Tim Bevan

Tim Bevan-
Born 1958 in Queenstown, New Zealand. 
Bevan served his screen apprenticeship at the National Film Unit and returned to England to go into business setting up a music video production company 'Aldabra'.
In the 1980's he co-founded Working Title Films with Sarah Radclyffe in London.^[1] 
Bevan's produced or executive produced over 40 films including Moonlight and Valentino, Fargo, O Brother, Where Art Thou?, Captain Corelli's Mandolin, Love Actually, Notting Hill, Elizabeth, Bridget Jones's Diary,Atonement, and Frost/Nixon.
Tim in the co-producer of the West End production 'Billy Elliot'.

The Soloist

       The Soloist

• Directed by Joe Wright, other films directed by Wright;   
  - Pride and Predudice (2005)                                                                                                             - Atonement (2007)                                                                                                                            - Hanna (2011)                                                                                                                                                                                                      - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Soloist

• Despite being a Working Title filme they managed to get well-known actors to work in the film;                                                                                        
  - Jamie Foxx (Nathaniel Anthony Ayer.)
  - Robert Downey Jr. (Steve Lopez)

• 'Wright's major mistake is the flashback to Nathaniel's background. Mundane, TV movie simplistic and, ironically, very middle-class patronising, it causes the film's trajectory to go limp.' - Rotten Tomatoes.                                                                                       http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/soloist/

• Russ Krasnoff used real homeless people as extras in order to give the film authenticity and give some a chance to learn new skills.

• Despite the budget $60 million, the film only got around $31million back, a surprise considering the actors and budget in the film.

• '"The Soloist" was originally intended as 2008 Oscar bait, likely solely as a result of Wright's early cinematic successes with "Pride & Prejudice" and "Atonement." While "The Soloist" is certainly not a cinematic dud, it falls dramatically short of Wright's earlier films and, given its challenging subject matter, is unlikely to be more than a modest success at the box-office unless Foxx and Downey, Jr's fans decide to show up in droves.' - The Independent Critic. http://www.theindependentcritic.com/soloist

Representation of age

Young (teenagers)	Old
·         Vandals ·         Aggressive ·         Intimidating ·         Teen pregnancy ·         Moody ·         Drink and drugs ·         Anti-social behaviour ·         Chavs ·         Lazy ·         Violent ·         Hoodies ·         Boy racers ·         Yobbish ·         Disrespectful	·         Wise ·         Grumpy ·         Judgemental ·         Old fashioned ·         Traditional ·         ‘cheeky fiver’ ·         Small and cute ·         Frail ·         Racist/ homophobic ·         Expect sympathy etc. ·         Lonely ·         Get away with saying anything ·         Dependant ·         Experienced

       Both teenagers and the older gneration are portrayed by the media in mainly negative ways. However, the negative comments are usually because all teenagers are stereotyped to have the characteristics I have listed above.The stereotypes come from films and television characters. Some are emphasised for comedy reasons, for example 'Nana' in The Catherine Tate show as a grumpy, old lady, or the character of 'Ali G' who is a stereotypical teenager/young person.




In this clip the Ali G has the characteristics of a stereotypical teenager that the media would portray. He shows the 'chavvy' clothing, modified car and the hand gestures he makes. He shows a gang sign to younger children, this could be seen as inappropriate introducing young children to gang culture. His behaviour is anti-social for example, playing rap music loud in a housed area and parking in the disabled car parking space. Both are seen by the media as typical ignorant teenager traits.

The Soloist - Summary notes

Production of The Soloist;

Dream Works pictures and Universal Pictures present in Association with StudioCanal anf Participant Media A Krassnoff/Fpster Entertainment Production in Association with Working Title FIlms "The Soloist" starring Jamie Foxx, Robert Downey Jr. Catherine Keener, Tom Hollander ans LisaGay Hamilton. The film is directed by Joe Wright from a screenplay by Susannah Grant based on the book by Steve Lopez. Producers; Gary Foster and Russ Krasnoff.
Distributed by Paramount Pictures Corporation.

Lopez on Nathaniel; ' an irresistable true-life character.'

To take Foxx through a musical boot camp, the team recruited Ben Hong a LA Philharmonic cellist, who had the advantage of being a real-life friend of Ayers, and  was also familiar with his musical style (Hong later recorded tracks for Foxx to play on screen, as an homage to Ayers). Hong knew they would both have to work hard to get Foxx to a cellist of Ayers’ exceptional talent and skill.

Wright saw an exciting oppertunity to bring Hollywood and British realism together.
The final days of shooting took place in Cleveland, Ohio, where Ayers andhis two real-life sisters grew up.

