Due to my genre (musical), influences from existing musicals will influence my use of media language, like using props to reference iconic musicals. Such as, the motif of umbrellas referencing “Singin’ in the Rain” and “Umbrellas of Cherbourg”, as, to some extent, iconography. Moreover, “Singin’ in the Rain” focused on a male protagonist and his career in the film industry, whereas mine focuses on a female in the industry; linking to Steve Neale’s genre theory, and how genre can be dominated by repetition, but exists within specific contexts, like social changes.
Gauntlett’s representation theory suggests that representation in media can offer ‘tools’ which we can construct our own identities from. I will explore feminism and the representation of women in my film with an ambitious and talented female protagonist taking a career role usually recognised as male, and I’ll use visual codes like smart clothing to connote her professional side. These characteristics could be positive ‘tools’ for audience members to construct their own identity with.
In my survey, taken by people within the target age range (30-44), when asked which studios people could name, Warner Brothers was most mentioned. Therefore, my studio choice is another way of targeting a specific audience. Moreover, mainstream audiences stereotypically prefer happy endings. Therefore, I will use mise en scene in my posters and DVD pictures that connotes happiness, like using vivid colours. This links to Gerbner’s Cultivation theory, if seeing repeated representations over time can shape the way in which people perceive the world around them, happy endings may be preferred.
Curran and Seaton’s theory states that Hollywood runs as an oligopoly, which is driven by profit and power and limits creativity. As my chosen studio is one of the ‘big six’, my film does conform to this part of industry context. I’ll represent this with the Warner Brothers logo on my posters and DVD cover. Furthermore, being a major studio, having a big budget requiring genre is appropriate. Moreover, due to the plot being about film, my movie will be an awards season movie, as represented by the reviews on the theatrical poster. Representation wise, the protagonist in my film is female, contrasting to the majority of mainstream films starring a male protagonist, like in the musicals “Singin’ In The Rain” and “An American in Paris”.
Outline: A musical. A female wannabe director sets out to direct a feature length musical on minimum budget after every studio turns her down (finance/distribution). Possibly with fantastical elements (like ‘La La Land’). She’s finally starting something out on her own after life and fear has held her back. There’s also a romance sub-plot with someone who works on her film production.
Location: The film is set in England, in and around London during the present day. I wanted to set it here because London stands in for the big part of film industry where McKenzie wants to be. I also set it in the present day so all modern day film technology can be referenced and no new technology has to be made up which makes the film less likely to be related to.
Messages of the Film: Feminism and representation of women. Although quite a few studios turned McKenzie down due to not believing a first time director could direct a musical which has such a big budget, a few, in particular what was originally her favourite, turns her down because she’s a woman and they don’t trust her with such a high budget movie. Her ambition drives her to direct it anyway on a small budget.
Character Breakdown:
Name: McKenzie Lee
Age: mid 20’s
Race: white British
Gender: female
Profession: currently a barista who dabbles in parts in films (e.g. co- producing) as a freelance producer but has made short films in the past as a director which is her dream. An aspiring director.
