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 Hollywood. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hollywood. 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
Saturday, 17 October 2015
Why Cinemas are refusing to show new Paranormal Activity film...
And no, it's not because it's too scary.
One of the key issues with cinema chains is the period of time which a film cannot be seen AFTER it's been in the cinema. This is sometimes known as the 'cinema-to-digital window' and typically means that a film cannot be sold to watch at home until 90 days after the film has been in the cinema.
However, Paramount, the distribution company in charge of the latest Paranormal Activity film, 'The Ghost Dimension' have struck a deal so that the film can be rented/purchased as soon as 17 days after the film opens in cinemas.
This has annoyed cinema chains to the extent that many are now refusing to show the film and it will open in 1,400 North American locations when it opens 23 October, compared to 2,883 for the last film. This will massively impact the film's box office performance, but could open up the chance of a strong home viewing performance.
This is a really interesting and contemporary issue which allows you to consider why Paramount has opted to do this, what it says about cinematic releases, the home market, 3D as a format and the evolution of the Paranormal Activity franchise.
Read more below:
Thursday, 21 May 2015
Really useful video for revision
This video below is a brilliant way to quickly go over many of the key points, characters, themes and narratives of Marvel films since 2008. It goes into a lot of detail about things that might not be important to the Paper 1 GCSE exam such as the comics and backstory, BUT, it's a really handy recap about some film titles, characters, super powers and other things that you should be revising by now!
Have a watch, make some notes, answer some questions in the revision guide and revision powerpoint and remember; this is just the tip of the iceberg-go to YouTube and search for other clips from other superhero films.
Have a watch, make some notes, answer some questions in the revision guide and revision powerpoint and remember; this is just the tip of the iceberg-go to YouTube and search for other clips from other superhero films.
Monday, 23 March 2015
The Business of Film Podcasts
These podcasts narrated by the brilliant Mark Kermode, are an incredibly useful tool for AS Film Studies, as well as the Industry Analysis section of GCSE Film Studies controlled conditions work.
The link to the series is here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/series/businessoffilm but I've also embedded them below for you to listen to.
Each episode is only around 30 mins in total and will be a really useful insight into the film industry. Some of the language can be really specific and assume that the listener already knows a lot about film, but these are a really enjoyable and informative listen and are highly recommended.
Episode 1: https://www.dropbox.com/s/x1xc97h0bqw1uhb/businessoffilm%20ep1.mp3?dl=0
Episode 2: https://www.dropbox.com/s/f5zzx1v9j3joj0s/businessoffilm%20ep2.mp3?dl=0
Episode 3: https://www.dropbox.com/s/wnlhzagv03pp382/businessoffilm%20ep3.mp3?dl=0
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:
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:
Friday, 14 June 2013
GCSE Paper 1 Practice: Superhero films
Below you will find copies of the Practice Exam Paper that we looked at in class.
The clip you need for questions 1 and 2 can be found on the link above the exam paper.
Remember: you can only watch it 3 times when answering questions 1 and 2 and when answering, you CANNOT watch the clip. Obviously, I can't control that here, but it's excellent practice for the exam to follow these instructions.
There is also a resource for Question 3 to be used as well.
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.
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