Exucutive Producer Patricia Whitcher - 'We were very lucky tohave Joe’s creative team because they’re an incredibly talented and dedicatedgroup of people. From day one, it was always about doing right by Nathaniel andSteve’s story and giving the film a very subtle and authentic texture.'

Wright used an organic process and almost documentary approach when working with the homesless extras. In order to keep these diverse extras comfortable and relaxed in the new environment, Wright tried to maintain a very human atmosphere by keeping set down to a minimal.

“The Soloist” was allowed the honour to be the first motion picture to be filmed inside the auditorium of Los Angeles’ newest iconic building - the Frank Gehry designed Walt Disney Concert Hall, which plays a big part in the film. Foster said; “Deborah Borda, the LA Philharmonic’s CEO, Esa-Pekka Salonen
and the entire staff of the LA Philharmonic welcomed Nathaniel back to music, and they generously allowed us to recreate that great moment.”

Continuing with authenticity, “The Soloist” also became the first film production ever to shoot inside the editorial offices of the Los Angeles Times building, filming in the third floor’s Metro section, the original working space for Steve Lopez and colleagues. “People had shot in the building before but never in a working newsroom,” says producer Foster. “The then-publisher of the paper, David Hiller, just opened the doors and said, ‘Come in. This story is as much a part of us as anybody.’”

The Soloist

Questions;

1. Who produced 'The Soloist'?
2. What did Steve Lopez question about the film from the start?
3. When did the producers meet Nathanial?
4. Where were the real life locations of the film?
5. What was Susannah Grant's aim when screen writing?
6. Why was Joe Wright apprehensive about making the film?
7. What does Robert Downey Jr say about the role of Nathanial?
8. Why did Joe Wright want authentic locations and authentic people in his film?
9. How long did the set designers have on location to build the set?
10. What process did the actors go through to ensure that the acting was authentic?
11. What comments are made about the ending by Susannah Grant and Russ Krasnoff?

Answers;

1. Russ Krasnoff and Gary Foster.
2. He question where the film would go. 'How can you make a movie if you didn't have an ending?'.
3. Late 2005, after lunch with Gary and Russ.

4. The Lamp on St Julien, Skidrowe. The Disney Concert Hall and the tunnel.

5. Her aim was to get across the message that everyone, even homless people, are somebodies mother,   father, brother, sister. 'Everyone has a heart-breaking story.' she says, she wants to give people a wake up call, and humanise the homeless. Make it real.

6. America was alien to him. Using real people was nerve-racking because it's about somthing he knows nothing about. Needed to getit right as Steve and Nathaniel were watching the film be made and filmed.

7. A difficult character, alot of techinical elements not only learning to play the cello, but portraying the whole of his disability. He say's 'We've all seen crazy done wrong.' showing how much pressure Jamie is under. There are huge amountsof emotion. Robert said the character (Nathaniel) won him over then he receivs the new cello and wants to give somthing back.

8. Theres a moral obligation, if they're using there homes to film in he needs to give then jobs, give somthing back by letting them learn new skills. The real people show the reality, authenticity and let the actors see how it's done.

9. 4 weeks.

10. There were difficult timings and cues in order for the scenes to look authentic. They had 3 weeks of workshop, actors were put into real situations, they gain trust from the other people and see what it's really like. Jamie had to learn the cello and Nathaniels vocal patterns.

11. The ending is honest. He says he couldn't have a happy endingthat says Schizophrenia has a cure or is easy because that's not true for all the sufferers of the illness or people who deal with the ilnees everday. It's not a fairytale ending. 'It gives me hope' - Russ Krasnoff.

Ethnicity- Stereotype

Stereotypes of a young British black man (early 20's);

• Gangs
• Thugs
• Dangerous
• Drug dealers
• Patois (idio/socialect)
• Low slung jeans.
• XXL baggy clothing.
• Caps, bandanas, tights.
• Big chains

Stereotypical characteristic traits;

• Argumentative
• Anti-authoritory
• Gobby
• Respect there mothers
• Protective over friends, gang members and family

Ethnicity- stereotype

Spooks - 'Danny' young British black man 20's.

• Well spoken
• Selfless
• Gave up himself for her
• Brave
• Wise
• Intelliget
• Good job
• Hatred to terrorists (morals)
• Pride (relating to whats said)

He says if he was born somewhere els then he could be the torrorist, does this relate to his race/colour/ethnicity.

People on the phones to the hostages arewhite, main one's are men. The hostages are a black male and a women, could this say that famales and coloured people have less authority and power?

