Tim Bevan.

Tim Bevan is a film producer and was born in 1958 in New Zealand.
He co-founded 'Working Title films' in London with Sarah Radcylffe, this was in the 1980's.
When working Title films made a deal with Universal Studios it gave him power to comission projects.
He is also the co-producer of the west end musicial Billy Elliot.

The soloist marketing.

People thought this would be a perfect film for the Oscars’ mostly older female audience, it is an emotional film about a very talented musician with schizophrenia. It was released in Britain after it had already been released in America and hadn’t done well there, because we already knew this, it was destined to the same here. As soon as it was released in America it was pronounced dead at the box office. It is said that at the end of the life you don’t feel ‘ rueful but a satisfying sense of just how disappointing life can be’ which is the feel that I think they wanted us to feel, but you just felt ‘disappointed’ .

The Soloist.

Production Notes on The Soloist.

• DreamWorks Pictures + Universal Pictures, with Working Title Films.
• The production designer is Sarah Greenwood.
• Foster said  “We felt that in the right hands this could become a filmabout love, about inspiration, about the power of how people can help eachother. That’s what we wanted. We saw right away that this was a story of life-altering friendship. Nathaniel helped Steve discover more of his humanity andSteve gave Nathaniel the hope for more in his life than just sitting in a tunnel andplaying a two-stringed violin. There’s great drama, great emotion, and I was alsoinspired by the fact that it takes place in Los Angeles and explores the manyaspects of the city, from the glimmering beauty of downtown to the starkgrayness of skid row. One block separates them but it feels like they’re worldsapart.”
• It was soon after making a deal with Steve Lopez that Krasnoff and Foster bought dreamworks on board who then in return coinvinced Susannah Grant, to catch her interest they sent her a paket of Lopez's columns.
• This is a pg 13 film this is because of strong language and drug use.
• Ben Hong was the peron who hekped Jamie Foxx work on the cello and helped make it easy for him.

Let the right one in.

Let the right one in.

From watching and analysing this film we can learn a lot about the mise en scene. It is first set in a dark quiet place with just street lights and the lamps from inside to light it up a bit, there is also snow on the ground and it continues to snow. This is very basic and this would be because the film had a low budget and therefore not much to work with. The costumes in this film are very dark, pale colours and old fashioned colours. It starts to become brighter and the mood of the film seems to lighten up a little when Oskar is happy, this is because Eli is his girlfriend and he now also stands up for himself. Another thing we recognise when talking about the mise en scene is how Eli sits in the centre of the room when she is by herself, I think this focus’s the attention on her.

The use of music at the beginning on the film builds up the tension, it is a loud creepy kind of music and it makes you think what is going to happen because it sounds dramatic. Another sound I picked up on was when Oskar repeated the words ‘Squeal like a pig , so squeal’, I think this was repeated so we took notice to it and took more notice to Oskar. Later on in the film there is slow music when Oskar is being ignored by his dad, I think this is to make us feel for Oskar and to realise what is going on and this music also continues when Eli is leaving.

There is a variety of camera shots used in this film , there are long shots when the man is being gassed and again when Eli is saying ‘help me’ I think this is because we can see everything that is happened and not just focus on one person but also everything else around that is happening. There is also a longshot when Eli is being sick. There are also close ups ,I think the main ones of these are when the man pours acid over himself, this is because he thinks he is going to get caught helping out Eli who is a vampire. Another important one is when Eli and Oskar are in bed together, I think they would have used a close up on this because this is an important part and we want to know what is going to happen next. Another bit of camera work used was when they are at school the camera is at the child’s eye line, I think this is to make us relate to the characters more.

When looking at the representation of both characters we learn that they are binary opposite for example Oskar is a boy and Eli is a girl and also because Eli is a vampire and Oskar is a human. I also noticed that when the girl first meets Oskar she says that they can never be friends which is to make us wonder why. They also only had a very simple convosation . The first few times she sees him she seems to sneak up behind him like she has been watching him anyway.

Using Vladimir Propp’s theory Eli could be seen as the hero because she gets what she wants (the blood of humans) and this would then make her dad the helper because he is helping her to succeed this, from this Oskar would be considered the prince because Eli ends up with him in the end.

The soloist research.

• When a los angles journalist is looking for a new article for the paper befriends a homeless street musician who has amazing talent even with a broken instrument.
• Univerisal Studies in assosiation with Working title film.
• Robert Downey Jr
• Directed by Joe Wright.
• The estimated budget is $60,000,000.
• Nominated for 4 awards -3 Prism awards and 1 Black Reel award.
• It has had some good and bad reviews

Good.

Rolling Stone Review

The telegraph Review

Bad.

Guardian Review

The times Review

Disability (Character Profile)

The boy shown in this picture is Alan from the film 'Dear John'. In this film he is autistic. Austism is described as ' a disorder of neural development charcaterized by impaired social interaction and communication, and by restricted and repetitive behaviour'. I think this is portrayed right in the small clip he is shown in the film because he is shy and at first doesnt speak to John and when his dad comes over he goes a plays by himself. The character 'Savannah' also says that he only normally ever talks to his family and really close friends. Therefore i think this is a realistic image of autistic people, we can also tell this by this being a serious, quite realistic film. In the 1991 study, on of Paul Hunts identified stereotypes was 'As a burden' i think this is how Alan is shown in this film because he has to be taken care of for the rest of his life which means his dads life also revolves around him .

Let the right one in.

From watching the first part of this film i have noticed that the girl in the film is a vampire and she would be seen as the villian as well as the man who helps her. Other notes i got were :
* The creepy loud music builds up the tension at the beginning.
*Also the boy repeats the words 'Squeal like a pig, So squeal' this also builds up the tension because we want to know what he means by this.
*It is set in a dark place inside and out , with minimum light like a lamp or a street light. It also looks cold and wintery and there is snow on the ground and it is snowing.
*When the girl first meets the boy she says that they cant be friends, this makes her look mysterious and complicated, this is also shown by when she comes up to oskar she sneaks up behind him and when she leave him his rubik cube she doesnt wait to give it to him and just leave it out.
*They're is a close up of oskar when the bully at school is getting closer to him, he looks frightened but also fed up.
*It is revealed that the girl is a vampire when she is acting innocent to a passing man and then attacks him when he tries to help, this makes me think she is manipulative but also like she has experience in doing this.

Film Budget.

Media Power Point

Storyboard for Production.

Storyboard

I have chosen to analyse this video for our 'male gaze' lesson.
This video is of Dizzee Rascal and Clavin Harris's song 'Dance Wiv Me'
Using marjorie fergons ideas i have analysed that when  the girl in this is close up to the camera and opens her eyes this shows 'romantic or sexual because she is shown in slight slow motion and also 'invitational'. This is because it makes you take notice of her eyes and also her mouth is shut and the camera focus's on her mouth and her head is slightly to the side of the camera.
From knowing what Trevor millums ideas are also this looks like they have also used 'Seductive' because of the way the girl is looking at the camera.
Laura Mulvey thought of 'The male gaze'. I think this video definatly uses 'The male gaze' as it is described as 'a feminist referance to the voyeuristic way in which men look at women'. I think this is because of the way you see the men looking at women , how the women are dressed and their actions, body language and also the ideas i have mentioned above.