Working Title Films is a British film production company, based in London.
It was founded in 1983 by Tim Bevan and Sarah Radclyffe.
Working Title produces feature films and several television productions.
Its parent companies were PolyGram (1991-1999) and Universal Studios (2000- Present).
Over the past 16 years, Working Title has made some of Britain’s biggest-ever movies such as Notting Hill, Bridget Jones’s Diary and Shaun Of The Dead.
Some of the movies Working Title have produced have won 6 Oscars, 26 Baftas (Atonement, Pride and Prejudice, Elizabeth: The Golden Age etc) and prizes at the Cannes and Berlin film festivals.
The London office is overseen and managed by WTTV's head of television (UK) Juliette Howell, who has worked as an executive producer in the BBC drama commissioning group and head of development for Film4, where her credits included Slumdog Millionaire and Shameless.
The company's TV division also released modernised versions of the children's novels, The Borrowersin December 2011 and Abi Morgan's adaptation of Birdsong in January 2012.
Title
Release Date
Green Zone
March 12, 2010
Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang
August 20, 2010
(Ewan McGregor). Paul (Nick Frost, Simon Pegg and Seth Rogen).
March 18, 2011
Senna
August 12, 2011
Johnny English Reborn (Rowan Atkinson).
October 21, 2011
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
December 9, 2011
Contraband
January 13, 2012
Big Miracle
February 3, 2012
Anna Karenina
November 16, 2012
Les Misérables (With leading Hollywood stars such as Anne Hathaway, Amanda Seyfreid, Helena Bonham Carter, Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe and Sacha Baron Cohen).
“Successful media products depends as much upon marketing and distribution to a specific audience as they do upon good production processes.”To what extent would you agree with this statement, within the media areas you have studied?
I do agree to an extent with the statement that within the media and film industry the distribution and marketing strategies heighten the economic success of the film as a whole. Marketing is one of the most important factors within the success of the film industry today because to make the revenue and box office placement desired, effective distribution is key.
Looking at the success economically with box office hit Prometheus, you can see instantly how marketing and distribution had a huge part to play. On the marketing side of things in Prometheus, prior to and after its release it was very heavily marketed mostly taken in the viral form. Examples of this are its interactive website (ProjectPrometheus.com), its collection of official pre-release viral clips (TED talk, David 8 and Quiet Eye, all featuring the leading characters in the film in non-fiction circumstances), teaser trailers, the Twitter trending hashtag #Areyouseeingthis and their 15m Twitter followers (which created a huge buzz on social networking sites during the anticipation before its release), TV Spots, Mark Kermode interview clips (BBC film critic talking about the release and reception of Prometheus) and the Alien films that Prometheus is thought to be linked with (helped to create a larger fan base for the film before it was released). All in all the mass of viral marketing created huge anticipation before the film’s release, people who had watched the Aliens films were raring to see the first viewing and it even attracted an audience of people who hadn’t seen any of the Alien films, all due to its heavy marketing that was almost infectious and impossible to escape whether you were a sci-fi fanatic or an all-round film watcher. The distribution within Prometheus was also something I thought was key to its success. Working with a distributor like 20th Century Fox through vertical integration (working on their own to distribute the film through a large network and audience base), a worldwide renowned distributor also part of the big six it was almost inevitably set up for success in the box office (approx. $400 million) and its anticipated DVD sales. Also with a budget of approximately $130 million its production process was hardly going to be bland. The production companies involved in the making of Prometheus were Scott Free Productions (Ridley Scott- Director and Producer’s own company), Brandywine Productions and 20th Century Fox all set up a huge synergy and helped to also create the success of the film. Having a well-known, respected and experienced Director and Producer such as Ridley Scott also helped to heighten the publicity and anticipation of the film through its marketing because an audience of avid Ridley Scott fans would be excited about a huge new release of his. Although the critical reception of the film wasn’t as great as originally thought due to its production, it had already received the box office success from its marketing and distribution triumph which conclusively lead to its profitable box office of over $400 million.
