Explain differences between Tinker Tailor and Animal Kingdom

The production of Tinker Tailor is very different to that of Animal Kingdom. With Tinker Tailor it was produced by Working Title. Working title are in partnership with Universal who would let working title make any film they wanted under  twenty five million, with Tinker Tailor the budget was twenty million but Universal claimed that the film wouldn’t sell to their American market so did not fully fund the film. Animal Kingdom was co-funded by the Australian government, Film Victoria, Screen NSW and Show Time Australia, which in itself makes Animal Kingdom an independent film because it wasn’t funded by any of the ‘big six’. Animal Kingdom had many unknown actors like James Frenchville, this was done to bring new actors under the spotlight. Guy Pearce is one of the only well know actors in the film, this brought attraction to the film from a pre-existing audience. In the trailer it was apparent that the first thirty seconds was filled Guy Pearce narrating, this was done to sell him as an actor and also the film.  Tinker Tailor was heavily filled with famous actors from the likes of Gary Oldman to Benedict Cumberbatch. With Tinker Tailor the production was horizontally integrated. The film was made by working title, funded by Universal. Universal is one of the ‘big six’ production companies in the film industry; it has major cross media ownerships from the likes of film funding and production to its very own record label. In animal kingdom there was very little horizontal integration, the funds came in from many different film companies. Tinker tailors whole production line was owned by Vivendi, this means that the money distributed circulated around which was very helpful because there was no trouble with extra costs and fees.

Tinker Tailor had a previous TV show in 1979 which was a very slow paced spy series, this slow paced feel has been transferred into the movie. The TV series helped create a pre-existing audience for the film which helped gain attraction. This meant that the marketing for tinker tailor could be very mysterious with its advertisements because people already understood the main themes and plot. This meant there were no flashy posters or trailers over advertising the film. Working title did this to form an enigma around the film which would gain attraction. There was great effort put into creating Facebook pages and twitter groups to target the film at their main audience. Gary Oldman also appeared on soccer AM a week before the film’s release date in the UK, this was also done to build a hype around the film and gather a male orientated audience.   To contradict Animal kingdom had to put in extraordinary efforts to sell itself to the public. In the trailer the film was advertised as a thriller with the use of dim ambient lighting and gritty images, but also it was advertised as an action with the intense cuts between shots and over use of a ticking timer which created immense tension. This was purposefully done to attract a wider attraction to the film and sell better to the mainstream audience with is action aspects. Animal Kingdom was also screened at the Sundance film festival and won the award for best film. Animal Kingdom had an existing audience from word of mouth after it won the award, and it imbedded itself as a classic in the indie film scene.

Tinker tailor has been heavily distributed since its release, it has made £13,743,483 alone in the UK and is due to be screened in sixteen other countries by 2012. This great global distribution is due to the fact that Working Title is horizontally integrated with universal who own focus features. Focus features is an extremely successful company in America which have distributed films like Atonement, Pride and Prejudice and also In Bruges to the American market.  Working title are also in partnership with Optimum releasing which is a very successful distribution company in Europe. Animal kingdom was in partnership with Optimum releasing to help sell the film to the European market and also  Madman Entertainment which sold the film in Australia. The budget of the film was $5,000,000 dollars and the box office return was only $6,019,846. This little profit was due to bad distribution to cinemas and the American market. Over 50% of films profit is from the American film market. Tinker Tailor had amazing success due to the great effort put into using new technologies to sell the film. For example a Facebook page was created which people would like and then there friends would like. This was done to create a snow ball effect.

Tinker Tailor and Animal Kingdom were both filmed beautifully, the cinematography was outstanding. This is very common in indie films, there is great attention to detail in the ways the film is shot and how it portrays the directors ideas. Animal kingdom targets many social issues which means people can relate to the film better than they can to Matt Damen killing off bad guys. A common component to independent films is that social or moral issues are addressed, and this was done amazingly in Animal Kingdom. 

The Ways That Films Are Adapting Their Use Of Technoligy To Attract Audiences.

