Dredd Essay

Dread is a film based on a violent, futuristic city where the police have the authority to act as judge, jury and executioner, a cop called Dredd who is one of the best in the business teams with a trainee to take down a gang that deals the reality-altering drug, SLO-MO. The film is based on the Judge Dredd comic series. Also the film is a remake of the first film ‘Judge Dredd’.

Pre production –

The film was produced by Alex garland, who has produced films such as Never Let Me Go and 28 days later, and Is working on a new film called Ex Machina. He is used to producing violent films so this should have been no problem for him. The script writers for this film were John Wagner who has been involved in/wrote scripts for violent films before. Another scriptwriter for the film was Carlos Eiquerra who has worked on Comics Britannia and this film is based on a comic. This production company’s, which were involved in the making of Dredd, were IM global which Is one of the leading film financing, sales and distribution companies in the world as in owned by Stuart Ford. Another production company who was involved in making the film was DNA films, which is a British film production company (not as big as IM global) who is owned by Duncan Kenworthy. The company has a very close relationship with FOX. The DNA’s funding for the film was was split half way with FOX. The other Production company was Reliance Entertainment who is owned by Anil Ambani. The Distribution companies were Entertainment Film Distributors is a British distributor of independent films in the UK and Ireland for various production companies, currently run by Nigel and Trevor Green. The other distribution company was lionsgate who are a entertainment company who distribution films, the company is owned by Mark Rachesky and Jon Feltheimer. Lions gate announced there three picture deal with IM globin in 2010.  The film stars Karl urban who has been in the popular series Startreck so it would attract startreck fans. He announced his role in film Dredd during comic con, this would attract the target market of the film because it was originally based on a comic. The film also stars Oliva Thirlby who has been in films such as The Darkest Hour and Juno. Also stars of the film were Wood Harris and Lena Headly. Because the film is based on a comic fans of the original comic will want to go and see it also people who are interested in superhero comics/films may also want to see the film. Another group of people who would want to go and see the film would be Startreck fans because Karl Urban plays one of the main characters in Startreck. the film made $45 million dollars in presales and a distributor paid $7 million dollars to show the film. This is very surprising as the film is filmed in Johannesburg and Cape Town studios where as most superhero type films are filmed in state of the arch American film studios so you would of thought people would have been anguish about investing in the film. Also with it being filmed in south Africa means that 

labor/studio cost would have been very cheap.

Production –

The main character Dredd has a gun called the ‘Law Govern’ this was 
designed in 1995 and it first appeared in the comic book and the first film and also in this film. In the film there was a lot of slow-mo in the film because its based on a drug called slow-mo. The slow-mo was designed at the same time as the film never let me go. The film is a very violent film and has a lot of drug usage and bad language this made it a certificate 18, which makes the audience a lot smaller. The filmmakers were not fazed about this at all and said that they felt no pressure in making the film. The filming of Dredd started on 12^th November 2010 and it took thirteen weeks in total to film. The cameras that were used are the RED MX, SI2Ks and Phantoms flex high-speed camera. The film was shot in 3d and 2d to so they people could enjoy the film in whatever version they preferred.

Post Production –

There was a big problem when it came down to the editing of Dredd. The problem was that the main editor who was Travis was prohibited from participating in the editing process following creative disagreements between producers and executives. Garland took over the editing process, his contribution was considered significant enough for him to seek a co-director credit. A situation considered unusual as Garland had never directed a film before and had not been in charge of any filming. The disagreement concerned disapproval over the footage that Travis was providing.

The filmmakers had to experiment with the visuals of Mega-City One the included the design and positioning of the city's tower blocks, they did this to create the impression that the city had risen out of the remains of another. To do this they allowed more space between the buildings to emphasize the larger buildings and allow for the presence of roads and cars to allow for extrapolation outside of the picture.

