The British Film Industry 30 questions

1. What % of global box office was the British film industry responsible for?
2. What was this % in 2009?
3. What might this change indicate about British film?
4. What films have been responsible for this change?
5. What % of the British film industry makes a profit?
6. What % of Hollywood films make a profit?
7. How does that % differ between £2m and £10m budget British films?
8. What might we infer from this difference?
9. Which age group makes up the largest % of UK cinema goers?
10. Why do you think this might be?
11. Which 'type' of film has seen an 18% drop in attendance?
12. Within that 'type' which genre has seen the biggest fall?
13. What did Charles Grant put this decline down to?
14. Who is Paul Greengrass?
15. How did he describe the British film industry?
16. What did a BFI spokesperson say was the point of less profitable low budget British films?
17. What was the budget for Filth and how much money did it take?
18. What advantage did James McEvoy feel £100m films have over low budget films?
19. What is VOD?
20. What % increase did VOD see last year?
21. What impact might VOD have on distributers and Studios?
22. What impact has it had on Blockbuster rental stores?
23. What was unique about Ben Wheatleys 'A Field In England'?
24. What does director of The Machine Caradog James think is the toughest part of film making?
25. Why have rules been relaxed on what makes a film 'British'?
26. How has the use of visual effects in films been encouraged?
27. Name five of these rules and link them to The Kings Speech, Kill List, The World's End
28. What rules has chancellor George Osbourne announced for tax on British films?
29. What is the highest grossing film in UK box office history?
30. How much has it taken and how many screens was it available on?

Roland Barthes Narrative Theorist

Roland Gerard Barthes was a French literacy theorist, philosopher, linguist, critic and semiotician. He was born on the 12th November 1915 and died on the 26th of March 1980 aged 64. He had main interests in semiotics, Literacy theory and linguistics. 

Roland Barthes described 5 different types or codes that are added into any narrative.

The Hermeneutic Code 

The hermeneutic code contains anything in the text that is mysterious or unexplained, usually leading to questions which the reader needs answered. In the starred reading, the Hermeneutic code is represented as (HER)

The Proairetic Code

The proairetic code contains sequential elements of action in the text. Like the hermeneutic code, proairetic elements add suspense to the text. In the starred reading, the proairetic code is represented as (ACT)

The Semantic Code

The Semantic code refers to elements of the text that carry referential, extra-literal meaning. Elements of the Semantic code are called Semes. In the starred reading, the semantic Code is represented as (SEM)

The Symbolic Code

The Symbolic code refers to organised systems of semes. When two connotative elements are placed in opposition or brought together by the narrator, they form an element of the Symbolic code. In the starred reading, the Symbolic code is represented as (SYM) 

The Cultural Code

The Cultural code refers to anything in the text which refers to an external body of knowledge such as scientific, historical and cultural knowledge. In the starred reading, the Cultural code is represented as (REF) 

How Is Regional Identity shown in Doc Martin?

Regional identify refers to the act of identifying a person with specific geographical region of a nation. Regional identity is used allot in TV dramas in the world today to separate groups of characters to give a TV drama depth. In the extract of Doc Martin, regional identity is show to the audience in different and specific ways that the audience can understand. The idea we get from the extract is that people from cities and the inner city are far more educated and understood than people who live in the countryside.

The outline of the clip is that Doc Martin has been moved to the countryside in a new office where he is greeted by locals throughout the day. The main character is Doc Martin who is a highly skillful and educated Doctor who comes from the inner city this so far follows the stereotype given by the TV Drama. The way in which Doc Martin is portrayed to the audience is given by low angle shots looking up at him and mid shots showing his body posture showing he is a confident man. The audience gains the feeling that he is a higher class than the other villagers from the first scene where Doc Martin has the local plumbers in his office. They are dressed in overalls which was be for their normal job but there Literature is bad compared to Doc Martin’s with little words pronounced correctly this would follow the rules of the stereotype. There is a second plumber who is a teenager who seems to be more intelligent as he talks about meanings in depth showing not all countryside’s are dumb and less intelligent. The plumbers are sitting down as well lower than Doc Martin meaning they are seen to be less superior to him. There is not much editing in the clip with many shots that flow freely giving the audience the effect of being in the scene themselves.

