Big Six vs Indie

After comparing Warp's first two feature films with Working Title films released around the same time, I am going to look at Working Title's new release, Bridget Jones's Diary. There is however no Warp film out at the moment, their last having been '71. As I will be comparing '71 with Working Title's Wild Child for my mock exam, I will instead chose the latest film by Ken Loach, one of the most prolific and influental social realism auteurs, as the genre is Warp's most common choice in their films and has no internationally recognized stars, features a non-RP protagonist.

BRIDGET JONES'S DIARY

A-List star Renee Zellweger


I, DANIEL BLAKE

No internationally recognised stars
Protagonist is older than the norm of a young, mid 20s to mid-30 star.

Social inequality is not what makes box offices hits during the marketing stage.

DISTRIBUTION - Critical Kudos

POSSIBLE POINTS OF INFLUENCE:

• The main victims are big tentpole productions, it is less of a danger for indie productions, and rave reviews has shown to often not lead to financial success as can be seen with multiple Warp films, the prime example being Tyrannosaur. This can be seen in the attitude of an independent film distributor below.

This an a consequence of disruption, and the convergence between audience and producers becoming more blurred, as Rotten Tomatoes consists of both reviews by critics and users.

I myself experienced how a whole group of teenagers I was spending a week with were looking forward to Suicide Squad, and how the Rotten Tomatoes review turned them off from watching it, including a hardcore Batman fan.

The power of Rotten Tomatoes:

Launched on a lark in 1998 by Web designer Senh Duong to catalogue reviews for Jackie Chan kung-fu flicks, Rotten Tomatoes has come to dominate the cultural conversation surrounding new movies and fundamentally change the calculus of putting butts in seats. It’s particularly, terrifyingly powerful among teens and 20-somethings who, as recently as five years ago, relied more often than not on “Bro, you gotta see this”-style word of mouth than any sort of professional critic appraisals to make their multiplex picks.
“Moviegoers love trailers. They pay attention to the TV spots. But Rotten Tomatoes is like the truth serum on the entire [promotional] campaign: are all the things you’re telling me about the movie true or not?” says Jon Penn, chief executive of the movie research firm National Research Group (NRG), which has tracked Rotten Tomatoes’ influence on audience behavior since 2010. “These scores are almost like a lubricant one way or the other. If it’s good, it helps you more than it did in the past. But if it’s bad, it hurts you even more.”

A negative review doesn't always mean a film becomes a flop.

There are, to be sure, plenty of movies that become runaway hits despite craptacular Rotten Tomatoes scores—the Twilight and Transformers franchises, Tyler Perry’sMadea series, and the latest two entries in the nascent DC Extended Universe (Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Suicide Squad) before Wonder Woman. But the larger pattern shows that the correlation between Rotten Tomatoes scores and audience interest has become remarkably consistent.
According to the stats compiled by NRG, almost every major moviegoing demographic reports an increasing reliance on Rotten Tomatoes. “One of the things we track is, ‘How often do you check Rotten Tomatoes scores before you decide to see a film?’” Penn says. “In 2014, 28 percent of all moviegoers said they were checking. In 2016, it’s 36 percent. Teens went from 23 [percent] to 34. That’s an enormous jump.” 

 The studios preparing to fight back:

And the studios are only preparing for it to get worse. An independent study commissioned by 20th Century Fox in 2015 (and obtained by Vanity Fair), titled “Rotten Tomatoes and Box Office,” concluded, “The power of Rotten Tomatoes and fast-breaking word of mouth will only get stronger. Many Millennials and even Gen Xers now vet every single purchase through the internet, whether it’s restaurants, video games, make-up, consumer electronics, or movies. As they get older and comprise an even larger share of total moviegoers, this behavior is unlikely to change.”
The power of the review aggregator has infuriated heavy hitters like Brett Ratner,who—in an apparent fit of pique after his recent producing effort Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice earned an eye-watering 27 percent freshness rating on Rotten Tomatoes—called it “the worst thing that we have in today’s movie culture.”

An independent marketing executive states that the reason is that less attention and financial resources are being paid to the quality of the film, the primary focus is on the marketing. This shows the mentality behind Warp Films, they want to be convinced that the film they have to marketed is high in quality, instead of just convincing the audience of the quality with the quality as a secondary priority. 

