Lionsgate case study/franchise film

Lionsgate is primarily a distribution company, however they also do some production and have produced The Hunger Games and Twilight.




They brought the right to The Hunger Games Trilogy off of the author Suzanne Collins for $200,000.the first film was directed by Gary Ross and stars:

• Jennifer Lawrence. She has been in:
• Silver Linings Playbook (2012), X-Men: First Class(2011), The Burning Plains(2008), The Bill Engvall Show(2007-2009), Winter's Bone(2010) and American Hustle(2013) she has won an Academy Awards for best actress, two Golden Globe awards, a Screen Actors Guild Award and a BAFTA award.

• Josh Hutcherson. Some of the Films he's been in are:
•  Miracle Dogs (2003), The Polar Express (2004), Howl's Moving Castle (2005), Little Manhattan (2005), Zathura (2005) RV (2006), Bridge to Terabithia (2007) Journey to the Centre of the Earth (2008), The Kids Are All Right (2010) Journey 2: The Mysterious Island (2012). he also stared in and was executive producer of Detention (2011), The Forger (2012) Escobar: Paradise Lost (2015), he's also won 4 Young Artist Awards (2005-2008) for The Polar Express, Zathura and two for Bridge to Terabithia, as well as an Alliance of Women Film Journalists (2011) for The Kids are Alright, a NextNowNext award and a CinemaCon award (2012) for The Hunger Games and 3 MTV awards for The Hunger Games and The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2012 + 2014), 3 Teen Choice Awards for The Hunger Games and The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2012 + 2014) and a People's Choice Award (2013) for The Hunger Games.

• Liam Hemsworth. He has been in:
• He made guest appearances in Home and Away and McLeod's Daughters (2007), has been in Neighbours (July 2007),Satisfaction, Triangle, had a brief appearance in Knowing, was originally going to star in Expendable but his character was written out however he stared in Expendables 2, The Last Song (2010), stared in the videos When I Look At You (2009(?)) and Colder Weather, Arabian Nights, Love and Honour (2011) and appeared in Empire State (2013). It was announced in March 2015 that he would be staring in the Independence Day Sequel, he has also been in The Elephant Princess. He was also asked by Kenneth Branagh to audition for the film Thor and did a series of screen tests before losing the part to his brother Chris in May. He hosted the Australia Kids Choice Awards (2010) and has won a Young Hollywood Breakthrough of the Year Award, a Australia Kids Choice Award and a Teen Choice Award (2010) for The Last Song, a People's Choice Award (2012) for The Hunger Games and another Teen Choice Award for The Hunger Games: Mockingjay (2015).

 The Hunger Games had a budget of $78 million and a total box office gross of $691,247,768.


 The second Hunger Games Film - The Hunger Games: Catching Fire was directed by Francis Lawrence and due to the success of the previous film had a budget of $130 million and had a total box office gross of $864,912,963 this has been the most successful film so far and has also had the biggest budget so far. They have split the last book The Hunger Games: Mockingjay into two parts, the second part is set to be released this year. The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1 had a budget of $125 million and had a total box office gross of $752,100,229 this was also directed by Francis Lawrence.

• Francis Lawrence has directed:
• Constantine (2005),  I Am Legend (2007), Water For Elephants (2011), Gotham (2012 - for Fox Television Film), The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013), The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1(2014) and is set to film The Hunger Games Part 2, he was also assistant director on Marching Out Of Time (1993).
• He has produced every episode of the TV show Kings (2009) and Directed Episodes 1 (Pilot: Goliath Part 1), 3 (Prosperity) and 4 (First Night), as well as produced all episodes of Touch (2012-2013) and directed the pilot episode.
• He has also directed music videos like:
• Operations Of Nature by Akon, Cry Me a River by Justin Timberlake, Bad Romance by Lady GaGa - which he won a Grammy for, he won it for The Best Music Video Short Form, Aerosmith I Don't Want to Miss a Thing, Girls Best Friend by Jay-Z, Green Day Warning and Just Like A Pill by Pink.