Secondly looking at the film Kickass which was also significantly marketed prior to its release and from its economical success you can see how important distribution and marketing really is was with this film in particular. Kickass was very heavily marketed before its release on 26th March 2010 because of its surrounding controversy in production (violence, drug use and explicit language involving a child) the distributors were worried it would not be received well and therefore released four TV Spots and four trailers (which some thought was a bit excessive and gave too much of the film away) but it still went on to make a box office of $96 million from its $28 million budget. The success of the film I think was due to its marketing and distribution not only did it have all the TV post and trailers but film magazines Empire and Total film covered the films journey from page t screen. Kickass was also pitched at San Diego Comic-Con, test screened in the UK (where it had mostly positive reviews and criticism from fans, journalists, distributors and film critics. The fan base Kickass had also created a huge marketing campaign virally and through word of mouth. Because some of the comics had already been released prior to its cinema release, fans had caught on with the storyline and fell in love religiously. They wrote reviews of the film and comic books and made their own posters, all in support of Kickass’ marketing. All of this conclusively lead to a heavy marketing campaign, a large fan base (before the film had even been released) and therefore a profitable film all in all. The distributors involved with Kickass also played a massive part in its economical success and appeal to a specific audience. Its UK distributor was Universal Pictures who are part of the big six distributing companies in the film industry and Lionsgate was the US distributor, although Lionsgate are not part of the big six, they are still a fairly successful and prestigious distribution company. This set Kickass up for success in the UK and the US, and it was shown worldwide on over 5000 cinema screens worldwide. The production side of Kickass was dealt with by Marv Films (Director & Producer Matthew Vaughn’s company, he funded $10m into the film out of his own money) and Plan B Entertainment (owned by Hollywood actor Brad Pitt). The production of the film Kickass was seen to be really successful as its DVD sales was significantly successful (unfortunately I couldn’t find an exact figure for this but plenty of articles stated that its figures were plentiful).
In conclusion, I feel even though during film making the production, actors and directing play a significantly big part in the success of the film it is still hugely reliant on the marketing and distribution factors. Because an audience can only really know about the production of the film itself once they have watched it and to want to spend their money and watch it they must persuaded through marketing and distribution campaigns/methods (the exception being if they are already avid fans of the actors or film topic in production) to do so. Also from studying Prometheus and Kickass you can see an international audience is vital to the film’s success when marketing and distributing and is a vital element to create a successful film both in profit and critically.
Before Teddy has 'come out' to society with his sexuality. Clip shows how society has put him under pressure to 'conform' to the stereotype of an alpha male. Also shows the reaction of one of his friends to this revelation.
After Teddy has 'come out' and confronted society with his sexuality. This clip shows the reaction of his group of friends, who take a positive approach to his homosexuality- shows how society has changed and the acceptance of being gay.
The dictionary definition of disability is 'a physical or mental condition that limits a person’s movements, senses, or activities'.
In society today, we tend to sympathise with the disabled, it’s a highly credited subject with an accumulation of charities across the world trying to raise money to care for and give the disabled a 'better life'. This always gives us the impression that the disabled constantly need tending to and looking after as they are handicapped and therefore unable to do anything for themselves.
In the TV drama A Touch of Frost, we are introduced to a disabled character called Billy who has Down's syndrome. In the clip, the first scene we are introduced to is him walking and even staggering through a woods covered in mud and blood with cuts and grazes on his face and body. As he is walking through the dark mysterious looking woods he is slightly lit up which makes you think that he is guilty of something as he is the only character in the woods looking very uneasy and scared, the fact that he is lit up also highlights this point. The non-diegetic music also adds to the mysterious atmosphere in this scene along with Billy’s dirty and grazed appearance at this time. Billy is then alerted by the diegetic sound of the police searching through the woods with dogs and torches and starts to run away, this again makes the audience think that Billy is guilty, because if otherwise he would have no reason to run apart from if he is scared in the dark (this would also make sense because of his childish nature relating to his disability). But after watching the whole clip you are faced with the storyline that Billy has something to do with his friend (Trisha's) disappearance and the audience is left unclear about Billy’s innocence in relation to this crime.
In society people tend to look down on the disabled because they are seen to be less able than others (however this has been completely ruled out this summer after watching the Paralympic Games and the athlete’s abilities despite their disabilities). But in A Touch of Frost the audience is made to feel like Billy is looked down on because of his disability, this is shown through the high angle camera shot of Billy sitting down when he is being questioned by the detective, this makes Billy as a character look inferior to the rest of the adult characters around him and therefore the viewer’s feel that he is seen to be less important as a character in that scene and pity him.
