What significance does the continuing development of digital media technology have for media institutions and audiences?

What significance does the continuing development of digital media technology have for media institutions and audiences?
There are many types of technology available for large film companies now such as the use of 3d in cinemas and now also 3D can now be used at home due to the new technological advances of the new 3D televisions that are available for people to use in their own home. Also the technology in terms of producing the film has advanced massively with now the extensive use of CGI which helps to create amazing special affects throughout the film, this is only often used during large blockbuster like films as the use of CGI is very expensive if the company producing the film is thinking about using this type of technology wants to use in its most efficient dimension. Media technology is very vital in terms of the marketing of the film, as many people as possible need to know about the film release. Through the advancement of the media technology for example Facebook, Twitter, My space etc, it is easier for potential audiences to find about the film, this sometimes happens through celebrity endorsement, for example if one of the main stars tweets about it people will be more enticed to go and see the film as they feel that the actor involved in the film is personally approaching them over social networking sites.
Often official  websites go live online during the production of the film, these sort of sites are most probably set up by the marketing team involved with the film itself. These sort of sites include behind the scenes clips with the cast and crew, interviews with the director and producer, teaser trailers etc. But why do the company producing the film want to set up these kind of sites? Well there are a lot of premeditated fans of films due to the fact that big blockbuster films often involve very well known actor/actresses, these actors/actresses very often have a large following of fans behind them, who are likely to go and see the film just due to the reason that their favourite actors are involved in the film. An example of this is with the film Prometheus which is a high budget sci-fi film. The cast involved consisted of very well known actresses and actors such as Charlise Theron and Michael Fassbender,  both of these had a previous following from films they had participated in before. So with creating the site people get to realize what sort of crew is involved. This method of media marketing is fantastic as it is free in terms of the money aspect and also due to the sheer amount of people who use the internet daily it is a very efficient method in terms of really pushing the film in a successful direction. If fans can access such inside clips, the anticipation for the film will build massively and there will be a lot of hype created about the film without spending any money at all.
As well as the marketing team of the film itself that make the sites and blogs about the film, also very enthusiastic fans of the genre that the film will fall into also often create blogs containing their own opinion on the proposed storyline etc. This type of marketing has only just took off as the worldwide internet is now the centre piece of all that’s good in terms of technology. This is a great marketing  for the film as when people post their opinions and views online, other fans or critics tend to have a different opinion  on the proposed film this again creates a lot of hype about the film, this is called word of mouth marketing.
For small independent film companies such as Film 4, marketing  via the internet such as on Twitter, Facebook, My Space etc is excellent as it is very cheap and due to the fact that often these films have very low budgets they now by using this type of marketing can dedicate more of the budget to the production of the film instead of spending it on the marketing aspect. With the company spending more money on the production of the film, this should ensure the finished film will be as good as it possibly can be.
From the audiences point of view the continuation of digital media technology can be nothing but a massive bonus as they can now keep updated with when and where a new film will be coming out. Also they will be able to access more inside content about up and coming films, this should be of interest to the audiences if they are truly fanatic about the film that is going to be released in the coming period. A major advantage of the media technology is that the viewing experience for the audience will be increased dramatically, as the viewer will most likely be  a lot more informed in terms of the background and context of the film.

Age in monarch of the glen

Representation of Age in Monarch of the Glen
Age is vastly presented in TV dramas, as it defines each character showing authority and power of a certain character. In ‘Monarch of the glen’, the clip focuses on the character of Amy, Our first impressions of her are that she appears to be fairly young, wearing untidy, average looking clothing very much suited to the mise en scene in the clip which contains a farm looking scene. The other characters that are shown in this scene are/ look to be a lot older than Amy this is particularly displayed as the other characters are wearing drab colours, which suit the work that they are doing, in contrast to this Amy is standing out as she is wearing brighter, younger clothes, which makes the characters more identifiable with age. Also the non diagetic hillbilly music which is very upbeat is playing in the background; this may be due to the fact that this type of music sets in quite nicely with the farming scene and the older generation.
In the next scene we see a land rover vehicle, Amy is asked to drive it. As soon as the question is asked we can see a sudden change in her expression, she becomes a lot more nervy and anxious; we can see this through the close up shot from the camera. This influences to think that something is not right and Amy driving a vehicle is not a regular occurrence. This displays that Amy is most likely to be under the driving limit age. Throughout the scene the camera very much focuses on Amy as she is the main character in the scene and therefore the camera pans across with her as she enters the vehicle. The expressions and anxiousness of Amy foreshadows what may happen in the coming scene. The camera then focuses on the land rover leaving the farm yard and then quickly cuts to the other characters in the scene who are continuing their work. Suddenly we hear diagetic sound of tools banging together to create an almost very realistic vehicle crash affect. Due to the fact we cannot see the full extent of the crash; this in my opinion makes it more dramatic.
At this point the representation of age becomes more recognisable and clear. An element of authority is shown through age when the older characters in the clip go to retrieve Amy’s wellbeing. When the other characters arrive, Amy hides behind them which displays her to be a lot more vulnerable than the rest also this is emphasised by the height difference between her and the rest. The camera angle is disjointed and keeps reverting back to two shots and long shots.  This develops a rugged affect to the conversation as most of the characters seem to be in a state of confusion.
We are then introduced to another character to happens to be the Head teacher at the school she is supposed to be attending daily, he is dressed in a very smart attire including a blazer and a tie. Also he speaks in very clear standard English in contrast to the other characters in the clip as they have a more rough ragged accent which has been picked up through the farming days, this could bring forward another representation on social class and status. In this case the head teacher is displayed to be higher up on the scale.
There is then a jump cut from the where the crash took place to a room most likely in the farmhouse with the head teacher. The head teacher suggests a brandy this agrees with the stereotype of old age as this is what they are seen to want to drink by society.

Universal Studios

Universal Studios:

·        Universal Studios (also known as Universal Pictures), is an American motion picture studio, owned by Comcast, and one of the six major movie studios.

·        Founded in 1912 by Carl Laemmle, Mark Dintenfass, Charles Baumann, Adam Kessel, Pat Powers, William Swanson, David Horsley, and Jules Brulatour, it is the oldest movie studio in the United States of America

·        Its production studios are at 100 Universal City Plaza Drive in Universal City, California.

·        Distribution and other corporate offices are in New York City.

·        Universal Studios is a Member of the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA).

·       Universal has a variety of subsidies including Universal Animation Studios, Focus Features and Illumination entertainment.

