Copycat Films

So in class the other day we were talking about how Heinz Baked Beans has changed over the years and how the success of these changes brought along companies that copied them.

 

It started with normal baked beans in a tomato sauce in the iconic blue tin with the Heinz badge clearly displayed. After this product was released a similar company copied the idea of baked beans in tomato sauce when they saw that a lot of the 'orange tea' market was being taken by Heinz. Over the next few years Heinz added different varieties to their products, with baked beans and sausages or baked beans in curry sauce. The success of these new variations also resulted in other companies copying these new products.

 

This idea of copying from a success can be applied to some well-known films. An example of a successful film is 'The Hunger Games' which made millions in the box office when it was released in cinemas, as well as it's sequels also being huge successes in the industry. In my opinion a copy of this film is the newly released 'Maze Runner'. Although in itself 'Maze Runner' is a great film, it follows a similar storyline to that of 'The Hunger Games' as they are both about a group of teenagers that are placed into an unknown environment, against their will, where they must compete against each other in a game of survival of the fittest.

 

Another example of this is between 'Madagascar' and 'The Wild'. In my opinion it is quite clear that 'The Wild' is very similar to the already successful 'Madagascar' as they are both about a group of animals that escape a zoo in New York City.

 

A final example is 'Olympus Has Fallen' and 'White House Down', two very similar films about the heroic actions of security guards during an attack on the President and the White House.

Back To The Future

 

So after telling my friends that I hadn't seen any of the Back to the Future films, which they were very shocked about, they immediately said that they would lend me the trilogy so I could watch it, and I'm glad that they did!

 

At first I was a bit sceptical about the film, as I am with all new films that I haven't seen or paid much attention to before, but I soon familiarised myself with the cool and funny character that is Marty McFly. The film is a sci-fi adventure that was made in 1985 by Robert Zemeckis about a boy called Marty, played by Michael J. Fox, who with the help of his scientist friend Dr Emmett Brown, played by Christopher Lloyd, goes back in time to 1955 in a time machine made from an old DeLorean. However, when Marty is back in 1955 he meets his parents as teenagers, although his presence causes some unwanted complications for his future.

 

As this film is of the genre that I would normally watch I soon began to enjoy the film, so I ended up watching the entire trilogy; which is amazing. This is a great film, well set of films, that work brilliantly together to portray the thrilling adventures of a time traveller. I would definitely say that 'Back to the Future' is now one of my favourite films and I would never get tired of watching it. So it goes without saying that I would definitely recommend this film to anyone that hasn't seen it before!

Comedy Opening Sequence: Planning (practice)

This is where I'm going to plan our comedy opening sequence
 

Synopsis:

The comedy opening sequence that we will be creating is based on a guy that has a phobia of hoovers. The film will begin with the guy running through a town at night/early morning, although it is not clear what he is running from. He then turns down into an alleyway, where his only option is to hide in a big bin, hoping to lose whatever is chasing him. The scene then changes to the same man and a doctor in a psychiatrist's office where they begin to talk about this strange flashback/nightmare.

Character profiles:

The patient -

Johnny is a single, young male who has a fear of hoovers.

He will be wearing normal looking clothes and trainers.
His personality is kept to himself and he is quite quiet around people who he is not familiar with.
 

The psychiatrist -

Doctor Smith is an old/middle aged psychiatrist who is trying to help Johnny.

He will be wearing smart clothes and hopefully a suit or jacket.

He is wise, supportive and tries to help others, with a posh/intelligent voice

 These are the actors that we are going to use in our project.^

  

Location research:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The location for the first half of our opening sequence is an empty town at night, so we decided to film this in Attleborough when it is fairly dark and quiet.

The second half of our opening sequence will be filmed in someone's living room because it can be easily arranged to look like an office.

 

 

Audience research:

For our group's short film opening, I think that the audience would be around our age group - people who find the bizarre and random events in films rather funny.

 

I asked a few people their opinions on the idea of a man with a fear of hoovers; here are some reactions and comments:

• "it could be really good depending on how it is produced, although I think that the idea is good:
• "I can see that idea being really good" 

 

Script:

*The film starts in a dark street at night. Johnny is frantically running and we see shots of his face, feet, and long shots of him running. He runs down a dead end and turns in fear, his only option being to jump in a bin and hide. He screams and wakes up. He looks relieved as he realises it was only a dream.*

*The scene then changes to Dr Smith filling up a glass. He walks into a room with Johnny sitting down and he sits next to him.*

Dr Smith: "How's that?"

