The Martian: Info sheet

NICK NEIL’S: MEDIA TEXT INFORMATION SHEET

TITLE:

The Martian

YEAR OF PROD:

2015?

TYPE:

FILM Yes

TELEVISION

DOC.

MUSIC

ADVERT

MUSIC VID.

OTHER:

DIRECTOR

Ridley Scott

PRODUCER

Mark Huffam, Simon Kinberg, Ridley Scott, Michael Schaefer

WRITER

Drew Goddard (Screenplay) Andy Weir (Book)

PRODUCTION COMPANY

Scott Free Productions

KEY CAST /ARTIST

Matt Damon, Jessica Chastain, Kristin Wiig, Jeff Daniels, Michael Peña, Sean Bean, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Mackenzie Davis

KEY CREW

Harry Gregson-Williams (Music), Dariusz Wolski (Cinematography)

GENRE

Thriller, Drama

BUDGET

$108 million

BOX OFFICE

$50 Million (Opening Weekend)

THEMES

Loneliness, Space, Suspense,

AWARDS

TBC

NARRATIVE: During a manned mission to Mars, Astronaut Mark Watney is presumed dead after a fierce storm and left behind by his crew. But Watney has survived and finds himself stranded and alone on the hostile planet. With only meager supplies, he must draw upon his ingenuity, wit and spirit to subsist and find a way to signal to Earth that he is alive. Millions of miles away, NASA and a team of international scientists work tirelessly to bring "the Martian" home, while his crewmates concurrently plot a daring, if not impossible, rescue mission. As these stories of incredible bravery unfold, the world comes together to root for Watney's safe return. Based on a best-selling novel.

LA Haine, City of God Comparison

City of God is a 2002 Brazilian crime drama film co-directed by Fernando Meirelles and Kátia Lund. La Haine is a 1995 French black-and-white drama/suspense film written, co-edited, and directed by Mathieu Kassovitz.

They both follow disillusioned youth with the main themes following the crime and violence that are ever present in their lives, they both feature an ethnically diverse cast and portray the stories of Racism they face as a result of who they are. City of God follows the story of Rocket and his life in the city of god, he is a non-violent character but brushes with Violence daily due to where he grows up, The City of God is a slum and has almost third world conditions, this parallels to the suburbs of Paris where, although they are poor, they still have adequate housing and running water.

This shows that despite France being an established first world country it still can fall victim to the same issues as a newly industrialised nation as brazil. The violent nature of both these films highlight that their situation is a large influence to this, as it gang culture seems to be a part of life where they group up. Particularly in City of God, Rocket comes into contact with crime no matter what he does. As a result of this he is used by the photography company to capture the violence, not thinking about his safety and what might happen to him as a result of capturing this underreported and more personal life within the city of god.

The cinematography in both films is great, LA Haine is shot in Black and white, a deliberate choice by the director to show their drab concreate environment and the dreariness of their situation. This contrast with City of God where it is bright and colourful despite the dower colour pallet of the Favela, it acts as a Juxtaposition the colourful aesthetic makes the dark subject matter look even more out of place and is a clever device to use.

Although both films are foreign language films the performances within them are exceptional, the lack of understanding the languages does not lessen the impact and there is frequent use of close ups to show the emotions on character’s faces, which makes the lack of understandable dialogue less of an issue.  

Layer Cake: Review

Layer Cake is a 2004 British crime thriller film directed by Matthew Vaughn, in his directorial debut. The screenplay was adapted by J. J. Connolly from his novel of the same name. It stars Daniel Craig as “XXXX”, the anonymous protagonist of the film, who is an established drug dealer; having routed himself in the London criminal underground. On the surface the film looks exactly like any other British Gangster movie, a popular sub-genre during the period of release (2004), having to compete with such films as; “Snatch” and “Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels”. However it manages to set itself apart with key themes that differ from traditional genre conventions, Craig’s character is not “East-End Hard man” who would bash your head in for looking at him, his character abhors violence and only does so to further his own agenda; his plan throughout the film is to make a “Clean Mill” and retire.

Of course this does not go over so swimmingly, causing the protagonist to have to dirty his hands and clean up messes he did not make. What is interesting in the marketing of the film is that it presents itself as the aforementioned, clichéd, British Crime thriller in its advertisement. Showing Daniel Craig’s character often holding the boss and looking like the leader of a crime syndicate. I think this has to do with that this type of genre was very much the “Flavour of the month” and although Layer Cake is different in many aspects it would like to present itself like any other film to draw in audiences, this looks odd having watched it eleven years on as it does do a competent job of distinguishing itself from the similar films of that time.

In conclusion, Layer Cake is a smart and much more grounded take on the popular “British Gangster” movie, favouring clever plot devices and strong character development; rather than Grandiose gun fights were the hero’s “Plot armour” is so thick that they’re able to take down the rival gang all by themselves. Craig’s character is very much portrayed as the smart, and business minded individual just attempting to make money and move on. They even demonstrate the character weakness on many occasions as he is often overpowered by stronger and more traditional genre characters.

La Haine Analysis

The film is made in 2005 and directed by Mathieu Kassovitz, it follows 24 hours in the lives of three Parisian teenagers who come from a “Ghetto” in the French suburbs. It shows their interactions with a Racist and oppressive police force, after their friend Abdel is sent to hospital at the police’s hands a riot ensues. This is the catalyst for the events to come as Vinz finds a police offers lost gun and vows to “Kill a cop” should his friend die due to the beating he received by the police. La Haine stands as a portrait of a broken social system and acts as a social commentary to the events and the tension within France as a whole. The story has two perspectives, although the three main characters are criminals you can identify with their struggle due to the polices apparent corruption, this makes Vinz vow to kill any cop seem more fair as by his judgement the police treat them the same way, indiscriminately being aggressive and violent toward them; he feels justified to treat them the same way.

