Hollywood Production

Hollywood Film Production
Hollywood genrally makes around 120 films a year, the production costs of these films are usually high. They consist of the following:

• Special Effects.
• Actors (Usually established).
• Great Scripts.
• Exotic Locations (e.g. Italy, Vietnam, India).
• New Technology (New types of camera work).

Blockbusters
These films are the ones that have a high-budget production. They are aimed at mass markets and rely on vital merchandising.

'Spiderman 2' - Production Costs

Spiderman was a 'blockbuster'.

                                                   

Script & Development ($10m)

• Script budget on the film was 5% of the total budget.
• Writer David Koepp recieved an eight-figure paycheck at the end.
• A batch of four new writers also worked on the script including Pulitzer prize-winning novelist Michael Chabon.
• Although uncredited, well-paid script doctors were drafted in to rewrite certain scenes.

Licensing ($20m)

• Marvel owns the Spiderman character, however Sony bought movie rights in 1999. There has been ongoing litigation between the two companies since. This has pushed the licensing fee up further.
• Stan Lee (the co-creator of the Spiderman comic character) acts as executive producer on Spiderman 2. Lee's annual salary is $1m (£540,000). However, Lee has threatened to sue for a share of profits from licensing.

Producers ($15m)

• The typical blockbuster spawn numerous producers.
• Spiderman 2 has two producers, one co-producer & three executive producers.

Director ($10m)

• In the age of studio-led blockbuster movies, the dirctor has less & less autonomy, it is often brought on board after the studio has already completed casting.
• If test audiences dislike a scene then the director will likely cut or reshoot the scene.
• For the first Spiderman movie, then Columbia Pictures chairwoman Amy Pascal caused a shock to the community by hiring 'Evil Dead' director Sam Raimi, he was not well known to keep costs down.

Cast ($30m)

• Tobey Maguire landed the role of Spiderman after first-choice Heath Ledger passed. His pay for Spiderman was $4m (£2m) leapt to an upfront $17m (£9) for the sequel.
• Industry insiders estimate Kirstin Dunst was paid $5-$6m for Spiderman 2.
• New villain Alfred Molina would be paid in the region of $1m (£540,000)
• Actors, agents & managers went home with a tasty 10-15% of their clients payday.

Below The Line ($45m)

• 'Below The Line' costs are the physical production expenses of the school, including crew fees.
• The costs of hiring & operating 'state of the art' equipment, corralling and feeding armies of extras, occupying & vacating locations and employing thousands of high salried crew members are enormous.

Special Effects ($65m)

• The lion's share of post-production budget is now spent on special effects.
• Editing is still a sizeable chunk in the special effects budget, however the effects budget on blockbusters is one of the big allowances, it is growing fast as well.

Music ($5m)

• No more than 2% of the budget is spent on the music in the film.
• 3 time Oscar nominated Danny Elfman composed the music for Spiderman 2. The fee that he recieved came to nearly £2m.
• 'Sony Music Soundtrax' puts out the official soundtrack which includes tracks by Jet & Train.
• The 1st Spiderman album debuted at no. 4 on the US Albums Chart & sold more than 2m copies worldwide.

Prints & Advertising ($75m)

• Print & advertising costs aren't included in the production budget.
• Having already spent $200m on making the film, the studios will spend even more money on marketing it.

Final Box Office Figures
$821m [£446] worldwide.

Glossary

• High Production Values- The quality of the film. For example, if it is a higher budget then it is much more likely to be a 'high production value film'.
• Blockbuster- When a film does unusually well in the box office across the world.
• Above The Line Costs- Any cost that is involved in the advertising production process.
• Below The Line Costs- Costs covering virtually everything that a production will require such as the crew, the set production, equipment rentals, location fees, props, office space etc.
• Media Conglomerate- A company that owns many companies. This makes one big company that can shut out opposition.
• Subsidiary- A company that is owned by a bigger company. For example, Disney (Which is in the big 6) owns Pixar (A small animation company).

Cinema Experiences (Other People In The Class)

Purdey

• Mr Popper's Penguins.
• Full Of Children.
• 10:30 AM.
• Special Price.
• Had Normal Seats.

Sammy

• Lion King 3D.
• Had Popcorn.
• 4:00 PM.
• Leicester (Meridian).
• A Lot Of Workers.

Mae

• Friends With Benefits.
• 1:00 PM.
• Leicester (Meridian).
• A Lot Of Workers.
• Bought Ben & Jerry's Milkshake.

Laura

• Footloose.
• 4:30 PM.
• Leicester (Cinema De Lux- Highcross).
• Early So Went Shopping.
• Screens Weren't Full.
• No Queues For Tickets.
• Orange Wednesday.

Katie

• Lion King 3D.
• Cinema In Rugby
• Half Full.
• Had A 'Fanta Freeze'.

 Generally the average teenager seems to go and see either a 'comedy', 'drama' or 'romantic'. On average, they spend around £10.00. They seem to go to the cinema if it is either giving something away or if there is a special lowered price (e.g. Orange Wednesday). They don't seem to like to wait for a long time, therefore come around 20 minutes before the film begins.

