Unit 26 Film Studies

Assignment2: The Context of Production

Final Report

Mosheer Ayed

I was asked to find out about how the Context of Production can affect the Final product, in this case, Films. Context I was asked to investigate were:

Historical

Technological

Cultural

Historical & Technological

Firstly I watch a documentary called The Birth of Hollywood narrated by Paul Merton, which explained about how the Hollywood industry started, the people the technology started. Also some clips from the original early films. Then I explored a PowerPoint called Film History Part1, which gave sides of the people and technology.

Cultural

I investigated how ideology and culture can be represented through a country’s film output. This involved looking at some clips from different countries and conducting further secondary and primary research into films of one particular country of my own choice from which I constructed a PowerPoint. I also compared representations made to my own experiences.

Remakes (Historical, Technological & Cultural)

Firstly I researched 3 Films and their remakes nothing similarities and differences between them. This included points about their production/technology; narrative; setting, editing, lighting and stars. Secondly I focused on Back To The Future II and looked at historical context to construct Mood boards then chose a scene and planned how I would remake it 30 years in advance to reflect the changes in technology, script and audience.

Finding

Historical

During my research I made a leaflet about the early days of films and early days of technologies. I find out that most of the films from New York are from paper print collection of the library of Congress Motion Picture, Broadcasting, and Recorded sound Division. Also I found out and included that Technology and filmmaking has been discovered from 100 years. The experiments with optical toys such as the Zoetrope showed that moving pictures could be generated from a series of still images.

I found that Thomas Edison was responsible for the movie industry. Thomas Edison machine only allowed one person at ones to record. The Luminaire brothers where responsible for the idea of Audience public screening. Which is still popular today people go to the cinema to watch a film. However people watch they film on the computer when they are in bed. So we are going back to the old days one person watching one film by themselves.

Silent movie

I made a short silent film to show my understanding of how early films where contracted. The film was a min long because in the early days films where min or two mines long and most films where silent. I made my silent film in the style of the Luminaire brothers. I had to make my early film in one shot with out moving the camera as they did in the olden days. Music was added in my film and French title on my film and black and white. My silent movie was just like an everyday movie. The shots below show some senses from my silent film. Also I never had any script to read from. I came up with it myself. The narrative in this is to boys come along to this woman with something to offer but they get rejected but another guy comes along and gives his heart and she takes him. My film is not developed a lot but it did have a beginning meddle and end

This was my questionnaire about the Americans that I have created for my audience, the audience were not a particular audience but were random people who have given me feedback.

I had simple questions that were straight forward and easy to answer, these questions were given to ten people that gave me straight forward answers. I had questions such as;

What’s the popular foods that Americans eat?I had three different types of foods that my audience have mentioned. Foods such as;

Burgers

Pizzas

Chipotle

These were three main foods that people like in American. For example watching this programme called Americans best fast foods, I saw that a lot of Americans enjoy the spicy taste of the burgers and the saucy taste of the pizzas.

Another question that I have asked my audience was:

What are the stereotypes in America?To this answer a lot of my audience answered fat and overweight you had the one or two people who said they are racists and some said rich and many said violent.

I think my audience saying this shows what has been on crime watch this is to do with the violence and racism and also the news when they come up with Americans being overweight as they want to help them reduce their weight by not eating too many burgers and piazzas.

One of my other questions that I have also asked was a question that had choices in there, the question was:

What are the people in America like? Are they nice, selfish, rich or poor?This question some of my audience have answered all and some have said rich and also some mentioned selfish.

Backing this up would be the conditions of houses that people live in by this I mean people there live in nice comfortable and large houses compared to houses elsewhere. As well people said rich because they would buy designer clothes and when seeing them in programmes and just visiting America or going to bug cities in America people are really rich.

Cultural

Prezzie

For my prezzie work I have chosen America because it has a big film culture. The genre describes America as comedy, Acton and drama. During my prezzie I chose 5 films that were made in America. However one of the films I chosen is fast and furious6 I chosen this film because the characters in this film have a simpler personality to me. For example Vin Diesel he loves racing in fast sports cars that describes me somehow. However the main characters in the film are not the same age as me they are all older then I but they do seem like to bring the target audience to my age group. The characters in the film communicate like me and my family they read, write and talk just like me and my family. Some of the events in this film could take place just where I’m living (Birmingham) maybe it could take place in the future. I have lived in similar places just like those in the story but the film was filmed in familiar place to me.

