Why the need for this an option is worth considering, as is the reasons why this is a good idea (or not!?) but are certainly worth reading and thinking about as case studies for your FM2 exam.
http://www.engadget.com/2016/03/29/flix-premiere/
Showing posts with label A-Level. Show all posts
Showing posts with label A-Level. Show all posts
Wednesday, 4 May 2016
The future of the cinema is at home?!
Why the need for this an option is worth considering, as is the reasons why this is a good idea (or not!?) but are certainly worth reading and thinking about as case studies for your FM2 exam.
http://www.engadget.com/2016/03/29/flix-premiere/
Tuesday, 9 February 2016
Momentum takes just £46 at the Box Office! Why?
Great for GCSE Industry Analysis and AS Level case studies on distribution: you can almost literally see where the £46 spent watching the film went.
http://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/nov/24/morgan-freeman-thriller-momentum-flops-uk-cinema
129 of the greatest shots in movie history?
An interesting collection of stills from films via a BuzzFeed post, linked below.
Some wonderful images here.
http://www.buzzfeed.com/danieldalton/there-will-be-scrolling#.dka168LXe
Friday, 19 December 2014
Invaluable resource for AS Film Studies FM2
I was recently told about this blog and it's quite, quite brilliant. It's well worth bookmarking and worth paying regular attention to; we'll certainly be doing so in lessons and in homework over the coming months.
Tuesday, 24 June 2014
The making of Batman (1989)
A really interesting video has turned up online to coincide with the 25th Anniversary of Tim Burton's Batman film from 1989.
The video is a 'behind the scenes' style video that looks at various aspects of the film before it was made, showing investors why the idea of a dark and gritty Batman would be a successful one. It seems as though the film was made to show the people whose money was needed to make the film that they should continue to give the film money even though they weren't convinced the film would make money. There is also some really nice background to Batman comic books and the evolution of the character, so could be a really useful watch for both GCSE Film paper 1 and for FM2 section of AS Film.
Well worth 20 minutes of your time:
The video is a 'behind the scenes' style video that looks at various aspects of the film before it was made, showing investors why the idea of a dark and gritty Batman would be a successful one. It seems as though the film was made to show the people whose money was needed to make the film that they should continue to give the film money even though they weren't convinced the film would make money. There is also some really nice background to Batman comic books and the evolution of the character, so could be a really useful watch for both GCSE Film paper 1 and for FM2 section of AS Film.
Well worth 20 minutes of your time:
Tuesday, 14 January 2014
The Art of writing a script that makes money...
An interesting little video on the BBC website about how one company in America analyses the contents of scripts, views the themes in the film and then decides if the film will make money based on past trends to help inform people who invest in films whether it's worth making the scripts that are available to buy. It's a horrible way of looking at film, given that it's an art form, but there is clearly a set of reasons why some films perform better than others and some of these are explained in this short video, linked below:
Thursday, 19 December 2013
Making a film with no money.
Making a film on a very limited budget is not only part of our Media and Film courses in school, but is how many famous Directors developed their craft and their honed their skills. Without a budget you have to be innovative, smart and resourceful. There are limitless possibilities when it comes to making a film with no budget and the useful website Raindance providing 10 tips for Filmmakers working with no money.
Wednesday, 7 August 2013
X-Men: Days of Future Past begins viral campaign
Last week saw the unveiling of a website, Trask Industries.com that marks the start of what is promising to be a long campaign in advertising the latest X-Men film, Days of Future Past, which is released next Summer. With The Wolverine film now released, attention has seemingly turned to the new X-Men film which is unites many of the cast of the original trilogy from the 2000s with characters from the last film, First Class. Added to this cast is Bolivar Trask, played by the quite brilliant Peter Dinklange, as a military scientist who develops a robot army called Sentinels to track down and destroy mutants with the 'X' gene.
The website features an astonishing amount of detail for a 'fake' company and shows that 20th Century Fox are obviously planning on throwing money at the film to make it a success.
Have a look around at the webiste-this is great example evidence for Paper 1 of the Film GCSE and would certainly help in developing your own ideas.
3D revenues continue to fall
In news which will surprise few, The Wrap recently reported on the decline in revenue for 3D films. Report below from The Dissolve, with link to original article.
