Weekly Film 10 (Texas Killing Fields)

Texas Killing Fields is a 2011 Crime, Drama and history film directed by Ami Cannan Mann and written by Don Ferrarone. It only made £635,798 thousand in the box office.

"Souder, a homicide detective in a small Texan town, and his partner, transplanted New York City cop Detective Heigh, track a sadistic serial killer dumping his victims' mutilated bodies in a nearby marsh locals call 'The Killing Fields'. Though the swampland crime scenes are outside their jurisdiction, Detective Heigh is unable to turn his back on solving the gruesome murders. Despite his partner's warnings, he sets out to investigate the crimes. Before long, the killer changes the game and begins hunting the detectives, teasing them with possible clues at the crime scenes while always remaining one step ahead. When familiar local girl Anne goes missing, the detectives find themselves racing against time to catch the killer and save the young girl's life."

This film reminded me very much of Seven as it featured two detectives solving a series of murders however in my opinion, I prefer Seven because you were able connect with the characters and got to know the protagonists families more enabling you to feel more sympathy. Although i did enjoy this film i felt the ending wasn't very well put together because it didn't reveal who the murders actually were and one mysterious character being shown throughout; we never found out who he actually was. 

Weekly Film 9 (Top Secret) to be continued

Top secret! is a 1984 comedy film written and directed by Jim Abrahams, whose previous picture had been Airplane!.  This film is a parody of both the musicals starring Elvis Presley and spy films of the cold war era. The film had a budget of £5.9 million and made £13.5 million in the box office. It's cast includes Val Kilmer, Lucy Gutteridge, Peter Cushing and Omar Sharif. 

Val Kilmer stars as Nick Rivers, a handsome American 50s-style rock and roll singer. While performing in East Germany, he falls in love with a beautiful heroine and becomes involved with the French Resistance. 

Weekly Film 8 (The Hunger Games Mockingjay: Part 2)

The Hunger Games Mockingjay Part 2 is a 2015 Adventure, Sci-Fi film directed by Francis Lawrence and written by Peter Craig. The budget of this film was £106.2 million and made £347.9 million in the box office. This film was part of the third instalment of the Hunger Games trilogy but the producers split the last book into two films. This enables the producer to generate more money because they have more films and the large audience will raise their gross. 

After young Katniss Everdeen agrees to be the symbol of rebellion, the Mockingjay, she tries to return Peeta to his normal state, tries to get to the Capitol, and tries to deal with the battles coming her way...but all for her main goal; assassinating President Snow and returning peace to the Districts of Panem. As her squad starts to get smaller and smaller, will she make it to the Capitol? Will she get revenge on Snow? Or will her target change? Will she be with her "Star-Crossed Lover", Peeta? Or her long time friend, Gale? Deaths, Bombs, Bows and Arrows, A Love Triangle, Hope. What will happen?

The film contains themes of survival, protection, poverty, power and conflict. These themes are the same as the last two films because they are all based around the same story, although all the films show different story lines and how their lives progress the themes are all predominantly the same. 

Weekly Film 7 (The Hobbit: The Battle Of Five Armies)

The Hobbit: The battle of five armies is a 2014 adventure, fantasy film directed by Peter Jackson and written by Fran Walsh. This was also based off of J.R.R Tolkien's book. It had a budget of £166 million and made £643.9 million in the box office. This film is the third and final film of the Hobbit trilogy. Being the final instalment of the series and being based from the books, the film already had a wide audience and so was able to make more money. 

After the Dragon leaves the Lonely Mountain, the people of Lake-town see a threat coming. Orcs, dwarves, elves and people prepare for war. Bilbo sees Thorin going mad and tries to help. Meanwhile, Gandalf is rescued from the Necromancer's prison and his rescuers realize who the Necromancer is.

The battle was the main awaited scene of the movie and was very exhilarating but i felt it took it's time to build up and some of the talking and deciding was long winded.

Weekly Film 6 (The Hobbit: The Desolation Of Smaug)

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug is a 2013 high fantasy adventure film directed by Peter Jackson. It was produced by WingNut Films in collaboration with New Line Cinema and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It was distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures and is the second installment in the three-part film series based on the novel The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien.  The budget of the film was £149.6m with it's total gross being £171.7m. 

After successfully crossing over (and under) the Misty Mountains, Thorin and Company must seek aid from a powerful stranger before taking on the dangers of Mirkwood Forest--without their Wizard. If they reach the human settlement of Lake-town it will be time for the hobbit Bilbo Baggins to fulfill his contract with the dwarves. The party must complete the journey to Lonely Mountain and burglar Baggins must seek out the Secret Door that will give them access to the hoard of the dragon Smaug.

This film contains themes of deceit, unrequited love, combat and greed. All these themes are shown throughout the film and are enhanced depending on the situation 

Mediterranea and Rust and Bone Comparison

Mediterranea is a 2015 Drama film written and directed by Jonas Carpignano. It follows two men and their dangerous journey travelling from Africa to Italy for a better life. It focuses on the hostility they go through as refugees travelling from country to country and the life and death situations they are faced with.  

Rust and Bone is a 2012 French Drama and Romance film written and directed by Jacques Audiard. Alain leaves Belgium for Antibes to live with his sister and her husband after he is put in charge of his young, helpless son. Alain soon bond’s with killer whale trainer Stephanie, but their bond strengthens after Stephanie suffers from a tragic accident.

In both the films the protagonists share a similar goal. To make their families happy. In Mediterranea Ayiva wants to please his daughter and give her the things she needs and wants. All he strives to do by travelling to Italy is to earn. Alain has the same goal. Although this goal is not obvious during the start of the film by the end this goal is obvious and Alain shows his true feelings towards his son, which is that he ends up healthy and happy.