The pipes break in Doc Martins office and the plumbers cannot fix it showing the may be less dense than inner city folks this shows they might be less motivated than inner city people as well. The costumes of the characters in the extract show how people can portray others to be less intelligent.

The sound that is involved in the clip makes the atmosphere more chaotic for the audience which grips their attention even more. There is allot of diegetic sound in clip such as dog barking, phone ringing, people speaking and water running all at the same time to again add chaos to the clip.

Another character is added into the extract now this is a woman wearing yellow. She does not follow the stereotype of regional identity she is very well spoken without a countryside accent meaning she may have moved there recently or might have not adapted to the accent.

The camera shots that are all used in this extract show how Doc Martin is higher up than them and he is superior to them. As well as this jump cuts are used to revel new scenes however sometimes the scenes would jump quickly and sharply so the audience might forget what happened in the scene before.

Gender Representation in Doctor Who

Over the years on television and around the world in normal day lives women are seen to be inferior to men who are seen as the superior beings of the planet Earth. Women of the plant Earth have a certain stereotype to themselves which sees them being weak individuals who sponge of working men. As well as this woman are seen to be people who because they are weak have to stay at home and do less intense jobs than men for example cooking and cleaning at home. The males are seen to be stronger more dominant over the females with their stereotype meaning they have control over the woman population. In the extract of ‘Doctor Who’ not all characters play these stereotypes and the stereotypes are not presented well.

At first in the extract we meet the Master who is seen to be the all mighty one in this extract and the character who seems to have all the power this does follow the audiences feel of stereotypes overall. The scene begins with a focus upon his character with out of focus characters in the background showing he is the main character of this clip and maybe the whole episode also the fact it is a dark shallow focus portrays him to be a sinister and evil character maybe the bad guy of the extract. The master walks around on a raised platform with low angle shots looking up at him showing dominant power he has this again follows the rule of the gender stereotypes and males being more dominant over female characters.

After this clip we see a second character emerge into the extract and this character is Martha who is a female character dressed in kind of arm gear with hair type back and no makeup to be seen. Straight away we can see that this is not normal for a female on television so this shows her character may not be following the stereotype rule of males being more dominant over females. There are multiple shots between Martha and the Master with low angle shots looking up at the Master and high angle shots looking down at Martha showing the master’s dominance. This fits the stereotype given about males being more superior to females. There is a shot were the camera follows Martha this gives a sense that the audience is with her and following her.

The next part of the extract shows Martha walking towards the master as she looks up at the master a quick shot of the Doctor is used where he is trapped in a cage and looks weak and helpless. This does not follow the rule of the stereotype as the Doctor is a male but is still weak and vulnerable.

As well as this the camera gives close ups of the Doctors face showing his emotions towards what is happening and what is going to happen.

In the next scene or sector of the extract we see the Master looking at the Doctor as well as Martha and because he is poised on a platform raised above everyone else it gives him power so throughout the clip he has a raised voice when speaking to show power and dominance. Next we see Martha talk with a Sharpe voice to show that she is not a vulnerable person and will not go down easy. She tells of the story of how she spreader the word of the Doctor around the world and whilst saying this she has passion in her voice showing a typical female with emotions and feelings that are shown.

The Master is wearing a black and white suite to show his formality to the audience and his dominance over others in this extract. Whereas the Doctor who is trapped in a cage is wearing scruffy clothes that are ripped showing he is a slave and less dominant than the Master. Martha is wearing army gear which is full black showing she has power and determination which breaks the rule of the stereotype.

There are non-diegetic sounds in the scene such as background music which is intense music to build up tension for the audience at home to make them feel as though they are there in the clip with the actors. There are diegetic sounds as well in the background of the scenes such as machines going off which adds realism to the extract its self.

