Activity 2

There is a notable formula to the box office numbers in 2018. for instance, almost all of them are action movies, as action movies are usually fairly easy to follow and understand. Action movies are also trying to compete with video games to try and keep the audience engaged in the film.

Many of the films also star A-list actors that lots of people know about. films with well known actors in them are more likely to be successful as people can go to the cinema to see someone specifically in a film.

Seven of the highest grossing films are either sequels or part of an established franchise – this means that many people will be drawn in to see a film because it is part of a franchise they already like, or because they enjoyed the first movie and want to see more in the sequel.

Half of the top ten highest grossing films are either adaptations from books or comics; this is because,of the people that read the book/comic, many of them will want to see how faithful of an adaptation the director has created, while others go because they want to see the pages that they’ve read turn into a movie on the big screen.

Activity 4

Opinion on Spike Lee’s viewpoint

Spike Lee’s opinion that you cannot create a film properly when trying to reflect the experience of a certain group – gender, sexuality, ethnicity, religion, or culture if you are not a part of it is something that I agree with to an extent. This is because you can’t capture the essence of what these groups go through in terms of discrimination and fighting for rights unless you have experienced it yourself. Even if you do extreme research including interviews with people from the groups or witnessing a protest/hateful remarks on these groups yourself; that is an experience of a bystander. Plus, every individual person’s story is different, and so making the mistake of basing an entire movie about a specific group on one person’s experience can set the wrong impression on how it truly is – since it’s different for everyone.

Certain groups such as gender and race, the most commonly known groups to have a movie about since they tend to have large audiences, are the most sensitive. These groups should be created by someone who has personal experience with what it’s like; otherwise the context can be taken out of proportion. Life imitates art, therefore movies have a big impact on how the world works, which is why certain subjects should be carefully presented or else the wrong impression can be made and make matters in the real world worse. Plus a large controversy over the film can build up and it would have a low success rate.

However, some of the best films that approach these topics are created by directors outside of these groups. I believe that certain people can direct these films with high levels of maturity and understanding, that it is not disrespectful to the audience and doesn’t send the wrong message. Plus, hateful audience members such as racists and sexists who know it is directed by a member of the group may claim that it is over-exaggerated and sending a completely wrong message. It is known that an outsider’s perspective is usually more accurate than the insider’s perspective. Therefore a movie about issues that groups of people face, created by someone who observes rather than takes part, could be taken more seriously and gain more respect from particular audiences that aren’t apart of the groups. Plus people in these groups may respect the fact that someone who isn’t struggling understands what they go through despite no personal experiences with it.

So in my opinion, it’s a mistake for someone unbeknownst to the struggles to be the ones to present it to the world, as audiences may treat these movies as a learning experience.  So if the wrong idea is shown in these films, a big breakout may happen and the movie’s success rate will plummet. However, certain directors know how to approach these issues respectfully and maturely. Overall, I believe when using a director who is outside of a group that the movie is trying to reflect, choose wisely and make sure they have researched properly and have high levels of respect for people.

 

Mad Max – Great use of Mise-En-Scene

A great example of amazing costume design is in the film “Mad Max: Fury Road” (George Miller, 2015) the English designer Jenny Beaven designed incredible costumes that turned regular people into vicious and relentless killers. Whether it is the use of makeup to make the “war boys” seem hollowed and concave or the use of costume to accentuate the horrible diseases these characters developed from years of being in this toxic wasteland, “Mad Max: Fury Road” earned Beaven her 11th Oscar nomination and is widely known as an incredible work of art.

 

Traits of a Film student

Knowledgeable: You must be aware of the world and the mechanics of objects to accurately portray them in movies.

Caring: You need to be caring to effectively implement a positive message within your movie.

Inquiring: You need to have a curiosity about the world around you and the world your creating through the movie.

Risk-takers: When making a movie or analysing one you need to be capable of finding features that may by uncongenial or could a theme in movies that may be considered inappropriate.

Balanced: You need to have equal focus on all aspects of a movie so all the mechanics work in harmony with each other.

Reflective: You need to be aware or observant in any flaws or shortcomings in your movie, so you can improve it and make as cohesive as possible. As well as being able to receive any possible criticism of your movie.

Principled: You should be consistent with your image and idea for a movie so you do not each up dramatically changing the plot and not finishing it on time.

Communicators: You need to regularly commutate your plans for your movie with your cast, so they know exactly how to preform there role and support your movie.

Open minded: You should be open and trying to unique ideas and concepts in your movie as to make it feel original and stand out compered to a lot of other movies.

