Disability

Disability is represented in the film "Forest Gump" by the main character Forest who has learning difficulties which is a mental disability. Throughout the film he is shown as happy and never seems to let his disability hinder him but towards the end he shows awareness that he is handicapped and asks if his son is. 

Casualty No place like Home

For the episode of casualty entitled no place like home i used Vladimir Propps' theory of how there is many different types of characters with the programmes story they include characters such as the hero, villain , anti hero, princess etc. there are 32 different character types which are applicable to most storylines.

There are hero(s) in casualty as the doctors, nurses helpers ect are deemed heroes due to the fact they are helping people and saving lives yet if explored deeper its easy to differentiate what type of characters they are despite the outward appearance.

The princess character would be the nurse who in the episode is seen struggling with insomnia and as a result takes sleeping tablets, she is then unable to function at work and is unable to do her nurses duties. She is initially saved when told by a superior to take a shower to help wake her up and when she collapses he then saves her by getting her out of the shower, fixing her role as princess.

The donor of the show would be the head nurse, she doesn't have a highly regarded position in the hospital from a medical standpoint but she helps the doctors so without her the hospital would be in a state of anomie thus cementing my idea that she is the Donor.

Kick Ass

How it was produced?

Mark Miller produced it after producing "Wanted"  but decided to take a more "hands on" approach this time as he was simply asked questions and answered them about how he wanted "wanted" to be made. He chose  the cast, the script was then drafted, he also chose the costumes as well as the sets and where the film took place, for how long and how many hours a day.

What it was based on?

The film "Kick Ass" was based on a Comic of the same name. The first episode of the comic was released in 2008 and the last one was written in time with the film which is an odd thing to do. Miller said "With Kick-Ass, the book's just out and now the movie's out six weeks later. And I think that's the way things are going to go now, because to go to Marvel's B and C-list characters and try to get movies out of them – what's the point of that?".

Problems in making the film?

One of the main problems in the film was swearing. Even after having the distibutors (Sony) ask him to attempt to "tone down" the langauge he ignored them and carried on regardless. Another problem with the film was the difference of opinions on the ending of the movie, in the comic the "hero" never got the girl and was outrightly rejected, whereas the film has the happy ending of them getting it together.

The directors view on Britsh industry?

He thinks "The UK film industry is the most paradoxical industry we have, were literally world class leaders in making films but have no film industry. We'd self finanaced the Bond and Potter films , the two biggest franchise of all time, yet we cant get films off the ground in England. We should stop being service providers and instead build an industry where we have the best directors, writers, crew, actors ect. He thinks the people who cant get work in america come back and create arthouse and indie movies in the UK"

How they saved money?


They tried to keep the budget down by shooting in London regardless of the Manhattan setting in the film,  to make it look like Manhattan they built a studio  and used green screen with stills of Manhattan on and made it look real in the editing stages.

The technology used?

How the films rating affected it’s performance?


Seeing as the film was rated a 15 by the BBFC,it limited its audience excluding many young people who are fans of the superhero genre (maybe for the best). In France it was a PG, this surprised Vaughn


Controversy surrounding the film?


The main controversy was that the script had a 12 year old girl using somewhat "foul" language throughout the entire film and even at one point referencing to a group of thugs as "Cunts". That, and the violence portrayed throughout the entire film.

Promotion


As the film was adapted from a comic book this could count as promotion along with the later issues that were written alongside the production of the film. The soundtrack was released to the public along with posters and some games for the iphone which made their way onto the playstation market.

The soundtrack


(as it appears on amazon Mp3 market)


1. "Stand Up" The Prodigy
2. "Kick Ass (Radio Edit)" Mika vs. RedOne
3. "Can't Go Back" Primal Scream
4. "There's a Pot a Brewin'" The Little Ones
5. "Omen" The Prodigy
6. "Make Me Wanna Die" The Pretty Reckless
7. "Banana Splits (Kick-Ass Film Version)" The Dickies 
8. "Starry Eyed" Ellie Goulding
9. "This Town Ain't Big Enough For The Both Of Us" Sparks
10. "We're All In Love" The New York Dolls
11. "Bongo Song" Zongamin 
12. "Per Qualche Dollaro in Più (For a Few Dollars More)" Ennio Morricone
13. "Bad Reputation" The Hit Girls
14. "An American Trilogy" Elvis Presley

THEORISTS.

Todorov

• born on the 1st of March 1939
• main influences were from the 1960's forward
• published 21 books

 theories:

• the story starts with an equal balance of opposing forces
• balance is then disrupted by an event
• thus creating a problem that needs to be solved
• in life on mars Sam gets transported to the past through by car crash and then    to resolve problems to return to the current day.

Roland Barthe

• born on the 12th of November 1915
• died in the 80's
• He was a French theorist, philosopher and critic
• In 1953 he wrote his first full length work in writing degree zero

theories:

• cultural, action, symbolic and enigma

Levi-Strauss

• Was a French theorist
• died when he was 100

theory:

• theres always binary opposites in films
• life on mars: the contrast between the 70's and the present day

Moon.

The film was created by Duncan Jones (son of David Bowie) and stars Sam Rockwell (hitch-hikers guide to the galaxy) and has Gerty, a robot voiced by Kevin Spacey (american beauty) who was only actually on set for half a day but obtained the highest pay. Originally Jones wanted Rockwell for another film but the role didn't suit him so they went their separate way until Jones came back to him with the script for moon

Moon had a relatively small budget of $5,000,000 (roughly £2,500,000) and in and effort to cut costs Jones cast very few actors as well as the whole thing being filmed in only 33 days In a london studio. The editing phase he cut corners to save money, He did this by using effects companies such as Cinesite who are notorious for their costs being cheaper than major effects companies, the film was independent so its small budget this was the only financially viable option. They also avoided sending any copies of the movie to the oscars as it costs money to print the dvds and they werent sure of the critical response from the judges.

Overall the film made  $9,747,108 worldwide with the  UK making a 5th of that. despite making a proit of £4.5 million, Jones is still attempting to pay his investors back because they want interest on the money they put in. 

Scott Pilgrim VS The World Animoto

"Britishness"

British films often adhere to certain stereotyped settings and styles so they are easily identifiable as British, these include: countryside/ rural setting, council estate and cities with easily recognisable landmarks. There's references to british cultural experiences and phenomena. These are often self depricating allowing others a clichéd view of Britain or the opportunity to laugh at us.

The hints of "Britishness" in the film start before it the films even begins to run, the Universal logo is backed with a meddly of whistles and sirens that are getting more and more recent in a sense showing the evolution of the police force as well as making it identifiable as a british film before it begins. The opening scene is set  in London. This is easy to identify because of the Thames river in the background, there is also derelict factories as well as a quintessentially british type of crime, knife crime.  Then you see Constable Angel dressed in modern police uniform, He also identifies himself as a constable which is a british rank of officer as well as seeing the Queens crown on his badge. Throughout the entire first scene the music in the background is the british 80's band adam and the ants.

The following chapter is when Angel moves to a countryside village arriving is stereotypical english weather, rain. The hotel he stays in is outdated and a "classic" style hotel as well as the surrounding area being cobbled and a stereotypical british pub containing things like oak beams and brass saddles. All of these you would expect to see in a country side village.

Generally i liked hot fuzz and think it did a good job of representing britishness with the soundtrack and mise en scene. It made it easily recognisable to british people as well as a wider world audience.