One theme that is shown in both is escapism. In Mediterranea the film focuses predominantly on escapism as the protagonists Ayiva and Abas are ‘escaping’ Africa in search of a better life for their families. By working in Europe they not only want to escape the harsh reality of poor living in Africa but they also want their families to escape the struggles of living in Africa by sending gifts and money back from Europe in order to give their families the lives they deserve. In Rust and Bone both protagonists are also attempting to escape something in their lives. Alain tries to escape his feelings by competing in bare knuckle fights but he also tries to escape his son. Alain isn’t portrayed as the most caring father and is constantly trying to find excuses to get away from his son, but we eventually see his fatherly nature shine through when he must save his son. The other protagonist Stephanie on the other hand is trying to escape something very different. After a traumatic event, Stephanie loses her legs from below the knees. She tries to escape the feeling of worthlessness. Stephanie wants to continue her life as normal but at times is shown to start to give up.  She also escapes judgement of seeing someone disabled, she does this by being brave and doing things such as being carried into the sea to swim.

Our themes for A2 film are power, poverty and conflict all of which are used in the films which makes them both useful and potential case studies. Mediterranea has a strong theme of power. The power is shown through race. The black people who have come to Italy are the minority and the white people are the majority. In one dramatic and traumatising scene Abas gets beaten up, nearly killed by a group of white men. They have ultimate power in this scene, to be able to determine whether someone lives and dies is an example of too much power being given to someone.

Poverty is also used in this film and is evident from the very start, to have to move countries in order to give something to your family is an obvious sign of high poverty. This is still going on in the world today, people move countries in search of a better life due to the poverty and desperation that is evolving. Poverty is also used in Rust and Bone, which we can see from just looking at their living arrangement. Alain and his son now live in a small house with Alain’s sister and her husband and outside in their back garden is where they keep their animals is tiny penned cages in horrible conditions. Also Alain takes part in bare knuckle fighting to make money which can be devastating for his health.

Overall both films were evident of our main themes and included other themes also. I enjoyed them both as they both told very different stories but followed their struggles to show how life is very difficult for people. They also represent different mediums. For example Rust and Bone represents disability and Mediterranea represents race. 

Presentation

Some parts of the writing have been cut off or covered up as slideshare has condensed the presentation. Also the music and the videos are not playing on slideshare so I will be presenting this on the original Powerpoint presentation.

Presentation Script

Audio: On Screen – Slide 1: Theme music from Dracula 1931 (Item 1) - 27 seconds

Speaker: Good morning everyone, today I’ll be discussing:

On Screen - Slide 1: Has the vampire sub-genre evolved genres from Horror to Romance?

On Screen - Slide 2: This presentation will focus on:

·         How vampires have been romanticised

·         The evolution of the vampire genre

·         Comparing the image of the vampire

On Screen – Slide 3 – Item 12 *Bullet points with descriptions of vampires in 1734 and present day*

Speaker: In the past two-hundred years, vampires have transformed from your worst nightmare into the charming hero of our dreams. “Flashback to 1734, Oxford English Dictionary’s first record of the word vampire: they were generally and, depending on geographical location, inconsistently thought to be red-faced, fat on blood, furry of foot, and may or may not have possessed more than one nostril.” Moving forward to the present day: they’re cold, pale skin, perfectly defined faces and delicate fangs. (Item 12)

Speaker: There has been a range of Vampire films for years many following the classic Vampire impression and others creating a sense of a whole new genre. One of the first and most well-known vampire films was the original Dracula directed by Tod Browning. (Item 1)

On Screen - Slide 4 - Item 8 *Dracula (1931) poster appears*

Speaker: Dracula is a 1931 film based off Bram Stoker’s 1897 novel. Stoker's ideas of vampires generated a future for vampire movies – female vampires who are portrayed as predators sucking the blood of their male victims, a charismatic and sinister Count whose only interest is the blood of his victims, and Van Helsing the vampire hunter with Wolfs bane and a crucifix to ward off the "Prince of Darkness" and with a wooden stake to drive through Dracula's heart. (Item 15)

On Screen – Slide 5 *Play Dracula (1931) trailer* (1 Minute 48 Seconds)

Speaker: This film was classed as part of the Horror genre. The characters were afraid to be out after sundown especially on ‘the night of evil’. Although the film was predominantly horror it did incorporate some Romantic elements. However the type of Romance was different, Dracula hypnotizes his victims in order to seduce them so he can feed from their blood. (Item 1)

On Screen - Slide 6 *Picture of the 1931 Dracula on screen*

On Screen – Slide 6 *Quote from 1931 Dracula script*

Speaker: Dracula was also portrayed very differently with his pale face, long black cloak, protruding thangs and a desire to feast on human blood. (Item 5) A Quote from Dracula 1931 script “They take the form of Wolves and bats. They leave their coffins at night and they feed off the blood of the living.” As the vampire films progressed the classic vampire started to change in looks and in their desires.

On Screen - Slide 7 – Item 9 *The Lost Boys Poster*

On Screen – Slide 8 - *Quote from The Lost Boys script and picture from a scene*

Speaker: The Lost Boys is a 1987 film directed by Joel Schumacher. (Item 2) This film is still incorporated very much in the Horror genre but certainly features more Romance than Dracula. The portrayal of vampires defiantly looks more so part of the horror genre. In The Lost Boys script the vampires were described as “Cool kids in distinctive dress. Compelling; not threatening.” before they change. The vampires after they change look a lot more threatening with sharp fangs and glowing yellow eyes and the attacks on humans being a lot more frequent.

On Screen – Slide 9 *Quote from The Lost Boys*

On Screen – Slide 9 *Play The Lost Boys trailer* (1 Minute 22 Seconds)

Speaker: The dusty cloaks and coffins were replaced with studded leather jackets, gelled hair and motorcycles. They live in a communal crypt, but that crypt is decorated with a massive portrait of Jim Morrison. These boys may be vampires, but they're also rock stars who live by the mantra: "Sleep all day. Party all night. Never grow old. Never die. It's fun to be a vampire." (Item 14)

On Screen – Slide 10 – Item 6 *Quote from The Lost Boys actor*

Speaker: Edward Herrmann who plays the town’s video store owner and head vampire, Max in the Lost Boys said “Joel (Schumacher) was very hip. He portrayed the Lost Boys as a combination of James Dean and Jack the Ripper. There’s both a romantic and a rebellious side to them.” (Item 6) Although Romance is not a specific genre used in this film the elements are again used with a part of the main narrative being spurred by a romantic goal.