·       Universal Studios Singapore is located within the boundaries of Resorts World Sentosa on the island of Sentosa in Singapore.

·       The HQ of the company is based in Universal City, California.

·       Selected clips and footage shot by Universal Studios are available for purchase from the NBCUniversal Archives.

·       Films that they have produced in the past:  Despicable me, American pie, Nutty Professor etc.

Working Title Facts

Working Title:

·         Working Title Films is a British film production company, based in London. The company was founded by Tim Bevan and Sarah Radclyffe in 1983.

It produces feature films and several television productions, including films starring comic actor Rowan Atkinson. Eric Fellner and Bevan are now the co-owners of the company.

·         Working Title Films, the UK film production company behind box office hits including Four Weddings and a Funeral and Shaun of the Dead, is to launch a TV division.

·         Working Title Television is a joint venture with NBCUniversal and will be based in London and Los Angeles. NBCUniversal is Working Title's parent company

·         The company released a modernised version of the children's novels, The Borrowers in December 2011 and Abi Morgan's adaptation of Birdsong in January 2012.

·         Although contractually allowed to produce any film with a budget of up to $35 million, on a practical basis, Bevan and Fellner consult with studio executive at Working Title's parent company NBCUniversal

·         The company produced a variety of films for PolyGram's London-based production company PolyGram Filmed Entertainment

·         A selection of films they have produced.

Green Zone March 12, 2010

Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang August 20, 2010

Paul March 18, 2011

Senna August 12, 2011

Johnny English Reborn October 21, 2011

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy December 9, 2011

Sexuality represented in the clip

Is the sexuality of the characters easily identifiable?
The characters are clearly identifiable as the first camera shot we come across contains two young women, one of which is in the process of trying on a dress.  Our first impression as an audience of the two girls is that they are most likely very close friends who have probably known each other for a considerable amount of time, we may think this due to the fact that they are helping one another whilst in the scene. Next we realize that the narrators voice is one of the girls in the scene. The narrator states ‘She looked so beautiful’ this instantly makes us as an audience  reevaluate our perception of the two girls and therefore we feel as if the close friendship that we thought the girls had is more than that and that one of the girls is most likely physically attracted to the another. The narrator’s voice is part of the non diagetic sound in the scene, on the topic of non diagetic sound the pace of the sound in the scene recognisably increases dramatically to portray the passion in the scene.  Also the sound seems to display that one of the women beholds a slightly secretive sexual nature inside of her. The woman holds back, and seems to be rather nervous to ‘touch’ the woman, scared for the other to find out her feelings towards her friend.
Is the sexuality represented as being important in their life?
It appears as if the sexuality in the clip is a big part of the homosexuals life in the programme. In the late past when this programme was set, homosexuality was frowned upon massively by most people in society, this is why i feel the woman has to keep these secrets tight to herself so that she can be accepted into everyday society. In the next scene we see that the homosexual woman is painting in the garden with the other woman painting her body. With slightly paced shots of the woman’s body parts shows she is trying hard to hold back but is almost impossible. Going back to my point on sexuality being shunned upon, the man we see recognizes the sexual feelings the woman has and attempts to change her mind about the sexuality.
Are particular sexualities seen as more powerful, better, and normal? If so, how?
I feel that the prominent sexuality within the clip is the heterosexuality, as when the clip was set which was in the late past this sexuality was seen to be the norm and it was abnormal to go against this sexuality type. This was displayed with the heterosexual man being higher in the chain of authority with high angle shots making the woman look vulnerable and an outcast to society because of her sexuality.

What message is the clip aiming to portray about sexuality?
I feel that the clip is trying to portray how sexuality has changed in terms of people’s perception and also of society’s acceptance over the matter and how it has changed dramatically since for example 100 years ago where to be a homosexual was very much frowned upon. One thing that prominently stood out for me is the fact that no stereotypical images were displayed for example if lesbians were to appear in a programme in the present time it would be often expected that one of the partners would be butch and the other more feminine, on the other hand in this clip the producers have focused very much more on the aesthetic features of the women.

Gender portrayed in Hustle

Gender portrayed in Hustle

In this episode of the TV drama Hustle, gender is presented in many different ways with stereotypes being conveyed throughout. In TV dramas stereotypically we expect females to be rather over dramatic, likes shopping, perfect, make-up, clean and classy. The males tend to act like the alpha male, strong, have high paid jobs, and into football and rugby and usually. There are six characters that I am going to look at and analyse including their behaviour and appearance and whether I think it fits in with the general stereotype type of male and females.
In the first scene we see as shop which is clearly designer we can tell this due to the fact that there are very few items of clothing and the layout seems very orderly. Also the very few items that they do have all look very expensive in different kind of ways. Therefore we expect the type of customer to be a rich, classy female/male who knows what they want in life. Whereas when it cuts to the men’s club we expect to see the men laughing, drinking, smoking and joking and just generally having a laugh, with often taboo language being used regularly.
The first scene is in the designer clothing store, with back lighting, cream shades and chic dresses, then the camera pans onto an older lady who seems to look out of place with grey hair, piled up messily. She pulls out a dress which is out of her price range. The shop assistant is extremely condescending towards her, and only gets on with rich people, therefore wants this lady out of his shop as soon as possible.
Once the elder lady who is looked down upon by the shop assistant scurries out, the camera immediately goes to the other lady in the shop, called Sarah, who is part of the scandal which is about to take place. The camera starts on her ring, a huge diamond wedding ring. This portrays wealth, and the shop assistant skips over to her almost as if he is excited. This displays a very feminine side to the shop assistant and goes completely against the stereotype of the alpha male.
The next scene is presented with a ‘wipe’ editing technique, and the sound effects to go with it. This links to the idea that she is in a changing room. The shot is over the shoulder and mirrored so that the audience can see the back of the dress with the crystals and the reaction that the dress provides. I noticed that there was a slight drum roll after the shop assistant reveals the price, as to whether she was going to buy the dress or not. This is very clever from the editor as from an audiences position we are more than likely to nice this technique subconsciously without us really taking note of it.
On the other hand we are introduced to some more characters, which are in a different setting, of a men’s club with no female company. The surroundings are darker in terms of the colours in the mise en scene also in contrast to the very clean and sharp setting of the shop the men’s club comes across to be significantly more dirty and congested this may be due to the fact that there is often smoking and drinking occurring. Also it isn’t hard to notice the poor lighting. it isn’t very well lit. We see an older American man who would be stereotypically be classed as ‘posh’ as he was dressed well, with a silk handkerchief in his pocket. We later on realise that the well-dressed man is trying to con the other man, who is dressed in all black, and looks too scruffy to be in the men’s club. The American man is getting the scruffy man drunk in order for the con to take place smoothly.
The scene is swiftly changed by another ‘wipe’ edit, this time with a non-diegetic sound of a zip, which goes back to the designer store. The camera then focusing on the woman’s bag. The camera quality seems to have changed to a hand held camera, as it seems shifty and jerky, which portrays panic in the scene, and moves around with Sarah round the shop. The lady is screaming and is hysterical which matches the stereotype of a ‘typical female’. ‘My husband will kill me’, this implies that the ring is incredibility expensive and is the prize possession for the woman. She is playing the role as a typical ditzy, female blonde. Within this scene Sarah breaks the 4th wall, by quickly giving eye contact to the audience (camera). This then engages and involves the audience to be part of the chaos that is occurring.
IN the next scene we cut to the shop assistant frantically searching for this ring that Sarah has ordered him to find in turn for a cash reward, suddenly a man with blonde hair walks into the shop. There is then a slow pan up his body, with a low angle shot making him look higher in authority and the shop assistant looking vulnerable whilst scrambling to find the ring. Although the conman is dressed well, his accent is cockney which brings his status down, he is not a typical ‘business man’, as he is chewing gum, scratches his nose, and uses the term ‘bird’, for his wife. Although he is extremely streetwise and knows what he is doing and wants. He too breaks the 4th wall, by giving eye contact to the audience. The appearance of this man matches the stereotypes of the male gender in terms of his deep voice cockney voice and the fact he is chewing gum also the slang he uses matches up nicely with the stereotype. This man contrasts heavily with the feminine shop assistant which complements the scene nicely.

