Kick Ass.

Mark Millar was the executive producer. He had previous produced Wanted but in this film he got more involved in the post-production work like casting, drafting the script, costume, sets and location. He was also involved during filming, which took 14 weeks, 14 hours a day. The film was based on the Marvel Comic, Kick-Ass, which was written by Mark Millar. Millar started writting the comics in 2008 but the last comic of the series came out just before the film came out.

There were some problems with script, Mark Millar and Matthew Vaughan, the director, disagreed on the way it should end. Matthew Vaughan wanted to have a happy ending where the boy gets the girl, however Mark Millar had written a different ending for the comic where the boy doesn't get the girl. Another problem they had was they couldn't even afford a C-grade Marvel comic character so they had to release the film around the same time the last comic was released. Matthew Vaughan had a huge problem in finding people to finance his film because it was about a C-grade Marvel character, so he decided to raise the $30 million that was needed himself.

Matthew Vaughan said "I think that the British Film Industry has the potential to be the biggest and best film industry because we have the best actors, directors,studios and production crew the only thing we don't have is the money. We should stop being service providers" He says that British directors tend to make arthouse films because they have failed to make it big in Hollywood. He thinks that if "greedy" directors and actors didn't ask for large amounts of money up front and took a smaller salary it would give the industry a chance to grow.

Matthew Vaughan saved money in production by shooting in London rather than having to deal with the difficulties of transporting sets etc to Manhattan, where the film is set. They did a lot of the action scenes in Estree Studios with large green screens, high-resolution images of Manhattan was then added later using Media Composer program. The SpectraMatte feature can adjust details to make the backdrop look very realistic. Matthew Vaughan wanted to get high quality recordings of the original production sound so the actors didn't have to re-create the emotion later. He used multiple radio and boom mics, the audio was then imported onto Pro Tools program and edited.

The film was rated a 15 which may not have helped the box office sales because the target audience was meant to be young teenage boys who are into the superhero genre. However, Matthew Vaughan was not surprised at the rating and had ignored suggestions from Sony, the distributors, to tone down the language.

There was a lot controversy surrounding the film, some objected to the 11-year old girl using strong lanuage, also the strong theme of violence throughout the film. However, this did not effect the success of the film as much as it could have. Usually protests against that kind of thing would boost sales because it promotes awareness of the film and people want to see what the fuss is about for themselves. However, the main controversy talks came from the filmmakers themselves in a bid to increase promotion, and no large scale organisations made publicized protests so the controversy didn't really effect the box office sales.

The soundtrack used a lot of well-known songs and artists, like Elvis, a cover of Bad Reputation (although in the film Joan Jett's version was used) The Prodigy, Ellie Goulding and The Pretty Reckless. Some critised the use of well-known and "overused" songs as distracting. "Kick-Ass is let down by a soundtrack with too much baggage of its own"

Four Quadrant Film and Advertising.

Male: 0-24
Female: 0-24
Male: 25+
Female: 25+

A film targeted at all audience quadrants. Cross-marketing is used to attract all groups. However they are criticised for being too simple and not having a very good storyline.

A four quadrant film would have to be a U, PG or a 13 certification.

Advertising
Above the line - is advertising through media like TV, cinema, radio, magazines/newspapers, web banners and web search engines. This type of advertising is conventional and is considered impersonal.

Below the line - is efficient and cost-effective for targeting limited and specific groups of the audience. This can be tie-ins with other products and companies.

Film Financing.

The producer (studio or production company) has to get all the funding for the production before the filming starts. There is always the problem of not knowing whether or not the film will make money - whether it will a success or a failure.

The Government sometimes provide grants for productions, they sometimes have schemes designed to encourage creativity and develop new talent.

A film production can benefit a country by:

• employment opportunities - in the production, catering, accomatation, transport etc.
• develops culture
• advertises the area/location to an international audience - promotes tourism. For example, the Twilight series increased the amount of tourists visiting Forks, where the book/film is set and filmed, considerably.

The UK Film Council used to offer subsidies to filmmakers in the UK meeting a certain criteria. The National Lottery also offers subsidies and grants to UK-based filmmakers. 

The UK introduced the Producers' Tax Credit in 2007 to encourage film producers to film in the UK. This helped bring large scale productions to the UK. For example, The Dark Knight was filmed at Pinewood and Shepperton studios.