Editing is used throughout the clip to make the shots and the story flow faster and smoothly for the audience at home as well as this there are CGI and special effects used in the clip as well where the Doctor turns back into a human and starts flying which seems realistic from the special effects.

Mr Ford: Marketing and Production Practices Essay

Successful media depend as much upon marketing and distribution to a specific audience as they do upon good production practices

To what extent do you agree with this statement, within the media area you have studied?

In all media products around the world weather it’s a Film, Game, Magazine or CD there is some type of marketing for it such as poster, adverts or trailers depending on the product. I agree that successful media products do need marketing because it’s the main way companies promote their products to the world and audiences the product is aimed for. After marketing there are other sectors that also sectors as well, such as production practices which allow the company producing the product to get a good idea on the quality of the product, and what these big companies such as Paramount Pictures who produce films are selling to their valued customers and audiences. Over the next couple of paragraphs I will talk about how successful media depends on marketing and production as well as production practices and the reasons for and against them. Examples of a large film company would be Disney or Warner Brother. Disney’s marketing and distribution skills are incredibly good and they have a wide range of marketing skills as well, these marketing skills play a big role in the success of the company’s films. Disney has been a popular company ever since it was founded on October 16^th 1923 and since then the company has made and produced over 158 films. Many films created by Disney are massive household name films for the children audiences such as The Lion King and Robin Hood which most children of the 1990’s generation have seen and the new 2000’s generation are also seeing the films now due to their releases onto DVD and Blu-ray. These films were produced and translated into many languages this is a clear example of how Walt Disney’s distribution tactics are highly rated and stretched.

Disney also uses a wide range of vertical and horizontal marketing to widen the distribution of its productions and products. Disney own most of their own studios, TV channels and Clothing Brands meaning they again have a wider range to market meaning more audiences can be covered. An example of this would be Disney’s Alice in Wonderland which has had lots of products made around it so it can gain more money for its franchise. As well as bigger companies smaller companies such as Bedlam Productions use very different tactics in marketing and distribution. With the right distribution and marketing Bedlam Productions gain high profits of The Kings Speech. Bedlam used techniques to market the production for small audiences that the film would apply to such as patriots of the UK. As well as this Disney created fan groups for films which meant they could now attract an even wider audience and also can use these pages to spread awareness of the films they are producing and the upcoming films they are producing with advertising on these fan pages. In perspective to how Disney markets and distributes its films, Bedlam Productions use different tactics in marketing and distribution for different audiences. This was proved when they marked The Kings Speech a film they produced very well and ended up with it brining in a handsome profit. The film appeared to be a smaller produced film, having more of a selected audience which can be seen again as English patriots and American British lovers. This film was marketed through posters with main characters on and

Many audiences engage with distribution and marketing strategies for many reasons. A main reason is that it helps the audiences get a better insight into the product being produced weather it’s a film or a piece of clothing made to spin off from a film. A type of marketing would be Engagement marketing because it is a strategy that directly engages consumers to participate in the evolution of a brand. The audiences engage with the marketing by watching the trailers and reading the posters if they are attractive enough to grab the audience’s attention. I believe that it is equally important to have good marketing skills and a successful marketing scheme, as well as this not all films use really expensive marketing schemes and instead of having massive posters and trailers choose to use smaller techniques such as spreading the word or ‘word of mouth’ in which a film is marketed vocally and is passed on by others eventually reaching a wider market and audience meaning a healthy profit can be made from this scheme. Production on its on gives the film its basics and its structure but the marketing helps fill in the other gaps making the product a whole meaning you can’t have one without the other and expect the product or film to be a big blockbuster hit. Directors need to use a balance of the marketing schemes with production practices to get a good amount of attention for the product they have been producing.

 

The Kings Speech Case Study

Britishness:

Britishness is the state or quality of being British, or of embodying British characteristics, and is used to refer to that which binds and distinguishes the British people and forms the basis of their unity and identity, or else to explain expressions of British culture—such as habits, behaviours or symbols that have a common, familiar or iconic quality readily identifiable with the United Kingdom. The main symbol of the United Kingdom is the Union Jack. This brings England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland together.