Representation of Disabilty in a touch of frost

Representation of Disability in a touch of frost.

When we first see Billy in the episode he is running away from the police. The police officers take him down as if he is not disabled in any way this suggest to us as an audience that he may be treated in society as no different to anyone else. The camera shot is a very fast panning shot whilst he is running through the woods, this displays action and the fast pace which everything is happening at. The producers may have done this in order to create tension in the scene. Also to add to this affect the length of the clips are very short and fast moving. The mise en scene in this specific scene is very much made up of a setting of the woods and there seems to be a wall of police officers chasing Billy.

The next scene is one in which Detective Frost is having a talk with Billy’s dad. Frost refers to Billy who is a down syndrome as mentally subnormal. Billy’s dad seems to object to this quite strongly. We can see this through his body language towards frost. The camera angle in the scene is very much from a tilted angle, almost as if we are eves dropping into the conversation. This gives us a sense that the conversation is supposed to be relatively secret.  This method is very clever from the producer as it is very subtle and most of the audience are likely not to notice it, but will subconsciously.  We also get the impression that the talk is intended to be secret due to the fact that the sounds of the characters voices are very quiet and subdued. This suggests that they don’t want Billy to hear.

The content of the next scene is very much focused on Detective Frost interviewing Billy trying to receive information about the disappearance of a young woman.  At the start of this scene we feel sorrow for Billy due to the fact that he seems very innocent in terms of the way he looks and sounds. It makes the audience feel as if he is a vulnerable character and doesn’t deserve to be quizzed like this. We get a sense of vulnerability from Billy due to the camera angle, as it is very much looking down on Billy as if to suggest that he is innocent and needs protecting. The cuts on Billy’s face also contribute to our feeling toward him. The producer may have done this in order to provoke sorrow for Billy the Character. Earlier in the episode I mentioned that the police officers in the woods seem to treat Billy in a normal way as they just rugby tackled him to the ground like any other person would be dealt with by the police if they had reason to believe they had committed a serious crime. But in this scene our view on this changes as an audience due to the fact that Detective Frost speaks to Billy in a very simplistic way which suggests to us that he feels that Billy is very much childlike and wouldn’t understand what Frost said if he spoke in complex language and grammar. So this shows us two very different ways in which Billy is treated in society. The camera shots in this scene are very much alternating between both Frost and Billy who is seen to be guilty in terms of the young woman going missing. The alternate camera shot are to show the audience Frost’s body language and feeling towards Billy. At some points whilst Frost is interviewing  Billy we can see that frustration is creeping in as Billy is not really helping by giving very simplistic answers to Frost’s questions.

The street class and status

In the street we can see that the difference in class and status is massive. In the opening sequence we can see that the two parents are arguing very violetly in front of the children who are sittng in the front room. This portrays that the family is very disjointed and broken also class is portraedugh this as we can see that the family is most probably from a low standard of living background. This so clearly displayed dude to some of the very bad language that is being used througout the arguemtnt by the farther.

In the next scene we see the farther who was very angry and frustared in the previous scene go to wrok, we can clearly see that he works in the manuel sector as he is performing somekind of contruction process this suggest again that the family and himself are lower class. We then see the father hitting something with a hammer very hard with a look of frustion and anger, this re ensates his unhappieness that we saw in the las scene whilst he was having the arguemnt with his wife in front of the children.

There is then a jump cut to a guy that lives across the road getting into his car, this guy is wearing a suit which suggests to us that he is higher up in society due to the fact that we feel he probably has an office job which is more likely to pay more than what the farther rercieves for his manuel job. We can see now that there are many class types on the street although they live in similar size houses. This is interesting as we normally think that the higher class citzen would be living in a slighlty more upper class area.

When the guy with the suit on runs over to help the wife of the manuel worker this suggests and displays that they may being having an affair wih eachother as it is not lilke it is ann unreular occurance when he runs into the house. To back this up in the later part of this scene we see that both of them are becoming intimate together this renstates what we think what may be happening surrounding the affair between them.

In the next secene the farther has arrived back home from work and he starts to watch the football with his two sons, this portrays to us that can be a caring man when he wants to be but also has another very violent side to him. Whilst him and his sons are watching the football he doesn't notice that his daughter has wandered out the house and then subsequently she gets hit by a car. The irony of the girl getting hit by the car iseven more dramtic as it is the man in the suit that hits her also this is ironic due to the fact that the guy is having an affair with the farther of the daughters wife. This enlarges the problem due to the points i have just stated.

