Slumdog Millionaire.

-       It’s a 2008 British epic romantic drama adventure film.

-       It was directed by Danny Boyle.

-       Slumdog Millionaire had a nationwide grand release in the United Kingdom on 9 January 2009 and in the United States on 12 November 2008.

-       It premiered in Mumbai on 22 January 2009.

-       The film was nominated for 10 Academy Awards in 2009 and won eight (the most for any film of 2008).

-       It also won seven BAFTA Awards (including Best Film), five Critics' Choice Awards, and four Golden Globes, so it was a very successful film.

-       By the summer of 2006, British production companies Celador Films and Film4 Productions invited director Danny Boyle to read the script of Slumdog Millionaire.

-       He didn’t originally want to do the film. Since he was not interested in making a film about Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?

-       It had a budget of $15million.

-       Warner Independent Pictures made a $5 million offer to win rights to the picture.

Four Lions.

-       Four Lions is a 2010 British satirical comedy film.

-       It is the debut feature from director Chris Morris, written by Morris, Sam Bain and Jesse Armstrong.

-       Morris spent three years researching the project, speaking to terrorism experts, police, the secret service, and imams, as well as ordinary Muslims, and writing the script in 2007.

-       The project was originally rejected by both the BBC and Channel 4 as being too controversial.

-       Morris opened a mass email account titled "Funding Mentalism", that fans could contribute between £25 and £100 each to the production costs of the film and would appear as extras in return.

-       Funding was secured in October 2008 from Film 4 Productions and Warp Films, with Mark Herbert producing.

-       They began filming in Sheffield in May 2009.

-       The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2010.

-       Four Lions was released in the UK on DVD and Blu-Ray on 30 August 2010, and was released in the US 8 March 2011.

Regional identity:
accents in exam - identify charicter (pitch & tone)
nasel tone - northern
lack of vouls - southern
(estory english origionated in londen in the cockney accent but has spread accross england)

North:
-think that southeners are soft
-poor

Cockney
-untrustworthy
-dodgy car dealerships
-own pub's
-bubbley

Yorkshire
-farmers
-cricket
-stupid
-tense personality
-tweed caps

Geordy
-Trust worthy
-chavy
-out going

Scouser
-curley hair
-annoying

Welsh
-Barry island
-Rugby
-Gavin and stacy

Leicester
-Chavs
-Slang
-Big ears (Garry Linekar walkers adverts, links to leicester)

Brum
-stupid
-rural jobs
-friendly tone
-heavy metal

Working Title Website.

Advantages of setting up a website instead of creating a tv advertisement.

-  More people use the internet than watch tv.

-  Provides exclusive of upcoming releases.

-  Instant updates.

-  Provides detailed information (more info on the website than you would be able to put into a tv ad).

-  Viral marketing.

-  Archive material (past projects)

-  Awards/ Celebrations.

-  History on the company (wouldn't be able to put that into a tv ad).

-  Portholes for merchandise.

Task:  Evaluate 'Working Titles' website commenting on what features make it particularly useful or interesting.

Working title have a large proffetional looking website with all different features, informing and entertaining accessories for the viewing audience. 
The website includes games, preview clips, outakes, games and interviews, also a particular feature to the website is it's actors video logs throughout the films. This feature is specific to working title's website, the websitehelps people to findinformation on the making of the films, get them intrestedin theupcomingnewfilms and provide the 'behind scenes feeling' by having the actors log and have them lead you around etc.



Working Title: 'Hot Fuzz' Questions.

1. Find the publicity poster released in November 2006. What famous film is this a pastiche of?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Hot_fuzz.jpg  This poster is a pastiche of the film 'Bad Boys'.


2. Why do you think the producers chose to mimic this film poster?
They chose to mimic the poster because the film 'Bad Boys' was a huge success. And they want to try and create the same sort of film, but the English version.


3. What is synergy marketting?
Synery Marketing is a campain of a range of different media. e.g- Posters, Trailers.


4. How do the producers of Hot Fuzz make use of this?
They created posters and a teaser trailer of the film, they then released the Official Movie Trailer, and set up a website for the film.