Mise en scene;

Dark shadows and white light, symbolising binary opposite 'black v white'. People in coulours. One terrorist is very stereotypical, all in black with a big machine gun, main terrorist is in a clean suit, this goes against the stereotype and also says he see's terrorism as a bussiniss like job.

The white light refracts through the windows distorting theimages, this could be the tears in the hostages eyes, blurring what they see.

Music;

Haunting and depressing. Slow drum beat in the background, builds tension. When the terrorists speaks an arabic ethinic song begins, very similar to the one they use as a prayer call, relatesto the man as he looks Mddle Eastern.

Danny;

Croppedhair, normal for a colourede male,only his face is in the light, is very clear. Mutters a prayer under his breath, showing he's religious.Whenhe begins his speech whale songs begins, relaxing, symbolising that the situation willbe over soon.

Binary Opposites;

Black vWhite. East vWest. Man on the phone wearing a suit,v the terrorist also wearing a suit. Battle of businesses.

Let the Right One In - essay

Let the Right One In

Disability Character Profile -

Film: Million Dollar Baby  (Clint Eastwood)

Actress: Hilary Swank

Character: 'Maggie Fitzgerald'- Waitress turned Pro Boxer

Disability: 'Maggie' is only disabled for part of the film. During a fight she falls to the floor hitting her head on a chair, breaking her neck causing her to be paralysed from the neck down and permanently hospitalised.

How is it portrayed: Hilary Swank plays this character accurately, there is no glossing over the gritty realities of being paralysed. 

How is the character represented: Being a boxer you know that 'Maggie' does not give up easily, you see this when she is lying in hospital unable to move.Also you can tell that she hates being seen like this, she has pride and isn't used to being helpless and vulnerable, unable to even breath for herself. 

Fair and Realistic?: I think Swank is very believable and plays the character realistically, the storyline shows us 'Maggie' trying to commit suicide, the only way she can do this is by biting her tongue, or to ask her coach to do it for her.The suicide scenes are graphic and realistic Hilary shows the characters pain and suffering brilliantly, giving the audience a real insight of what paralysed people go through.

              

How Disability is received

Disability.

People who have a disability, are usually all stereotyped into the same categories.

Initially most us feel 'sorry' for disabled people, uncomfortable to be around or, in some cases, 'scared'. 

If had experiences, or are used to being around people who're different, then we might not react or act any differently. Some people, on the other hand get worried around them, as they don't know what to say, how to act, or what the person will do/act.

Tourrettes syndrome is seen as as comical, especially if you're not used to it. There are huge differences between

 physically or mentally disabled, some people are respected massively if they've fought in a war and suffered a injury that affects them physically, where as people who have caused themselves injury, by drink driving for example and as a result are now mentally     disabled, are not seen with the same respect.

Media and Disability.

Pete Bennette who won Big Brother, famously 'suffers' from the syndrome and was loved for it. Disabled people who are shown in the Media are usually shown as a hero, for achieving something deemed unachievable of someone with their condition. Competitors in the Paralympics are massively successful and talented despite there physical disabilities. 

Film Production - Flow chart

Understanding Film Making

PAUL blogs.

PAUL blogs-
 Starring Nick Frost and Simon Pegg.

http://www.whatispaul.com/

• Simon Pegg's and Nick Frost's new film PAUL have filmed official production blog videos whilst shooting the main film.
• The blog videos show give a sneak preview of what the audience can expect too see in the film.
• Using the same humor in the blogs that will be in the film will attract the same audience, and give them a hint of what they can expect.
• It intices the audience to want to buy the dvd to see the extra special features.
• It allows the veiwer to feel included as they feel like they've had a oprivate insight of how the films been made and what goes on behing the scenes.

The Male Gaze - Tubechop

Rihanna - Hard ft. Young Jeezy

Rihanna rubbing mud over herself in a seductive manor wearing not much at all for fills many men's fantasies. Slow motion lets the viewer see every little part of Rihanna's body. Her expression shows a seductive or 'Romantic Gaze.' Mainly directed at men to sell the record and give them something to watch. The media usually shows attractive women as they appeal to large audiences, mainly men. 

Gaze Types

Female Gaze - Margorie Ferguson

• Chocolate box - half/full smile, lips parted, no teeth. Full to 3/4 face to camera. Mood; Blandly pleasing, smooth, no individuality, warm bath warmth.

• Invitational - Emphasis on eyes, mouth shut, hint of smile, head on side looking back at camera. Mood; Suggestive, mischief and mystery. Hints contact potential rather than obvious sexual promise.

• Super smiler - Full face, wide toothy smile, head back, hair often wind-blown. Mood; Aggressive, 'look-at-me' demanding, hard-sell, 'bog come-on' approach.