The most obvious recourse to Hollywood’s Rotten Tomatoes conundrum, of course, may also be the simplest (at least on paper): prioritize filmmaking quality over marketing artifice, make better/more interesting/more appealing films, and stop blaming some stupid website for lackluster box-office returns.
“To me, it’s a ridiculous argument that Rotten Tomatoes is the problem,” says a marketing executive at an independent film distributor. “F*** you—make a good movie!”

...

First 5 Shots - Le Donk & Scor-Zay.-Zee

Le Donk & Scor-Zay-Zee

Shane Meadows, 2009

Lead actors: Paddy Considine,

SHOT 1

...

SHOT 2

Camera zooms out. This isn't a glamorous location. The 

SHOT 3

SHOT 4

...

SHOT 5

...

I, Daniel Blake scores impressive result at UK box office as Trolls takes top spot

DreamWorks animation scares up a £5.44m debut and forceful marketing delivers handsome opening for Ken Loach’s arthouse hit.

The indie winner: I, Daniel Blake

It won the Palme d’Or in Cannes, comes from a beloved British auteur and has garnered critical acclaim, but would Ken Loach’s I, Daniel Blake prove too tough a sell for cinema audiences? If UK distributor eOne had any qualms, they have surely evaporated now that I, Daniel Blake has opened with an impressive £404,000 from 94 cinemas, and £445,000 including previews. Stripping out the previews, site average is a very robust £4,298.

Loach’s most recent previous feature, Jimmy’s Hall, from 2014, was a relative commercial disappointment, achieving £543,000 in its lifetime (its full theatrical run). Before that, he had documentary The Spirit of ’45 (£236,000 lifetime). Then there was 2012’s The Angels’ Share, which eOne successfully positioned as a mainstream comedy in Scotland and as an arthouse title in the rest of the UK, achieving a total of £1.98m. Loach’s biggest-ever hit in his home market remains The Wind That Shakes the Barley (£3.91m), a particular success that may be attributed to the fact that the UK and Ireland is one combined box office territory, and this Irish revolutionary tale scored huge numbers in the Republic.

The challenge for eOne with I, Daniel Blake was to position the film as inspiring rather than depressing angry-making, and the film’s rousing marketing image, with the graffiti title treatment and lead actor Dave Johns’ defiant raised left fist, has evidently punched through that feeling to audiences.

BACKGROUND ON KEN LOACH:
Has spent his life dedicated to making social realist films witch potray the hardships of the socially dispossessed and disprivileged, aimed at telling honest and simple stories about the working class.
He started with directing TV films for the BBC anthology series, "The Wednesday Play", a time when the BBC were starting to increase the repertoire of working class employees. Loach and his collaborating producer Tony Gardner set out to furthen the horizons of the BBC portrayal of society from just focusing on the upper and middle classes.
These first few TV plays most famously included "Cathy Come Home", a play about the fall of a young couple  and their children into homelessness. It caused both praise and controversy, and led to more awareness from the public and media into the subject, as well as questions being raised in Parliament. However, in terms of practical effect, Ken Loach himself has said it had little influence "other than changing rules so that homeless fathers could stay with their wives and children in hostels".
He later went on to direct films such as "Kes" (1969), "My Name Is Joe" (1998) and "Sweet Sixteen" (2002), as well as documentaries such as "McLibel" (2005).
He was intending to retire in 2014 after "Jimmy's Hall" , but soon made remarks about having another film project idea, an idea for which he gained much enthusiasm after the Conservatives won a landslide majority in the 2015 general election (commented by Loach on a documentary looking back on his films "Versus - The Life and Films of Ken Loach" with: "B*****ds".)

Bridget Jones's Baby is the highest grossing-film ever in September

*This post from late September forgot to be posted and as has been a draft till now*
"The residual affection for endearingly self-sabotaging singleton Bridget Jones meant it was always likely that a large audience would show up on opening weekend, which it did, resulting in an impressive UK debut . What happened next was always going to be harder to call – word-of-mouth would play a big factor in Bridget Jones’s Baby’s continued fortunes.
On the evidence so far, that audience word is very warm.

UK debut: £8.11m
Monday-to-Thursday period: £6.65m
seven-day total: £14.77m. Next, Baby
second weekend: declined of 20%; £6.45m
10-day tally: of £21.22m."

