What impact does media ownership have upon the range of products available to audiences in the media area you have studied?

Research:

Kill List (2011)-IMDb rating: 6.3

Producers:Claire Jones and Andy Starke

Written by: Amy Jump, Ben Wheatley

Director: Ben Wheatley- (down terrace- award- 

Austin Fantastic Fest 2009- won best film and British Independent Film Awards 2009- rain dance award

- Kill List, Sightseers, Down Terrace, A Field in

England

Budget: $800,000Box Office: $462,206

Find out as much as you can about the companies that helped produce Kill List:

·         Warp X- is a British film production company, sister to Warp Films based in Sheffield, UK with further offices in Nottingham and London. The company was founded in 2005 and produces feature films. It is a digital film studio that produces feature films in the UK with budgets usually between £400,000 and £800,000.The studio serves as a format for new film directors to create movies for the first time on a lower budget scale with less expectation for high box office revenues on their initial feature foray.The film studio began with support from organizations including Warp Films, Film Four, the UK Film Council, EM Media and Screen Yorkshire. The intent of the film studio's creation was to add energy and vitality to the film industry in Britain.- This company was the studio of production and distributor of the film. 

·         A Complete History of My Sexual Failures (2008)

·         Donkey Punch (2008)

·         Hush (2009)

·         Tyrannosaur (2011)

Distribution - What is it?

Distribution - What is it?

Use the link below and find answers to the following questions 

What Is Distribution?

What part of the supply chain is distribution? Third part of the supply chain

What is distribution often referred to as? its referred to as the invisible art 

What does 'vertical integration' mean when discussing distribution? where the three stages get put together and are all under control by one company.

Why isn't 'vertical integration' so common in the independent sector? Because most producers already have long term economic links with distributors.

What three stages are involved in the independent sector?  Licensing, marketing and logistics. 

Use the link below and find answers to the following questions

Licencing

What is licencing? Licensing is the process by which a distributor acquires the legal right to exploit a film. In distribution, licensing itself can take place on two levels.

What are the two levels of licensing? International distribution and Independent production

What is the advantage of being a major US studio? The major US studios generally have their own distribution offices in all the major territories.

What three different types of rights can you acquire on a local level? 

What are royalties?

What is the most effective way to increase interest in a film? A local distributor will conventionally share profits equally with the producer for the theatrical leg, pay back higher royalties for broadcast rights, and lower for video/DVD.

How long does it take for a film to reach 'free to air' TV? A film will be packaged and released on DVD and VHS video, then on various forms of pay television and eventually, two years after opening in cinemas, on free-to-air television. 

Use the link below and find answers to the following questions

Marketing

What are the two key questions surrounding the marketing of a film? 'When?' and 'How?'

In the UK, new films are released theatrically on Fridays.

What day are films typically released on? Friday 

What will a distributor look at before releasing a film on a Friday? if its a week where not many films are are only a few films scheduled for release.

What is a 'light' week in terms of distribution? ensure that there will be both screen space and adequate review column inches in the press allocated to any potential release. A further consideration for scheduling a release is the seasonality of the film.

What does it mean to 'position' a film distinctively? the distributor will try to position the film distinctively and avoid a release date occupied by other films with similar traits (story, subject, country of origin)

Why has this become increasingly difficult in the UK? the release schedule has regularly featured over 10 new releases in a week.

What are P&A? Prints and Advertising are the nuts and bolts of marketing and distributing films into cinemas, the tools used by the distributor to create a public for its film.

How much can P&A cost?

Use the link below and find answers to the following questions

Marketing - Prints And Adverts

Typically how many prints will a 'specialised' film have? Will often be released with fewer than 10 prints into key independent cinemas

How many will mainstream films have? Commercial mainstream films will often open on over 200 prints.

What is a key factor in developing the profile of a film? 

How else can awareness of a film be raised?

Why is distribution in the UK seen as risky?

Why are companies looking towards viral marketing?

What are the benefits of a 'talent visit'

Use the link below and find answers to the following questions

Logistics

In the pre digital film age what was a distributor responsible for?

How much does a 35mm print typically cost?

How many reals is a typical feature print?

Why do 35mm prints get damaged?

Where are prints stored?

How long did a theatrical release used to last?

Use the link below and find answers to the following questions

Digital Distribution

When did digital distribution begin in the UK?

Name two advantages of digital distribution

Which countries adopted digital distribution early and why?

How many screens were digital in 2005 and how many are now (you'll need to google this)

Why has digital distribution radically altered the operating model of distributors?