• Romantic/Sexual - dreamy, heavy-lidded, unsmiling, sexual, sensual. General classification. Mood; Possibly 'available' definitely 'available.'

Male Gaze - Trevor Millum.

• Seductive - Eyes not so wide, shaded, expression unreserved but still confident, milder versions include slight smile.

• Carefree - nymphlike, active, healthy, gay, vibrant, outdoor girl; long unrestrained outward-flowing hair, more outward-going than the above, often smiling or grinning,

• Practical - concentrating, engaged on the business in hand, mouth closed, eyes object-directed, sometimes a slight frown; hair often short or tied back.

• Comic - deliberately ridiculous, exaggerated, acting the fool, pulling faces for the benefit of a real or imaginary audience, sometimes close to a sort of archness.

• Catalogue - a neutral look as of a dummy, artificial, waxlike; features may be in any position, but most likely to be with eyes open wide and a smile, but the look remains vacant and empty; personality has been removed. 

The Male Gaze

Eva Mendes - Calvin Klein Ad.

• Sweaty, oiled up, hot.
• Sexy underwear and high heels.
• Legs apart, relates to sex and power.
• Toned and fit figure, long legs and made up face.
• Lips parted, eyes closed, sexual facial expression?
• Appeals to men as its a sexy women in knickers, also appeals to women, "If I buy this underear I will look like Eva."
• Feminists view's; violating woman (almost naked,) facial expression is pained and objectifies women.
• 
  

Freddie Ljungberg - Calvin Klein Ad.

      

• Skin head, tattoos, muscular build, masculine image.
• Feminine elements; pouted lips, shimmering, looks unnatural
• Make up? Oiled up body to reflect light and show muscles off.
• Seductive facial expression, gazing out and pouting at the      onlooker. 
• Stance arm up to look relaxed, also shows off muscles, hand   pulling boxers down, cheeky, revealing more flesh, no body hair shows excessive grooming. Un-masculine?
• Appeals to women although advert is for men.
• Men want to buy product in order to look a little bit like               the model in the ad.                                    

This is England & Hot Fuzz comparison essay

Compare How Hot Fuzz and This is England Appeal to a British Audience

Rushmore

Max Fischer

Is he a stereotypical teenager?

  From what twe as an audience see of Max in the montage, no, he is definately not a 'normal' teenager. For starters there is the amount of out of school activities he, not only takes part in, but is president or founder of. Secondly is the type of activities they are, a couple of examples are; Bee keeping, stamp collecting and colirgraphy, these are not usually the hobbies associated with a teenage boy wich would be something along the lines of  football or egging. On the otherhand he's working very hard to try and fit in and be a part of something by being in so many clubs this makes him seem slightly like a 'normal' teenager, just wanting to be accepted.

Mise en Scene.
Looking closer you  notice that in all the scenes he has his school uniform on, not the normal Ivy League school uniform of plain unbuttoned oxford shirt with beige chino's either, but a smart navy blazer, red tie and in some scenes a lovely red felt beret, worn at a jaunty angle of course. This could make his seem like abit of an attention seeker, trying hard to be spotted by the teachers and givin credit, or it could be trying to show the audience that he's not as well off as the other students and can't afford the proper ourfits. The bee's on he front of the front of the year book that starts the motage off could represent the school being a colony with only one person being to Queen bee, also it relates to the saying the 'bees knees' which Max could be trying to be. The song playing in the montage is by The Creation "Making Time" the last lines are "pulling the wool, acting the fool" this means pulling the wool over someones eye, could be hinting that Max is trying to pretend to be something he's not, or "fooling" someone.

Prelim Evaluation

School Magazine Cover

As our preliminary task we were asked to design a cover and contents page for a school magazine. We had to include a mid-shot on the cover and use photoshop to create the pages. We started by drawing up a draft for each page, this allowed us to thing about the layout, title, features and colour scheme.

These are my drafts, they're very untidy and do not show my colour scheme (black, turquoise and white) however, they gave me a guide line of what photo I needed and the layout of the text.

I called my magazine 'EDUCATOR' as I preferred not to go for the cliche 'skwl4U' etc. I designed a basic masthead for my front cover on photoshop, I repeated the masthead on the contents page too.

I faced a problem when there was only a male student available to be photographed, personally I think having a male model works well because it opens up the audience to lads too as it doesn't appear to be a 'girly' magazine. 

Overall, I think the cover looked quite good considering my poor skills on photoshop but I needed to spend more time on my contents page to make it more detailed and professional.

American Beauty Two

The Family

American Beauty clip

What is learnt about the family from the clip?