The film is already ahead of the total gross of summer blockbusters such as X-Men: Apocalypse (£18.35m), Star Trek Beyond (£15.95m) and Independence Day: Resurgence (£12.10m) and it said to "soon overtake Jason Bourne"
But its most special status has been announced by Universal as "the highest grossing film ever released in September in the UK", surpassing hits from previous  Legend (£18.3m), Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (£14.2m) and Looper (£10.2m).

"In the US, takings for Bridget Jones’s Baby are a disappointing $16.6m, but foreign takings are surging ahead with $67.4m so far, boosted by big numbers in the UK and Australia. Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason grossed $40m in the US and $222m in foreign. Bridget Jones’s Diary saw less of a disparity, although foreign ($210m) far exceeded the US total ($72m)."

Top 10 films, 23-25 September

1. Bridget Jones’s Baby, £6,453,799 from 648 sites. Total: £21,219,529
2. The Magnificent Seven, £2,132,609 from 543 sites (new)
3. Kubo and the Two Strings, £506,120 from 511 sites. Total: £2,332,783
4. Finding Dory, £461,285 from 489 sites. Total: £41,276,476
5. The Girl with all the Gifts, £432,529 from 368 sites (new)
6. Don’t Breathe, £370,645 from 320 sites. Total: £2,950,354
7. Blair Witch, £368,685 from 442 sites. Total: £1,785,648
8. Sausage Party, £348,844 from 346 sites. Total: £7,259,540
9. Bad Moms, £328,313 from 308 sites. Total: £7,557,850
10. The BFG, £244,689 from 369 sites. Total: £29,790,697

New Background Image

Distribution

...

Horizontal & Vertical Integration

A useful presentation at Slideshare. However there is an error in its name as it does focus more on horizontal than vertical integration, with there being no case study for the latter. While some of the facts are generalised, its case study on Casino Royale is very useful.

Vertical + horizontal integration from LiamDonnelly

My own case study, Legend

 Duffy sings and acts in it. Her record labels are owned by Universal Music Group. She is benefitting from appearing in the film, and at the same she is promoting the film through the release of her song, as can be seen in the Spotify sight. How

...

In media context this can also be referred to as synergy.

Source: YouTuber The Media Wizards

...

First 5 Shots - Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence

Merry Christmas, Mr Lawrence

Nagisa Oshima, 1983

Lead actors: Tom Conti, David Bowie

Production companies: 

Distributors:

POSSIBLE POINTS OF INFLUENCE:

- In such a short time to set up the themes of the film I probably will be wanting to create a protagonist/antagonist binary, and create antipathy for the audience

The first five shots form the opening scene 

Foreknowledge: Unlike in The Conjuring, I can follow the preferred reading, so my foreknowledge will affect how I evaluate the film.

IN A NUTSHELL

The film tells the story of British soldiers in a Japenese prisoner of war. The two characters first introduced will end the story. 

SHOT 1

The sound of the lizard escaping will create a sense of danger, and signifies the antagonistic character traits of the character about to enter the screen. Lighting is blue-green, dark. Menacing place, this isn't a good place.

SHOT 2

A close-up is used in order to capture the mean facial expression that will create antipathy within the audience. Sound is used as the camera pans, a Western audience will recognise it as foreign and most likely Japanese or Chinese, although if they are not experts in both languages, they will not get the preferred reading right at the beginning

SHOT 3

Subtitles, an editing technique, are used over the Japanese words. This tells us at least this version is targeted at English-speaking audience, although that was already clear through the Universal logo. Lawrence lying on the bed is used to denote who is superior. Just as the scene cuts another character is introduced, as he speaks English his regional identity as English is also given.

SHOT 4

The mise-en-scène, him lying on the floor also shows his inferior status, that he is in the same situation. However through the sound the dialogue exposes his more aggressive and rebellious character. Moustache, is this a more negative. Stereotypical portrayal of British army officer?

SHOT 5

Sound is used so you can hear the agony, the audience feels sympathy for the struck down man and even greater antipathy for the guard.











The lighting:

They are all lit in the same way. There are no POV-shots from any of the guards, which would be used to further anchor a strong protagonist/antagonist binary along with the aggressive language and physical intimidation. Is this already signifying that despite the brutal nature of the Japanese guards the humanity will still come through throughout the film, and the audience will empathise with the execution of the tyrant guard at the beginning?

