Essay plan - Hayley

Introduction:
- I am going to explore the development of digital media technology through 3 films.

Thor The Dark World:
- use of special effects/cgi/green screens. use of the different cameras for the special effects.
- Social media buzz.


In Fear:
- Shot on a £1,000 Canon 7D camera.
- Promotion through social media platforms.

Swede:
- Shot on a relatively cheap moving image camera.
- Edited via Final Cut Pro and platformed on Youtube.

Conclusion:
How technology is important in all 3 films.

In Fear.

In Fear is a British thriller due for release on November 15th in the UK. 
Directed by Jeremy Lovering, the film only has three actors starring in it. Iain De Caestecker, from Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D, Alice Englert, from Beautiful Creatures, and Allen Leech, from Downton Abbey.

The film is distributed by StudioCanal and has a trailer available to view on YouTube

There are two posters available for the film.

The film already has anticipation ahead of release after premiering at Sundance Film Festival 2013 to critical acclaim. The film also was shown at another festival called The European Film Index.

The technical specifications show how low the budget of the film was. 

The camera, Canon 7D, is available from PC World for just over £1,000. Compared to big budget films, such as Thor, this shows how easy it is to pick up a camera and shoot a film with it, without special effects and technology.

The film was only filmed in one location. 

Moors are open and quiet and would have been easy to film there because there wouldn't be any distractions. Also, the production company wouldn't have to spend a lot of money trying to shoot in a professional film studio.


The film has it's own Facebook page to promote the film.

A free screening of the film was available to students the day before national release - this allows students to talk about the film via various social networking to create a buzz around the film and also to allow students to see more independent british films.

The production company for the film is Big Talk Productions who have a long filmography containing other productions they have made.

Compared to Thor 2, there aren't that many screenings of In Fear in certain cinemas.  

In Fear:

Thor: The Dark World:

Due to the big budget, Thor The Dark World will have more screenings because they want to try and squeeze as much money as they can to make up the budget. Because In Fear had a very low budget, they can make it back quickly if the film has good promotion behind it.

The film had a unique way of filming, compared to most films.

Discuss Marketing and Distribution in Thor 2.

Discuss marketing and distribution in Thor 2, also outlining anything interesting you have found.

The film, “Thor: The Dark World’ is distributed by Marvel Studios, Motion Pictures and Walt Disney Studios with a release date of October 30^th internationally and November 8^th for the US. Within it’s first week of being released, Thor: The Dark World topped the UK Box Office by making £8.6million through being released in 2D and 3D formats. Though the franchise has a huge following, not all the reviews were positive.

Peter Bradshaw from The Guardian labelled the film as a “CGI product of the Marvel Universe”. However, Chris Hewitt from Empire Magazine describes the film as “as confident and assured as its lead character, Marvel’s great run continues.”

A lot of the marketing for this film included the huge fan base the franchise has, due to the success of the film’s precessors, Thor and Avengers Assemble. This included actors from the film being flown to countries such as Korea, China and Australia for events such as premieres, Q+A’s and appearances.

Tom Hiddleston, who plays Thor’s brother Loki in the films, appeared at the majority of these events by meeting fans and doing Q+A’s. His most popular appearance promoting the film was when he stepped out on stage in front of 7,000 people at San Diego Comic Con in full costume and remained in character the whole time before debuting a trailer for the film. He also dressed in costume again for clips on Comedy Central where his character was having conversations with kids about Thor that would air before the tv spots.

Tom Hiddleston, along with Marvel Studios executive producer Kevin Fiege and Thor: The Dark World director Alan Taylor, did a podcast at the Apple Store in Regent Street where they were asked questions by fans and by Empire Magazine editor Chris Hewitt regarding the film.

The world premiere of Thor: The Dark World was held in Leicester Square in London on October 22^nd as majority of the film is set and was filmed in London. This allowed fans to turn up to try and get a glimpse of the stars of the film and meet other fans to talk about the film with.

Due to the huge fan base the franchise has, any time there is an event regarding the film; somebody will be talking about it on social networking sites, with Twitter and YouTube being the most popular sites. According to Box Office.com, Thor The Dark World receives around 5,000 tweets daily, even a week after it’s release in the UK.

The huge fan base of the franchise allows merchandise sales to rise.  Merchandise for the Thor films include dolls, figures, clothing and even a replica of Thor’s famous hammer. 

Thor The Dark World

Production:
- The film was directed by Alan Taylor and was produced by Marvel Studio.
- The film stars Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman and Tom Hiddleston.
- Special effects are heavily used in the film such as green screens and 3D cameras as the film is available in 2D and 3D formats.

Distribution:
- The film is distributed by Motion Pictures and Walt Disney Studios.
- The world premiere for the film took place in Leicester Square, London on 22nd October 2013, with a release date of 30th October 2013 internationally and November 8th 2013 for the US.
- The film will be available in 2D and 3D formats in a range of cinemas suchs Odeon, IMAX and Vue.
- The film is certified 12A due to violence and language which may be deemed inappropriate for people who are younger.

- Marvel studios also included events that involve the fans to help promote the film.
Including:

- A Q&A with Alan Taylor, Tom Hiddleston and Kevin Fiege at the Apple Store in Regent Street that's available on a podcast on iTunes - which I personally attended.

