GENRE EG5 '71 (Warp, 2015)

'71 is a 2014 British historical thriller film set in Northern Ireland. For our mock exam we analysed the opening of this film under timed conditions in a style similar to the summer exam format - I have embedded the essay (after typing it up) at the bottom of this post as it has lots of relevant points (many of which have been extracted and put in the bullet point format throughout this post).

'71 poster

PRODUCTION CONTEXT/HISTORY
PRODUCTION: Crab Apple, Warp, Film4, BFI, Screen Yorkshire, Creative Scotland

DISTRIBUTION: Studio Canal; 11 territories

BUDGET: £8.1M

BOX OFFICE: $3.2m
BBFC: 15

This production is a Warp production, but it had a much higher budget than the majority of their films. It did receive grants form the BFI and Film4 - typical of indie productions. This ensures that films with more diverse/controversial representations are still made and the industry is not monopolised by conglomerates.
This film lost a lot of money, and it was a big risk for art to have such a high budget in the first place.

The hybrid aspect of it being a historical thriller/action/social realist film did give it a higher chance at being commercially viable than the majority of Warp films, and though Studio Canal is a well-established distributor it did not put much of a gamble into the film and marketing was limited.

The film did have a week long theatrical release in America (to qualify for the Oscars), showing the ambition o this film in comparison to Warp's other productions, but the amount of territories it was related in was still a low number in compassion to WT films (and there was no distribution in China).

No. of territories (BoxOfficeMojo)

Company list (distribution) (IMDB)

The 15 rating form the BBFC is interesting, as This is England got rated an 18 mostly due to cursing and the violent scene at the end (which is relevant to the moral values the film condemns), but '71 has extremely graphic and violent scenes throughout (when his friend is shot in the face when they arrive in Belfast, when a bar is later blown up with a child inside, the homemade stitching done o the protagonist etc.). This is an examples of how more commercially acceptable films are given more chance for commercial success than more controversial ones.

Although the film was ultimately a commercial/financial flop, it was nominated for BAFTAs, BIFAs, and O'Connell won the EE Rising Star award. This shows how although the film was not a financial success, its' critical reception proved it to be a success in ways that many other Warp films are.

IDENTS/COMPANIES

• Studio Canal
• distribution and production company (mostly distribution)
• Subsidiary of NBCUniversal (one of the Big Six)
• co-production financing (that way risk is spread if the film is a flop)
• can be part of meaning (has worked with WT and Warp)
• shows range
• Film4
• tv channel (UK)
• denotes low budget
• BFI (British Film Institute)
• gives grants to low budget indie films they think require subsidy (which do not need to be repaid)
• government funded
• previously known as UKFC (UK Film Council)
• Screen Yorkshire is a regional branch -  the film was not shot on location, and the extensive creation of the streets with houses in varying states of destruction show where much of the budget was spent.

TITLES

• informational words are smaller than company names
• small serif font (white on black)
• signifies serious drama 
• 'presents'
• production and distribution
• co-production between Crab and Warp
• the Warp logo is also on screen - larger contributor

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MISE-EN-SCENE FOR EXPOSITION

• blood, sweat, costume, hair
• all wearing green military costume
• all sweaty (including those not fighting)
• all crew cuts (functional, military)
• creates high level of verisimilitude
• on the bus:
• is not a sports car
• signifies poverty
• man wearing a flat cap and smoking
• connotes Yorkshire
• signifies film is set in the past (cannot smoke on busses now), hence the name '71
• in the café
• is not a fancy 5 star restaurant
• run down, cheap looking place
• signifies poverty
• Is very similar to the sudden cut to the unappetising, greasy food in Withnail and I 
• Though not in the opening, when the locals bang their metal bin lids on the ground
• metal bins are now out of date, so signify the time period (maintain verisimilitude)
• preferred reading: it was a warning that police/army were approaching
• signifies target audience (older, native to the uk/Ireland)

EDITING

• fight scene:
• no ELS (establishing shot)
• fast-paced editing, short takes
• action genre
• cuts closer to protagonists face and cuts to see his reactions
• anchors protagonist
• centrally framed protagonist
• Training montage:
• quick fade from black (ellipsis)
• longer takes
• hand-held camera
• documentary style of realist genre
• sticks to 180 degree rule
• morning scene:
• almost a match cut done through the audio (the sound of the gun is similar to the lights turning on)
• fade-up from black
• shows ellipsis
• Café scene:
• fast-pan to reveal brother's face
• shot reverse shot in the conversation
• continuity editing
• 180 degree rule is used
• match on action with the fork and food