Distribution -

The film was shown in 2,506 locations and cinemas and 2,200 of them were 3D, which only leaves 306 locations which were only 2D this meant you had to travel a long way to see the film in 2D. At Comic con they had a whole section dedicated to the film for under 25’s to get the film noticed to there target market who would most likely be at comic con as its people who would of liked comic book based films. To get Dredd more well know and get the public to go and see it LG partnered with another publisher 2000AD and motion comic and created an online comic strip for people to see that was a prequel to Dredd. There’s an event called Fantastic Fest this event is an annual film festival in Austin Texas and was founded in 2005. This would appeal to Dredd’s target market because there will be other films similar to Dredd there also it’s a festival for all around film lovers. At Fantastic fest the film won the golden trailer award. This is very good as the advertisement that makes people want to go and see the film is the trailer and if its got the best one it means that once people have seen the amazing trailer they will wont to go to the cinema and see the whole film.

Overall the film grossed $45 million at box office but the budget for the film was $41 million so unfortunately the film did not make any profit. The film got to number one in the UK DVD and Blu-ray charts, 650,00 DVD copies were sold and made $10,623,857 in DVD sales.

Why Dredd failed –

Now I am going to talk about why Dredd actually failed. There are many reasons why the film failed, but what I think the main reason was that they mainly released in 3D. They showed it in 2,506 locations and cinemas and 2,200 of them were 3D, which only leaves 306 locations which were only 2D. They obviously thought that everyone loves 3D films and that everyone would love to go and see it. Well they were wrong. So if you didn’t like it you would have to travel a long way to go and see it in 2D if you didn’t live near one of the locations were its being shown in 2D. So most likely people who wanted to see it but did not want to see it in 3D and didn’t live near a 2D screening would just not go and see it. 18% of people cant even go and see 3D films due to physical reasons. That’s a chunk of the there audience gone already unless they live near one of the 306 locations were it was shown in 2D. Also 3D is more expensive than 2D so people may not want to pay the extra money to go and see the film. Another thing is that people may not like 3D in general for example it may hurt there eyes or they might not like wearing the glasses etc. They then took an unusual step to try and make more people see it by getting rid of being able to see it in 3D which just made it worst as a lot of people don’t like 3D and now they could not see the film at all. Also as it came top in DVD and Blu-ray sales which shows that people wanted to see it in 2D ad that it was a bad idea to make it mainly them only in 3D. So overall the whole idea of basing the film around 3D is one of the reasons why Dredd failed and probably the main one. Another reason why I think the film because it is very similar to a film that came out before it called the Raid.  The films are very similar to each both about a cop getting stuck in a tower of flats and having to take down a drug lord. Another reason could be the fat that the comic Judge Dredd and the character Dredd was not big enough in the first place, when you think of a superhero being in a comic or film you don’t think of Judge Dredd you think of batman, Spiderman, hulk etc. So this is a reason why Dredd failed. Also a reason that Dredd may of failed is because of it being a 18-certificated film this restricts audience to people 18+ so teenagers who like superhero sort of films will not be able to see it until its on DVD unlike marvel films were they try and make there film just get into the 15-certificated barrier so more people are able to see it. A Reason it failed may be due to the poor marketing they didn’t do enough to get it out there and known in to the public, even though they got the award for the best trailer they did not get the trailer out to the public well enough. Also it could of failed because it was made in south Africa and people may not of though it was going to be good quality and not up to the standard of big American block busters. Finally the last reason that may of caused the fail is in the post production the fall out with the editing and the editors not agreeing and then Garland took over the editing process even though he has not had much experience in the film industry. There are many reasons why the film failed and its hard to just pick one, but I think that the main fault is the issue with the 3D.

When comparing the film to something like the avengers its hard to see why it failed. The avengers was produced by Kevin Feige and was the production company involved was marvel studios which are massive names in the film business, but so are Alex garland who produced Dredd and DNA films, IM Global who were the production company’s involved. The cast of the avengers included Robert Downey,Jr.,  Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo  and Samuel L. Jackson which are again big actors but so are the actors in Dredd which include Karl Urban, Oliva Thirlby, Wood Harris and Lena Headly . Even though the actors in the avengers are a little better known that is no reason for the film failing. The reviews for the avengers were mostly all good so if people read them they would want to go but so were the reviews for Dredd. The only two things different in the actual production in the film were the budget as the avengers had a budget of $220 million were as Dredd had a budget of $41 million which is a significant difference but the avengers only had that budget because it has its own production company and it’s a more well know film. Another thing is the fact that marvel characters are a lot more well known than the characters in Dredd.      

