About Time (2013) - Is this a typical Working Title Production?

About Time is a ROM-COM that was produced by Working Title and came out in 2013. The movie was produced with a budget of $12 million.

The main distributor in the UK  and other countries for this film, as you will be able to see in the table,  was Universal International Pictures. A few countries that made an exception for this distributor, were countries such as Bulgaria, Finland, Hong Kong and a few more. In the US the distributor was Universal.

In terms of marketing, the poster didn't change in any country like it did for Bridget Jones. However, Rachel McAdams is the one dominating this poster, because she is the actor of the two who is the most famous. Another name that really stands out is Richard Curtis and his works such as Four Weddings and a Funeral.
 

What is interesting to note, when analyzing most Working Title films is that the Gant Rule will not apply to most of the films such as Bridget Jones Diary, Wild Child, Love Actually and many more. This film, About Time, does not apply to the Gant Rule either.

There is one specific reason for this, which is that although these movies are produced by an American Company, they still have a lot of British actors in them, the movies are set in Britain and the accent is British as well. Using, About Time, as an example, the central protagonist has red hair and a British accent and is portrayed as the stereotypical British person. The film is set on the countryside in Britain, and the entire mise-en-scene of the house is also very British. The mise-en-scene within the house is set up with old furniture and flower patterned curtains.

In The US alone, About Time made over $15 million and was a great success. Worldwide the movie made over $87 million. 

About Time can be considered to be a typical Working Title ROM-COM. It has all the same features in there as all the other Working Title films. First of all, it is set in Britain and the main actors are British. Our central protagonist, Tim, is the very stereotypical British person. He has red hair, freckles, dresses with his shirt in his pants all the time and also has a British accent. Furthermore, the film is set on the countryside in a very big house in England. We can see the usual old furniture, and the big flower patterned curtains. In Bridget Jones Diary, the mise-en-scene of the house of her parents is exactly the same with old furniture and decorations.

The movie was screened in these 52 different countries. It had global success, especially in countries such as South Korea, Australia and of course the United Kingdom. There is no specific reason, why it had more success in South Korea rather than in the United Kingdom. However, these numbers are a great example for the success of these type of international Working Title Films. 