The film industry has gradually introduced features in there cinema which will increase the public’s participation in watching films outside of the home, by doing this they have brought the home to the cinema. In the 1950’s over 45% of the public went to the cinema on a weekly basis to watch films, this was because many families didn’t own televisions then. But now it the twentieth century nearly every house has at least one television. Mainstream cinemas like Vue and Odeon have now introduced luxury seats which are made to feel like a sofa, this is because viewers complained about uncomfortable seats as a reason to why they didn’t visit the cinema. Other cinemas also offer beanbag chairs, this idea was used because it has become apparent that the amount of 14-18 year olds visiting the cinema has decreased over the last ten years so this was an attempt to regain the younger audience’s attention. Personally the bean bags are cheap and appealing but extremely uncomfortable.

Cinema is approximately 144 years old, which is very old. Movie makers realised that people were getting bored of their movies; this was because all of their films became formulated and nothing new was being made for years. But then a group of people came together and invented three dimensional films. The effect of 3D films was that you felt asif you were in the movie! A movie called ‘Avatar’ written and directed by James Cameron sold out amazingly. In America on its release weekend it racked up $77,025,481 and over all the gross profit was $2,039,472,387. One of the main elements of this films success is 3D; people went to see Avatar for the experience of 3D not the film alone. Over 33% of the cinemas income came from 3D movies last year alone. To me 3D films is a novelty item that film makers are using to earn a large profit from their movies. Soon 3D will fade out of popularity, this has become evident over the last year, there has been a decrease of 20% of the film community viewing 3D films.

There are 528 theatres that use IMAX screens; this is because the quality is outstanding, families could purchase the film on DVD for half the price it would cost to see it at the cinema. Logically people would wait for the DVD, but now cinemas show movies in the highest quality possible it may persuade people to watch it in the cinema. Most large cinemas have tried to fit as many seats in a theatre, not only it allow more people to view the film but also to create a better atmosphere in the audience which makes watching films an enjoyable experience.

Over 97% of the cinemas in the U.K offer teen tickets; this is a great way to attract the younger audience because before they were put off by the high ticket prices. This is beneficial to the cinemas because over 15% of the people that go to the cinema are teenagers. Many high end multiplexes show movies at teenagers and families because they know they will make a profit. Personally as technology has developed  cinemas have clutched at the chance of making money, pushing aside good challenging movies and showing easily consumable movies like ‘Mr. Bean’ and ‘spy kids 3’.

T H E L M A a n d L O U I S E

Image analysis

“Thelma and Louise”-Ridley Scott (1991)

Male orientated objects- Guns, cars suits ties.

Lighting- Non-ambient, very dimly light (common thriller convention)

Location- Goes against common thriller locations of confinement and is shot in a open car park. Very male orientated filled with cars, this was done to signify that the women are lost in a man’s world.

Props- Gun- very male orientated object owned by the woman. Use of ‘juxtaposition’ changing the powers within gender.

Camera angles- Medium close up. Establishes the mood of the shot.

Representation- Showing the corruption in America, between gender. Shows that there is a lack of security within society.

Costume- Louise is wearing very male orientated clothes which helps show the change in powers – Juxtaposing the natural norm.

Gender- females in male world, very small female car surrounded by extremely large trucks shows that the females are lost and over shadowed by male figures.

Essex Boys

Essex Boys

Terry winsor

The first shot is a medium establishing shot. It is of a garage which is dimly light by a non-ambient light to help set a noir feel to the shot.  This then cuts to a close up a man entering the car, the windows are extremely dirty and this helps show confinement and claustrophobia which are both genetic conventions of thriller films.

The next shot is a point of view from the man inside the car as he cleans the window. There is then a voice over of the man in the car explaining his situation, this was done to help the audience engage with the character. Still in point of view a man comes into shot, he is wearing a very flamboyant shirt which instantly tells the audience he is a confident character. It then cuts to a follow shot of a car driving into a tunnel. Yet again director Terry Winsor made sure that there were many genetic thriller signifiers show, for example the cold, bleak and wet British roads. As the car drives into the tunnel it creates a feeling of isolation from society and also going into the barrel of a gun. The soundtrack beautifully and adds chemistry creating tenseness and anxiety within the scene. Where are they driving? Where are they? Who are they? These are all questions running through the audiences mind. Cutting to a close up on Jason lounging in the car, which builds on the audiences first assumptions of him being a cocky, confident and powerful figure. Ten cutting to a a close up on the driver with Jason casually sitting in the back. The use of non-ambient lighting is extremely powerful. The lights create neon bars on the windscreen of the car which look like prison bars, which helps create a character profile of Jason for the audience. The next shot is a medium point of view following the car out of the tunnel, if the lights on the car were meant to represent prison then this shot surely represents leaving prison and entering society again, also the harshness of the light shows the harshness of reality.

