Post Six

This is the final piece of coursework and is in the form of a 1500 word essay of choice.

From The Turn Of A Page To The Big Screen

"I've just has the opportunity to see the finished film of The Hunger Games.

I'm really happy with how it turned out. I feel like the books and the film

are individual yet complementary pieces that enhance one another." - Suzanne Collins

As The Hunger Games recently hit cinema screens worldwide we see yet another movie that has been adapted from a book. Suzanne Collins follows on from other very successful books which have been turned into blockbusting films franchise such as the most popular and commonly known J.K Rowling for Harry Potter and Stephenie Meyer for the Twilight saga.

Before there were the wizards of Harry Potter and the vampires of Twilight there have been many more easily recognised films that have came from books such as The Silences of The Lambs, Schindler's List, The Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile. It is far from unusual to find a successful film that draws audiences in has actually came from and been inspired by a book, this may not be the case in all screen blockbusters though. Recently over the last decade some of the most successful grossing box office hits started life a a book.

Apart from aforementioned Harry Potter and Twilight  films there were adaptations made in 1930's through to the 1960's that are still popular today and still surpass today's films and still appear on many top ten lists still and still one of them is the highest grossing films of all time. 

To Kill A Mockingbird first hit cinemas in 1962 and still over 50 years later it is still considered by many as one of the best adaptation of book to film, even the author Harper Lee agrees, "I believe it remains the best translation of book to film ever made." Lee's autobiographical novel, which is a classic of modern literature, the film follows the same narrative and tells of a lawyer in the Depression-era South who defends a black man against a undeserved rape charge. Atticus Finch went on to become on of the modern day heroes against racism. To Kill A Mockingbird went on to win the Academy Award for Best Actor for Gregory Pecks portrayal of Finch, along with Best Adapted Screenplay and finally Best Art Direction.

                                   

     Peck as Atticus                       The great romance of Rhett 

          Finch                                   Bulter & Scarlett O'Hara

Similarly with To Kill A Mockingbird and the success it still has is shared with Gone With The Wind. This 1,037 page book was adapted for the big screen in 1939. With Scarlett O'Hara and Rhett Butler brought to life for an estimated budget of $3,977,000 today it is still the highest grossing film of all time. As of December 2003 it has taken in $390,000,000. The success was not only held at the box office but also at the Oscars where it held a record for 20 years. This was down to Gone With The Wind winning 10 Oscars, 8 of which were competitive and 2 were honorary. Gone With The Wind has become one of the most successful adaptations ever.

Today along with the Harry Potter, Twilight and The Hunger Games franchise another and one of the most popular and successful blood adaptations belongs to The Lord of the Rings trilogy. With the trilogy lasting over 10 hours Peter Jackson produced a faithful and true representation of J.R.R Tolkien's books. Jackson directed all 3 of the films 2001's The Fellowship of the Ring, 2002's The Two Towers and The Return of the King in 2003.

"We made a promise to ourselves at the beginning of the  process

that we weren't going to put any of out own politics, our own 

messages or our own themes into these movies. What we are trying to 

do was to analyze what was important to Tolkien and try to honor that.

In a way, we were trying to make these films for him, not for ourselves." - Peter Jackson

The Lord of the Rings trilogy was considered by many to be one of the biggest and most ambitious film project to be taken on. It had an overall budget of $285 million and took 8 years of filming in Jackson's native New Zealand. 

The success of the adaption was phenomenal with them ranking in the highest grossing film series of all time. The success were also heavily awarded with the the first two installments recieving 17 out of the 30 nominations they were awarded for and with the final installment The Return of the King winning all the 11 Academy Awards it was nominated places it up there with the likes of Gone With The Wind, Ben Hur and Titanic.

What made Lord of the Rings so popular when it went from book to the screen? It retained the original story for fans of the original fantasy books, but for the cinema goer it allowed Tolkien book to be brought to life and have a character for everyone to relate too. Tolkien's characters were always a powerful draw and this does not change. There is Frodo that goes from a innocent through to eventually saving the world, Faramir the warrior who must take on a great responsiblity, the wizard Grandalf who provides the roles of wisdom, Gollum with his extreme obsession over possession of the ring and finally there are also strong female characters in the form of warriors and elves. Along with memorable characters the setting of Middle Earth is brought to life with all the history and cultures of the original book.