Pre-sales involves the producter selling the rights to distributors of the film before it is made, which is the most common method of film financing. In order to secure their investment, distributors expect certain elements that will guarantee success. For example, certain famous actors/ directors/ storyline etc. Pre-sales are usually done by region e.g. Europe, North America. They can also be made of DVD and TV distribution rights which is likely to be the case if the movie studio distributing the film is part of the same conglomerate as a TV station e.g. Horizonal Intergration. This also stops piracy.

Representation of Ethnicity.

Extract from Misfits --> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jcngcqA6zHw&feature=channel

There are lots of different representations of ethnicity in this TV drama.

This is Curtis. He portrays the typical stereotype of black British teenagers because he is doing community service for being caught with drugs and he seems blase about getting a criminal record in this extract because his anwser to what he has learnt is "Don't get caught". However he is often seen wearing a Cross on a chain around his neck connotes that he consciously aware that it was wrong and he is feeling guilty about his actions. He is an ex-athlete which represents another typical stereotype.

Nathan is Irish. He is portrayed as quite a sarcastic, insensitive character. He doesn't get on with his Dad and his Mum has kicked him out of the house. He represents the typical Irish stereotype with his funny charm. He is quite confident and laid back which is a typical Irish quality and he is not afraid to speak his mind.

Kelly is labelled a "Chav" by the others, she is quite a gobby and aggressive character and will often jump into defensive mode if anyone crosses her. She doesn't use proper English and often talks quite loudly. She wears hair tied back tightly in a ponytail to the side of her head and often wears large gold hoop earrings and other gold jewellery. Her superpower is the ability to read minds which shows a different side to the character and challenges the stereotype of Chavs and that she does actually care what people think of her.

Alisha is represented as slightly more glamorous than Kelly as she wears more feminine clothes. She is very aware of her attraction and likes the male attention she gets. She is representaed as a street-wise confident character.

American and British Film Production Essay.

American and British Film Production Essay

British and American Film Industry.

To qualify as a British film the needs to meet three of the following six criteria:

• A British director
• A British producer
• Predominantly British cast
• British production company
• Subject matter that informs on the British experience
• British identity defined by the BFI in Sight and Sound

Co-productions with British input are often classed as British films.

BBFC - An independant, non-governmental body which classifies and censors film, video as well as computer and console - based games released in the UK.

British Council - The official UK agency for international cultural relations. Its film department promotes new British film internationally principally through festivals and showcases.

BFI - Aims to support, develop and promote the art forms of moving image.

UK Film Council - Promotes understanding and appreciation of Britain's rich film and TV heritage and culture.

British Film Council - Government backed agency for film in the UK ensuring that the econmoic, cultural and educational aspects of film are effectively represented at home and abroad.

What do the British Box Office figures tell us about the British Film Industry?
It shows that American films are more popular in Britain than British films. Due Date, Jackass 3D, Saw 3D and Paranormal Activity 2 are some of the most popular films at the moment. This is slightly unusual as they are not four-quadrant pictures however they are sequels of popular films which would have drawn people in. This shows that the British Film Industry produce more specialised/ niche films which don't appeal to wider and larger audiences which is why they get low box office figures both in the UK and the US.

What do stars bring to a film? Why do producers use certain stars?

• Guaranteed sales - good box office figures
• Brings in their fans
• Narrative image - star persona/ typecast
• Interest and attention from the press = publicity
• Expectations of genre
• Used as main market feature

How much do you agree with this statement "Hollywood films have movie stars, That's why they are more appealing to UK audiences that UK films"
I partly agree with this because Due Date, the highest grossing film in the Box Office at the moment starred Robert Downey Jr. who would attract fans of action films and it might appeal to some women as he is considered to be an attractive actor. Also Zach Galifianakis is a comic actor and would attract audiences who enjoyed The Hangover. Movie stars are often very successful at attract an audience to a film which they might not otherwise see. An example of this would be Valkyrie which is about the final assassination attempts on Hitler's life a story which is unlikely to have a wide appeal. It was a drama rather than an action film which would have appealed even less to some however the appearance of Tom Cruise boosted the box office figures to over $200 million which is unlikely to have been the case if there had ont been a very popular movie star cast as  the main character. 

