In our opening sequence, we will mainly be seeing Jasper at the courthouse so for his costume, we want him to be dressed quite smartly in a suit to make him look like he's made a huge effort for it and so shows the audience that he considers the court case hugely important. We would also like to give the impression that he is making such a huge effort to make him seem innocent.The only other time we see Jasper (if we choose to include this scene) is when there are flashback references to him being arrested from Ally's mind. For these shots, we would like Jasper to simply be wearing jeans and t-shirt as in the narrative, he will just be sitting at home with his family.

W.H B.M

Introduction to the film industry - Questions

Media

The Film Industry Introduction questions

1)        In the UK film market, an increase in the number of screens available to show films has not led to an increase in the number of films being shown. Why?

The fact that the number of screens available to show   films has increased has not led to an increase in the number of films being shown because although some people may think more screens opens up the opportunity for more films, the same major films are in fact played at different times of day, and repeated for how ever long they stay in the cinemas for.

2)        In your opinion what might account for the fact that cinema attendances have fluctuated between 139 million and 176 million between 1999 and 2008?

           

In 2002, ‘The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers’ was released. The gross of this film was £91,914,687, which is huge. This is partly because it was the sequel to an unbelievably successful film, which guaranteed it a subsequently large audience.

3)        In 2011, UK film distributors invested £330 million in advertising their new releases and on 35mm film prints. If around 450 new films receive a theatrical release in the UK every year, how much, on average, do distributors spend distributing a film in the UK?

0.7 million

4)        This spending stirred up enormous demand – 171.5 million cinema tickets were bought UK in 2011. This is great news for cinemas – what’s the downside of all this excitement generated and consumer demand for film PRODUCERS in the UK?

America is a lot bigger than the UK, and the advantage of British films generally being in a language most countries are able to understand (English) is obviously also current in America as they speak English. This means that when there is a ‘boom’ in the amount of cinemagoers and people seeing films, America profits also. America can afford to produce more films, which attracts a larger global audience. This results in the UK’s film consumption market generally being dominated by US companies and films.

5)        In 2004, the average cost of releasing a US film domestically was $39m, in addition to the average production cost of $63.8m, making an overall average production/distribution cost per film of $102.8m. What effect might this have on Hollywood production and distribution if these increases have continued?

It could cause the Hollywood production and distribution to decrease because of too high a profit, which would result in less Hollywood films being made.

6)        Why are more ‘middle aged’ people going to the cinema in 2011? Who, in your opinion, are the current most bankable leading actors for the ‘youth’ market in the UK?

More ‘middle aged’ people could be going to the cinema in 2011 because of the age of the starring actors/actresses in the films. Usually an older audience is attracted to older actors.

7) How many of the top 10 films in the US last year made two-and-a-half times their budget?

‘The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1’

‘The Hangover Part 11’

‘Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol’

‘Cars 2’

‘Thor’

Only 5/10 films.

8) Jerry Bruckheimer is still producing films today – find some of their recent films he’s produced and look at the trailers. Is he still a ‘high concept’ producer? Michael Bay has taken over his mantle as the go-to man for the ‘event’ movie. Watch some of the trailers for his recent films – does he deserve his reputation for films that are high on effects and low on narrative?

In my opinion, Jerry Bruckheimer is still a ‘high concept’ producer. Although, having said this

Q9) find some ‘indiewood’ type films – ones associated with a certain ‘art house’ feel yet connected to a big Hollywood studio – that these companies have produced. Who are their films aimed at?

Fox searchlight pictures – ‘beast of the southern wild’ is aimed at children

-‘The sessions’ is aimed at middle aged people/ adults

Paramount pictures – ‘200 cigarettes’ – aimed at adults

-       ‘an inconvenient truth’ – documentary, aimed at middle aged people/adults

Sony pictures classics – ‘where do we go now’ aimed at adults

-       ‘smashed’ – aimed at young adults

Focus features – promised land

Q10)  to what extent does Hollywood dominate the UK film landscape

            How has it managed to retain its stranglehold?

Hollywood does dominate the UK film landscape to a large extent. It seems that high budget Hollywood blockbusters are the most popular films in the UK by far. Also, they are generally the types of films that end up in major cinemas. This results in them being shown widely to the UK’s cinema audiences, and spreading throughout the UK. The idea of ‘herd mentality’ also comes into play here, people follow the crowd and follow what other people deem to be good, hence the phenomena amount of popularity of Hollywood films receive.

Although there is a large market for indie looking films, there is also the ‘indiewood’ genre, which is Hollywood making indie-like film. This is an example of just how much Hollywood has taken over the film industry, it seems to cover almost every genre of film, and make more money out of it than independent film companies or film makers with less money.