Contexts for different movies

Historical films:

Toy Story: Innovated a popularised 3D animation, directed by John Lasseter

The Wizard of Oz: First movie to use colour, directed by Victor Fleming, Mrvyn LeRoy, King Vidor, George Cukor and Norman Taurog

Dr Strangelove: First movie to popularise the concept of political satire, Directed by Stanley Kubrick

Once upon a time in the West: Created a lot of the tropes frequently used in the western genre, Directed by Sergio Leone

Seventh Samurai: First Japanese produced film to find mainstream recondition outside of Japan. Directed by Akira Kurosawa

Alphaville: Popularised the genre of French new wave, Directed by Jean-Luc Godard

Art Films:

The shape of Water: A monster story inspired by some of H.P. Lovecrafts books, Directed by Guillermo del Toro

Submarine: A romantic drama about a boy trying to keep his family together, Directed by Richard Ayoade

Manhattan: A Woody Allen romantic comedy, Directed by Woody Allen

Love Simon: A comedy about a boy named Simon trying to tell his family he is gay, Directed by Greg Berlanti.

Mainstream Films:

Deadpool 2, A superhero comedy where the hero fights a cyborg, Directed by David Leitch

A bugs life: Pixar’s Second animated film about a group of bugs trying to fend of grasshoppers, Directed by John Lasseter

The breakfast club: A teen comedy about a group of people in detention, Directed by John Hughs

Battleship Potemkin: A Russian propaganda movie about a battle ship being revolted by the angry sailors working on it, Directed by Sergei Eisenstein

Fitzcarraldo: About a man getting funds for a opera house by smuggling rubber on a boat, Directed by Werner Herzog

This shows that there are a lot less Historical or innovative films being made, losing a lot of originality that could be found in early film. However there has been a dramatic increase of mainstream films recently like Deadpool 2 and A bugs life. However, this isn’t a bad thing as the quality of mainstream and art films like Deadpool 2 and The shape of Water have been constantly high

use of space in a film

My example of a good use of space in a film is this scene from Avengers: Age of Ultron

This use of space here is to show dominance and power in the character of Ultron.

This is done by having this shot seen below come in after Ultron has cut off the arm of the other character, Ulysses Klaw

This scene not only portrays ultron as a dominant character but also gives the audience a sense of his scale and size which again adds to this scenes portrayal of ultron as a large, scary and dominant character

Image result for age of ultron church scene

Film Classification

Name Date Director Genre Classification
Battleship Potemkin 1925 Sergei Einsenstein Drama/History Historically significant
Bugs Life 1998 John Lasseter Animated Comedy Mainstream Film
Shape Of Water 2017 Guillermo Del Toro Romantic Fantasy Art Film
Seven Samurai 1954 Akira Kurosawa Drama/Action Historically significant
The Breakfast Club 1985 John Hughes Comedy/Drama Historically significant
Wizard Of Oz 1939 Victor Fleming Fantasy Historically significant
Once upon A Time In The West 1968 Sergio Leone Drama/Action Mainstream film
Deadpool 2 2018 David Leitch Action/Comedy Mainstream Film
Submarine 2010 Richard Ayoade Melodrama Mainstream film
Love, Simon 2018 Greg Berlanti Comedy/Drama Mainstream Film`
Fitzcarraldo 1982 Werner Herzog Drama/Adventure Historically significant
Alphaville 1965 Jean-luc Godard Sci Fi Art Film
Manhattan 1975 Woody Alan Comedy Drama Historically Significant
Toy Story 1995 John Lasseter Animated Comedy Mainstream Film

 

Micro Elements

 

Micro elements

  •  Mise-en-scene
  • Cinematography
  • Editing
  • Sound

 

Lighting

In Seven the use of lighting keeps the audience on edge and even in the happier scenes they are still relatively dark and dull. In this scene they are having a meal and they are laughing but it isn’t a bright scene and this reminds the audience that there is still darkness in the film and this is just a small distraction.

Seven :David Fincher (1995)

 

Set design

In the Zodiac, a lot of the film is shot inside the newspapers office where the 2 main characters work, I like how the film is focused on the paper rather then the police station like most murder related films. Also in the office there are papers scattered everywhere showing the chaos of the situation. During the scenes in the office the audience can be at ease knowing this is the safe environment and then it will skip to another murder scene

David Fincher

 

Costume

Alice wears a dress throughout most of the film which gives her a sense of vulnerability and allows the audience to sympathies for her.

Tim Burton