Country (click to view weekend breakdown)	Dist.	Release Date	Opening Weekend	% of Total	Total Gross / As Of
FOREIGN TOTAL	-	9/5/13	$2,748,410	3.8%	$71,777,528	2/16/14
Argentina	UPI	11/7/13	$169,575	30.1%	$563,825	2/2/14
Australia	UPI	10/10/13	$327,892	4.3%	$7,636,052	12/15/13
Austria	UIP	10/18/13	$79,272	26.7%	$297,175	11/17/13
Belgium	UPI	11/6/13	$241,957	38.4%	$630,898	12/8/13
Bolivia	UIP	12/5/13	$7,992	44%	$18,159	12/15/13
Brazil	UPI	12/6/13	$14,876	1.8%	$835,606	3/16/14
Bulgaria	Forum Films	10/18/13	$14,673	18.9%	$77,684	11/24/13
Chile	UPI	11/21/13	$39,123	37%	$105,772	12/29/13
Colombia	UIP	10/25/13	$65,255	50.8%	$128,523	12/8/13
Croatia	UIP	12/5/13	$16,585	24%	$69,025	1/12/14
Czech Republic	CinemArt	11/7/13	$103,406	26.6%	$389,391	1/5/14
East Africa	UIP	11/1/13	$992	17.1%	$5,804	11/24/13
Ecuador	UIP	2/14/14	$50,435	38.5%	$130,903	3/9/14
Egypt	UIP	10/9/13	$5,865	15.2%	$38,621	12/15/13
Finland	Finnkino	10/4/13	$63,423	28%	$226,512	11/3/13
France	UPI	11/6/13	$790,411	56.8%	$1,391,178	11/17/13
Germany	UPI	10/17/13	$580,660	31.4%	$1,850,124	11/10/13
Greece	UIP	10/17/13	$49,213	46.9%	$105,032	10/27/13
Hong Kong	EDKO	10/3/13	$219,152	24.2%	$907,079	12/1/13
Hungary	UIP	10/17/13	$100,656	26.1%	$385,991	11/10/13
Iceland	UIP	10/4/13	$7,349	21.6%	$34,093	11/3/13
India	UPI	10/11/13	$62,723	62%	$101,181	10/27/13
Israel	UIP	10/17/13	-	-	$212,923	11/24/13
Italy	UIP	11/7/13	$461,509	60.4%	$764,488	11/17/13
Japan	-	9/27/14	-	-	$1,667,751	10/26/14
Lebanon	UIP	10/10/13	$31,777	33%	$96,260	11/3/13
Malaysia	UIP	9/26/13	$57,451	28.1%	$204,102	10/27/13
Mexico	UPI	12/6/13	$236,487	11.7%	$2,026,175	2/16/14
Netherlands	UPI	10/10/13	$260,392	20.8%	$1,251,809	11/17/13
New Zealand	UIP	10/24/13	$184,032	24%	$765,825	12/1/13
Nigeria	-	10/11/13	-	-	$11,717	12/8/13
Norway	UIP	10/11/13	-	-	$183,216	10/20/13
Peru	UPI	12/5/13	$87,332	26.4%	$331,287	1/26/14
Philippines	UIP	9/18/13	$97,283	54.8%	$177,382	10/13/13
Poland	UIP	9/20/13	$182,691	18.3%	$999,602	11/10/13
Portugal	-	10/31/13	$104,255	31.4%	$332,155	12/15/13
Russia - CIS	UPI	10/10/13	$486,843	44.9%	$1,084,180	11/3/13
Serbia & Montenegro	UIP	10/17/13	$6,104	16%	$38,161	1/12/14
Singapore	UIP	10/10/13	$197,825	22.8%	$868,240	12/1/13
Slovakia	-	11/7/13	$44,313	38.1%	$116,214	11/24/13
Slovenia	UIP	9/19/13	$5,945	25%	$23,803	10/13/13
South Africa	UIP	10/25/13	$89,378	26.1%	$342,490	1/12/14
South Korea	UIP	12/5/13	$3,421,040	14.6%	$23,434,443	1/19/14
Spain	UPI	10/18/13	$509,694	17.6%	$2,894,564	8/3/14
Sweden	UIP	10/18/13	$114,355	38.9%	$293,908	11/3/13
Thailand	UIP	10/10/13	$194,764	21.3%	$914,088	11/24/13
Turkey	UIP	10/4/13	$106,802	25.4%	$421,028	11/3/13
Ukraine	B and H	9/12/13	$144,820	35.4%	$409,008	10/6/13
United Arab Emirates	Gulf	10/10/13	$76,235	36.1%	$211,169	11/3/13
United Kingdom	UPI	9/4/13	$2,753,095	22.8%	$12,098,359	11/24/13
Uruguay	UPI	11/21/13	$9,635	20.3%	$47,513	1/5/14
Venezuela	UIP	1/31/14	$111,840	22.2%	$504,498	4/20/14

Genre

There are 2 main different kinds of genres. There is the hybrid genre and the sub-genre. A hybrid genre, also known as cross-genre is a genre that blends themes and elements from two or more different genres. An example of a hybrid genre would be a ROM-COM, so a romantic comedy film. Working Title are globally associated with the ROM-COM genre. Why? Because they have produced several successful ROM-COM hits, such as Bridget Jones Diary, About Time, Love Actually and many more.

When analysing About Time, which came out in 2013 and was a $12 million budget film. It made over $15 million in the American market alone and achieved a total of over $87 million worldwide. Due to this, it is a good example of a ROM-COM hit from Working Title.


Using our coursework as an example, we know that the main genre is horror. There are 4 main types of horror genres known as Psychological, Killer, Monster and Paranormal. Our coursework would be an example of the Killer one. These 4 main types can then be even more in depth and have what is called sub-genres.

A sub-genre or sub-genres are categories thar are subdivisions to a larger genre. As an example, when looking at the table above, slasher genre is a sub-genre of the killer horror genre. So our coursework is also a slasher genre. In the small boxes, you can also see examples of movies that are in the slasher genre. In that box, there are examples of the two movies "Friday the 13th" and "Halloween". Our coursework is inspired from Halloween by John Carpenter from 1978 and therefore we can say that it fits perfectly with this table.