Hollywood has managed to retain its stranglehold, because of how popular it is. The popularity automatically means the Hollywood films make more money, which results in more and more films can be afforded to be churned out.

Pros and cons of digital film piracy - Essay

What are the cons (for institutions) and the pros (for the audience) of digital film piracy?

There are many cons for institutions in digital film piracy. It can be a huge issue because of the fact that it can costs millions to create films and the aim of creating them, amongst other things, is to make a profit. If people are recording the films themselves in cinemas and distributing them online or otherwise, they are making no money for the institution that has made the film. If everyone committed piracy, the film would make no money for the film makers, and companies would, after a while, not be able to afford to make successful, high budget films anymore.

Secondly, if you do buy into the piracy market because you want a film earlier than the official DVD release date, or are not prepared to pay the full price, your money is usually given to criminal. It is probable that the criminal you are paying is part of a bigger web of criminals, and therefore your money is more likely to be spent on things you perhaps would not like the idea of.

The quality of films that are illegally filmed and obtained is also usually much worse than the film’s real quality. This can reflect badly on the film creators and also dissatisfies the viewer where ever they may be watching it.

Urmee Khan, Digital and Media Correspondent at the Daily Telegraph writes that ‘Tackling film piracy would generate £614m for UK economy’. This shows how much we could do with an end to film piracy. It would also provide some employment and tax revenue. With such technological advances in the past ten to twenty years, the problem of copyright theft is ever growing worse as it is becoming easier to translate a film somebody else has recorded in a cinema onto your own computer screen or television screen. There are not only pros of the internet!

However, there are also many pros for the audience of film piracy. The obvious advantage of watching a pirated film rather than an official bough copy of it is that you probably have to pay less. Also, often it is easy to get hold of early copies of movies that may not be out on DVD yet. These advantages often weigh out the disadvantage of the quality not being 100% for many people.

The ‘pirates’ also make money from selling their recorded copy of the film. However, if they are caught they could easily end up with a very high fine or even, in extreme cases, a sentence in prison.

Overall, it is clear that if everyone stopped piracy, the economy, and subsequently a large amount of people, would benefit a huge amount. However, it is going to take a lot more than the current effort made by ‘FACT’ and other organisations to stop movie piracy altogether. Over half a million people in the UK download films illegally every day, so there needs to be action taken and perhaps more individual smaller punishments for people sitting behind their computers downloading and never imagining they would be caught.

Actor Profile - Sabine Coates

Willa and I chose our friend Sabine Coates to play the main character in our opening, Ally Quinn. We chose her for a few reasons. Firstly, she lives very close to both of us which will make it easy, when it comes to filming, to access her and have her participate in filming. Secondly, she fits the description of a blonde girl, slightly grungy but attractive at the same time and she looks the right age also.

B.M

Actor Profile - Luke Forryan

For our actor, we chose our friend Luke Forryan. We thought Luke would be suitable to play Jasper as he looks quite young and unthreatening and so it makes the audience question to whether he is actually guilty or not.

W.H B.M

B.M

Thriller Opening - Narrative

Ally is on a run to forget her sorrows/reflect on what has happened and the day ahead of her. Throughout her run she is thinking back to when Jasper Thomas was arrested (unfairly?) with flashbacks of her watching him being arrested and taken into a car from his house, and she has a moment of reflection and stillness by the river. This shot is interrupted by a cut to her slamming the door in her house and beginning to get ready to go to court that day. Shot of Ally's room. We cut back and fourth to Jasper in back of car going through city towards court looking nervous and upset. Finally we show Ally arriving at court sitting in front of car with mother next to her driving. End with shot of Ally and Jasper sharing a look and then Jasper being violently ushered into court, with Ally taking a deep breath and following with mother.

Cut to title

B.M W.H

Jasper Thomas character

Character profile: Jasper Thomas
Jasper is a 23 year old man who lives at home, just finished university and has never committed a crime in his life. He is a very good person and has a loving relationship with his family and a great relationship with his friends. He would be the last person to commit a crime.

We want Jasper to be innocent looking, the opposite to a threatening rapist. Some actors I had in mind when deciding who  should play Jasper Thomas were:

Robert Emms

Michael Cera

Aaron Johnson

All these actors are innocent looking in my opinion, and look between 17-25.

Opening to thriller proposal: Location

These photographs were taken around southbank, which is the main area we are going to film our opening. Our character will hopefully be running through busy streets, maybe at night. We will try to include lots of shots of typical London buildings, and make the shots gritty and concrete jungle-esque. Also we will try to include a contrast of the busiest streets and some deserted alleyways to convey the girl's mood which will be conflicting with her surroundings (busy markets mainly). The quiet alleyways will show a moment of silence and give her time to think.

B.M