Taken Presentation

Taken on Prezi

Slide 1- Introduction
Taken is a 2008 French-produced thriller film produced by Luc Besson, starring Irish actor Liam Neeson,
American actress Maggie Grace and Dutch actress Famke Janssen.
Neeson plays a former CIA agent who sets about tracking down his daughter after she is kidnapped by human traffickers while traveling in France.

Slide 2- Cast

Liam Neeson- Bryan Mills, Maggie Grace- Kim Mills (daughter), Famke Janssen- Lenore Mills (mum & ex),Olivier Rabourdin- Jean-Claude, Australian singer Holly Valance- Sheerah (singer), Katie Cassidy- amanda (Kim’s Friend)

Slide 3- The Idea

Co-writer and producer Luc Besson came up with the idea for TAKEN.
Luc had met with a Paris police officer who told him about the underworld of kidnappers who take young women and force them into prostitution through drugs and then the girls would then be auctioned off just outside of Paris.
Besson and Kamen turned this idea into a compelling story.
Besson hired Pierre Morel to direct Taken as they had previously worked together when he’d been the cinematographer, who had shot "Unleashed," which was also written and produced by Besson, but also because he loved the internationally acclaimed action film "District B13," Morel had previously directed with a vast amount of choreographed martial art fighting styles which Besson wanted to incorporate into Taken.
Taken was finally rated as an age 15 movie due after the surrounding controversy due to its explicit violence & drug use

Slide 4- Developing Finance
The main production company for Taken was EuropaCorp which is co-owned by the film’s co-writer and producer Luc Besson, europacorp takes on a range of production activities like film distribution in France, DVD distribution, sales of French TV rights, and producing advertisements.
From this europacorp also had many other French television channels that it worked alongside to produce the film such as M6, TPS star and Canal+.
It also had the help of American production company Wintergreen Productions.
EuropaCorp working alongside all these minor French production companies and Wintergreens productions is called a synergy and doing this means that expertise and costs can be spread and also to ensure a larger effect than if they were to act independently.
Because of Taken’s French origin it was working with EuropaCorp and other minor TV production companies but also one of the big six film studios which was 20^th Century Fox to produce the film, even though the film had a small budget of only $25million and lacked in any special effects and collection of big Hollywood stars, the synergy between the companies helped the huge success of the film in its production.

Slide 5- Script Development
Taken was an original script by French film-maker Luc Besson and American screenwriter Robert Kamen.

Slide 6- Production
As said before the film was produced by Luc Besson's production company EuropaCorp.
Taken was mostly filmed in Los Angeles, California but also in Paris, France at the Studios Eclair which is the main filming studio in France that works closely with EuropaCorp.
There are three different versions of taken altogether, The first is the International Cut, released as an "Extended Cut" which is unrated on dvd in the US and also as an "Extended Harder Cut" (with an "18" classification) on dvd in the UK. The second is the UK Cut, which is nearly identical to the International Cut, with the only exception being the torture scene where the clamps are attached to the chair in the UK Cut, but in the International Cut, they're attached to spikes which are stabbed into the man's legs. Obviously this is much more graphic and concludes why this version is unrated in the US and was cut in the UK to secure a "15" classification rating, however this cut was shown at cinemas in the UK. And finally, the third version is the US Cut, edited by 2-3 minutes to receive a PG-13 rating in the US, this cut was forced by the US distributor 20^th century fox, and was eventually shown in cinemas in the US.
The main distributors for Taken were Europacorp and 20^th Century Fox, who distributed the cinema & home media versions of the film in France the US and the UK and also many other countries worldwide.

Slide 7- sales
There were three different trailers for Taken; an official trailer, an international trailer and a teaser trailer. There were also two different TV spots released in the US for the film.

Slide 8- Marketing
Taken had the usual marketing techniques of posters on buses, in magazines on billboards etc, TV, cinema and DVD trailers. But because of the release of the film in so many different countries all this advertising and promotion work was done in four different languages (English, French, Albanian and Arabic). Altogether Taken released three trailers and two tv spots, however some controversy was created as it was revealed Neeson’s character killed 35 people altogether throughout the 90-odd minute film.