As another example, Kristian's final cut, is a movie about a zombie apocalypse. This would on the other hand not be an example of the killer horror genre but the monster horror genre.

Working Title VS Warp Version 3

When looking at the production company, Working Title, we know that they are a company that produce most Rom-Com's, whereas a company such as Warp, focuses more on the social realist genre. We can see this in movies such as "This is England" and "Mickybo & Me". 

Another film from Warp, which is social realist genre and shows the hard life of an immigrant is the movie "She, a Chinese". The film is about a young girl, Mei, who is a Chinese immigrant, after escaping her provincial Chinese village and immigrating into Britain. 

The entire movie is in Chinese and is therefore not very appealing to a wide audience and would never be able to achieve a wide release. First of all, because there wouldn't be many people who wanted to watch a movie in Chinese and second of all because there are no famous actors in the movie. This movie came out in 2010 and didn't have a main cinema screening and it didn't make that much money. The income it made came from it's DVD and VOD release. 

In this case, the Gant Rule isn't applied, because it did not have any success in Britain and therefore didn't have any success in other countries either. The Gant Rule suggest that if a film is a success in Britain it will make 10x more money in the US and have 10x the amount of screenings if not more. A great example of a British movie that achieved this, is the one from Billy Elliot. The reason, why this movie got so much attention and was a great example of approving the Gant Rule, is because it is about the great American Dream of a young boy. This appeals to a global audience and especially  a wide American audience and therefore it had such a great success.  

Had this been a Working Title movie on the other hand, it would have been done in a completely different way. Working Title always do a more commercial approach in terms of how they distribute their film, how they produce their film and, which cast they choose. 

Due to this, "She, a Chinese", would first of all have been in English, secondly it would have contained at least one American actor or actress and lastly it would have been distributed in very big amounts everywhere, in order for it to be successful and get a lot of screenings. 

As an example, Bridget Jones' Diary was distributed all over the world. Rennee Zellweger's two co-actors, Hugh Grant and Colin Firth, are both Britsh, whereas Zellweger is American. 

In terms of distribution, the movie was distributed in a different way from country to country.

In France, as an example, the movie was advertised with this poster, where Zellweger is on it without her co-stars. This was done, because she is one of the big American stars and everyone in France would know her, whereas at that time, only a few would know Colin Firth and Hugh Grant. 

However, in Britain, the movie was advertised with all three actors on it, because both Hugh Grant and Colin Firth are considered as big stars in Britain.

2nd Rough Cut of the Final Scene

This is the 2nd rough cut of the final scene, where the killer kidnaps the final girl. This is the bit that I edited, where I am still going to put sound on and either detach the audio that is on there now to just work with sound effects and non-diegetic music for there to be created a lot of tension.

In the exam there will be 4 main technical aspects that we need to comment on. These are:

• Mise en scene
• Cinematography
• Sound
• Editing

In terms of mise-en-scene, the costume of the central protagonist such as her jacket and her tight jeans denote that her age is around 16-17. You can tell that the central protagonist is not the typical character of the usual scream queen. Had it been a scream queen, she would have had blonde hair, ripped jeans or even a skirt and maybe have a handbag or clutch with her. The choice of the central protagonist wearing a concervative high collar T-Shirt, also emphasise the fact that there was a counter-typing by using the final girl and killing her instead of the scream queen.

Also, the costume of the killer waering all black and having his hoodie up around the mask denotes the genre. The mask is very good, because it really emphasises on the horror genre. Throughout the entire film, the audience isn't able to see the mask until the last bit where the killer finally appears on screen. This creates tension, and I intend to work a lot more with non-diegetic music to be able to build up the tension. Furthermore, when looking at the 1st rough cut, which was edited by Jonathan, you can see how our final girl is getting a false scare, by a woman who only wants to return her bible.

