Hello, I am Shane and I am very excited to start blogging about MEDIA! It will surely take a lot of effort to get everything nicely together, although I will be spending a lot of time trying to make my blog as interesting as possible, so don't worry.
But, for now, enjoy a very cool picture of me looking chilled out relaxin in class, just in case you didn't know what I look like.
This bit of my blog will be all about the BRITISH INDEPENDENT FILM: SUFFRAGETTE (Gavron, 2015). It has 4 other sections labelled pre-production, production, post production and distribution. 'Suffragette' is very successful British Independent Film so I am quite happy to be blogging about it. Hope you enjoy my blog!
Synopsis of 'Suffragette'
'Suffragette' (Gavron, 2015) is a drama that tracks the story of a 1910s feminist movement. It is set in London and shows how peaceful protesters radicalised into law breakers, in order to win women voting rights. The film documents secret meetings and mistreatment of women by employers, police and political lies the Suffragettes suffered. This increased their activism with civil disobedience making them damage Oxford Street windows, postboxes, churches and politicians homes. The film is made through the perspective of Maud Watts (Carey Mulligan) who is encouraged to join the women's group by her fellow friend Violet Miller (Ann Marie Duff).
As you may or may not know, pre-production is the process that place before the actual production of filming and shooting begins. This includes tasks such as hiring actors, building sets, budgeting, planning etc. In 'Suffragette' there are many pre-production tasks that Sarah Gavron, the director, and Alison Owen/Faye Ward, the producers, had to undertake, bearing in mind the film only had a budget of $14 million, which may sound a lot but APPARENTLY is little in the filmmaking industry! Here are some pre-production processes that were tackled:
Planning/Research -
Because Sarah Gavron, along with her fellow producer Alison Owen, decided they wanted to make a film based on a historical event, they needed a lot of planning and research before it could be passed into making an actual film. Gavron thought it was unbelievable that no other filmmakers had already told the story on the big screen yet, she claimed "it seemed like such a vital, incredible piece of our history but also a credible story in itself." She must've took a very long time researching about the Suffragette women's movement and planning how to make the film considering we are now in the 21st century. She had wanted to make the film for years therefore spent 6 years working with the team on it, including the screenwriter, Abi Morgan.
Scriptwriting - The screenwriter of 'Suffragette' is Abi Morgan. She initially was hesitant to write a screenplay on the Votes for Women campaign in Britain due to the "exhaustion of tackling historical figures and taking on a biopic again, because it's a blessing and a curse." she said. However, after looking through the preliminary research sent to her by the producer, Alison Owen, and the director, Sarah Gavron, she found something she hadn't known about and she was sure most people who thought they knew about the Suffragette movement wouldn't know the stories of Emmeline Pankhurst (non-fiction character) or Emily Wilding. Abi Morgan had re-drafted the script of 'Suffragette' over 30 times, and this was only one of many scenes.
Casting -
This does not entirely mean just the casts of who were involved in the actual film but the external casts who have great inputs into helping produce the film, such as the cinematographer and e
ditor. The list below shows part of the cast; who had to be given roles and when as a process of pre-production.
Carey Mulligan - was cast to play the lead role of Maud Watts on 24 February 2013
Helena Bonham Carter - joined the cast on 20 December 2013
Meryl Streep - was cast as British Suffragette leader Emmeline Pankhurst on 19 February 2014
Ben Whishaw and Brendan Gleeson - joined the cast on 20 February 2014
Faye Ward - independent TV/film producer, Suffragette was her project on 27 August 2014
Hiring Location/Setting -
The British Parliament members had made the unprecedented decision to allow the shooting of 'Suffragette' to be shot in the Houses of Parliament. Sarah Gavron clearly had to hire the location where 'Suffragette' was to be shot, or hired someone to hire the Houses of Parliament? Anyway, 'Suffragette' is the first film production to have ever shot in there! NICE! Costume/Props -
Costumes used in 'Suffragette' are evidently not modern or meant to be. Costumes had to look like what were worn in the century Suffragette is supposed to be set in, which was in the 1910s. Outfits such as trench coats and long dresses had to be pre-ordered or made just for the characters of 'Suffragette'. This is to create verisimilitude and make the audience feel as if it was really set in the 1910s and not the 21st century.
The props used were also to fit the 1910s feel. You would't feel as if the film was true if you saw a 222 to Uxbridge in the background during filming would you? Props such as horse drawn buses and old fashioned irons had to be made for the characters to use to show they were used at the time.