Gavin and Stacey on Prezi

Skins:

Toney Stonem

Anthony "Tony" Stonem is a fictional character from the British television series Skins. Portrayed by Nicholas Hoult, the character was created by Bryan Elsley; Tony was the series' central character in its first and second series, from 2007-2008. In the first series, the character is considered an antihero, and in some respects his actions are very antagonistic due to his psychopathic tendencies. However, this changes in the second series after he becomes a victim of a subdural hematoma and, as a result, becomes more vulnerable. Hoult, along with the other starring actors of the first two series, departed the show after its second season. The character was subsequently alluded to in episodes of the third and fourth series, which centred around Tony's sister Effy, played by Kaya Scodelario. In the 2011 North American adaptation of the show, Tony is played by actor James Newman, and the character's surname is changed to Snyder.

Tony appears to be a very handsome, popular and academically gifted young man, with a typical English middle-class background. He plays cruel games with his family and friends, in particular those closest to him, his girlfriend Michelle (April Pearson) and best friend Sid (Mike Bailey). In "Sid", he displays his love for "control and manipulation" and fondness for the unpredictability of the universe, comparing the lives of those around to him to the functions of subatomic particles. In the Unseen Skins episode "The Cat & The Duck", Michelle characterises Tony as like ice, "cold and transparent."

Prometheus Virals

Half term media convergence work

How is Media Convergence important for audiences and Institutions?
Although film forms a media industry on its own, it would be very difficult for a film to be a successful without media convergence. The film industry relies on media convergence when doing such things as marketing, distributing and exhibiting a film but especially more recently, making an audience aware of what is happening at the production stage of film is becoming more popular and this can only be done through media convergence. An example of the audience knowing what’s going on throughout the production process is a Upisode which was a sequel of episodes which built up excitement and hype about the film up.
Whilst the production of Attack the Block was happening media convergence was vital at the very start of the marketing process. Such as creating online blogs where video clips and teaser trailers were posted. Also behind the scenes footage of the main actors and actresses in the film were posted online to keep the projected audience enthralled and anxious for the film to be released, but it also worked as a deterrent for the film due to the fact that people were not becoming bored waiting for the long awaited film to be released. The blog was setup to maintain interest from the audience in the film itself so the blog kind of acted as a publicity generator in some ways. Also as the release of the film was nearing it ensured that the projected audience knew exactly when the film was going to be released in the cinemas worldwide. NickFrost also had a pre-existing fan base, due to previous Working Title successes such as ‘Hot Fuzz’, and it would be members of this fan base that video blogs would have appealed to primarily. This creates a lot more hype about the film as people already know how good of an actor Nick frost is, this should then be likely to encourage people to watch the film.
The production blogs and video clips can also help in the DVD sale area of things as the content that was on the blogs was emerged onto the DVD meaning that there is more content for the audience to view and enjoy. This often boosts sales dramatically as people feel they are getting more for their money.
Although not many of the cast are well known, several of the people involved in the production of the film personally promoted it without a mass intention. For example posting pictures and clips of the production process on social networking sites such as facebook, instagram and twitter. Social networking sites are a great way to promote a film due to the fact that there are many users of the sites, which in turn means millions of people see the promotion and feel encouraged to go and see it. Also it is very easy to update sites like this and keep the audiences up to date.
In contrast to the above Project X only had little pictures and videos on the films website during the production stage and it didn’t use social networking until the film was being advertised in its lead up this may have been due to the fact that the budget of the film wasn’t very high at all which meant that they needed to keep marketing and promotion costs down to a minimum in order to maintain a stable amount of money in which to produce the film. The film wanted to take on a more word of mouth system in terms of advertisement due to the fact that this comes a lesser expense than other ways or promoting the film.
Mid-production marketing is happening more and more thanks to the advances in media technology and the ways in which people can connect; technology manages to keep fans of the film interested throughout its production through to its exhibition, thus increasing potential sales.
YouTube is also used to market film as interviews are uploaded and the trailers are uploaded for all films now. The use of film web pages are used, for example Project X which shows the awards that have been won for it, this markets the film because it shows their success and it promotes the film as it has been very successful and would encourage the target market to buy the DVD.
A very clever way of advertising was used by project X as they released the soundtrack for the movie earlier than the actual film. This generated a lot of talk surrounding the film and also this aided towards the advertising and promotion of the film.
 Synergy marketing is used within the film industry to promote a product, for example ‘Up’ and Mcdonalds happy meals. This is important because it means the film becomes substantially more well-known and the audience becomes more aware of the film it also means that the company’s market each other. When marketing ‘UP’ Mcdonalds  would have been an obvious choice because of its international name and brand;‘UP’ would be promoted on an international level in places were you would least expect it. Harry Potter was also synergy marketed with Harry Potter Lego, this would immediately engage the young quadrant of the audience in the film before release.
On the other hand for films such as Project X which have such a low budget synergising the film can become increasingly very difficult as it often needs a large sum of money to go through the process of synergising the film with another product for example.
As discussed, another example of marketing is using social networks which will promote the film very well and efficiently. An example of this is ‘ The attack the block’ Facebook group. This creates almost an aftermath affect where people can visit the page and see updates of what is happening with the film or if they are planning to bring out another one. Often competitions are ran on these kind of pages to entice the audience to come back and view the page every so often.
Films choose where they market there films in terms of who there target audience is for example it would have been an outrageous decision to promote and advertise the film adulthood on kids television. This would not generate any interest as none of the kids would want to go and see it instead a very good place to market the film would be maybe on a side of a bus where the target audience will be constantly reminded that it is coming out this will then mean that the target audience the film is trying to appeal to is reached. Another example is if a film produced by Disney is advertised late at night on TV, again the target audience will be hard to reach as the audience that the film is trying to appeal to is not present. They are better off advertising it throughout the daytime when children are likely to be watching tv.

Why ‘Kick-Ass’ Succeeded At the Box Office (Even If It Doesn’t Feel That Way)

Why ‘Kick-Ass’ Succeeded At the Box Office (Even If It Doesn’t Feel That Way)

This article was written by Cole Abaius and first appeared on Film School Rejects in 2010.

Updated: Deadline is reporting that Kick-Ass actually won the week by a narrow margin of $19.8 million to $19.6 million for How to Train Your Dragon.