Narrative Theory

Barthe Codes

• We understand narratives through understanding/decoding signals & codes.

1. Enigma Codes- Puzzles that the text creates for the reader to draw people into the film to keep you watching (e.g. Crime Drama).
2. Action Codes- Prepares The audience for something that is about to happen (e.g somebody picks up keys off of a table and then leaves we know that they will be leaving the scene).

Thoughts Of Jack (Lost)

• Represented as a secret hero.
• Formal (Usual appearance).
• General stereotype of a doctor.
• Confused, yet knows what to do most of the time.
• Hurt.
• Running shows a sense of urgency.
• Vocal.
• Music shows both mystery, confusion & urgency.
• Camera at times shows that everything is urgent & unplanned.
• After last explosion it goes quiet. This shows his mood.
• Sense of craziness?
• Doesn't believe this is reality.
• Calm.
• Used to seeing death/injury.
• End of scene is haunting.
• Tries to turn the group of individuals into a team.
• Not shy.
• Good at running (physically fit) & is good at spotting danger.
• Camera looks down on him at the beginning of the scene.
• Jungle makes him look small.
• Action code shows us that he is in pain.

British Film Industry

BBFC
An independent, non-government body which classifies & censors film (It also controls video game classification).

BFI
Aims to support, develop & promote the art forms of moving image.

UK Film Council
Government backed lead agency for film ensuring that economic, cultural, & educational aspects of film are represented in a proper manner.

British Council
The official UK agency for international cultural relations. The film department promotes new British films internationally.

Moon (Directed by Duncan Jones)

Moon is a British film directed by Duncan Jones (also known as Zowie Bowie, the son of David Bowie). Duncan Jones has directed both this & a film named 'Source Code'. The film features one main human actor throughout the whole film (other than doubles etc.), this actor is the accomplished Sam Rockwell who has appeared in other films such as 'Cowboys & Aliens' & 'Iron Man 2'.

This film was given a low budget of 5 million dollars. This meant that Jones & his co-producer Trudie Snyder had to cut actors to make sure that the film would be kept on budget, therefore the whole film only has two human actors (One of them is a minor character; Sam's wife).

This film was filmed within 33 days at Shepperton Studio's, the set was created as a 360 degree set while the robot character in the film was rolled along rails in the set. During this time, the music was not placed into the scenery, nor was the voice for the robot 'GERTY'.

Instead of animation, Jones used models. These models were produced by Bill Pearson (The man who created models for the film Alien). However there was one bit of animation used in the film, this was CGI (Computer-Generated Imagery) and was used in the 'ping-pong scene'.

Film Directors/Producers

Spike Jonze
Spike Jonze, born 1969 (although his birth name is Adam Spiegel) is a film director, producer & also acts on occasions; he is from USA. He has been nominated many times for advertising campaigns that he has created such as 'Lamp' for IKEA & 'Hello Tomorrow' for Adidas.

Style
He is well known for his use of very plain, neutral colours and is known to use the technique of a handheld camera. He likes to use this to expresses the moment in the scene from the characters eyes, therefore you can see a defining moment in a set up vision that he has created for you.

Accomplishments
Jonze is well accomplished, he is famous for the following:

• Being the producer of the Jackass series.
• Creating many music videos for accomplished artists such as Kanye West & Jay-Z, Arcade Fire & The Notorious B.I.G.
• Nominated for 'Outstanding Achievement In Commercials 2005'.

This is the music video created by Jonze for Kaye West & Jay-Z's song 'Otis'.

Shynola

Shynola is a collaboration of producers that formed in 1999 in London. The group consists of Richard Kenworthy, Gideon Baws, Jason Groves & Chris Harding. However Gideon Baws died in 2008 at the age of 33 years old. This had an effect on the production of videos that the group created after his death.

Style

The groups style consists around 'cartoon'. The group believe that this is a good way to show that they have total control over the overall video.

Accomplishments

The group has contributed towards:

• Music videos for artists such as Radiohead, Queens Of The Stone Age & Coldplay.
• The successful film 'The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy'.










• The album cover for 'A Creature I Don't Know' by successful music artist Laura Marling.

Anton Corbijn

Anton Corbijn is a photographer turned to film director/producer from the Netherlands, he was born in 1955.

Style

Corbijn uses burnt out colours that create an old feel to all of the videos/pictures that he creates. He also uses the idea of handheld cameras in many of his videos.

Accomplishments

Corbijn is well known for:

• Creating music videos for established bands such as Nirvana, Coldplay & U2.
• Taking photos for magazines such a Q, Kerrang & Rolling Stone.
• Creating the film 'The American' featuring George Clooney.

Michael Bay

Michael Bay is an American film producer born in 1965. He is well known for his high-budget films that feature a lot around girls in bikinis etc.

Style

Bay's style is quite controversial. He usually creates films that have a very large budget however he usually makes big explosions & shows many girls throughout his films but the films usually don't have a structured storyline.

Accomplishments

Bay has had many box office hits throughout his career such as:

• Pearl Harbour
• Transformers (Series)
• A Nightmare On Elm Street (Remake)