*Johnny nods his head, not wanting to speak.*

Dr Smith: "Right, lets get started"

This is the script for the film opening. We decided not to include much dialogue to try and show how serious Johnny is about his fear of hoovers. Hopefully, the audience will find his fear amusing but we did not want to try and put too much comedy in the opening as there are very few comedies that have humour in the first two minutes.

 

Prop list:

We will need quite a few props for the opening so here is a list:

• A glass of water
• A clipboard
• Some fake documents or paper
• A name badge for Dr Smith
• A hoover

 

As well as these, we will also need some equipment for filming:

• A camera
• An SD card for the camera
• A tripod for the camera
• Some editing software that will put a filter over the video for the flashback

For the characters costumes, only Dr Smith's will need to be specific because of his job and Johnny will just be playing a character with everyday style clothes, so we will ask the actor to wear clothes that they would normally wear.

 

Dr Smith's clothes will hopefully be as follows:

• A tweed jacket or smart blazer
• A smart shirt and tie (preferably ones that go well together) and a jumper to go over the top
• Smart trousers that go well with the jacket
• His name badge
• Maybe someone with glasses can be cast because stereotypically, people with glasses are regarded as 'nerds' or more intelligent
• Nice smart shoes

 

Storyboard:
Below is the storyboard that was created for our comedy sequence

Modern Fairy Tales: Cinderella

How does this version of Cinderella conform with and challenge the conventions of a fairy tale?

This modern version of the classic Cinderella story is about a cleaner, called Cindy, at a university that has the opportunity to work along side one of the greatest archaeologists, Professor Prince, on his next big discovery. Cindy hears about the job offer when two university students are talking about it. As soon as she hears about the job she knows that she has to do what she can to make sure that she gets it; even if it means breaking a few rules...

It follows the conventional fairy tale ideas, there is an ordinary girl who is belittled by two girls (usually stepsisters) and their mother, or in this case two university students, Fenola and Phoebe, and the head of the department, Mrs Brookes. It is also stereotypical of fairy tales, especially Cinderella, for these three girls all competing for the attention of the prince, where the ordinary girl normally 'wins'.

 

This film can also be applied to the narrative theories of films:

Todorov - the film follows the basic equilibrium, disequilibrium and new equilibrium structure. The film starts at an equilibrium where everything is as it normally is and Cindy is the cleaner at the university. There is then a disequilibrium when Cindy is competing against the two other girls for the job position and she gets fired from her job in the process. However, a new equilibrium is made when she gets the job as Professor Prince's assistant.

Propp - the hero would be Cindy the cleaner and the 'princess'  or the prize would be Professor Prince. The helper is clearly the other cleaner as she helps Cindy to get to the ball to meet the professor. The blocker or villain is Mrs Brookes as she tries to stop Cindy from getting to her job interview. The false hero would be Fenola as she tries to claim Cindy's work as her own when the professor says that he liked it. 

Mise-en-scene in Romeo & Juliet

 

Romeo and Juliet (1996)

 

In class we were set the task of analysing the mise-en-scene in the first two minutes of the opening sequence of the 1996 version of Romeo and Juliet, starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes.

 

Mise-en-scene is a French phrase that basically means everything that is in the scene; which includes props, costume and setting.

 

 

Setting:

The film opens with the Montague boys driving on the motorway through a busy city filled with industrial/commercial buildings and skyscrapers, and the sky is clear and blue. After driving down the motorway they pull up at a gas station to refill their car. Whilst they are driving down the motorway there are many establishing shots which help to show the audience the setting of the film and so they can get a feel of type of film, e.g. big American industrial buildings shows that the film is set in the modern times, whereas a horse and cart would show that the film is set in the Victorian Era, or earlier. When they are at the gas station they meet the Capulet boys, after which a gun fight begins when one of the Montague boys insults Tybalt Capulet.