Billy is also treated like a child in this scene, the detective is seen to be condescending and his Mother also adds to this when she says ‘let me clean him up first’ like he is an incapable child that can’t look after and clean up himself. This is shown through the tone of voice the adults use towards him (which is quite patronising) and therefore the viewer’s feel uncomfortable and feel empathy towards Billy because even his parents treat him as if he is younger than his physical appearance and state.
This scene at Billy’s parent’s house in his front room feels very secretive and adds to the ever-growing suspicion over Billy’s innocence. The high angle and over the shoulder shots in the poorly lit room and dark furnishings (which connote sadness and guilt) emphasise Billy’s involvement and the audience feel as though they are eaves dropping in the conversation as Frost is shown in dark shadows with Billy looking vulnerable and guilty his Father is sat next to him with his arm round him looking very protective like Billy has something to hide and further extends the audience’s questions over Billy’s innocence.
At the end of the clip the audience are left very unclear and confused over Billy’s level of innocent in relation to the missing girl. This is good in relation to the TV drama as it is a mystery/crime drama and is made to leave the reader hooked on the narration and want to watch more of the episodes to find out the rest of the plot. I would definitely agree as a viewer that I am left like this and want to watch the end to find out Billy’s thorough involvement in this crime.
Prometheus is about a hovering space craft departs that an Earth-like world, a humanoid alien drinks a bubbling liquid, and then starts to disintegrate. The alien’s remains cascade into a waterfall, his DNA triggers a biogenetic reaction. The film is directed by Ridley Scott who had directed and produced films like Alien, Blade Runner, Thelma & Louise, 1492: Conquest of Paradise, Gladiator, Hannibal, Black Hawk Down, Kingdom of Heaven, American Gangster, and of course Prometheus. It is produced by David Giler and Walter Hill. David Giler is an American filmmaker who has been active in the motion picture industry since the early 1960s. Walter Hill is an American film director, screenwriter and producer. Jon Spaihts was one of the writers, also the writer in ‘Alien Saga’. He was known as the ‘go to guy for space thrillers’, he produced high-value screenplays.‘Lindelof is the writer of the comic book miniseries Ultimate Wolverine vs. Hulk for Marvel Comics, which takes place in the Ultimate Marvel universe and began publication in January 2006. Despite being a six-issue miniseries, production was suspended after the second issue in February 2006 due to Lindelof's heavy workload elsewhere; however, the last of the scripts were submitted to Marvel in 2008 and the series resumed publication in March 2009. The film has some well known actors; -Noomi Rapace -Michael Fassbender -Guy Pearce -Idris Elba -Logan Marshall-Green The running time of the film was 124 minutes, and filmed in English. The original budget for the film was $130 million, and it had a total box office of $402.48 million, which made the film a huge success from the audience. “Prometheus entered production in April 2010, with extensive design phases during which the technology and creatures which the film required were developed. Principal photography began in March 2011, with an estimated US$120–130 million budget. The project was shot using 3D cameras throughout, almost entirely on practical sets, and on location in England, Iceland, Spain, and Scotland. It was promoted with a marketing campaign that included viral activities on the web. Three videos featuring the film's leading actors in character, which expanded on elements of the fictional universe, were released and met with a generally positive reception and awards.”
Prometheus ad campaign reaches 15m Twitter users, but was it worth it?
Posted 02 May 2012 12:08pm by David Moth
20th Century Fox tried to tap into the viral power of Twitter on Sunday night to promote the impending release of Ridley Scott’s sci-fi movie Prometheus.
In what was heralded as a world first, a new three-minute trailer for the film was screened simultaneously online, on Channel 4 and on social TV app Zeebox.
Viewers were then encouraged to tweet about the film using the hashtag #areyouseeingthis.
During the next ad break, Channel 4 screened a 40 second spot which included viewer’s tweets.
Channel 4 said it fitted with its strategy to pioneer innovative and impactful marketing solutions, but it did it actually meet either of these criteria?
Word-of-mouth agency 1000 Heads monitored activity on Twitter around the hashtag during the past week.
The results show that there was a spike in activity on Sunday night, peaking at more than 4,000 tweets, and the hashtag was trending for a brief period.