Very traditional family, all seated around the dinner table with candles etc. The daughter says about having the same music on 'again' hinting that this is a repetition of every night. The chat between Lester and the daughter in the kitchen reveal that they used to be closer, as do the family photos, they show a happy family, how the used to be. In these photos Lester stood over his wife showing he used to have authority.

Mise en Scene.

Lester sits and stands with a slumped posture, as if he's shrinking away from his life/responsabilities. The rose motif is used again, the vase of red roses in the centre of the table. The same colour pallette is used again, very neutral with red, blue and a splash of orange in the kitchen. These muted colours and the bland suburban background echo the continuous dullness of the families life. At the table the parents are sat far away from each other signifying the space thats between them, the daughter sits in the centre as if she's keeping her parents together. The candles and glowing around the daughters face and the only light is shining on her this shows the audience that she is one of the most important parts of the film.

Music

Bali Hai from South Pacific is playing in the background of the scene. This is a song thats always been around and is pretty old fashioned, it was the mothers choice showing that she has quite old fashioned views. When the discussion is taking place between Lester and his daughter in the kitchen the music changes to a slow sad rythm to enhance the scenes message. The music then changes again to a creepy chilling tune when the camera focuses on the man watching through the window, creating an uneasy atmostphere.

This is England & Hot Fuzz - Comparison

This is England & Hot Fuzz Comparision
Hot Fuzz and This is England

Warp Films

Production Company for This Is England.

Warp Films create artistic British music videos, short films and Cinema.

It was set up in Sheffield England funded by NESTA (National Endowments for science technology and the Arts). The company was formed in 1999 as the sister company to warp records. A second office in London is now open and is currently employng 14 full-time staff.

Warp Films most famous releases are Shane Meadows BAFTA award winning 'This is England'  and 'Dead Mans Shoes' short film 'Rubber Johnny' and the Arctic Monkeys 'At the Apollo' live tour.

This is England

Written by Shane Meadows.

His work includes Award winning This is England (2006), Dead Man's Shoes(2004), Once Upon a Time in the Midlands (2002), Twenty Four Seven (1997) and many more.

Shane Meadows is an English film write born in Staffordshire on 26th December 1972. The films he writes are usually based in the Midlands area and show elements of his childhood. Meadows does not sugar coat anything, his films show the reality regardless if it's shocking or disturbing.

Hey it's Tony from Skins!

Tony (Nicholas Hault)

• Appearance; He's an appearance concious lad, he works out, chooses his clothes precisely and checks himself out in mirror.
• Routine; He's got some pretty routines, firstly he's awake before his alarm, then moves on to the work out routine, next he checks out the woman in the house opposite and she is expecting him to showing that it's a regular occurrence. There's also the routine he uses to sneak his sister in, timed precisely. 
• First impressions; There is something about Tony that causes him to stand out from the usual stereotypical teeneagers. Most obviously is his neatness (clothes in the draws folded carefully) and his ability to get up quickly in the morning. Then there are the posters on his wall (the films 'Blow Up' and 8½) these are not what you'd expect to see on a teenage boys wall, cutting him apart from the stereotype. Then there's the book Tony is reading on the toilet, 'Nausea' by Jean Paul Sartre, this could put him across as being a little pretentious, this links in with the cocky and sneaky elements of his character that we see by the tricks he plays and the way he looks at the woman with confidence.

Skwl maga

School magazine and contents page starring Sam Burnham.

Hot Fuzz; Storyboard

Hott Fuzz

Director; Edgar Wright

                                                  Cast; Simon Pegg, Nick Frost   

both are stock actors the

casting director knows

they work well together and

has used them before.

Location; The opening is located in London

this is shown by the iconic images i.e Big Ben,

Metropolitan police station and the underground

are all shown. The location then moves to

Sanford, Gloustershire, this is a big contrast to

London as it has fields, famers, churches and

everybody knows everybody.

Stereotypes; In London it shows the

stereotypical City scenes of red buses,

Big Ben and the smart Police officers

investgating crime scenes.When the film

location changes to Sanford the stereotype

changes also, to the old fashioned pubs

and villagers who dress like farmers

and knoweverybodies business.

Humor; The style of humor in this film is

derived from the existing perceptions of the

police. The contrast in the stereotypes of

Police officers from different areas adds

humor. There are also elements of slapstick

in this film too.

Camerawork & Editing; There are lots of extreme close ups to catch facial expressions wich adds to the comedy. It uses fast pased editing to make mundain tasks seem exciting imitating the action genre also adding to the humor of the film. The pace then slows right down when the location changesto country side, showing the characters boredom and contrasting to the past paced City.