Legend (Brian Helgeland, 2015)
Lead actors: Tom Hardy, Emily Browning
Distributor (UK/US): StudioCanal, Universal
Budget/Box Office (UK, US, World): $28m, $1.9m, $43m
BBFC/MPAA: 18/R
Critical Kudos:
POSSIBLE POINTS OF INFLUENCE
- I want to avoid the very narrow representation Working Title persists throughout the majority of their films of upper and middle-class RP English people, but I should be aware that will be bringing the chances down of international interest
- The 18 rating as shown below is also something very damaging for a box office, I definitely don't want to go beyond 15/R, and will be trying to keep it at 12/PG-13.
- Clear setting of London, do I want to clearly set my film anywhere?
- Period piece. I would like to maybe set my film in earlier times, but I don't think I could achieve verisimilitude with creating the mise-en-scène
One of the production companies is Amazon Instant Video. An example of convergence with the film cycle step exhibition being challenged. The distributors providers/exhibitors are now also becoming producers. This is can be seen as vertical integration
The opening sequence after idents and titles and before we cut to the main title has been made available on YouTube by STUDIOCANAL Australia.
From 00:20 - 00:23 there is an audio bridge on black with the last tune of StudioCanal's signature sound being very similar to the first track of the film. As is typical for Working Title, their ident is overplayed by music where as a sign of authority the bigger companies, here just StudioCanal but as I saw before in Bridget Jones's Diary with the Universal and Miramax idents as well.
01:05 - 01:16 At the third shot there is a brief pause of the voiceoverTo what extent do we have a binary opposition? The characters are both waring suits, both have similiar haircuts. However, Ron Kray is waring glasses, a signifier of his disability? The fact that Reggie looks out of the window and only smokes occasionally, both anchor that he's the more intellectual twin, where as Ronnie smokes all the time and is even made to look beast-like when puffing smoke out of his mouth.
01:17 - 01:23 "Bloodthirsty, and funny as well" - All we have represented here so far is the hard gangster, although that last word is a slight countertype.
01:23 - 01:29
01:30 - 01:35
01:36 - 01:41 Music is the same as in the first shot
Transition into main film
01:43 Black, then cut
01:44 Music fades into different track, not quite clear. Is this saying that he is the more central character, as we are following him. He is the more normal one?
If we look at the film's final shot. He is the character we follow at the end, we have him as the final shot. There is also a link with him smoking again
...
Budget/Box Office (UK, US, World): $28m, $1.9m, $43m
BBFC/MPAA: 18/R
Critical Kudos:
Trailer
POSSIBLE POINTS OF INFLUENCE
- I want to avoid the very narrow representation Working Title persists throughout the majority of their films of upper and middle-class RP English people, but I should be aware that will be bringing the chances down of international interest
- The 18 rating as shown below is also something very damaging for a box office, I definitely don't want to go beyond 15/R, and will be trying to keep it at 12/PG-13.
- Clear setting of London, do I want to clearly set my film anywhere?
- Period piece. I would like to maybe set my film in earlier times, but I don't think I could achieve verisimilitude with creating the mise-en-scène
Institutional Context
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| the-numbers.com graph highlights the downside of working-class characters in a UK set film |
Promotion
Working Title's YouTube Playlist
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLVw_jKQvpNY0KXECRjb2ATPZoQrO8-U8K
MTV interviewing Tom Hardy and Brian Helgeland
The opening sequence after idents and titles and before we cut to the main title has been made available on YouTube by STUDIOCANAL Australia.
SYNPNOSIS
A clear exposition of the setting, 1960s London, and the narrative, the Krays brothers. The two twins are introduced as a rising force in the criminal underworld, however their differences aren't anchored in the opening sequence, but by the time of the opening sequence it is shown who we are meant to follow as the protagonist.
IDENTS
20 seconds you get the Studiocanal. Universal is the distributor but we don't get their ident. A look at the Universal UK YouTube channel shows that the conglomerate owned by Comcast didn't show that much interest in this film, which its box office shows. However, Working Title had much more belief in it than for example The Program, a film which flopped both internationally and in the UK with only a UK box office of 500km, which was not on their YouTube channel along with Grimsby from their most recent films.
 |
| Working Title started with promoting their films on YouTube with behind the scenes footage in 2013 with the adaptation of the hit musical Les Miserables. The Program and Grimsby aren't shown here, signifies not their lower importance. |
From 00:20 - 00:23 there is an audio bridge on black with the last tune of StudioCanal's signature sound being very similar to the first track of the film. As is typical for Working Title, their ident is overplayed by music where as a sign of authority the bigger companies, here just StudioCanal but as I saw before in Bridget Jones's Diary with the Universal and Miramax idents as well.
TITLES
All upper-case, but the company names are bigger. The non-serif black and white titles signify the serious nature of crime drama with no supernatural or comedic elements (other than the occasional minor laugh) StudioCanal is given a title of its own, the biggest player here, it is the presenter, the others really are just associates. This all shows that while the production company is behind the making of the film, the financers have enough influence to give themselves superior status through order of idents and titles. No director is named or any actors or other cast and crew (producers, executive producers, cinematographer, editor, music, etc.) |
| 00:37 - 00:40 |
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| 00:41 - 00:44 |
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| 00:45 - 00:48 |
SHOTS
00:50: The opening shot is an aerial shot which is tilting down to reveal a city at night, which is immediately given as London (just before the name was spoken a landmark could be seen). The city is glamorised through the lights. Next to the diegetic sound a voiceover, which is a London accent.
01:00 - 01:04 Both the voiceover and non-diegetic incidental music carrying on act as audio bridges to the second shot. We get narrative enigma, as the two protagonists/antiheroes of the film are withheld from the audience. However there status is already signified through being driven by a car.
01:05 - 01:16 At the third shot there is a brief pause of the voiceoverTo what extent do we have a binary opposition? The characters are both waring suits, both have similiar haircuts. However, Ron Kray is waring glasses, a signifier of his disability? The fact that Reggie looks out of the window and only smokes occasionally, both anchor that he's the more intellectual twin, where as Ronnie smokes all the time and is even made to look beast-like when puffing smoke out of his mouth.
01:17 - 01:23 "Bloodthirsty, and funny as well" - All we have represented here so far is the hard gangster, although that last word is a slight countertype.
01:23 - 01:29
01:30 - 01:35
01:36 - 01:41 Music is the same as in the first shot
Transition into main film
01:43 Black, then cut
01:44 Music fades into different track, not quite clear. Is this saying that he is the more central character, as we are following him. He is the more normal one?
If we look at the film's final shot. He is the character we follow at the end, we have him as the final shot. There is also a link with him smoking again
...
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