I’m sitting in a giant echo-chamber of a movie theater complete with it’s old-style, curved panoramic screen and chairs that were ordered with gusto by someone in the 1950s. In the Century Park 16, tucked away from the rest of the bustling world in Tucson, Arizona, it’s no surprise that my afternoon screening of Kick-Ass is almost completely empty except for a trio of teens who are skipping school, a middle-aged man who’s slouched down in the back, and a couple that sneak in fifteen minutes into the action.
There’s almost never a huge crowd there (which is part of why I love it), but the bad news for Matthew Vaughn and company is that the scene I witnessed was the norm, not an outlier.
So now everybody is asking the proverbial question about how a movie with that much hype performs with such lackluster at the box office. After all, it came out with geeks screaming its praises from Butt-Numb-a-Thon, from South by Southwest, and from Austin in general. How could all of those positive reviews not lead to success?
It’s fairly simple actually, but the first thing to remember is that Kick-Ass wasn’t a failure except at playing the expectations game. Let’s look at it in context:
Kick-Ass is an indie film made for $30 million that just made $37 million world-wide by its U.S. opening weekend.
Even with the average path a film takes through the theaters, the movie has already made its budget back, will make its advertising budget back by next weekend, and will ultimately be a financial success. It won’t be the smashing success that some predicted, but it will still be a success.
Of course, those raw numbers don’t take into consideration the split between Lionsgate, the theaters, and the film’s producers, so technically the production team has not regained its original investment. However, a film (especially one with this type of budget) making an equitable number back on its opening weekend is a good sign that it will be on schedule to be a positive investment.
People are shifting in their seats about sequel possibilities seeming out of reach now, which is a fine question to ask, but we’ll get to that after taking a look at why Kick-Ass didn’t explode out of the box.

‘R’ Does Not Stand For ‘Target Audience’
The  film world does a metric ton of editorializing about the ratings system. In particularly, we talk a lot about how those secretive, old white people hurt the artistic process and the business model by slapping an R-rating on a film for seemingly arbitrary reasons. However, in the case of Kick-Ass, I think everyone can agree that it earned its R. Unfortunately, that rating doesn’t do well when your target audience is 14-year old boys. Those boys have a tough time getting into the theater without buying a ticket to How to Train Your Dragon.
Am I saying that the numbers are inflated? Not exactly. I’ve always hated that argument because it’s so absolutely unprovable, but on the common sense level, I will make the bold claim that at least one whole ticket for the family fare ended up wandering into the wrong theater for some ultra-violence.
Still, the ultimate obstacle there is creating a movie aimed at the younger set and then barring them from seeing it. It’s a simple case of conflicting goals – which is fine – especially considering that the filmmakers clearly weren’t making a film to maximize profits. Unfortunately, that’s a reality they’ll come face to face with over the course of the next few weeks.

Conservative Groups Don’t Matter, Do They?
Usually there is a boost in sales when people threaten to protest. The do-gooders and morality policemen often have the opposite effect by increasing awareness and interest in a project, so many people are confused that Kick-Ass might have been hurt by the attention instead of helped.
The only reason I can come up with is pointing out that there were no protests.
For all the screaming about controversy on the internet, there were no major parental organizations that planned or executed protests – at least not on any sort of large scale to have an effect. All of the controversy talk about violence and children saying naughty words seemed to come directly from the filmmakers. And, you know, Roger Ebert.
In this case, conservative groups don’t matter because they weren’t ever really in the equation. Perhaps attempting to drum up controversy only alerted some who were planning on seeing it to the very type of film. Without some flustered parent making a jackass of himself on national news networks, the film didn’t have that organic boost that comes from people buying a ticket just to see what has the Christian League of Conservative Christians of America all knotted up.

Then What About How to Train Your Dragon?
It’s a nice tidy picture that a kid-friendly film launched back from the pack to beat the kid-friendly film with violence in it, but there’s no conspiracy here. Yes, How to Train Your Dragon moved from being 3rd back to 1st, but it also lost money. It also lost its #1 spot to a movie that got dragged through the mud upon opening (Clash of the Titans) and dropped all the way to 5th, and a comedy that is keeping a standard course in diminished ticket sales in its second week (Date Night). A simple look at the math from the previous weekend and this weekend shows that Dragon didn’t so much soar back into 1st as it limped past other films on a faster decline.
Still, Kick-Ass failed to overtake it. It’s not a grand, conservative conspiracy, but the film earned every bit of its 2nd place finish.

No Names
The movie didn’t feature any big name talent (except for Nicolas Cage who didn’t happen to searching for any lost treasure), and that can definitely be a factor in breaking a movie beyond its built-in audience and out into the mainstream. This is a likely culprit, along with other factors, as to why the film didn’t bust right out of the gate.
However, the reverse argument is also true in this case: a film with no known stars just made $20 million in one weekend.

Accidental Marketing
One other possible hypothesis is that Lionsgate just didn’t know how to market the film. There was a lot of red band material, but it was all shown to people already interested in going. Plus, most of the television spots all high-lighted the humor and camp which, some believe, led certain possible movie goers to think of it as a spoof along the lines of Superhero Movie (which opened with less than $10 million back in March of 2008).
Yet again, another completely unprovable hypothesis. Plus, it’s one that sounds moronic considering that, yes, there was humor in the trailers but, no, it was miles away from anything in the spoof world. Even the casual television watcher could have seen a noticeable lack of Leslie Nielsen in the Kick-Ass trailer.
Still, with that conspiracy theory unprovable, it still stands to reason that there was a failure in marketing here that was augmented by the challenge outlined earlier in selling a comic book movie to kids who won’t be allowed into the theaters without an adult.

Will There Be a Sequel?
I don’t know. I don’t know because I’m not Mark Millar or Matthew Vaughn. I’m sure that there are some conversations to have, but the important thing to remember here is that the film was actually a success at the box office. It wasn’t a huge success, it wasn’t the kind of success that people preached about, but based purely on the numbers, the film is in the money.
As an indie film picked up for distribution from Lionsgate, it is in a unique position. This isn’t like Spider-Man where Sony had a target number and executives waiting to give the go-ahead based on ROI. This is a film that is in its own driver’s seat. That driver’s seat might be occupied by Lionsgate now, but all the talk about the film failing or not deserving a sequel is a bit absurd.
If there’s a fan base there, and if the production cost can be kept low, and if the artists want to see what else they can do with the material, and if Chloe Moretz thinks of something more offensive to say, then I don’t see why there wouldn’t be a sequel. And all of those seem well within the realm of the possible. Especially the part about Moretz. I hear she can curse like a sailor.
To every geek out there slapping his or her forehead, and for everyone currently wringing their hands about whether a sequel will be made, please take a deep breath. Count to ten. Take a ride on your jet pack. Kick-Ass was a success even if it doesn’t exactly feel that way.

