#unit26

Each year producers work on production and marketing decisions regarding their films, such as who the stars of the film will be, how the film will be marketed, and if it will campaign for awards ceremonies. These measures that producers take are primarily in order to create a commercially successful film. Films need to make a profit to make a return on the stakeholders investments and in order to fund further projects. The producers and distributors make their money in a multitude of ways, including ticket sales, Blu Ray/DVD sales and product placement or endorsement. 

La La Land is the current frontrunner for the best picture award at the oscars this year. It received 14 academy award nominations and swept awards at both the Golden Globes and the BAFTA’s this year. As well as its critical success it has been a commercial success too, making $300 million with a $30 million budget.

Decisions regarding casting and crew will have been concluded by both producers and the writer/director Damien Chazelle. The casting of both Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling who had previously starred together in ‘Crazy Stupid Love’ and ‘Gangster Squad’ would’ve made fans of both of those films and fans of the actors excited to see the film, and the fact that the two actors had a good working relationship together made it a safe bet that the performances in La La Land would be successful. 

After the main stages of post production have been completed on a film producers often have them test screened. This gives an opportunity to see what audiences react positively to and to see what demographic the film appeals to. They can use this information when coming up with their marketing strategies. in 1982 several changes were made to ‘Blade Runner’ after reactions at the test screenings and in 2016 ‘Arrival’ became the new title of what was previously going to be called ‘Story of Your Life’ due to the feedback from test screening audiences. Going back to target audience; it is important producers know as soon as possible the target audience for a film so they can use this knowledge their marketing strategies which will then attract the audience to see the film, making a larger profit for the film.

Prior to the wide release of the La La Land it was shown at film festivals such as TIFF in September 2016 where it was met with overwhelmingly positive reviews. Once the reviews at film festivals have been published, aggregate scores are accumulated by websites such as Metacritic and Rotten Tomatoes.

The critical acclaim the film received built up anticipation for its release later in the year, which would contributed to ticket sales. 

As the release date of the film approached, a focus was put on the marketing for the film, advertisement through TV and Billboards were both prominent for the film in order to gain attention. Also, several press interviews were held with the members of the cast and crew, Actors appeared on chat shows and tweeted about the release of the film. There was a heavy focus on promotion for La La Land from the cast, Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone in particular have appeared on several TV interviews and radio shows over the past few months.

Once the film was met with commercial success following its release it was time to start campaigning for awards, this can further the commercial success for the film as people will purchase the film or purchase tickets to see it based on its awards attention. La La Land screener DVD’s will have been sent out to the awards voters so that everyone has the chance to see it so they can consider it for their vote. In 2012 Producer Harvey Weinstein chose not to have Django Unchained screener DVD’s sent to voters as he wanted them to see it on the big screen, he believes this is why the film didn’t gain a Best Director nomination for Quentin Tarantino. 

Nominations and awards from ceremonies such as the Oscars are displayed on posters and Blu Ray/DVD covers to further increase attention and create further commercial success for the film. La La Land won 7 Golden Globes (the most golden globes ever awarded to a film) and won the most awards at the BAFTA’s this year as well. making it the clear front runner for the Oscars this year.

References:

 http://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2013/01/harvey-weinstein-django-unchained-quentin-tarantino-oscars-snub

For this task I will be comparing Seven Samurai (1954) with its remakes, The Magnificent Seven (1960) and The Magnificent Seven (2016).

 In 1954 Akira Kurosawa's Seven Samurai was released, a film about a group of samurai who are hired to protect a village from bandits. Despite the basic framework of the the plot, several themes are explored over its three and a half hour runtime. Some of the themes in Seven Samurai include honor, society and class and morality and ethics. In 1960 the film was remade into the western ‘The Magnificent Seven’ and in 2016 it was remade again. The simple concept of Seven Samurai lends itself to many possibilities, Antoine Fuqua, the director of the 2016 remake said, “These guys could be knights, they could be cops, guys on the streets today. Any concept of going in to help people who can’t help themselves, you can do.” Because the plot is a universal underdog story as well as being applicable to several time periods, it lends itself well to any possible remake, and this is why it has had such an influence on so many films.

The most apparent difference between Seven Samurai and its remakes are the change in setting, time period and genre. Feudal Japan is swapped out for the old west and so we end up with a Western instead of a Samurai film, Samurai being replaced by cowboys. The choice to remake the film into a western in 1960 reflects what genre was popular at the time in America as a direct remake of a samurai film would be harder to get financed and would be less likely to make money in the US. The 1960 remake stars Yul Brynner, Charles Bronson, and Steve McQueen and most recently in 2016 actors such as Chris Pratt, Denzel Washington and Ethan Hawke play the cowboys. From these casting decisions alone we can tell that both remakes had large budgets and were aiming to appeal to mass audiences with their casting of american movie stars. It is also worth noting that the most contemporary remake has a much more racially diverse seven leads whereas the 1960 version did not. 

