Conglomerate - A group of smaller companies owned by a larger company.
Vertical Integration – When 2 or more steps of the production process are done by the same company.
DSN - digital screen network – Update and modernise cinema screens with digital distribution, 3D screens, subtitled showings etc. Can be transferred via the internet.
Logistics - How a film is transferred and transported. 240 screens in 210 cinemas in the UK.
Escapism – When you are so emotionally invested in a film you can escape the real world. I.e. Cinema sales rose during the credit crunch.
Social realism – A genre true to real life; deals with issues. Fourth wall removed.
35mm print - The standard reel that the film is processed on.
Tim Bevan – A founder of Working Title.
Pre-fabricated set – A set already built that requires putting together. I.e. Star Wars.~
Four Quadrant audience – When a film appeals to all. Old/young/male/female.
Viral marketing – Word of mouth advertising, passing on through facebook etc.
Synergy marketing – Where two companies join to benefit both. I.e. McDonalds happy meals, Orange Wednesdays.
Above the line marketing – Adverts, posters, trailers, billboards. You don’t choose to see them and the company pay to have them put out.
Below the line marketing – Interviews, reviews, etc. The company don’t pay to have them put out.
Stock writers/Directors - Associate with the same film company e.g. Shane Meadows (Warp Film) and Paul Greengrass (Working Title).
Product Placement - A product used in a film to advertise it e.g. James Bond driving Aston Martin.
The Soloist Interview With Robert Downey Jr
Cole Haddon: Steve Lopez said that you asked to go into his closet to see who he was. How do you decide how much you want to get to know a person when you're portraying them? Where is that line for you? And, of course, what did you find in his closet?
Robert Downey Jr.: Oh, well, you're supposing that he allowed me into his closet. He marvels at the idea that I asked. He never even dignified it with a response nor would he allow me to interview him at distance or at close range. We had a cigar together, and we talked. He wanted to tell me that to impersonate him would be to do a disservice to the movie. But it's different every time [for me]. I knew that the technical prowess and the degree of difficulty was going to fall on Jamie, and that I was to observe and report on that as if I were an audience member, and [director] Joe Wright said it was really important that I do next to nothing and listen a lot, which is very counterintuitive to my kind of ectomorphic disposition so it was an equal challenge for me in that way.
CH: How important is it not to get so involved in a character that you become indistinguishable from them?
RDJ: Job one is aesthetic distance. Mr. Jellison, my theater arts teacher from Santa Monica High School, it's right there in the first three pages of the book on Theater Arts, you know. But then it's that thing that just because you've read the owner's manual doesn't mean you can use the machine that way. But I think it's really important. I guess the thing here was it was this journey. By the end [of the movie], Catherine [Keener, who plays my ex-wife] and I were talking about [this]. We were literally talking about and writing this end scene with [our characters] in the house that [they] used to be married in, about what happened to this and that. I had this idea about likening it to the Northridge Earthquake which is something that I think every Angeleno could relate to, and then that having to do with when my own first marriage and things had started to tip up for me, and what it was and all the promise of L.A., and what it really is. So, to answer the question: You don't want to cross the line, but what you want to do is bring as much of yourself to bear as you could.
CH: This couldn't have been an easy shoot, especially considering that much of it was shot on Skid Row. As you've said, your characters had to go to some pretty difficult places, too. What did you take away from this experience?
RDJ: I took some of Jamie's wardrobe [referring to Foxx's Jesse Ventura-grade accoutrements]. [Laughs] I just remember, honestly, if I had to put it in a principle, there's was just a sense of humility, of feeling kind of right-sized when it was done, and it's hard to feel right-sized when you're done if you weren't somehow out of balance with your own perception when you started. And hopefully we are self-correcting enough, and we have enough support, and we have enough whether it's friends or the peripheral people that help make us OK, a sense of community or family or whatever it is we do to be OK. So, it's not like I need a movie to help me get my head right, you know, and I would take umbrage at the idea that there was some lesson I had to learn from the thing and all that. It's a way of infusing some Hollywood venture with profundity.