Slide 9- Exhibition
Taken was released in French cinemas on the 27^th February 2008 and on the 28^th September 2008 in the UK. In its opening day in America the film grossed $9.4 million, and scored the best opening day ever for Super Bowl Weekend, and in the overall weekend it made over $24,000,000 worldwide and was shown on approximately 3,183 screens all over the world. The film has grossed a worldwide total of over $226,000,000.
Taken was released on DVD in the UK in May 2009 and as of march 2011 over 4 million copies of the film had been sold worldwide generating over $68,000,000 in sales. Taken was released on a blu-ray version of the extended and original cut and a DVD version of the extended cut and the original film.

Slide 10- Other Windows
Family Guy released an episode called ‘Leggo My Meg-O’ in May 2012 which is based on the film taken.
Taken was nominated for three awards in total and won one of the three.
It was rated 7.9/10 on imdb and it was rated on Rotten Tomatoes at 83%. In November 2010, 20^th century fox announced the production of Taken 2 would begin in October 2011 and it was released earlier this month on the 3^rd October 2012, the budget for the sequel was triple the first film’s budget at $80 million dollars and its box office opening weekend made over $49,000,000.

Class And Status- The Street

Class:

'A status hierarchy in which individuals and groups are classified on the basis of esteem and prestige acquired mainly through economic success and accumulation of wealth. Social class may also refer to any particular level in such a hierarchy.
Four common social classes informally recognized in many societies are: (1) Upper class, (2) Middle class, (3) Working class, and the (4) Lower class'

Status:

Depending on your social class, leads to what status you hold in society. Status can show importance and your role to the general public.

The Street:

The title of the TV drama being 'The Street' initially shows us the class and status of the family before they are even introduced. They are shown to live in 'working class' accomodation in a surburban area.

Husband:
The husband is presented as a lower, working class man. He is scruffy, very casually dressed and works as a builder. In the first scene we meet him he uses bad language/swearing frequently towards his wife and infront of his children, this again shows us his lower class status as appearance and status dont seem to be either of his main priorities. He is the main and only income into the family, and takes a very traditional and stereotypical role as a father and husband.

Wife:
The wife is also presented as a working class woman. Her appearance is scruffy, very plain and casual. Again, she also frequently swears and shouts in the first scene we meet her and is clearly in an unhappy marriage. She takes the very stereotyical role of a housewife getting the children ready for school and caring for them 24/7 in general. The wife is shown to be a stereotypical housewife, but not the 1950s glamorous sort, if anything that is what she is seeking. Her relationship with her lover reflects this as she is falling into the role of being someone's mistress who takes part in casual sex and indulges in cakes, the idea of all this makes the wife quite happy and content as before her life was very tedious.

The married couple are both introduced as angry, unhappy and stressed individuals who are surrounded by conflict and arguments in their daily life and seek happiness from outside their relationship.

Lover (Peter):
As a first impression he is shown to be of a higher class than the husband as he is well dressed (in a suit) and drives around in a respectable car. Although, he really is no different. He is also stuck in an unhappy marriage with three kids (same as the husband and wife) and seeks happiness elsewhere. he is also surrounded by conflict and chaos in his everyday life and is a working class citizen.


In the first scene we are taken into the family's house. It is presented as very dull, dark and basic. No lights are on inside the house (this could reflect the atmosphere and the lack of money they may have). The decor in the house is not very elaborate, they are clearly struggling for money and this is proven in the argument they are having. The colour scheme is mostly beige and blue, they both connotate negative emotions (blue being very sad and miserable and beige being dull and lifeless) this also reflects their day-to-day lifesyles.

In the first scene, the camera angle is between two doors that are only ever so slightly open. This creates a very secretive feeling, like we as viewers are not supposed to be seeing what is going on. However, the girl sat at the table can see and hear the whole argument going on in the kitchen. action shots are used throughout the argument to show each individuals reaction and facial expressions. This fast pace adds pressure and chaos to the atmosphere inside the house. The music playing in the background is diegetic from the TV the two boys are watching and is contratpuntal to the current scene. It contrasts the current argument and emphasizes the chaos and conflict.