 

Props:

One of the main props that is used in the opening sequence is silver guns that are referred to as 'swords' by the characters. This reference shows that although the film is set in modern America it is still relating this recreation to the context of the original film, where they used swords instead of guns. The guns that are carried by the main characters each features a picture of a family emblem on the end, distinguishing between the two families and making it easier for the audience to know who is who. Another prop that is used to show the difference in the families is the vehicles. The Montague boys drive a big bright yellow car that looks like a child's play toy. This contrasts to the large, dark blue expensive vehicle that the Capulet boys drive. This represents the idea that the Capulets are more mature, which is also shown through their costumes and the way that the behave.

 

Costume:

Costume can be considered a very important part of a character's identity as it helps to give the audience information about their personality. The Capulet boys are all wearing similar suits and they look very smart - giving the impression that they are not to be messed around with and that they are mature. Whereas the Montague boys are wearing flower shirts with tank tops and shorts underneath - this gives the audience a laid back and chilled vibe from the Montagues boys, showing that they can be childish at times; something which is also shown when they are making silly faces when driving down the motorway at the start.

 

Guardians of the Galaxy

The last time that I went to the cinema I went to go see the new Marvel film: Guardians of the Galaxy! The film is very much like 'The Avengers', another great film by Marvel and it's about a group of space criminals that have to work together to stop the evil villain Ronan the Accuser from destroying the galaxy.

 

 

I absolutely love all of the Marvel films so when I heard about this new edition I obviously had to watch it. Although I was a bit sceptical of it at first, I soon began to enjoy it when I was watching it and I am already excited for any possibility of a sequel! 

 

I love how the fast-paced plot constantly keeps you on the edge of your seat, desperate to know what will happen next. In my opinion Chris Pratt makes an awesome Star Lord and the contrast in abilities and talent of the actors and WWE wrestler Dave Bautista makes the film even more brilliant. I also like the fact that Karen Gillian, who is known for playing Amy Pond in Doctor Who (an amazing programme), is cast to play one of the bad guys. She is such an amazing actress and this film really showcases her talent well!

 

 

 

I have got to say that my favourite character has definitely got to be Rocket the Racoon, who is voiced by Bradley Cooper. He is funny and something new that has been done by Marvel before. His sidekick Groot, voiced by Vin Diesel, is another great character and although all he says is "I am Groot" he is a great component to the film and he just makes it better!

 

Overall I definitely recommend this film to everyone! It is a great film that anyone will love and it will have you singing your heart out with the amazing soundtrack

 

Comedy Opening Sequences: Research

We have recently been set a new task of creating another opening sequence to a film. Instead of being given a film to recreate, in groups we were each given a different genre to base our opening sequence on. My group got comedy!

One of my all time favourite comedy films has got to be '21 Jump Street', starring Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill.

The film starts with a flashback to Jenko (Channing's character) and Schmidt (Jonah's character) in their high school years. Not much actually happens in this first couple of minutes but we do get to meet both of the main characters. In this opening sequence it clearly establishes the personalities of these two characters, or we can assume what they are like through stereotypes. It is clear that Jenko is a 'jock' and a part of the sports team (most probably the captain of the team) and he is popular within the school. Schmidt is clearly a 'nerd' or a 'geek' and is very intelligent; as well as probably being stereotypically unpopular. Whilst this is happening Slim Shady by Eminem is playing in the background. This is a very catchy, recognisable song that draws the audience in to the film, making the film more memorable.

 

 

Another excellent comedy film is 'Shaun of the Dead', which stars the brilliant comedy duo Simon Pegg and Nick Frost. The opening sequence to this film is very good at establishing who the main characters are and giving us information about them. The film opens with most of the main characters in The Winchester, the local pub. After the scene in the pub, the focus changes to some shots of the town and people walking about, appearing to behave like zombies. Although these people are not zombies (yet) it is a very clever way of establishing what the film is about and what is going to happen. It certainly draws in the attention of the audience as we are intrigued to want to know how the main characters deal with the upcoming invasion.

 

 

Stop-Motion Animation (Claymation)

When creating a stop-motion animation; or a Claymation, you use clay (or any other modelling material) to make sculptures or objects and take pictures, frame-by-frame, after every movement; and join them together to make a video. Some popular examples of stop-motion films are Wallace and Gromit, Coraline and The Corpse Bride.