Making up for lost time in the film industry. She was always ambitious, but life has held her back and fear
Genre:
Musical with reference to classic musicals
Sub-genre of romance
Target Audience:
Age: 30- 49
Audience: mainstream
Mainstream audience –actors and directors:
director: Damien Chazelle, co-directed by Lulu Wang
Love-interest: Greta Gerwig, Scarlett Johansson, Saoirse Ronan, Brie Larson, Amy Adams, Rachel McAdams, Miles Teller, Michael B Jordan, Jack Reynor, George MacKay, Ryan Gosling, Lakeith Stanfield
Best Friend: Greta Gerwig, Scarlett Johansson, Saoirse Ronan, Brie Larson, Amy Adams, Rachel McAdams, Miles Teller, Michael B Jordan, Jack Reynor, George MacKay, Ryan Gosling, Lakeith Stanfield
Film/TV influences:
‘La La Land’: musical with fantastical elements and an ambitious female protagonist
‘France Ha’ – focuses on an individual and their emotions – in a relatable way
‘ The Souvenir’ – aspiring female director
‘Singin’ In the Rain’ – umbrella motif, classic musical
‘Umbrellas of Cherbourg’ – classic musical
LA LA LAND
colour
clearly a musical
title
exaggerated street light brightness
high key lighting
cast names
directors name
stars from critics who are named
Coming Out time
FRANCES HA
playful title
protagonist – ideas of their personality
stars from critics who are named
cast name
reviews
director
colour
THE SOUVENIR
title
cast
director
simplistic
serious tone
reflective idea
centralised
SINGIN IN THE RAIN
colourful
high key lighting
happy faces
umbrellas
playful title
song lyrics
cast names
UMBRELLAS OF CHERBOURG
lots of colour
umbrellas
two main characters
relationship is shown
title
cast names
winner at festival mark
director
bright light shining from the back and exaggerated street light brightness
My Plot and Genre: My film is a drama with a romance subplot about a woman who directs a musical on a minimum budget. However, it may become a musical. I will have two characters on the poster – the protagonist and the love interest.
Use of bold colours, and includes a variety of colours e.g. red, blue and yellow. It’s reflective of the use of colours in the movie, especially red.
Title – centralised, large text, bold font that’s easy to read. Colour makes it stand out
Pictures of cast/characters – different shaped boxes attracts attention, individuality
Bold and enlarged text for cast names e.g. Antonio Banderas and Penelope Cruz
Writer/director Pedro Almodovar made clear
Cinema release date easily seen
Studio logos
Critic quotes and star rating (good ones obviously)
Title – largest font, easy to read, colour stands out from the background
Protagonist as the centre image, but other characters/cast members made clear
Director/writer Greta Gerwig made clear with mention of previous work
Cast names at the top in order of pay (?) – e.g. Saoirse Ronan, Emma Watson, Florence Pugh
Genre made clear e.g. period piece through outfit shown
colours reflect the colours in the movie
Characters have their own line
Simplistic and minimal
Two main characters on the cover
Title stands out due to colour and size
Cast – Bradley Cooper, Lady Gaga states
‘Coming Soon’
image makes the characters/faded onto characters but a part is in focus
What ‘issue’ are you integrating into your narrative? Explain how your film idea reflects a social, cultural and/or political context? (200 words)
In my movie I will be exploring the representation of women, mainly through my protagonist who is a woman in her mid 20s (24). Through this I will also be exploring feminism and sexism specifically in the film industry. Although some studios deny working with her due to believing her film cannot be made by a first time film director (that isn’t a short film) some companies deny partnering due to the director being a woman including the studio she most wanted to partner up with and get money from/ get distributed by. Hence, she makes the movie on a very small budget. This reflects sexism in today’s society, specifically sexism that still remains within the film industry. Currently, only five women have ever been nominated for a directing Oscar and only one woman has won. This year all the nominations were again male meaning the male nominees this year alone equal the amount of female nominees for best directing across the entirety of the Oscars history . This is why exploring sexism in the film industry is still relevant, I mat add a plot about awards also. The female protagonist is ambitious, honest, intelligent and talented and succeeds in creating a marvellous musical despite a low budget.
The oldest age group here (i.e. those aged 45 and over) are best represented among dramas (where they make up 28% of the box office), romance (24%) and mystery (22%). Drama has the oldest audience overall, with over 60% of cinema-goers who watch dramas being older than 25.
Horror is an interesting genre as it has almost no audience under 15 (understandably, due to BBFC ratings) but also performs poorly with older audiences. Over half of all the people who see horror movies in the cinemas are 15 to 24 years old.
Other genres which perform poorly with older audiences are animation (13%), and sci-fi (16%) and action (16%). It appears that many of the choices of older audiences can be summed up by looking at how close they are to the real world. The further removed a movie is from reality, the less likely older audiences are to go and see it in the cinema.
Research each studio, and create a report for each one:
Walt Disney Studios
When was it created? 1923
Who created it? Walt Disney and Roy O. Disney
Who is the current CEO? obert Iger
Who owns the company?