"A report in TheWrap delivers some discouraging news for studios, and some potentially encouraging news for moviegoers who are sick of paying extra for poorly converted 3D. The percentage of movies’ total box office revenue earned from 3D has been trending downwards in recent months, and it continued to hit new record lows in the last few weeks, with the returns for The Wolverine and Turbo the worst yet for 3D animated and 3D action movies, respectively:
“3D showings of Turbo accounted for just 25 percent of its total box office, which represents the format's worst showing yet. The Wolverine fared only slightly better, with 3D screenings contributing 30 percent of its $53.1 million opening weekend. That represents a new low point for 3D action releases. Both breakdowns were substantially worse than this summer’s previous worst showings for 3D, when only 31 percent of Monsters University’s $82 million debut came from 3D screenings, while roughly 34 percent of World War Z’s $66 million bow came from the format.”
Heralded as a new breakthrough in visual storytelling just a few years ago, new 3D is looking more and more like old 3D: a gimmick that audiences eventually rejected. Even as someone who can see the potential in 3D and has enjoyed the format on rare occasions, I don't blame them. All too often the 3D adds nothing but a surcharge and a thin layer of gunk on top of the visuals.
The problem with 3D isn’t so much that it’s bad, but that it’s inconsistent. From movie to movie, from theater to theater, even from seat to seat, you have no idea what you’re going to get. Some movies converted to 3D during post-production actually look pretty good. (I thought Star Trek Into Darkness was a decent stereoscopic experience, for example). Others look dark and dingy. (I’m certain I would have enjoyed Pacific Rim more, and made more sense of the movie’s dark, rainy battles without having to contend with the 3D). Movies actually shot in 3D are generally pretty solid, but with fewer and fewer trained projectionists on the job at multiplexes, even those can be a crapshoot. In private conversations with colleagues, I often find people have totally different experiences of 3D movies; critics who attend one screening say something looked great; people who attend another say it looked terrible.
With that sort of track record, why pay extra? Recently, I received my first press invite for a screening that offered either 2D or 3D options. With zero hesitation, I picked 2D (the movie was not shot in 3D). After the screening, I asked a fellow critic who saw the 3D version how it looked. Their reply: “Fine. It wasn’t distracting.” When unobtrusiveness is the threshold of competence in a medium that is defined by intruding into the space between us and the screen, there’s something seriously wrong.
Maybe these numbers will encourage studios to reconsider the rampant overuse of 3D and restrict the format to movies actually shot in it. Then again, TheWrap says 3D movies are still as popular as ever overseas, where they continue to bring in “80 percent to 90 percent of a film’s box office take in places like Russia and China.” Given the primary importance of foreign revenues on all things Hollywood circa 2013, that means we can still expect the studios to keep shoving 3D in our faces, like a man hitting a paddle ball directly at a camera lens, for the foreseeable future."
Tuesday, 18 June 2013
The death of the film industry?
Last week Steven Spielberg and George Lucas gave an address to the University of California upon the opening of a new building for the famous USC School of Cinematic Arts. Their talk made international headlines as Spielberg in particular, suggested that he believed a massive crash was on the horizon of the film industry, with a radical change in the industry coming soon. One of the most interesting, if perhaps fanciful, suggestions from Spielberg was that Hollywood films may have to charge prices at the cinema that are reflective of the budget of the film. He cited an example whereby the audience "[are] gonna have to pay $25 for the next Iron Man, you're probably only going to have to pay $7 to see Lincoln".
To an extent, this already happens: you pay significantly more to see a 3D IMAX presentation that you for a 2D film, but will this soon be effected by the cost of the film to make? An interesting point of discussion certainly and one that brings in a lot of ideas for FM2 of the AS Level.
Have a read of what was said:
Wednesday, 12 June 2013
How NOT to make a film: The curious case of World War Z
Below is a link a fantastic article by Vanity Fair on Zombie-apocolypse film World War Z which is just about to be released in the UK. Based on a book of the same name, this $200million Blockbuster was originally to be released 6 months ago and despite Brad Pitt starring and producing, seems to be headed for an uncertian performance at the Box Office. Vanity Fair recently published the story of how the rights to adapt such a highly regarded book (Simon Pegg said that it's "An absolute must have ... Brooks [the author] infuses his writing with such precise detail and authenticity, one wonders if he knows something we don't') into a film went so wrong and so quickly.
There is some wonderful insight here and would be a great case study and example for AS Students studying Hollywood, the film industry and the pre and post-production issues that can beset a film.
This is well worth a few minutes of your time and worth bookmarking for later use.
Wednesday, 29 May 2013
Louis Leterrier interview reveals lack of control over films he directed.
