127 Hours Research Task

Research Task
The synopsis: 127 Hours is the true story of mountain climber Aron Ralston's remarkable adventure to save him after a fallen boulder crashes on his arm and traps him in an isolated canyon in Utah. Over the next five days Ralston examines his life and survives the elements to finally discover he has the courage and the wherewithal to extricate himself by any means necessary, scale a 65 foot wall and hike over eight miles before he is finally rescued. Throughout his journey, Ralston recalls friends, lovers, family, and the two hikers he met before his accident. Will they be the last two people he ever had the chance to meet?
The genre of the film is Adventure/Drama/Thriller. The target audience for this film is people that are interested in Thrillers and Adventures (the genre). Also people that have enjoyed other films made from the same director, for example Slum dog Millionaire. The director of this film is Danny Boyle. He created films such as; Train spotting, Shallow Grave, Sunshine.
The estimated Budget for this film: $18,000,000. The opening weekend of the film (on the 7th November 2010) made $264,851 (USA, 4 Screens). By the 6th February 2011 the film made $15,679,195. The companies that made the film are: Cloud Eight Films, Film4 (presents), Everest Entertainment, Darlow Smithson Productions, Dune Entertainment III, HandMade Films (as HandMade Films International) (in association with) (uncredited), Pathé.
This film was filmed in Utah America. The main actors who are 127 HOURS are James Franco, Amber Tamblyn and Kate Mara. James Franco is mostly famous for starring in the Spiderman Trilogy he also appeared in a short-lived television series called Freaks and Geeks. The studio that distributed the film was 20th Century Fox and Fox Searchlight. The film was released in the USA on the 5th November 2010, then in the UK on the 7th January 2011, and from the 28th January 2011 it was released worldwide. The film is from Britain.
The festivals that the film took place in was: Telluride Film Festival (USA), Toronto International Film Festival (Canada), Mill Valley Film Festival (USA), Austin Film Festival (USA), London Film Festival (UK), Denver International Film Festival (USA), Turin Film Festival (Italy), Thessaloniki International Film Festival (Greece), Dubai International Film Festival (United Arab Emirates).
The film was nominated for 6 Oscars. Another 4 wins & 55 nominations

Film Poster Analysis - Avatar

From this poster of Avatar you can identify that the genre of the film is Science-Fiction/Action. The colour scheme is blue and green which suggests a futuristic effect. Also the title ‘AVATAR’ is in the colour blue (with a hint of silver) and has a shiny effect which also recommends sci-fi. The setting is flying in the air which is impossible in the real world, so it is easy to figure out that this is Sci-Fi, also the rocks floating and the different creatures flying around look as if they are fighting suggesting Action. Also the alien-like humans are painted blue, with silver dots and green eyes which is the main colour scheme for the futuristic look.

The main character has half of his human face and half of his alien face. The man ‘San Worthington’ wasn’t very popular until Avatar was released. The reason this film was a success is because of the famous Director, James Cameron, and also by the fact he directed Titanic which is a great, original film. The director is only used on the magazine to be known as the director of Titanic, as most people wouldn’t know his name, but Titanic was a big film showing he is famous for this.

The tag-line used on this poster is “Enter the World” which definitely suggests the Sci-Fi genre as it shows there isn’t only Earth on this film, but other worlds/planets. It is a serious tag-line to make it obvious that this isn’t a comedy otherwise it would’ve been a joke.

The layout of the poster is good. The main characters stand out from the rest of the page, showing their importance in the film. The characters are using a direct mode address to attract the audience easier. There is half of their human face and half of the alien face proving there is two different worlds occurring. Also on the poster on the right there is a female character which shows there could be a romance included in the story.

Research Task - Independent Film

The independent film I have chosen to research about is Cloverfield, which was released out in 1st February 2008 (UK only). It revolves around a monster attack in New York which is told from a point of view from a group of people. There are three genres used for Cloverfield; Mystery/Thriller and Science-Fiction. Which is a variety of different genres to attract different ages and sexes of the audience. The writer and creator of the storyline is Drew Goddard. The production company of this film is Bad Robot also Paramount is a co-production of the film. The stars in Cloverfield aren’t very popular which could be one of the reasons that this is an independent film and not a Hollywood Blockbuster, such as; Mike Vogel, Jessica Lucas and Lizzy Caplan. The director is Matt Reeves.
The filming locations were in; Bloomingdales (Manhattan, New York), Downey Studios (California), Warner Brothers studios, San Pedro so mostly all studios in California even though the film is based in New York. The Budget of the making of this film is $25,000,000. On the 20th January 2008 (USA) it was released in 3411 screens and made $46,146,546 and by the time of April 2008 it made $80,034,302.

Research Task - Hollywood Blockbuster

Research Task
The Hollywood Blockbuster Film I have chosen to research about is Black Swan, because it has only recently been released in cinema’s (21st January 2011 – UK Only) and has attracted a lot of people. This film is a Drama/Fantasy film which attracts a wider audience range, as it uses two genres. The ideas of the film were written by Mark Heyman (screenplay), Andres Heinz (screenplay), and John J. McLaughlin (screenplay) also Andres Heinz also created the storyline. The idea came from dancing, ballet. The original script for this film was written by Fox Searchlight Pictures. The director of the film was Darren Aronofsky and the producer was Tom Paul.

The filming locations were in; Bowling Green, Broadway, Brooklyn Museum, Lincoln Centre, the Concert Hall of Performing Arts, Woodhull Medical and Mental Health Centre, which are all in New York. The Budget of the making of this film is $13,000,000 (estimation). On the weekend opening of the film, in the USA, this film made $1,443,809. By January the 23rd (once month later) the film had gathered £83,250,375. So this film was a big sell out.