Prometheus Research 2

Cast of Prometheus

	Noomi Rapace	...	Elizabeth Shaw
	Michael Fassbender	...	David
	Charlize Theron	...	Meredith Vickers
	Idris Elba	...	Janek
	Guy Pearce	...	Peter Weyland
	Logan Marshall-Green	...	Charlie Holloway
	Sean Harris	...	Fifield
	Rafe Spall	...	Millburn
	Emun Elliott	...	Chance

Budget: $130 Million

Director: Ridley Scott 

Writers: Jon Spaihts, Damon Lindelof, Dan O'Bannon, Ronald Shusett.

7 Areas Of Repersentation

the issues raised by media ownership in contemporary media practice; (how does who owns a media company influence the type of film made and its potential success? For example do BIG companies make BIG films and therefore make all the money? Is it possible for small companies to succeed?) The Companies the produced Kick Ass were 'Marv Film' and 'Plan B Entertainment', ' Plan B Entertainment' are an americain company who was founded by big actors - Brad Pitt, Brad Grey and Jennifer Aniston - and is owend by Brad Pitt but they have a release deal with 'Paramount pictures', 'Warner Bros.' and '20th Century Fox'. 'Plan B Entertainment' is a private companie not allowint the public to hold shares and also it only has a small amount of share holders.

the importance of cross media convergence and synergy in production, distribution and marketing; (how do companies work together to produce, distribute and publicize a film? How can Disney use their size to promote and publicise a film? How can small companies work together to promote their business' when making and promoting a film?)
They can do this by coming together to make a product or advert that involves the two companies, for instance- Harry Potter joined up with lego to make Lego Harry Potter to promote their film and gain money from that product too.

the technologies that have been introduced in recent years at the levels of production, distribution, marketing and exchange; (how has the introduction of digital film, 3D, DVD, Blue Ray, internet streaming, downloadable content, home cinema influenced the types of films made, the way we watch them and the way we 'buy' them?)
Technologie has a big influence when making films because you can now show them in 3D, Blue-Ray and Download them off of the internet. If the producers decide to also show the film in 3D they will be able to charge you more for seeing it in 3D than in 2D because it costs more to make but they know people will pay that little bit extra to watch it in 3D so it is good for marketing. Now films come on blue-ray (HD) too which allows the company to also charge more for people to buy the dvd because it is better quality than a normal dvd player. this is also good because people like to see things in HD. Now for Films can also be downloaded and rented from the internet i creates a large and easier way of buying and renting films from home instead of making a journey to the shops and also more people are downloading content these days so it makes it easier for people and it is a good way of being able for you to rent the move and not having the problem of forgetting to take it back after the time period has expired.

the significance of proliferation in hardware and content for institutions and audiences; (how and why have film companies had to alter the way they work now everyone has web enabled phones, PC's, consoles etc? How have audiences changed their viewing habits now we no longer need to go to the cinema to watch a film) 
They have had to change they way they work because they want as many people to watch the film and see the posters and information about the film as possible so they would have to make websites for the film and internet adverts in order from a wide range of people to see the trailers and information about the film. Audiences have changed the way thy view films because they wont go to the cinema to see it unless they really want to and have time because they can just wait for it to be downloadable and then whatch it at home with friends or family.

the importance of technological convergence for institutions and audiences; (can you think of examples of how different technologies have come together to help the film industry?)  
One of the big technological Convergence's games because mostly everyone from the age 7+ is playing some type of video game and if the company that has produced and made the film makes a game out of it more people are going to buy the game and want to see the film. Games are one of the best ways of selling your film to younger people if they are your target age range.

the issues raised in the targeting of national and local audiences (specifically, British) by international or global institutions; (how do film companies try and attract their audience? Do they do different things in different countries?) 
Some companies will have teamed up with an american company to help fund the film which means that their would be advertising in america as well as the other country and this means it has a wider range of advertisement and is more likely to be seen and spoke about. Mostly americans will think of creative ways to advertise films like an easter egg hunt but for the film with different clues and information that reveals things about the film and gets the audience excited. 

the ways in which the candidates’ own experiences of media consumption illustrate wider patterns and trends of audience behaviour. (what is your opinion on the above? Do you see the developments as a good or bad thing?)
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Media Convergents

Q: How is media convergence important for audience and institution? 

Media convergence is important to audience and institution because they need to advertise the company and film that they have made to the public so it encourages them to come see the film so that they can make a high gross (Profit) from the film. They do this by making Posters, Tv Adverts, Radio Adverts, Word Of Mouth, Internet Adverts, Previous Films, Websites, Trailers and Teaser Trailers ect. They use these methods because they are the most common methods of advertising and they are also low cost or very effective with the public when trying to advertise a film.