Britishness sprung into political and academic prominence in the late 20^th century, but its origins lie with the formation of the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. Although Britishness was used to refer to Britons collectively as early as 1682, historian Linda Colley asserts that it was after the Acts of Union 1707 that the citizens of Great Britain began to assume a "layered" identity—to think of themselves as simultaneously British but also Scottish, English, and/or Welsh.

Britishness in the Kings Speech:

The Kings Speech shows a lot of patriotism in the film itself about the United Kingdom and how the population of the country treated one another. For example in the film you would see most male actors wearing suits with blazers and ties to show professionalism as well as the posh look of the English. The way in which the English spoke was also recognised by the film producers and directors as they inherited this accent and way of speech into the film to give a realistic effect of the time when the film was set. Even tiny details were added into the films sets and scenes to show the britishness of the film.

Exhibition:

Exhibition is the distribution of a film through a process which a movie is made available to watch for an audience by a film distributor. The kings Speech was released on the 24^th December 2010 for USA audiences and the 7^th January 2011 for UK audiences. The film was a massive success with its budget only being around $15 million estimated and returning in the box office with $138 million meaning the films profit was almost 10 times the actual budget.

Appeal:

The film had many appeals to audiences around the world but the two main appeals was that it was a full British film meaning it was all about Britain and the Royal Family. This would help attract attention from the UK public as well as the USA public who seem to like British Royal Family films. As well as Royal Families it also presented commoners such as Lionel logue who was seen as a less fortunate man who had nothing going for him but still seemed to live his life to the full.

Film Reviews:

There were many reviews of The Kings Speech for example http://www.rottentomatoes.com  gave the film 94% out of 100 only 6 of the highest score.

Some Top critics gave reviews such as “The Kings Speech is the rare work of art that’s also an immense crowd-pleaser” also “The King’s Speech is admirably free of easy answers and simple, happy endings; it’s a slewed, awards-ready version of history, but one polished to a fine, satisfying shine”. Comments and reviews like these give the films praise and more recognition than ever before meaning they can gain more views and profit.

Award nominations and Oscars:

It received nominations for 12 Oscars including best picture, best director, best supporting actor and actress, best screenplay, best editing, best art direction and costume. It won 4 Oscars for best picture, best director, best Actor (Colin Firth) and best original screenplay. It was also nominated for 14 BAFTAs of which it won 7. Mark Kemode comments that Oscar and BAFTA nominations and awards are often expected when playing a monarch for example with Judy Dench - Shakespeare in Love Helen Mirren - The Queen etc. and especially when the story is about humanising the monarchy. 

Production Issues:

The king’s speech is an excellent example of a film which is individual that can receive major success around the UK and global audiences. All of this without helps from major studios and distributions studios. The company which produced the film is see-saw which is a British/Australian company which helped the film by sealing deal with other companies such as the Weinstein brothers.

The Finance:

Prescience saw the film's potential early on and became the key financier of the film. The Weinstein Company and Momentum Pictures were also large investors for the film. The UK Film Council gave See-Saw £1 million for the production. Together they created the budget of $12 million. 

Distribution and marketing issues:

Good marketing techniques were used in this films distribution. For example on posters that were made for the film words are used to comment on the film as well as the words are seen as connotations for the English meaning it’s kind of a hidden symbol for the film. The posters also show a British theme with a Royal Family theme as well by I believe this because the posters show a gold colour scheme with background images of iconic parts of  London England. On the posters some of the comments address the audience directly meaning they can be part of the film in which some audiences like this type of marketing. Finally on the posters there is all the information needed for the Audiences about the film with the cast at the bottom of the posters as well as dates included. 

As well as posters trailers have been released for the film meaning the audience is widened because overall 26 million of the 70 million odd in the UK watch television every day meaning that the film now would gain a wider range of audiences because more people would of seen The Kings Speech marketed. The trailers include music which is patriotic to the UK with war music to show what the films about and the struggle George VI went through.

