The opening and Ending scenes of American Beauty are similar and different, all at the same time.
The opening scene begins with an aerial shot of Lester's street, with Lester narrating the scene, repeating the word 'this' over and over. "This is my street, This is my life etc etc."
The first scene where we first see Lester is him waking up, with his alarm that wakes him. That scene is a very dark scene, with only the light from the window lighting the scene. We then see him in the shower, where he masturbates, saying this will be the "highpoint of his day", that shows the audience how depressed he is, and how his day can only go "downhill from here"
His narration over the scene is in a very depressed tone, showing no enthusiasm or character at all. During his narration, we are introduced briefly to his family, his wife Carolyn, and his daughter Janie. He then gives a short narration about them, and how they were, or are now. The scene then cuts to a shot looking out of the car window, up into the trees, and we see the blue sky through the trees, which leads the audience to believe that the film will always be this bright and happy, then the opening scene ends with Lester's narration, 'It's never too late to get it back.'
Still in the making
Friday, 27 March 2009
Friday, 27 February 2009
Hollywood blockbuster! :D
The film im writing this on is Iron Man.
It was released on May 2nd 2008, and was nominated for two oscars, won 6 other awards and was nominated for 30 others. The main role for the film is played by Robert Downey jr. and also has many other stars such as Gweneth Paltrow and Terrence Howard.
When Iron Man was first released, it rocketed to $98.6 million on approximately 8,700 screens at 4,105 theaters for a $102.1 million tally including Thursday night previews. The reportedly $140 million-budgeted Marvel Comics adaptation had the second-highest grossing opening weekend ever for a non-sequel behind Spider-Man and the tenth highest overall. In terms of attendance, the start was slightly higher than X2: X-Men United's May 2 debut five years ago, and it soared past Marvel's average opening by over 60 percent.
Paramount Pictures and Marvel Interprises produced Iron Man was a whopping $180,000,000, and almost all of the filming was taking place in and around Los Angeles. Iron Man had grossed $102 million locally and $206 million worldwide over the first weekend it was in cinema (May 2-4, 2008).
Iron Man was directed by Jon Favreau (Who also directed, Elf, 2003, and Zathura: a space adventure, 2005), it was written by Mark Fergus, Hawk Ostby, Art Marcum and Matt Holloway- They had all written the screenplay. Jon Favreau had actually asked for Robert Downey Jr to have the lead role, he said:
"The best and worst moments of Robert's life have been in the public eye. He had to find an inner balance to overcome obstacles that went far beyond his career. That's Tony Stark. Robert brings a depth that goes beyond a comic book character having trouble in high school, or can't get the girl."
It was released on May 2nd 2008, and was nominated for two oscars, won 6 other awards and was nominated for 30 others. The main role for the film is played by Robert Downey jr. and also has many other stars such as Gweneth Paltrow and Terrence Howard.
When Iron Man was first released, it rocketed to $98.6 million on approximately 8,700 screens at 4,105 theaters for a $102.1 million tally including Thursday night previews. The reportedly $140 million-budgeted Marvel Comics adaptation had the second-highest grossing opening weekend ever for a non-sequel behind Spider-Man and the tenth highest overall. In terms of attendance, the start was slightly higher than X2: X-Men United's May 2 debut five years ago, and it soared past Marvel's average opening by over 60 percent.
Paramount Pictures and Marvel Interprises produced Iron Man was a whopping $180,000,000, and almost all of the filming was taking place in and around Los Angeles. Iron Man had grossed $102 million locally and $206 million worldwide over the first weekend it was in cinema (May 2-4, 2008).
Iron Man was directed by Jon Favreau (Who also directed, Elf, 2003, and Zathura: a space adventure, 2005), it was written by Mark Fergus, Hawk Ostby, Art Marcum and Matt Holloway- They had all written the screenplay. Jon Favreau had actually asked for Robert Downey Jr to have the lead role, he said:
"The best and worst moments of Robert's life have been in the public eye. He had to find an inner balance to overcome obstacles that went far beyond his career. That's Tony Stark. Robert brings a depth that goes beyond a comic book character having trouble in high school, or can't get the girl."
When i first saw Iron Man, i was thouroughly impressed. Refering back to the Commercial Commodity task, it got me thinking about the pitch that was shown to the producers, and how well it must have been pitched over.
IN THE MAKING.
The Pursuit of Happyness.
How is the American dream presented in the pursuit of happyness?
In the film 'The Pursuit of Happyness' The main character Chris Gardner is played by Will Smith, and is a low-middle class man living with his wife and only son, played by Thandie Newton and Jaden Smith, respectivly.
The film was based on a true story, and does follow a man called Chris Gardner who did struggle with life and is now a multi millionaire.
The beggining of the film is very multicultural, and shows us many people of the different cultures as extras in the movie. Chris' job as a 'bone x ray scanner' and trying to sell them to different medical companies, but to no avail. Because of his failure to sell his scanners, his wife leaves him and takes his son away from him. After that, Chris decides to turn around his life, by looking for a new, better job as a stock broker. But before he can recieve any pay for his new job, he has to do six months of training with no pay or home.