When advertising a film it is important that you get people talking about it and knowing about it or you would make a low gross and not be able to pay everyone who helped produce and make the film. Thankfully technology today allows us to use media in a way where its hard not to know about an upcoming film or event because the wide range of methods used to get people to see or look at what the film is about. 

As you can see the film industry relies on the media a lot and they will use all the methods they can and make new methods of advertising to make sure that their film gets noticed by lots of people, if the methods of advertisement are successful then they already know that people are going to come see the film and have sold it to them before they have watched it just because they have seen posters and trailers for the film, this is also good for the company because they have also created word of mouth between friends and family who will advertise it to them and bring them along to see it and they will tell their friends and so on... . Here are a few films and how they used media to advertise their films -

Kick Ass: Universal Pictures (UK) and Lionsgate Films (US) used simple but creative media to advertise their film to the public because the film is based on the comic book series and they would have a large audience who would want to see the film and compare it to the comic book series, this was good for them because they knew that they would make some money for the film. In their advertising they made individual posters spelling out Kick Ass, which was a type of interactive media where people would have to try and collect all the posters and spell out Kick Ass. They also used trailers and Teaser Trailers to advertise their film to the public, the film used a Uk as well as a US company that helped advertise world wide and helped with publicity. I don't think that they advertised the film as well as they could have because they gained a low gross, but i think that might of been because they only had a budget of $28 million. ( they made $96, 188, 903 from the film and most of this was from DVD and Blue-Ray sales.) 

Attack The Block: StudioCanal, UK Film Council, Big Talk Pictures, Film4 Productions used some technology with advertising their film because they made a website that you can go on and interact with, you could do this by reading about the individual characters and watching the trailers to the film as well as looking at the posters. They also used posters to advertise their film, they made 3 different posters altogether with some or all of the characters on the poster with a little description about what the film was about. They also used Trailers to advertise their film and aimed the adverts toward teenagers and adults because its meant to be a scary film and its also has bad language and lots of blood/gore, and its aimed at teenagers because the film was rated as a 15. They had a premier for the film that also helped to advertise the film.

Quantum Of Solace: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and Columbia Pictures Had a budget of $200 million so their adverting campaign was big for Quantum Of Solace but it didn't have to have lots of different media coverage like websites, Apps Ect. Because they have already established a loyal audience from the previous films, they only needed to get people talking about the film and they had posters and trailers. They suspected that they would gain a large audience because of the previous films and because of word of mouth. also it is aged 15+ and they are targeting a large audience where it will get spoken about regularly.

Synergy Marketing: Synergy marketing is where two companies team up together to make a product that will sell but also advertise too. for example The producers of Quantum Of Solace Teamed up with PS3 and Xbox to make a game that appealed to teenagers and adults to make them want to see the film and play the game, also it helps gain more word of mouth and more people will buy the game and be tempted to watch the movie too.

Prometheus Research

     

A team of explorers discover a clue to the origins of mankind on Earth, leading them on a journey to the darkest corners of the universe. There, they must fight a terrifying battle to save the future of the human race.

Prometheus is a 2012 science fiction film directed by Ridley Scott, and written by Jon Spaihts and Damon Lindelof. The film stars Noomi Rapace, Michael Fassbender, Guy Pearce, Idris Elba, Logan Marshall-Green, and Charlize Theron. The story is set in the late 21st century and centers on the crew of the spaceship Prometheus as they follow a star map discovered among the remnants of several ancient Earth cultures. The crew, seeking the origins of humanity, arrive on a distant world and discover an advanced civilization and a threat that could cause the extinction of the human race.

Development of the film began in the early 2000s as a fifth installment in the Alien franchise. Scott and director James Cameron developed ideas for a film that would serve as a prequel to Scott's 1979 science fiction horror film Alien. By 2003, the development of Alien vs. Predator took precedence, and the project remained dormant until 2009 when Scott again showed interest. Spaihts wrote a script for a prequel to the events of the Alien films, but Scott opted for a different direction to avoid repeating cues from those films. In late 2010, Lindelof joined the project to rewrite Spaihts's script, and he and Scott developed a story that precedes the story of Alien but is not directly connected to that franchise. According to Scott, although the film shares "strands of Alien's DNA, so to speak", and takes place in the same universe, Prometheus explores its own mythology and ideas.