I have chosen to do titanic because it is a widely viewed movie until today. I also chose this film because the characters personality is what people are like nowadays brave and loving. The main characters in the film are older than me but they do attract target audiences within my age and older because my target audience love to watched movies that include heroes as well as action. The characters are like neutral human beings because they communicate the same but with a different dialect. Some of the events in this movie can be taken place in a beach in Birmingham because most of the movie is based on water.

Remakes

The Alice in Wonderland movie was first published in 1865. The remake of Alice in Wonderland was made in 2010. Alice a 19 year old girl who is to marry an English lord. At her engagement party she escapes because she doesn’t know whether to go through with the marriage. She ends up falling down a hold in the garden and spots a strange rabbit. At the end of the hole there is a place called the Underland which is very strange and weird. There are talking animals, queens and knights. Alice realised that she is there for a reason and she must restore the rightful queen to her throne. The differences between the two is the first one has less colour, the colour isn’t bright. Also the characters look more realistic than the remake because you can clearly see the characters in the first video are wearing costumes as you can see their faces clearly. The actors in the second video are also realistic however they are very different to the first made movie which shows a lot has been improved since then. In the remake there is a lot of shadows ad darkness which reflects what the actor is feeling, however the first one is jolly and light throughout the movie. The actor in the first movie is a little girl whereas the actor in the remake is a 19 year old girl with a different story.

The original film sticks a child’s story. Which the remake is a much darker story and is aimed at an adult audience today. The original film has more colour and more sound and is more attractive than the remake. From the remake you can tell that the age of the character is not as suitable as in the actual character in the original film. Also the settings are different the original one you can actually tell it looks like a cartoon version but not drawn in that way, where it shows the bright and bold colours, where this is really appealing an enjoyable to the audience and looks like a fantasy story. But the remark one its not as exciting and enjoyable as the other one but its dark and dull and has older characters in it.

The remake of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was published in 2005. Whereas the original was published in 1971.

Charlie and his Grandpa Joe go to the factory on the day of the tour. There's a room made entirely of edible things (with a chocolate river), and little people called Oompa-Loompas who run the factory. One by one, the other four children on the tour cause some major trouble and are carried away. Augustus Gloop falls into the chocolate river while trying to drink from it, Violet Beauregarde eats some magic gum that turns her into a blueberry, Veruca Salt tries to steal a worker squirrel and ends up down a garbage chute, and Mike Teavee is shrunken down when he tries to send himself through television. The differences between the two is that the older version uses very old equipment in the chocolate factory whereas the remake uses modern equipment and machines in the chocolate factory. The colouring in the first version is not as bright and colourful and the remake maybe because photography back then wasn’t as good as it is now. The actors have also changed.

The second remake Charlie and the Chocolate Factory no such different in it I don’t know why they made a remake the colour is just beautiful. The umahlumpah are in the remake are cute the umpahlumahs are ugly in the normal one. In the old film of Charlie and chocolate factory they had not good quality camera however in the new one they got better cameras they have better sounds and is more fun to watch and is enjoyable. However in Charlie and the chocolate factory the remake is completely different to the original film as they have different characters different setting and different places, but they are still both based on chocolate. The original shows that characters from the old century as it looks old, but the remake shows characters from our century.

The original of Cinderella was published in 1950. The remake was published in 2015.

The remake of the Cinderella fairy tale which has the same storyline and is close to the original animated one. The difference between the two is we see how she gets her name. It is a story about a girl who is very kind and lives with her mother and father before they pass away. Her father remarries to Cinderella’s step mother who has two sisters that are very mean and make Cinderella do all the house chores.. Cinderella is forced to become a maid in her own house by her stepmother. Cinderella wants to go to a ball but isn’t allowed because her stepmother doesn’t give her permission to.. A fairy godmother helps Cinderella get to the ball. Cinderella must return by midnight. This movie is musical, romantic and fantasy which has been viewed by many people all around the world.