The 3 films were also hugely successful at the box office and still went on to have continual success. As of November 2011 The Fellowship of the Ring has grossed $871,530,324. The second part, The Two Towers has proved to be more successful than its predecessor grossing an impressive $926,047,111 worldwide. Finally the third and final installment, The Return of the King proved to be the most successful grossing $1,119,929,521.

Jackson is now taking on Tolkien's other well known work  The Hobbit. The big screen narrative will follow the books with the telling of a curious Hobbit named Bilbo Baggins and his attempt to reclaim stolen treasure. The Hobbit sees the return of the the familiar faces of the Lord of the Rings cast returning as the same lovable and rememberable characters. The Hobbit will have a UK release date of 14 December 2012, and the box office will have to wait and see if Jackson can have the same success with this adaptation.

Yes there have been so many successful adaptations in the past but there has also been some really bad ones too. Yes the idea of authors getting their work portrayed on the big screen can feel a life dream but it may not actually turn out to be an advantage. It may be a let down from bad acting or in most cases straying to far from the original plot and missing out important elements. Also many fans of a book have already built up the characters and places in their minds so once they see these portrayed on the big screen these may not match.

Voted Entertainment Weekly's 2008 poll of worst adaptations was topped by The Golden Compass. This film started out in Phillip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy, but did not receive the viewing figures or box office records of that Harry Potter. The adaptation did not stick to the original narrative from the book and changed the narrative of the film to just a long drawn out series of lackluster action sequences. Unfortunately due to the flop of The Golden Compass the next two books in the series were shelved with no future plans to be made.

With the success of To Kill A Mockingbird and Gone With The Wind, not all classic books made for the big screen had the same huge success. Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby in book format is classed as one of literature's greats but the film was not received with the same praise. Based on the chart of materialism and decadence of Americas post-war revival just did not live up to expectations. This title is receiving a remake in 2012 by Baz Luhrmann and hopefully the book will finally receive the big screen feature it deserves. This was shared with George Orwell's 1954's adaptation of Animal Farm. The animated film used to portray Orwell's farmyard were deemed to Disney and ready to burt into sing song at any minute and it was felt that they were far to cheery to portray the books narrative of taking a swipe at Russia's Stalinist regime.

Finally most recently in 2010 Kazuo Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go was the latest book to go with the screen adaptation and end with a disapointing outcome. The plot of the book and the film narrative has the same characters and the plot of what is happening to them stays the same but there is one major detail which is missing that is vital to the books story line. The story follows Ruth, Kathy and Tommy through their life at school and as they grow into the adults they finally become and learn the path their lives set out for them. This is the same in both. But yet the film manages to miss out the vital story line about the mix tape and when it goes missing is important to building the story, the song on the mix tape is even where the film gets its name.

So with all the adaptions available both good and bad it can't help leave the viewer thinking "is the book better than the film?"


Sources:

www.imdb.com

www. lordoftherings.net

www.rottentomatoes.com

www.thecapitaltour.pn/

www.thehobbitblog.com

www.wikipedia.com

Post Five

This post will take the form of a review of a film that was out in the last 12 months.

The Woman In Black

"If we open the door to superstitions where does it lead?"

Can Susan Hill's 1983 novella which has been heralded as one of modern days greatest ghost stories be successfully adapted for the big screen and live up to what we have already built up in our heads?

The British horror thriller sees Daniel Radcliffe leave behind his Harry Potter role and step into the shoes of Hill's Arthur Kipps. The story follows young Victorian lawyer Kipps who has been sent to a recently deceased clients remote isolated home to clear out paper work. The villagers do not take well to Kipps arrival and want him to leave. Whilst working at Eel Marsh House he starts to uncover the tragic secret the villagers are trying to hide. He is soon in a desperate race against time when he is haunted by a vengeful ghost of a woman dressed only in black.

"Have you see her? The woman in black? She once lost a boy, and now she's back.

Our parents all worry, they make such a fuss: for if she can't find him, she'll take

one of us."

The eerie poem quoted by the children at the start of the film sets how the mood of the narrative will take, it also explains what is going on for those who are unsure of Hills story. A scorned spirit haunts Eel March House. Her presence is not one of joy, if you see her you die.