What films have been made by the company?
1910: N/A
1920: N/A
1930: Academy Award Review of Walt Disney Cartoons, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
1940: Bambi, Dumbo, Fantasia, Melody Time, Pinocchio
1950: Alice in Wonderland, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Treasure Island, The Living Desert
1960: Ten Who Dared, Mary Poppins, The Sword in the Stone, Big Red, Moon Pilot
1970: Robin Hood, Pete’s Dragon, Freaky Friday, Superdad, Ride a Wild Pony
1980: The Fox and the Hound, Return to Oz, Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, Cheetah
1990: Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, Hocus Pocus, Cool Runnings, Toy Story
2000: Monsters, Inc, Finding Nemo, Brother Bear, Cars, The Wild
2010: Tangled, Toy Story 3, Big Hero 6, Inside Out, Maleficent
What genres does it specialise in?
animation
How many Oscars has the studio won?
23
What are their highest grossing films/franchises?
MCU
The Lion King (remake)
Beauty and the Beast (remake)
Star Wars: The Last Jedi
Where are their organisations based?
California
Warner Brothers Pictures
When was it created?
1923
Who created it?
Jack, Sam, Harry and Albert Warner
Who is the current CEO?
Ann Sarnoff
What films have been made by the company:
1910’s
Speed, Beware!, Open Your Eyes, Kaiser’s Finish, My Four Years In Germany
1920’s
The Lost City, The Jazz Singer, Heroes of the Street, The Broadway Melody, The Dark Swan
1930’s
The Wizard of Oz, Playing Around, Under A Texas Moon, Top Speed, Big Boy
1940’s
Ladies Must Live, River’s End, Murder in the Air, An Angel From Texas, They Drive By Night
1950’s
An American in Paris, Them!, Crime Wave, Dial M for Murder, The High and the Mighty
1960’s
Rachel, Rachel, The Devil in Love, The Green Berets, The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, The Sea Gull
1970’s
The Exorcist, Oliver Twist, Badlands, Barry Lyndon, A Star is Born
1980’s
Superman 3, Local Hero, Table for Five, The Man With Two Brains, Twilight Zone movie
1990’s
Goodfella’s, You’ve Got Mail, Jack Frost, The Matrix, The Avengers
2000’s
Oceans 11, Training Day, Harry Potter 1, The Aviator, Million Dollar Baby,
2010’s
The Meg, Game Night, Ocean’s 8, Creed 2, A Star is Born
What Genre’s does it specialise in?
Musicals, adventure, Action, Crime
How Many Oscars has the studio won?
7
What are their highest grossing films/franchises?
Harry Potter, Aquaman, The Hobbit, Joker
Where are their organisation based?
California
b) With reference to films made by Warner Brothers and the assigned target audience (30 – 49 years old), justify why you have selected your chosen studio.
It can be associated with the adventure genre, what came up in my survey
Warner Brothers was the most named studio in my survey
e.g. The Jazz Singer, The Broadway Melody, The Wizard of Oz, An American in Paris, A Star is Born – I am considering doing a musical, or at least a film about a musical. WB is associated with the genre, and the studio was mentioned most in my survey (second being Walt Disney)
Social/Political Context that is explored: representation of women and feminism. Both the protagonist and ‘the buyer’ (another key character) are strong women. The protagonists determination and intelligence challenges the antagonists sexist opinions of women. The protagonist is associated with many positive personality traits that make her an independent and strong person, the same can be said for the buyer.
Social/Political Context that is explored: representation of women and feminism. When at work the female protagonist is asked to carry out a task that leads her to challenge her beliefs, the film explores her independence, intelligence, strong will, determination and free will. She will be presented as a strong and kind person, who can make up her own mind and her own opinions.
Social/Political Context that is explored: representation of women and feminism. The protagonist will go against gender stereotypes (female) and will be well suited for her job in a (fictional) well known company, and deserves to be promoted to much higher up in said company. She will come into conflict with misogynistic and sexist co-workers. The film followers her across the span of about five years.
Georgia Newman - Media Studies 