On Screen – Slide 11 - *Picture of Twilight scene*

Speaker: Twilight (2008) directed by Catherine Hardwicke was originally a book written by Stephanie Meyer. (Item 3) Twilight could be considered a turning point for vampire films with the Horror genre being practically invisible throughout the duration of the film. Where the other two films focus on the characters being scary and threatening Twilight focuses on the characters being Mysterious but romantic. The family of vampires in the film are a ‘new breed’ of vampires. They are seen as the ‘good vampires’. They overcome their thirst for human flesh by instead feasting on animal blood.

On Screen – Slide 12 – Item 7 *Play Forest Scene from Twilight* (57 Seconds)

On Screen – Slide 13 - *Quote from Twilight script*

Speaker: In the script of Twilight the vampires are described in a way that romanticizes them. The main family the Cullen’s are described as “Two guys, two girls, all chalky pale, purplish shadows under their eyes… and all devastatingly beautiful.”

On Screen – Slide 14 - *Quote from Twilight Script*

Speaker: Edward is then described as he walks into the scene “Edward, 17, lanky, with untidy bronze coloured hair. He seems inwardly turned, mysterious. More boyish then the others. But the most striking of all.” These quotes both describe the vampires to be beautiful with an innocent persona.

Speaker: “Horror films have never been particularly complicated. Their aim is simple: to provoke a physical response from the audience. To make them scream, shriek, shudder, wince, or even cry with terror. There's a visceral quality at the centre of horror, an instinctive emotional response that remains an ode to our dark hearts.” (Item 10)

On Screen – Slide 15 – Item 11 *Stephen King quote on slide*

Speaker: Stephen King is a well-known author of many genres, Horror and supernatural fiction being just two of them. When talking to The Guardian Stephen King says:

Speaker: "Here's what vampires shouldn't be: pallid detectives who drink Bloody Marys and work only at night; lovelorn southern gentlemen; anorexic teenage girls; boy-toys with big dewy eyes, what should they be? Killers, honey. Stone killers who never get enough of that tasty Type-A. Bad boys and girls. Hunters… Those vamps got hijacked by a lot of soft-focus romance." (Item 11)

Speaker: And unlike many other vampire films, the "victim" in Twilight; human teen Bella is not scared of Edward’s icy touch and his family of beautiful vampires. In fact, she wants to be a vampire. “The chase is reversed: the human pursues the vampire, and the vampire resists.” (Item 5)

On Screen – Slide 16 - *Conclusion*

Speaker: Although the protagonists in Twilight are vampires it is not a horror story. Instead of focusing on their negative characteristics they concentrate on their love story and the protection of the mortals and so are not represented as classic horror monsters. (Item 13) However The Lost Boys depicts both the horror and romance genre. It updates the image of the vampire to appeal to a modern day audience whilst still incorporating Horror elements.

Speaker: Though Stoker’s Dracula will be remembered as the immortal that started the vampire craze, the image has drastically changed based on what society demands. The image has become a kinder, gentler creature because people in general are fascinated with the idea of dazzling beauty, eternal youth and immortality. This image, however appealing, will eventually change again because society’s wants will always change. (Item 4)

All 4 short films: A Moment Of Horror

On All 4 for Halloween they featured 6 short films that all followed the Horror Genre. I decided to watch these for inspiration and ideas for my short film, they would be especially helpful because I am planning to make a Thriller or a Horror for my coursework this year. 

The films featured were:

 Night Feed by Christian James

A young mum is woken in the middle of the night by her hungry, crying baby. In the dark and half conscious, she autopilots her way through the nightly routine... but tonight, something else is waiting.

Bath Time by Rose Glass
Every night before she goes to bed, Evy listens to a self-help tape that aims to tackle her crippling anxiety disorder. But while having a bath, her anxieties take on a horribly physical form…

The Doorkeeper by Weronika Tofilska
A janitor walks through a long, dark corridor at night, closing a number of doors on his way. But the job is not as easy as it seems, since someone - or something - is intent on keeping them open.

Behind You by Lee Lennox
A little girl’s favourite bed-time read is a creepy 19th century spectral illusions book, which hides a nasty surprise for the girl’s babysitter.

What the Dog Saw by Andrew Brand
All Linda wants to do is sleep but her dog Max won't stop barking. If only she knew what the dog saw…

Killing Time by Michelle Fox                                                                                     A rebellious intern wastes time at work on her mobile phone and discovers a vengeful boss is a force to be reckoned with.

I really enjoyed watching all of these films but I particularly enjoyed Behind you by Lee Lennox because the whole film from start to finish was incredibly tense and frightening when it needed to be. Of all the short films I've seen from the film festival to others I've seen online this was most defiantly my favourite. But all the films that were shown were intriguing to watch with completely different narratives. I liked how some of the narratives were implicitly shown such as Bath Time by Rose Glass and The Doorkeeper by Weronika Tofilska. In some of the films the shots used proved useful and I have thought about using them in my film.

Weekly Film 5 (Jurassic World)

Jurassic World is a 2015 Action - adventure sci-fi film.  It is the fourth installment of the Jurassic Park series. It was directed and co-written by Colin Trevorrow, produced by Frank Marshall and Patrick Crowley, and stars Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard. The production companies were Steven Spielberg's Amblin Entertainment, also responsible for the rest of the franchise, and Thomas Tull's Legendary Pictures. The film had a budget of £97m and made £1b in the box office. 

22 years after the original Jurassic Park failed, the new park (also known as Jurassic World) is open for business. After years of studying genetics the scientists on the park genetically engineer a new breed of dinosaur. When everything goes horribly wrong, will our heroes make it off the island?

