Thursday 27 November 2014

Grand Budapest Hotel - Comprehension

Cast:
Monsieur Gustave - Ralph Fiennes
Zero - Tony Revolori
Madame D - Tilda Swinton
Deputy Kovacs - Jeff Goldblum
Dmitri Desgoffe und Taxis - Adrien Brody
Inspector Henckels  - Edward Norton
Agatha - Saoirse Ronan
Monsieur Jean - Jason Schwartzman
Jopling - Willem Dafoe
Ludwig - Harvey Keitel
Monsieur Chuck - Owen Wilson
Monsieur Ivan - Bill Murray
Serge X - Mathieu Amalric
Mr Moustafa - F. Murray Abraham
Author - Tom Wilkinson/Jude Law
Monsieur Martin - Bob Balaban


Questions:
Where did scouting for a hotel take place?




Which location did the production team eventually use?


Did they film on location or on a sound stage?


Where were the production offices located?


How did they film the 60's and 30's hotel?


Where did inspiration for the hotel's interior come from?


How many extras did it take to fill the loby?

Friday 21 November 2014

Grand Budapest Hotel - Research

What is Indian Paintbrush and who owns it?
It's a production company, owned by billionaire Steven M. Rales, it funded many of Wes Anderson's films including Darjeeling Ltd., Fantastic Mr Fox, Moonrise Kingdom and The Grand Budapest Hotel.

Which company is Fox Searchlight a subsiduary of?
Fox Entertainment Group, which is the sister company of 20th Century Fox.

Which type of films do Fox Searchlight distribute?
It specialises in distributing independent or British films in America.

Which two countries financed the film?
The film is a co-production between German and Britain.

What did Anderson use instead of CGI (computer generated imagery)?
He made miniature models instead, as he decided that since audiences would know that the shot was artificial, computer-generated effects or otherwise, "The particular brand of artificiality that I like to use is an old-fashioned one."

Where did the inspiration for the Hotel come from?
Anderson and the production designer toured Europe looking at grand hotels from that era for inspiration.

Which film festival opened with The Grand Budapest Hotel?
The 64th Berlin International Film Festival.

Alexanre Desplat wrote the score, which major Hollywood films has he worked on?
Desplat has worked on a variety of Hollywood films, including Darnell Scott, and commercial successes like The Queen, The Golden Compass, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, The Twilight Saga: New Moon, Fantastic Mr. Fox, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 and Part 2, The Grand Budapest Hotel, The King's Speech, Argo, Zero Dark Thirty and Godzilla.

How many awards has the film won?
It's won 5 awards and has one pending, such as Best Costume Design and Best Feature Film.

Initially how many cinemas did the film open on in the US?

The film opened in 4 cinemas.

How much did it average per cinema?
$202791.50
The film was released on Ultraviolet BluRay, what does this enable consumers to do?

Ultraviolet is a service which offers a free digital copy of the film bought to be watched on a variety of devices (phones, smart tvs etc.)

Which companies do not support Ultraviolet?

Metro Goldwyn Meyer, Disney and Columbia Pictures are the only major studios which are not involved with Ultraviolet.

What complaints did Ultraviolet encounter when it launched?

Redemption sheets that come with physical discs often direct consumers to studio operated sites that may require registration, and often confuse users. This was a big problem when the service first launched, and caused a backlash among consumers.

Thursday 6 November 2014

Regional Identity


Scottish:
- Accent
Scottish people stereotypically have strong accents in their media portrayals, often used for humorous effect.
- Location/Setting
There are two main types of Scottish setting, usually very remote, rural areas like the highlands or in urban areas like Glasgow or Edinburgh.
- Slang
Scottish slang is very distinctive with words such as : "wee", "bairn", "aye" and "steamin".
- Clothes
Scottish people traditionally wear kilts (tartan skirts), Tom O' Shanter (those weird bobbly hats) and just tartan in general.
- Pastimes
Playing the bagpipes, getting drunk and playing the highland games.
- Attitudes/Behaviour
They are usually portrayed as angry or aggressive, whilst being quite loud.



Yorkshire:
- Accent
The accent varies depending on the representation, but whilst not always being strong it is usually quite noticeable.
- Location/Setting
Yorkshire settings are usually quite rural, with lots of hills and fields, often in TV dramas Yorkshire settings are small villages.
- Slang
Phrases like "eeh by gum" and words such as "nowt" and "gander".
- Clothes
Yorkshire men usually wear tweed jackets and flat caps, whilst the women don't really have a set stereotypical dress.
- Pastimes
Stereotypical Yorkshire pastimes include smoking pipes, walking around and going to the pub.
- Attitudes/Behaviour
Yorkshire people are represented to be very proud of being from Yorkshire, whilst being stubborn and argumentative.


London:
- Accent:
In TV dramas Londoners usually have strong, cockney accents, as this is the most famous/recognisable of them. Usually for effect or for humour.
- Location/Setting
Usually very urban as it's set in London, either the glossier, more touristy areas of London or the grimier residential side of things.
- Slang
The most famous London slang is Cockney rhyming slang, e.g. apples & pears -> stairs.
- Clothes
As London is the capital, it is seen as the place where most fashions originate, and therefore the most fashionable. So Londoners are usually represented as either dressing quite fashionably.
- Pastimes
Londoners don't really have a specific stereotypical pastime, but certain jobs can be seen as especially "London" such as being a market trader.
- Attitudes/Behaviour
They are presented as quite down to earth, whilst being quite in your face and loud.


Monday 3 November 2014

Representation of Disability

Disabled people are often represented as incapable or incompetent, they are also considered to be unintelligent and are usually made to be figures of humour. In 1991 Paul Hunt identified 10 ways in which the media portrays disabled people, they are:

  • The disabled person as pitiable or pathetic
  • An object of curiosity or violence
  • Sinister or evil
  • The super cripple
  • As atmosphere
  • Laughable
  • His/her own worst enemy
  • As a burden
  • As Non-sexual
  • Being unable to participate in daily life
Whilst these stereotypes are often not true in real life, they are fairly accurate for media representation.




In this clip the disabled character is represented as bitter, or angry at there disablement, and also patronised by their brother, which is helping to support the negative stereotypes of disabled people in the media. The representation is also accurate of the descriptions Paul Hunt identified as in this clip, the disabled character is represented as their own worst enemy, as no one really does anything to wind him up, but he appears resentful of his condition and stops himself from doing 'normal' things.

In the clip, he is represented as such mainly by his actions as a character, however the majority of the camera angles are looking down onto the disabled character, which whilst only a small thing does help to build the image of a marginalised character. Later on, the disabled character has to be helped to the toilet by his brother, which further supports the idea of disabled people being reliant on others.

On the whole, disabled characters are represented as just that, unable to do things that able bodied characters can.