In this clip, which I am going to edit as well, I will begin with the non-diegetic music in order for there to be continuity throughout in terms of sound.
Moreover, there is a different ambient sound in every single shot. because we hear Bronwen's shoes going over the street and then you hear a car as well in the background. Due to this, I will loop the sound from the first shot, so that there will be continuity in it and that the sound doesn't change in the different shots. 

The mise-en-scene is very good outside, and the darkness and the natural appearance of the blue tint helps to connote the genre. This location was chosen on purpose because of the very bright lighting that added this specific blue tint as a natural effect. Because it turned out this well, I will be editing the first rough cut, by adding a blue filter when our central protagonist comes out of the church as well.
Another way we could have portrayed our central protagonist as more vulnerable would be to have framed Bronwen on the left or right side in the frame.
There is also some foreshadowing because she is walking towards a less lit space, where it is very dark, which foreshadows that something is going to happen.
Two other angles, that could have been incorporated, would have been a low angle and a dutch angle to make Bronwen appear as more vulnerable.

This shot was done on purpose to foreshadow, how she is going to get kidnapped. In thsi shot, she is a dark silhouette, which connotes that she is practically already gone.

Exam Practice 2: Representation of sexuality and race

In terms of mise-en-scene there are a lot of cables, computers and bright lights to emphasise on the laboratory setting. This creates a sci-fi feeling, which really helps to establish the genre. The low key lighting is especially helping to create the dark and mysterious atmosphere.

When listening to the music, there is a lot of non-diegetic music. The non-diegetic sounds of water dripping in the basement and the non-diegetic dramatic music, helps to establish the genre and creates a certain tension. Throughout the whole clip the music is very ominous and then all of a sudden when they stop kissing, it becomes even more dark.

When looking into cinematography, the beginning of the clip starts with a medium close-up, which gives us a real focus on her face and characteristics. 

When denoting her appearance, the audience would pick up on her black hair. Had she been portrayed as the stereotypical western beauty, she would have been blonde and would have worn more make-up such as a red lipstick. In this scene, she wears a light blush and a very neutral lipstick.

Furthermore, the framing in the first shot focuses on the character, but it also establishes the narrative enigma, because it doesn't suggest where the location is. During the dialogue, there is a shot reverse-shot which keeps returning back to the woman with the black hair. Through this, the audience knows that she is he main character and the central protagonist is established. According to Propp's character archetype theory, she would be the "Hero".

From that shot there is a reverse-shot to the antagonist, where we see her in a medium close-up.

Her lack of make-up, messy hair and color of the hair, her innocence is portrayed.

When our central protagonist sees, how the girl is suffering, she looks like she is in pain and the audience is being positioned to empathise with the central protagonist.

When looking into representation, we are positioned to identify ourselves with the central protagonist, because the shot keeps going back to her. Due to the fact that our central protagonist is empathising and feeling sorry for the antagonist, the audience automatically does the same.
There is a stereotype created of the girl with the lighter hair as the female victim. There is also created a counter-type for the central protagonist, because she is helping the girl. In other films, helping a female would usually be done by a male actor. It has become normative in society and has become a stereotype that men are strong and are always the ones who help a female in need of help.

This medium two-shot below is very tightly framed, leaving no speace between the two character. This shot is connoting that there is a bond between the two characters.

The media language chosen of this slight high angle and the medium two-shot, signifies that they are both vulnerable and that they are both in danger.

During this small clip, there are soft and slow piano tunes. This has connotations of sadness and it really anchors the relationship between the two characters.

It can be interpreted to be romantic and it fits well with all the other signifiers that have been encoded into this text. 

This shot shows how the two characters are staring into eachothers eyes and grabbing eachother so hard around eachothers arms. This connotes that there is a romantic feeling between the two of them. 

The welsh accent used in this program, would be suited for a British or Welsh primary audience. This shows that this show could not be shown in America. Due to this, the show is not gaining a large amount of profit. Hence, it doesn't support the Gant Rule.
When the male character is observing the two girls in the basement and starts to record it as well, it could be denoted as male gaze features. The shot is cutting from the two girls to the male character.