What has happened to the typical release period for a film?

What is a loss leader (google it) and why are companies using the Cinema as a potential loss leader?

Distribution - Ex Machina, Mad Max and Kill List

Distribution - Ex Machina, Mad Max and Kill List

Now you understand distribution you need to find information about our three films.

Licencing

Who licensed Ex Machina in the UK and how much did it cost?

Who licensed Ex Machina in the US and how much did it cost?

Was Ex Machina an example of vertical or horizontal integration?

Who licensed Mad Max Fury Road in the UK and how much did it cost?

Who licensed Mad Max Fury Road in the US and how much did it cost?

Was Kill List an example of vertical or horizontal integration?

Who licensed Kill List in the UK and how much did it cost?

Who licensed Kill List in the US and how much did it cost?

Was Kill List an example of vertical or horizontal integration?

Marketing

What was the release date for Ex Machina in the UK?

Which major films appear in its UK release window? 

What was the release date for Ex Machina in the US?

Which major films appear in its US release window? 

What was the release date for Mad Max Fury Road in the UK?

Which major films appear in its UK release window? 

What was the release date for Mad Max Fury Road in the US?

Which major films appear in its US release window? 

What was the release date for Kill List in the UK?

Which major films appear in its UK release window?

What was the release date for Kill List in the US?

Which major films appear in its US release window?

Distribution

How many screens was Ex Machina released on in the UK? 

How many screens was Ex Machina released on in the US? 

When did Ex Machina screen at the Phoenix Leicester? 

How long was its theatrical run in the UK?

How many screens was Mad Max Fury Road released on in the UK? 

How many screens was Mad Max Fury Road released on in the US? 

When did Mad Max Fury Road screen at the Phoenix Leicester?  

How long was its theatrical run in the UK?

How many screens was Kill List released on in the UK?

How many screens was Kill List released on in the US?

When did Kill List screen at the Phoenix Leicester? 

How long was its theatrical run in the UK?

The representation of class & status essay

Discuss the ways in which the extract constructs the representation of class & status using the following:

• Camera shots, angles, movement and composition
• Editing
• Sound
• Mise en scene 

Camera shots, angles, movement and composition

When both ladies at the start are speaking we can infer that they are the same class and status seen as the camera angle  stays the same even though they are using a shot reverse shot, if the angle was different and they didn't just use a mid shot for the whole thing then we could be able to tell if one was higher up than the other however it isn't like this and they both say at the same camera angle and shot. This is good because the audience can tell straight away that they are high up on the hierarchy. When the maid walks in the focus goes onto her for a few seconds as if she is the important person but then she fades back out and the focus becomes mainly on the two ladies. We then move onto a scene where a lady is in the bath and her maid is also in the room doing her jobs, when the lady who's in the bath is speaking the camera is on her and also the the maid is speaking the camera stays on the lady in the bath, we can infer from this that she is obviously higher up than the other woman in the room because the main focus is always on her. When the maid goes into the bedroom the camera tracks her head and she turns to look in the mirror this makes her realise who she actually is and shows the audience that she is a maid and thats all she is. We then move onto a scene where there are a group of lower class people all together, this scene is very intense and a low angle camera shot is used to make the audience feel vulnerable and the person who they are looking up to have more power, even though we know they are all lower class we can then infer from this that some think they are above others because of the angle used.

Editing

Hollywood montage is used for pretty much the whole thing however i did notice at the start wet the two ladies are talking and the maid walks in it fades the foreground making the main focus on the maid which shows that they do have respect for her and that they don't just ignore her. It then fades back out so the main focus is on the two ladies again showing that the maids "time to shine" is over with and that they are more important than the maid.

Sound

Straight away we can hear birds in the background which is a non diegetic sound effect, this implies that they are in country side area seen as there are no other sounds, if you were to live in a rural area like we can infer that they are high class people seen as lower class wouldn't of been able to afford it. Music is added before the character falls out of the bath, this is to build tension and to hint to the audience that something bad is about it happen, we can infer that it is going to be bad by the type of music it is because its very heavy music and ti starts the speed up closer to the even happening. Then the screen happens this is also a non diegetic sound which shows that the focus of the camera needs to be put back onto the higher class people because they are more important than the lower class characters.