Dredd Film Fact File

Pre production -

1)The film was produced by Alex Garland, Andrew Macdonald and Allon Reich.

2)Lions gate are a entertainment company who distribute films, They are owned by Mark Rachesky (Chairman) Jon Feltheimer (CEO) Michael Burns (Vice Chairman).

3)IM Global is is one of the leading film financing, sales and distribution companies in the world. The company is owned by Stuart Ford (CEO).

4)DNA Films is a British film production company who is owned by Duncan Kenworthy and Andrew Macdonald.They have a close relationship and partner with Fox. 
5)The funding for the production from DNA was $50 million and was split In half with Fox. 
6)Lionsgate announced their three picture deal with IM Global during November 2010.
7)Karl Urban announced his role in Dredd during Comic-Con to the Collider.com web site.

8) Because the film is based on a comic so fans of the comic and people in general who like film based comics would hear about it and want to go and see it, also people who like star treck would of been there and because he stars init and they like it they will think because he is in it, it ill be good.
9) They made $45 million in pre sales.
10) A distributor payed $7 million to show the film. 
11)It was filmed in Johannesburg and Cape Town Film Studios

Production - 

1)The law govern was designed in 1995 and it apeard in the comic book and the first film. 
2) the mo was designed at the same time as the film Never Let Me Go by Jon Thurn.
3)They felt no pressure in making the 18 certificated film. 
4) The filming of Dredd began on the 12^th November 2010 and it took approximately thirteen weeks to do.
5)shot using RED MX cameras and SI2Ks.


Post Production - 

1)There was one main issue that occurred when it came to the editing of Dredd and this was that Travis, the main editor was prohibited in the editing process as there were creative disagreements between some of the production team and executives. 

Distribution - 

1) The film was shown in 2,506 locations and cinemas and 2,200 of them were 3D. 
2) They had a whole section about the film at comic con for under 25's to get the film noticed.
3)To get Dredd viral LG partnered with other publisher 2000AD and Motion Comic and created an online comic strip for people to see that was a prequel to Dredd. 
4) Fantastic Fest. This event is an annual film festival in Austin Texas and was founded in 2005. This would appeal to dreads target market because there will be other films like Dredd there and also its for people who like any type of film. 
5) the film won the Golden Trailer Award
6) Grossed $41 million at box office
7) Budget $45 million 
8) The unusual step they took to get people to see the film was complety getting rid of being able to see it in 2D
9) 18% of people are physical unable to watch 3D films
10) The film ws released at the same time as the film The Raid, the films were very similar to each other. 
11) Dredd in the charts was number 1 selling DVD and Blu-ray
12) This shows it was a bad idea to make it only in 3D
13) 650,000  DVD copies were sold 
14) made $10,623,857 in DVD sales




 

  

Ethnicity

Ethnicity 

An ethnicity, or ethnic group, is a socially-defined category of people who identify with each other based on common social, cultural, or national experience. Membership of an ethnic group tends to be defined by a shared cultural heritage, ancestry, myth of origins, history, homeland, language, or even ideology, and manifests itself through symbolic systems such as religion, mythology and ritual, cuisine, dressing style, physical appearance, etc.

Black people -

Black people are normally stereotyped as thugs, thieves and people to be afraid of. An example of this is in the TV series ‘Topboy’ where the main characters are black and it follows the rise of local drug deals which they are the ring leaders of. This stereotypes against black people as it isn’t a white or Asian person selling drugs. 