Editor’s Note: This piece has been updated from its original format to clarify on the concept of making the budget back

Jane Goldman: Meet the screenwriter of the controversial new film Kick-Ass

Jane Goldman: Meet the screenwriter of the controversial new film Kick-Ass

Jane Goldman's new film Kick-Ass is the story of a foul-mouthed 11-year-old girl assassin. The screenwriter wife of Jonathan Ross and mother of three admits to a 'geeky' enthusiasm for comic books and violent video games.

The screenwriter Jane Goldman freely admits that her new film Kick-Ass "is not, obviously, for everyone". Perhaps she is thinking of the scene in which Hit-Girl, an 11-year-old female assassin in a luminescent purple wig, enters a roomful of evil baddies and utters the immortal line: "OK you c**ts, let's see what you can do now." Or maybe she is referring to the bit where Hit-Girl, in a conversation with her father about what she wants for her birthday, pretends to ask for a puppy before admitting with a coquettish giggle that "I'm just fucking with you Daddy. I'll have a Benchmade model 42 butterfly knife." Or she could be recalling the moments where Hit-Girl shoots a man through his cheek or slices off a drug dealer's leg with a machete.

Whatever the reason, Goldman is aware that Kick-Ass could cause something of a stir. "I wouldn't take it personally if someone didn't enjoy the film," she says when we meet. "Certainly my 86-year-old friend of the family, I'd strongly recommend she doesn't go and see it."

She laughs, a tad uneasily. Goldman, 39, a talented writer who penned the widely-acclaimed 2007 film fantasy Stardust, is clearly nervous about how Kick-Ass will be received. "You've no idea how the audience is going to react, you just hold your breath," she says, anxiously pressing her hands together, her face partially obscured by a curtain of dyed carmine red hair. Later she will admit that she hates interviews. Partly, one imagines, this is because she happens to be married to the television presenter Jonathan Ross, he of the floppy hair and the inflated salary and the lewd answerphone messages, and she is wary of saying anything that could add to the public circus that surrounds him.

But in this case the nerves are misplaced. Kick-Ass is a brilliant and inventive piece of film-making and looks set to become one of the box-office hits of the year. It tells the story of Dave Lizewski, a nerdy high school student and comic book fan who decides to become a superhero despite the fact that he has no special powers. Dave (played by Aaron Johnson, who recently starred as the young John Lennon in Nowhere Boy) proves to be a fairly unsuccessful vigilante until fate brings him into contact with Hit-Girl, who has been trained by her father in the art of self-protection and who is the master of an astonishing array of weaponry, including butterfly knives and taser guns.
Directed by Matthew Vaughn, who also co-wrote the script and with whom Goldman worked before on Stardust, Kick-Ass is based on the eponymous superhero adventure penned by the Scottish comic book writer Mark Millar. The film is shot through with Tarantino-esque action sequences but also manages to be extremely funny, despite the fact that the subject-matter – a pre-teen girl who swears like a sailor and shoots baddies dead with big guns – is somewhat problematic. Seven American film studios turned down the script before Vaughn released it through his own production company.
"We just really wanted Hit-Girl to be a character who, in a sense, simply happens to be an 11-year-old girl, in the same way that Ripley in Alien could have been a guy but the part happened to be played by Sigourney Weaver," explains Goldman. "She [Hit-Girl] is genuinely dangerous, she's genuinely mad. It's not her fault: she's been raised in this environment where she doesn't know anything different. She's unwittingly part of a folie a deux."
Does she think of Hit-Girl, who is played by the 13-year-old actress Chloe Moretz, as a sort of hardcore mini-feminist, a challenge to the usual assumption that most movie violence is carried out by adult men? "Yeah... she's a feminist hero by token of the fact that she pays no attention to gender stereotypes. I think she also doesn't want special treatment because she's a girl."
The film caused controversy in the United States because of a violent online trailer that could have been viewed by children (even though it was clearly marked as "red band", denoting adult content). In the UK, Kick-Ass will be released with a 15-certificate but there is an argument that because the film's protagonists are youngsters, it will prove more appealing to those in the same age group. "You could say the same of Fish Tank, which has swearing and extreme emotional portrayals of violence," counters Goldman. "Kick-Ass is a film for adults. It was never, ever aimed at children."
Will Goldman be allowing her own children – Betty Kitten, 18, Harvey Kirby, 16, or Honey Kinny, 13 – to see it? "The two oldest will see it. My youngest daughter… I have to think about it. I think it's a different deal if you've been on set and known the people involved and you know it's not real. Yeah, maybe.
"You very much see the consequences of violence in the film. I think that films that could be said to glamorise violence are ones where there isn't a physical or emotional consequence, where you have people fire off rounds and everyone is dying off cleanly and it doesn't matter, whereas here, people are bereaved, people are hospitalised, it's kind of unpleasant.
"I really don't think anyone having seen this film would come out of it feeling bloodthirsty… I don't think there's any reliable data proving any correlation between violence and films."
But was Goldman worried about the effects on Moretz, who, despite starring in the film, is too young to go and see it in the cinema? She thinks about this for a moment, hesitating as if to get her thoughts in order. "The fact that she's actually enacting the violence is in many ways probably less traumatic for a child actor than a lot of films where the children are victims of violence – serious films where they're the victims of violence at the hands of family members. I think actually, emotionally, that's a lot more disturbing for a child actor whereas this is comic book; it's light. I don't think it raises any difficult emotional issues for a child to process."
Still, the Daily Mail is in a predictable tizz about it all. A few days before we meet, the newspaper runs an article headlined "Jonathan Ross's wife causes outrage", as though she had been caught mugging Andrew Sachs on the street for his bus pass. Does she care about this kind of press coverage?
"People's intolerance, I find puzzling," she says, a vertical crinkle appearing between her eyes. "The fact that I was singled out, I found bizarre but it didn't upset me, I just thought it was peculiar. It's funny – it's very rare that a movie is described as a writer's movie. It was kind of ironic that it was only when people had decided there was something negative about it that it was the writer's movie… Maybe it's that it makes a good tag on to this ongoing narrative in the press involving other people in my family – it makes it part of that saga."
That is as close as Goldman gets to mentioning the Jonathan Ross-shaped elephant in the room, and it must be frustrating to be constantly pigeonholed as someone's wife when she has been quietly pursuing a successful career as a writer for the last 20 years. Goldman grew up in north London, the only child of liberal, wealthy parents. Like Hit-Girl, she was terrifyingly precocious – leaving school at 16 with eight O-Levels before being hired as a showbusiness reporter on a casual basis by the Daily Star.