The film has themes of rampage, camouflage, science, paranoia and bravery. All of which feature in the previous films. There are many different links to the past films that many people including myself recognized. They used these elements deliberately so they could make more money because anyone who's seen the other films is likely to see it. I enjoyed the film I thought the came up with some interesting things to include that are different from the old films such as a genetic hybrid dinosaur. However I did not feel as tense and I had in scenes with past movies and i wasn't as interested in the characters, more character development as they had in the previous films would have been good. This really shows how they were focusing so much more of the special effects. 

Weekly Film 4 (Dawn Of The Dead)

Dawn Of The Dead is a 2004 film in the Action, Horror and Sci-fi genre. It was directed by Zack Synder and was written by James Gunn. It's cast includes Sarah Polley, Ving Rhames, Jake Webber, Mekhi Phifer, Ty Burrell, Michael Kelly and Lindy Booth. It features the themes of survival, masculinity, brutality, gore and cannabalism all of which by just reading the title you can tell with be featured a lot throughout the whole film. 

Ana, a young nurse finishes her day-shift at the hospital to return home to her beloved husband. The next day, after her husband is killed by her neighbour next door, he suddenly comes back to life. She discovers the chaos happening in her neighbourhood and escapes from her home. Soon after coming to her senses , she encounters a cop and other survivors, they decide to find safety in a mall. Soon more survivors come, and they learn that if they want to stay alive, they should stick together as the world is overrun by an army of undead. Can they survive the horror in this horrific global chaos? When there is no more room in hell, the dead will walk the earth.'

The film was a remake of the original 1978 version. The 2004 version had a budget of £17.1m and made £67.5m in the box office. I thoroughly enjoyed this film because it was based around the supernatural and I feel the narrative was very good. The characters are trapped in a shopping mall which I think was a very creative idea because it gives the characters less choices and chances to escape which is useful to build the characters. 

Weekly Film 3 (The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey)

The Hobbit is a film series consisting of three high fantasy adventure films directed by Peter Jackson. They are based on the 1937 novel The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien. The films feature an ensemble cast that also includes James Nesbitt, Ken Stott, Evangeline Lilly, Lee Pace and Luke Evans, with several actors reprising their roles from The Lord of the Rings, including Cate Blanchett, Orlando Bloom, Ian Holm, Christopher Lee, Hugo Weaving, Elijah Wood and Andy Serkis. The Hobbit had a budget of £129m and made £649m in the box office. 

Bilbo Baggins is swept into a quest to reclaim the lost Dwarf Kingdom of Erebor from the fearsome dragon Smaug. Approached out of the blue by the wizard Gandalf the Grey, Bilbo finds himself joining a company of thirteen dwarves led by the legendary warrior, Thorin Oakenshield. Their journey will take them into the Wild; through treacherous lands swarming with Goblins and Orcs, deadly Wargs and Giant Spiders, Shapeshifters and Sorcerers. Although their goal lies to the East and the wastelands of the Lonely Mountain first they must escape the goblin tunnels, where Bilbo meets the creature that will change his life forever ... Gollum.

I enjoyed this film because it was so mystical, I enjoy Fantasy films on a whole and I find them rather intriguing and I love to be able to enter this unbelievable world but I honestly never though I'd enjoy The Hobbit. I knew that The Hobbit was linked to Lord Of The Rings and because the Lord of The Rings never particularly appealed to me I didn't think the Hobbit would either. However after enjoying this film very much i will be sure to watch the rest of the trilogy and perhaps even watch Lord Of The Rings. 

Weekly film 2 (Apocalypto)

Apocalypto is a 2006 American Adventure film directed and produced by Mel Gibson. The film features a cast of Maya and Native American actors consisting of Rudy Youngblood, Raoul Trujillo, Mayra Sérbulo, Dalia Hernández, Ian Uriel, Gerardo Taracena, Rodolfo Palacios, Bernardo Ruiz Juarez, Ammel Rodrigo Mendoza, Ricardo Diaz Mendoza, and Israel Contreras. The entire dialogue is in Yucatec Maya language in order to give a sense of authenticity. 

In the Maya civilization, a peaceful tribe is brutally attacked by warriors seeking slaves and human beings for sacrifice for their gods. Jaguar Paw hides his pregnant wife and his son in a deep hole nearby their tribe and is captured while fighting with his people. An eclipse spares his life from the sacrifice and later he has to fight to survive and save his beloved family.

The film features many different themes such as combat, hunting, mass murder, warfare. These themes are shown throughout the film often shown from different points of view with different characters triggering the themes. The budget for this film was £25.8m and it made £78m in the box office. This film was a very long film and at first does not seem like much is going to happen but it soon gets exciting and rather intriguing, I was constantly tensely waiting to see how the protagonist was going to escape. I would recommend this film.

Weekly Film 1 (A Perfect Getaway)

A Perfect Getaway is a 2009 film written and directed by David Twohy. It was produced by Robbie Brenner, Mark Canton, Ryan Kavanaugh and Tucker Tooley with production company Rogue. The film features a range of well known actors: Milla Jovovich, Steve Zahn, Timothy Olyphant, Kiele Sanchez, Marley Shelton and Chris Hemsworth. This film is in the Adventure, Mystery and Thriller genre due to a range of themes that are included that link to one or all of the genres.

These themes include death, manipulation, deceit, power, and control. Some of these themes are unknown to the viewer until the end when the plot twist is revealed. Deceit and Manipulation are very important themes in this film because when the true story is revealed we realise this is what the majority of the protagonists' relationship is built on. The film had a budget of £9.2m and made £15.1m in the box office.

A Perfect Getaway is about newlyweds, Cliff and Cydney who head to Hawaii for their honeymoon. Along the way they encounter two different couples Kale and Cleo two disgruntled hitch hikers and Nick and Gina two wild but well-meaning people who help guide them.
Cliff and Cydney soon learn of a grisly murder that occurred nearby and realize that they're being followed by chance acquaintances that suspiciously fit the description of the killers.