FCPX1 Getting started TBC

*Screenrecording of uploading Prelim to youtube*

Film Opening 2: The Infidel

WHAT I ENDED UP APPLYING

• Diegetic music becoming non-diegetic music, with the first song from the soundtrack, also like I saw in Billy Elliot.
• An example of counter typing, however mine wasn't as interesting as this, due to the limits of a student production 

POSSIBLE POINTS OF INFLUENCE

• I would like to have countertypical representations like we have with the representation of Islam here, but also how I observed the representation of working class in This Is England, generally  going against the stereotypes that Working Title have.

THE INFIDEL

Josh Appignanesi, 2010

PRODUCTION COMPANIES: Slingshot Productions, 
                                                 Met Film

DISTRIBUTORS: Revolver (UK)
                             Tribeca Film (US)

GENRE: Comedy-Drama (Dramedy) 

LEAD ACTORS: Omad Djalili

                            Richard Schiff

                            Archie Panjabi

                            Igal Noar

                            Matt Lucas

BBFC:  15                 MPAA: TV-PG

BUDGET:    
BOX OFFICE: $m (UK) $m (US) $m (worldwide)


CRITICAL KUDOS

ROTTING TOMATOES:                    IDMb: 

A full list of reviews listed on IDMb here.

You can find the full film uploaded to YouTube here (average quality with subtitles)

TRAILERS:

A recognisable pop tune, Faith by George Michael is used, a commercial touch. The comedy is pushed forward hear, no real signifiers of the dark/serious elements

SYPNOSIS:

Drama-comedy following a middle-aged, relaxed Muslim father who discovers later that he is actually adopted and is by birth Jewish, causing a mid-life crisis as he tries to find his new identity with this revelation, and a comical but very insightful story of religion and identity.

The opening shot is of a television screen, with the diegetic sound of a screaming crowd , followed by news coverage. This signifies social realism realism.The two men on screen are recognisably denoted as Muslims. This signifies the theme of the film, religion. T The man in the left is using his arms in a stereotypical speech mode, in one hand a microphone and arm waving. His active addressing to the audience and the other man standing passively signify the left man's status. The sunglasses connote a stereotype of a typical bodyguard.

The second shot introduces the protagonist, His emotional expression is neutral, with anger hinted in. His face is centred, with a blurred image of a Muslim women completely covered up, signifying a Muslim household and family. His usage of the swearword "Fuck off" signifies the humorous and satirical side of this film, and breaks expectations of a typical conservative Muslim family.

The screen has been switched to a music video with the singer of Asian ethnicity having a provocative haircut, . This is a binary opposition to the non-Whites Muslim, who stand for conservative values and taboos. Musicians often symbolise breaking conventions and taboos.
SPOILER Unbeknownst to the audience the antagonist is still there.

His positive reaction signifies fandom. Music fandom is mostly connected with younger people, and especially a Muslim middle-aged man breaks this convention. The first actor credit is listed next to the character he plays, further signifying his protagonist role. In the background the woman and girl connote a normal family, but the convention of a Muslim woman is broken  as she is clothes with her shoulders free, which goes against strict Muslim views of women covering up their body. This connotes a liberal and anti-extremist Muslim family.

The music video continues with a two-shot containing double projections of the singer. The second actor has been listed in the left.

Throughout the whole film we have a binary opposition of Conservative and Liberal Muslims, the protagonist keeps being anchored as a countetype, as he is not. However, there is an exception as it is the two men who are going to do the work. Woman is exercising, cares about her body. 

IDENTS:

Three idents, the first two being silent, the third having a signature sound.

TITLES:

It starts with red on black, a horror signifier normally, not the most fitting for dramedy.
Each title lasts 3 seconds with 2 seconds black between each. With the third title the audio bridge starts. 

SLINGSHOT, OMRADSMAN + REVOLVER ENTERTAINMENT PRESENT
IN ASSOCIATION WITH THE SALT COMPANY
A SLINGSHOT/MET FILM/OMRADSMAN PRODUCTION

After 40 seconds of live action, we get the next round of titles, this time lightblue and bold, slightly more fitting for comedy. 
We have the four main actors, signified with the final one being marked with and, often used for the antagonist.

