IDENT: Journey Films (new)

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This is the new stop-go ident for Journey Films, the production company for our film The Journey

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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CONTRASTING STUDY: Grimsby (Working Title, 2016)

Grimsby poster

This is NOT a social realist film! We are, however, using this comedy (spy/action satire) to help us clarify the characteristics of social realist films: we'll contrast the media language of this with what we've observed is conventional for the social realist genre...

PRODUCTION: Working Title, Big Talk, Village Roadshow [US partner] +2 others
DISTRIBUTION: Sony (UK), Colombia (UK); [no China] 36 territories
BUDGET: $35m
BOX OFFICE: UK $7.5m, US $7m; World $25m

BBFC 15, MPAA R (quite high)


SOME CONTEXT: An example of the impact of the changed, reduced status of WT within its parent big six conglomerate, NBC-Universal. WT had been receiving $600m funding every 7 years, with clearance to greenlight any project up to a $25m budget - but that has been reduced to a 'first look' deal, meaning Universal can decide whether they want to 'pick up' a WT project or not. In this case they didn't, Sony (and its subsidiary Colombia) did ... and maybe Universal were wise, as it failed to even recoup its budget, never mind the 2-3 times budget generally accepted as needed to move into profit.

The Gant rule obviously doesn't apply: its a very British film - so much so that the title had to be changed for US and international markets as the place name Grimsby has no recognition and is essentially meaningless and confusing outside the UK (unlike London). 

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IDENTS

• Sony ident is the first
• Big Six production
• Very unlikely to see a Big Six name on a social realist film
• Columbia
• subsidiary of Sony
• Village Roadshow Pictures
• US production partner
• virtually unheard of for UK social realist flick (unlike for comedy
• WT did not get an ident
  

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SOUND

• Begins with famous song (R Kelly)
• small indie companies do not have the budget to get copyright licenses 
• non diegetic well-known commercial track as an audiobridge over idents to main scene
• social realist films do not usually start with music (often have incidental music)
• lyrical music is also uncommon for social realist
• e.g. Tyrannosaur, but This is England has some
• OST features Ed Sheeran!

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FIRST SHOTS

• Not ELS establishing shot

  

  MCU -back tattoo, sweat, beer can, football shirt

• unusual choice of MCU
• no fade-in (black screen before shot after ident 4)
• Close-up of huge back tattoo ('ENGLAND' and 3 lions) 
• football tattoo
• sweat
• beer cans visible in background 
• Master shot
• reveals scene to be a bed shop
• Tightly framed shots for the opening sex scene are made comic by use of a master shot revealing the location
• poverty is being signified by massive sale posters hanging all over the shop ('lowest prices in Grimsby')
• very low prices $89.99 for a double bed

master shot - low prices, sale

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REPRESENTATION

• Stereotyping begins immediately

  

  MCU (cropped) - facial hair, scruffy look

• overgrown hair and facial hair
• sideburns
• ridiculous tattoo
• football top
• beer can
• and then reveal of moronic antisocial behaviour
• Comparison to social realist:
• The realism of social realist films can lead to showing antisocial behaviour
• e.g. Tyrannosaur protagonist is violent, racist and unemployed
• e.g. This is England swearing throughout, violence, underage drinking etc. 
• Immediate heteronormativity 
• opening sex scene
• idea of male provider (the male protagonist is the one to say "we'll take [the bed]")
• though this also signifies that he is the protagonist as it cuts back to his face/reactions

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Is very short for an opening scene - contrast with This is England and Tyrannosaur etc.

just 30 seconds into the opening sequence which is then followed by another famous commercial song (Blur)

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TITLES

titles

• Serif font
• shot 1 is typical of a social realist though
• grim street red brick terraced houses, heavily graffitied
• many houses are loaded up
• Mise-en-scene
• contrast to This is England - Shaun leaves his bike outside showing the community of the working class neighbourhood as he trusts it won't get stolen
• Grimsby only shows the decay (harsh 2 dimensional stereotype of working class)

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IDENT: Journey Films (old)

(SAM'S WORK)

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For this Ident, I used a luggage and threw clothes in it. Under the clothes, I wrote "Journey Films" on a piece of paper and included a passport which adds verisimilitude. Then I reversed the clip and increased the speed by 8.

IDENT: Maw Productions

(SAM'S WORK)

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For this Ident, I took several pictures and put it into FCPX as a sequence. I shortened the duration of the pictures to make the sequence faster and also decrease the duration of the Ident (2-3seconds long like other Indie Idents). I added a 3D title which zooms in and out which makes it an animated title. Then I recorded a voice-over saying "Maw Productions" and put a filter on the voice-over.