Another example of this is from series 3 and 4 in 'skins' where are black boy called Thomas comes form Africa and makes money through selling weed at a club and his business gets bigger and bigger and his family then comes over and lives with him in England. This again stereotypes black people because it is a black person selling the drugs, also it stereotypes black people with immigration witch is a common stereotype. 

Muslim -

An Example of a typical muslim is Amwar of  the TV drama, 'skins' he is a muslim teenager who is rebellious and does not act by the rule of his religion and does not want to be a muslim but he has to do it to impress and please his family. He also has a lot of pressure on him to do well at school and his parents expect him to get the best of grades. These are two stereotypes of muslim teenagers one being rebellious and not actually wanting to be Muslims and just doing it to please his parents as they have expectations of him. The other stereotype being that his parent except him to do really well at school. 
Another example of a stereotype of muslims is terrorism. Since 911 and Bin laden and various other muslim extremist attacks a lot of muslim people are stereotyped as terrorist. An example of this is in the film lions which is a film about a group of muslims learning to be terrorist and trying to do an extremist act. This stereotypes against muslim people as it is not another Ethnicity.

Skins Representation

Tony:



In the first scene in Skins episode 1 season 1 were introduced to the character Tony as they use a zoom shot coming away from his face, The shot  is of him in his bed awake lying in bed perfectly in the middle with not a crease in the bed sheet, also he is awake before his alarm goes of. This makes Tony come across as a very controlling and has a very constructed and organised life style which is unusual for someone his age. Tony is also represented as very narcissistic, as soon as the alarm goes of he then jumps out of bed and starts working which means he cares about the way he looks and after he has worked out he looks at himself in the mirror and starts flexing his muscles pouting and sticking his tongue out at himself which again shows that he is narcissistic. He also has a watch with an alarm which tells him when the women across the road is getting dressed this again shows that he is very controlling, obsessive and has a pacific routine, he then gazes at her lustfully as she gets dressed and she knowing that she could turn around at anytime but he doesn't care, showing that he is full of himself and arrogant. 

Tony is also represented as your stereo typical rebellious teenager, not doing what his dad tells him to do, his dad is shouting and swearing at him to turn the music down but he pretends to not hear/understand what he is saying. As his also rebellious sister Effy comes home from a night out she can sneak back into the house to get dressed at school and does not snitch on her, this shows that him and his sister have a close relationship and help each other out as he probably does the same as her. Another way that Tony is shown as a rebellious teenager is when his dad is shouting at him to hurry up and get out the bath room. He purposely climbs out the window and slides down the drain pipe so his Dad still thinks his he is in there, he then comes down stairs to find out he's not. This makes his Dad even more angry and annoyed at him and also now has to open the door with the drill as is is locked form the inside. This shows that Tonys has a passive aggressive nature as he makes his Dad angry in a calm way, also it makes it seem that his Dad has lost control of the family and Tony has took his role, showing that he has a controlling personality.

The mise en scene in Tony's room is very unusual for someone his age it has for one his room is spectacular neat and tidy with no mess in site and is very stylish. Also he has poster on his wall which is quite normal for a teenager his age, but the posters are of vintage Italian films which aren't made for a typical teenager aft his age to watch. This makes the character of Tony seem very intelligent and sophisticated for his age. Also when Tony on the toilet tony is reading the book Nausea by Jean-Paul Sartre which is not the type of book an average teenager would read and also an average teenager would not be reading a book on the toilet in the first place. This also makes him  come across very intelligent for his age. Another part of the miss en scene which is unusual is the way Tony has his clothes set out in his room. He has clothes hanging up on a rail with plenty of space between them like you would see at a high end shop and also he has a draw with his t-shirts in which are perfectly folded and placed neatly on top of each other.

This makes Tony seem that he has an obsessive nature and that he has some sort of OCD. 

Another part of Tony that makes that him unusual to the common stereo type of a teenager is his costume. Most people expect a teenager to be poorly dressed in a hooded jumper and tracksuit bottoms but Tony is different. He is dressed in a classic smart look. He is wearing a plain red top with a black v neck jumper over the top, Bage coloured chinos and white sneakers. He does not seem to be wearing the latest brands and fashion but a very smart stylish look that is a very classic look which does not go out of date. This makes tony seem different to most teenagers and that he cares about what his appearance and the clothes he is wearing. 