Prometheus entered production in April 2010, with extensive design phases during which the technology and creatures which the film required were developed. Principal photography began in March 2011, with an estimated US$120–130 million budget. The project was shot using 3D cameras throughout, almost entirely on practical sets, and on location in England, Iceland, Spain, and Scotland. It was promoted with a marketing campaign that included viral activities on the web. Three videos featuring the film's leading actors in character, which expanded on elements of the fictional universe, were released and met with a generally positive reception and awards. Prometheus was released on June 1, 2012 in the United Kingdom and on June 8, 2012 in North America. Prometheus grossed over $400 million worldwide. Reviews praised both the film's visual aesthetic design, and the acting, most notably Fassbender's performance as the android David. However, the plot drew a mixed response from critics, who criticized plot elements that remained unresolved or were predictable.

"Weyland Industries employs over 800 million citizens. As such, our products and electronics are the most advanced, most efficient and most highly intelligent on the market.

Our bio-sensors can detect trace amounts of toxic contaminants, making workplaces safer. Our FTT devices and holographic controls make scientific research easier. And our micron-sized platinum-doped laser position sensors make everything from terraforming equipment to weapons-tech smaller, lighter and faster. Our innovations are working harder in every home and every industry sector to make your world better. 

Developed by Weyland’s world-class materials scientists and electrical engineers on Gliese 581, all innovations undergo rigorous testing at the New Products Testbed facilities at Henri Gaston. We use only the most advanced rare materials extracted from mines across the galaxy, and our nobel-prize winning physicists and materials engineers hold the leading number of patents in the fields of lasers, nanotechnology and microfabrication. Many products using this technology will soon be making history as part of the highly-anticipated Prometheus mission."

This extract is from the website and shows that they made the website fit in with the movie like wayland industries was a real company and was actually going on an expedition to find their "makers" or "Engineers ". This makes the film more interactive and fun for the audience. 

Attack The Block Review

Who Directed Attack The Block: Joe Cornish
Genres: Comedy, Action, thriller, Adventure, Horror, Sci-Fi
Stars: Jodi Whittaker, John Boyega, Alex Esmail

Age Rating:15

Release Date: 13 May 2011

Budget: £9 Million

My Review: My opinion on 'Attack the block' is that it is a well produced film that appeals to people who like Sci-Fi, Horror and Action films. I like Sci-Fi and Action films but i was disappointed when watching this film because it wasn't as great as everyone was making it sound and look, i think this was to do with its low budget of £9 Million and that they didn't have enough to make it as good as they wanted because they couldn't have all the effects in the film that they wanted and the monsters in the film were people in costumes most of the time because they couldn't afford to have them animated. 

The film also used young actors who probably were still learning about what happens on a movie set and also this wouldn't appeal to people because they wouldn't know who they are and wouldn't want to go see the film because they didn't know if they were good actors or not. they had one well know actor,  Nick Frost, who people know and he has also been in successful films. I think if they used another well know actor then the film would be maybe a bit better then it is and more appealing to people.

In the film i found that the beginning was slow and not too interesting to start with but as you got further in to the film it got more interesting and revealed a lot more about the monsters/aliens and the characters who lived in the 'Block' and it was more interesting to watch. The film can also fit into the comedy category and it had some funny parts that i found very funny that also made the film more fun to watch but they were more towards the end. i think if they had more comedy and explanation of the charter at the beginning then the film would be more fun to watch and more interesting.   

The plot of 'Attack The Block' isn't a very well thought through plot and also i found it to be a bit messy because they didn't explain why the monsters/aliens where attacking people or why they had come to earth. The plot was also messy and mixed around because it didn't explain the characters and what they were doing and why they were so keen to fight the monsters/aliens and it also didn't tell you anything about them apart from they were involved in gangs and drugs. 

Altogether i think that 'Attack The Block' is a good film for the budget they had of £9 Million and if they had a bigger budget of about £12-15 million they could of produced a better film and made it more appealing to audiences and gained more money from the film, also i think that they could of had a better and neater plot that explained more and had more comedy at the beginning through to the end. 

Promoting The Film: To promote 'Attack The Block' they put posters in bus stops, billboards, magazines, newspapers Ect. to get people interested in the film and gain an audience. The premiere of the film was also a promoting method for the film.

How It Was Produced: The film was produced by "Big Talk Productions' who are know for making- Hot Fuzz, Shawn Of The Dead, Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World. They produced the film with 'The Uk Film Council', Film 4 and Studio Canal. 

The film was shot in London with 6 weeks worth of shots at night because most of the film is based at night. Interior scenes were filmed at 'Three Mill Studios' in east London.

What The Film Was Based On: The film was based on many things that Joe Cornish had experienced in his life like - He was once robbed outside his home, he based the monsters on his cat and cats, the type of area he lived in and the people who lived there.

Soundtrack: The soundtrack of the film was an original score composed by Simon Ratcliffe and Felix Buxton from the electronic dance group 'Basement Jaxx'.

Representations Of Men And Women And Jack

Representations of Men and Women on Prezi

Kick Ass Research 4

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 likeSpider-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.