How far do the American films you have studied for this topic depend on well established narrative and/or genre conventions?

Both Natural born killers and Badlands are based around the 'lovers on the lamb' genre convention of two people who run away together and go on a killing spree, on the run from the law. In both of these films there is also some sort of obstacle which must be defeated so the couple can have their freedom and begin their rampage. In both badlands and natural born killers this obstacle is the family of the girl in the couple. Holly's father and Mallory's father and mother. In the case of both these films the father has to die before the journey can begin. However, a difference in narrative concerning the death of the father in both films is that, in the case of Holly, she is extremely passive while Kit kills her father, and doesn't involve herself at all. This is in sharp contrast to Mallory who actively participates in helping Mickey to kill her father, holding his head down as he drowns, and rejoicing when he is dead. This contrast can be attributed to the differing social roles of women in the times both films were made. Badlands was made in the 50s where women were typically quiet, passive and forced to rely heavily on men. Whereas natural born killers was made in the 90s where women were just as likely as men to be violent and aggressive, as is the case with Mallory, and this fact is made very clear throughout the film.

Both films deal with the ideas of fame and glorification of violence in different ways, In Badlands the couple become infamous for their crimes, because the film is set during the 50s, and there were very few similarly violent incidents that had occurred before the events in the film, in this way they were almost the first serial killers who had killed in the way they did. It is because of this reason that Kit receives the attention from the police officers at the end of the film, as he is something of an anomaly. He enjoys passing out his belongings and signing forms for the policemen, imagining himself as a celebrity. Kit almost suffers from a lack of identity, opting instead to take on varying roles as the film progresses, one of these roles is that of his hero, James Dean, who was extremely famous in the 50s and was a teenage icon to many young men like Kit. The mise-en-scene makes it obvious that Kit is actively trying to impersonate his hero, both in wearing similar clothes to striking the same 'crucifix' post that James Dean is famous for. It is also clear that he enjoys being recognised as being similar to his hero, n it is mentioned by one of the arresting cops during the ending of the film, his attitude suggests he is pleased by the similarity being noticed. The theme of celebrity and mass media influence is taken to its logical, extreme conclusion in natural born killers, almost everything the characters in natural born killers do is shown to be influenced in some way by mass media, Mallory's father, is influenced to commit violence by the boxing match he is watching on tv. Mallory herself, in the opening scene, is influenced by the violent music playing on the jukebox before the killing kicks off. The discourse of the real world media at the time when natural born killers was released was heavily focused on media influenced crime, and it is this that led to many who saw the film heavily misinterpreting the message to one which glorified violence, rather than condemning and satirising it.

Case Study US Blockbuster: Star Trek (2009)

Star Trek is a sci-fi action/adventure film released in 2009. The original production budget for this film was $150 million, and during its lifetime is has made over $385 million worldwide, $75 million of which was in its opening weekend alone. The films popularity can be attributed to the fact that is a reboot of the star trek franchise, widely regarded as the most profitable sci-fi franchise on the planet.

 The film features several big name stars. Chris Pine as Kirk, whose current success was fuelled by the film. Before star trek he mainly played parts in rom-coms such as 'Just my luck' or insignificant minor roles. Zachary Quinto as Spock, who prior to star trek was mainly playing roles in tv shows such as 'heroes'. Karl Urban as Bones, who prior to starring in star trek, played some minor roles in films such as The Bourne Supremacy and lord of the rings, but has since gone on to star in Judge Dredd and other films. The film also featured Simon Pegg in the role of Scotty, who was extremely well known for his roles in films and tv shows prior to star trek, which tended to be mostly of the comedy genre, such as Shaun of the dead and Hot Fuzz, which may explain why he was chosen for one of the more comedic roles in the film. The film also featured Leonard Nimoy as 'spock prime' although not a major role in the film, this could be seen as action on the side of the film to appeal to fans of the original tv series the film is based around and rebooted from and persuade these fans to watch the film.

 The genre of the film is largely action, adventure and sci-fi. Which explains the popularity of the film, as blockbusters are usually of the action/adventure genre to appeal to audiences who expect action packed movies from films released during the summer season, the film opened in may and closed in october, meeting the definition of a summer blockbuster. The film made $257,730,019 domestic and $127,950,427 outside of the US, equalling over $385,000,000 worldwide compared to its original budget of $150 million. The film managed to make the number 1 rank at over 3000 theatres. The production company was paramount pictures, who are an extremely famous production company and have produced many other well known blockbuster films, such as the transformers franchise, Iron Man, and Indiana Jones, which are also action films. The film was also produced by spyglass entertainment, who although less successful than paramount, produced wanted and the hitchhikers guide to the galaxy, both other action/adventure films.

