Seventh Vlog

Today we stayed behind and filmed half of our film opening.I think it went really well and we didn't get stressed out and got a decent amount of work done with lots of different shots and angles. Tomorrow we are going to upload the footage and start editing and we are looking to film the rest on Saturday.


Below are our storyboards which we stuck to and helped us stay organised during our filming...

Below are some links to some articles related to Section B of the exam
http://gu.com/p/34jbp
http://gu.com/p/34jcn
http://gu.com/p/2ydkq
http://tech.uk.msn.com/tv/netflix-and-lovefilm-comparison

Planning

Here is an example of what a split screen scene would look like which we are thinking of including in our new film opening

We were thinking of using a a split screen in our new idea as we are going to film two simultaneous openings but instead of having 4 scenes we will have two diagonal scenes and the other two blacked out.

Here are one of the filming locations


Below is a part of the room and one of the main filming spots


Below are some possible close up shots and props relevant to our film opening










Here is some practise footage

New Film Opening Idea- Red Riding Hood

After weeks and weeks of struggling over a genre and storyline for our film opening and forever changing our minds, my group and I have finally come to a decision as to what our film opening will be about. At the start of the lesson we were thinking of modernising Little Red Riding Hood and having a voiceover of a girl explaining how she got kidnapped which was sort of like a film that begins with the end and many good films have voiceovers and start at the end such as Lovely Bones, Limitless and Juno. By having a voiceover the audience understand what is going on better because it is like the film is seen from a characters perspective. It is also like someone is telling a story.
We then were thinking of lots of different things to happen during the two minutes of Red Riding Hood but we kept on going down the cliche route of tripping over a twig and/or hearing something odd and out of place and we also remembered that Little Red Riding Hood was already released as a film early last year and we want our film to be original. Below is the trailer for Red Riding Hood.

Below is an example of a snorricam and it was also used in The Hangover, We were planning on using something like this with our Red Riding Hood idea


Below is the trailer to Limitless and it is an example of a film that uses a voiceover.

Here is the trailer for The Lovely Bones which is also narrated

Representation of Race and Ethnicity Essay

Below is a 2 minute clip of Luther and an essay of the representations of race and ethnicity in the scene.


Luther Race and Ethnicity

Netflix

I keep seeing these Netflix adverts all over the internet which I thought related to the technological convergence in the media as Netflix is using the internet advertise itself to the public and I have also heard several Netflix adverts on the radio a number of times which again is using technology to make consumers aware and advertise itself to the public.

Limitless

Last night I watched the energetic and much talked about film Limitless which won the Best Thriller award at the 2011 Scream Awards. I enjoyed this film so much and thought the variety of shots and editing tied in with the storyline really well. This film has got to be the best film of 2011 and I'm convinced that the pills the story is based on are real.

Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone- Section B Research

In 1999 Warner Bros bought the film rights to the book for a reported £1million. The film was released in the UK and the US  in 2001 and recieved positive reviews. It raked in a total of  $974 million at the worldwide box office and to date has made a total of $974,755,371. It was nominated for many awards and is the 11th highest grossing film of all time. It is a fantasy film about a boy who finds out he is wizard and moves out to go to Hogwarts a wizardry school.

A video for the film was released for several consoles and the film was so popular as there were so many people who had read the books and were interested in the film. It was so successful that Warner Bros went on to produce 7 others and there is also a Harry Potter World in the US as well as lots of other merchandise available worldwide. In the United States it made $33.3 million on its opening day, breaking the single day record previously held by Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace. The film went on to make £66.1 million in the UK alone making it the second highest-grossing film of all-time in the country after Titanic, until both were surpassed by Mamma Mia! 

The film was directed by Chris Coloumbus  but was originally meant to be directed by Steven Spielberg until he turned down the offer because he wanted it to be made into an animation.