Production is the tasks tackled during the processes of filming and shooting a film. It involves things such lighting, camera angles and framing. 'Suffragette', like every other film, needs production so the film can take place for post production to set it all together and the roles of the cast can undergo. After watching the film myself, I noticed some production processes:
Last but not least, post production. This is the last process, in terms of making a film, because it is the bit where the film gets put together, altered and edited. A lot of things happen in the post production process such as cutaways, adding different types of sounds, editing the visual screen and distributing the film. Before I get into the post production of how 'Suffragette' was put together, here are some different types of trailers that were made possibly during post production (but I don't think necessarily fits in with the rest of the post production processes)
Teaser Trailer
A trailer not longer than a minute and a half. It cuts from a few takes and scenes while the picture is still being shot.
Theatrical Trailer
Usually about 2 and a half minutes max. long. It cuts from the first cut of the picture and can be cut from all the shot footage if there is no first cut yet.
Internet trailer
Produced exclusively for the internet. May contain music or footage that doesn't appear in the theatrical trailer. (This trailer is just an extended trailer of the TV spot, only available on YouTube).
TV Spot
15, 30 or 60 seconds long. Usually don't have much to do with the theatrical trailer and produced separately from their campaign. It costs a lot to make a a film appear on a TV spot, hence why it's so short.
On Thursday 5th November, me and my class went to Regent's Street Cinema to watch the one and only 'Suffragette' (Gavron, 2015). Personally, I thought the film was better than I expected. I thought Carey Mulligan was the perfect main actress to convey the story of the Suffragettes in her perspective. The film touched upon the important historic event of female voting rights in a way where we, as an audience, were able to be educated as well as entertained. It was very sensitive, managing to add fictional parts that blended in with the non-fiction and cleverly written and directed by Abi Morgan and Sarah Gavron.
Production Process In terms of production, there were a few processes that I recognised. For instance, some parts of mise-en-scene. As a part of pre-production, costumes and make-up were pre-planned as they had to be made or ordered and were to look as if they were the the clothes people wore in 1918. They were mainly dark colour dresses, hats, trench coats and scarves, making the audience feel like the film was really set in that time.
Additionally, the lighting types during the film stood out in production. For example, when the women were inside the factory working, there were rays of light purely coming through the windows. This added to the ideas of isolation and lack of control females had at the time. The fact that there were only beams of natural light in the factory that they work in shows that they weren't given much more than that. Also, the camera angles and shots during production showed the importance of each character. Like when Emmeline Pankhurst (Meryl Streep) gave a speech to her fellow females, there were a camera angles from her perspective, looking down at them, showing she is a more powerful and a valued character because she was, literally, ab
ove everyone else.
Finally, as a part of post-production, cutaways and editing had to take place. The editor Barney Pilling had to put all the scenes together in chronological order and emphasise some sounds, such as explosions and glass smashes. As a part of editing, visual effects were altered and the soundtracks were added into it. The visual effects were to make the film feel more as if it was really set in the time and create verisimilitude. The soundtrack was added to create an effect and keep the audience's eyes peeled.
Q&A Session
The Q&A session was very interesting because there were questions and answers that I also wanted to know prior to and after the film. I enjoyed meeting Abi Morgan as we were able to see some behind the scenes of how she came up with the film idea and what she had to go through and Romola Garai because she actually acted in the film as Alice Haughton. I learnt that Abi Morgan as a screenwriter had to re-draft the script around 30 times before having the final piece. I asked Romola Garai "what made you want to take on the role as Alice and if you were there at the time, would you have joined the Suffragettes?". She said that there were more factors in yes than no in taking the role and mentioned she probably wouldn't go to the extent of the Suffragettes but would support then asked me if I would. That was quite funny.
Regent Street Cinema The Regent Street Cinema in London, is the oldest cinema in the UK. It was only re-opened by the University of Wesminster in May 2015, reinstating one of the most historic cinemas in Britain to its former grandeur. It was initially built in 1848 and was the first cinema to show moving pictures. In 1986, the cinema showcased the Lumiere brothers whereby the British cinema was born. As an independent exhibition venue, Regent Street Cinema shows exclusive premieres, repertory screenings, documentaries, animation and experimental cinema. Mainly individual British films are shown, in 4K digital film, and for 'Suffragette' to be shown in this special cinema, was unique.
Exhibition is the point of consumption meaning where the audience gets to see the film. This can be at the cinema or streaming online; any way the film is viewed by the consumer, ME, YOU, HIM, HER, US. Below will have box office statistics and where and when 'Suffragette' can be viewed in cinemas or DVD.
Box Office -
Opening Weekend: $76,224
Total Domestic Gross: $2,681,002
Worldwide Gross: $14,006,868
The daily domestic gross fluctuates often as on November 16th 2015, the daily gross was $111,497 whereas just 2 days before it was $432,911. This is a great difference in comparison the the daily domestic gross on October 26th 2015, 2 weeks after the release of 'Suffragette', $7,556. Probably because it was a Monday? Anyway, the daily domestic gross I found on http://pro.boxoffice.com/statistics/movies/suffragette-2015 makes it clear that there were more people watching 'Suffragette' in the weekend than during the week.