The camera shot then cuts quickly to the husband working on a building site. He is shown to be a very angry and aggressive character from his previous scene and now as he is aggressively using his tools, this also shows us as the viewers he is unhappy in his life and job, but has no option but to work because he is the family's main and only source of income. The scene is very dark, grey and dull which reflects his mood and the atmosphere. The diegetic sound of a train passing by and his tools hammering conclude that he is on a building site in a busy area.

In the last scene lots of fast paced editing is used as the girl is hit by the car, using jump shot edits creates a panic, it adds pressure and also shocks the audience. After the girl is hit by the car it cuts to five different shots of characters reactions around the street, this helps to show the seriousness of the accident as everyone stops they are doing due to what has just happened. Diegetic sounds of people panicking and shouting, phones being dialed, car alarms/horns going off and the referee on the TV all add the chaotic scene and concludes into a scene of complete bedlam.

Editing

Hollyoaks

 There are approximately 44 shots in the opening sequence, these are all very fast paced, jump shot edits. They all contain a shot of each character and props that relate to the personality of their character. All the transitions are very simple and fast cuts. The duration of these are all very short and this maybe reflects the short stories the characters are all involved in, in the tv drama and how many different relationships there are going on.

All the characters are stood infront of what seems to be a green screen as there are lots of different animated things going on in the background of their shots that relate to their personalities, status and all the current activities they taking part in, in the drama. For example Brendan is playing with cards in the last opening shot because his character is a gambler, very secretive and sly. Whereas, Dodger's character is surrounded by the silhouettes of girls because his charcter is known to be a 'ladies man'.

Representation of Tony Stonem

How is Tony Stonem represented in Skins?

Tony Stonem is represented in a very different way in Skins to how normal teenagers his age would act. The stereotypical teenager is seen to be lazy, messy and irresponsible. Whereas Tony is completely different to this stereotype, he is represented  in this clip as very neat, controlled and responsible, he is shown to be a very pedantic character.

The first initial shot we see of Tony is a close up of his face, from this we can see the smug look of pleasure on his face as he has conveniently woken up before his alarm has gone off. The shot then pans out into a high angle shot where we see Tony lying in his bed under a duvet of a naked man and woman, funnily enough we see Tony in the middle of these two naked figures, this gives us the impression that maybe Tony is undecided of his sexuality being 'stuck in the middle' or maybe that he is bisexual being in the middle of the two genders.

The shot then jump cuts to Tony's alarm going off and him getting out of bed very swiftly. From this shot we can see Tony's room is very neat and tidy, his room is illuminated by the bright sunlight coming through the window, showing his room to be very clinical and bland, this could show a reflection of Tony's personality and proves my previous point of him not being a 'normal' teenager, as we would expect his room to be very messy and dark. We then see that he clearly has a daily routine when he gets up; turning off his alarm, stretching, working out, watching the woman across the street get dressed and then getting dressed himself. Filming all of this includes camera shots as mid shots of Tony's torso, long shot of Tony in the window and over the shoulder shot of the woman in the window across the street. We then move to a high angle shot of Effy walking down the street obviously looking worn out as she is scantily dressed from a night out. This is very ironic as we instantly see the massive contrast between the two siblings. On one hand we have Tony who isnt the 'typical' teenager: he is very organised, neat, well dressed and pedantic and on the other hand we have his younger sister Effy who is very much a stereotypical teenager: rebellious, sneeky and messy. The high angle shot of Effy shows her vunerabilty being the youger sibling and Tony looking down on her as the older, more responsible brother. Tony then pretends his CD player has broken, and distracts his dad whilst Effy sneaks in.

The sound used throughout the clip so far has been very varied. We move from the diegetic sounds of the church bells ringing and birds singing to the non-diegetic music which is pulsating and slow, building the scene up. We then return back to diegetic music as Tony puts his soundsystem on which is much more fast paced and louder and reflects the chaos he is about to cause by playing it and diegetic sound as his Dad comes in swearing and shouting at the high volume of the music. The dialogue between Tony and his Dad seems very well rehearsed like this isnt the first time Tony has woken his parents up to music blasting, we know this as his Dad says "every fucking morning" and the look on Tony's face shows he takes pleasure in winding up and annoying his Dad so easily.