However Hollywood films do well without having well-known movie stars for example Saw 3D and Paranormal Activity 2 did not star well-known actors but came 4th and 5th in the UK Box Office which suggest that audiences don't watch a movie just for the stars. The movies' genre might go some way to explain why these films did so well because the appeal of horror/thriller films is the special effects, the plot and how the fear is portrayed rather than who is playing the main characters. So I disagree that the movie stars is the only reason Hollywood films do better than UK films. I think the budget available for the films is another reason why UK films don't do as well. Hollywood films have major production companies behind them who can afford to spend money on special effects, CGI etc that makes films, especially action and fantasy/sci-fi films so successful. Whereas British film companies often don't have enough money to use a lot of special effects which makes action films so appealing to worldwide audiences.

Overall I agree that Hollywood films with movie stars are more appealing to worldwide audiences than UK films however in some cases the film can carry itself without a star in the lead role. Other factors which lead to Hollywood films having more appeal than UK films would be their higher budgets which often results in better quality and more special effects which hold a wide appeal for many different film genres.

Would the world be different if we relied only on the US film industry?

• US films about wealth/money
• White male dominance
• Foreigners/English are the bad guys
• Women are represented as skinny/ petit/ blonde/ lacking intelligence/ vulnerable

Hypodermic model - The audience is passive and are injected with ideas and beliefs by what they see.

If only American films were available we would lose British identity/culture. British Film Council offer grants to film makers to keep British culture "alive".

Moon.

Reviews from Rotten Tomatoes.com from Top Critics:

A heartfelt, if self-consciously derivative drama of human loneliness. Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian

Moon actually gets a little dull in the later reels, just when it should be peaking in mystery and tension. Dennis Harvey, Variety

The film's ideas are interesting, but don't feel entirely worked out, and Mr. Rockwell's intriguingly strange performance (or performances) is left suspended, without the context that would give Sam's plight its full emotional and philosophical impact. A.O. Scott, The New York Times.

 A well-assembled sci-fi thriller. Duane Byrge, Hollywood Reporter.

This film received mixed reviews - some people think that it was a powerful, moving performance by Sam Rockwell about loneliness. However some think that its a bit slow, dull and nothing much happens because it is slow paced action and basic special effects.  

This is not a Four Quadrant picture because it is certificate 15 which means a children would not watch it. Also, it may not appeal to most teenagers and adults - it would appeal to sci-fi fans and people who have seen Space 2001 because there are strong links to that film's style, with the basic special effects, slow paced action and set. Also people who like lots of special effects, CGI and fast-pace action are not likely to watch and enjoy this film because there are not many special effects and the story is more about Sam's experience in space alone, and it's effects on him rather than action-based story about exploring space.

British and American Film.

THE BOAT THAT ROCKED.



THE HANGOVER.

Disability Representation.

Adam Hills is a stand-up comedian who has an artificial leg. In this clip he talks about his experiences at airports and the Paralympics.





I really like him, I think he's hilarious and I really like how his stand-up is not just about his disability, he has a wide range of topics. But I also like how he can laugh at people's situation without sounding offensive or insensitive. The way he represents himself shows the audience that he isn't all that different from them - he talks about everyday life, things everyone can relate to and other topical subjects. When he talks about his disability, he usually mocks the awkwardness and uncertainty that people feel around disabled people.


This is the beginning clip of Coming Down The Mountain, a one-off drama about a boy who as a brother with Downs syndrome. This clip shows the negative side of disability and the effects it has on the lives of people around them. In this story, David feels neglected and resentful towards his brother, Ben, because he is made to look after him and Ben seems to be unaware of the effect he has on his brother,which adds to David's frustration. In this clip, Ben is represented as childlike and totally dependant on his brother and parents. Also, the way David is represented is important to how the audience see Ben, because David is the narrator he is bias and his feelings effect the description of Ben. David is represented as a typical angst-ridden teenager, argumentative and frustrated with the way he is treated by his parents and the fact he has to look after Ben all the time. This representation shows that people can react negatively, almost violently towards disabilities rather than feeling awkward and not wishing to offend. This clip shows that David (and other siblings of people with disabilities) can feel resentful and angry because their parents and other people treat the two brothers differently.

Audience Types.

Mainstream: Unlikely ever to view anything other than major Hollywood style blockbusters.

Mainstream plus: Generally mainstream but apt to see less mainstream films on a few occasions.

Aficionados: Tend to view a mix of films including major foreign language titles and can be encouraged to become even more adventurous in their viewing choices.

Film buffs: Eschew mainstream films in favour of more extreme, esoteric challenging and difficult subject matter/ specialised films.