The film was rated PG-13 in America and a 12A in the UK for "Sci-f1 action and violence" as well as "brief sexual content" this fairly low certificate means that the film can be seen by families together during the summer holidays, increasing the possible audience for the film significantly.

 The marketing for the film began with a trailer played before Cloverfield in 2008, the trailer featured the ship the 'enterprise' under construction while voices from the 60s played in the background, establishing the films connection with the original tv series. However, Paramount found that there was an obstacle to their marketing campaign in that the franchise would be mostly unfamiliar to many of the current generation, as well as the poor performance of the previous star trek movies which were related to the various incarnations of star treks tv shows. Eventually the director JJ Abrams, decided that paramount needed to remove the 'nerdy' stigma, attached to the star trek franchise, Abrams did this by repeatedly stating to the press that the film is not for star trek fans necessarily. There were also several promotional partners connected to the film, including: Nokia, Kellogg's and Burger King.  There were also companies selling perfumes, clothes and other apparel related to the film, as well as several toy manufacturers such as mattel and hasbro, who sold related versions of monopoly and others games.

The film was extremely well received, receiving 95% on Rotten Tomatoes, and an 8.0 on IMDB most critics agreed that the film was one of the years most accessible and enjoyable, as well as being a much needed 'shot in the arm' for the franchise, and that it honoured the shows legacy while avoiding indulging in pointless nostalgia.

British Cinema Case Study: The World's End

The worlds end is a british made Sci-fi/comedy film. The film had a budget of $20 million and made over $46 million worldwide, making $8 million of which on its opening weekend, and almost half of its profit abroad.

The film stars Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, who have previously been extremely successful with their comedy partnership in other films of the same genre, specifically in Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz, which although extremely popular, only made half the domestic opening of World's End (hot fuzz) whereas Shaun of the Dead opened to only £3 million, making this movie the most successful of the 'trilogy', indicating a growing audience for these types of films, specifically abroad in the US, where some cinemas even held marathons of all three films in the trilogy, which are estimated to have contributed over $800,000 to the final profits according to the distributers. The movie also appeals to fans of these films who wish to see the two reunited in another film. The film co-stars other british household names, such as Martin Freeman, who has recently become a very popular actor due to his starring role in The Hobbit.

The genre is mostly comedy, a genre that british films typically excel at and proves very popular, even abroad, this along with what is termed the 'monty python effect' the appeal of typically 'british' quirky brand of humour having appeal in the US and other places abroad, could explain the appeal of the film to foreign audiences. The film also has strong messages of counter culture, standing against the consumer driven production of hollywood films, which may also explain some of its success to audiences who want to see a movie with underlying social messages, or films different from the usual hollywood fare.

The film is also of the sci-fi/action genre appealing to the average cinema goer and as the release date of the film was late August, appealing to the dwindling summer blockbuster crowds, who typically covet action films. The production company for the film was 'Working Title films', a british production company who have previously produced other british films of note, including Bridget Jones, Shaun of the Dead and Hot fuzz, as well as costume dramas, another genre of british film that does exceptionally well.

The film was rated a 15 by the bbfc for extremely strong language, as well as frequent strong sex references, by rating the film a 15 the audience is significantly limited as it excludes the family and children market, however the films genre would not be one that typically appeals to children, and the type of comedy used in the film would be limited to adult understanding, which is what the audiences would be expecting, given previous films of the same genre such as shaun of the dead. The appeal of the previous films made with the same actors and production companies work towards ensuring its appeal to 15 and above audiences despite. The film was marketed heavily in the media, with tv spots and adverts as well as conventional billboard advertising, but it was also actively marketed on social networking sites, with the director of the film, Edgar Wright actively advertising the film on his twitter account, where he has a large amount of followers, Simon Pegg also mentioned the film numerous times on his own twitter, where he has over 3 million followers, thanking american and canadian fans for their support in the production of the film. The film was very well received, receiving an 89% rating on rotten tomatoes, and a 7.2 on IMDB. Critics were generally very positive, with most saying that the film stands out on its own above the other two films in the trilogy as chaos driven, hilarious fun.

