The Amazing Spider-Man - Hollywood Film

Cost  - $200 million (approximately) 

Stars -  Andrew Garfield - Peter Parker/Spiderman

           Emma Stone - Gwen Stacy 

              Rhys Ifans - Dr.Curtis Conners/The Lizard

           Sally Field - Aunt May

              Michael Sheen - Uncle Ben

              Irrfan Khan - Dr.Rajit Ratha

Does the cast have an audience appeal?

 For me personally there was a huge appeal as Emma Stone and Andrew Garfield are my favourite actors, therefore I wanted to see it immediately. However the lead role of Peter Parker was played by a more unknown actor as opposed to a A list Hollywood actor which added to the appeal as he was praised for his portrayal of the character. Emma Stone is a more established and well known actor in Hollywood, therefore her portrayal of Gwen cemented her presence in Hollywood and allowed her to experiment with the roles she plays and reboot the 'Spiderman 3' portrayal of Gwen Stacy played by Bryce Dallas Howard. 

Genre - Action (Superhero film)

Was this film popular? 

 The film was extremely popular with its audiences, as it is a well known franchise the audience had an idea of what the film would be about, avid comic book readers would know parts of the storyline from the comic book series. Spiderman is an iconic symbol in popular culture and the superhero genre, therefore there would be a wide audience from fans of the comic and fans of Marvel. 

Box Office - $752,216,557  

Production Company - Columbia Pictures & Marvel Entertainment 

Certificate - 12 

Marketing

 The film was merchandised with different action figures and games based loosely off the film itself. Augmented reality apps were created as a simulation for the film and multiple million dollar companies entered deals to promote the film and buying merchandise allowed the chance to win exclusive prizes. A nail polish line was created by OPI in order to promote the film. A viral online campaign was created by the Twitter account of the film that set up a treasure hunt across America in order to win prizes and unlock the film. Websites like Oscorp Industries were created in order to help track the lizard across America. The viral campaign was described as one of the best ever made, a graffiti spiderman symbol was painted onto walls again to promote the film, the symbol was seen at the end of the actual film. 

Release Date - July 3rd 2012 

 It had a summer film in order to compete being a summer blockbuster and earn bigger budget due to people having a lot more time to watch it and the huge production and budget. 

Reviews 

 The film received positive reviews especially Andrew Garfield's performance which was praised by critics. The late Roger Edbert described it as the 'second best film in the series' adding to the positive reviews made by critics. 

 

            

             

Juno - Independent American Film

What makes it independent? 

 This film is independent due to the subject matter focusing mainly on teenage pregnancy and the battle to decide whether to have an abortion or not. Abortion being an extremely difficult and controversial topic in America as some groups are pro choice and some are pro life, the film received praise from journalists but negative reviews from pro life groups as the main protagonist of Juno contemplated having an abortion. The film studio which funded the film was Mandate Pictures before being sold onto Fox Searchlight Productions for major release worldwide. It premiered in the International Film Festival 2007 and received a standing ovation. 

What is the production cost?

 The film was budgeted $6.5-7 million, which it made back in the first 20 days of being shown, it went onto make over $230 million dollars worldwide. In its limited release on opening weekend it was played in only 7 theatres in Los Angeles and New York and made over $420 thousand, averaging $60 thousand per screening. 

Who stars in it and why? 

 This film stars actress Ellen Page which her a household name after being nominated for countless awards including Academy Awards and Golden Globes. Central to Ellen Page's character is Michael Cera who was already known at the time for his other comedic roles like Evan in Superbad. Actress Jennifer Garner is considered to be an A list Hollywood Actress. Jennifer Garner, Ellen Page and Michael Cera could have an affect in the interest and popularity of this film. The two main characters were relatively not well known as opposed to Hollywood A list stars. 

Has it won any awards? 