The eerie nature of the narrative is carried on throughout the whole story as the entire film is very bleak, shocking and terrifying. Throughout the film there are several disturbing deaths, most of these being children. The deaths of the children are a large part of the story. They appear regularly throughout and there to shock and scare. The main eerie point of this film obviously would be the woman in black herself who is also terrifying. When she appears you area aware something bad is going to happen, but also the fact she does not say a single word through the whole film is quite unsettling. Finally Eel March House, the setting of the majority of the film carries on the atmosphere. The house has clearly been lying empty for some time, creaky rooms are filled with creepy children's toys and it becomes completely isolated when the tide comes in.

"I do believe even the most rational of minds can play tricks in the dark."

Kipps comes across as a rational thinking guy until his thoughts run away with him when he gets wrapped up in the story unfolding at Eel Marsh House. Once he starts seeing things he can't explain he has to decide if they are real or just "tricks in the dark." Director James Watkins allows the viewer to be pulled into the story and start wondering along with Kipps if the woman in black is real. Watkins does this by his use of fear.

Unlike many horrors of the previous years this film does not rely on the narrative of a slasher with lots of blood and gore to shock and scare. The film is beautifully shot with lots of use of empty space to fill the viewer with dread. Watkins uses this style to the fullest by waiting to the last possible minute to scare the audience. The film also has all the signature styles of Hammer using close ups and suspense built up through the use of music and noise to scare its audience. With the story being of a traditional ghost story this style of filmmaking works well as the fear comes from the power of suggestion rather than a killer with a knife.

"I feel she's there, trying to reach me."

This film was always going to have a sizable success at the box office due to Radcliffe's fan base and Hill's novella selling steadily since its publication. Its not the most sophisticated and in-depth story but it does get the audiences jumping in all the right places. Overall the film is effective due to the terrifying woman in black appearing and getting adrenaline going, and Radcliffe's portrayal of a haunted man.

Unfortunately being a fan of Hill's work having read this story many times I was disappointed mainly with the film not sticking to the original story. In the book we are sharing Kipps looking back on one of the most terrifying moments of his life, but the film doesn't follow this. Another main difference was now Kipps is a widow which left we wondering though the whole film what they would now do with the ending. I realised that after being scared for a hour I did not enjoy the fact this film was given a Hollywood happily ever after ending. 

Overall I enjoyed this film, but it may be better for people who have not read the book previously. Radcliffe has now successfully left his days of Harry Potter behind him with this more mature role. I would recommend this film for fans of scary films. Even though the Harry Potter star is the main lead I would not recommend taking a young audience member due to the nature of the film.

I would give this film 4 out 5 stars.

Sources:

www.hammerfilms.com

www.imdb.com

www.ranker.com

www.rottentomatoes.com

www.totalfilm.com

www.womaninblack-movie.co.uk

Post Four

This post will discuss the manor in which ideologies are expressed explicitly and implicitly.

Ideologies In Filmmaking

In todays film industry wether it be big blockbusters or low budget independent films they all have some type of ideology. For a better understanding of what ideologies are, Louis Giannetti describes them in Understanding Movies. He explains "ideologies is usually defined as a body of ideas reflecting the social needs and aspirations of an individual, group, class, or culture." Ideologies can also be described as "assumptions" which can be due to it being felt that ideological beliefs and values are fundamental to self-image.

Ideologies in films are normally broken down into implicit and explicit. Implicit implies that the message tends to be hidden or tamed down to allow for a larger audience to watch. Whereas explicit ideologies are loud, clear and very blatantly obvious.

Perfect examples of implicit ideologies can be found within Disney films. Disney films aim to to teach morals to younger audiences but they also leave mixed messages with a wider audiences due to their implicit messages. For example Snow White and Ariel from The Little Mermaid are both beautiful, kind, trusting heroines and in Snow White's case she's also exceptionally domesticated. Both characters go on a journey and end up meeting the men of their dreams. This gives the younger audience the "Happily Ever After." Realistically though Snow White displays a unrealistic depiction of love and relationships. Once Snow White meets Prince Charming she runs off leaving behind her voluntary servitude with the Seven Dwarfs. This is a inaccurate reflection of what a genuine romantic relationship actually is.

Similarly with Ariel, Disney suggests that a woman's personal sense of identity is secondary to the love of a man. Once Ariel meets and falls in love with Eric she gives up her beautiful voice and mermaid tail, which are her trademarks, to pursue Eric. Finally she chooses to remain in human form to live with Eric. Disney portrays the implicit ideology message in both films that the love of a man in more valuable over who you are and what you have.