Major issues facing British Film Makers:

There has been an evolution and revolution to British film makers around the world. With evidence showing that British films can do well if promoted and produced right they can be massive. This shown by the Kings Speech, there are more opportunities for British film makers and they can have their go in the spot light. Even if they do not go so well there are many more films out there to produce.

So overall British film makers have the same chance of producing a massive film as a Hollywood producer because it’s not just all about budget, stars or special effects it’s also the developing of a film along with the directors actions.

Regional Identity

Definition of regional identity

Regional identity refers to the act of identifying with a specific geographic region of a nation. This term can also be defined as something that is limited to a particular region.

Examples:

Wales: Sheep, fields, Valleys, Soft accent, Dragons, Rugby

Ireland: Booze, Beer, Rugby

English, London: Violent, Gangs, Busy, Posh, Cockney accent

American: Obese, McDonald's, less intelligent

Liverpool: Scouse, Violent, Football, John Lennon

Me and my family are from Narborough which is on the outskirts of Leicester's city center. The village i am from holds many ethnic groups as well as accents and the accent which is used the most is a common english accent where words are pronounced correctly with only a few words being cut short for example instead of people saying Leicester they would say 'Lesta'. I think you can tell where people come from the ethnic background or their skin colour and accent because each sector of the world has its own accent which people are recognised to. I think many people have different opinions on others whether they come from a rural area or not, people who are based in rural areas are seen to be more equipped with better features such as manners and having a better upbringing. Whereas Urban areas like the city centre and other areas like Saint matthews are seen to be more rougher areas with violence surrounding the kids and adults.

Star Trek Into Darkness Research

Ethnicity in TV Dramas: Hotel Babylon

Hotel Babylon: Extract

In the TV drama series of Hotel Babylon there are many ethnicities presented to the audience at home. For example there are a wide range of ethnicities and languages in the specific episode and extract I have watched and the example would be English, Polish, African and Asian. There is a really clear contrast between the ethnic groups in this TV drama and in this essay o will point out the key features of how the Ethnic groups are treated and how they respond to this. I will also include a conclusion and an overall thought about the TV drama Hotel Babylon at the end of this essay.

At the start of the extract we see a posh well groomed Englishman wearing a suit and tie in a store room looking for something. The camera gives us mid shots and close up shots of this character to give us an insight of his facial expressions and what he might be looking for. There is slow paced music being played in the background suggesting that something is going to build up soon. Next two police man walk through the door both of the English with English accents showing that a policeman is seen to be an English job in the UK and no other ethnic group can have this job.

Editing then switches the scene over to another one quickly adding alertness to the audience. Also the music has picked up showing even more alertness. This scene is shown at the front of the Hotel with everyone there dressed posh wearing suits and blazers. Most people in this scene are English showing at the minute not a wide range of ethnic groups. At this stage in the extract we see our first African American man wearing a suit and tie but he also has an English accent showing he is still British overall. All the English ethnic people we have seen so far are all dressed and looking smart to me this gives the English ethnic group the upper hand and that they are seen to be more powerful and dominant.

The editing then switches the clip over to Jackie who is part of the Asian ethnic group and works in her own office at the back of the hotel but her office is in a store cupboard instead of a professional one this to me shows the clear divide between the ethnic groups of the English and other groups. The lighting shown upon the head policeman is very dark and shadowy giving the audience a feeling that the head policeman is a sly and cunning man. The head policeman asks the woman in white if they can look around because they are from the immigration service and she reply’s politely saying yes you may and offers them guides. This to me shows that the English ethnic group is portrayed as well mannered.

The editing of the clip suggests urgency now as clips start to speed up with many more little shots added between. Urgency is also added by the camera because the angels are constantly zooming in and out and swishing to show people rushing around. The music tempo has also picked up drawing in the attention of the audience even more. The next scene shows us behind the scenes in the Hotel in the cafeteria and where the ‘immigrants’ work, with Jackie running in shouting at them in a mix of languages obviously getting across the message that the immigration service is here. The urgency is even more intense and high now because there’s that many camera shots and angles going on you don’t know where to look giving the effect that your there watching them in real life and your one of them. The ethnicity part of this clip is that all of the people are from different countries and are illegal immigrants meaning they shouldn't be there and the fact Jackie speaks to them this way in s a loud voice whilst she is speaking we can hear other sound of food sizzling and pan clapping together drowning out what she is saying so the audience cant exactly hear her at this stage shows that the British born ethnic group have more power and control over the non-British ethnic groups.