Blue is the warmest colour - Success

Blue is the warmest colour is a french independent film that had a budget of $5.4, so far it has made $6 worldwide. The plot of film revolves around the life changing journey of a girl called Adele as she falls in love with another girl called Emma. The audience for this film is fairly limited in the UK, The running time of over three hours, combined with its spoken language being french with english subtitles limits the appeal to a wider audience, constricting its audience to art film houses, who would be inclined to watch the film due to its social message, the critical acclaim and film awards and its offer of something different to watch compared to the usual hollywood fare.

Aims and Context: Creative Project

Practical Coursework

Aims and context:
-Horror, climactic sequence
-Extended Step Outline
-Target audience of 18+ horror fans of both genders
-Apply cinematography techniques similar to other films of the same genre such as Silent Hill and Chernobyl Diaries
-Explore codes and conventions of genre

Reflective Analysis - Film Noir Production

The genre our group was given was Film Noir. We aimed to make a scene about a dangerous femme fatale and her love interest, while staying in line with typical narrative conventions of the film noir genre such as murder and corruption. I think we were fairly successful in achieving the look and style of what we were aiming for, however I think the use of the background music combined with the use of some slow motion shots and the dead body, which are also conventions of horror as well as film noir meant that the scene could almost be mistaken for a horror if the viewer wasn't aware that we had intended it to be a film noir. I believe this issue could have been rectified if we had had more time to complete the project and specifically if we had had more time to film extra shots to use in our film which could have expanded the plot of our clip and better expressed the genre we were aiming for, unfortunately we didn't get the chance because of members of the group being absent on the day we had extra time to do so. I believe that as a group we could also have cooperated and organized ourselves alot better as there was alot of confusion while filming as to what the actual plot of what we were filming was going to be due to poor organization during the time we had to storyboard and plan the scene.

Analysis of One Missed Call- draft

How does the use of mise-en-scene and lighting create suspense in the reality TV sequence from One Missed Call.

The plot of the film is based around a curse that is transmitted through voicemail recordings of the characters death, sent from the immediate future via the characters own cellphone. At this point in the film three of the group of friends central to the film have already died through falling prey to the curse. The character this scene is based around, Natsumi, also receives one of these messages and is bombarded by film crews and journalists who have heard about the curse. One of these television crew members offers to help her, claiming to know a priest who can perform an exorcism, her friend is afraid they'll exploit and embarrass her on television but Natsumi is so desperate to stop the curse she agrees to go with them to the studio. This is where the scene I'm analysing begins. The mise-en-scene in the beginning of the scene immediately features extremes of the colours red black and blue in the background, these contrast heavily with each other and could represent the extremes of emotion being portrayed in the scene by the central character. The colours also seem to be significant of different aspects of the narrative; the black or darkness representing the unknown aspects of the ghost, the red representing the danger of the situation or possibly the presence of something satanic or hellish, the blue represents the cold and isolation felt by the character, trapped in her own world of fear. The use of red is recurrent within many aspects of the mise-en-scene. Almost all of the camera or on air lights seen in the background are red and present a stark contrast to the low key, shadowy lighting. During a mid-angle mid-shot of her praying, the red lights in the background look especially sinister, almost like eyes watching from the darkness. There is also red in the use of the wooden flame torches, mirroring the hellish connotations of the red in the scene. Following this there is a low angle extreme long shot of the studio, this could almost be a POV shot from the perspective of the ghost, foreshadowing the fact that the danger later in the scene will be based at floor level. There is also a panning shot to cover the length of the studio, highlighting the fact that the scene is taking place in a television studio should work to make the viewer feel secure as typical horror conventions dictate that nothing bad can be about to happen if the protagonist is within a large group of people, however here we are given the strong impression that the exact opposite is true and the use of a brief voiceover narrative where she mentions how alone she feels highlights this. Despite the feeling of security the studio should be offering her we are given the impression that she believes nothing can be done to save her, making the safety of the studio and people around her redundant and inducing a sense of dread and anticipation in the viewer. Building on this sense of dread is another aspect of the mise-en-scene in the use of a straight cut to an extreme close up of a timer counting down. This creates a frustrated reaction in the audience as we are made painfully aware of the futility of the efforts to save her from a fate that the audience is already well aware is inescapable.