 

 

Although stop-motion films are very interesting and looks very professional, it can take a very long time to create and finalise. For example, a single Wallace and Gromit film took up to five years to make. Some stop-motion films, like 'Coraline' have other design aspects (like CGI (computer generated imagery)) added to them to make them look better.

 

So in class we were put into small groups and told that we had two hours to create a short stop-motion film using modelling clay or Play-Doh. In my group we decided to make a baby seal that, unfortunately, gets eaten by a shark.

I thought that this was quite a fun, yet challenging task and once we got our idea it was straight into modelling and taking pictures.
 

 

We started off by making 3D models of the shark and the seal, as well as creating water ripples (the rings) and the water/sea that the mammals would feature in. After that we had to cut up the models so that they could be placed into shot piece-by-piece, making it look like they were appearing out of the water, or sliding into it.

As we started to assemble each animal in the water, we took a picture; building them up as the animals got bigger. The end result was a short video of the pictures stringed together, showing the movement of these two animals.
 

 

Remake of My Beast Friend: Planning

In class we were put into groups in which we were given a short film about 3-5 minutes long that we had to remake. There were a few films to pick from and my group were given 'My Beast Friend'. 

'My Beast Friend' is about a guy named Ed who has decided to sort out some things in his life, which means getting rid of his foul-mouthed cat Fluff. However, things don't quite go to plan when Ed's girlfriend, Amelia, turns up early.

Below is the planning of the recreation of our chosen short film

Script:
*Ed walks into the hallway carrying some boxes. The cat, Fluff, is sitting in one of the boxes mumbling and looking at the tag around his neck.*

Fluff: ED!, tell me what's going on right now or I’m going to sick up all of yesterdays tuna.
*Belch noise* Oh no, it’s that girl isn’t it, Amber, you’re mad. She’s weird!

Ed: This has nothing to do with Amelia, *Strokes hair* I just wanted to sort my life out, ya know, get rid of some of the dead wood. So, If I take you to this great fun place just for cats. Yeah, just after I finish tidying up. It’s called. Pleasure land!

Fluff: *amazed* Pleasure land?, sweet. *Mumbles*

*Door bell rings, girl enters*

Amelia: *in a rush* I’m so sorry Ed, I know I’m super early! *sees  Fluff* Oh my god who's this!?

Ed: *deadpan* That’s Fluff.

Amelia: *Reading* 'Free to good home'. Some monster actually abandoned this sweet little creature?
*Strokes the cat, and picks it up. Amelia sees an actual cat while Ed sees a guy in a cat costume.*
Well, Fluff, I guess that makes me your new mummy now.

Fluff: *To Ed* Ya lying cu- *Cut out*


Character Profiles:
1. Name: Ed
Played by: Jamie McGregor
Character Information: Ed is a tall, skinny man with long brown hair and brown eyes. He has an Irish/English accent. Ed is Amelia's boyfriend and Fluff's owner.

2. Name: Fluff
Played by: Poppy Frost
Character Information: Fluff is a foul-mouthed, grey tabby cat. He has a cheeky and occaisionally rude personality.  

3. Name: Amelia
Played by: Becky Stevens
Character Information: Amelia is a tall women of average size. She has long, curly brown hair and brown eyes. She also has a strong Scottish accent, although in our remake of the film she has an English accent. Amelia is the girlfriend of Ed.


Location Research
To recreate this film we needed a hallway of a house that looked remotely similar to that used in the original film, so to find the location of our film we discussed in our groups who's hallway looked most similar and whose house would it be easiest to get to and film at.

Here are some pictures of our location for the filming. We decided to use this hallway as it most clearly represented the one that was used in the original film. 

Storyboard
Below is a rough sketch of what happens in the film

Narrative theories in films

The narrative in films is the way that the story/plot is told.  For example, is the narrative told in first person or are we shown it through a character's flashbacks..

We have learned about three, of many, narrative theories that form the base of a film; how it develops, how it looks/sounds and what the purpose of the characters are.

The three narrative theories:

Todorov:

Todorov produced a theory that could be applied to all films and describing how they work and their basic narrative. His theory suggests that all films start with an equilibrium, where everything is normal and good, and then there is a disequilibrium where something bad happens. After this is resolved there is then a new equilibrium and everything is back to normal again.