Mies-On-Scene

From the costumes they are wearing we can tell whose upper and lower class straight away, we can infer from he furniture and decoration that they are a very very upper class family. The makeup and costumes are very correct and relatable to the time period that this was set at and with the costumes the guests in the house are wearing hats which indicates they are guests and the use of different costumes for the lower class characters are shown very well seen as there are also very easy to infer that they are not upper class. The lighting when the upper class women are in the room is very well lit inferring that they are elegant and pure but when it comes the the lower class women who are maids its very dim showing that they are lower, with the lighting being low it makes the audience feel as if they are dirty and mucky characters and makes your look down on them.

The British Film Industry

Pathe: Chicken run, Beauty and the beast, Inbetweeners 2, Mac Beth, Kill list.

Film4 : Ex_Machina, Thunderpants, Sightseers, Cuban Fury, The most wanted man.

Eone Entertainment: Sinister, The woman in black, Insidious, Paranoia, The hunger games.

Working title: Everest, Love actually, We are your friends, Les Miserables, The worlds end.

Warpfilms: This is England, The Stone Roses:Made of stone, '71, Four Lions, Submarine.

BigTalk Productions: Shaun of the dead, Attack the block, Cuban Fury, In Fear.

Personally i think that Eone entertainment dominates the uk film industry seen as they have got bigger film names, they may not have A list celebrities however nearly all there films grossed a lot.

Avengers: This film was scored a low 12/35 for its "how British is a British film" this is because of its  location it was set and not actually having much to do with being British. This film was mainly to do with America, it was set there, it was located there and all the cultural practitioners.


An old school way to tell if  a film was British or not was to go through this check list, the film had to meet at least 3 out of 6 on this list to be classed as a British film:

• A British director (e.g Charlie Chaplin, Ridley Scott, Danny Boyle) 
• A British producer (e.g Tony Scott, Kieran Evan)
• A British production company 
• A subject matter that informs on the British experience
• British identity defined by the BFI in 'sight and sound'  

BFI: http://www.bfi.org.uk/about-bfi

Class and Status

What class are you? 

Click on this link to find out what class you are, if you don't know the exact amount for some of the questions just roughly guess.  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-22000973

Representation of Ethnicity shown through Camera work

Discuss the ways in which the extract constructs the representation of ethnicity using the following:

• Camera shots, angles, movement and composition

• Editing

• Sound

• Mise en scene

Camerawork is used to create a range of different effects which can represent ethnicity in many ways. In this clip we have a  black and a white character and from the clip we can see that it is a modern day clip, this means the stereotypes have slightly changed.

Office

At first we cant tell that he's an office because they just use shot reverse shots between him and the computer screen, they alternate between using close ups and extreme close ups, they do this to show you the emotion and expression on his face and the information on the screen which is then linked to later on in the extract. Then further on a female character comes into the scene wearing a police lanyard which shows he has a well paid job, she also calls him “sir” which shows he's well respected and is high up. The woman asks him if they are going out which shows that she is lower than him, this is classed as a countertype seen as the stereotype for a black is to be uneducated but a stereotype for being hard working. 

Exterior- Car pulling up to the house

They use a zoom which bring the character from he exterior to the interior, this is to show how mad he is and that the tension is building up the closer he gets to the house, this meets the stereotype of black people being angry.

Interior-House

At the start we have a long shot of the full character and some of her surrounding this shows that she is a pretty wealthy woman and seen as its day light and he was at work it seems as if it was mid day, we can infer from this then that she is a house wife or works from home, this means she meets the stereotype of a white woman. Switching between the characters using and over the shoulder shots, and including shot reverse shots shows the tension between the two characters and that even though they are different they are the same. The man meets the stereotype of having something to do with drugs however the woman countetypers her seen as she is also to do with the drugs which is not her stereotype at all. 

Car journey

In this scene we can see that they use a panted angle to show the decreasing  power of the woman this is because its at an angle and it shows that the man has more power over her this is then classed as a countertype seen as its normally white that has the power over the black. They have used a hand held camera things brings the audience into the scene more and makes them feel as if they are a part of the act, this may also make the audience feel intimidated seen as they may feel over powered too which may meet stereotype or challenge them it depends on who the audience is. 

Representation of ethnicity

Stereotypes:
Black- angry black woman, not a lot of money, sons are drug dealers, savage, servant, unintelligent    
White-The only people that earn good money, rich, big houses and cars, arrogant, self centered, unknowledgeable about other cultures, 2 children, married, straight, blonde hair blue eyes. Teenagers are stereotypes for being chavs, naughty, wearing tracksuits, drugs, drink, smoking, not clever, no motivation. 
South Asian(India, Pakistan, Afghanistan) - Make a fuss about nothing, work for a low wage, polluting British air when they emigrated there, Pakistanis and Bangladeshis are more aggressive and form gangs
East Asian(Russia)- 

The countertypes for these are that they are intelligent, have a well paid job e.g doctor, nurse, police officer and anything else high up, nice, generous, respectful.