This is England- Section B Research

This is England is a 2006 british drama film set in England in 1983 which focuses on a group of young skinheads. It is directed and written by Shane Meadows and was produced by Film 4 Productions. It made $8,176,544 in the box office and 83% of critics gave the film a positive review, The film appeared on many US film critics Top Ten Film lists of 2007. The film won the Alexander Korda Award for Best British Film at the 2007 British Academy Film Awards as well as the Best Film at the 2006 British Independent Film Awards.Below is the trailer for This Is England. This film was marketed through facebook and twitter as it is free and is marketed to the audience much more easily. The film was co-funded by the national lottery through the film council.

The film was so successful that Shane Meadows wrote and directed a follow on series set 3 years after the film which was shown on Channel 4 and was called This Is England '86. In addition another series was released in 2011 called This Is England '88. The third and final series will be released in 2012 and will be called This Is England '90. 
Below is the trailer for This Is England '86

The Hangover- Section B Research

Above is the official trailer for The Hangover. The Hangover is an american comedy film which was released in 2009 and was directed by Todd Phillips and was written by Jon Lucas and Scott Moore. Its about a group of friends who go on holiday to Vegas to celebrate a bachelor party, However after being drugged by Roofies the date rape drug they end up losing their friend and not knowing anything that happened the night before.

It was a critical and commercial success and had a worldwide growth of over $467 million. Critics loved the comedy side of the film but were not too fond of the vulgarity. The film won the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture. The film was so successful that another was released in 2011.

On its first day at the box office the film made  $16,734,033 in the US. It was the 6th highest grossing film of 2009 with $467,483,912. However it earned less than half the total earned by films such as Beverly Hills Cop and is out-grossed by several comedies such as a film called Porkys. 

Warner Bros- Section B Research

Warner Bros is an American producer of film and television entertainment. It is one of the main studios of Time Warner. Warner Bros owns many other companies including Warner Bros Studios, Warner Bros Pictures, Warner Bros Interactive Entertainment, Warner Bros Television, Warner Bros Animation, Warner Home Video, New Line Cinema, TheWB.com, and DC Comics. Warner owns half of The CW Television Network. 


The company was founded by 4 brothers in 1918 as Warner Bros Studios and changed its name in 1923 to Warner Bros Pictures. They opened their first theatre in Pensylvania in 1903 and eventually started making Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck animations. They then went into film producing and have previously owned record companies. Over the years Warner Bros have produced many successful films. The chairman today is Barry Meyer.

Below is some footage produced by the Warner Bros company

The Inbetweeners Movie- Section B Research

The Inbetweeners Movie was released in the Summer of 2010 and is about a group of friends who go on holiday together in the summer to celebrate the end of school. It is a coming of age teen comedy based on the E4 sitcom The Inbetweeners. The movie was directed by Ben Palmer and written by the series creators Damon Beesley and Iain Morris. Below is the official trailer for The Inbetweeners Movie.


On its first day of release The Inbetweeners movie grossed over £2.5 million and set a new record for the most successful opening weekend ever achieved by a comedy film in the UK over taking The Hangover Part II and it was number 1 in the UK film charts for 4 weeks. The films total box office gross is £45,028,695.


70% of critics gave this film a positive review and considered it to be highly entertaining and extremely funny. Where as other critics such as Margaret Pomeranz called the characters 'gormless' and said she gave the movie 1 star generously. I think this movie was so successful due to the fans of the comedy series and it gained most of its viewers because of this and they may have recommended it to others. 


 

Film 4 Productions- Section B Research

Film 4 Productions is a British film company owned by Channel 4 and is responsible for backing a large number of films in the UK. Their first production was Walter and was directed by Stephen Frears and was released in 1982.

Before 1998 the company was called Channel 4 Films but changed to Film 4 Productions when the digital tv channel was launched. In 2002 the company had to cut its staff as well as its budget due to a huge loss. In 2004 Tessa Ross became head of the company.

DuckTales the Movie: Treasure of the Lost Lamp

Despite making $18,115,724 in the worldwide box office this film failed to make a huge profit for Walt Disney. They waited 15 years from the release of the movie on VHS to release it on DVD and it is now only available at Disney Clubs because it is so unpopular. 