Explicit ideologies which are commonly are better known as the audience being aware of what they are seeing with no hidden extras. This style of film making allows different audience types all to follow the same narrative and come away with the same ideas. This can be seen in Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World. The plot of the film is set up early on and the viewers become aware that it will be easy to follow. The narrative tells of of slacker rocker Scott Pilgrim and his band Sex Bob-omb! defeat the seven evil ex's of his dream girl Ramona Flowers. Pilgrim must overcome the ex's to achieve his goal of dating Flowers. The film shows audiences that good conquer evil and the guy always gets the girl.

That was just a few examples of styles of ideologies which are found in films. However due to each of us being unique each viewer will understand, decipher and take away a different meaning. No set of ideological beliefs are absolute.

Sources:

www.imdb.com

www. oxforddictionaries.com

www. wikipedia.com

www.youtube.com

GIANNETTI, L. (2007), Understanding Movies, New Jersey: Prentice Hall

Post Three

This post will show two films that have either converted or subverted from Hollywood / Mainstream filmmaking standards and techniques.

Independent vs. Hollywood Film Making

Independent or 'indie' films can be distinguished by their content and style an in the way in which the film makers own artistic vision is realised, whereas the Hollywood 'blockbuster' is based on the size of production and narrative it has.

Donnie Darko (2001) is the film that raised the bar which changed the way the independent thinking and the teen genre for the Millennium may never have reached the big screen. Due to the main character Donnie either being schizophrenic or a supernatural avatar, writer and director Richard Kelly found the majority of the distributors were unsure how to market the film to the masses. Unwilling to compromise his original vision for studio palates Kelly was under the impression he would have to launch his debut on cable TV.

In 2004 after doing its time on the underground scene Kelly's film finally got picked up and received its directors-cut theatrical re-release. Darko the troubled teenager who is plagued by visions, ad is told about the end of the world from his six foot talking rabbit friend Frank, was played by a remarkable performance by Jake Gyllenhall a virtual unknown at the time who went on to stardom>

Among with the mental illness story line the film has the number 8 running prominent throughout the film. The story takes place in 1988, Frank tells Donnie the world will end in 28 days, 06 hours, 42 minutes, and 12 seconds which all add up to 88, Donnie's dog in the film died when he was 8, he jokes about the film Back To The Future in which the DeLoren had a speed of 88MPH. Finally the film was shot in 28 days and the director's cut has 28 scenes.

With a budget of $4,500,000 the film only grossed $727,833 which shows that Donnie Darko was not a success compared to the Hollywood blockbusters of today. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2 had a budget of $125,000 and grossed worldwide an estimated $1,328,111,219.

The latest instalment of the Harry Potter franchise continues with the Hollywood style filmmaking with this larger than life production. Not only with the large budget of special effects but the film was bigger than better and never sounding better too. This was thanks to the big names that were used in Cinematography, Production Design and the music score.

The massive narrative is thrilling, powerful and dazzling to watch which brings the franchise to a magic end. The all-star Hollywood cast returns in the form of Gary Oldman, Alan Rickman, Maggie Smith, Emma Thompson, Ralph Fiennes and Helen Bonhma Carter. They worked alongside the well loved Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint to star in the highest grossing film of 2011 which also claimed opening weekend records. Finally no expenses were spared as this was the only Harry Potter film to be released in its entirety in 3D, along with 2D and IMAX.

Unfortunately with the entire large Hollywood budget spent on this Harry Potter it still failed to win an Oscar and it made history that none of the franchise won a prestigious award.

Sources:

www.donniedarkofilm.com

www.empireonline.com

www.imdb.com

http://harrypotter.warnerbros.com

www.movieweb.com

www.rottentomatoes.com

Post Two

This post will explain the Auteur qualities of a specific director. It will include three clips of their work.

The Dark Auteur

Auteur theory has been influencing film critics since 1954, and has been advocated by film director and critic Francois Truffaut. Auteur theory is what sets a director apart from their peers. What makes a director an auteur is that over their body of work it has a series of signature themes and style that gives it a personal or unique stamp that is easily recognised when viewing. Tim Burton can be seen a great auteur , as his person creative vision, and the choices he makes for his films either it be recurring cast or themes he has a signature and visual style.

'I always liked strange characters.'