During the time of his training, him and his son Christopher have to resort to living in all sorts of shelter, such as a subway toilet, and even a hostel. He then meets Dean Whitter, who is the head of the stockbroking company he is applyling for. Chris then shares a cab with him, and solves the new craze 'rubix cubes' for him, which amazes Whitter.
The american dream is portayed in this film by showing us that even someone with troubles as much as Chris can make it in life if he wants to do it and drive himself to do it. The film shows us how Chris' life went through the varios ups and downs of him trying to sell his scanners , then getting his job as a stock broker.
The ending of the film shows us Chris being called into his bosses office asking him if he would like a promotion, which would substantially increase his pay rise.
As we see Chris run out of the building into the street, where the realisation what lies ahead of him in life sinks in, he goes to pick up his son from the nursery, then the screen fades to black, and the words " After beginning his career at Dean Whitter, Chris Gardner went on to found the investment firm Gardner rich in 1987" then the screen fades back to Chris and his son walking back through the streets, and at 4:08 in the video, The REAL Chris Gardner walks past Will Smith and his son. Then the screen fades back to black, and the words "In 2006, Chris Gardner sold a minority stake in his brokerage firm in a multi-million dollar deal."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-2GJRixxRI
The very emotional ending :'(
Oh, one last thing, moustaches don't suit Will Smith.
Thursday, 15 January 2009
Hollywood: A commerical commodity?
Well here i go.
During the film documentary that Leanne showed us last friday, our aim was to talk about whether or not we think Hollywood is a Commercial Commodity.
During the documentary, a number of different directors and producers where shown and were talking about thier views. The first director shown was Oliver Stone, who was talking about how competetive it can be. He also said that if being a director was not competitive, it would not be called showbusiness. One thing that really stuck in my mind was when he said its "All about the quality of the pitch" which i think is a very good point, because if someone has a brilliant idea, and if they tell it to the managing director poorly, the idea will sound bad and most probably will not get the "Green Light". Another thing Stone was saying about pitches was that not many pitches make it when they are shown to the directors and that a good picth should be done 'sitting around a campfire' which i think that Stone is saying that to successfully deliver a good pitch, try and make freinds with the director, and explain your idea in a way that you feel most comfortable.
Another director, named Bill Mechanic was also frequently interviewed during the documentary. He was talking about what would happen if the script shown was not good enough for the film itself and he said "Great script-Great characters." Which played on my mind because some of the films i have seen have not got great characters-or actors portraying them...which makes me think how well the pitch or how good the script was. One memorable quote from Mr Mechanic was "Every decsision you make you could get fired for" really had an impact on me because i had never actually realised- or even thought about for that matter how risky being a film-maker could be, as one simple mistake could lose you your job and salary.
"Failure keeps you humble" was another of my favourite quotes from Mechanic, because he is stating that if a pitch doesnt make it through, its not the end of the world and it shows the directors that there is room for improvement and could even start a new script from a spinn off idea. Director Joe Silver said that negative feedback from a audeince's reviews could mean that the crew must get back together and make whole new scenes, which could cost them more than their budget can handle, or could be very inconvient for the actors themselves. Also, another thing said by Silver, "Promotion images make or break" which means apart from the pitching and the scripts...the posters advertising the film need to be good and eye catcing- otherwise no one will see the poster and want to see it, which would ruin the production teams hard work.
During the film documentary that Leanne showed us last friday, our aim was to talk about whether or not we think Hollywood is a Commercial Commodity.
During the documentary, a number of different directors and producers where shown and were talking about thier views. The first director shown was Oliver Stone, who was talking about how competetive it can be. He also said that if being a director was not competitive, it would not be called showbusiness. One thing that really stuck in my mind was when he said its "All about the quality of the pitch" which i think is a very good point, because if someone has a brilliant idea, and if they tell it to the managing director poorly, the idea will sound bad and most probably will not get the "Green Light". Another thing Stone was saying about pitches was that not many pitches make it when they are shown to the directors and that a good picth should be done 'sitting around a campfire' which i think that Stone is saying that to successfully deliver a good pitch, try and make freinds with the director, and explain your idea in a way that you feel most comfortable.
Another director, named Bill Mechanic was also frequently interviewed during the documentary. He was talking about what would happen if the script shown was not good enough for the film itself and he said "Great script-Great characters." Which played on my mind because some of the films i have seen have not got great characters-or actors portraying them...which makes me think how well the pitch or how good the script was. One memorable quote from Mr Mechanic was "Every decsision you make you could get fired for" really had an impact on me because i had never actually realised- or even thought about for that matter how risky being a film-maker could be, as one simple mistake could lose you your job and salary.
"Failure keeps you humble" was another of my favourite quotes from Mechanic, because he is stating that if a pitch doesnt make it through, its not the end of the world and it shows the directors that there is room for improvement and could even start a new script from a spinn off idea. Director Joe Silver said that negative feedback from a audeince's reviews could mean that the crew must get back together and make whole new scenes, which could cost them more than their budget can handle, or could be very inconvient for the actors themselves. Also, another thing said by Silver, "Promotion images make or break" which means apart from the pitching and the scripts...the posters advertising the film need to be good and eye catcing- otherwise no one will see the poster and want to see it, which would ruin the production teams hard work.
Friday, 9 January 2009
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