But, I do know that because of the process and the way that we did this, and the close proximity we were to each other, and the kind of stuff we wound up talking about -- and when you're downtown at 4:30 in the morning and you're seeing people who are extras, and you're seeing people who are literally going to be looking for where to sleep when the sun comes up when they're done making whatever pittance they were given for playing extras in this movie or whatever -- it was just this sense of how little direct contact I'd had with so many of the things I thought I was sure of. But really what I took away from it more than anything else was, "My God, sometimes you make a movie and sometimes the movie makes you," and this was one of those type things.
CH: Finally, what can you give me on Iron Man 2 and Sherlock Holmes?
RDJ: We start Iron Man 2 Monday [a few weeks ago now]. We're going to make a kick-ass follow-up to the movie that you all enjoyed. I got to see some footage from Sherlock at ShoWest when they were introducing it. It was really well received. We're really excited about it. I can't wait to come back and sell you some soap on Sherlock Holmes before Christmas time. I think that's going to be something special, too.
Robert Downey Jr.: Oh, well, you're supposing that he allowed me into his closet. He marvels at the idea that I asked. He never even dignified it with a response nor would he allow me to interview him at distance or at close range. We had a cigar together, and we talked. He wanted to tell me that to impersonate him would be to do a disservice to the movie. But it's different every time [for me]. I knew that the technical prowess and the degree of difficulty was going to fall on Jamie, and that I was to observe and report on that as if I were an audience member, and [director] Joe Wright said it was really important that I do next to nothing and listen a lot, which is very counterintuitive to my kind of ectomorphic disposition so it was an equal challenge for me in that way.
CH: How important is it not to get so involved in a character that you become indistinguishable from them?
RDJ: Job one is aesthetic distance. Mr. Jellison, my theater arts teacher from Santa Monica High School, it's right there in the first three pages of the book on Theater Arts, you know. But then it's that thing that just because you've read the owner's manual doesn't mean you can use the machine that way. But I think it's really important. I guess the thing here was it was this journey. By the end [of the movie], Catherine [Keener, who plays my ex-wife] and I were talking about [this]. We were literally talking about and writing this end scene with [our characters] in the house that [they] used to be married in, about what happened to this and that. I had this idea about likening it to the Northridge Earthquake which is something that I think every Angeleno could relate to, and then that having to do with when my own first marriage and things had started to tip up for me, and what it was and all the promise of L.A., and what it really is. So, to answer the question: You don't want to cross the line, but what you want to do is bring as much of yourself to bear as you could.
CH: This couldn't have been an easy shoot, especially considering that much of it was shot on Skid Row. As you've said, your characters had to go to some pretty difficult places, too. What did you take away from this experience?
RDJ: I took some of Jamie's wardrobe [referring to Foxx's Jesse Ventura-grade accoutrements]. [Laughs] I just remember, honestly, if I had to put it in a principle, there's was just a sense of humility, of feeling kind of right-sized when it was done, and it's hard to feel right-sized when you're done if you weren't somehow out of balance with your own perception when you started. And hopefully we are self-correcting enough, and we have enough support, and we have enough whether it's friends or the peripheral people that help make us OK, a sense of community or family or whatever it is we do to be OK. So, it's not like I need a movie to help me get my head right, you know, and I would take umbrage at the idea that there was some lesson I had to learn from the thing and all that. It's a way of infusing some Hollywood venture with profundity.
But, I do know that because of the process and the way that we did this, and the close proximity we were to each other, and the kind of stuff we wound up talking about -- and when you're downtown at 4:30 in the morning and you're seeing people who are extras, and you're seeing people who are literally going to be looking for where to sleep when the sun comes up when they're done making whatever pittance they were given for playing extras in this movie or whatever -- it was just this sense of how little direct contact I'd had with so many of the things I thought I was sure of. But really what I took away from it more than anything else was, "My God, sometimes you make a movie and sometimes the movie makes you," and this was one of those type things.
CH: Finally, what can you give me on Iron Man 2 and Sherlock Holmes?
RDJ: We start Iron Man 2 Monday [a few weeks ago now]. We're going to make a kick-ass follow-up to the movie that you all enjoyed. I got to see some footage from Sherlock at ShoWest when they were introducing it. It was really well received. We're really excited about it. I can't wait to come back and sell you some soap on Sherlock Holmes before Christmas time. I think that's going to be something special, too.