A year later she met Ross at a nightclub while working for the paper, and the couple got married when she was 18. Goldman spent most of her 20s having babies but also found the time to write several books (including a novel, Dreamworld), front a television series investigating the paranormal, and cultivate a growing reputation as a screenwriter. As well as her work with Matthew Vaughn, she has just completed the script for a forthcoming film adaptation of Susan Hill's ghost story The Woman in Black. She seems to be intrigued by the supernatural and fantastical and admits to a "geeky" enthusiasm for comic books and computer games.

"I play World of Warcraft, which means I end up hanging out with teenage boys a lot," she says. "I really enjoy the company of my kids… I'm not one of those people who goes 'Yeah, my kids are my mates', that's a dreadful kind of mother, but I'm fortunate that there are times that they do want me around, and I feel lucky that they let me into their world."
There is a part of Goldman that seems to connect easily with childhood, perhaps because she missed out on so much of it herself. "Yeah, I never hung out in parks and got drunk… I never did the proper teenage stuff and maybe that's why it still holds a fascination for me but I like to think it's because I really like that unbiased outlook on life. Teenagers come to things fresh and can really teach us an awful lot.
"I've yet to meet a bitter teenager. Bitterness, jealousy and jadedness, I think, are the most unattractive qualities in a person, and unfortunately they do seem to come with age."
In person, Goldman seems to embody both this freshness and a sort of gentleness that is strangely at odds with her love of violent video games and her striking physical appearance. She has a beautiful face, fire-red engine hair (re-coloured every three to four weeks) and a figure that looks as though it has been drawn by a lascivious comic book artist. Is it a coincidence that she looks like the superheroes she has written about? "That's a huge compliment, thank you," she says. "I've always loved science fiction, fantasy, manga, comic books, so I guess to some degree those things influence my personal idea of what looks nice, which definitely isn't everyone else's."
She laughs, but it must take a certain degree of chutzpah to look so flagrantly individual. "In some way it's less courageous because it's essentially saying, 'I've opted out'; it's saying 'Please don't judge me against society's standards! I know I don't measure up, I've opted out, I'm playing a different game.'"
It is a game that she plays extremely well – but then, all that time practising on World of Warcraft must surely help.

This article was written by Elizabeth Day and first appeared in The Observer on Sunday 21st March 2010.

Flow Chart
Stage 1
Making a film takes years and involves hundreds of people but all films start with a moment of inspiration. Inspiration is all around us in newspapers, books, plays and even conversation. Wherever the idea comes from it is the producer who decides to make this great idea in to reality. A director can visualize a script and make into a reality. They know how to take a story and put it into the big screen. The writer defines and clarifies the idea. The plot and the main characters and turns it into something tangible. The writer will then write a treatment a one page description of the main story and characters of the film. A pitch contains all the information the producers need in order to sell the idea to the financers to commission a script.

Stage 2
The next step in the development of the project is to turn the rough idea of into a final script ready for production and this costs money. The producer uses the treatment and pitch plus powers of persuasion to get money to develop a script. The producer approaches film production companies for development money, but they have projects of their own. The producer can offer the future sales and broadcast rights to the film in return for money to develop the script. The producer can also apply to a public funding body such as the UK film council for a development grant. The producer can even pitch the film to private investors in hope that they will support the project.

Stage 3
With development financed secured, it is down to the writer to deliver the product that the producers and financers want. The writer produces a synopsis and then with the producer he agrees or disagrees on the key scenes and events in the film. There are as many ways as writing as there are writers, but most writers create a step outline to plan their script. Part of the writer’s fee is conditional on delivery of the first draft; this can be the hardest part of screenwriting. Once the writer and prouder are happy, the draft is sent to the financers all of whom will have their own ideas. When everybody is happy with the script it is locked off and becomes a final draft then the writers get paid. The final stage of the script development process is the creation of a sales treatment.

Stage 4

The market-  Fianciers can be anywhere in the world to secure the investment she needs to make the film. The producer must travel.

 Investment- Private induviduals. Production companies and public bodies all invest in films. The producers lawyer draws up contracts to seal the deal.

 Presales - The producer can also raise money through presales. Selling the right to the film before it has even been made.

 Banks and cap funding - There are departments of banks that specialise in film finance. They invest in commercial projects and also offer loans.

 Completion bonds - Most financiers insist that a completion bond is in place before they agree to invest. This is insurance for the production.

 Green light -  Once all the essential funding and insurance is secured the film gets the green light and the producer ends up being very happy.

  Stage 5

 What is packaging?- The director and the producer must now package the script in to a full commercial proposition ready for financing.

 The cast- One common way to make the project more commercial is by attaching well known stars to the script.

 The heads of the department- Respected commercially successful heads of departments carry considerable clout with knowledgeable financiers.

 Detailed budget and production- To turn the film into a proper busniness proposition the producer must know how much it will actually cost to make.

 Finance plan and recoupment schedule- Potential investors will want to know how the producer will raise the money and how she plans to pay them back. 

 The complete package- The producer has packaged the film into a viable commercial proposition. Now its time to see what people think of it.

 Stage 6

 The kick off meeting- Once all the heads of the departments are appointed. The shooting script is circulated and pre-production begins.

 Casting - The casting director along with other memebers of the team begin the long process of casting the actors.

 Storyboarding- Storyboards are the blueprint for the film where every shot is planned in advance by the director and the dop.

 Production design- The production designer will decide how every aspect of the film will look and hires people to design and build each part.

 Special effects planning- Effects shots are much more planned in detail than normal shots and can take months to design and build.

The production unit - The line producer and the production manager make up the logistic triangle of production            

             
Stage 7
The production office is the main contact point for production as a whole; the office is responsible for all the requirements of the shoot.
The camera department is responsible for getting all the footage that the director and edit or need to tell the story.
Once the lighting squad and sound are set up and hair and makeup have been checked, then the shot can begin.
In the midst of all this commotion, the actors must create an emotional world and draw the audience into it.
Every special effect is carefully constructed and must be filmed with minimum risk of injury to the cast and crew.
Film productions are run with military precision if they fall behind schedule the financers and insurers may step in.