5. Which car company helped to promote the fim?
Volkswagen helped with the promotion of the film.


6. What are the benifits of synergy marketing to a film producer?
it would be benifitial to a film producer because you can advertise a film through many ways, through posters, trailers, media and the official website. 


7. What possible down sides can you think of to synergy marketing?
I personally don't think that there are any, you spend money, and in return you get the best marketing ideas that you could think of. Its not the cheapest type of marketing, but you get the best.


8. What is a video blog?
A video blog, is a blog that contains video content.


9. What are the benifits to producing 'video' blogs to film producers?
Producing a video blog to the film producers is benifitial in a few ways. You wouldnt have to read stuff, you could just watch a video on it, and know everything you need to know, by video. and not just writing.


10. Who are these specifically aimed at? (watch the Hot Fuzz Blogs and analyse how they are designed to appeal to their audience).

11) How many pieces of merchandise can you find for the film Hot Fuzz?
For the hot fuzz film, there was a variety of merchandise produced including; T-Shirts, Hats, Mugs and Posters.

12) How many different versions of the Hot Fuzz DVD are there (you can include imports)?
Over 1 million DVD’s were sold in the 1^st four weeks of the release. There was a U.S DVD, and a HD DVD, The HD DVD was also released with special edition features. There was also a 3 disk collector’s edition released and a Blu-ray copy.

13) What special features are contained on the two disc special edition DVD?
The special features included in the 2 disk special were; Commentaries, Outtakes, Story Boards and Deleted Dog.

14) Why do you think they place different ‘special features’ on DVD’s and who are these designed               to appeal to?
The special features were designed for the fans, so it would give them a greater knowledge on how the film was made, why it was made and problems that were faced along the way.

15) How many Oscar winners appear in the film?
Simon Pegg received and Empire Award for best actor. Edgar Wright won an Empire award for best director.

16) What was the film’s opening UK box office takings?
The film generated £7.1million in the first weekend of its release.

17) What is its current world wide gross?
The film made just over $80million dollars.

18) What convention did Nick Frost and Simon Pegg attend in order to promote this film?
They both attended the San-Diego comic convention in 2006 to promote the film. They showed small clips of the film and took part in a question and answer.

19) Why do you think they chose to attend this particular convention?
The main reason was to promote the film, the comic con is a big convention and the people that attend know a lot about films, it would give the Hot Fuzz team an idea of whether the film would be a success or not.

20 questions on 'Working Title'.

1.     Who were the co-founders of Working Title?

Working Title Films was co-founded by producers Tim Bevan and Sarah Radclyffe.

2.     When was the company founded?

The company was founded in 1983.

3.     Where is Working Title based?

The Working Title in based in London, and is a British Film Production Company.

4.     Who are the co-chairpersons of WT now?

The co-chairpersons of 'Working Title' are, Tim Beven and Eric Fellner.

5.     What awards have Working Title won?

Working Title have won6 accademy awards, 26 BAFTA'S, 4 Oscars and many more.

6.     How many full time staff does WT employ?

There are only 42 full time staff working for Working Title.

7.     What is Working Title’s philosophy?
Their philosophy has been to make films for an audience and played in a multiplex.

8.     List 5 box-office hits that Working Title have made.
Johnny English Reborn.
Hot Fuzz.
Green Zone.
Paul.
Shaun of the Dead.

9.     List 5 flops that Working Title has made.

I could only find two flops that the Working Title had created, these were 'Wimbledon' and 'Thunderbirds'.

10.  What is Richard Curtis’ relationship with Working Title?

They have him and Rowan Atkinson as their favourites for their comedies.

11. List 2 famous directors thar Working Title have worked.

Edgar Howard Wright. (Hot Fuzz, Shaun of the dead, Hitchhikers guide to the galaxy)

Oliver Parker. (Johnny English, St. Trinians, St. Trinians ll).

12. What is Hugh Grant's relationship with Working Title?
Hugh Grant has worked with Working Title many times, He appears mainly in 'RomComs' that Working Title are involved in.

13. Find out about the Coen Brothers (films, genres, status) and what they have to do with Working Title?

The Coen Brothers are two brothers, Joel and Ethan, They have directed and produced True Grit, O Bother where art though?, The Ladykillers. They have achieved academy award winning status for their mainly classic american style genre.