Further on in the extract we come to a scene where all the immigrants are locked in a cupboard hiding from the immigration service. This shows that the non-British ethnic groups are less powered and scared on the common British person. The mise-en-scene of this clip is that you can hear gasps of breath and whispering showing that they are trying to be as quite as possible so the immigration service does not find them and take them. One of the immigrants falls Ill and faints in the store room showing that some of them are weak and are treated badly, but one of the immigrants called Adam says he used to be a doctor and helps the ill woman, this to me supports the stereotypical thoughts of what people think immigrants can do. By this I mean that you would expect someone like Adam to be a cleaner like he is now and not a Doctor. There is no music in this part of the extract because then it helps the audience listen to the immigrants and how they are scared in this store room.

Ebrahim is a cleaner who works at Hotel Babylon and is not collected by Jackie to be taken to hide with the other immigrants so he is the only one left. As he is cleaning we see some parallel editing between the immigrants in the store room and Ebrahim who is cleaning. The immigration service comes through the elevator to find Ebrahim cleaning then the camera zooms right into Ebrahim’s face showing us his facial expression and that his ethnic origin is again petite against the mighty English. He tries to run and as he runs the camera follows him showing us the point of view of the immigration service and how they hunt him down like an animal. He is caught and then taken away to be deported out of the country.

The final scene is that we see the immigration service dragging Ebrahim out of the Hotel with Jackie screaming at them telling them that he can’t go back to where he lives because he will be killed. This to me shows that some people such as Jackie treat everyone the same no matter what ethnic group they are.

Male Gaze

Definitions

Chocolate box: half or full-smile, lips together or slightly parted, teeth barely visible, full or three-quarter face to camera. Projected mood: blandly pleasing, warm bath warmth, where uniformity of features in their smooth perfection is devoid of uniqueness or of individuality. 

Invitational: emphasis on the eyes, mouth shut or with only a hint of a smile, head to one side or looking back to camera. Projected mood: suggestive of mischief or mystery, the hint of contact potential rather than sexual promise, the cover equivalent of advertising’s soft sell.

Super Smiler: full face, wide open toothy smith, head thrust forward or chin thrown back, hair often wind-blown. Projected mood: aggressive, 'look at me' demanding, the hard shell, 'big come-on' approach.

Romantic or Sexual: a fourth and more general classification devised to include male and female 'two-some'; or the dreamy, heavy-lidded, unsmiling big-heads, or the overtly sensual or sexual. Projected moods: possible 'available' and defiantly 'available' 

Marjorie Ferguson

this advert which was created by Dolce & Gabbana shows the male gaze of a different kind. It shows the romantic and sexual part of it because in the advert there is more than one body causing it to be a two-some which comes under the definition of the romantic and sexual section. 

The woman displayed in Dolce & Gabbana advert is seen as part of the male gaze because she is clearly there to attract the attention of the male audience watching adverts on the TV. The fact she is a clearly in shape woman and model shows that men aspire to be with her and to do this the advert suggests buying the male side of the Dolce and Gabbana perfume. 

As well as this there is a well kept in shape male in the advert as well this to me also shows part of the male gaze but woman looking at men. Its basically the same theory as the male looking at the woman in the advert as in this time the woman aspires to be the woman in the advert and to do that they need to buy the female perfume produce by Dolce and Gabbana. 

Another way that the male gaze is shown in this advert would be by the fact there both dripping with water because they have just come back on the boat from having a swim. With a golden tan as both models have in this advert mixed with the dripping water effect it gives a sense of sexiness towards the models seen by the audience at home.