When introduced to all of Tonys friends in the clip we find out that they are nothing like him intact they are binary opposites to him. There is Sid who is a nerdy, lazy, messy teenager boy trying to get laid, Anwar who is a muslim, Maxi who is gay and Chris who is in bed with a girl. These are all completely different people to tony which  is unusual because you normally find that in a friendship group the people have similarities int the way they act. I think that the show has purposely done this to show representations of different types of teenagers. Tony also comes across as very sexsist and manipulative towards his girlfriend Michelle calling her nips because he thinks that she has funny nipples he says 'Ive seen a few nipples nips and believe me yours are fucking hilarious' which also shows that he has slept with a few other girl. Also he makes Michelle help out with Sid losing his vinginty as if he has control over her. He comes across a very patronising person especially toward sid and tells him that he is embarrassed because he hasn't lost his virginity by the age of 16 and constantly insults him but he does it in a passive agrees way which makes it seem like he is just messing around. Also Tony comes across as the ring leader of the group calling everyone up to get them to help Sid lose his virginity, Organising the whole thing. Again this shows that he is  very controlling person and he also excepts every one to do what he says almost like everything revolves around him. 

Examples Of Camera movements

Zoom shot

This scene from skins is an example of a zoom shot and the camera is tracking away from the character.

Tracking shot

This clip form skins is an example of a Tracking shot shot.

Arc shot

This scene from the avengers is An example of a act shot.

Crane shot

      

This is an example of a crane shot from the film the Avengers. 

Side ways track or crab shot

This clip form Avatar is an example of a sideways track or crab shot.

Tilt Shot

This shot of the building from wolf of wall street is an example of a tilt shot.

Example Of Basic Camera Shots

Extreme Long Shot

                         
                            

This clip from the film Olympus Has Fallen is an example of a long shot where you can see a lot of the scenery and you can see the people but at a distance.

Long Shot 

           

This clip is a long shot form the film 21 jump street a long shot is where you can see the whole of a person in the camera shot. 

Close up Shot

           

This clip is an example of a close up shot from a scene of Walter white in breaking bad A close up shot is where you can see the persons head and shoulders.

Two Shot 

                             
This clip from dexter is a example of a two shot where there is two people in the shot. 

Mid Shot

                             
This clip from the movie bad neighbours is an example of a mid shot where you can see the character from the waist upwards.

Extreme close up shot

                             
This clip from Skins is an example of a extreme close up where the camera is zoomed in on the characters face.

Point of view shot

                            
This scene form breaking bad is an example of a point of view shot. 

Examples Of Basic Camera Angles

Over The Shoulder Angle Shot

                         

This is Scene form Bad Neighbours is an example of an over the shoulder angle shot.

High Angle Shot

                       

This is an example of a high angled shot from a shot of Jesse in breaking bad.

Low Angle Shot

                       
This is an example of a low angles shot of harry form the film series harry potter.

Camera Work

Basic Camera Shots:

Basic Camera Movements: 

Basic Camera Angles:

Textual Analysis and Representation (The 7 key areas of representation)

Textual Analysis and Representation (The 7 key areas of representation)

These technical elements in the representation  create specific representations of individuals, groups, events or places and help to articulate specific messages and values that have social significance. 

Particular areas of representation that may be chosen are:

-Gender

-Age

-Ethnicity

-Sexuality

-Class and status

-Physical ability/disability

-Regional identity

Textual Analysis and Representation

Textual Analysis and Representation (The 4 key areas of textual analysis)

Camera Shots, Angle, Movement, Composition

• Shots: establishing shot, master shot, close-up, mid-shot, long shot, wide shot, two-shot, aerial shot, point of view shot, over the shoulder shot, and variations of these.
• Angle: high angle, low angle, canted angle.
• Movement: pan, tilt, track, dolly, crane, steadicam, hand-held, zoom, reverse zoom.
• Composition: framing, rule of thirds, depth of field – deep and shallow focus, focus pulls.