Mock-up Sketches of Front Cover and Contents
These are my rough sketches of my front cover and contents. The title of my piece has changed since I drew these mock-ups however the layout has remained similar throughout my photoshop mock-ups and plans.
The Science of Sleep Editing Techniques
The editing in The Science of Sleep trailer gives us an immediate and accurate insight into the main character. The trailer opens as the opening of the film does giving a sense of beginning and continuity. The soundtrack sets the scene as upbeat and between the words ‘Stephane’ and ‘TV’ coming on screen are 3 fast paced jump cuts of Stephane on the drums, the television, and focusing the cardboard camera on himself.
The trailer mixed long, naturalistic clips with jump cuts of his dream world to show the difference between the dreariness in his reality and the excitement of his dreams. This also gives us insight into the plot of the piece; we can see that like in the trailer half of it happens in his dreams and that this world is very important to him. The jump cuts give a sense of unprofessionalism which in this case works as Stephane has created the realms in his dreams himself; he would not be a skilled editor. It also works as in the dream world he is busy and flits from idea to idea; the jump cut shows his mental conflict and busyness.
From seeing the film I can see that the trailer is a linear narrative in the order that events happen in the film; from the very opening to the closing scenes. It is in essence a summary of the film.
During production the crew will have used a blue screen so that in post production they could add in images with a computer. The giant hands, cardboard rooms etc are a good example of this. A projector would also have been used to create the cardboard city and stop motion animation to make the train move through it etc – this gives it the jittery feel that makes it seem more homemade and effective. We can see that he has hastily created this with his mind.
When Stephane is creating something at his desk we can see eye-line match as he is looking down and the camera firstly shows us his face and then the thing he is looking at and creating with his giant hands. Cross cutting is the main technique used throughout as the dream world and Stephane’s reality are interweaved to show us the relation between the two and how he would like his world to be. In his dreams we can see that he wants to be the boss of the company he works for and get Stephanie to like him. This is a kind of parallel action as the dream world is happening when he is asleep, at the same time as his own reality.
Actors
Jamie Foxx
Jamie Foxx said in an interview that he took the role of Nathaniel as it mirrored something he went through in his childhood. As a child he had a fear of going crazy and of hospitals. When he was in college he took some drugs and had to go to hospital and was ill for almost a year; he had a friend who spoke to him every night and calmed him down. This is much like The Soloist as Downey Jr's character looks after Foxx's everyday.
When taking the role his fear came back strong and he was frightened that he could 'catch' schizophrenia and get ill. For this reason he employed a therapist whilst getting into the role as he wanted to become the character and delve deep into Nathaniel but with the help of a therapist to bring him back from the brink of going crazy. The therapist also helped with his fear by telling him what he felt was post traumatic stress from his hospital trip; not schizophrenia.
This role was a diversion from his usual roles as he usually plays parodies of other characters or people in real life; he also writes and produces more often than he acts.
Robert Downey Jr
Downey Jr was, for a change, a secondary character in this role. He said in an interview that he was simply another pair of eyes to show Nathaniel's character through and that Foxx's performance was exceptional. He was asked to play this role by the director but may have chosen to accept a secondary role as he was busy working on Iron Man 2 and Sherlock Holmes at the time of production. He also enjoyed working on this film as it is very contemporary and deals with issues that we still face today. For example it helped Robert to better understand the homeless and the role that they play in this world - he spent a lot of time with the homeless to help understand them and how to interact with them.
Mock-Up Double Page Spread
This is a very rough mock-up of my double page spread. I started by cutting out my model using the pen tool and pasting her onto an A3 landscape background. I then wrapped the text around the image and used two different shades of grey so the columns wouldn't get intermingled. I used software to change 3 photos into polaroids which gave them a sepia tone, making them look folky and old fashioned which suits the genre of music. I used a curly font for the main title and did an introduction in pink in similar font - this style gave the piece a personality similar to that of the person I was interviewing.
When I do my final piece I will use different images and fonts as the curly style was hard to read. I will also cut my model out better and make it more structured - the images and font are placed quite randomly as I didn't figure out where the middle of the article was.
Draft Interview
I asked my model Zoe a few questions, here is a sample of the double page spread interview. I will edit it further and blog it in the next couple of days fleshed out and perhaps photoshopped to look like a real magazine.
Draft Article
Draft Article
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