Old films to New 26.2

 For my next project in film studio, we have been given the assignment of Old films to New, where we must choose one film and its remake, and discuss the production contexts around each movie. For my movie choice, I decided to choose the Alice in Wonderland (1951) movie and its 2010 remake; based off the Lewis Carroll novel, originally published on 26th November 1865. I chose these films because they demonstrate interesting progression in the technology that goes into film making, as well as how they continue a storyline from a movie made decades ago. I also know that these films are incredibly popular and would be a fascinating movie franchise to research into.

When discussing these movies and their remakes we must first look at them in comparison to the book, for example in the first Alice in Wonderland film there is a clear reflection of the book, as the majority of the scenes follows the chapters in the novel ; as instructed by the director Clyde Geronimo and overseen by Walt Disney as the producer of the film. This is in stark contrast to the 2010 remake of the film, directed by Tim Burton, who uses the book as a mere guideline to create a totally different storyline,  which takes place after the events that occur in the original book and first movie. The author Lewis Carroll wrote the novel whilst in the victorian era, which explains the setting and era for the movies and the book it was based on.

The main difference between the two films is noticeably that the second Alice in Wonderland is a live action film with real actors playing the characters instead of voice over animation. This demonstrates the progression of technology in the movie industry as special effects have developed so much since the 1950's, evident by the realistic CGI effects used when creating the chesire cat in the remake. The auteurist who directed this film, Tim Burton, again used the majority of the same actors that feature in his other films, for example Helena Bonham Carter and Johnny Depp are a common actor choice for Burton, who are also very well known. Since the 1951 version of Alice in Wonderland came out 68 years ago, most of the younger generation are not familiar with the stars casted in the film, for instance Kathryn Beaumont who played Alice.

Another dissimilarity between these films is the budget, as the budget for both of these films differ considerably.  The original Alice in Wonderland made in 1951 grossed at a much smaller price than the later made film, costing around 3 million dollars compared to 200 million dollars. Their box office earnings also starkly contrast as the original film earned roughly 5.8 million dollars, where as the 2010 film earned around 1 billion dollars.  The only similarity being that the funding from these movies came from american based companies.

The premiere of the first Alice in Wonderland occurred in London on July 26th 1951, as well as in New York 2 days later. The 2010 version of Alice in Wonderland premiered in London on February 25th,  and in the United States on March 5th. Its understandable to see how these movies premiered in both countries, the USA and the UK, as the director and production company are based in America, however it is an english based film based on a novel written by an english author. The distributor for this film was Walt Disney Motion Pictures, a well known, reliable source of successful children movies. 

In my opinion, I believe both of these movies are to be considered mainstream movies as the disney franchise is a very popular brand with decades of successful history behind it. The original and the follow up movie both will remain a childhood favourite as they have remained a go-to for many years. The disney range of films always come into cycle every few years when Disney Studios decide to remake past films, as there is now a third Alice in Wonderland movie called Alice through the looking glass, made in 2016. These films have individually featured in many cinemas, however due to the age of the first film i was unable to find the cinemas it appeared in, the second instead featured in a variety of movie theatres, for example VUE, Grants and the BFI. Both movies are available for all ages to see as they are both rated PG.

In my opinion, its interesting as to why the 2010 version of Alice in Wonderland was rated PG as it seems a lot darker and more adult for younger viewers. The first Alice in Wonderland also had its  eerie moments, in which I believe Tim Burton tried to recreate in the live action version of the film, manipulating special effects to create fog and mist; emphasising the development of Wonderland as its turned into a mysterious forgotten wasteland.

Bibliography

n/a. (26 March 2019). Alice's adventures in Wonderland. Available: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice%27s_Adventures_in_Wonderland. Last accessed 13/03/19.

n/a. (n/a). what is the setting of Alice in Wonderland/. Available: https://study.com/academy/answer/what-is-the-setting-of-alice-in-wonderland.html. Last accessed 13/03/19.

5/05/10. (5/03/10). Alice in wonderland. Available: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1014759/. Last accessed 13/02/19.

n/a. (13/03/19). Alice in Wonderland (1951 film). Available: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_in_Wonderland_(1951_film). Last accessed 13/02/19.

BTEC Assignment Brief 45.A 


Marie Curie Cancer Care 

Commercial radio concerns itself with making money, the ways in which commercials radio look to gain profit is mainly through advertising. Additionally, another purpose of commercial radio is also to sell products.