Lionsgate inherited the Twilight Franchise when they bought Summit Entertainment. The franchise had a total box office gross of $3,342,792,667 and the Franchise has won a total of 18 awards they are:
6 Teen choice Awards

4 MTV Movie Awards
3 People's Choice Awards
2 Women Film Critics Circle Awards
1 Alliance of Women Film Journalists Award
1 NAMIC Vision Award
1 Scream Award

Twilight - 5 awards (2 Teen choice awards Choice Movie Drama + Choice Movie Romance (2009), 1 MTV Movie Award (2009) for Best Movie, 1 NAMIC Vision Award for Film Of Vision and 1 People's Choice Award for Best Movie (2010))


Twilight: New Moon -3 awards (1 MTV Movie Awards Best Movie (2010), 1 Teen Choice Award Choice Movie: Fantasy (2010) and 1 Women Film Critics Circle Award : Hall Of Shame (2009) - Bella (lead Human Female) is completely pathetic, the whole giving up ones soul thing. How sad it is when a gal from a small town picks two boys she likes, one is a vampire and one is a werewolf").


Twilight: Eclipse - 6 awards (1MTV Movie Award for Best Movie, 2 People's Choice Awards for Favourite Movie and Favourite Drama Movie, 1 Scream Award For Best Fantasy Movie, 1 Teen Choice Award for Choice Summer Movie and 1 Women Film Critics Circle Award: Hall OF Shame - "This Film tells young girls its okay to sell your soul for a guy.)


Twilight: Breaking Dawn Part 1 - 3 awards (1 Alliance of Women Film Journalists award (2011) for Most Egregious Age Difference Between the Leading Man and the Love Interest, 1 MTV Movie Award for Best Movie (2012) and 1 Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie: Romance(2012)).


Twilight: Breaking Dawn Part 2 - 1 award ( Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie: Romance (2013)).










However despite these two Block buster franchise's Lionsgate may struggle to compete against media conglomerates like Disney because unlike Disney they do not benefit from synergy and therefore don't make as much profit as they do.







 Synergy means that a company own more than one media platform/division. For example Disney own five different divisions, they are:

• Disney studios
• parks and resorts
• consumer products e.g. Disney stores
• media networks e.g. ABS News
• Disney Interactive.

Disney also now own Marvel Studios this means they also own the rights to the Marvel Franchise.



A media franchise (e.g. a film franchise ) is a franchise that is a collection of media. This can include  film, TV, literature (books or comics) and video games. Both The Hunger Games and Twilight franchises were originally books and most marvel films were comics .

working title case study

Working Title

 

Working title are important to the British film industry because they have a global market because they are owned by universal – who are one of the big five media conglomerates. Despite this they have creative autonomy (control), they have this because they were successful before universal brought them, and they continue to be successful. For example The Theory of Everything had a budget of $15 million and has gone on to make $82.10 million.Their key distributor is Focus Features who are also owned by universal. This is important because it means a percentage of the money these two company makes gets put back into them by universal.

·         They are also important because they are a British film industry, this means they:

·         Have British talent, this includes actors, writers and directors etc.

·         Use British locations for filming

·         Use British narration

·         And post production is done in the UK

 

While the films they do represent Britain in a stereotypical light the films they do are “British” because they have some if not all of the things that make a film British. These things are:

·         Settings (often London)

·         Idyllic/countryside – a key promotion of British heritage

·         Race/disability representation

·         Belief in true love

·         Stars/actors are British

·         Class development

·         Humour

·         Heritage

·         Fantasy/escapism

·         Happy ending

·         Sentimentality

·         Romantic comedies

·         History

·         Literary adaptations, e.g. pride and prejudice and the theory of everything

·         Buildings that are typically British e.g. cottages

·         Sense of grandeur

·         Sense of power

·         Sense of elite

 

Two of the films by working titles that show these things are The Theory of Everything and Elizabeth: The Golden Age.

 

The Theory of Everything:

This is based on the memoire by Stephen Hawkins wife Jane
(Travelling to infinity: my life with Stephen) and focuses firmly on their relationship and his disease. The location is an iconic British location which is exclusive as only the best go there so it gives the viewer a sense of power and a sense of the elite, it also gives the viewer a sense of wealth and the stereotypical idea that only the upper class or well off middle class go there. This idea is reinforced by the opening of the trailer where we see the Hawkins at a party where all the ladies are wearing dresses and the men are wearing expensive looking suits. The countryside and clothes used in the trailer also give a sense of heritage. For example later on in the trailer Hawkins wears cricket sport, cricket is a traditional British sport. This also gives a sense of heritage through customs. It has a sentimentality and belief in true love because all the way through you see that Hawkins’s wife never gives up on him despite the odds. It also gives a sense of privilege and while there is only one race shown (White British) there is a representation of race, however there is a much stronger representation of disability. There is also iconic British star vehicles Eddie Redmayne (les miserable, my week with Marilyn) and Felicity Jones (the invisible woman and breathe in) star as Joan Wilde and Stephen Hawkins, other cast members include Emma Watson, Simon McBurney, Harry Lloyd, Charlie Cox and David Thewlis. It was directed by British director James Marsh (previously directed Man on a wire 2008), produced by British producers Tim Beaven and Eric Fellner (previously produced 4 weddings and a funeral).