This movie was released on 3rd August 1990 and was directed by Bob Hathcock. Disney do not think it was as successful as they hoped it would have been because it had to face other large scale family movies that were in cinemas at the time and caused all Ducktale films to be shelved as well as cancelling any possibel future releases. It was also released under a label called Movietoon which was unknown at the time and it was one of only  two disney movies ever made to be released under that name. Critics disliked this movie and there were no merchandise or technical games released with this film which could be why it failed to sell as well as other disney movies and is not recognised today. 

Netflix

Netflix is a US version of Lovefilm, It is reported to have streaming ventures with film and TV companies including: Sony, Disney, Paramount, Channel 4, ITV, BBC, Miramax, Lionsgate and MGM. The company has more than 20 million subscribers in the US and Canada. It will be able to stream TV shows and films from the internet straight to your TV for only £5.99 and Reed Hastings the chief executive says it will be facing rivals such as Youtube, Tesco's Blinkbox service and Rupert Murdoch's BSkyB. Below is a link to the full article.
http://gu.com/p/34gmp

Tangled-Section B Research

Here is the official trailer for Disney's movie Tangled.

It is a computer animated fantasy remake of the classic story of Rapunzel with a twist. It is the 50th animated feature in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series. The film was originally marketed as Rapunzel but it was changed to Tangled shortly before its release in the UK because Disney didn't want to place emphasis on princesses as they think this had discouraged boys from seeing a previous film called The Princess And The Frog. However the movie was released as Rapunzel in parts of Europe and Asia. Below is the dutch trailer titled Rapunzel.

Tangled was highly successful overseas as well as in the UK, the movie was in development for 6 years and cost more than $260 million to produce which makes it the most expensive animated film ever and the second most expensive movie of all time. Tangled was directed by Nathan Greno and Byron Howard and although it was extremely expensive to produce it was incredibly successful as it made $590,721,936 in the box office alone. 90% of critics have given Tangled a positive review and it is the second highest grossing film worldwide behind The Lion King.

Above is the official advertising poster for Tangled snd below merchandising is shown.

Tangled is supported by a line of toys and other merchandise like all other Disney movies. Many Rapunzel dolls have hair clip on hair to make it longer and many come with sound clips from the film. Toys based on other characters have been released as well as video games based on the film released on Nintendo and the Nintendo DS and the WII as well as for the PC by Disney Interactive Studios which helps to make even more money from the film and promote it further.

Walt Disney Pictures- Section B Research

The Walt Disney company is the largest media corporation in the world with the highest annual income with $36 billion made in 2010.

It was founded on October 16th 1923 by Walt Disney and his brother Roy with the name 'Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio'. Walt Disney Animations established itself as a leader in the American cartoon industry before they started producing live action films, tv and travel.

In 1986 they changed the name of the company to Walt Disney Animations and expanded their existing companies as well as starting divisions focusing on theatre, radio, publishing and online media. Walt Disney is considered to be one of the largest and best known studios in Hollywood. Disney also owns and operates the american TV network ABC, Disney Channel, ESPN and ABC Family. In addition they own and license 14 theme parks around the world.

Walt Disney himself was the first of 7 presidents of the company and the current president is Robert Iger who is also the cheif executive officer. Walt Disney have produced several successful movies for children and have used other products such as their tv programmes to advertise their new films and sold lots of merchandise which makes an even bigger profit for the company.

Here is  the official logo and mascot of Walt Disney Pictures.

iTV- Sixth Vlog

Recently in Miss Fosters lesson we were talking about technological convergence for institutions and audiences within the area of film and how technological convergence benefits people in film institutions such as film makers and how the marketing of films and different types of media used to advertise them can gain more publicity and encourage more people to watch the films. Here is the link to an article I recently saw which talks about technological convergence and the convergence of a new tv created by Apple called itv. http://gu.com/p/34g7y

Below is a vlog i recently recorded...