We are then taken to a shot of Effy's room, which reinforces my point of her being a very stereotypical teenager. Her room is messy, decorated with bright colours and hardly illuminated at this time in the morning, the dark state of her room could represent the dark side to her personality which her parents obviously have no idea about and is masked by the decor  of her room being so childish and girly.

We then move on to the next scene where Tony purposely locks himself inside the bathroom just to annoy his Dad, he then climbs out of the window, down the drainpipe and back into the house to take a seat in the kitchen. he does all of this whilst his Dad still thinks he is in the toilet, until his Dad comes downstairs and to his dismay sees Tony sat at the table eating his breakfast quite arrogantly and looking very smug at how easily he can annoy his Dad, we see Tony taking great pleasure in doing this which returns us back to the actions of a stereotypical teenager; going out of his way to annoy and wind up his parents. Tony is represented to have a very mistured and varied personality, some sides of him being very different to your average teenager and other sides being quite a normal annoying teenager. Tony however, over all doesnt seem to conform to the normal expectations of a teenager, whereas Effy does and having the contrast between the two siblings highlights the differences in how they act in everyday life, which isnt seem to be the norm for most teenagers in the UK.

Kick-ass Filmmaking

 

The idea:

The idea behind the film Kick-ass was taken from the comic book Kick-Ass which is a creator-owned comic book series written by Mark Millar. The film was produced by Matthew Vaughn and co-produced by Brad Pitt, Vaughn also directed Kick-ass. The comic book was orginally written by Mark Millar, but the film was co-wrote with Jane Goldman and Vaughn himself. At first Millar had the idea to bring comic book to the big screen and thats where he met jane Goldman who then introduced him to Matthew Vaughn (with whom she co-wrote the film Stardust with beforehand). Millar then pitched the idea to Vaughn who loved it and they plotted the whole film together in one afternoon.

Development Finance:

At first Kick-ass struggled to get a production company that would accept the script for what it was without any tweaks (such as decreasing levels in violence and swearing) in total seven production companys turned down the script before Vaughn released it through his own production company.  The big studios also doubted the success of the adaptation as a violent superhero, which forced the film to be independently financed by Vaughn however this gave him the freedom to make the film the way he imagined, without having to worry about any sensoring. However, Vaughn also had the help of Brad Pitt, which then meant because Pitt owns a film production company (Plan B Entertainment) that holds a release deal with Paramount Pictures, Warner Bros. and 20th Century Fox, Kick-ass now had a studio to film in.The film's budget was $30 million and its total income was approximately $96,188,903.

Script Development:

After meeting Vaughn, Millar then wrote a synopsis and then in parallel Millar wrote the comic and Vaughn wrote the script. This meant from the start Kick-ass was different from most other comic book movies, this was due to the fact the movie was in development at the same time as the comic book. Then, Vaughn wrote a first draft focusing on structure and story before Goldman added the dialogue and characterization, Goldman described her work with Vaughn as her job being the "construction work" and the "interior designing" while Vaughn acts as the "architect."

Packaging:

With the film deep in pre-production, Vaughn faced the scenario where he struggled to find an actor to fit the bill of 'Kickass' himself. In the struggle to find an actor to fit the character of Dave (Kickass) Vaughn almost had to pull the movie back six months, even though he had cast all the other roles. Then, Sarah Finn and Lucinda Syson (Vaughn's casting directors), encouraged him to take a look at a tape from a young actor called Aaron Johnson, which Vaughn had already previously turned down without viewing. Then after hearing Johnson read for the first time, Vaughn knew immediately Aaron would fit the role of Dave perfectly.

Production:

As pointed out before Kickass was an independantly financed film due to the big studios doubt in the film's success. Christopher Mintz-Plasse, (Red Mist), said that the creators of the film were wondering whether a distributor would pick up the movie. On the set Vaughn jokingly referred to Kick-Ass as something that was going to be "the most expensive home movie I ever made."
The filming locations for Kickass include Hamilton, Ontario, Canada; Dip 'N' Sip Donuts on Kingston Road in Toronto, Sir Winston Churchill Secondary School, and "many Toronto landmarks that play cameos"; and various locations in the UK: Elstree Studios,