The mise-en-scene used in the decoration of the studio could be seen as symbolic of the superficial nature of the reality TV show and its attempts to help Natsumi as a whole. Through an extreme long shot of the studio floor, there are plastic trees visible in the background, the idea of an unnatural recreation of something that was originally natural and living is almost a metaphor for the the ghost. There is also a cut to close up shots of the priest performing the exorcism as shown on the monitors in the studio, highlighting the fact that the exorcism is being orachstated for entertainment value as opposed to a genuine desire to help Natsumi. In One Missed Call there are overarching themes of cynisism and distrust towards cellphones. Disturbing uses of modern technologies is a theme prevalent throughout many recent Japanese horror films, The Ring (1998) and Shutter (2004) are both example of which in their portrayal of televisions/video tapes and cameras respectively. In both these movies there are many other similarities to One Missed Call in both mood and conventions. Japanese horror conventions are different in many ways to western horror conventions. One of the most well-known Japanese horror conventions is the ‘Asian ghost girl’, typically identified by extremely long black hair that covers her face and a white gown. This convention has featured in many recent Japanese movies and arguably began with The Ring(1998). This convention has since become so well known even across cultures, that it was recently featured in a western horror movie in the deconstruction/comedy sub-genre of horror in Cabin in the Woods (2012) Although western remakes of Japanese horror films typically fall short of achieving the same reception as the Japanese originals, The Ring’s western remake was actually very well received. This could be in part due to the use of the original convention of the Asian ghost girl. However the western remake of One Missed Call was given a very ill reception. This could be due to the shift from the coventional ghost girl as the main supernatural force to a more benign villain.

The Ring features many of the same conventions used in One missed Call, there are basic similarities in narrative structure as well as the use of associated diegetic sounds with the ghost girl’s appearance. In One Missed Call there is the iconic ringtone, whereas in The Ring, there is the use of static and squealing violins. However the two are dissimilar in that when heard out of context the ringtone could be said to sound sweet as opposed to sinister. This eventually causes an associated reaction of fear to the ringtone, as the connotations of the phone ringing contrast heavily with the disarmingly sweet tone. However, the use of static and squealing violins in The Ring are now a horror convention, thus when they’re used the viewer is instantly expecting something to happen. Another similarity to One Missed call within Shutter is the use of the long black hair of the ghost appearing in unnatural places to invoke both fear and shock in the audience. Both films also make use of the extremely low key lighting and shadows to hide the ghosts in the background of the shot until the audience notices them, causing shock or a jump scare. An example of the fear created by hiding a ghost in the shadow is done during One Missed Call, where a mid angle two shot of the frightened character at the forefront of the shot leads to the use of a focus change to bring only the ghost in the background into focus, surprising the viewer. It is also very similar in its frequent useage of red light. Red light is used within One Missed Call after she draws back repulsed from the ghosts hair entangling her feet, which is shown through a low angle shot to illustrate that the ghost is based at floor level, there is a low angle close up of her face as a red light falls across it. This could represent the extreme fear she is feeling during that point of the scene, or an indicator of the immediate danger she is facing. Red light is also featured within One Missed Call during an extreme close up of the cursed phone ringing, the lights on the outside of the phone flash between red and green. The red could represent danger or a warning while the green represents the sickly and unnatural nature of the reason the phone is ringing.

As the scene draws to a close, the originally slow pacing begins to change as through a low angle long shot of the studio floor we see the priest performing the exorcism literally blown backwards and through the set by the supernatural force, this alone could represent that the evils at work are more powerful than religion. As the scene begins to quicken in pace even more and things get out of hand, we see clearly the sets collapsing through high angle extreme long shots as the crew members flee in fear. This could also represent the illusion of safety being presented to her collapsing, as the cold dark walls revealed behind the sets contrast heavily with their previous red fabric coverings, adding to the extremes of heat and cold presented in the scene. By losing the religious iconography, as well as the collapse of the set, there is the unnerving sense of all safety being lost. Following this, during the climax of the scene, the characters body begins to become twisted and distorted by the ghost. Here there is the use of many dutch angles and switches in camera shot, from mid shots to close up and then extreme close ups of the girls agonised face, cut together to create an extremely fast pace, contrasting heavily with the slow paced build up of the start of the scene.This all comes together to make the scene even more disturbing to the viewer as it creates a sense of disorientation and dizziness, combined with the flashing blue lights in the background and the extremely low key background lighting it becomes difficult to clearly see the characters face besides through the extreme close ups, where we can clearly see the pain and fear on her face in minute detail. It also becomes extremely difficult to take in what is actually happening during the scene, again creating fear in the viewer through the fear of the unknown convention.