. By knowing this, we can state that a lot of the scenes may have been shot at that time period.

During the entire film opening, there are people and stories portrayed on screen. These show everyday characters and their working class backgrounds. This use of untrained actors and everyday situations, is a typical convention of a social realist film. It also makes the movie more realistic and the audience might also be able to relate themselves to the movie.

We also see a lot of different shots from the wedding of the Prince of Wales and Princess Diana, which took place on the 29th of July 1981. These pictures again show the audience that most of the scenes are shot in that specific time period.

A lot of scenes are emphasising on what Britain was like back then. The non-diegetic song in the film opening is called "54-56 What's my number?". The band "Toots and the Maytals", has written this song to show the ability to grow and thrive against injustice.

During the film opening, we see a lot of shots of demonstrations and also people fighting against the police. Since the song is about fighting injustice, we can conclude that many of the scenes were about people who felt unjust.

Production Schedule: Version 1

As I enjoy organizing, creating the production schedule was natural for me and became my task. As a group we figured out the dates that worked best for us. Since we live quite far away from each other, the dates were far apart from each other, because we had to agree on dates that suited all three of us.

Below you can see our production schedule.

Production Schedule:

24th of November - Deciding on exact costume of the girl choosing her exact clothes and make-up (stereotypical girl, wearing pink possibly heels as well)  

26th of November - Creating the 3 photos that the girl will hold in the "Auchan scene" (taking pictures with the girl and her friends, guy/stalker wearing black in all of them. 

28th of November - Starting the filming procedure in Auchan (doing as many shots as possible in the Auchan scene) + filming the scene in the parking lot.

1st + 2nd + 3rd of December - Editing in class - seeing if there are any shots missing 

5th + 7th + 8th of January - finishing the exact costume and mise-en-scene of the psychologist and the girl - creating a contrast/binary opposition of what she used to look like and what she looks like now (creating this contrast with the use of make-up and costume)

9th of January - filming in the psychologists room (finish it and get all the shots) 

12th + 14th + 15th of January - editing of the psychologists room scene (fitting everything together and create a smooth transition) 

19th + 21st + 22nd of January - adding title sequence and idents on Pinnacle

Storyboard 1

As the only art student in our group Bronwen Vaughan was assigned the task to create our storyboard. As a group, we sat down and put all of our ideas together after our individual pitches. Bronwen decided to sketch the storyboard and make a rough draft, while we discussed the camera angles that we intend to include and what effect they will or should have on our target audience.
The final version of our storyboard can be seen below.

Bronwen also decided to create a table consisting of a frame, what was in it and the mise-en-scene.

