Belstone Pictures research:

 After working for many shows such as Top Gear, Downtown Abbey and X Factor the founder of Belstone Pictures Finn Bruce decided to create his own film studio called Belstone Pictures, as he had discovered his love for making films earlier in life at school and wanted to return to that. Belstone are a UK based studio, and primarily use British actors to portray the roles in their films. Finn Bruce owns and created Belstone after working in the business for many years. He uses investors to fund and produce his films to increase the budget of them. Finn really started to focus on Belstone in 2016, but he started it two years prior to this, making it a very new film company. The most impressive works of Belstone include Tank 432, which was the first film produced by Belstone, and also the move Tucked. Tank 432 cost a total estimated amount of around $22,000 and was able to fund a total of 11 films after it. Tuckedhad a similar budget of $23,000.

 

 Despite not being able to use the biggest actors in the world for their movies, Belstone are able to cast appropriately for their movies, but do not tend to reuse actors in more than one film. They do, however, tend to mostly be directed by Finn, as that cuts the cost of hiring a different director. Despite being a small institution, Belstone Pictures does have certain benefits over a bigger film company like Warner Brothers. For starters, they have less to lose. With a lack of a large reputation they can be more experimental with their movies and do something more out there. Also it is likely that their crew for each film would be smaller, meaning that it would cost less for that. Finally, if one of the Belstone Pictures movies does become a big movie that everybody watches, it will end up being way more profitable than something like Joker or Wonder Woman as they budget for those movies require the film to turn out a lot of money, whereas with a small budget there is more room for greater profit.

Warner Brothers studio research:

 The first Warner Bros film was made in World War 1, and it was based on a book. Warner Bros official began on the 4th of April 1923in Hollywood, LA. Currently Warner Bros are still based in California, in Burbank. Despite the headquarters being in California, they have studios in London, and they also have 200 acres in Hertfordshire in South-East England. Currently the owner of the company is the Conglomerate or parent company Warner Media. Warner Media also own HBO, Turner Broadcasting and Cinemax. 

 

Being owned by a large conglomerate such as Warner Media has many benefits. The largest, of course, being the huge amount of money that is available to them. Everything that all the other subsidiaries owned by Warner Media make can be re-invested into movies made by Warner Bros, giving them huge budgets to make some of the most consumed films on the planet. Since Warner Bros has been running strong for almost a century (96 years), Warner Media can feel safe investing money into them as their reputation shows that they are strong, stable and produce films that people want to see.

 

For example, the biggest box office success that Warner Bros has had is Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (2011), followed by Aquaman (2012), which comes just before Batman: The Dark Knight Rises, followed by Joker which is the most profitable film ever made. In 2019 Warner Bros highest grossing films were Joker, IT: Chapter 2, and Pokémon: Detective Pikachu.

 

 

 

The budget for Joker was only $55 million, and for IT $79 million. For Pokémon the budget was the largest at $150 million US dollars. Withing franchises, for example the Harry Potter franchise, unless uncapable, they tend to work with the same actors so that the audience can go to see their favourite actors that they saw in the previous film again. However, usually a film company as big as WB will usually just cast big names who suit the part so that they can attract people to come and watch their films. Currently, due to the pandemic, Warner Bros has 21 movies in pre-production.

Opening scene presentation

 This is an opening scene presentation that I did with my friend Neave for my class. The opening scene was made by some students from my school last year for their coursework. 

'Run Forrest, Run' scene analysis

 This is a google slides presentation that I did alone for a movie scene. The movie scene I decided to work on was the 'Run, Forrest, Run!' scene from the Robert Zemeckis movie Forrest Gump released in 1994. 

The Shawshank Redemption poster analysis

 Poster mise-en-scene analysis:

 The Shawshank Redemption

 

 

 