In this assignment I will be analysing a radio advertisement. My first radio advertisement is produced by Marie Curie and the release date is June 2016. 

The message of the Marie Curie Cancer Care radio advert is to raise awareness about the disease of cancer, as well as to collect donations that will help support the charity.  

The style of the radio advert is factual. The advert features a casual, informal approach as appose to a shocking one; by choosing to make the advert more informal it allows more people to relate to the content, ultimately turning a morbid subject into an easy-flowing conversation. 

This advert is a one-off advertisement for the charity Marie Curie Cancer Care.  Upon researching additional advertisements for the charity, this advert is the only one which features and individual story from a person who the charity has helped. 

The purpose of the advert is to sell a service. The way in which Marie curie looks to sell its service, is by providing the target audience with what ??? (will add at home later today )
try to trigger empathy within the listener-which is done so through the use of music and a personal anecdote- to make the listener want to donate and support the charity. This advert made me sympathise with the narrator as well as making me understand the necessity for this charity to exist therefore making me want to donate to the charity to help raise funds.  The narrator then references a link to another media platform, to further spread knowledge of the charity to attract more people to help support it. 

In the Marie Curie Cancer Charity advert, from zero seconds to four seconds, the listeners are immediately introduced to a non-diegetic sound of soft guitar playing that is carried throughout the entirety of the advertisement. Four seconds into the advert, the listeners are then acquainted with diegetic sound of the narrator, who begins to talk about the relationship between him and his mum. Fifteen seconds into the advert, the narrator then starts explaining how the Marie Curie nurses helped his mother, the non-diegetic guitar sound playing faintly as background music. With twenty five seconds left of the advert, the narrator then begins to discuss the purpose of the advertisement, being to raise funds and gain supporters, then following with information on how someone would get in contact with the charity.

The voiceover within the advert, which was only a singular narrator sounds roughly around the age of 30, maybe late 30’s, which is to be expected as 30/40s is about the age people are having to start looking after their parents. As the narrator seems to be in his late 30s, the target audience for the advert would also be roughly 30’s/ 40’s as peoples parents will be roughly, 60 or 70 and will struggle with looking after themselves even without a terminal illness.

By opening the advert with a soothing guitar sound, it instantly relaxes the listener and allows them to be introduced to someone who's had a first hand experience of looking after someone with cancer, making the advert instantly feel more personal to the listener, causing them to feel empathy with the narrator and more open to the message of the advert. This makes the advert more popular and successful as the added use of colloquial language allows the company/charity to connect to the audience, as they are being addressed in a friendly, conversational tone. To personalise the message like this makes the listener think about someone they know who could benefit from this charity and might need the support that the nurses are said to provide. 

The narrator then begins explaining how beneficial it is to be a part of the Marie Curie community, describing the nurses as 'fantastic' and friendly with the patients. The narrator then goes on to explain how easy it was to have someone looked after at home as opposed to in the hospital due to the help of the marie curie cancer care charity. Towards the end of the advert, the narrator then invites the listener to join him in supporting the charity, giving out details to contact the charity. 


 

This advert was broadcasted nationally across the uk. With contact details provided in the end of the advertisement, the narrator mentions a website, https://www.mariecurie.org.uk - as well as a phone number, which is 0800 716 146.

To avoid causing offence to listeners and potential consumers, during the the production of this advertisement there would have a series of assessments which would have determined whether this advert had broke any regulation laws. Regulation bodies like OFCOM and ASA exist to provide a service which assists in helping broadcasters follow these regulation laws. OFCOM provides protection for under 18 years olds as well as making sure radio and tv advertisements follow the law and are not prejudice. I do not think an advertisement like the Marie Curie Cancer Charity would have broken the regulation laws as its purpose is to encourage people to support their charity and would have been made for a family friendly audience.

Unit 2 Assignment 2.2

This report is a summary of all the research and data I have collected to create a base layout for a successful magazine. By investigating all the areas of a magazine that I would need and could improve on, it helps me understand what a successful magazine necessities are.

The purpose of my magazine is to encourage those who don't usually buy magazines but are interested in reading movie reviews and upcoming news stories to buy my magazine. By interviewing the people who don’t read movie magazines often, it enables me to understand what other magazines are lacking and helps me gain knowledge on what i must include to attract that target audience which is not being satisfied by other magazines. Most people i interviewed said that they don't read magazines because they haven’t found one interesting enough. I think it would be interesting to see if I can create a magazine that people will gravitate towards and want to pick up.