Annotated Catologue

Has the Vampire sub-genre changed genres from Horror to Romance?

[1] Dracula (1931)

This was the first vampire film made based off of Bram Stoker’s novel. This will show me how the very first vampires were portrayed, such as what they looked like, how they acted and it will let me compare how their primary goals have changed throughout the years. I can also look at the genre change was it part of the horror genre?

[2] The Lost Boys (1987)

This film is between the dates of the other two chosen films so it’ll be interesting to see which genre this film leads more towards. It’ll help me understand if it’s only in the recent 21^st century that the vampire sub-genre has become a romance or if the romance side has been building up.

[3] Twilight (2008)

My main aim when looking at this film is not only to look at how they are portrayed but also to look at how the genre of the film has changed. How far has this film come away from the horror genre and joined the romance genre? I will compare this directly to the other chosen films so I can see the difference in the films clearly.

 [4] http://www.teenink.com/reviews/all/article/173946/Dracula-vs-The-Modern-Vampire/

This link uses quotes when talking about two vampire books and films ‘Dracula’ and ‘Twilight’ which is useful because the quotes feature things such as the descriptions of the vampires to show us directly how they have changed from the past to modern day. It compares the different characters from the films and how they are portrayed to the audience.

[5] http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/7766915.stm

This link also compares the way vampires are shown between the two films Twilight and Dracula being the most well-known vampire movies from the past and modern day. They speak of the personality of a typical vampire used to be and what it is now and how the movies have been romanticized drastically. It also mentions how people of the modern day have changed to fit the vampire look.

[6] http://edition.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/Movies/11/18/vampire.movie.history/index.html?eref=ew

This page features useful information on different vampire movies when they were made and what’s included in the content of the movie to highlight how some follow the horror genre and some follow with the romance genre. It lets us know how the vampire/supernatural sub genre is changing and why it may go back to what it was like before rather than constantly romanticizing it.

 

[7] http://www.ukessays.com/essays/media/portrayal-of-vampires-in-contemporary-media-media-essay.php

This page features many different case studies based on vampires from both films and television shows and how each case study features the vampires. They mention the ‘classical concept of vampires’ how they were first portrayed and ‘the modern representation’ of vampires and how they’ve changed throughout the years. They have written about the history of vampires; where vampires were first brought to the public.

[8] http://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2009/11/why-do-vampires-attract-so-many-readers.html

This page tells me something very different to the rest. It informs me of the attraction viewers have towards vampires. This is useful because it tells me what it is about vampires that people are attracted too so from this perhaps I can make a conclusion of if the change of genre from horror to romance really alters the viewings of vampire movies.

[9] http://www.dartmouth.edu/~elektra/thesis.html

This page is very useful when looking at vampires in any way as it gives you a lot of information on the many sides of vampires. It writes about how the vampire genre fits in to American culture and how the genre has changed to fit audiences. It also mentions the historical connection with this genre.

 

[10] http://www.umich.edu/~vampires/vampireinpopculture.swf

This page is very good to inform about the history and how the myth of vampires started even before they were named as vampires. It speaks about Tv, film, art and books to show how vampires are all portrayed in these different forms of media. It also includes small clips to show the viewer the point that they earlier explained.

[11] http://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2010/sep/30/stephen-king-vampires-scary

Stephen King talks about what vampire should and shouldn’t be like. It’ll be useful to just use his quotes because they’re quotes from someone who obviously knows a lot about the horror genre. I can see what King thinks of other vampire books e.g. Twilight – Stephanie Meyer compared to what he thinks of what he’s written and how his is the true vampire genre.

[12] http://www.bbc.co.uk/timelines/zyp72hv

Although not all about vampires, the timeline helps me to understand when and why the genre started to change, including the authors who started the vampire genre and those who began to change it allowing others to follow in their footsteps. Also additional links on this page lead me to other web sites and videos allowing me to learn more about a particular subject.

[13] https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=IFHoicjI2d8C&pg=PA261&lpg=PA261&dq=has+the+vampire+genre+changed+from+horror+to+romance&source=bl&ots=cif-zsWqix&sig=5Udza-hJYQ88D43bqtYAh6XfKJk&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CD0Q6AEwBTgKahUKEwinuqO94u_IAhUBVhQKHckBCvw#v=onepage&q=has%20the%20vampire%20genre%20changed%20from%20horror%20to%20romance&f=false

This link will be very useful for my presentation script, this is from a book and talks about a variety of different things when it comes to vampires. A lot of it surrounds Twilight which is good because Twilight is one of my chosen films. It talks of the success of Twilight and the changes they made also the traditional vampires are mentioned. It discusses themes used and ‘vampirism’.

[14] http://fantasy-faction.com/2011/vampires-origins-evolution-and-role-in-fantasy-fiction

This page directly discusses the origins and evolution of vampire films and the appeal of both the male and female vampire. It discusses the response of the traditional vampire when it was first created which further helps me understand why the genre may be leaning towards Romance. This features a lot of case studies and explains how they’re all different.

[15] http://www.filmsite.org/horrorfilms.html

The description of the Horror genre is written in here with themes. It goes on to write about the earliest of horror films which include the supernatural/vampires which fell into the horror category. It like many other mentions Stoker’s classic Dracula and features many other films and then writes about the ‘revisionist’ vampire films.

Rejected

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=562VyVnHVG4

The people in the video explain their opinion on the vampire genre and whether they preferred it as horror or romance. I rejected this video after watching it because it is all their opinions and the people are unknown so it would be pointless to feature their thoughts in my presentation script.

[2] https://uk.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20110113014716AAQcESt

Although a lengthy interesting response, the source is unreliable because it is from yahoo answers so it is an unknown person writing it and also it is solely their opinion which doesn't help me out because I can’t quote an unknown source.