The poster I have chosen is from the film ‘The Shawshank Redemption’. I not only chose this poster because it is from one of my favourite films, but also because it very effectively uses mise-en-scene. The poster shows, in large, the two main characters Elis Boyd (Red), and Andy Dufresne played by Morgan Freeman and Tim Robbins, and a collection of other main characters including brooks and the warden. The focus of the poster is directed to the image of Andy Dufresne basking in the rain, representing the scene in the film where he escapes from the prison. The expressions on Red’s and Andy’s faces connote that it is a serious film, as they both stare off into the distance with perhaps concerned looks on their faces. Although the poster has no image of the Shawshank prison on it, if you look close enough, it is easy enough to assume the environment that the majority of the film is set. In the central-left part of the poster, there is what looks like a police officer, or someone of a similar occupation, connoting that there is some form of crime supposedly committed during the film. Although there is little about the warden on the poster that suggests his role in the film, Red is wearing a very basic collared shirt in the same colour as his hat, suggesting that he is wearing a uniform that could be issued by a prison. Also, the image of Andy Dufresne in the rain shows him wearing tattered and ripped clothes, almost like rags. This connotes that he either has been given poor pieces of clothing to wear, or he cannot afford nice clothes. Also, since he is standing with his arms out, almost embracing the rain, it suggests that he has escaped from somewhere connoting that the plot is about him breaking out of prison. On the poster, there are no women, and during the film there are no real reoccurring women roles. However, Andy Dufresne is wrongly imprisoned for the murder of his wife but since that is at the start of the movie, her part isn’t seen as all that significant. Also, in the film, there are many times where the prison inmates sexualise famous women by swapping posters and putting them up on their wall. The light across all of Reds, Andy’s, Brookes and the other inmates faces on the poster show that despite being in prison, they are the good guys in the film, which is a countertype to what we usually associate people in prisons with. The actor who plays Brookes, as shown on the poster looks old frail, and fragile, allowing people to instantly sympathise with him as a character. Since he is shown in the poster as almost see through or transparent against Andy, it connotes that maybe he will not last the entire film. Shown on the poster wearing the same clothing as Red tells us that they are together in some way in the film (e.g. in the same prison), and he also shares the same worried look making the consumer already tense as they wouldn’t want anything bad to happen to someone who looks so feeble. Also, the warden and the police officer are mostly in the dark, connoting that they are the bad guys. The wardens clothing is unclear, but you can see his tie and shirt denoting that he is formally dressed. This connotes that he is perhaps an authoritative figure in the film. The font in which Morgan Freeman’s name, Tim Robbin’s name and the name of the film are written using is very simplistic and clear, which juxtaposes the complexity of the rest of the poster, which connotes that it could also juxtapose the complexity of the film and the situation the characters are in within it. Going back to the figure of Andy Dufresne in the middle of the poster, it shows him under a bolt of lightning. His face is lit up, and it also lights the rest of his body, including what can be seen under his shirt, which is a white t-shirt. This shows that on the exterior, Andy is shown in black clothing, connoting that perhaps he is a bad character, but this is then there is a complete contrast showing that he is wearing white, which reflects the fact that deep down, he is innocent, pure and good.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Favourite film review

Batman the Dark Knight:

 

Released in July 2008, Batman the Dark Knight is the second film in the trilogy. The film was produced by Warner Bros and inspired by DC comics. The film is directed by Christopher Nolan, who is also the director of many other films, for example Superman, Tenet, Inception, and Dunkirk. He also produced the other two films of the batman trilogy, Batman begins, and the Dark knight rises. Christian Bale stars as Batman (Bruce Wayne), with Heath Ledger portraying the Joker, and Michael Kane being the role of Alfred. Also, in the film is actor Morgan Freeman, and Gary Oldman. The main actress in the movie, Maggie Gyllenhaal (who plays the role of Rachel), who had had the most experience in independent movies, said that she was a little scared of doing the stunts for this movie. I first watched this film about 2 years ago in my living room when I moved into my house as it was on the tv, and my family wanted to watch it. Neither of my brother or I had seen it previously, and we both have now watched it about 20 times each and can agree that it is our favourite film. Although watching it for the first time was great, I wish that I could have seen it in the cinema, or in a similar environment, as my light, cold living room at the time allowed me to come away from the film, and not really submerge myself in it. The biggest reason why I enjoyed the film so much is because of Heath Ledgers portrayal as the joker. Before seeing that film, the only time I had seen the joker, or a clown like villain was in Lego Batman, comic books, or IT. I didn’t so much find his portrayal of the joker all that scary, but it was the first superhero movie where I wanted more scenes with the villain (the Joker) than the hero. I would find myself on the edge of my seat in all of his scenes, and it made me have very high expectations for the jokers that followed him, like Jared Leto in suicide squad and Joaquin Phoenix in Joker. It’s very difficult for me to choose a favourite scene in the film, as I enjoy every bit of it, but if I had to choose, I would probably say the scene in downtown Gotham, after Harvey lies about being the Batman, with Batman on the bike, and the Joker in the Lorry. I also really enjoy the scene in the hospital with Harvey and the Joker after he has killed Rachel, and how the Joker turns Harvey against the police and the justice system, before blowing up the entire hospital. This is the first superhero movie that I was able to watch over and over again, and also convinced me to watch the trilogy, which is why it is my favourite film.