A close up point of view on Jason’s face grasps the anger and power he has brilliantly.  It then cuts to a medium close up on Jason walking through the fish mongers, the sounds of the people talking and working creates an element of realism and also makes the action seem natural, this tells the audience that this is everyday life for Jason. Cutting to a medium close up of a frustrated man in a suit walking. The way the camera jumps from Jason to the man in the suit was proficiently used to create an action response to the scene. The camera shots then jump from close up, extreme close up and medium close up as Jason beats the man in the suit. All of the workers surround the two men adding to the naturalism in the mise-en-scene. A wonderful point of view shot from the man in the van helps show his resentment and fear of what he is seeing. The point of view shot then looks into the mirror and shows the reflection of an angry Jason throwing acid into the man’s face. This whole scene creates an enigma around the man in the suit; the audience begin to make assumptions on what he did to Jason. An enigma is also a very common concept used it thriller films.

A close up shot reverse shot on Jason and the man driving the white van shows both of their reactions to the diegetic sounds of the man screaming in the back of the van. Jason Then looks down at his shirt and realises a blood stain and bluntly says “shit.” This helps show the audience that he isn’t phased by the violent crime he just committed, suggesting that this is everyday life to him. The next shot is medium establishing shot of the driver opening the vans boot, the pale white of the van doors helps show the innocents of the driver caught up in such a dark situation. The next shot is a medium establishing shot of Jason kicking the suited man, there is a great vanishing point with the Essex marshes which shows not only isolation but strangely method behind Jason’s madness. It suggests Jason has already been there and dump other victim’s bodies.

I think Terry Winsor chose that environment to express Jason with nature. The vanishing point communicates no boundaries, which is just like Jason where he has no moral boundaries in life. The bleak colourless scenery shows Jason’s isolation within society, the marsh land to Jason are like black trees and bats to Dracula, it is his domain.

Witness!

directed by Peter Wier.

Murder scene analysis

Throughout this scene the pure simplicity of the shots adds to the tension and suspense of the scene beautifully. The first shot is a low angle shot of a statue, this helps show the Amish child’s fascination and wonder over the abstract city life. The camera then cuts to a low angle close up on the child to show his reaction to the statue. The non-diegetic music helps build a sense of amazement. The next shot is of a high angle establishing shot; this was done to show the child’s insignificance and vulnerability in the big city.

The next shot is a medium shot of the station, but the only people around is the Amish child and mother. This shot is very effective in showing the family’s isolation in modern society, but also creates a dark mood. The child then enters the toilet. A medium shot helps establish the grim nature of the toilets with the dim ambient lighting which helps create subdued tension but also it helps the audience feel as if they are actually in the toilet. It then cuts to a close up on a male in a leather jacket. There is no non diegetic sound, which signifies to the audience that something bad will happen. The close up on the man helps show his emotion and when the diegetic sound of someone entering the toilet it heard an enigma is made for the entering characters. This scene is shot beautifully because you rarely see the murderers face which helps the audience build their own idea of the villain. This is a common tool used in thriller films and is very effective in creating uncertainty within the audience. A sudden close up on a black male nodding signifies that something bad will happen, many people believe this scene was done to show the stereotype of American culture and the black society. Also Peter Weir used the Amish boy to show the innocence of religious people in rough ever-changing America.

An extreme close up on a knife triggers the non-diegetic music, which is cleverly used because the pace of the music and uneasiness of the scene works together amazingly. The camera then cuts to the Amish child’s point of view and helps show the murder from a small child’s perspective. The shot reverse shot from the murder to the child is very successful, as the child scrambles to lock the toilet door as a viewer your heart sinks and you feel on edge. Peter Weir uses such a simple concept with such simple camera angles to create such tension and anxiety. The camera then cuts to the black male struggling to open the door, the child suddenly leaps under the toilet wall and into the other cubicle. The next shot is a low angled close up on the black male’s face, in astonishment that no one is there. The next shot is of the small boy standing on the toilet with his hands spread out; this may have been done to make a connection to Jesus on the cross, such an innocent person up for sacrifice. In this shot there is no music and it gives a sense of the calm after the storm and the close up on the child’s face helps signify his terror trying to absorb what he just witnessed.