mad max and ex machina essay

I believe that a media products success depends on marketing and distribution just as much as production practices. A USA film is a success if it is a blockbuster film and a British film is successful just based on making money and awards.

Ex Machina was influenced by previous films such as '2001', 'AI' and 'Blade runner'. The 'Sci-fi' genre is one that there isn't a big audience for, making it harder to get an audience. However, Ex machina had a good and interesting story line which contributed to the films success. The film was directed and written by Alex Garland who also directed '28 days later'.  The film challenged industrial practice and ignored the rules put into place by Mark Kermode. The film had no action throughout and we as an audience only saw very little action towards the end. The film starred 4 unknown actors which also means that it shouldn't have been successful for a British film. The actors where; Sonoya Mizurio, Alicia Vikander, Oscar Issac and Domhall Gleeson.
     Oscar Issac and Domhall Gleeson are unknown as of yet but both have roles in the upcoming star wars film. For all these reasons the film should not have been successful. However, this film is a success because of marketing and distribution. The form of marketing they used was viral marketing. This means that it was almost completely free and relied on the public to get the word out, saving a lot of money. They created a fake finder account for Ava (the AI in the film) that the people would talk to thinking it was a real person. They did this in Texas at a south by southwest festival. This was a good place to do it because it is full of well known people that other people would listen to. It links very well to the plot of the film being to prove that a 'robot' can have humanistic emotions.

Ex machina was worked on in synergy with DNA films, film 4 and universal studios. As universal studios distributed the film, it impacted greatly on the film being a success. The film was distributed in a pattern. It was originally shown in America on 4 screens on April 12th, then increased to 1200 screens by April 24th and lastly to 2000 screens. The reason for the great increase was due to Ex machina being 'piggy backed' by Avengers. So as the avengers dies out and people have seen it, they will want to see a similar film so when Ex machina was released it created a wider audience.
    The film as a $15 million budget, $21 million profit and made $36.9 million box office. It also won an award at the Garardmer film festival and was nominated for 2 others. This to me is a very successful British film.

All of the above things show us that sometimes plot is more important than action, more money doesn't make a better film and a film relies on marketing and distribution just as much as production practices.
 
Mad max was a US block buster film with a $374.7 million box office and $150 million budget. This is very successful production practice because it made almost 4 times as much as it needed to be a blockbuster ($100million). The film was both written and directed my George Miller. It starred very famous actors which is good production practice. the stars where; Nicholas Hoult, Tom Hardy and Charlize Theron. It has a lot of action in it and is continuous through out. Max max was in 2D and 3D and was filmed on a flash camera. These are all big contributors to the films success.

The film was marketed in these ways; TV adverts, posters and billboards. They also used cross-media to create a video game of the film. They spent a total of $7 million on TV adverts and a further $43.7 on Warner bros. The film was distributed on may 14th and was widely released onto 12000 screens. This adds to the success of the film but isn't as dependent on marketing and distribution as production practices.

Overall, i think that in some cases, mainly British films, marketing and distribution is just as important as production practices. Both of these films where rated 15 making it not a four quadrant film, loosing views. I believe that with Ex machina, it was only a success due to marketing and the plot of the film. With Mad max, it was because of all the action in it and the people that it starred, marketing had little contribution to the films success compared to the production practice.

representation of ethnicity.

skins.

black- Thomas is a black character that comes to the UK from africa. He is very friendly which is a countertype to the normal sterotypes of black people being dangerous and very violent. we see him help his friends alot and he shows that he cares. he also stays out of any trouble.





asian- This is Anwar from skins. he is a sterotypical asian/indian. His family and him dress in the traditional outfits and they do their daily prayers.
he is also a countertype because he is really rebelious and his best friend is gay, which is seen as a sin within his religion.








white- Effy from skins is seen to be a loud anti-behaviourist teen. she goes out drinking and does drugs while sneeking around behind her parents back. This is a stereotype of a typical British white teen.









Pretty little liars.

chinese- Mona from PPL is a chinese character. as she was born in America she doesnt have any chinese elements to her.

Black- this character is a police man in this TV drama. this is a countertype of a black person because sterotypically black people are seen to be put into prison but in this case it is the other way around.








white- this a Ali who is a white character in PLL. she is very girly which can be seen as a stereotypical thing. she does have a rebellious side to her which goes against the 'christian' stereotype.










Vampire Dairies  
black- this is the only black character that has appeared in the show apart from one main character. there isn't much to say about him because he is very new to the show and is mute. he is one of the bad guys in the show which can be seen as a stereotype of all black people being thugs.

Chinese- Oscar is another new character to the show. so far we have seen him to be quite cleaver in his action. this related to the stereotype that all Chinese people are smart.

white- this is the main character from the show. he has a 'bad boy' representation which is opposite to the white stereotype being that they are good and christian.

