AS Film

Friday 2 March 2012

What is the Hays code? (Production Code)

The Motion Picture Production Code was the set of industry censorship guidelines which governed the production of the vast majority of United States motion pictures released by major studios from 1930 to 1968. It was originally popularly known as the Hays Code, after its creator, Will H. Hays

I. Crimes Against the Law
These shall never be presented in such a way as to throw sympathy with the crime as against law and justice or to inspire others with a desire for imitation.
1. Murder
a. The technique of murder must be presented in a way that will not inspire imitation.
b. Brutal killings are not to be presented in detail.
c. Revenge in modern times shall not be justified.
2. Methods of Crime should not be explicitly presented.
a. Theft, robbery, safe-cracking, and dynamiting of trains, mines, buildings, etc., should not be detailed in method.
b. Arson must subject to the same safeguards.
c. The use of firearms should be restricted to the essentials.
d. Methods of smuggling should not be presented.
3. Illegal drug traffic must never be presented.
4. The use of liquor in American life, when not required by the plot or for proper characterization, will not be shown.
II. Sex
The sanctity of the institution of marriage and the home shall be upheld. Pictures shall not infer that low forms of sex relationship are the accepted or common thing.
1. Adultery, sometimes necessary plot material, must not be explicitly treated, or justified, or presented attractively.
2. Scenes of Passion
a. They should not be introduced when not essential to the plot.
b. Excessive and lustful kissing, lustful embraces, suggestive postures and gestures, are not to be shown.
c. In general passion should so be treated that these scenes do not stimulate the lower and baser element.
3. Seduction or Rape
a. They should never be more than suggested, and only when essential for the plot, and even then never shown by explicit method.
b. They are never the proper subject for comedy.
4. Sex perversion or any inference to it is forbidden.
5. White slavery shall not be treated.
6. Miscegenation (sex relationships between the white and black races) is forbidden.
7. Sex hygiene and venereal diseases are not subjects for motion pictures.
8. Scenes of actual child birth, in fact or in silhouette, are never to be presented.
9. Children's sex organs are never to be exposed.
III. Vulgarity
The treatment of low, disgusting, unpleasant, though not necessarily evil, subjects should always be subject to the dictates of good taste and a regard for the sensibilities of the audience.

VIII. Religion
1. No film or episode may throw ridicule on any religious faith.
2. Ministers of religion in their character as ministers of religion should not be used as comic characters or as villains.
3. Ceremonies of any definite religion should be carefully and respectfully handled.

Tuesday 21 February 2012

IMAX - Reasons why to attend

The format boasts an image surface area that is up to ten times the size of normal 35mm film. Using 70mm film turned on its side with 15 perforations per frame, the frame size is square-shaped (1.34:1) as opposed to the wider processes of standard 35mm film. With such a large frame surface area, more light is capable of striking the negative, which results in sharper images with less grain. Audience seating in IMAX theaters such as the Ontario Cinesphere in Toronto– the world’s first permanent IMAX venue — consist of stadium rows that begin above –not below– the screen, which gives the impression of vertical as well as horizontal immersion.

The IMAX format imposes particular possibilities and limitations. Since the viewer sits lower in relation to the IMAX screen than in a conventional theatre, the frame’s centre lies about a third of the way up from the bottom of the screen. Close-ups therefore need plenty of headroom. While long shots can be framed wider than usual, the movement from extreme long shot to medium close-up can be very condensed and the screen’s enormity cannot tolerate grainy or irresolute images.

Imax, which is coming off a bumpy few years marked by struggling ticket sales and multiple earnings restatements — the company acknowledged last summer it overstated revenue between 2002 and 2005 — now finds itself filling theatres well in advance.
In Chicago, for example, The Dark Knight is sold out for the next week, the company said.
Mr. Gelfond said Tuesday that Imax is now in talks with several other directors who want to duplicate Mr. Nolan’s model, where scenes are shot for the oversized Imax screens, and then shrunk for regular theatres.