IDENT: Red Films

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For this ident I used photo transfer paper to iron the Red Films logo onto a white t-shirt. I mixed red paint with water so that it would make an even splatter on the t-shirt rather than just paint chunks. In FCPX I reversed the clip so that it looks like the paint comes off the shirt and added a colour mask so that red was the only colour and the rest was in black and white to give it a grim mood.
This ties in with the social realist genre we have decided for our film opening, and the short, practical effect is conventional of indie production/distribution companies. 
The serif font on the t-shirt is also conventional of low-budget indie companies.

PODCAST3: Idents, genre research

In this weekly podcast we discuss:

• filming/editing idents
• more genre research (specific films)

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GENRE EG1: Tyrannosaur

(SAM'S WORK) - input by me in green
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Budget: £750k
Box Office: $299k (Worldwide) / $22k (US)
Ratings: 84% (RottenTomatoes) / 7.6/10 (IMDb) / 3.5/4 (Roger Ebert)
Production Companies: Film4, UK Film Council, Screen Yorkshire, EM Media, Warp X, Inflammable Films
Director: Paddy Considine

IDENTS:

No Idents.

TITLES:

• serif font
• white font on black background connotes seriousness and drama
• different sizing between the titles and names to distinguish the different roles 
• the main title is centered and all capitals
• animated titles, fade in and out
• different positioning of titles
• for aesthetic purposes
• duration of title sequence: 00:00:03 - 00:02:04
• numbers of titles: 12
• In the other Paddy Considine film we looked at (Journeyman) there were also no titles before names (other examples had "with" "starring" "introducing" etc.)

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Tyrannosaur credits from harriet Barlow

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SOUND:

• soft guitar sound with notes that are a few seconds apart has an impact on our mood
• it connotes drama / seriousness
• get the serious feel
• makes us calm
• ambients sound of radio to add verisimilitude
• the incidental acoustic music is very conventional of social realist films
• it kicks in just after he has kicked his dog - this encourages the audience to empathise with the protagonist, rather than see him as a villain

1st SHOT:

• establishing shot
• starts with a close up of a male character
• narrative enigma because it's not very clear how the male character looks like due to shadows 
• using natural lights
• lowkey lighting

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CENTRAL PROTAGONIST + NARRATIVE:

• the male character is in every shot
• tracking shot when he is walking back home while having his dog in his arms
• shot variety of him
• he is always in focus
• it cuts back to him
• anchors he is going to be the central protagonist
• he is coming from the working class ( track pants, white and dirty shirt, drunk, is desperate for money)
• The music allows the audience to empathise with him, rather than see him as the villain who just kicked his dog to death in a drunken rampage
• This is quite a controversial and dark theme, something more commonly found in social realists
• the protagonist is an anti-hero: complex an din shades of grey, not a 2 dimensional stereotype
• this is similar to what was found in the New Wave movements

MISE-EN-SCENE FOR EXPOSITION:

•  small room 
•  squeaky floor
• bland colours
• anchors poverty
• The beer cans are used to confirm that he is drunk

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TRANSITION TO MAIN FILM:

• The equilibrium is disrupted when the central protagonist kills his dog
• Todorov's 5 point narrative theory:
• establish equilibrium
• the protagonist is a violent, alcohol drinking, swearing unemployed man
• disrupt equilibrium
• when accidentally injures his dog and realises he has to kill it so that it won't be in pain anymore, he later has a breakdown, and realises he must change something in his life, but has little power to change much
• the rest of the theory is not seen in the opening, but is present throughout the film

Fail or Success?

From the ratings I can tell that the movie was quite a success. Paddy Considine even got an award for the best film and best debut director award. Olivia Colman who plays Hannah in the movie got an award for the best actress.

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However, the movie didn't do well in Box Office. One reason is because it only got a limited screening in America in just 5 theatre. Also, Warp managed to get Tyrannosaur quite widely distributed on DVD and not so much in cinema which the Box Office doesn't count the sales of DVD's.
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It only grossed £299k (only the Box Office worldwide), whereas, the budget is £750k. The movie received a positive reviews and currently has a score of 83% on RottenTomatoes. Stuart McGurk of GQ magazine even called Tyrannosaur  "The best British film of the year". This is very rare for Indie movies to win awards and get good reviews from companies such as GQ or RottenTomatoes. This also indicates that the movie was a success. But still in the UK the movie doesn't sell well due to it's genre "a brutal, frank, and ultimately rewarding story of violent men seeking far-off redemption". 

For our film opening I took influence of the background music. It's a guitar with notes that are several seconds apart. For the font I like the serif font, it connotes seriousness. However, I am definitely including the white font on black background that anchors seriousness and drama. 

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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