There are many films that rely on Hollywood for their production and marketing, in short money, however there are many independent films that do acquire their own money from UK sources. For example Miss Potter was funded by the UK film council.
The UK film council gets their money from the National Lottery and some money is funded by the the government to ensure that UK independent films are marketed and represented well all over the UK as well as in other countries, most of the films have an economical, cultural and educational films.
Miss Potter received a contribution from the UK film council which was budgeted to around 1,200,000, and when it was released it made the same amount of money and more, in DVDs and ticket sales. As the film was about the Author Beatrix Potter, her books already had a fan base, from the older generation to the younger genereation that have been brought up reading her books, because of the huge fan base this alreday showed that the film would make money and it was a definate that there were a lot of die- hard fans that would go and see the film.
Although Beatrix Potter had a fan base already, Renee Zellweger also has a huge fan base form all over the world, especially in America for the film Me, Myself and Irene and in England for her fan base in the Bridget Jones movies. This also may have contributed to Miss Potter making money.
Friday 20 March 2009
Wednesday 11 March 2009
London to Brighton
Year: 2006
Locations and Settings:
- Trains/ Train station- sense of security and a new beginning when on the train
- Brighton Pier/ beach- sense of freedom and safety and new start
- Back end streets of London- (Same as Bullet Boy and Sweet sixteen) Danger and entrapment- reflects Joanne and Kelly's state of being
- Derek's flat- Dirtiness, squalid place of business for pimping
- Ducan's house- White coloured walls- white usually associated with clinical, purity / in contrast with Joanne's red jumper and lipstick, red usually assosicated with passion or danger and in contrast to the disgusting Paedophilia of Duncan
- The Woods- Mostly set in the night where woods are, maybe to show that woods reflect concealment or protection from the outside law.
- Devon/ Joanne's Nan's cottage- a new beginning - white paint - purity and safety in this case
Narrative Structure:
- Time shifts to different places and settings- The characters' knew more than the spectator did, and slowly revealed what was happening through out the film
- Use of black screen transistions to show time passing or a switch to a different setting
- Filmed from Kelly's point of view women vicitimised by men- men always retain a sense of power and authority through out the film
- Some straight cuts to show passing of time
Characterisation:
- Kelly- A prostitue from back end streets of London- turned mother figure to Joanne
- Joanne- An 11 year old runaway, had her body sold to Ducan through Derek
- Derek- Pimp, who's life is on the line becuase of Kelly and Joanne and may be killed by Stuart (Ducan's son)
- Stuart- Gangster/ millonaire through his father- sees father dead and sets of to find the culprit or revenge
- Duncan- Stuart's father- paedophile who wants "business" from Derek
- Chum- sub character - slave to Derek
Ideology:
- Working class citizens- pimps, gangsters, prostitues- use of colloquial language and curse words
- White community/world- mostly except from Chum (half - caste)
- Women- mainly prostitues, friends and victims
- Men- Gangsters, Pimps, some authority- always in power
Genre features:
- Similar shots to Fargo- establishing shots and a door frame and bakcground shot
- Spectator involvement- filmed in a documentary type- way (sense of realisim) however more cinematic than Bullet boy and Sweet Sixteen- because of the "letterbox"/ widescreen filming technique
- Letterbox technique- could represent claustraphobia of the film/ entrapment similar to Bullet Boy and Sweet Sixteen
- Lighting- In London it's mostly dark, dangerous and dismal- reflecting the danger for the lives of Kelly, Joanne, Derek and Chum
- Lighting- In Brighton mainly light- symbolises sense of freedom and saftey
- Slow motion - when Joanne and Kelly are going into Duncan's house- represents impact and significance to the film - "defining moment " of the film - what the film is centred around
- Music on the slow motion scene- Moonlight Symphony- same as Elephant
Wednesday 4 March 2009
Bullet Boy
Narrative Structure
- In Bullet boy, there was a lot of spectator invovlement, the same as Sweet Sixteen, where the spectator was like part of the family, or part of the gang culture with Ricky and Wisdom.
- I noticed that there was quite a few establishing shots, to show wide open spaces, in contradiction to the city where the feeling of claustraphobia is presented through the characters by using dialouge such as "I need to go, get a fresh start".
- When the film was shot in the night it could have been a reflection on what Ricky and Wisdom were doing, for example they were going to shoot someone, and so the night scene were reflecting the bad deeds they were getting up to
- When filmed in the day, it showed Ricky doing good things, such as getting his life bakc together, and helping his mum with the housework, helping out his friends, getting a job etc.
- Curtis had the same sort of friend as Ricky, sort of sa viscious circle aspect to it, where Rio and Wisdom has a slight bad influence on Ricky and Curtis, and Wisdom and Rio use the same dialouge which makes a connection between the two "You owe me big time".
Ideology
- Black Prisoners, Black criminals- streotypical of gang culture, and their clothes (gangsta clothing), single out the criminals from the people who don't involve themselves in crime
- White characters are mainly authority figures, such as white prison guards, probationary officer, teachers. on the rare occassion white characters mix in with the black characters as black people's friends.
- Working class citzens, living in run down flats and houses _ simialr to sweet sixteen
- Men are the ones mostly involved in the crime
- Women presented as sex objects, mothers, girlfriends and friends
- Men usually turn to the women for care and support and comfort
Genre features
- Mainly diagetic sounds such as Rastifarian music, R'N'B, car sounds, gun shots and silence
- Some Non-diagetic music, but quite rare - in reference to sweet sixteen
- Few balck screen tranasitions to shwo time passing
- Parellel action, such as the welcome home party for ricky whislt ricky is at a club
- Medium close up of the dog Wisdom killed to show their "dirty work"
- Close up of Curtis' eyes, to show realisation, about the dangers of gun crime
Characterisation
- Black people mainly the bad guys and the anti-heroes
- White people mainly in superioty roles e.g. prison guards and teacher always talking down to Ricky and Curtis
- The Preacher (ricky's mother's partner), show that when things got bad the mother turned to religion such as wehn Ricky died
- Ricky- just came out of prison, fed up of being labelled, trying to sort out his life, Wisdom- trying to act hard all the time, getting weaponry, shooting people -- completely opposite characters
Locations and Settings
- Prison- becomes big part in the film, as the crime realates to law and the law gets invovled with crime and vice versa
- The flat, Ricky's girlfriends house- a safe haven to get away from the crime, sense of security -- until interprted by the police when they search the flat.
- The back ned streets of London- in refernce to Sweet Sixteen- similar settings
- The wide open spaces, the forests and the parks, where Rio and Curtis went to escape the City, as forests and parks are a place of innocence and safety to children, where the City is a dangerous crime -ridden place to be.
- The Countryside - reflects the beautiful relationship between the two brothers Curtis and Ricky. However this particular scenery is contradictory to the film as it is mostly about gun crime and danger- Similar to Sweet Sixteen.
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