Top Boy

This programme has mainly got black people in it, this meets the stereotype of the typical "black teenager" which is that they are dangerous, drug dealers, listen to urban music, and wear tracksuits. This film is an overview of the stereotypical black teenager, however this is is just a stereotype seen as not all are like this.

Skins

Thomas from skins would be classed as exotic seen as his accent is very strong and at the start his english isn't so good. He is from a different country therefore he could be seen as an "other" person because of what he looks like and how he talks. Also in skins there are characters such as Effy and Cooks who fit the stereotypes of a teenager perfectly, they go school some days, do drugs, party, drink loads don't have much motivation in life. However the characters Anwar and JJ countertype this seen as JJ can't do drugs, doesn't drink and is focus on work and his future, this is the same with Anwar, he does loads of revision for all of his exams and his mates admit that too later on in the programme.

CSI

The character Warrick is park of the CSI, stereotyping him from his appearance shows that he doesn't meet the stereotype for it seen as he's in a well paid and high up job, he challenges the stereotype which makes it a countertype, however he would be stereotypes as being a very small percentage of jobs like this seen as they are overall classed as a uneducated race.

Facts about Mad max Fury Road

1. Early attempts were made to shoot the film in 2001 and 2003, but were delayed due to the September 11 attacks and the Iraq War.
2. He film has grossed over $374 million worldwide, making it the highest grossing film in the Mad Max franchise.
3. Mad max was mean to be produced in both 3d and black and white however it didnt  and it was just released in 2d.
4. The first film concluded in 2012, this lasted 120 days.
5. George Miller admits he never thought he’d make a second Mad Max movie, let alone a 5th 
6. The script was originally a storyboard concept comic book, around 300 pages long with no dialogue
7. The movie was announced back in 2009, but it was another two years before cameras started rolling, and then production was delayed even further by unusual weather in Australia.
8.  One thing Miller wants to make clear is that this isn’t a CGI film.
9. Mad max Fury Road was released in Australia on Thursday, May 14
10. Over 80% of the effects seen in the film are real practical effects, stunts, makeup and sets.
11. the flame- shooting guitarist is Australian artist/musicianSean Hape, he said the guitar weighed 123 pounds, and shot real gas- powered flames, which he controlled using the whammy bar. 
12. On April 3rd 2015, Tom Hardy announced he would sign on for 3 more Mad Max films.
13.  The jacket worn by Tom Hardy is a replica of the one worn by Mel Gibson in the second two movies of the original trilogy.
14. Charlize Theron reportedly shaved her head for the role of Furiosa and as a result had to wear a wig for her role in A Million Ways To Die In The West.
15. Tom Hardy suffered a broken nose during filming when Charlize Theron accidentally elbowed him. She was wearing a green cast at the time which was used as a background for graphics artists to digitally remove Furiosa's arm.
16. As in the previous movies in this series, many characters' names are never said in full or at all onscreen and are only provided in the credits.
17. During the film 114 people died all together.
18. The crows on the stilts are the boys abandoned by the Vuvalini when the green place turned sour. 
19. The first Mad Max film where Max is credited by his full name Max Rockatansky. 
20. Charlize Theron and Tom Hardy reportedly did not get along during the filming, with Hardys method acting reportedly nothing Theron. 
21. The paracord bracelet that Max wears belongs to Tom Hardy himself. 
22. With a runtime of two hours, this is the longest film in the Mad Max series. 
23. Actors were digitally duplicated in post production to expand the crows scenes so in reality on a few actors were actually needed on set during filming.
24. An R-rated version and a PG-13 version had been made, After test screenings, Warner Bros had decided to release the R-rated version.
25. Tom Hardy had a dog named Max that was given to him when he was a teenager, he passed away in 2011. The dog's name was an honour to Mad Max (1979). Years later, Hardy played the title character in Mad Max: Fury Road.

Stereotypes of disability

The stereotypes:

In his 1991 study, Paul Hunt found that there are 10 stereotypes of disabled people, used in the media:

1. The disabled person as pitiable or pathetic
2. An object of curiosity or violence
3. Sinister or evil
4. The super cripple
5. As atmosphere
6. Laughable
7. His/her own worst enemy
8. As a burden
9. As Non-sexual
   
   This is Dixon from 90210 who is worried he will never be able to have sex with his girlfriend again after he was involved in a very dangerous car crash that left him in a wheelchair.
10. Being unable to participate in daily life

Mad Max Fury Road Research:Notes by Taylor Clarke

Sound

 Diegetic sound
Sound whose source is visible on the screen or whose source is implied to be present by the action of the film for example: voices of characters, sounds made by objects in the story, music represented as coming from instruments in the story space (source music) Its also known as "actual" sound.

