http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxrF-X1yn6Q

Awful film but at the same time its amazing.

Film Studies – Activity 3

 

Sort the following films into three main categories: Mainstream Film, Art Film and Historically Significant Film

 

A Bugs Life:  Directed by John Lasseter, released in 1998. An animation film created by Disney Pixar. I believe it is a Mainstream Film, as it followed the success of the Toy Story Franchise. I don’t believe it is an art film as in the same year Ants was released with a similar narrative therefore it devalues it’s artistic value. I dont think its as historically significant as its predecessor Toy Story.

 

Battleship Potemkin: Directed by Sergei Eisenstein, released in 1925. I believe this film to be a historically significant film, as it proves to be so as both in the industry and historically in general, shedding light on Soviet culture to a mass audience, and was considerably critically acclaimed. It appears to lean heavier towards historical value over artistic or mainstream.

 

The Breakfast Club: Directed by John Hughes, released in 1985. I believe The Breakfast Club to be an Art film, as it became a sort of cornerstone of Cult films, including iconic moments that are still referenced in the present day. I don’t believe it to be a Mainstream film as the budget for the movie was only estimated to be $1 million, yet managed to obtain $51 million in box office. I do believe it has historic significance in regards to it being noted as one of the most iconic high-school movies of all time, however i believe during that era other movies such as the Terminator and Bladerunner would be more appropriate examples of such.

 

The Wizard of Oz: Directed by Victor Fleming, Mervyn LeRoy, King Vidor, George Cukor, Norman Taurog, released in 1939. I believe this film to be of Historical significance as it was created in the 1930s and was the first ever movie to be released in Technicolour. I don’t believe it to have been a Mainstream film at the time, as the box office margin in comparison to the budget made for a small profit, indicating the movie was not as culturally acclaimed upon release. It can be argued as an Art film, due to the movie surfacing as the first under Technicolour, incorporated with a musical film, yet its origin of a novel devalues its originality.

 

Deadpool 2: Directed by David Leitch, released in 2018. I believe this to be a Mainstream Film, as primarily it follows an onslaught of Superhero movies that have been released in the last decade, without mentioning the movie being a sequel. The box office can further strengthen this opinion, as the profits made were considerable. This isn’t historically significant nor artistic, as it derives from an already created form of media and was a follow up of a movie.

 

Toy Story: Directed by John Lasseter, released in 1995. I believe this to be a Historically Significant film, as the film was critically acclaimed upon release, and was the first feature-length computer-animated film and the first feature film produced by Pixar. It can be argued as a Mainstream film as it has cemented its status into pop culture, even being highly known by the population to this day, and resulted in the iconic Pixar movie franchise. It can be argued as an Art film due to its change in retrospect to the process of animation features, and modernising the process intertwining computer technology.

The Seventh Samurai: Directed by Akira Kurosawa, released in 1954. I believe this is a historically significant film, as it is ranked highly with critics as one of the greatest films of all time, and has been highly influential in the industry, being one of the most adapted and remade movies ever.

 

The Shape of Water: Directed by Guillermo del Toro, released in 2017.  I believe this to be an Art film, as it doesn’t fully follow the regular blueprint of movies in the modern day. It’s plot is original in retrospect to other recent releases and is in the genre of fantasy.

 

Submarine: Directed by Richard Ayoade, released in 2010. I believe this to be an art film, due to the budget only being £1.2m, as the box office was not extremely successful, yet it was critically acclaimed.

 

Manhattan: Directed by Woody Allen, released in 1979. I believe this to be an art film, as the visuals exemplified with the intended use of black and white. Also, Woody Allen Directed, wrote and starred in the movie, which can argue that the movie managed to remain true to its artistic quality.

 

Once Upon a Time in the West: Directed by Sergio Leone, released in 1968. I believe this spaghetti-Western to be historically significant, as Sergio Leone is an iconic director in relation to Westerns, directing The Good, the Bad and the Ugly and the Man with no Name. Also, the movie was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being “culturally, historically or aesthetically significant”.

Pre-ALevel Task

Movies have been a cornerstone of entertainment for the public for generations, evolving as each generation has gone through time. It has been the most visual form of narrative since the dawn of storytelling, therefore film creators have been able to use their craft to portray representations as subjective or as direct as willingly, or in some cases unwillingly, intended.

Mise-en-scene is the colour on the canvas. It is vital for the Mise-en-scene to mirror the intent the narrative describes, as it visualises for the viewer instances and detail that a book would be able to portray with a few sentences, whereas a movie is a frame by frame visual narration. Therefore, in perspective of a worker behind the camera, the mise-en-scene is what will bring out the descriptive adjectives and linguistics the script, or novel, possesses.

Cinematography also plays an important role when making a film. When reading prose, we rarely think of the angle we are involving ourselves in the story from. However, when directing a movie, it could make or break the scene, especially when making decisions like zoom, quality,stability etc. However, in some cases there can be decisions whether not to include cinematography to further signify a moment in a film. For an example, if in a scene a murder was to occur, and the camera panned to the shadows of the characters when it occurs, it leaves more to the imagination to the audience, which may be more appropriate for a drama genre movie, whereas you may want to signify this scene in full detail if the film is meant to be particularly violent.

Genre is a key element in the production of a movie. It immediately gives you a narrative template, a specific target audience and how reliant as a film maker you are in your themes and messages, factoring the seriousness of the film. However, I believe intertwining genres in movies will grant a better chance of a good film. Intertwining genres will widen the audience for your movie, gives it more opportunities for marketing strategy and a higher chance of pleasing possible investors or producers. Examples of good intertwining genres are:  Marvel (Action-Comedy) It Remastered (Horror-Drama-Comedy) and Titanic (Drama-Romance-Tragedy).

In conclusion, I believe all these elements are key in producing a good film. However, for there to be a great film to be produced anytime soon, the formula has to be changed. The cinema industry is bleeding in our era of online access and streaming, therefore producers and investors are less and less interested in originality and more interested in revenue regardless of content, which is ultimately a struggle to oppose in instance of convenience.