Jack the Giant Slayer - Shot Analysis

Name of film: Jack the Giant Slayer
Director: Bryan Singer
Stars: Nicholas Hoult, Ewan McGregor and Eleanor Tomlinson
Date released: March 1st, 2013 (U.S.A.)

1. Shot time: 1 minute, 25 seconds into the film

The shot used here is a medium-wide shot, allowing us to see all of the young Jack's room, instantly giving us a sense of what the time period it is and how poor Jack's family seem to be. This is mostly due to the lack of techonology - a few candles being the main light source outside of the scenes current thunder storm - and style of furniture - cruedly made wooden pieces, most likely made by someone in the family as it'd be cheaper/free - telling us that it was most likely before electricity was invented and before metals became a common and relatively cheap material so that even those with minimal wages could afford basic furniture such as beds made from it. The minimalistic colours (mostly dull browns and greys) continue to show us that they're poor - they can't afford the more expensive dyed clothing, or clothes made in more structured styles, only simple and cheap tunics.

The use of the lightning strikes lighting up the room and showing a large shadow towering over Jack's bed foreshadows how later on in the movie he'll be facing the giants.

Bette Davis - A Brief Biography

Who was she?
Born on the 5th of April, 1908 as Ruth Elizabeth Davis, Bette Davis was an American film, theatre and television actress, she's considered to be one of the greatest actors in the world of cinema history.

Whilst her first 2 years in Hollywood were unsuccessful - failing all screen tests in her first year, and when she finally debuted in 'The Bad Sister' (1931) the film was a flop, along with the films she appeared in after that - until fellow actor George Arliss elected her to play the leading role in Warner Brothers 'The Man Who Played God' (1932), finally making her way into Hollywood's limelight.

How did she contribute to Hollywood's Golden Age?

Bette Davis is seen to have mainly contributed to Hollywood's Golden Age - as well as the perception of females in movies - by breaking the typical mould of female characters to be kind and sympathetic (and essential there in the film to be either the love interest or sex object) through her first critically acclaimed role in 'Of Human Bondage' (1934) as the character Mildred Rogers - using the characters viciousness to show off a wider range of acting skills than most women were allowed to do in their roles at the time.

'Strangers On A Train' - Shot Analysis

Name of movie:  Strangers on a Train

Director: Alfred Hitchcock

Stars: Farley Granger, Ruth Roman and Robert Walker

Date released: June 30th, 1951

The movie is in black and white so instead of looking at colours, I'll look at contrasts.

1. Shot time: 6 minutes, 15 seconds into the movie

The shot used is an over-the-shoulder, medium close-up shot to allow the viewer to get a glimpse of Guy Haines' (played by Farley Granger) reactions to the strong opinions and suggestions being made by Bruno Anthony (played by Robert Walker) whilst continuing to show how relaxed Bruno is about revealing all of this to Guy - whether this is due to Bruno's intentions to have Guy kill his father for him or whether it's the side affects of the alcohol he's consumed is unclear. We also see Bruno's relaxation around Guy despite their topic of conversation through Bruno's lack of care for personal space as he slaps Guy's hand away when he reaches to take away his drink before the conversation goes any further.

Both characters in the shot are seen in suits of some description to show off their wealth compared to others on the train - although we learn that it was most likely that it was Bruno's mother that bought him the suit as his father 'hates him' and he doesn't appear to have at the moment (suggested by him speaking about how his father thinks he should be doing).

Comic Book Genre: Why is it so popular?

Superhero movies are becoming increasingly popular in recent years because people from any age group can get into the franchises and depending on which character(s) is (are) in the film, they'll be more relateable.

The Comic Book genre also allows for strong genre mixtures (in particular action and romance).

Their fan-base has always been around just in comic-book format, so by making film adaptions of those comic books, they're making the story's and characters more accessible to the newer generations. Their post-production teams are insanely sophisticated, and it allows for fresh activity in old genres.

DC
Main franchise: Justice League - focus on Batman and Superman
The first Superman film (1978) was nominated for 3 Oscars and grossed $300,000,000 in the original film run. Flying was achieved through wire suspensions and blue screen animations (blue screen matte shots and zooming in and out) and front projection. The success of the first film spurred 3 further films in the franchise in this style.
In more recent years The Dark Knight Rises was released and in its first film run, grossed $1.084 billion.

Marvel
Main franchises: The Avengers, X-Men and the Fantastic Four
In the early 00's Marvel brought back attention to the Comic Book genre with Spiderman (grossing $821 million), X-Men (grossing $296 million) and The Hulk (grossing $245 million), with Spiderman being one of the top grossing films in the 00's.
In more recent years they've released The Avengers and Iron Man 3, grossing $1.518 billion and $1.215 billion in their first runs respectively.

Hollywood's Golden Age vs Modern Hollywood notes

Hollywood's Golden Age compared with current Hollywood

In the beginning of Hollywood and it's Golden Age, there were five main studios: Warner Brothers, Paramount, Fox Film, RKO Pictures and Loew. Currently, 4 out of these 5 studios are still in business - with Fox Film changing their name to 20th Century Fox and Loew changing their name to MGM - while RKO Pictures was dissolved in 1959. Not only this, but there are over a dozen major film studios in LA including the ever-growing DreamWorks Studios and Walt Disney Studios.