The tweets shown on screen were all positive, but this wasn't the case on Twitter.
Here is a link to the website 'Project Prometheus' aside from the film's original film website it also has this one which is a fantastic method for viral marketing. It offers exclusive, videos, games and snapshots of the film.
How is media convergence important for audiences and institutions?
Without media convergence I personally doubt the film industry would be where it’s at (success wise) today. The key areas of marketing, distributing and exhibiting a film all rely on media convergence to ensure the film is a hit with their target audience. It ensures a market for the film before it has even been released which is key to make sure it can succeed in the box office and make the revenue it deserves.
During the production of ‘Attack the Block’ the British film industry hardly recognised the importance of media convergence. It used a small segment of social networking (Twitter) to virally market the film with the occasional ‘teaser’ post to entice the audience in before the film’s release, however it wasn’t used enough to create a viral word of mouth necessary to help really market the film. However, Big Talk Productions, UK Film Council, StudioCanal and Film4 all worked together to produce, market, distribute and exhibit the film.Seen as Attack the Block was a British film, with a fairly small budget, four smaller companies such as these working together is ideal to help the success of the film. This is because they all have experience in working with smaller films(such as Shaun Of the Dead) and have previously achieved success in knowing the best ways to produce, market, distribute and exhibit films such as Attack the Block within their budget.But, Attack The Block was still promoted in the usual ways of; TV adverts, cinema trailers, teaser trailers, UK & US official trailers, posters, magazine adverts, a soundtrack available for purchase on ITunes etc., interviews with TV programmes and journalists in the UK and US and exclusive interviews with the director Joe Cornish talking about the upcoming film with journalists in the UK and abroad. To add to all of this the film/media magazine Little White Lies dedicated a whole issue to Attack the Block. With all of this media used to help promote the film, Attack the Block was still only a small budget, British film and was therefore at a disadvantage when promoting and marketing the film before its release, especially outside the UK.
On the other hand we have the film Kickass. Still a British film, but working with a larger budget and larger production companies such as Universal Pictures, Lionsgate, Marv films and Plan B Entertainment (which is owned by Brad Pitt) is was already at an advantage compared to Kickass as these companies were on a much larger scale and were able to market and publicize the film more heavily. The good starting point with Kickass is that it was also written as a series of comic books alongside the film which helped to market the film through its media convergence and also helped to attract a more varied audience. Kickass also released five different trailers and four TV spots to help promote the film, despite its surrounding controversy. Kickass also took to film critics on forums, blogs and websites such as Rotten Tomatoes after it’s released which really helped its promotion through viral marketing and showed free distribution of its trailers and TV spots. Kickass was also very heavily advertised through its poster campaigns which were not only being distributed professionally by its advertisement campaign, but Kickass’ film ‘geek’ fans also produced their own versions of posters which concluded into a substantial amount and really helped to market the film through media convergence. Alongside all of this Empire and Total Film magazine covered the film and its journey from page to screen and film reviews were available on their websites too. The film was also pitched at San Diego Comic-con and the Empire magazine Movie-Con. All in all, this huge amount of marketing and promotion through media convergence was significantly important to its success in the Box Office and DVD/ Blu-Ray sales.
Media convergence is becoming more and more important, especially as technology is advancing; viral marketing is becoming more essential in the promotion and marketing of films. As stated before things like Social networking are becoming a huge part of the film industry, and mid-production marketing is happening more often thanks to this. The advance in technology is creating ways in which the audience can gain an interest in films throughout its production right the way through to its exhibition and sales. The music industry is more commonly working alongside films with soundtracks being released in accordance with films and helping to market them through different windows. In conclusion I would definitely argue the significant impact and importance of cross media convergence happening within films today is a positive and its ever growing methods of doing this are a real credit to the film industry and its importance for audiences and institutions.
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.
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 20th 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 20th century fox, and was eventually shown in cinemas in the US. The main distributors for Taken were Europacorp and 20th 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 27th February 2008 and on the 28th 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, 20th century fox announced the production of Taken 2 would begin in October 2011 and it was released earlier this month on the 3rd 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.
'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.
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'.
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.
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.
Working Title produces feature films and several television productions.
20th Century Fox tried to tap into the viral power of Twitter on Sunday night to promote the impending release of Ridley Scott’s sci-fi movie Prometheus.