 It has won and been nominated for countless awards, the winners include; 

• Best Original Screenplay - Diablo Cody (BAFTA and Academy Awards)
• Best Comedy (Critics Choice Awards)
• Best Actress - Ellen Page (Canadian Comedy Awards) 
• Best Director - Jason Reitman (Canadian Comedy Awards)
• Best Breakthrough Performance - Ellen Page (National Board Of Review)
• Best Original Screenplay - Diablo Cody (National Board Of Review) 
• Best Actress Musical or Comedy - Ellen Page (Satellite Awards)
• Best Film Musical or Comedy - (Satellite Awards)
• Best Film (Rome Film Festival)
• Best Orignal Screenplay - Diablo Cody (Writers Guild of America Awards)
• Best Feature (Independent Spirit Awards 2007)
• Best Female Lead - Ellen Page (Independent Spirit Awards 2007)
• Best First Screenplay - Diablo Cody (Independent Spirit Awards 2007)
• Best Comedy (National Movie Awards 2008)

Diana - British Film

Plot Summary

 The biopic focuses on the last two years of her life after she divorced from Prince Charles. Her relationships with heart surgeon Hasnat Khan and Dodi Fayed are also narrated. It also provides the details about how the Princess and Khan met. It was based off a book by Kate Snell, titled 'Diana: Her Last Love'. 

Distributor 

Entertainment One

Cast 

• Naomi Watts as Princess Diana
• Naveen Andrews as Dr. Hasnat Khan
• Cas Anvar as Dodi Fayed
• Laurence Belcher as Prince William
• Harry Holland as Prince Harry
• Douglas Hodge as Paul Burrell
• Geraldine James as Oonagh Toffolo
• Charles Edwards as Patrick Jephson
• Mary Stockley as Assistant

 Interestingly this film featured a huge A list star being Naomi Watts but there was little interest to this film which is why it flopped. Her performance was panned along with the film, suggesting that star power is ineffective in modern times. 

Box Office

 

Domestic:	$335,359	4.5%
+ Foreign:	$7,184,302	95.5%
= Worldwide:	$7,519,661

 There was a London premiere on the 5th September 2013 and was released in cinemas on 20th September 2013, it was panned by the press and the critics. It only made it into 100 cinemas which played a huge role in the demise of the films success, it was also only featured in cinemas for a total of 4 weeks. The film was described as 'car crash cinema' and 'atrocious', which is why Naomi Watts stormed out of an interview promoting the film. 

Captain Phillips

 Captain Phillips was released on the 11th October 2013 in 3,020 cinemas in America, it made $25 million on opening week and came in second place behind Gravity. It was then made available in 3123 cinemas after 3 weeks of release and domestically it has taken $101 million, with $76 million takings worldwide. It has a budget of $55 million and was distributed by Sony/Columbia, with a PG 13 rating (12A) as it features swearing and violence. It has received positive reviews from the critics often praising Tom Hanks' performance, the film features a high profile Hollywood actor being Hanks, but generally containing lesser known actors and actresses - the film however does have an acting role from boxer Mohammed Ali. The film was directed by Paul Greengrass who is famous for directing The Bourne franchise, the writer of the film being Billy Ray who has had writing credits for films like Flightplan and internationally known, The Hunger Games. The running time for the film is 2 hours and 14 minutes and is shown in multiplex films as it is a Hollywood blockbuster film. 

Personal Analysis

 The short film that our group filmed was a film noir styled sequence which has a non dialogue storyline. Our group worked as a team in order to complete the clip and everyone's ideas were shared and listened too. Each individual took on a role and we worked together for the final outcome in which we were all pleased about. The difficulties we faced were mainly down to the weather as we envisioned for the film to have rain, however we had to deal with a dry and cold day. Another issue we faced was that we had to constantly keep starting and stopping filming as people were constantly walking in shot, therefore we had to film again as we wanted to created an isolated vibe of the main protagonist - being a typical convention of film noir. The film was edited to be in black and white in order to again emphasise the film noir genre but also to show the contrast between black and white. We put a choir style audio over the top of the clip to again emphasise the haunting aspect of the clip but then it eliminates any chance of audio taking away the mysterious aspect of the sequence. We made sure we stuck to the original task criteria therefore we ensured that all the shots required were shot and as it is a film noir sequence, we featured a mysterious male - acting as the detective, But also a female character acting as the femme fatale.