There is finally an invitational expression shown by the male and the female in this advert showing there seriousness and willingness to be with the other attracted person. This projects the mood of mischief between the two models on the boat also a sense of contact and no sexual promise between them. 

Why Did Dredd Flop At The Box Office (Essay)

  Why Did Dredd Flop At The Box Office

Dredd was released on the 7^th of September 2012. The film had an estimated budget of $45,000,000 ($45 million) dollars. The film flopped in the box office only recalling just over $36,000,000 ($36 million) dollars, this was a loss of around $10million dollars making the film an official flop in the box office. In this essay I will give reasons for why Dredd failed in the box office and give evidence to support the reasons I have given. I will talk about the production, pre-production and marketing. In these areas I will talk the actors who contributed to film as well as talking about the directors and producers. Other information and I will talk about in this essay is the filming location, film budget and the marketing such as trailers and posters.

Whilst doing all of this I will compare the film to a larger superhero blockbuster and that blockbuster I will be comparing Dredd to is the film The Amazing Spider-man that was released on the 3^rd July 2012 the same year as Dredd was released these two films also had to compete with another superhero film which was The Dark Night Rises released on the 20^th July 2012.

To start of this essay about how and why Dredd failed in the box office my first reason for this would be in the Pre-production section which covers the actors, director, producers and the budget. My very first reason is the actors, when I say this I mean the lack of outstanding and well-known actors in the film Dredd compared to the film the amazing Spider-man. In the film Dredd the actors were Karl Urban who had also stared in Star Trek made in 2009 and the Bourne Supremacy made in 2004. Karl Urban is probably the most well-known actor in this film because the audience might know of him from the other films he had stared in. Other key actors in Dredd were Olivia Thirlby and Lena Headly. These two actors played big parts in the film but few in the audience that watched the film knew of these people. When you compare Dredd’s actors to the amazing spider-man’s actors you can clearly see the difference of actors used. In the amazing spider man the main actors were Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone and Ryhs Ifans. Andrew Garfield also stared in films such as The Social Network made in 2010, this film was a big film that made allot of money. Another actor is Emma Stone who over the past couple of years has stared in a range of movies such as The Help made in 2011, Easy A made in 2010 and Zombieland made in 2009. The Final actor to star in the amazing spider man is Rhys Ifans who plays Lizard in the movie. He has also stared in films such as Notting Hill made in 1999 and Anonymous made in 2011. You can see the actors in the amazing spider man are far superior than the actors in Dredd they are more well-known. Audiences and people in general have a liking to different actors this could of meant that Dredd would of not stood a chance in the long run against theses big blockbuster films.

Another reason why I think the film flopped in the box office is due to the directors and producers. When I say this I mean the lack of creativeness made by the director and producers to make sure the films competes with other well-known superhero films out at that time. The director of Dredd was Pete Travis not a well-known director he has directed other films but those films were not well known as well such as End game made in 2009 and Omagh made in 2004. This compared to the amazing spider man’s director who is Marc Webb who is not the most well-known director either but is known for his creativeness which would help the films he directed to become bigger films.

The Budget of two films I am comparing could have been a big factor in how well they did in the box office. Dredd had a budget of around $45million dollars compared to the amazing spider-man’s budget of $230 million almost $200 million dollars more. The budget I think is the most important reason why the film flopped; I think this because with a big budget like the amazing spider-man’s you can literally make a film which is almost real it’s that good. They can do this with the special effects and the CGI which costs a lot of money to make. Whereas Dredd with a $45 million budget had to keep their effects and locations to a minimum because they couldn’t afford the amazing special effects so had to do with the best effects they could get. Audiences want to see realistic films which look as if they have been captured their and then that’s why audiences would of chose The amazing spider man over Dredd all day every day because of the complexity of the film.

The filming locations for Dredd were based in one area which was Capetown in South Africa. They only used this location because it was cheap and didn’t use that much of their budget up. Whereas the amazing spider man was filmed in the USA at the Universal Studios Hollywood as wall California and New York. These areas are again more well-known than Capetown in South Africa so the audience would want to see a better filming location because it helps make a better film all together.