OMID DJAJILI
RICHARD SCHIFF
ARCHIE PANJABI
AND IGAL NOAR

Normally we'd expect more actors for the secondary list, but here we only get one, wouldn't it have been simpler to add him on to the the primary list?

AMIT SHAH 

ASSOCIATE PRODUCERS JEREMY AMIAS  YONI MAGID  SHAHIN SOBHANI  

LINE PRODUCER CINDY IRVING 

CASTING DIRECTOR JULIE HARKIN CDG 

MAKE-UP & HAIR DESIGNER SARITA ALLISON 

COSTUME DESIGNER MARIANNE AGERTOFT 

ORIGINAL MUSIC BY ERRAN BARON COHEN 

PRODUCTION DESIGNER ERIK REHL

The return of the red titles on black for one title for the TV, they fade away before we cut back to Mahmud.

EDITED BY KIM GASTER

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY NATASHA BRAIER

The opening track is over, and the film title has appeared, normally that ends the credits, but no, we still get more, in bold non-serif light blue.

EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS OMID DJALILI  CAVAN ASH
PRODUCERS STEWART LE MARÉCHAL  UZMA HASAN  DAVID BADDIEL
PRODUCED BY ARVIND ETHAN DAVID
WRITTEN BY DAVID BADDIEL
DIRECTED BY JOSH APPIGNANESI


THE PROTAGONIST: 
Who do we follow? We follow him outside the house, and although we will see his son as well going with him, he has a moment on his own, and as he is pranked by the car, he looks up at the sky, foreshadowing his religious mid-life crisis.

REPRESENTATIONS:

RELIGION: We start off with the image of muslim extremism, which is then followed by a whole collection of binaries, including Mahmud saying: "Oh f*** off", a Muslim women reading a Western magazine and saying: "Does Lady Gaga look like an ostrich or what?", and the husband not being the typical dominant male, but described as "in his romantic phase", and a Muslim cleric saying: "Hey, ladies."

SEXUALITY: Still have the typical nucleus of a heterosexual couple and a son.

SOUND:

There is an audio bridge when the third title on black comes on.

Analysing the media language of our micro drama

ADOPTION, a RDEG/EGRD film

While we as the filmmakers have our own knowledge and preferred reading of this text, as a task we had to ignore our foreknowledge and analyse the semiotics from a neutral perspective. This was a good way for me to put myself in the mind of my teacher and the examiners, and added to understanding what they all expect from my film opening.

The opening shot establishes the home of the protagonist, with the large and shiny polished car signifying wealth, and the detached location from the other houses, again. With the trees around however still connote an urban area rather than a metropolitan one.

...

The video is blurred, making it a shallow view. The titles have been wrongly edited so that they are cut off the end. This shot denotes shaky camera and  low budget, signyfying an amateur film company.

...


The protagonist has entered her room, which at first glance appears to be the norm of a young teenage girl. The television screen in the right puts the film into a contemporary setting and is a further sign of wealth.  There are no signifiers to indicate whether this girl is attending or school or not. However, the juxtaposition of order and chaos with files and personal belongings, connote that the protagonist is orderly with work, but not in her private life. The poster on the left side is also not one of a stereotypical teenager. The film, “Pulp Fiction”, being from the 1990s, along with the chaos, can connote a rebellious attitude, as well as a retro interest in media.
Behind the scenes: We did not think at all . For example there is a poster of Ellie Goulding in the background, a very contemporary and also typically female music artist, so if we had shot that instead it would have signified a normal teenage girl with stereotypically feminine interests.

...

This is the first time the protagonist has shown any emotion, her positive reaction and smile is supposed to attract sympathy from the audience, and her innocence is also connoted through that. There is another sign of wealth left near the mirror in form of an exotic totem.

There is a change of colour, giving an obscure and dark tone. The image is thereby deliberitely not shown, this information is being withheld from then audience, narrative enigma. Until now the audience has been used to a normally pronounced English. The exaggerated German accent is in  deep contrast to this, a binary opposition. 



The protagonist is holding her dog in a defensive position, with the black-dressed girl in a threatening position. The dog looks alarmed, signifying that the intentions of the blonde are malicious. With the two characters opposing the heroine, there is a repetetive theme of the black, stereotypically connotes evil. Along with the over the top-acting signifying a binary opposition, there text connotes a negative portrayal of foreigners