Cinemas -
'Suffragette' is still available to watch at the cinemas such as ODEAN, Vue and Leatherhead Theatre after typing "suffragette at cinemas" on Google. You can also view the film in cineworld. I tried to book a ticket myself to see times available today (November 18th 2015) and the price of it too. An adult ticket would be £10.40 as regular price but £9.42 if you booked with MyCineworld. SO EXPENSIVE!!
What this section of my blog will be about is the HOLLYWOOD BLOCKBUSTER FILM: SPECTRE (Mendenz, 2015). It is split up, like I have done for Suffragette, in pre-production, production, post production and distribution. I will have put a lot of time and effort into this so I hope you enjoy reading.
Synopsis of 'Spectre':
'Spectre' (Mendez, 2015) is the latest James Bond film! A cryptic message from the past leads him (Daniel Craig) to Mexico City and Rome where he meets the widow of an infamous criminal (Monica Belluci). After infiltrating a secret meeting, 007 uncovers the existence of the sinister organisation Spectre. He then needs the help of the daughter of an old nemesis and embarks on a mission to find her. As Bond ventures towards the heart of Spectre, he discovers a connection between himself and the villain, Christoph Waltz.
Sam Mendez and his crew went through a lot of processes during pre-production because it is such a big Hollywood Blockbuster film. It needed a lot of preperation considering the fact that it had a budget of about $245-300 million! Also, as James Bond films are very popular, not just in the UK, but worldwide and internationally, it had a high expectation to be like the past James Bond films. This meant they had to undergo a lot of planning, hiring and travelling in attempt of being as good as, if not better than, the previous James Bond films.
Because Sarah Gavron, along with her fellow producer Alison Owen, decided they wanted to make a film based on a historical event, they needed a lot of planning and research before it could be passed into making an actual film. Gavron thought it was unbelievable that no other filmmakers had already told the story on the big screen yet, she claimed "it seemed like such a vital, incredible piece of our history but also a credible story in itself." She must've took a very long time researching about the Suffragette women's movement and planning how to make the film considering we are now in the 21st century. She had wanted to make the film for years therefore spent 6 years working with the team on it, including the screenwriter, Abi Morgan.
The screenwriter of 'Suffragette' is Abi Morgan. She initially was hesitant to write a screenplay on the Votes for Women campaign in Britain due to the "exhaustion of tackling historical figures and taking on a biopic again, because it's a blessing and a curse." she said. However, after looking through the preliminary research sent to her by the producer, Alison Owen, and the director, Sarah Gavron, she found something she hadn't known about and she was sure most people who thought they knew about the Suffragette movement wouldn't know the stories of Emmeline Pankhurst (non-fiction character) or Emily Wilding. Abi Morgan had re-drafted the script of 'Suffragette' over 30 times, and this was only one of many scenes.
Costumes used in 'Suffragette' are evidently not modern or meant to be. Costumes had to look like what were worn in the century Suffragette is supposed to be set in, which was in the 1910s. Outfits such as trench coats and long dresses had to be pre-ordered or made just for the characters of 'Suffragette'. This is to create verisimilitude and make the audience feel as if it was really set in the 1910s and not the 21st century.
In terms of production, there were a few processes that I recognised. For instance, some parts of mise-en-scene. As a part of pre-production, costumes and make-up were pre-planned as they had to be made or ordered and were to look as if they were the the clothes people wore in 1918. They were mainly dark colour dresses, hats, trench coats and scarves, making the audience feel like the film was really set in that time.
Additionally, the lighting types during the film stood out in production. For example, when the women were inside the factory working, there were rays of light purely coming through the windows. This added to the ideas of isolation and lack of control females had at the time. The fact that there were only beams of natural light in the factory that they work in shows that they weren't given much more than that. Also, the camera angles and shots during production showed the importance of each character. Like when Emmeline Pankhurst (Meryl Streep) gave a speech to her fellow females, there were a camera angles from her perspective, looking down at them, showing she is a more powerful and a valued character because she was, literally, ab
The Regent Street Cinema in London, is the oldest cinema in the UK. It was only re-opened by the University of Wesminster in May 2015, reinstating one of the most historic cinemas in Britain to its former grandeur. It was initially built in 1848 and was the first cinema to show moving pictures. In 1986, the cinema showcased the Lumiere brothers whereby the British cinema was born. As an independent exhibition venue, Regent Street Cinema shows exclusive premieres, repertory screenings, documentaries, animation and experimental cinema. Mainly individual British films are shown, in 4K digital film, and for 'Suffragette' to be shown in this special cinema, was unique.