Whilst the foundations of the story and the basic plot points are kept the same in the remakes, there are several aspects which have been changed in order to make a more conventional and accessible action movie. In both remakes the runtime is significantly reduced; Seven Samurai is three and a half hours where as the remakes are both just over 2 hours, this is likely because the remakes did not explore the themes in as much depth as the original as well as trying not to put off general audiences with a film over 3 hours long. Another few changes that were made from the original would be the main villain, in Seven Samurai there isn’t a villainous character that is developed on as much as we see in most films, instead the film opts to give the villain a backseat, one appears at the beginning and doesn't re appear till the end of the film, this gives the film a sense of impending danger as we are building up to the inevitable return of the bandits. Because the villain isn’t shown through the main portion of the film it means that we are given more time to see the samurai bond with one another as well as see their relationships with the villagers they’re protecting. In the remakes however the villain is more developed and in the 2016 remake there is even a revenge subplot introduced as well, this makes the film more of a crowd pleaser rather than have the unconventional approach to a villain that the original had. Another difference is that the deaths of any characters in the remakes is much more over stylised and heroic whereas in the original they choose not to do this in order for the deaths of the heroes to feel like collateral damage of the battle, giving us a sense of hopelessness which the film ends on for the surviving samurai. To develop on what i touched upon before regarding the lack of exploration of the themes; there are certain themes regarding honor and social issues that do not translate well to the western genre, for instance the honor system of samurais in Japan isn’t applicable to cowboys as being a Samurai is an honor which must be earned. And also there are certain social issues raised in the original that are exclusive to Japan post WW2 and wouldn’t appeal to an american audience.

To conclude. Seven Samurai has a basic concept which is applicable to several situations and can be enjoyed by a wide audience. In the US remakes they stick to the basic premise though differences regarding the setting, runtime, themes and action, make for more conventional and crowd pleasing action movies.

References:

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-ca-mn-seven-samurai-magnificent-seven-20160913-snap-story.html 

http://www.vox.com/2016/9/26/13024144/magnificent-seven-samurai-hollywood-remakes

There is a basic 3 act structure that is followed by many films, in brief the 3 acts can be summed up as: 1) Set up 2) Confrontation and 3) Resolution. I will be analysing the film ‘Dirty Dancing’ according to these 3 stages as well as being an example for linear narrative, meaning the events happen in sequence. 

1) Set up 

In the first 25 minutes of the film we get to know our main character, we know she’s the lead because she has a voice over narration and shots are seen from her perspective. They also set up the relationship between her and her father and the rest of the family. Once she arrive at the resort we also find out what her plans for the future are through dialogue and we get a sense of what kind of person she is. We also are introduced to Johnny through Babys perspective and a few of the other dancers at the resort. 

2) Confrontation

In this stage many of the conflicts are introduced; Penny's abortion means that Johnny needs a new dancing partner and Baby has to learn to dance so she can be his partner. Baby is also starting to lie to her dad and there is further conflict between the waiter and babys sister. The main content of this stage is Baby learning to dance and her growing relationship with Johnny, we see this develop over a couple montages. once she has learned to dance and a few conflicts have been introduced and developed on we’re now approaching the climax and resolution of the film. 

3) Resolution

Johnny leaves the resort and many of the conflicts have been resolved, there is a reflective period after he has gone and baby mends her relationships with her sister and dad who have also come to resolutions in their own subplots. At the end of the film Johnny returns at the end of season show and dances in front of everyone with Baby. The film ends with the entire cast dancing joyously.

As we can see from the above the film follows a linear 3 act structure. All events happened in chronological order. There were 3 clear acts and obvious turning points that are present in 3 act films, making the film fairly predictable. Other films that follow 3 act structure include most big studio projects, such as Marvel films, Titanic and Jaws. 

On the other hand there are films that do not follow basic 3 act structure and are non linear.

A non linear narrative means the film doesn’t conform to a linear 3 act structure, they  often have a non chronological approach to time which is used for a variety of reasons depending on the film. For example in Memento it is used to reflect the psychological state of the character another reason it could be used is to reflect themes of the film. 

As an example of a non linear narrative I will be using ‘Down By Law’

At the beginning we are introduced to two of our three main characters, we see Bob, but are not yet aware he will be a main character. We get a sense of the two main characters Zack and Jack, we cross cut between the two of them and in a short space of time they’re involved in situations that result in them being arrested and placed in the same cell, this is unconventional because it cross cuts between the two leads whose stories are seemingly unrelated, also the events which lead to their arrest could be 3 act structures in their own right. After spending some time together in the cell Bob is reintroduced to the audience as he is also arrested and placed in the cell. this is followed by a stretch of dialogue driven scenes in the jail which seemingly do not propel any kind of plot forwards. The three escape the jail and get lost in the swamp surrounding the prison. Eventually after being lost in the swamp they come across a building in the woods. There they meet Nicoletta who Bob falls in love with, Bob and Nicoletta stay together in the woods and Zack and Jack go their separate ways.

In pairs we were given a sheet to work with that asks the question 'What is genre or generic conventions?'

Within our class we had a discussion on what Genre and Generic Conventions and talked about how they categorise a film.

We talked about how Genre is a style of film and how it has a particular set of characteristics and how it has an identity to link it to its genre. We also talked about the marketing strategies’ of how they market their film genre to its audience.