100 facts about mad max

1. most stunts in the film where done themselves, even with the older women.   
2. the film was shot in sequence.
3. Hugh Keays-Byrne has been in 2 of the mad max films.  
4. Margaret Sixel had over 480 hours of film to edit, it look over 3 months to watch it all.
5. vertigo is publishing a book about immortan Joe. 
6. max and immortan Joe never directly met each other.
7. The "crows" on stilts are the boys abandoned by the Vuvalini when the green place turned sour.
8. the whole film consisted of 2700 individual shots.
9. most of the scenery was added in after filming using visual effects.  
10. 'fury road' was released 30 years after the last mad max film.
11. Charlize Theron did actually shave her head for this film.
12. Tom Hardy would act as his character of set to keep in character. this caused him and Charlize Theron to not get along.
13. Over 80% of the effects seen in the film are real practical effects, stunts, make-up and sets. 
14. Mel Gibson was going to have a role as a drifter in the film, but this never came to fruition.
15. “Eye Trace” and “Crosshair Framing” where used to edit this film keeping the important visual information in the centre.
16. The budget for this film is estimated to be between US$100 million and $150 million.
17. the longest running mad max film.
18. duplicated of actors where added in post production to make the crowd seem larger.
19. George Miller was the producer and writer.
20. there was over 2000 VSP shots used in this movie.
21. The actors were living in the desert and were really isolated
22.  The cat poles, at the beginning was unrealistic and made Miller afraid of using them as part of the movie.
23. In response to the film, art book and comic book will be released. It will feature the main cast.
24. The paracord bracelet that Max wears belongs to Tom Hardy himself
25. This the 4th movie in the mad max series 
26. This is the longest mad max film George Miller has created. 
27.  Immortan Joe wears a face mask for medical purposes, which is functionally similar to the mask worn by Tom Hardy when he portrayed Bane in The Dark Knight Rises (2012). In both films, each character is defeated by the hero damaging or destroying the mask
28.  The long range rifle used by Charlize Theron is a Russian SKS. Originally designed in 1945. Making its design 70 years old at the time of the films release.
29. they had to stop filming due to the iraq war.
30. cameras has to be water proof and dust proof.
31. George Miller planned to shoot the film in 3D. Also, the production was about to start filming in the crew-free African nation of Namibia, not at the originally intended locations in Australia’s Outback.
32. the film was delayed 3 times.
33. the film first concluded on 17 December 2012.
34.  re-shooting took part in November 2013
35. the film was originally going to be filmed New South Wales, Australia for the desert location, however due to unexpected heavy rains caused wildflowers to grow in the desert.
36. the crew spent 10 months in Namibia.
37. Max drives his interceptor in Fury Road for only 30 seconds
38. On April 3, 2015, Tom Hardy announced he would sign on for 3 more Mad Max films.
39. Writer and feminist Eve Ensler (The Vagina Monologues) was consulted to enhance the portrayal of female characters.
40. When Engine #1 of the War Rig breaks down during the final chase to The Citadel, the sound it makes is the same sound the Millennium Falcon makes when it breaks down in Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980).
41. In one of the scenes the War Rig has a collision with a black Mack tractor unit. The same style of Mack tractor unit was featured in Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior (1981) to pull the fuel tanker trailer.
42. At least four members of the cast have been involved in comic book films.
43. Max's first and last lines revolve around him telling somebody what his name is. The first time he tells the audience in a voice over. The second time he tells Furiosa while giving her his blood.
44.  At the final vehicle battle, one of the Immortan Joe's henchmen scares Furiosa, before attacking her, with the exact same hiss as the Toecutter in Mad Max (1979).
45.  Actors were digitally duplicated in post production to expand the crowd scenes so in reality only a few actors were actually needed on set during filming.
46. Supermodel Rosie Huntington-whitely says it was a tougher shoot than 2011’s Transformers: Dark Of The Moon. 
47. Production Designer Colin Gibson was tasked with the solemn duty of creating 88 vehicles that would look at home in a wasteland occupied by a violently insane gang that loves to wear too much sunscreen.
48. By using “Eye Trace” and “Crosshair Framing” techniques during the shooting, the editor could keep the important visual information in the film vital in the centre of the frame
49. George Miller told cinematographer John Seale to keep the main actor centered in the screen so that the viewer's eye did not have to search the screen due to the film's fast editing style.
50. Night scenes were filmed in bright daylight, deliberately overexposed, and colour-manipulated. In many shots, the sky was digitally replaced with more detailed or interesting skies.

Representation of disability.

This is a clip from breaking bad. The disables person in this is their son Flynn who has cerebral palsy. In the clip you see him try on a pair of trousers while he is being mocked by people behind him.

mise-en-scene:

• we can see a lot of clothing behind him which tells us that he is in a shop.
• all the posters in the back ground are of able body people which gives the indication that people with disabilities are the minor population.
• Flynn is wearing a t-shirt that looks untidy at the bottom. this can show us that he is dressed by someone else who doesn't pay attention to how the outfit looks and just throws it on.

camera angles, movements, shot and composition:

• There is a wide angle shot used in this scene. this makes it so that we can see the boys mocking Flynn from behind and we can see how the parents and Flynn react.
• There is a pan shot paced quite quickly between the parents showing us there facial expression to what is going on behind them.
• A low angle shot is used when Flynn's mum is telling her son not to react. This makes her seem higher up with being the bigger person and not reacting the comments made.  

sound:

• Throughout this scene, you can here Flynn's mum taking to him in a patronising tone. This shows that he is being treated as a lower status, almost like a child in thinking that he cant make an easy decision like this himself.  
• Constant laughter is present in this scene as they mock Flynn for having a disability.  

The scene its self is quite quiet on a whole until the dad decides to do something about the boys mocking his son. During this section music plays intensely to increase tension between everyone.

Editing:

• Many jump shots are used here. this adds to that tension this is causing and makes it seem like there is more going on then there is.
• cross cutting is used to show us closely how the boys are mocking Flynn.