The amazing spider-man’s main character spider-man is owned by Marvel which is a major company in comic books and superhero’s. They also own superhero’s such as Hulk, Ironman, Captain America and brands of superhero groups such as the fantastic 4, Avengers and the X-men. All of these Marvel characters are well-known by everyone and most people will go to see any movie around and about them. Whereas Dredd is owned and created by John Wagner, Carlos Ezquerra and Pat Mills, and the comic was published by IPC Media who is not as well-known as Marvel a bigger franchise.

My final couple points of why Dredd flopped in the box office would be about the whole marketing of the film. When I say this I mean Dredd was marketed abysmally, this could of lead to less recognition of the film than others out at that time, resorting to the audience seeing other films instead. A couple of ways the film was marketed in ways films should be marketed through trailers and posters. The posters and billboards for Dredd were called appalling by many people. It was called this because the billboards just looked like vandalism and so did the posters so no one took any notice of the film all together as you can tell by the image on the right of a Dredd billboard. The only way Dredd was marketed was through trailers show on the television which I suppose gave the film a little recognition. My final point is about the cinema showings and the run time. Dredd’s run time total is a total 95 minutes and the amazing spider man has a total run time of 136 minutes. This means that the film the amazing spider man had a better reception because it was shown for longer whereas Dredd has a short run time for a film so many people would not of liked this and would not gone to see the film at the cinema. Finally Dredd was shown of a total of 415 cinemas and the amazing spider man was shown in a total of 3150 cinema screens. You can clearly see that the amazing spider man would have gained more money because it was shown in more screens as Dredd which would may not as much money; this is a key reason why they flopped in the box office.

Conclusion

My conclusion to the film Dredd and why it flopped in the box office is because of many reasons. And simply it didn’t match up to the other superhero films out at the time such as the amazing spider-man and The Avengers. I think this because the stars of Dredd don’t match up to these films stars; the budget was no way near a good budget price to create a great film either. All together I think the film was released at the wrong time to compete with these types of films.

 

Dredd Preformance (Mr Ford)

Abrahamson, Todorov's Theory Homework

Narrative Theory: Todorov’s Model of Equilibrium and Disequilibrium

Home work task: LO To develop understanding of Todorov’s Theory by applying to a Tv Drama

Watch a whole episode of a TV drama and make notes re: its narrative structure in the table below. Use BBC iplayer if you have to. Try to avoid soaps as they have many narrative strands which can be complicated to analyse.

TV Drama title: Waterloo road

Genre of TV drama: Drama

Date: 5th September 2013

Stage of narrative	Basic details of this stage in episode	How does this stage contribute to the episode overall? Why is it effective?
1)      An initial state of equilibrium (usually calm and settled) at the onset of the narrative.	start of the school day all the students and teachers are walking around smiling greeting each other because its the start of the new school term.	gives the program and episode a starting point and sets up the story line for that episode.
2)      A disruption of the equilibrium by some action (something happens)	Audrey is concerned when the new students look terrible and look like they do not get looked after at home by there guardian.	this part sets up the story even more and gives an insight into what might happen later on in the episode or the series.
3)      Recognition that there has been a disruption of the initial state (usually noticed by characters)	Audrey goes to the students house to find there guardian is a drug dealer, he comes home and stops her from leaving. Audrey escapes and flees back to the school	gives a sense of danger to the audience and gives an effect of emotion for Audrey and the students.
4)      An attempt to repair the disruption (by characters)	Audrey calls the police and tells them about the drug dealer, the police turn up at the school and take him away leaving the kids with no guardian now.	resolves the story in this episode and fills in the bits the audience didn't quite know about.
5)      A reinstatement of the equilibrium (everything may go back to ‘normal’, restoration of  balance)	School day finishes and everyone leaves the school the way they came in.	this shows the ending of the episode and gives the effect of that this is what happens in this school

Did this episode break any of Torodov’s rules? If so, why?: 

The episode seems to follow the Tordov theory well with all the stages.