[3] http://www.vampires.com/when-were-vampires-ever-scary/

This writes about something different to the rest but doesn’t fully link into my question because it does technically talk about the horror genre implicitly but doesn’t mention the change in genres instead simply asks if vampire movies were ever scary I does however challenge the typical things people say about the new vampire films. 

Suffragette

Suffragette is a 2015 British Historical period drama directed by Sarah Gavron and written by Abi Morgan. The film focuses on the start of the suffragette movement in the late 19^th to the early 20^th century and their fight for the right of women’s votes. When we went to view the movie it as a private screening at the BFI and was shown to us before the film was released which was an exciting opportunity, especially as after the screening the producer carried out a Q&A with the audience which helped me to understand about the production of films and the difficulties they encounter.

The film itself for me was a bit of a disappointment. With so much information circulating about the film I expected a spectacular piece of work especially as it featured big stars such as Helena Bonham Carter and Meryl Streep but although the story behind the film is very inspiring I felt the narrative they followed in the film was certainly less inspiring. The film centred around a fictional character Maud Watts played by Carey Mulligan which for a protagonist was a disappointing thing to hear. I understand why they wanted to base it around one specific suffragette and the title tells us this but I still feel a fictional character was not the best choice. The other characters were based on real life suffragettes and their lives but the protagonists was not. I think this will prevent the audience from relating with her so much because she didn’t exist.

 Also the suffragette movement I felt did not get enough recognition because of the utter focus of this fictional character. The ending was also disheartening because I felt as if the already fictional character did not get an ending although the whole film was predominantly based around her.   Mulligan’s acting nevertheless was great and especially with the wide use of shots, particularly the close up’s to express their emotions captured my attention.

The use of shots the idea of using real life footage is what really made the film better. The footage was a great idea as they were able to show the audience what really happened and what it truly looked like at the time; the only parts of the film that made you feel like part of the movement. The (extreme) close up’s in particular are the shots that made you feel like part of the film. Some such as when Maud is being spoken to (often threatened) by her boss Norman Taylor (Geoff Bell) made me feel uncomfortable because they made him such a dislikeable character. I must admit this is the one strand of Maud’s storyline that although still fictional seemed the most real because what happened to her is still happening around the world today. At points in the film they used a handheld camera sometimes it looked to be exaggerated and a bit extreme but overall I think the use of this shot conveyed a message and theme of fear. As it was used when the police came to arrest the women and when Maud was running.

The scenes defiantly felt like they were based in 19^th century England. The costumes were fantastic and they managed to make London look as if it were back in the past, so they most certainly did an amazing job on the scenery however overall I don’t think I would recommend this film because I think the film itself with the posters and adverts etc. sell the film to be all about the history surrounding the suffragette movement even though as I said earlier does not follow the movement clearly. 

Snatch review

Snatch is a 2000 Crime comedy film written and directed by Guy Ritchie. The film is set in London and contains two intertwined plots: one following the search for a stolen diamond and the other with a promoter of illegal fights, Turkish (Jason Statham). Among the search for the stolen diamond are Avi (Dennis Farina), an American "businessman;" Brick Top (Alan Ford), the swine aficionado; and incompetent pawn-shop operators Vinny (Robbie Gee), Sol (Lennie James) and Tyrone (Ade).

The film was very ‘tongue and cheek’ and had many moments of amusement. I particularly enjoyed the scenes with Brad Pitt’s character Mickey because they put emphasise of his Irish accent so much so that they made out even the characters had no idea what he was saying, and from watching it, it sounds like even Pitt didn’t understand what he was talking about. By putting the characters in the same position as you it really involves the audience with the film making you feel the same emotions and expressions. For me I payed more attention to the comedy side of this double genre film, then the crime because although the crime was the genre that circulated throughout, the comedic parts would catch you by surprise and therefore grabbed my focus.

Snatch confirms writer/director Guy Ritchie as a filmmaker with a strong visual eye, an ability to create memorable characters and write often funny dialogue. The films editing in particular courtesy of Jon Harris has helped crate and energetic film. Sound effects are crisp and startles the viewer in the right places, and a bigger budget gives way to a memorable fight scene, which is loaded but never overwhelmed with visual effects. This film reminded me of Tarantino’s work with the film based round criminals and therefore allowing the narrative to feature lots of bloodthirsty violence.

Snatch, while somewhat hard to follow, represents a fascinating study in character interaction and complex plot development, it's really the characters more than the plot that make it interesting. Writer/director Ritchie created a multi-faceted crime story deeply immersed with this multitude of tough-guy types. Although it is often violent, there is an undercurrent of humour permeating every scene, with plenty of good lines in the dialogue, and the violence itself is hardly ever shown on screen. Pitt, Farina, Ford, and the rest of the practically all-male cast a quit themselves well, making an interesting collage of personalities. In the spokes-and-wheel metaphor, it could be said that the huge diamond is the equilibrium, since it seems to touch practically every character in some way at some time, and all their experiences radiate outwards from this.

Overall I would recommend this film and it was incredibly funny. Ritchie managed to portray a light hearted tone as well as quite a serious one when need be; particularly scenes that involved the dangerous Brick Top. It followed a range of characters so could show all their personalities, some I preferred over others but I still had an opinion on all characters.   

La Haine and City Of God comparison

In this piece I will be comparing La Haine a 1995 film directed and co-edited by Mathieu Kassovitz and City of god a 2002 film directed by Fernando Meirelles and Katia Lund. I will be discussing themes and the similarities and differences between how they are portrayed.

One main theme discussed in both films is police brutality. Both of these films show how different races are treated by the police by they are shown in very different ways. In La Haine the police are shown to be against different races as it is set in Paris, France which is predominantly a white area. With the three protagonists in La Haine being of different ethnicity’s; Jewish, Arab and Black it is shown how they struggle to live with their lives whilst constantly having the police on their backs watching what they do. The theme of police brutality vs race is more evident in other films like La Haine such as Spike Lee’s 1989 Do The Right Thing.