Barthes:

Barthes designed the three codes on which films are based. These three codes cover all aspects of a film; they are:

1. technical - the camera angles, length of shot, sound and editing
2. verbal - the dialogue and what people say
3. symbolic - this is the denotations and connotations of the mise-en-scene (the things in the scene). For example, red roses signify romance

Propp:

Propp created the theory that certain types of character have a specific influence on the narrative

 

We can use some of these theories to explain films; e.g. 'Shrek'

• Todorov's theory - The film starts with an equilibrium and everything is balanced and there isn't any trouble. Then there is a disequilibrium when Shrek is trying to recover his swamp from all of the other fairy-tale creatures that have been banished there and sent to recover Princess Fiona from the castle that is guarded by the dragon; and after this when he tries to rescue Fiona from Lord Farquaard. At the end of the film when Fiona is with Shrek and they live happily together there is a new equilibrium because everything is good again
• Barthes' theory - in 'Shrek' there is a strong symbolic code between the swamp and the kingdom. The swamp represents homeliness, friendship, freedom and the lives of the lower class people, whereas the kingdom represents order, deception, tradition and the lives of the upper class people and royalty.
• Propp's theory - The hero is Shrek because he is sent on a quest to rescue Princess Fiona. The villain is Lord Farquaard as the audience are against him and he is the one who sends them all back to the swamp. He could also be seen as the dispatcher as he is the one that sends Shrek on his journey to the castle. The donor is the Gingerbread Man because he helps to rescue princess Fiona by giving Shrek a giant gingerbread man. The helper is clearly Donkey because he helps Shrek throughout the film on his quest to rescue Fiona. The princess' father is obviously Fiona's dad, the King. It is also clear the Prince Charming is the false hero because he tries to claim that he is the one who rescued Fiona, when it fact it was Shrek. 
 

The use of sound in Romeo & Juliet (1996)

There are three types of sound that can be used in a film: dialogue; sound effects and music. As well as this, these sounds can also be classified as diegetic sound and non-diegetic sound. I shall be analysing the sound used in the 1996 version of Romeo and Juliet directed by Baz Luhrmann

Non-diegetic sound is the sound that has been put into the film, e.g. background music or voice overs
Diegetic sound is the sound that is naturally occurring, e.g. the sound of the wind or foot steps


Sound Effects - there are many sound effects that have been used in this opening sequence to emphasise certain movements and actions. The sound effects used were:

• the screeching of wheels when cars were braking or pulling away
• the revving of car engines
• the tapping of Tybalt's metal heeled shoes
• gun shots
• the sound of the gun hitting the floor
• the screech from the gas station sign blowing in the wind

Most of these sound effects are diegetic as they would occur naturally in the scene, however, some of these sounds have been emphasised to make them stand out to the audience. For example, the movement of their guns in the wind, the match hitting the floor and the movement of their shirts to reveal their guns.
As the gas station scene was filmed next to a busy motorway much of the background noise has been cutout or the sound levels are reduced, although you can occasionally hear a vehicle driving past in the background.


Dialogue - the dialogue used in this opening sequence helps to build character and gives them more of a personality as we begin to understand what these men are like. The dialogue also helps us to gain information about what is happening in the film and it also helps with explaining some of the actions of the characters. For example, when one of the Montague boys bites their thumb at the Capulet's, we understand that this is a rude and hurtful gesture because the dialogue tells us this and helps us to understand this situation. Dialogue also helps to establish a ranking between the characters as we hear that Benvolio is referred to as a "kings man" by the other Montague boys. So in general, dialogue helps to establish story and character.


Music - the music that is played at the opening of the film where we see the Montague boys driving down the motorway is a rebellious and energetic song; which emphasises their characters as well as establishing their position in the story. When music is faded it helps to build tension and when scenes have no music at all it helps to emphasise the importance of what is going on and helps the audience to concentrate on any action or dialogue.  After the Montagues and the Capulets have seen each other at the gas station there is a short stare down between the tow groups. In this scene there is serious music playing which implies that something interesting is going to happen. After the stare down the two groups of men jump back into their cars and drive off. At this point the music is very loud and upbeat, showing the importance of the scene so you don't miss it, as well as building suspense.