- An appearance at San Diego Comic Con with Tom Hiddleston dressed as his character, Loki.

Tom Hiddleston also made appearances promoting the film in countries such as Korea and Australia.

Thor merchandise:

Clips were released online of the making of Thor: The Dark World including the use of technology throughout filming

Personal Opinion of the film:

As a fan of the Marvel films, I was highly anticipating this film the most due to the quality of the first Thor film and also due to the massive success that was The Avengers.

In my opinion, I thought this film was the best Marvel film yet. Having Alan Taylor take over as director from Kenneth Branagh was the best decision Marvel have made regarding this particular film. 

The acting was on point from all the actors but funnily enough the stand out for me was Tom Hiddleston as Loki, Thor's brother. Even though the film is titled 'Thor: The Dark World' Loki was hilarious to watch and brought a lot to the movie. His sassiness and sarcasm created some of the best parts of the film.

Chris Hemsworth was born to play Thor, the way he becomes his character makes you always want to root for him, out of the way he plays him and not just because he is the focus of the film.

Scream Swede Poster

Our Poster for our Swede 'Scream'

Our swede - Scream

Here is our swede for Scream!

Our swede

Production, Distribution, Marketing, Exhibition.

Production

Before pre-production begins, studios have to take into consideration factors such as:
- Casting and staffing
- Financing.
- Screenplay 

Screenplay and casting may go through changes before pre production begins on a film due to scheduling conflicts or possibly the studio not going ahead with production on the film. Screenplay and casting are also major factors in targeting their audience. For example, recently, films that have been aimed at teens/young adults have been adaptations of books such as the Harry Potter saga or the Twilight saga which will draw in a ready made audience whilst drawing in people who may have not read the books but will go see the films due to buzz made by the fans of the original source.

Pre production stages include finding:
- Locations and sets
- Wardrobe 
- Script-locking: the final script that will be used in the film.
- Scheduling when to shoot the film.

Principal photography is the term when recording all the required shots to make the movie, however, during post - production, 'pick up shots' may be required to film due to possible mistakes.

Distribution

- Theatrical distribution: when a film is decided whether or not is good enough to be screened in cinemas and would be able to make the budget of the film back in box office sales.
- Foreign distribution: same as theatrical distribution but selling a film to international studios to allow the film to be screened in different countries.
- Film Festivals. Festivals such as Toronto International Film Festival or the British Film Institue: London Film Festival generate a huge buzz every year due to press coverage. If a film is given a good response at a festival, this can lead to the film being theatrically distributed.

Marketing

Popular marketing campaigns include:

- Trailers. On the internet, on the television, before screenings of films of similar genres.
- Bus adverts. Easily unmissable due to the size of the buses.

- Happy Meals at McDonalds. Usually promotes films that are aimed at children as Happy Meals include toys, usually of characters from the film that is being promoted.
- The actors in the films themselves do interviews talking about the film, mostly in magazines or on the television or radio.
- Social media is also a good marketing strategy. In 2012, Think Like A Man, The Hunger Games and Marvel's Avengers Assemble were the most tweeted films.

Exhibition

- Just 4% of all film viewing is at the cinema.
- DVDs and Bluray are popular physical forms of films.
- However, online viewing has been proven to be very popular. BBC iPlayer had 6 million requests every day in 2012 and 60% of 16-30 year olds believe film content should be free when accessed online.

Our Swede 'Scream'

We decided to do a swede for 'Scream' after being inspired by these swedes that other people had created of 'Scream'. 


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2kMkWr-B5C0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hu5h1Mr1AM8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1rmRA9vEm50



Shardonnay will be the killer by using a mask and a rubber knife.
Hayley and Sameenah will be the killer's targets.

We will include the iconic question 'what's your favourite scary movie?' as this is the first time in the film the audience hears of the killer.

This Week's Film Releases

Source: http://www.timeout.com/london/film

This Week's Most Popular Releases:

1) Blue Jasmine
2) The Great Beauty
3) Diana
4) Rush
5) Upstream Colour
6) About Time
7) The Way Way Back
8) Now You See Me.

Majority of this week's releases are dominated by American studios and distributors, with the exceptions of Diana and About Time which are the only two films above distributed in Britain. Blue Jasmine, however, is the only 'art house' film in the list, with a small budget, American distributor distributing the film.

10 Facts About The Film Industry

1. In 2012 the UK box office took over £1billion for the 3rd year running.

2. The top 3 films in 2012 were Skyfall, Dark Knight Rises and Marvel's Avengers Assemble.

3. 60% of 16-30 year olds believe film content should be free when accessed online.

4. In 2012 over £300million was spent on prints and advertising by film distributors.

5. Top 3D releases of 2012 were Marvel's Avengers Assemble, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, Prometheus., Life of Pi and The Amazing Spiderman.

6. 40% of a cinema's profit comes from refreshments.

7. Bollywood movies accounted for 1.1% of UK Box Office in 2012.

8. 646 films were released in the UK in 2012, that's over 12 new titles per week.

9. 14% of retail buyers bought a film they had previously seen at the cinema.

10. Just 4% of all film viewing is at the cinema.