To begin with, film studios had control over everything to do with a movie - from the actors, to the directors, the film studios controlled everything that was going on, meanwhile in current day Hollywood, the studios make film deals while having ongoing deals with directors - such as Steven Speilburg, who has a 'first option' choice of film with Dreamworks - so he gets first dibs on any of their film deals.

When films were first made - and particularly in Hollywood's Golden Age - they were much more experimental with camera angles and story lines - however they would still go for similar types of actors and/or characters, however there were always favoured genres - specifically during the Golden Age, romance, comedy and western films were preferred by the masses, most likely due to the family friendliness most of them had, allowing for the family to go for a night out together.

Meanwhile, current day Hollywood films are much more set in their ways for cinematography and target audiences, although through advances in technology such as CGI, they've been able to expand their audiences - not only this, but they've also managed to expand their range of actors and character types, thus becoming much more inclusive. Not only this but the general popularity of film genres currently have shifted to more action-based films such as comic-book and novel adaptions (e.g. Marvel comics and Harry Potter). Also, where as in the Golden Age, all the profit had to come from the box office sales alone, currently the merchandise sold during and after the films release brings in most of the profits (from DVD's to posters to mugs to t-shirts).

'Fractured Fairy Tales' - Notes for class presentation

Notes on the Sub-Genre 'Fractured Fairy Tales'

'Fractured Fairy Tales' is a sub-genre of the Fairy Tale Genre. It is most commonly a combination of the 'Fairy Tale' and either 'Action', 'Horror' or 'Adventure' genres in films.
While Fractured Fairy Tales as a general genre ranges from become more adult-focused as "Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters" and "Snow White and the Huntsman", it also contains films such as the Shrek quadrilogy, however my notes are more focused on the less child-friendly kind.

When did the genre become popular?

The genre has become increasingly popular after the mild success of "The Brothers Grimm", however it's popularity has skyrocketed after the greater success of Tim Burton's film adaption of "Alice in Wonderland" which is currently the 17th highest-grossing film at the box office

10 Most Grossing Films of the genre:

At the box office:

1. Alice in Wonderland (2010) - $1.025 billion
2. Maleficent (2014) - $756.7 million
3. Oz the Great and Powerful - $493.311 million
4. Snow White and the Huntsman - $396.592 million
5. Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters - $226.349 million
6. Jack the Giant Slayer - $197.687 million
7. Mirror Mirror - $183.018 million
8. The Brother's Grimm - $105.316 million
9. Red Riding Hood - $89.162 million
10. Beastly - $43.165 million

How reliant is the genre on adaptions?

The sub-genre is entirely reliant on adaptions, as (stated in the name of the sub-genre) for them to be included in the genre, the must be adapted from or take strong influence from a Fairy Tale - however the way the movie interprets the Fairy Tales are entirely up to the director

What is the target audience?

The main target audience for this sub-genre are mostly female teens and young adults, as they're more known to be more attached to and have grown up on classic Disney films such as Aladdin, Alice in Wonderland and Snow White - despite all of those movies having come out years before they were born. Despite that being the general target audience, these films also target males of the same age-range through the chosen actors and actress's and in the increased adrenaline rush but also through the same trait that attracts females of their age - the characters they knew as children have matured. We all know that the stories of Disney's princesses weren't that simple, sweet and child-friendly to begin with, and film makers are using that realization that's happening in their target audiences minds to make characters more accessible to them - they aren't perfect and pristine role models who never do anything wrong, they're more realistic and the plots of these new movies match.

However, while looking at how well these movies did at the box office, I realised something else - the majority of these movies do better outside of the U.S.A. - where most of them are produced. I think this may be a more traditional problem rather than American citizens simply not liking the genre - I believe people brought up in the U.S.A. are often brought up with the Disney movies alone, and even if they weren't they're aware that the stories are set in countries thousands of miles away from them, meanwhile those brought up in countries such as Germany or France - where a large number of the original stories of these Disney films are set - feel a stronger connection to the story as they're brought up knowing that they live close to where some of their childhood fantasies are, and hence forth will be more interested in seeing how someone's adapted it.

What are it's sub-genres?

It's a sub-genre itself, however there are 3 main genres used in conjunction with the necessary 'Fairy Tale' genre to create a Fractured Fairy Tale movie:
'Action' - such as Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters (2013)
'Horror' - such as Red Riding Hood (2011)
'Adventure' - such as Alice in Wonderland (2010)

What kind of merchandise is sold for films in this genre?

The most common kind of official merchandise sold for this sub-genre are posters, mugs and t-shirts, however if the film is made by Disney, then they're almost certain to release a few dolls and/or teddies of the main characters depending on the characters used in the film.

However, if a film is received positively from the audience, they may get a large enough fanbase to have people make unofficial merchandise, such as cosplay items, their own posters, keyrings and even stickers.

Who are some directors, producers and actors linked to this genre?

Directors: Tim Burton, Robert Stromberg, Sam Raimi

Producers: Tim Burton, Joe Roth

Actors: Johnny Depp, Angelina Jolie, Helena Bonham

Do you believe this genre have longevity or is it a short-term thing?

Personally, I think this sub-genre could have a long life span - so long as the films are made well and don't all have the same kind of adaption.