Whiteleys Shopping Centre in Bayswater London and Pinewood Studios, Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire. The opening sequence with Nicolas Cage was filmed in a sewage plant in East London.
On the other hand, the 2D/3D animated comic book sequence in the film took almost two years to finish. Romita created the pencils, Tom Palmer did the inks, and Dean White did the colours.
Kick-ass recieved a 15 rating from the BBFC and received an R rating by the MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America) for "strong brutal violence throughout, pervasive language, sexual content, nudity and drug use (some involving children). In an interview with Total Film, Aaron Johnson confirmed that the film stays true to the adult nature of the comic series by featuring a large amount of profanity and graphic violence.
The production companies involved in the making of Kickass were Marv Films and Plan B Entertainment (owned by Brad Pitt) and the  main distributors were Universal Pictures (UK) and Lionsgate Films (US) a full list of distributors and companies involved in the production of Kick-ass can be found on IMDb: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1250777/companycredits 

 

Sales:

Four different trailers altogether were released before Kick-ass premiered. They include the teaser trailer, the extended trailer and the international trailer. At first the teaser trailer caused some controversy due to the explicit language used by Chloe Moretz (Hit-Girl) but they still went on to released a red band trailer which displayed violence and use of the line "Okay you cunts, let's see what you can do now," delivered by Chloë Grace Moretz, who was only eleven years old at the time of filming, this caused and upheaval by family advocacy groups for the use of violence and swearing. Along with this four TV spots were also released prior to the film being released,some fans said that too much footage was being seen too close to the release, however it still went on to be a huge hit in the box office and an even bigger hit in DVD and Blu-ray sales.

Teaser Trailer:

Extended Trailer:

International Trailer:

Red-Band Trailer:

Kick-Ass TV Spot - Story:

Kick-Ass TV Spot - Ordinary Heroes:

Kick-Ass TV Spot - Corridor:

Kick-Ass TV Spot: Big Four:

Marketing:

Kick-ass was initially marketed through it original comic-books (published by Marvel Comics under the company's Icon imprint), which a few issues were already in shops to buy and read before the film was released. It also had the usual marketing techniques of posters on buses, in magazines on billboards etc, TV, cinema and DVD trailers. But Kickass was marketed really heavily in its poster and trailer campaigns because it was expected to be a huge success even though it was being surrounded by huge controversy in the early stages of production and development. Kick-ass released four trailers altogether and four TV spots, which some would say is too much coverage and gave too much of the film away. Nevertheless, it still went on to be a huge hit. Some of the main actors also did promotional tours which is where film actors, directors, and producers appear for television, radio, and print media interviews, sometimes showing a clip from the film or an outtake and talking about the film and their role in it. Empire and Total Film magazine covered the film and it's journey from page to screen and film reviews are available on their websites too.The film was also pitched at San Diego Comic-con and the Empire magazine Movie-Con. Kick-ass also took to viral marketing on fan's blogs and websites which showed free distribution of trailers and also gave reviews. Kick-ass also had a test screening in London at the BAFTA which was hosted by the UK distributor Universal, the people that attended this were Universal staff and other European distributors and then a smaller minority being the general public.

Exhibition:

A premier for Kick-ass was held in Leicester Square, London for the film, cast, directors, producers and screenwriters plus other special guests (including Brad Pitt). Kick-Ass made £3,881,704 (UK) on the opening weekend (4th April 2010)  and it was shown on 402 cinema screens across the country and on 5778 screens across the world on the opening weekend alone.
The film was released on DVD and Blu-ray on 3 August 2010 in North America, selling 1.4 million copies within its first week, one-third of these in Blu-ray format. Kick-Ass debuted at number one on the DVD sales chart and the discs were released in the United Kingdom on 6 September 2010.

Other Windows:

A video game produced by WHA Entertainment and Frozen Codebase was released through the App Store on 15 April 2010, then another game was released on PlayStation Network on 29 April 2010. Kickass was nominated for twenty-five awards altogether, eventually going on to win seven of them. It won Best British Film at the Empire Awards and Best Comic-Book Adaptation and Best Blu-ray at the IGN Awards. Young actress Chloe Moretz scooped the other four awards for her perfomance: one as Best Newcomer at the Empire Awards, one at the IGN awards for Best Actress and two at the MTV Movie awards for Best Breakout Star and Biggest Badass Star.