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CINEMATOGRAPHY

• fight scene:
• no long shots (M/MCU)
• no fade-up
• cuts straight to action
• impact
• shows brutality
• whip-pan and hand-held tracking shots (realist)
• Barthes action codes
• low-key lighting
• brutal/grim
• natural lighting?
• shallow field of focus
• protagonist in focus (and foreground), but can still see detail in the background
• anchors protagonist
• cuts back to protagonists reaction (and centrally framed)
• Training montage:
• ellipsis (there is an overall ellipsis, not just here)
• tracking shots of protagonist
• cuts back to protagonist
• anchorage
• morning scene:
• begins with tracking shot of superior officer
• becomes MCU
• long take
• lighting as man steps forward (lowkey and shows shadow on half his face)
• signified as villain?
• establishes power dynamic
• protagonist is in the edge of the frame
• sets up equilibrium with protagonist having very little power within his situation

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SOUND; GENRE SIGNIFICATION

• Fight scene:
• audiobridge over titles
• sound is unclear: basketball? fighting? shouting and hitting noises
• creates narrative enigma (Barthes)
• audio does not fade up - cuts in
• impact
• brutality
• diegetic sound
• ambient sound (crowd shouting and hitting)
• only coherent speech is coming form the coach
• Northern accent (Yorkshire)
• all for verisimilitude
• Morning scene:
• audiobridge fade-up
• music is sinister
• foreshadowing

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CENTRAL PROTAGONIST/NARRATIVE

• Anchorage:
• the camera repeatedly cuts back to the protagonist to show his reactions
• the protagonist is the first character we see in an MCU
• As the fight scene comes to a close there is a tracking shot of the protagonist, form an MLS to an MCU of his face, showing the blood and sweat on it (verisimilitude)
• Todorov's narrative theory:
• the protagonist's equilibrium is established almost entirely through the editing of the opening:
• he is established as the protagonist by repeatedly cutting back to show his reactions
• in the training montage, there is always an establishing shot of the area, with the troops training, then it cuts to a close-up of the protagonist's face - this shows him as indiscernible from the rest of the men (a 'cog in a machine')

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MOCK EXAM ESSAY


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INITIAL AUDIENCE RESEARCH: Survey

Question sheet

This week we did a survey to see if out target audience (primarily male aged 15-24) would be interested in our film idea:

• We showed them clips form 7 social realist films
• Cathy Come Home, Tyrannosaur, This is England, '71, Billy Elliot, Submarine, Slumdog Millionaire
• We gave them a question sheet about the clips
• Asked them to fill in their age/gender (almost all of them were a part of our target demographic)
  

  

  The questions were presented to ppts in a table
  format, but these were the questions

WHAT WE FOUND

• Name the film: 
• they couldn't name most of the films
• most recognised Billy Elliot and Slumdog Millionaire, which makes sense as these were the 2 most commercially successful.
• Genre:
• we suspected a teenage audience would use the word 'drama' to describe most of the films, with hybrid exceptions '71 and Submarine probably being labelled as action/romcom. 
• This was true for the most part, though 2 recognised the social realist theme. 
• Slumdog Millionaire was thought to be a Bollywood production by a few of the participants (which makes sense as the majority of Indian films are Bollywood films), but the majority labelled it as rom-com/drama.
• Would they want to see more of the films: 
• almost no one said they wanted to continue watching Cathy Come Home or Tyrannosaur, 
• more girls than Boys said they would want to continue Billy Elliot (probably because the ballet plot line is too 'girly'). 
• '71 was the most popular among participants that they said they would want to continue because of the genre, but Slumdog Millionaire was also a popular choice.
• Had they seen any other films/tv shows that seemed similar:
• Only a few participants named similar films/tv shows they had seen
• This is England, A Streetcar Named Desire, The Book Thief and Inglorious Bastards were some that were mentioned 
• But most said they had watched similar things
• this is positive feedback as it shows that though our target audience may not have been familiar with the clips we showed, they do have some interest in the genre
• Had they been to the cinema to see any films like these:
• only 1 participant had been to the cinema to see a social realist film (Slumdog Millionaire)
• This makes sense, as discussed in other posts low-budget indie films which tend to be more likely to explore heavy social realist themes are less commercially successful than studio/comedy films and therefore have a more difficult time with theatrical distribution
• Even The Journeyman, which we are taking lots of influence from, was screened at an indie film festival (The British and Irish Film festival)