Tuesday 7 February 2012

Digital Screen Network

The average Hollywood blockbuster opens on 300-plus screens across the UK; most independent films, restored classics, documentaries and foreign language films still struggle to reach over ten per cent of those screens.

Digital screening cuts the cost of releasing films (a digital copy costs around one tenth of a 35mm print). That's why UK Film Council (now BFI) and the Arts Council England created the Digital Screen Network – a £12 million investment to equip 240 screens in 210 cinemas across the UK with digital projection technology to give UK audiences much greater choice.
Cinemas in the network have already screened non-mainstream films including Control, This is England, Good Night and Good Luck and the Oscar®-winning The Lives of Others, as well as classics like Meet me in St Loius, The Wizard of Oz and Casablanca.
Digital Screen Network cinemas hosted the UK Film Council and BBC Two's Summer of British Films season - a sell out tour running from July to September 2007 featuring British classics such as Goldfinger, Brief Encounter, Billy Liar, Henry V, The Wicker Man, The Dam Busters and Withnail and I.

Digital Screen Network Funding

In the last 2 years we have made £1.3million available for cinemas to make refurbishments and upgrades to their facilities such as improving disabled access.

In 2006 we allocated £800,000 through our Small Capital Fund to help smaller cinemas meet the costs of essential building refurbishments and other improvements such as disabled access.
Demand for funding was very high and consequently we made £500,000 available in 2007 through our Capital and Access Fund for Cinemas to help cinemas upgrade their equipment and premises to improve the cinema-going experience.
Please note: no funding is currently available for cinemas.

Tuesday 13 December 2011

How do the blair Witch Project and Paranormal activity Do the following..

Blair Witch:

Produced-

The film was produced by the Haxan Films production company

Marketed-

The Blair Witch Project is thought to be the first widely released film marketed primarily on the Internet.A sequel, Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2, was released in the autumn of 2000, but was poorly received by most critics. A third installment announced that same year did not materialize.

Exhibited-

$248,639,099

Distributed-

The distribution strategy for The Blair Witch Project was created and implemented by Artisan studio executive Steven Rothenberg. The movie was positively received by critics and went on to gross over US$248 million worldwide, making it one of the most successful independent films of all time. The DVD was released in December 1999 and presented only in full screen.

Paranormal Activity:

Produced-

First-time director Oren Peli had been afraid of ghosts his entire life, even fearing the comedy film Ghostbusters, but intended to channel that fear into something positive and productive^. Peli took a year to prepare his own house for shooting, going so far as to repaint the walls, add furniture, put in a carpet, and build a stairwell.In this time, he also did extensive research into paranormal phenomena and demonology, stating, "We wanted to be as truthful as we could be." The reason for making the supernatural entity in the story a demon was a result of the research pointing to the most malevolent and violent entities being "demons". The phenomena in the film take place largely at night—the vulnerability of being asleep, Peli reasoned, taps into a human being's most primal fear, stating, "If something is lurking in your home there's not much you can do about it.

Distributed-

Distributed by Paramount Pictures & DreamWorks Pictures

Marketed -

Paramount/DreamWorks acquired the U.S. rights for $350,000.It is one of the most profitable movies ever made, based on return on investment,although such figures are difficult to verify independently as this is likely to exclude marketing costs.

Tuesday 29 November 2011

Bullet Boy Marketing Campaign

Bullet Boy is a low budget, independent feature helmed by first-time feature director Saul Dibb.

Bullet Boy is a specialised film - its naturalistic representation of characters, time and place, and the use of authentic locations and language have drawn comparisons with milestone British films including Ken Loach's Kes (1969) and Horace Ove's Pressure (1975). This take on contemporary urban life offered a unique selling point for the film, and gave the distributor some confidence that the film would receive exceptional reviews.

The film stars UK rapper Ashley Walters as Ricky.

aw the potential of the film in the wider market beyond the arthouse, especially with a young black audience drawn by the presence of Ashley Walters (of So Solid Crew, here making his big screen debut) to seek out the film in key urban multiplex sites.