"The male gaze is a concept coined by feminist film critic Laura Mulvey. It refers to the way visual arts are structured around a masculine viewer. It describes the tendency in visual culture to depict the world and women from a masculine point of view and in terms of men's attitudes."

When the central protagonist is seen behind the glass, there is a use of intertextuality, because it is similar to a scene in "The Silence of the Lambs" from 1991 by Jonathan Demme.

This intertextuality, is used to appeal to the secondary target audience, which is parents and older people, because they might have seen the movie. The younger audience on the other hand, might not understand the reference.  



Stuart Hall, stated that semiotics had a lot of limitations as it was assumed that all of the reading resided to the only in the text. He argued that meaning resides in the audience as well and that the different people react to different things in different ways. 

When looking into semiotics and it's syntatic level, the dominant elements on screen are the 2 girls. Since, the antagonist keeps pushing her away, the overall effects is that we begin to feel sorry for our central protagonist. 

When just focusing on the representational level, we can see that our central protagonist has an interest in women and has feelings for the antagonist, alien. She is the one that keeps wanting to kiss her, despite the fact that the antagonist keeps pushing her away. This denotes, that she has a strong interest in her, because she doesn't stop immediately. In the scene that I analysed from 1:30 to 2:00 min, the camera is nearly always creating a medium close-up or close-up, so that the audience can clearly see the emotions of both of them. 

The editing in this clip is continuity editing, which is very linear. There are no jump-cuts in the scene.

Evidence of Directing

This is some evidence of directing that I put together to show how I tried to direct Bronwen and Jonathan so that their actions would look natural and good on screen.

Editing - Final Cut Pro X

In terms of editing we used Final Cut Pro for the creation of our film opening.

We used Final Cut Pro X, because it offers a lot of different opportunities and varieties in terms of editing. With the use of Final Cut, we were able to adjust the lighting and the look in our film opening. Furthermore, we will be creating our title sequence with Final Cut, because it has very simple controls that allows us to generate studio quality titles. 

The timeline that you can see on the bottom, offers you a flexible way to edit. 

Clips automatically move out of the way to avoid clip collisions. Moreover, it is very clear and simple to use Final Cut Pro, meaning that you always know what is happening as you work and you can always try out new ideas with all of the different varieties of effects and transitions.

Audience Feedback 2 - On Rough Cut 1

After finally completing a rough cut of our movie, Bronwen and I got some audience feedback from the Year 10 in our school. Most of the comments were how we could and should improve it in terms of sound effects, so that it would be more creepy and there would be more tension.
Others suggested that the girl should speak a bit louder, because you could barely hear the dialogue. Besides this criticism, the students liked our idea and thought that it definitely has potential.

Rough Cut 1

This is the first rough cut of our new idea.

BV: Audience Feedback 1

After collecting back the questionnaires that we handed out, I have collected the results:

We tried to ask mainly people from our target audience, however, we also asked people outside the target audience because they are also relevant as they fit into our secondary audience.

For question 4, I gave a very brief plot description and asked whether or not the film interested them and why/why not.

Overall, 9 out of 16 people liked our idea.

Positive points said about our film opening idea:

• An interesting idea, especially with the flash forwards.
• Goes with the convention of horror movies with the mask
• The anticipation to know who is under the mask
• Sounds like it could be fun
• Mysterious 
• Interesting 

Negative points:

• The bones hanging from the ceiling, no bones would be more effective as it leaves it more mysterious
• "Sounds a bit stereotypical and therefore doesn't really stand out from the others. I would see it but I wouldn't really promote it with other people because it sounds a bit generic."
• Too much is revealed in the first scene.
• Too gory for those who aren't that into horror.

Question 5 asked people to suggest a name for our movie. These are the titles that people came up with:

• Listen To Me
• The Killer's Room
• Lights Out
• The Kidnapper
• Creepy Hollow
• The Man in the Mask
• Trapped
• That Night
• Him 
• Torture
• Creepy Basement
• Masked
• Locked in with Death
• Trapped by Death
• The Cellar 
• The Butcher
• The Reflection
• Not My Face
• Mirrored Mask
• Trapped

We also found that 8 out of 13 people in our primary target audience (15-35) enjoy horror films.