Unit 2 Film industry Exam Prep Flashcards
Name one major Hollywood film company.
Disney, Warner Bros, Universal
Why are major hollywood film companies important?
They provide large proportions of funding and generally take control of the marketing of the film, aiding it to being successful at box office.
What are the advantages to a film being apart of a franchise?
- Tried and tested success at the box office
- Continuous flow of storylines/expanded narrative
- Use of same actors/cast will appeal to audiences
- Reduced production and distribution costs (eg using the same costumes and set ect)
How is a film usually funded?
- Primary production funding from studios
- Collaboration and joint funding
- 100% UK or US, part UK and US, part EU + UK
- Various investors, conglomerate funding
What to include in a question about key themes?
- Narrative
- Levi Strauss + binary opposition
- Order vs Chaos, Weak Vs Strong themes
- Character functions Propp (heroes, villains, princess)
- Todorovian narrative structures
What to include in a question about genre codes and conventions?
- Neales theory of repetition and differences (USP)
- Levi Strauss - Binary opposition
- Mise-en-scene (visual effects, SFX, cinematography)
- Verisimilitude/realism
- Mediation, stereotype, ideology, representation, dress codes, visual codes, audio codes
Age ratings
Importance of the BBFC
Factors into classifying a film
- U, PG, 12, 12a, 15, 18, R18
- To protect children from harmful content, gives information on what to expect,reference to films intended audience.
- Setting of film (realistic, historical, contemporary), themes and sensitivity of representation, overall tone (darker film = higher classification), strength and impact of discrimination.
Why do mainstream films use hero and villains?
- Storylines, plots and themes
- Narrative structures, character functions, binary opposition
- historically has appealed to audiences, tried and tested narrative structure for success at box office
- representation of characters/beliefs
- global appeal = huge profits = organisational synergies through merchandising
- anti-heroes/reluctant heroes
- gender ideologies of heroes/villains
What can you discuss regarding the promotion of a film worldwide?
- marketing, promotion, copies, cinema placement, technology and recent streaming practices
- advertising, print, television, radio, social media
- popular genre/association
- industry and target audience
- classification and global (international) audiences
- intertextuality and further synergies
Analyses of theme in Wonder Woman
1 - Vladimir Propp (character types)
Hero - wonderwoman - she stands for justice and actively seeks solutions to help other people. Example- she hears of a war an must go to reduce suffering. She has typically morally correct values and no intention of harm. Scene where she jumps into the battle field signifies heroism and bravery.
Villain - doctor (Isobel) poison - shown as the binary opposite of Diana. Cruel, malicious and psychopathic as she tests her gas on soldiers, in intention to create as much death as possible. Dress code - frightening replacement of mouth, shows previous accident and her strength a a villain, a suitable match for diana.
2 - Todorov (theory of narrative)
Equilibrium, disruption, recognition, attempt and new equilibrium all seen in film. His theory mirrors that of the good vs evil theme as the major plot points, like when Doctor P finalises the deadly gas, spurs the heroes into action.
Common typicality that the evil forces cause the disruption and chaos whilst it is the role of the good to repair the damage.
When on the battle field, weakness is seen in doctor poison (a tear), signifying defeat and reinforces the strength of the hero, as she is depicted in a triumphant way, ready to move onto the next battle.
Analyses of genre/action in Wonder Woman
1 - immediate introduction to combat when the amazons are fighting and training. Reference to war/violence/dispute in need of solutions. Trigger in narrative equilibrium theory, which is a similarity across action films.
2 - Mise-en-scene - dress codes of shining armour and protection in a typical symbolistic costume which many action films adhere to using. Her walking across no mans land, explosions, stands out as strong, prepared in the face of danger. Themes of empowerment and strength in diana, which goes against action stereotypes.
3 - narrative emphasis on fights. Sophisticated stunt work and visual effects reflects action genre, possibly defying any aspects of realism in order to convey the supernatural strengths of the hero.
4 - Neales theory of similarities and differences, the same special effects yet a difference and a USP could be the use of a strong female lead instead of what stereotypically would have been a male. Similarity - prop use of guns, swords, shields, battle armour, gas all have connotations of action and fighting, mirrored back to the action genre.
Funding of Wonder Woman?
Budget - $120 - 150 million
Box office -$822.3 million
Distributed by Warner Bros, collaboration with DC.
4th instalment in the justice league series.
Part Us, part UK funding with locational setting help from various European countries.
How were posters used to help promote Wonder Woman?
- incredibly bright in comparison from films like Batman vs Superman, which was massively desaturated. Pulls WW apart from other DC superheroes.
- 3 consequative posters released of action shots of Diana, wonder courage power, shes in battle gear.
- Chris Pine added to campaign as a secondary focal point, for marketing due to his star image status.
- use of gold in posters - striking + success
How did the trailers help promote Wonder Woman?
- positive introduction to the origin of the character
- lots of action sequences to build on genre, association with previous DC, SFX large budget + funding
- interestingly, second trailer release received backlash as Trevor was given a lot of screen time, where the prefered reading was supposed to be that they are operating on similar levels, with equal attention on both characters, which was rejected by audiences as this was intended to be the first SOLO female superhero movie.
How was social media used to promote Wonder Woman?
- Creation of facebook, twitter and instagram handles to reach wide audiences
- Snapchat promoted the film by creating the face filter of dianas crown
- GIFs, film clips and behind the scenes and pictures all released in preparation for the film premiere.
