Active Reading Homework - Observer Film Quarterly March 09

A shiny, happy place, relaxed about the filthy rich, insatiable in its optimism, in love with happy endings, and very New Labour Welcome to Curtisland...

This article is based around the man Richard Curtis who has achieved an amazing amount towards British films. His most famous films include, Love Actually, Bridget Jones's Diary, Four Weddings and a Funeral and Notting Hill. He is also the creator of Blackadder and The Vicar of Dibley.

The article is very much interested in how his films are based around New Labour and how they always have a optimistic view about them. This optimisim has made the view of Britain change from the old broken-home and teenage pregnancy capital of Europe to a sunny, happy and witty place.

His films were seen as a stepping stone to what British film is now today because he created his own style of cinema which is named 'Curtisland'. Most British films were either wrote by him or followed his formula of a man/women needing to grow up and find out that love is all around us.

As said before Richard Curtis/Curtisland has achieved many things for British Cinema and most importantly British people. He has changed the perception of British Citizens and has definitely left his mark.

Working Title Films

Working title is a film production company based in London, it was founded in 1982 by Tim Bevan and Sarah Radclyffe. It has produced films such as, About a Boy, Wimbledon, Nanny McPhee and most famously, Billy Elliot.

"They have been listed as the most powerful figures in the British industry and in 2002 Premiere magazine put them at 41st in the world-wide movie power list."( BBC News story (2004)

This is a quote from an article that the BBC wrote about Working Title film. As you can see the company has had a huge impact on the film industry; The role that is has in British film as well is even bigger. This role grew when they were in a bid for the ITV licence.

British Film Websites

This is England - http://www.thisisenglandmovie.co.uk/

This is England website is packed full of iconic colours, images and clips that represent the film and Britain. The colours that they use are the traditional red, blue and white which are the colours on the English flag. This straight away tells anyone who is viewing the site that the film will be very British/English. The font/text they use is very bold and original one which represents the film well as its a very gritty and realistic film. The image that they use for the background is an iconic image of a British council estate. This again sets the scene for the film as the film is based around locations similar to it. Overall I think the website demonstrates what the film is about and its nature very well.

The Queen - http://www.thequeenmovie.co.uk/

The Queen website uses very plain and simplistic colours which represents the film well as its about the Queen who is very proper. They are very classic colours which adds to the feeling of a high class film because of the simple colour scheme.

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Price - The website

This website creates an intense feeling and atmosphere by the moving graphics and the dark, intense blue colour. They have the iconic Harry Potter font and text which most of us are now used to and understand when we see it. The background scenery of the main page is London/the human world, this makes the viewers think as usually the main action happens inside Hogwarts and not around London. The expressions on the characters faces as well are also serious and intense. The moving graphic as I said before creates an intense feeling and the image also appears that it has been pulled backwards, this increases the intense feeling as its being aimed at you. Overall the website creates a great atmosphere which demonstrates the film perfectly.

Michael Caine

Sir Michael Caine is a English film actor that has appeared in many many British films for most of his life. He has worldwide fame as he has appeared in over 100 films. Recognising his contribution to cinema (especially British) the Queen knighted him in 2000. We are using him as a case study for the section of British Film. We are using him but he has very stereo typed and iconic aspects about him that make him British.

Past:

Caine had a very normal British childhood growing up in Camberwell, England. During World War II he got moved to Norfolk. He worked briefly as film clerk/messenger for a film producer name, Jay Lewis. He attended the National Service from 1952-1954 which was compulsory in those years.

Teaser Trailer Analysis

Teaser trailers are used to advertise upcoming films that are near their release date. They differ from normal trailers as they are much shorter usually about 30 seconds long, therefore this means that they have little content in the clip and usually feature the important parts of the film. They are also released quite a bit before the opening of the film to create some talk and excitement about the film. They are usually placed in adverts and before movies start at the cinema. There purpose is to attract attention to the specific movie and create 'talk' about it so people are ready/prepared for when it comes. It will also bring new audiences which will make the movie more successful. Some of them aim to suit social networking sites such as facebook, myspace etc. They do this because social networking is a booming business which is growing and growing all the time. Facebook has over 200 million active users and over 100 million log in everyday, so if they suit to theses sites they have potential to reach millions of new viewers for the film.

Here is a normal trailer:
Trailer

Here is a teaser trailer:
Teaster Trailer

Start of A2 course

For the second year of our media course we will be studying British Film and collective identity. The main focus of the British Film part is why or what makes British films, British. We have already starting watching film clips, trailers and actual films, I think I will enjoy this part more than the first year as Im more interested in film than TV shows. We will be watching more (British) films ,comparing and analysing. We have also been doing webpages which is a part of our coursework that gets marked, this will be like our blog but specifically about British films.

Saturday Night/Sunday Morning

On out last media lesson, on the 18th of June we watched a part of the film called 'Saturday Night/Sunday Morning'. We are starting this term with British Film. This film is a very realistic, traditional British film which rejects British values in this time. It has a very middle classed, stereotyped character called Arthur, this type of character is a type that (I think) all British citizens can relate to because of his stereotyped and realistic nature which we have viewed. The mise-en-scene of it as well is also realistic in which again we can relate to. The values that are portrayed in the film aren't representative in our modern day society. Other values of this film for example, family values again show British tradition in that era of time. The representation of male and females in this film are very old fashioned with the men going out to work and bringing in money, then the women staying at home cooking for the children and their husbands.