This theme is also shown within City Of God however because it’s set in Rio, Brazil the police brutality doesn’t surround race but it more so surrounds class. The film is set in the poorer areas of Brazil where the easiest way to make money is through crime, the protagonist in this is poor and lives his life surrounded by others thieving and selling drugs in order to make a living. This is shown when Li’l Ze is walking with his gang and has a shootout with the police. The police constantly keep watch on the town because of this but don’t take much time to find out who has really done right or wrong. I think the police brutality is La Haine follows a more serious issue because of the discrimination of race that still links to the murders that are happening in the world today. Class is still shown in La Haine however on particular scene this is evident is when the three protagonists Vinz, Hubert and Said are sitting in a children’s playground are a news reporter and her cameraman come to talk to the boys about the riots that previously happened. Rather than joining them in the playground they simply look over the railings in the “pit” the park sits in showing the power and dominance the reporter has over the boys, it’s almost as if she’s looking in to an animal pen at a zoo.

Another theme that occurs in both films that links to police brutality is pride. In both films the characters they follow do not want to lose their pride and give in to the police.  In La Haine Vinz is the character who portrays pride, his pride is firstly described by a metaphor when and old man tells them a story in the toilets. The man goes on to tell a story about one of his friends Grunwalski. The Grunwalski story mimics our characters. In their situation they "miss the train" when (SPOILER) - Vinz gets shot, Grunwalski continuously reaches for the train but cannot reach because he tries to maintain his pride and keep his trousers up. The hand represents Vinz's quest for racial equality and an end to police brutality but he cannot reach them because he won't let go of his pride and co-operate with the police. In City Of God however Li’l Ze is trying to keep his pride by staying the “top dog” in the drug business by destroying all his competitors and still escaping from the police. He tries to keep his pride and reputation by not letting his competitors get away.

 The theme of masculinity also falls into this struggle for pride and reputation. This theme is mostly recognisable in City Of God because all the men in the drug business want to be the best and climb their way to the top defeating all competitors. Masculinity is incredibly evident when a young boy goes for help hoping he can help him get revenge for his father as he says “Kid? I smoke, I snort. I’ve killed and robbed. I’m a man” this conveys how committing crimes is all the young children see and think it’s the right thing to do if you want to grow up and become something better; a man. Rocket the centre protagonist also wants to show his masculinity through losing his virginity as if you become a man after having sexual relations. Masculinity is also a theme in La Haine but is not so frequent the main person who wants to be seen as masculine is Vinz who thinks he’s tough and brave after getting a gun, two both very stereotypical traits of becoming a man. 

La Haine

La Haine is a 1995 French black and white film written, directed and co-edited by Mathieu kassovitz. La Haine comes under the genres of Crime Drama and social realism but defiantly features many conventions of a thriller. The film has many different themes poverty which is shown throughout in the setting, racism and crime which again is shown throughout the film from start to finish, pride which is mainly featured within the character Vinz and revenge. Its French title is La Haine but when translated in to English it means hatred. The film follows three young men Vinz (Vincent Cassel), Said (Said Taghmaoui) and Hubert (Hubert Koundé) and their struggle to live in the banlieues (suburbs) of Paris, France faced with social turmoil and soon end up with a confrontation with the police.

The film shows the problems with racism with all three boys being from different races; an Arab, an African and a Jew, they have been singled out based on age, ethnicity and appearances. They have several run-ins with the cops during the course of less than 24 hours, and it seems that are being deliberately picked on due to race. They aren’t particularly bad teenagers and certainly not criminals. This film represents race and age in the same way. It shows that people can be treated differently based on race, if they don’t look like everyone else they are automatically presumed to be threatening and un worthy. Also they are young and again are picked on by the police this also suggests that young people/ teenagers are nuisances and get in the way of the law. Like Spike Lee’s Do The Right Thing, there is a sense throughout that all the hostility that has been building up with boil over and come to its climax at any point.

Kassovitz sets the full film in black and white which create more meanings and messages than he is trying to create an archaic sense. Instead by having it in black and white Kassovitz has been able to help the viewer imagine that perhaps their life isn’t as good as it’s usually made out to be. If the film was in colour he could show the picturesque scene of Paris and how beautiful and bright it looks but he wasn’t looking to show that he was looking to show the dullness and harshness of reality especially since it’s set in the suburbs.  Black and white are contrasting colours so he was able to show the contrast between imagination and reality with these two colours; not everything is what it seems.  This helped Kassovitz build on the narrative and get across some important themes.

There are many scenes within the film that convey different messages, one scene features a TV crew attempting to interview the three boys however they are looking down on the boys whilst they are sitting in a playground which connotes the boys are animals sitting in an animal enclosure. Also because they are sitting in a children's playground it has created a sense of boredom. Escape is shown as a theme when the DJ shown in a flat is blaring music out of the window. It plays an anti-police message to convey and experience of freedom for everyone in the community. 

One scene which could be considered quite an important scene is when Vinz, Hubert and Said are all standing around in the bathroom talking when an old man exits the cubicle. The man goes on to tell a story about one of his friends Grunwalski. The Grunwalski story mimics our characters. In their situation they "miss the train" when (SPOILER) - Vinz gets shot, Grunwalski continuously reaches for the train but cannot reach because he tries to maintain his pride and keep his trousers up. The hand represents Vinz's quest for racial equality and an end to police brutality but he cannot reach them because he won't let go of his pride and co-operate with the police.  

Overall I thought this film was good, it was very realistic because their lives weren't action packed with car chases etc. Instead it all came down to the troubled day-to-day lives of these boys. The performances are solid you could really understand their emotions. I really liked the idea of filming in black and white because it adds to the grimy street feel of the film.

Headhunters

Headhunters (2011) is a Norweigan-Swedish crime thriller taken from a novel originally written by Jo Nesbo. The screen play was written by Ulf Ryberg and Lars Gudmestad and directed by Morten Tyldum.  The film follows the protagonist Roger Brown (Aksel Hennie) who is a renowned headhunter but also works as an art thief to afford all the luxuries for his beautiful wife Diana Brown (Synnove Macody Lund). The film originally starts by making you think it will be a classic heist film but then quickly changes into a thriller/mystery with some parts even coming under the genre of black comedy.