Frame	Shot and movement	Sound	Costume	Props
1	Establishing shot, = sense of location.	Very girly song, stereotype of teenage girls e.g. One Direction
2	Over the shoulder shot. Main character is in it, but can’t see her face. Follows the character as she walks forwards.	Non-diegetic music continues.
3	Long shot of character going up escalators. Camera is still.	Music continues.	The top half of her body can be seen, she is wearing a white dress. This represents her innocence.	She’s holding her phone, and has a black handbag
4	Rat’s eye view of her shoes on escalator. Camera is still.	Music continues, diegetic sound of escalators.	She is wearing black converse.
5	Over the shoulder of her using a photo printing machine. Camera is still.	Music continues. Sounds of her operating the machine.	Her nails are painted pink. This reflects her girly nature.	The printing machine is already there, in a shopping center.
6	Close up of her hand, holding a photo. The camera cuts closer in on the photo, where a guy in the background can be seen.	Music continues.	There are 4 friends in the photo, linking arms, smiling, wearing dresses. The person in the background is wearing black, and a balaclava.	Would need the dresses, also guy in background is holding binoculars.
7	Close up on her face. She looks nervous, eyes darting around. Camera is still.	As she pulls out her earphones, the happy music stops, and there is dead, eerie silence.		White earphones, classical and also emphasizes her innocence.
8	Long shot. She begins running.  Camera moves with her.	Very quiet, dramatic music begins, drums.	We see her costume in full, white dress and black converse.
9	Long shot, her walking through turning doors. Camera is still. She is going into the underground car park which is dark and dramatic. Low key lighting.	Dramatic music continues to build up, getting slightly louder and more insistent, building tension.
10	Character bends down, out of breath, looks up and looks around. The dark background looks intimidating.	Music gets much louder and more dramatic.
11	Cut to a medium close up of her face. A figure appears behind her, and pulls a sack over her head. A handheld camera is used to reflect her unsteady state of mind.	Music get the most dramatic and as the sack is pulled over her head it stops suddenly, loud and scary.	The character is flushed from running, which can be achieved through blush. She could also be sweating, from fear/ exertion, through some water on her forehead.
12	Black screen.	Voice of the character talking about her kidnapping, “It’s been 9 months.”
13	Long shot of character slumped in a chair. Looks upset. No camera movement. Opposite her is a psychiatrist, sitting straight in contrast.	They are talking about the character being kidnapped and tortured.	The main character is wearing grey joggers and a black hoodie. She is wearing no makeup although a light foundation would be used to make her pale, and bags under her eyes – brown eye- shadow.	We would need the location of the psychiatrist room or a normal room that we could make look like one.
14	Over the shoulder shot,  Camera is still. Psychiatrist’s shoulder, main character can be seen.	Some very gentle but dramatic music in the background. Diegetic sound of them speaking to each other.	Looks sad and upset, depressed.	Painting on the wall, modern art, geometric shapes.
15	Over the shoulder shot,  Camera is still. Main character’s shoulder. Psychiatrist can be seen.		Psychiatrist wearing long earrings and perhaps some glasses. Dressed in white = connotations of medical work/ contrast to main character.	There is binary opposition between these two characters, Psychiatrist look healthy and happy. Glasses and earrings = props.
16	Close up of main character’s face. No camera movement.	The music becomes more urgent and dramatic, the psychiatrist’s voice fades out/becomes distorted = reflection of her fear/discomfort.	Again, character is dressed in black dark grey= binary opposition to her formal self, innocent, wearing white and also to the psychiatrist.	Makeup/ face paint to make her look tired and upset.
17	Repeated flashbacks. Flashing between past and present. Close up of the girl tied up, very harsh, flashing lighting.	Uncomfortable high pitched noise, music is distorted and confusing=her mind set.	She is wearing a grey t-shirt. There is blood on it. She has a lot of cuts and bruises on her face, a black eye. Sweating a lot.	She has a gag around her mouth.
18	Long shot, main character stands up and sprints out of the room.	The music and high pitched noise have reached the peak.	She is wearing the same converse.
19	Extreme close up on the door handle.
20	Mid shot, door slams, title appears in a red font.

Group Pitch 1

Since we had a lot of similar ideas and wanted to create the same genre movie, we decided to form a group of three. This was done to be able to share the work and ideas to form one great idea for our final coursework.
This is our group pitch in which we explain what we want to do for our film opening.



We have also created a Prezi in which you can find all the information about:

• The plot
• Our genre and target audience
• The mise-en-scene
• Costumes
• Props
• Locations
• Camera shots and movement
• Sound
• Storyboard
• Characters
• Narrative Exposition
• Our Production Schedule

Individual Pitch

This is my individual pitch in which I am explaining my idea for my coursework to my class.



Below you see a video of footage and the mise-en-scene for the psychologists room. Our intention is to create a binary opposition between the nice and comfortable room and the dark and cold basement.

Vodcast 3: Narrative exposition

WHAT I HAVE LEARNED + WHAT I CAN APPLY

This is my vodcast, in which I am commenting on narrative of different horror genres.

"In this vodcast I will be covering some of the key aspects of narrative and analyse, which of my 5 genre specific movies they can be applied too.
As you can see on my blog, there are four key theories in media. Propp's character archetypes, Todorov's narrative formula, Strauss' concept of binary oppositions and Barthes concept of the narrative enigma.

Barthes concept of the narrative enigma can be applied to the movie "Insidious". In this film, there is both an enigma code and an action code.
The enigma code is there, since the lighting and the darkness in the boy's room at the beginning of the film refers to mystery and makes the audience want to know more about the boy and that particular house. The action code, on the other hand, is there, because there are elements of action due to the sudden non-diegetic thriller music, but also the sudden appearance of a ghost or mystical human being with a candle lit in front of him/her.