Editing

Includes transition of image and sound – continuity and non-continuity systems.

• Cutting: shot/reverse shot, eyeline match, graphic match, action match, jump cut, crosscutting, parallel editing, cutaway; insert.
• Other transitions, dissolve, fade-in, fade-out, wipe, superimposition, long take, short take, slow motion, ellipsis and expansion of time, post-production, visual effects.

　Sound

• Soundtrack: score, incidental music, themes and stings, ambient sound.
• Diegetic and non-diegetic sound; synchronous/asynchronous sound; sound effects; sound motif, sound bridge, dialogue, voiceover, mode of address/direct address, sound mixing, sound perspective.

Mise-en-Scène

• Production design: location, studio, set design, costume and make-up, properties.
• Lighting; colour design.

Les Miserables

Development: 

Les Miserables is a epic romantic musical historical drama based on the music 'Les Miserables'. The companies that agreed to produced the film where Relativity Media who is owned by Ryan Kavanaugh, Working Title Films who is owned by Comcast Corporation and  Cameron Mackintosh Ltd who is owned by Cameron Mac. The films budget was $60 million and the film was produced by Tim Bevan Eric Fellner Debra Hayward Cameron Mackintosh.

Pre Production:

The script was wrote by William Nicholson Alain Boublil Claude-Michel Schönberg Herbert Kretzmer. The film was Directed by Tom Hooper. The Film stared; 

Hugh Jackman 

Russell Crowe 

Anne Hathaway 

Amanda Seyfried. The film was filmed in the Uk and there were a lot of different locations used in the film some of them where; 

Boughton House

Winchester College 

Winchester Cathedral Close 

Her Majesty's Naval Base Portsmouth

Chatham Dockyard

St Mary the Virgin Church

Ewelme, South Oxford-shire

Greenwich, pinewood studios

Gourdon Aples-Maritimes in France.

Production:

They used a range of different cameras to film the film such as a 35mm spherical package of ARRICAM Lite and Studio cameras with ARRI/ZEISS Master Prime Lenses.

Post Production:

The film was edited by Melanie Ann Oliver and Chris Dickens. The film was released on the 11 January 2013 in UK and released on the 25 december in the US. SFX and CG special visual effects where used in the film. The film was marketed in many different ways for example there where posters, Trailers and a premier in London.
The guardian said that "the revolutionary-patriotic fervour is so bizarrely stirring, you'll feel like marching out of the cinema, wrapped in the tricolour, and travelling to Russia to find Gérard Depardieu and tear him limb from limb"
http://www.theguardian.com/film/2013/jan/10/miserables-review

Another review said "Les Misérables is a blockbuster, and the special effects are emotional: explosions of grief; fireballs of romance; million-buck conflagrations of heartbreak. Accordingly, you should see it in its opening week, on a gigantic screen, with a fanatical crowd. There is a strong possibility I may be among them. Crying, probably"

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/filmreviews/9792510/Les-Miserables-review.html

The Daily mail said "Truly revolutionary and visually stunning, Les Miserables isn't just the most ambitious British film ever - it may be the best"

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/reviews/article-2260526/Les-Miserables-review-Not-just-ambitious-British-film--best.html

Another review said "Occasionally, like its characters, ragged around the edges, this nevertheless rings with all the emotion and power of the source and provides a new model for the movie musical"

http://www.empireonline.com/reviews/review.asp?FID=137471

Total Films said "Stirring and striking, Hooper’s epic musical won’t be wanting for awards and plaudits. Danny Cohen’s cinematography is stunning and Hathaway’s Oscar is guaranteed"
http://www.totalfilm.com/reviews/cinema/les-miserables-2
The film made $103.6 million in the US Box Office and made over $400 million in total world wide. The DVD and Blu-ray was released on the 22nd of March 2013.