Burton's career has remained inside that of the mainstream of film, yet each now creation still is a unconventional one. He is famous for creating some of the most dark, quirky-themed and strange creative visions. He can also be praised for creating landscapes and characters with a haunting intensity and beauty which will always be his signature.

The main recurring themes which make Burton stand out are storytelling, returning cast members, Danny Elfman's music scores, characters which represent the outsider and how the film actually appears visually. These will be discussed in the following three clips, Edward Scissor Hands, Alice in Wonderland and Sweeny Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.

Storytelling appears within this film as it starts with Winona Ryder's character at the start in the form of the Grandma role telling her grandchildren a story, later we find out that she is the main character of the film. Recurring cast members appear in this film in the form of Vincent Price, who did the voice over for Burton's earlier film Vincent, and most notably Johnny Depp. Depp plays the lead Edward the quirky outsider of society with the knives for fingers. Finally Edward Scissor Hands is very obviously Burton visually too down to the gothic castle, the randomly coloured houses of the town and the stunning hedge animals carved by Edward.

Johnny Depp plays another outsider character in this film who verges on having a split personality. Similarly with Edward and his love for Ryder's character in the previous film, the Mad Hatter shares a similar relationship for Alice. The returning cast features Burton's real life partner Helen Bonham Carter as the Queen of Hearts. Unlike the traditional Alice in Wonderland Burton's version has a darker feel to it, yet has all his visually stunning costumes and sets. Finally the score for this film was produced by Danny Elfman, who has worked on five of Burton's films.

Sweeny Todd also starts off on a storytelling theme and this carries on throughout the film, but this time with sining. Depp is placed as the lead role of outcast Todd playing opposite Bonham Carter as Mrs Lovett, an awarding winning partnership. This film allows Burton's darker side to show through with the portrayal of Victorian London with the costumes and sets, and the darker story line.

Sources:

www.imdb.com

www.timburton.com

www.imaginarycinema.com

www.senseofcinema.com

Post One

This post will illustrate some of the defining moments of Cinema pre the 1930's.

Pre 1930's Cinema:

1.  The Horse In Motion (1878)

Innovative photographer Eadweard Muybridge took a series of 12 stereoscopic cameras spaced at 21-inch intervals over 20 feet which he used to capture a single horse stride. These pictures were taken at one thousandth of a second. The groundbreaking piece of work when finished shows the stills in motion to the show the racehorse galloping. The piece of film was the first ever animal to be shown moving and can be classed as the first motion picture. Muybridge can be associated with setting the groundwork for the development of motion picture cameras which lead to the entire industry of cinema.

2.  A Trip To The Moon (1902)

French director Georges Melies wrote and acted in his 400th and most notable film, A Trip To The Moon. His black and white silent film can be classed as the first science fiction film. If projected at the standard rate at the time, it lasted 14 minutes with the ending sequence of the parade and statue being added in 2002. The film is most technically innovated for its time with the use of animation and special effects to show the spaceship land in the Moon's eye. Melies later developed the art of double exposure and the use of dissolve and fade.

3.  The Great Train Robbery (1903)

In 1903 former Edison Studios cameraman Edwin S. Porter wrote and produced The Great Train Robbery. This piece of film is among the earliest existing in American Cinema. It was considered a milestone in film making due to presenting the audience with a narrative story with multiple plot lines in which a group of Cowboys set out to hold up a train. The black and white film with some hand tinted coloured scenes included the first close up. It also used a number of innovative techniques which include camera movement, on location shooting techniques and sophisticated editing techniques such as double exposure composite editing.

4.  The Birth Of A Nation (1915)

The silent black and white film directed by D.W.Griffith was an important and key film of all time in American cinema history. The reason this film was so important was it due to containing many new techniques which included a colour sequence at the end, a musical score and the use of subtitles. It was also the longest film at time time lasting 3 hours. Most notably this film was known for being controversial and explicitly racist piece of cinema and was tied to the Ku Klux Klan.

5.  The Jazz Singer (1927)

Historians label The Jazz Singer as a photo-dramatic production and cinematic landmark. It was a massive success in financial terms as it grossed $2,500,000 at the box office. It was a historic milestone for cinema due to it being the first feature-length motion picture with a synchronised musical score and sound effects using Vitaphone's system. The film was a huge success when sound in a film was dismissed as a fad. It went on to win a Oscar and be listed as one of the films you must see before you die.

Sources:

www.filmsite.org

www.imdb.com

www.wildfilmhistory.org