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GENERAL CONVENTIONS 1: Idents, companies, production context

RESEARCH (SAM'S):

MY INFLUENCES:

• difference in production Idents for Working Title [WT] or Indie
• the importance of company idents

SUMMARY:
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• short audio visual clips played before films
• first thing to see at a film opening
• one of the simplest area of film openings 
• showing their brand to the audience 
• usually 3 company idents to spread the risks
• usual to be 1 - 5 secondslong per ident
• idents for conglomerate or subsidiaries are longer than indie idents
• a lot of production companies competing
• Big Six are dominant both in distribution and production

What are Idents?

An Ident is the identity production companies. It is one of the simplest area of all in the aspect of film openings. It's usual for the idents to be between 1-5 seconds long per ident. They are very important since there are so many Production Companies competing. However, the Production Companies in the Big Six such as Warner Bros., 20th Century Fox, Paramount Pictures, Universal Studios, Sony Pictures Entertainment, and Walt Disney Studios are the most dominant both in production and distribution, therefore, it's very easy for them to get a theatrical screening. The Ident is also showing their brand to the audience. It is very common to see at least 3 Company Idents this way the risk is spread. Sometimes you only see one Ident which is very unusual. There is often an audio bridge between the Idents. However, you are going to see more signifier, intertextuality, and horror color scheme in company Idents that are focused on horror genre. 


Below are some examples of Company Idents.
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Similarly, there are variations for Idents. They change their look to adapt to the genre such as sci-fi, Horror etc. (Below are some examples)
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What's the purpose of an Ident?

The main purpose of an ident is branding. BBC One ident is simple and plain so this way they can save the money and spend the saved money on tv shows. Another purpose is to sell the company to the viewers and production companies. 
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Here are some more general information about distribution companies:
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RESEARCH (MINE):
Idents - what are they

The purpose of an ident on slideshare

Idents are short audio-visual clips which play before films - essentially company logos

• Idents for conglomerates or subsidiaries are longer than indie idents, and as they have more budget are usually made digitally rather than practically.
• from the examples I look at (link to post here) 
• idents last 5-20 seconds
• usually 2-4 before a film
• there aren't conventionally less than 2
• some indie films do not have idents before the film starts at all

Here are some examples of idents from the Big Six conglomerates (Warner Bros., 20th Century Fox, Paramount Pictures, Universal Studios, Sony Pictures Entertainment, and Walt Disney Studios)

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Purpose of idents

• Sound effects used are sometimes used to signify film genre, or are unique to the ident
• the Film4 ident for example has its own sound effect
• for horror films the ident is often changed to fit the horror genre, and sometimes comedy, but not for most genres
• For the Big Six, idents are long, use cgi and have grand orchestral music (if there is no audio bridge)
• more expensive
• gold and silver used a lot
• images which show scale (the earth, a mountain, the sky)
• There is a certain level of risk with attaching a company's ident to a film, as if the film is a flop it is then attached to that company (the reverse is also true - if a film is massively successful)
• eg Nightmare Before Christmas - Disney did no believe it would be successful, so on theatrical release it did not have the Disney ident - only after it was a massive success was the ident put at the start of the film on the dvd

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Indie v Conglomerate
In class we compared 2 films: '71 produced by the indie company Warp, and Les Mis by the subsidiary Working Title

'71

Les Mis

• domestic total gross = total combined revenue from ticket sales
• Box Office does not account for tax, budget/profit sharing 
• Typical Warp and WT examples: WT made 100x more than Warp
• Les Mis is not a tentpole ($100m+) 
• Budget still too high for Independent uk company 
• WT had a Big Six distributor (Universal), Warp had an Indie (Roadside Attractions)
• Les Mis released at Christmas - holiday for blockbusters/family films
• That option not available to Warp (but possible counter-programming...)
• Cinemas will only accept longer running time for films with high Box Office potential (blockbuster movies)
• The longer the runtime the less screenings a cinema can do in 1 day
• Youth/family market are key demographic for cinemas 
• WT typical low age rating (MPAA PG-13/BBFC 12) v Warp typically high age rating (MPAA R/BBFC 18)

Number of territories for theatrical distribution

fragment form Les Mis territories

screenshot of all of '71's territories

• these 2 screenshots show the vast difference between the amount of theatrical distribution an indie and conglomerate/subsidiary can achieve

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