The Shining Analysis

  The scene opens with a steady cam following the protagonist of Danny on his tricycle down the halls of the hotel. Non diegetic high pitched eerie music is over the scene in order to create tension as the camera follows him round the bends of the halls, before a loud drum reveals the two girls at the end of the corridor, the audience feels tense throughout the scene but has an expectation that something will happen in the scene to add to tension - being the two girls stood at the very end of the corridor. A reaction shot is shot of Danny in order to reflect on the emotion of fear that the audience would feel, the shallow depth of focus totally brings full attention to Danny's face. The extreme long shot of the corridor shows both the twins but also Danny, the camera being a viewing point of the audience. Diegetic talking from the girls is spoken over the music but the talking is in sync to add to the typical conventions of sinister children in horror films. Reaction shots are constantly shows of Danny's face to contrast with the calm and collected face of the twins, but the lack of emotion and short flashbacks of the girls dead does project fear. The fast paced editing of the girls being dead on the floor is used to create fear but also contrast with the two girls stood calm, The talking between the cuts 'forever, and ever, and ever' again is used to reflect upon the death and also suggest the death of Danny - but also show the absence of the girls as they are supernatural sprits. Traditionally films of the horror genre use low key lighting to create a darker and more scary, however in this scene high key lighting is used this shows that the normal setting conflicts with the action within the scene - also suggesting to the audience that normal places can have dark histories.

Non diegetic high pitched music is played over the top of the scene to build suspense and tension as Jack walks through the door with an axe. The snow acts as a barrier and trap for Wendy therefore putting the audience on edge as her death is imminent. Typical to the horror genre a crucifix is seen to make reference too the religious roots of horror films - in this case an inverted cross is seen on the door. Diegetic talking from Jack mutes the sound more but you can still hear the high pitched violin screeches to emphasise the confusion and fear. Parallel editing is used when Jack cuts through the door and to the reactions of Wendy in the bathroom, this is used in order to show different perspectives of the action in the scene but also to show Wendy's reactions to the audience as a reflection on the audience. Within the scene high key lighting is generally used which is again not typical to the horror genre, interestingly the protagonist tries to get from high key lighting to low key lighting - this often reversed in generic horror films. A close up of Jacks face is shown toward the end when he says the iconic line 'Here's Johnny' - this generates fear in the audience as he references himself as another persona emphasising the psychological aspect in the  horror genre. This scene personally made me on edge due to the pitch of music and the use of the axe and Jacks mental state - the axe being iconic to the genre.  

Film Analysis - The Untouchables

The Untouchables 
 This scene from The Untouchables uses a mass amount of point of view shots to give the scene the perspective from the main protagonist of Ness - for example when he looks at the clock, the camera only shows a medium shot of the clock. The main theme throughout the scene is time, shown by the constant emphasis on the clock and the loop in the scene from the child, woman, villains and clock - as the clock draws closer to midnight fast paced editing is used to speed up the loop. 

 The use of birds eye view shots also relate to the camera angles within the scene as they make them out to be point of view shots as the protagonist is stood on a balcony overlooking the area. The constant close ups to his face allow the audience to get an understanding of the emotion to feel in the scene - for example the look of panic on his face when he sees the woman and child entering the area. 

  In the scene you can easily identify the villains to the heroes as they wear certain clothes or have certain attributes to them. For example the hero is a generic hero; white, heterosexual, young male and the villain has a certain downfall about them, this case being he has a broken nose. The woman fits the 'damsel in distress' role as according to the male gaze theory as she is very dependent on the man, specifically when he helps her baby carriage up the stairs. The lighting plays an important role in the scene as high key lighting is used to show the hero in a positive light but as he is the underdog in the scene - as he is outnumbered - then it allows the audience to easily identify the specific roles in the film, like how the main villain has low key lighting so you again identify the different sides.