Stage 8
As the processed footage comes in, the editor assembles it into scene and creates a narrative sequence for the film.
Once the picture is locked, the sound department work on the audio tracks laying creating and editing every sound.
Digital effects are added by specialist effects compositors and titles and credits are added in composting suite.
The final stage of the picture edit is to adjust the color and establish the fine aesthetic of the film.

Stage 10
 As the finishing touches are being made to the film in post, the distributors plan their strategy and begin to market it. To help to sell the film to distributors the producers secure the services of a sale agent, a specialist in film sales. Knowing the marketing team is essential the marketing team runs advanced screenings to see how the film is received. The potential audience for the films is targeted with posters, cinema trailers, TV spots and other marketing material. Television, radio, magazines and newspapers can all help spread word of mouth about the film. The birth of digital media and the internet has flooded the world with information but has also made niche marketing possible. In order to get the film to audiences the distributor must negotiate a deal with cinemas to screen it.

Stage 11
Cinema exhibition is still the primary channel for films to reach their audiences and box office success equals financial success. A high profile star studded premiere is used to launch the film to the public with an explosion of media coverage. The UK has more than 3,500 cinema screens although not all are British owned or show British films. Distributors supply exhibitors with prints off the film, the more screens the film is shown on the more prints are needed. The exhibitors take their share of the box office receipts after which the distributors recoup their marketing costs. Once the distributors have been paid, the financers can recover their investment as laid out in the recoupment schedule.

Stage 12
A successful run in cinemas makes the film a sought after product which can then be sold through other more lucrative channels. Hospitality sales for hotel channels and in flight entertainment can bring in millions of additional revenue. UK audiences spend more on DVDs than cinema tickets so success on DVD can compensate for box office failure. Television is the final source of revenue, rights are sold separately for pay TV showings and terrestrial broadcast. Rights for computer games and other product licenses can be extremely lucrative sources of additional revenue. Once the film has made a profit the producer and key creative people can reap their rewards or maybe not. The final income from a film is never known. Distribution continues in perpetuity and it may even be re- released in the future.

Attack the Block Review

Attack the Block review
I have seen this film twice now, and my first thoughts surrounding it was that I felt like it had no real grit or plot to really become enticed into. But after my second viewing of the film my negative vibe that I received off it first time round disappeared in some ways as I realised this was a very low budget film with no intention to have a difficult or complexed storyline or plot to it. So first to the good things about the film. I found myself very much interested in the main characters partly because although they all came from a similar background and lived in the same area, they were all kind of individual in a way, for example Moses who was almost known as the leader of the gang was a very unemotional guy who was not phased by much at all and generally didn’t get excited about issues, whilst others did, for instance Dennis who is very much the opposite. The fact that all the characters are very different appeals to me as it makes the entirety of the film increasingly more enjoyable. Another aspect that featured during the film that I recognised was the very good use of Camera angles and shots, I felt this really added something special to the film, for instance when Moses is being chased by the monsters in one of the late scenes in the film it is set in slow motion this gives the film a slight dramatical edge. Additionally one other reason that i enjoyed it was due to the sense of humour that was introduced throughout the film. Often sarcastic lines and witty banter was the main focus of comedy whilst the characters were in conversation. The comedy aspect to the film was enabled to be enforced in a good manor due to the fact that Jack Frost who is a well known actor who has starred in films such as ‘Hot Fuzz’ and ‘Paul’ was one of the main characters. He played Ron who was supposedly working for a drug dealer on the top floor of the block in Brixton where the film was set, Jack Frost whose trademark is comedy was able to really bring this aspect of the film forward to the audience and to make it recognisable. I felt that due to the comedy being introduced it made the film more light hearted and less heavy going. Some people would maybe say that the film could not be classified as being a Sci-Fi film which i agree with in some ways, as the film didn’t really focus and concentrate on the monsters as much as it could of done also the monsters who starred in the film lacked realism and the freight factor, this was largely influenced by the budget that the producer had to abide by which was only the miniscule some of 13 million dollars which may sound like a lot but in the film industry this is a very small amount and due to this Attack the Block is classified as an Art house production. This leads me on to another bad point about the film which is that the plot of the film doesn’t have seemed to be thought about well enough. I say this because the plot is very very simple in contrast to a lot of Sci-Fi movies which tend to be very complex and seem to get the brain working intensely.
So overall after a second viewing of the film I came to Attack the block for what it was more than what i wanted it to be. As you can see throughout my review of the film i feel that the good points actually outweigh the bad points that the film has attached to it. So due to this I would recommend it to anyone who would like to watch a slight humorous film which  at the same time is very light hearted.

How it was produced

 Attack the block was produced by Big Talk production,known for films such as Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz, produce the film with Film 4, the UK Film Council and studio canal. The Block itself was a composite of various council estates across London.

  What it was based on?

 Attack the Block was based on the director Joe Cornish getting mugged near his home in stockwell south London. He say's it was a very traumatic experience. He investigated the kind of kids who robbed him, talking to children on the street and in youth clubs. And he injected a shot of film fantasy into a world generally treated with some disdain by directors; a vision that would trump most pre-teen dreams.

 Any problems that arose in making the film?

There was a few problems that were encountered whilst in the process of creating the film. One of those problems was the fact that a lot of London slang was planned to be used throughout the film, this was a problem due to the fact that foreginers struggled to understand what the cast were saying this made it hard for the foreigners to follow what was going on in the storyline and plot. Also not only did the audiences in foreign countrys find it hard to understand so did the translators whose job it was to translate the British language into several differnt languages wherethe film was going to be distributed and shown. Another problem that occured whilst in the production of the film was that because the film was set at night which meant that the film could only be filmed in certain hours of the day when it was dark.

Directors view on the british film industry

The director, Joe Cornish was interested in 80's films such as ET, Gremlins and Predator he also liked gang films such as Streets of Fire but what he really enjoyed was when the two genres combined.

How they saved money by using the technology used

The producers saved money whilst creating the film as they didnt use the best technology available in order to create the monsters that were involved in the film instead they didnt focus much on the monsters at all this meant that they didnt have too make the creatures/monsters look affective and beacuse they didn't feature in the film as much in a visual way.


The films promotion

The film was advertised and promoted different ways such as  tv advertisements and poster which were situated on bus stops and busy areas around the UK for example in shopping centres etc. Also another way that the film was promoted was by using the official website that was dedicated to the film soley this allowed information for example release dates and age ratings to be displayed to the interested parties.