The third remark shows a lot of bright colours and has a lot of singing it is a cartoon version and is very popular as kids love to watch these kinds of stories, this is because it is enjoyable fun to watch and join along. However there is a lot of similarities as they are both one story and is based on Cinderella at the end marrying the prince and becomes a maid after her father remarries. The only difference is one is a cartoon version and the other one is actual characters filming the story of Cinderella which is very romantic and musical, and is viewed by people worldwide.

Moon board

During the year 1955 cars were some of the most classic, powerful and unsafe cars ever driven now in 2015 cars can be damaged easily and cost a lot to repair. The modern designs and speed abilities were getting more and more amazing every year, however in 2015 speed is something which would cause accidents and also has limits in certain areas. It was said that air conditioners would be available as optional equipment in the cars so people would decide whether they wanted it or not nowadays all cars are fitted with air conditioning. Research & engineering teams worked hard at making the 1955 models safer, less expensive and easier to drive. Nowadays cars are expensive and safer to drive.

Fashion in the 1950’s was varied. There were many unique styles all around the country. Nowadays every design is different and cut up. The waistline in the 1950s was a major issue for women because some liked to have a baggy dress whilst others preferred having a waistline and slim dressed. Nowadays many of the outfits are slim fit both for men and women. In 2015 women like to reveal more of their body however in 1950 women liked to look sophisticated and smart. In 2015 clothing has become quite expensive and the quality is not as good as the clothing in the 1950s.

Sports in the 1980s were controlled by a few. Joe Montana, possibly the best quarterback of all time. Mike Tyson, the most feared boxer to walk the planet. Baseball was quite popular however in 2015 in England football has become a big obsession for men and women. In 1980 men were the most common gender in which played various sports however nowadays women have become very good at sport.

Over the last years, the world of social media has experienced quick changes. Think back to your Friendster account and compare that to your Facebook profile today. There is a world of difference. Facebook and provide businesses ways to connect with their customers. You also have more advertising options, such as appearing as a suggested page/profile to follow or pinning your post to the top of your followers’ news feeds. These are ways in which customers become attracted to the business. The use of phones, Internet and social media have changed the way we work, the way we live, and the way we make and maintain friendships. This shows that 2015 has changed widely since the 90s.

In the early years of cinema, editors and directors would never cut from a wide angle to a close up, because the audience would get confused. Over time the use of faster and tighter editing became common. Today almost any film contains at least one instance of cutting from a wide shot straight to a close up, or even going to a new location.

I chose the year 2045 because I think many things would change. One of the things I think would be developed is cancer. I think scientists will do more research into treating cancer and curing it for patients which means the death rate will be decreased. I also think the poor countries such as Africa will become rich and the rich countries will become poor because the rich countries are becoming very greedy and are going against each other trying to prove which is better than the other. Also I think there will be more wars due to the hatred of each country.

The screen shots show the parts I used during my script but I made changes to it. The changes I made were when Marty was taking the hover board from the littles. The changes I made for that scene was Marty speaking to the little girls and the little girls calling him a pervert and walking away. I changed this because I never had any hover boards to act in my scans. Also I used the scene when Griff coming out the cafe and looking for Marty. However I added a scan of my own. The scan that I though of my was when Marty say “looks like I’m on foot then where’s the Doc when you need him?” after saying that the Doc appears with the car and picks you Marty and car disappears. I made these changes because in today society child abuse and grooming are an important concern and men do not approach children. M story board below shows my planning for my film.

My storyboard

Conclusion

I think it’s obvious that the context of production affect films in lots of ways.

History has a different affect because they had different stories they did have beginning, middle and end. The stories where short and some films were silent no sound was given to the audience however nowadays in movie sound is very important and is used in every scene. Sound describes the feeling of the scene e.g. when someone is dying then the sound is emotional and slow. Also camera quality was not that good as it was white and black films. However the film technologies have improved because now they have HD films 3D films. Cinemas have improved with technology. Culture represents a country for example I found out that American films mostly use the American flag because their movie is based in America. For example Fast and Furious 6 the movie shows that Americans care about their family and shows American dream is to be rich and free. They show this by sitting together around a dinner table and talking and eating with each other. This shows that they are always together.

How technology was Black and white this is how technology has developed to HD

Family together