The director of The Incredible Hulk and Clash of the Titans, Louis Leterrier, is currently promoting his promising looking new film Now You See Me.
In an interesting interview on Huffington Post, Leterrier reveals how he wanted to cast Mark Ruffalo in The Incredible Hulk, as opposed to Edward Norton who was apparently cast at the demands of the studio, Marvel.
He also explains about his lack of control over Clash of the Titans, and criticises the poor use of 3D on the film.
Have a read via the link below to get an interesting insight into the control that a Director has and the way in which large studios operate.
In an interesting interview on Huffington Post, Leterrier reveals how he wanted to cast Mark Ruffalo in The Incredible Hulk, as opposed to Edward Norton who was apparently cast at the demands of the studio, Marvel.
He also explains about his lack of control over Clash of the Titans, and criticises the poor use of 3D on the film.
Have a read via the link below to get an interesting insight into the control that a Director has and the way in which large studios operate.
Tuesday, 28 May 2013
A2 Revision: FM4, Spectatorship
A PowerPoint that collates a range of key ideas for the FM4 Spectatorhship area of A2 Film Studies. There may be some formatting issues with the presentation as it was created using Keynote and there are often compatibility issues.
Tuesday, 21 May 2013
The future of release paths? A Field in England
Ben Wheatley's latest film, A Film in England, is to receive a unique, multi-platform release from Film4.0, their first feature release.
More details can be found here:
Live for Films.com report
Thursday, 14 June 2012
Shot Sizes and Angles
A quick overview on the different shot sizes and angles for camera work.
A useful video we used in Media Studies for people looking to make their own films:
This PowerPoint from SlideShare has some good explanations and also includes more definitions about movements:
Finally, this website has some excellent examples and good set of explanations. http://www.mediacollege.com/video/shots/
This PowerPoint from SlideShare has some good explanations and also includes more definitions about movements:
Finally, this website has some excellent examples and good set of explanations. http://www.mediacollege.com/video/shots/
Camera Movements
Bit of revision on camera movements after the lesson today where we discussed these in relation to the exam paper from 2011.
This first video is designed for people making films but has some very good explanations and excellent examples to reinforce the movements being shown.
Please note: this video is American in origin and so may use slightly different terms (such as a trucking movement, which we would call a tracking movement).
This second video is used for Media Studies and again designed for people who are looking to make films but has some very easy to understand explanations for camera movements:
Finally, here are a couple of guides from SlideShare:
This second video is used for Media Studies and again designed for people who are looking to make films but has some very easy to understand explanations for camera movements:
Finally, here are a couple of guides from SlideShare:
Wednesday, 11 April 2012
Useful Websites: Art of the Title
Over the next few posts I'll be explaining about some of the Useful Websites that are linked on this blog. They've all been chosen to either help your work in Film Studies both at GCSE and AS / A-Level, but to also develop your interest in all things related to the Film Industry.
In this post we'll take a quick look at Art of the Title.
Art of the Title is a website which looks at the title sequences of films (the information about who stars in and who made the film that you see at the start of a film before any 'action' happens). Those of you who have been in some of my Film lessons will know how much I go on about watching Credits, both at the start and end of films, as they provide you with lots of really interesting and useful information about the film. For filmakers, credits have developed over the last 70 years and are now usually quite long, very artistic and designed to not only tell you about the film but also set up the style of the film. (At some point in the near future I'll do a blog post on the importance of credits and credits sequences-especially useful for Coursework both at GSCE and AS-Level.)
With credit sequences being so interesting and artistic in modern cinema, Art of the Title looks at these and breaks them down and explore the style of the credits, the techniques used and usually, interviews some of the key people who helped make them. Below are some pictures of the sorts of things you might find on Art of the Title.
Each film is given it's own post on the blog of the website. You can select the credits for each film by using the side bar on the right hand side of the website. Each post usually starts with an HD clip of the titles from the film, as seen above.
The blog posts usually then goes through some really specific detail about why certain images were chosen and the influences on them, especially in establishing the style of the film.
Some of the posts will also have an interview with someone who helped make the credits and then show how these credits were actually made.
Recently, Art of the Title has also begun to look at the Title Credits of videogames as this is an area which is rapidly growing and many 'big' videogames now have interesting and complicated Title Credit sequences.
Art of the Title is a really interesting look at an area of cinema that many people don't realise just how complicated and how much thought and time is placed on. The website could be useful in coursework for GCSE and AS Level work, but also if you have any interest in art and design, possibly as a career after school.
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