The film starts with Roger Brown speaking to the audience via a voice over giving some information about himself. Roger speaks "My name is Roger Brown and I am 1.68m Tall" he also mention about his wife being tall and we can see that his wife is taller than him. This demonstrates the main theme than is shown throughout the film which is insecurity. The main reason Brown steals art is to get money to give his wife everything she wants and he thinks she would leave him if he couldn’t give her all this stuff again emphasising his insecurity in himself. Near the end of the film he learns that his wife would love him no matter what and the voice over is again used at the end when Brown says “My name is Roger Brown, I am 1.68m tall and that’s enough” this shows a theme of acceptance as he has finally accepted who he is and is no longer insecure about himself.

I liked the use of flashbacks in one scene of the film. It was when Brown realised how he was being tracked by Clas Greve (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau). He thought back to the meeting he has with Greve when he speaks of his new liquid tracking device that is impossible to remove and then he thinks to when he said goodbye to his wife when she came over and rubbed her hands through his hair. This made the audience believe in Brown’s insecurities about his wife and put us in the position to believe the wife is working against Brown. This set the audience up to think that the wife was one of the antagonists and left us hoping for justice against her for the rest of the film. However the truth was slowly revealed when Brown arrived at someone’s house, the only person he thought he could still trust.

 Flashbacks are again used at the end when Brown tells his story of how he was able to defeat Greve which interested me because it gave you a look into everything that happened whilst we were following Brown’s story. In this second group of flashbacks it added to the negative representation of women which is shown between the three female characters throughout. We found out that with the help of his wife Brown was able to change Greve’s bullets for blanks but to be able to do this his wife had to have sex with greve. One of the other female characters is a Russian prostitute Natasha and the other Lotte is who Brown has an affair with. All three of these women are shown as sexual objects with their only goal being the ability to please men. The fact that Diana had to sleep with Greve to get into his apartment shows what the men wanted the women for. The film is defiantly male dominated with the men shown to be powerful and this is due to the dominant ideology.

Overall I really enjoyed the film I felt it used a plot twist really well and left the audience thinking who set this up and who is the real antagonist. The small sequences of black comedy fit into the film really well although the majority of the film had quite a serious tone. Some scenes were very gruesome and unexpected, but it all added to the narrative of the film.

Multiplex and Arthouse Cinemas

Multiplex
A multiplex is a movie theater complex with multiple screens, typically more than one screen within a single complex. The largest of these complexes can sit thousands of people and are sometimes referred to as a megaplex.

Definitions of the differences between multiplex versus a megaplex is related to the number of screens. For example, 2 to 20 screens create a multiplex, whereas theaters above 20 screens may be branded a megaplex.

Multiplex cinemas were introduced to the United Kingdom with the opening of a ten-screen cinema by AMC Cinemas at The Point in Milton Keynes in 1985. This was both AMC's first multiplex outside of the United States, but also the first for the UK and was largely responsible for the turnaround in the decline of the UK cinema industry. The success of the cinema at Milton Keynes led to further expansion by AMC in the UK to Newcastle, Dudley, Telford, Warrington and by royal appointment to London, before it eventually sold its UK division to UCI Cinemas in 1989.

Below are some Multiplex cinemas in the UK:

Odeon - Odeon Cinemas is a British chain of cinemas operating in the United Kingdom and Ireland. The company is one of the largest cinema chains in Europe. It retains the brand name of the Odeon cinema circuit first used in Britain in 1930. However it is today owned by and operated by Odeon UCI Cinemas Group and hardly resembles the past Odeon chain. It is now the largest cinema chain in Europe. There are 114 Odeon Cinemas in the UK.

Cineworld - Cineworld Group plc is a cinema chain operating in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Jersey and continental Europe as Cinema City International. The UK chain consists of 82 cinemas, 80 of which are located in the UK, with one each in Ireland and Jersey. It is the second-largest cinema operator in the UK with over 800 screens, and the owner of the single largest multiplex by screens and customer base in Ireland.

Vue - Vue Entertainment (stylised as vue), formerly SBC International Cinemas, is a cinema company operating in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland. As of 2013 the company has 80 cinemas in the UK, making it the third largest cinema chain in the country, with 755 screens.

Empire - Empire Cinemas Limited is a multiplex cinema chain in the UK. There are 17 Empire Cinemas (although one in Ealing lies abandoned) with 164 screens in total. 

Arthouse
Arthouse is typically a serious, independent film aimed at a niche market rather than a mass market audience. An art film is "intended to be a serious artistic work, often experimental and not designed for mass appeal". Arthouse cinemas are therefore most likely to show films that have smaller budgets and an infamous cast.The would have been created by unknown new directors and producers.

Arthouse Cinemas are a lot smaller than Mulitplex cinemas in both number of screens and size of the franchise. The films that are shown would probably have been viewed first at some sort of film festival for example Sundance. These films are first viewed by other directors and producers who respect their film making and would perhaps like to buy the film or invest in them to make bigger better movies.

Below are some examples of Arthouse cinemas in the UK:

The Rex - The cinema is a fully operational independent cinema, screening films 362 days of the year. The programme ranges from vintage classic films to modern blockbusters which often attract large box office queues. The Rex consists of only 1 screen.

The Electric -  It opened in Station Street in 1909, showing its first silent film on 27 December of that year, and is now the oldest working cinema in the country. 

Prince Charles - The Prince Charles Cinema (PCC)  shows a rotating programme of cult, arthouse, and classic films alongside recent Hollywood releases – typically more than ten different films a week on 2 screens (285 seats downstairs and 104 seats upstairs). The cinema has achieved a cult status amongst fans, sticking out as the only independent cinema in the West End.

The Phoenix - The Phoenix was the Winner of the 2010 UK independent cinema of the year. The Phoenix has only 5 screens.