Kick-ass has been reported by Universal (the distributors) for a sequeal Kickass 2
"The costumed high-school hero Kick-Ass joins with a group of normal citizens who have been inspired to fight crime in costume. Meanwhile, the Red Mist plots an act of revenge that will affect everyone Kick-Ass knows." -Synopsis. The same cast are due to return, plus a few new faces. Matthew Vaughn has chosen Jeff Wadlow, who also co-wrote the script along with Vaughn, to direct the sequel with filming planned to begin in September 2012.

Sources:

http://www.scribd.com/doc/42700167/Kick-Ass-Production-Notes

www.fordasmedia.blogspot.co.uk

http://www.skillset.org/film/business/index.html 

Wikipedia

IMDb

 

 

Binary Opposites (Claude Levi-Strauss)

I have studied the channel 4 soap drama Hollyoaks. Claude Levi-Strauss suggested that narratives are provided with motivation to move from one point to another by the repeated establishing of actual or potential conflict. He saw narratives as having binary opposites. These opposites act upon each other and characters try to control them, causing conflict and resolution.
Here is a table of opposite characters and scenes:

Characters:

Brendan Brady                                                  Jono
(Uptight, Very serious, stressful adult)            (Chilled out, relaxed teenager, stoner)

Cindy Cunningham                                           Phoebe Jackson
(Highly-strung, high-maintenance,girly)          (Relaxed, lazy, laidback appearance, boyish)

Maddie Morrison                                             Carmel McQueen
(Bitchy, judgemental, spiteful)                        (Kind-hearted, sweet, caring)

Mitzeee                                                             Myra McQueen
(Glamour model, sex appeal, pretty,             (Unemployed, curvy/larger build, 'chavvy', single mother of six)
takes interest in appearance, young)

Riley Costello                                                  Jacqui Mcqueen
(Professional footballer, weathly, famous,   (Barmaid, little disposable income if any, 'chavvy')
comfortable/flash lifestyle)

Scenes:

Hollyoaks College                                      The Dog In The Pond pub
(Full of adolescents, learning environment)  (Full of adults, laid back environment)

Student University Halls                              Tony Hutchinson and Cindy Cunningham's flat
(Very basic layout, messy, smelly, plain,     (Modern, clean, expensive)
small)

Levi-Strauss thought of and created this theory with the thought in mind that having binary opposites within narratives creates more interesting potential story lines and a more life-like feel, because in reality everyone is different in many different ways.

Direct Address (Breaking the 4th wall):

Direct address also commonly known as 'breaking the 4th wall' is where a character in a TV drama directly addresses the audience. I found a clip from the BBC Two comedy Miranda in which Miranda Hart's character Miranda commonly breaks the 4th wall with the audience. This is shown at approximately 1.04 minutes in where Miranda says "I literally can't make it any clearer" directly to the camera/audience.

Sound Motif:

A sound motif is a sound or tune associated with an individual character or situation. Viewers can tell from this specific sound  and relate it to a certain character or situation as it is constantly repeated throughout the series and episodes. The example i found was a sound clip from Doctor Who of the Tardis. Every time you hear this sound you know that the doctor has arrived in his Tardis. http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/sounds/tardis.mp3

Parallel Sound:

Parallel sound is when we watch a TV drama and the sound/muisc we hear usually compliments and follows what we see on screen. I got a good example from a Fast and Furious car chase, the background music you hear isnt overpowing or extremely loud but it does add an effect to the chase scene as it builds up a crescendo which creates an intense, exhilerating atmosphere which really suits the face pace and building pressure of the car chase. 

Contrapuntal Sound:

On the other hand we have contrapuntal sound, which is the opposite to parallel sound. Contrapuntal sound does not fit to the images we see on screen, which can add even more of a intense/dramatic effect. The clip i found of this is from the film Insidious one of the scarier scenes where the song 'Tip Toe Through The Tulips' by Tiny Tim is being played on a crackling old-fashioned grammophone with a supernatural ghost dancing along to the dismay of the woman who lives there. This upbeat song being put with a scary scene create a very eery and uneasy atmosphere.