14. Who owns 67% of Working Title Films? When did this happen? Why did this happen?

Many of Working Title films are now distributed by Universal Studios. Universal also owns this 67%

15. List two of Working Title big blockbuster films and find out their budgets.

Atonement had a budget of £30 million and made about £130 million at the box office.

Johnny English had a budget of £40 million, and made about £160 million at the box office.


16. What genre's of film are Working Title famous for?
working Title produce films from all genres, but are well known for comedy and romantic comedy.


17. What other genres to Working Title make?
Working Titles make films from all genres, ranging for a rating of U all the way up to an 18.


18. Find out as much as you can about Working Title 2 (when established, films made, budgets and awards).
Working Title 2 is a smaller branch of Working Title dedicated to making smaller films and helping independent ideas. It was established in 1999 and has made films such as Billy Elliot, which had a budget of £3 million, but made just over £72 million.


19. What information can you find out about working title throught their web page?
They have recently released the Johnny English sequal and SENNA.


20. Find out one other interesting fact about Working Title that you would like to share with the class.
After 1992 they made several films for production company Polygram, Polygram soon became a huge competetor against the U.S.A giants 'Hollywood'.

Memento.

The narrative structure of Memento is not like your average film, it is what you call 'non-chronological' order. This is when the film isnt in order, bits are just thrown in at certain points. but the way this film was made, is that it meets somewhere in the middle, and the start and the finish work back to front. during the film there are black and white memories. these are in the correct order, and are basically what we've just seen backwards. There are 3 main characters. Lennie, Natasha, and Teddy. Teddy turns out to be the man that hes looking for the whole way through the film, but because Lennie has a memory problem, he doesn't know that this is the man he's looking for.

Lennie is a very mysterious character, he cannot create new memories so has to go on trust. and he trust people he doesn't know, but he says he is a good judge of character and can tell when people are lying. He takes a picture of all places and people he has been in contact with, and writes a little message on the back, and for him to find out something about someone or something, he'll just look at his photo, and believe his own hand writing. he also gets important facts tattoo'd onto different parts of his body. and more of them are revealed as the film goes on. Because Lennie cannot create new memories, he cannot learn to trust people. so the film ends up with him going crazy, not believing a word people say. even if they are trying to help him.

How does Calvin Klein represent females in its advertising?

Calvin Klein is a underwear brand. In all of its adverts it displays a male of a female, naked. Posing in only the items of clothing that they’re trying to sell. Calvin Klein always makes them do a pose. And will have a well-known, hot person as the model. They never just take a picture of the under garments on a table, or in the packet. It has to be displayed on a young and fit model.

In the advert that we are looking at, it shows a young, very attractive Eva Mendes. She is modeling the undergarments of Calvin Klein.  There is no need for her to be posing the way she is, but they did this on purpose to entice the audience. Her facial expressions would be described as sexual, as she has her eyes closed, she’s heavy lidded, and lips are slightly parted. It is overly sensual for the advertisement that it is. Because of the male gaze, they would have made the pose, in the way of how men would look at it. She has her hands on her hips, which is seen as a very masculine pose. Because you are seen powerful, strong and confident.

If you look at the image, she has her feet a little more than shoulder width apart, and her hands on her hips. So if you follow her arms and her legs they all point into the center of the advertisement. This happens to be where the item that is being advertised is. Many men will look at this, and think ‘She’s fit’ so they would possibly go out and buy the item, thinking that if there partner wears the same, they may look like that. The black and white coloring connotes sophistication and sensuality. She’s also wearing stockings and suspenders, so we assume that she’s a powerful and important person. Because stockings are seen as posh. As if she was going to a business meeting or working in a posh restaurant.

The Calvin Klein logo is placed slightly below the undergarment. Its placed here to get attention, so we know the make of the brand and the importance of it. She’d positioned and made to look perfect or at her best, because the advert appeals to everyone. Both male and female could look at this, and think that either they or their partner would like this. It could also be looked at by a parent, to buy as a present for a daughter or a friend. As Calvin Klein is quite expensive, it would been seen that someone has spent a bit of money on you, and bought you the best of the best. Not just some cheap tacky underwear you will find in an average clothing store.