The black and white colour pallet of the film is clearly an artistic choice, a commentary perhaps, to show the similarities between the boys as in this form skin colour is less pronounced and shows that we are all the same at the root of it. In my opinion the black and white doesn’t particularly enhance the film as it does not allow me to appreciate the cinematography to a greater degree as one facet of inspection is not present and makes it hard for me to compare similar shots in other films to this one, colour for me is important as I feel it enhances a film; which is why it is the more popularly chosen maiden for modern film. All though with this film the colour is less necessary as it also tells of the dreary grey and white cement buildings they live in.

There is strong characterization throughout the film and this is ever present in the changing of the character over time, once the shocking news report comes out about Abdel’s death Vinz uses his murderous rage to confront a gang of Skinheads that have attacked his friends. He hold a gun to one’s head and drags him down an alley, the scene that follows shows how the character has evolved over the course of the film. There is great emotional build up as the skinhead begs for his life, the camera flicks between Vinz and the skinhead, their faces mirrored of each other as they both are twisted with fear.

In conclusion the film shows the broken system present within Paris, and leaves us with the question of has it changed? 

Headhunter Analysis

Headhunters Analysis

Headhunters is a 2012 Norwegian film from director Mortum Tyldum. It is a story with themes of crime, espionage and betrayal.

The film had an engaging story with good characterisation on the part of the main protagonist and antagonist. However despite these strong characters that the film was focused around it fell overall rather flat in terms of back up characters with a few exceptions.

There were no strong female characters in the film and almost all of the supporting female cast were naked at some point and were used as a conquest rather than a well thought out and deep character that helps the story as it unfolds. This can be forgiven to some extent by the main character in turmoil on behalf of his relationship with woman. The opening line tells us of his insecurities about his height and how he feels the need to buy his tall, model wife beautiful things.

This is due to his own belief that she would not be happy with him if he was not a wealthy man, this is a large plot point as this is partly what drives him to commit these crimes that land him in trouble. What we later learn is that she wants nothing more than to have children, something that he is not willing to provide her with as he feels that she will no longer love him if they do have children. This is another example of poor reflection of females within the film as the main character assumes that she does not care for him and rather is with him for his wealth and power.

The film also has themes of comedy, this good as although it is not an outright action-comedy the subtle nuances of the jokes help support the character and humanise what is essentially a bad man who cheats on his wife, robs people. If it did not portray him as the hapless victim the film would be a lot harder to relate to the character as he is not all that likable. Doing all these things so he can have money.

Although it is a foreign film the acting covered what was missed in the subtleties of the dialogue, overall the film was a strong experience and multi facetted in it’s themes and in some regards defies genre conventions. Where it falls flat is the nature of it’s supporting cast, none of them where particularly bad characters but were poorly written and in large part where not necessary for the plot to procced.

Film Production Companies

Working Title films

Working Title Films is a London Based, British film production company owned by Universal Studios The Company was founded by Tim Bevan and Sarah Radclyffe in 1983.

Their most globally recognised film perhaps is Billy Elliot which achieved worldwide fame in 2000 and was then later adapted to the stage due to its success.

They also produce the popular Simon Pegg and Nick Frost movies such as Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz.

DNA Films

DNA Films is a British film production company founded by Duncan Kenworthy and Andrew Macdonald In 1997. They produce a number of primarily British films and have had success with the thriller genre in particular

The Film that has received the largest amount of praise is 2006’s ‘The last King of Scotland’ which gained one of the lead actors Forrest Whitaker an Oscar. Some other notable films include;   28 Days Later (2002), Love Actually (2003), Dredd (2012).

Vertigo Films

Vertigo Films is a British film production and film distribution company based in London, England. It was founded in 2002 by producers Alan Niblo and James Richardson.

They are most known for the Film Street Dance 3D, which was release in 2010. The majority of Their films are British Based.

Differences in Production Between Quentin Tarantino & Spike Lee

                                                                                                                    

Title: Miracle at St. Anna

Director: Spike Lee

Writer: James McBride

Producer: Spike Lee

Production Company: 40 Acres and a Mule

Budget: £30,226,701

Box Office: £5,319,291

Year: 2008

Title: Inglorious Bastards

Director: Quentin Tarantino, Eli Roth ( Uncredited)

Writer: Quentin Tarantino

Producer: Lawrence Bender

Production Company: A Band Apart, Studio Babelsberg

Budget: £50,395,944

Box Office: £80,988,253

Year: 2009

Quentin Tarantino is most likely a wider known director in modern Hollywood and as such his movies are likely to receive more funding and as a result they appear to 

make more money, Tarantino has had widespread commercial successes with his films despite their odd presentation.

The subject matter of Tarantino’s films, often appeal to the dominant ideology and as such are likely to attract a larger amount of people based upon this. In contrast to this Spike lee’s films often go against what is normally commercially successful, the majority of his films are from a black point of view and as such gain less global attraction as less people feel that they can relate to the piece.

This is shown by Miracle at St. Anna as despite its £30m budget it only made a fraction of that. This can possibly be attributed to the subject matter of a World War 2 film set from the perspective of black Americans, or other factors including Lee’s beef with the film industry as a whole and poor critic reviews which meant people were less likely to go and see it.

Quentin Tarantino is also an Oscar winner which furthers his fame brining him into the public eye.

As we can see from the table the budgets of the two films were not that different yet Tarantino managed to almost double the budget, and win an academy award for the piece.

In all Quentin Tarantino and Spike lee are similar directors in that they have unique ideas of filming and screenplays. How they differ is that Tarantino has the support of the film industry as a whole and also makes more globally likeable films in contrast to Lee.