A good example of a movie that Todorov's narrative formula can be applied to, is "The Cabin in the Woods". In this movie, we are introduced to the main character's on a bright and sunny day. The friends are laughing with each other and due to this, the audience can state that there is an equilibrium, showing us that all is well. In most horror films, there is always an equilibrium and after a short period of time, there is a disruption of the equilibrium. However, we also know that it rarely happens that a horror movie ends well and therefore there is often no reinstatement of the equilibrium.
You can also apply Todorov's narrative formula to the movie "Poltergeist". For this movie, there is also established an equilibrium immediately, since the first main character's we meet are driving around in their car looking for their new house that they are about to move into.

Strauss' concept of binary oppositions, can be applied to the film "The Cabin in the Woods". In this film, all is well and good in the opening scene. However, all of a sudden, the title of the movie appears on screen in a big red font with a non-diegetic music. So in this case, there is a binary opposition, since the first minute we are introduced to the main characters and everything is well and the next minute the audience is being warned that something is about to happen because of this big red title.

Vodcast 2: Semiotics

This is my vodcast in which I am commenting on semiotics and discussing which of my 5 genre specific horror movies they can be applied to.

"This second vodcast will be about semiotics. Semiotics is about the study of signs and symbols and their use of interpretation. There are many different examples of semiotics in the 5 genre specific movies i analysed in class.

One example is the one from the film "Dream House". In the beginning of this film, there is a low angle shot of a skyscraper. This low angle shot could be a sign that the main character has a very high and valued position. Moreover, after having been introduced to the main character through this extreme close-up, we see a draft of the book that he intends to write and publish. The drawings and the title of the book "Daddy's Dream House" could be a signifier to the audience that the main character has children.

Another example for the semiotics, is the one form the movie "The Conjuring". In this case, this doll, is emphasising on the genre of the movie. Also, since this is an extreme close-up and also the first shot the audience sees, we can interpret that the film will be about this doll. Very often, these dirt and blood covered dolls are used as stage requisites to add to the scarifying horror genre.

The last example is one from the film "Insidious". In this horror movie a main dominant element is the color choice. As you see here, the media producers decided to put the titles and credits in a red font on a background of black and white pictures from the inside and outside of the house. This is firstly used to establish a setting for the audience, but also to create a clear contrast and let the red color be used a symbol for blood and danger so that the audience can identify the horror genre."

Vodcast 1: Titles

WHAT I CAN APPLY - TITLE FONTS

This is my first vodcast in which I will be talking about Titles and explain the idents of my 5 genre specific horror movies.

Script: 

"This is my first vodcast in which I am analysing good examples of titles and idents shown at the beginning of the 5 genre specific movies I had to analyse in class. Very often these idents and titles are used to establish and show the genre of the movie to the audience, before the movie actually starts.

In this movie, the ident of "Lionsgate" has been used to emphasise on the horror genre. Usually the ident looks exactly like this. So you have the "Lionsgate" ident surrounded by a blue sky and clouds.

However, in the movie "The Cabin in the Woods", the media producers decided to put it like this, so with red clouds, really trying to emphasise on the genre.

Another great example of a movie where the idents have been used to establish the genre, is the film "The Conjuring". In this film, there are two main production companies. One of them, which is Warner Bros. that has the ident that usually looks like this, and the other production company is New Line Cinema where the ident usually looks like this.

However, in this film, "The Conjuring", the media producers decided to put the idents in very dark colors, so they made it with grey clouds in the background to really underline the horror genre and also create the tension within the audience.

There was also a non-diegetic sound in the background of drums and very dark music, so this also added to the tension and the genre. 

A very good example where the titles have been used to emphasise on the horror genre is this movie called 'Insidious'. 

In this case, the media producers decided to put the production companies names first in a red font and let them turn into a grey smoke and then fading into black one by one. The font strongly links to the convention of the horror genre, since the red color often symbolizes blood, danger or hell. 

When the titles of the actors appear on screen, they are shown on a background of black and white pictures of the outside and inside of a house.

This really stands out and a clear contrast is created. The audience focuses on this contrast and this again emphasise on the horror genre and creates tension.