 


 

Elizabeth: The Golden Age

This film is about Queen Elizabeth the first and her life, the conspiracies to over throw her and replace her with Mary Stuart and Elizabeth’s attraction to Sir Walter Raleigh, it focuses mostly on heritage, history, Elizabeth’s Power and the Power of England and sentimentality, it also has a sense of duty. It was directed by Shekhar Kapur, researched by Justin Pollard, written by Michael Hirst and William Nicholson and was produced by Tim Beaven and Eric Fellner. It stars Cate Blanchett and Queen Elizabeth the First, Geoffrey Rush as her advisor Sir Francis Walsingham and Clive Owen as her love interest Sir Walter Raleigh. This is a British film because it projects a sense of history, heritage and international appeal and has British talent. It also makes the viewer feel a sense of pride and shows how/why England was an empire for 200 years. It does this by showing the power Elizabeth has and how she unites everyone.






 

feedback 23/3/15

use more close ups of subject (L.R/Charlie) use shots like 595

need to get by next weekend! at the latest! has to be finished by the monday after that weekend!!

more footage of L.R's (Charlie) face, has to look anxious

she's running away, camera is running behind her
see a hand grab her coat, she shrugs it off and runs (this will be put in after she's run through the woods but before you see the p.o.v shot)
then have a shot of her shoe, just the one, abandoned then cut to the shot of her lying down


note during the gaps between the feet shot (extra face shots will be added here) could put the credits there rather than on the footage
start as the music starts to fade have the title credit fade in (if I can figure out how I could have it flow down from the top of the screen as blood and then it will form the title)(the rest will be white on the black background)
before first face shot have starring then name Charlie
then the next one will be directed by
then edited by
shot by
costume by
make up by
produced by
distributed by

feed back 09/03/15

make sure I find industry practice and have followed timings from other films I have researched so I know when the titles and credits come in
find out who distributes hammer horror films so that I follow industry practice, can use them for distributor.
have a look on premier at the type of font I'm using or might want to use, screen shot them and put  them on my blog
think about when the most significant parts of my film happen because that's when he credits should start coming

 http://hammerfilms.com/ourwork/10/the-curse-of-frankensteinin.

filming for wednesday or friday or weekend

get shots of:
Charlie (Little Red) getting edgy and nervous, shots are from behind - see her turn around and from right hand side - have close ups so you see fear on her face and one of her shoulders down so that you can see her gripping her bag
feet going through puddle
Charlie starts to get faster, shots of the other feet getting faster then charlies feet almost running then other feet again


cut to Charlie running through the woods
then to shot from the other persons P.O.V

how my research has influenced my film

during my film planning I have researched multiple things, while these have all influenced my final piece the ones that influenced it the most are:
The Introduction Of Pans Labyrinth - This is one of the things that has inspired my original idea of using a music box and having close ups of Little Red as she lays dying. It gave me theses ideas in the introduction and the end when the audience watches as ofelia lays on the ground f the centre of the maze dying.















The Company Of Wolves - This film helped me to decide to definitely do a fairy-tale theme and showed me that fairy-tales could make good horror films. The evidence of its inspiration is in the sound of the movie













The Candidate - This is what inspired me to do a film that builds suspense. Suspense is built by cutting between the subjects face and the white tennis shoes, it is mainly built by the feet getting faster, it climaxes when the girl shrugs off her coat and runs away. It also originally gave me the idea to use the sound of a ticking clock, however I later replaced this with the idea to use the sound of a music box instead because it makes it sound more sinister.



In this scene the future victim (in white/has his back to the audience and believes he's being recruited), is being told about the society and that their members wish people dead for other members. in this scene the victim doesn't know that he will be a victim, however during this scene the suspense is built in two ways. The first is that the audience can visibly see that the victim is starting to believe in this society. The second is through sound, for the entire film there is the sound of a clock ticking in the background, this helps to build suspense because it slowly gets louder and louder, it starts out as a slow ticking (like a stop watch) that fades during the narration at the start. There is also the sound of what sounds like a drum and what sounds like a violin/base, they fade out during the interview however all three sound come back at the end of the conversation.