Our FIlm Opening

Monday, 18 November 2013

Female Stereotypes

Female Stereotypes

To the left is a still taken from the film 'Taken'. It shows the daughter, Maggie, hiding under the bed on the phone presumably to her dad; a bodyguard for hire. It shows us some stereotypes of females. Cowering under the bed is something that stereotypically something that women are likely to do if they are in danger as they are said to not be able to defend themselves as they are 'weaker' then men. Also she is wearing a denim jacket with pink leaves. Pink is generally associated with females and their femininity, this is something generally not associated the male gender. This still also follows Mulvey's theory of the male gaze. Men are, according to Muley's theory, are more likely to avert their gaze to a woman in distress as they find it more appealing as they are more vulnerable.



In comparison, females cam also be represented as strong people with the will to carry out 'male jobs'. In this clip we see Salt kill 25+ men with 3 grenades and a Pistol. We, as a conformed audience, wouldn't expect to see a women kill all those men with so little but we would expect to see a man carry out such a task, i.e. John McClain. She challenges conventions by holding a weapon and killing people as women, stereotypically, don't kill people, but maybe the occasional fly. Following Mulvey's theory Salt goes against every rule that it states as men wouldn't generally look at a women who could kill them, they would be more likely to go after a woman like Maggie as she is more vulnerable.

 To the left is a picture of the women of Octopussy, from the 1989 James Bond film 'Octopussy'. these girls use they're bodies to entice men then strike to either knock out or kill their target. This breaks the conventions of women as you would not expect a women too violently attack you after giving of 'signals'. This partially follows Muley's theory of male gaze as men would follow the women with they're eyes only to be attacked, which could possibly have been the other way around.



More modern films now, women are being portrayed as the stronger character by being either: the hero of the story or being ultimately stronger than the men in the film. An example of this is the film 'Kick Ass' with the character Hit Girl, she is stronger and more skilled than the main protagonist (Kick Ass) and beats up and murders a lot of men.

Sunday, 17 November 2013

Sub Genres

Thriller is a broad genre and so to make it easier they are divided into sub genres, this enables the films to have more detail.

There are many sub genres of thriller, some sub-genres include:

Action Thriller

  • Includes fight scenes/ action scenes which make the film more intense for the audience 
  • fast paced 
  • For example: Die Hard

Disaster Thriller

  • follows an individual or group of people struggle through a conflict which usually effects the rest of the world i.e floods, disease, earthquakes
  • dramatic events
  • for example: I am Legend

Crime Thriller

  • focus' more on the criminal and their plan throughout the movie
  • many action scenes/ conflicts between protagonist and antagonist
  • for example: Wanted

Mystery Thriller

  • similar to crime but the main focus is on the detective/investigator on solving the case
  • creates room for the audience to think about the clues themselves
  • for example: Shutter Island



Production of Thriller Films - Taken

Taken

  • It was directed by Pierre Morel
  • Written by Luc Besson and Robert Mark Kamen
  • There were many production companies involved in the making of Taken including EuropaCorp, M6 Films, Grive Productions, All Pictures media and Wintergreen productions.
  • It also had world wide distributors including Twentieth Century Fox (UK/Japan/ Argentina/Germany) plus companies in Greece, Singapore, Netherlands and Finland.
  • It was released in the UK on 26th September 2008
  • The budget for Taken was $25 million
  • On the opening weekend in the USA it made $24,717,037 
  • On the opening weekend in the UK it made £1,165,986
  • In the USA it grossed to $146 million dollars
  • In the UK it grossed to £6 million
  • Liam Neeson was paid $5 million to star in Taken 

    Production of Thriller Films - Die Hard

    Die Hard:

    • Die hard was directed by John McTiernan based on the book written by Roderick Thorpe
    • Jeb Stuart wrote the screenplay along with Steven E. de Souza
    • Charles Gordon was executive producer and Lawrence Gordon was the producer
    • The Production companies for Die Hard were Twentieth Century Fox, Gordon Company and Silver Pictures
    • As Die Hard had worldwide success it was distributed by many companies across the world, it was a global success. 
    • It was distributed in Germany, Argentina, USA, UK, Finland, Netherlands and Brazil
    • The budget for this film was $28,000,000
    • On the opening weekend it earned $601,851 on the 17th July 1988 in the USA
    • On the opening weekend in the UK it raised £612,125 on the 5th February 1988
    • And on the opening weekend in West Germany on the 16th November 1988 it raised DEM 1,962,700
    • In February 1988 it grossed $80,707,729 in the USA
    • In the UK grossed £2,975,086  in April 1989
    • Overall in rentals it raised $36,000,000
    • It was filmed between 2 November 1987 -  March 1988
    • Bruce Willis was paid $5 Million to star in Die Hard

    Friday, 15 November 2013

    Male Stereotypes

    Male Stereotypes

    This still from the film '2 Guns' shows us many male stereotypes. The first stereotype we see is the muscles. Men are stereotypically 'supposed' to have muscles and be 'butch'. This also appeals to women as they are 'supposed' to love the whole abs and muscle thing. The second stereotype present is the guns. Men with guns are stereotypically seen as more 'sexy' than someone who doesn't. It presents them as awesome and cool, qualities women apparently look for. The third stereotype present is the fact that they are the hero. being the hero is generally given to the male lead, i.e.: Jack in Jack the Giant Slayer and James Bond in James Bond. The role of hero is generally given to the male lead as the male is stereotypically the stronger gender and is the most likely the one to save another person rather than women are seen as the weaker sex.

    On the left is a still from the new Wolverine film, 'The Wolverine'. From this still we can see some more male stereotypes and some which are repeated from '2 Guns'. One new stereotype is the gaunt face. this makes him look serious and stronger, which is something women supposedly love about a man. Another stereotype we see is the fact that he is topless. This reveals his toned, muscular abs and muscles, a repeated stereotype, and would attract a wider audience of predominantly females as they want to come see Hugh Jackmans chest and arms. 
    In more modern films today the hero is now being played by both male and females, suggesting the age-old tradition of male heroes only is slowly being lost to the new, modern, multicultural world.

    Production of Thriller Films - Pulp Fiction

    Pulp Fiction:

    • Pulp Fiction was written and directed by Quentin Tarantino
    • It was released in 1994
    • Filming dates were between 20th September 1993 to 30th November 1993
    • The production companies involved in pulp fiction were: Miramax Films (presents), A Band Apart and Jersey Films
    • It was Produced by Lawrence Bender and Edited by Sally Menke
    • Because the film had world wide production it meant that it has world wide distributions in order to get the film across, it had distributors in the USA (Miramax), Sweden, Germany, Argentina, France, UK (Buena Vista Home Entertainment). It was a global success.
    • The Budget for Pulp Fiction was $8,000,000
    • On the opening weekend in October 1994 it raised $9,311,882 in the USA alone
    • On the opening weekend in November 1994 it raised  £4,243,233 in the UK
    • In the UK it raised £10,734,320 (UK)
    • Rental costs when it came out on DVD in America raised a lot of money, it raised $35,615,000
    • John Travolta was paid $140,000 where as Bruce Willis was paid $800,000
    • The Tag line to the film was: You won't know the facts until you've seen the fiction 

    Todorovs Narrative Theory

    Tzvetan Todorov


    Todorov was a bulgarian literary theorist who came up with the theory that narratives start off with a state of equilibrium this is where life is normal and the protagonist is happy, they have no troubles. However next this equilibrium is disrupted usually by the antagonist which means a struggle has to be carried out in order to return everything back to a state of equilibrium. From this we can apply this to a wide range of TV shows and films. To explain this we can use Salad Fingers to demonstrate:
    1. Salad Fingers is happy with his rusty spoon
    2. Salad fingers wants a new rusty spoon
    3. Salad Fingers goes on a quest to find the rusty spoon
    4. Salad fingers doesnt find a rusty spoon
    5. He finds a rusty kettle which he is happy with