Non-diegetic sound
Non-diegetic sound is represented as coming from the a source outside story space. For example: narrator's commentary, sound effects which is added for the dramatic effect, mood music

Synchronous sound
Synchronous sound is a sound  that is matched to certain movements occurring in the scene e.g when footsteps correspond to feet walking or a click when a key is turned in a door.

Asynchronous sound
 Asynchronous sound is sound that is not synchronised with the action. 

Sound effects
a sound other than speech or music made artificially for use in a play, film, or other broadcast production

Sound motif
 A sound effect or combination of sound effects that are associated with a particular character, setting, situation or idea through the film. The sound motifscondition the audience emotionally for the intervention, arrival, or actions of a particular character.

Sound bridge
the connection between both scenes since their mood (suggested by the music)

Dialogue
spoken conversational exchange between two or more people

Voiceover
The voice-over is read from a script and may be spoken by someone who appears elsewhere in the production or by a specialist voice actor, This is normally pre recorded and added on top of the film

Direct address
A direct address is the name of the person who is being directly spoken to.

Sound perspective
helps place a sound as a near or distant or coming from a place with in the diegesis

Luther essay

Luther essay

Discuss the ways in which the extract constructs the representation of gender.

At the point of 16-21 seconds we can see that they have used an over the shoulder shot to show Alice's facical expression and how she acts towards him, the way she does this comes across very seductive which may please the male gaze.The representation of Alice's gender is shown as if she has just as much power as the male character Luther, this is shown by them switching between characters when they use an over the shoulder shot. The way Alice walks and talk is very slow she almost glides where ever she walks and lustful as if she does it all the time to many men, she is also wearing red lipstick which can represent the meaning of sex and is also related to lust, later on your see a red chair this has the same representstion as the lipstick does, this is also known as a symbolic code.Whenever the camera is from Luthiers point of view it nearly always follows Alice wherever she moves this is called a tracking shot, which could show that he is seduced by her or that he is unsure of his feelings. The apparent ment is very tidy showing she is an organised woman, however the lighting is very dim and not very welcoming, this may put the male in the scene off staying there because of the semis code which is shown. By the clothing Alice is wearing you can tell she's not a poor woman and the typer of furniture that is in the apartment is to cheap or tacky its of good quality. They flit between long and extreme long shots to show the surroundings of the characters, this is good because we can tell what sort of accommodation she lives un and were about it is e.g city, village, town. The more powerful an individual became the closer the camera shot became, this was to show who is the more dominant character. As the camera shots are flitting between the two characters and long or mid shot will be added and this then breaks the tension between them, also show reverse shot crossed with close ups to show the characters emotions,

Camera shots, angles, movement and composition

Editing

Sound

Mise en scène

Mad men

From this clip we can see that the woman in the blue is the person in power because of the camera angles that are used, when she is talking the camera angle is low and pointing up towards her, this shows that she is overpowering the other person. The woman in the blue at the start also walks as if she has power over everyone, as if she owns the everything with in the building/ office.  The lighting and the colourful clothing that is in this clip shows that it is inspired by the 1960/70's.

Mise-en-Scene

For this mise-en-scene I have chosen to do Skins.

From this we can see that Lara thought she would be taken on a date to a more upperclass place rather than the local pub, we can tell that this was her intentions seen as the clothing that she is wearing isn't as casual as JJ's, she is wearing a pink dress with a black neckless showing that she's girly but can be slightly boyish too. We can see from the position that JJ is sat in that he is nervous, his body posture is very forward and he is filling with he's hand which shows he's struggling to make conversation. JJ's  clothing shows that he isn't that fashionable because he's wearing a check bowtie and shirt, however he is wearing a L &S jacket too which shows that he does have a little bit of fashion sense. 

From this we can see that the lighting is low and dimmed showing that they could be slightly upset or depressed. The buildings in the back look old and abandoned this also adds to the effect of them being upset and down. The girl on the right looks like shes just came from a party or a night out and something or someones upset her, this is because she's dressed up and he hair isn't done up all fancy anymore it just looks ragged showing that she could of been there a while.