My magazine will have a more visual aesthetic when displaying movie related news, paired with bold lettering and a minimalistic page layout it will have a classic theme of red, black and white. These colours have been specifically chosen because i feel that red, black and white are the boldest colours on the spectrum. My magazine needs to have bold lettering so that it is able to capture peoples attention. The homepage will have a picture of the headlining article, actor or movie, with the article written over the image; for example an action shot mid movie as well as the title of the featuring article. I think this style of layout for a magazine is the most effective at grabbing the audiences attention as the front picture will help relate to the audience as well as gaining support from each actors/movies fan base.





My magazine would also include an anticipation, enjoyment and must watch rating as this gives the reader more information about the movie, so that they can decided whether they will watch it or not. The anticipation rating helps determine how much hype a movie has and whether it is expected to do well. The enjoyment rating will help the reader understand if the movie met up to its anticipation, and the must watch rating tells the people whether its worth to watch the movie or not. If I were to create a online version of my magazine I would include links to popular podcasts and some radio links as well as a page for trailers and exclusive clips from current movies.

After researching and investigating I have decided that my target audience would probably young adults and teenagers as they are more likely to buy a magazine to choose a movie and then go out to the cinema to watch it. I feel I would be unable to cater successfully to older or extremely young audiences as I would not know as much about them. Choosing the genre horror allows me to widen my target audience as it doesn't just have one target audience in mind. The genre horror doesn't produce as many limitations as other genres may produce, for example a disney themed magazine will most likely be targeted at children and won't necessarily be bought as much by adults. My questionnaire will help me understand how I could potentially cater to an older audience, so I can maybe include a few more features for that particular age range. 

Upon researching production costs and values I've discovered that to create a magazine it is roughly around £!5,00 a month, individual issues costing around £7,500. The writers of the magazine would usually receive around £3000 from the magazine, the rest of the money being spent on the copy editors, illustrators, photographers and editors. To include ads would include additional profits and people usually pay between £200 to a thousand to have their ad feature in a magazine. If I were aiming to get £10,00 profit, I would have to sell 10,000 individual magazines for £2.50 each.

Initially, I would prefer my magazine be sold in shops and kiosks on the street. I feel as though that is the more traditional way of selling a magazine as people are able to walk past and see it and then want to pick it up. In my opinion, for someone just starting to create a magazine it would be difficult to spread the word of my magazine on the internet as no one would know the name of it to search it and find it. Once people are introduced and impressed by it on the street I would then start looking at expanding my media options, most likely turning to the internet to set up a website for my magazine. By making my magazine more accessible in most media formats there will be a gradual increase in buying potential.

In my opinion, I feel that the magazine should be released quarterly. This is because a quarterly schedule allows the magazine time to collect all the contents and features of the magazine and bring them together to be double/triple checked. More frequent release of the magazine may not work as well as the magazine will have more pressure to be finished by a shorter deadline, which could lead to editing errors or copying errors. Another factor to be taken into account would be that if we were to release more throughout the year, our magazine would not be as rare and interesting as those you can only by quarterly.

To conclude, my horror themed magazine will at first be sold in shops and kiosks and will be released quarterly, retailing for £2.50. My target audience will be teenagers and young adults as these are the ages in which people are more interested in going to the cinema, which is the ideal target audience for a movie magazine. Leaning towards the more visual side of presenting, i will have short brief summaries of each article that my magazine features, then will provide a link or page number to the actual article.

2.1 Undertake Research for an Assignment or Project

Task 1 & 2

Kitty Rimell

10/10/18

Film Magazine Research

Target Audience

My target audience would probably young adults and teenagers. I feel I would be unable to cater successfully to older or extremely young audiences as i would not know as much about them. My questionnaire will help me understand how I could potentially cater to an older audience, so I can maybe include a few more features for that particular age range. 

Marketing

My magazine would be sold online, as that’s usually what people are focused on. In my opinion its easier to subscribe to a magazine online then go on the streets to search for it. However, for those who may not use the internet that often my magazine would be sold in little newsagent’s shops and kiosks on the street, as well as the larger chain shops, like Tesco or Sainsburys. I would try to make my magazine accessible in all formats so that it increasing buying potential.

Costs

Upon research I discovered that creating a magazine is roughly £15,000 a month, each issue costing around £7,500. The writers in a magazine usually get about £3000 from the magazine, the rest mostly goes to the copy editors, illustrators, photographers and editors. In my magazine I would include ads because people can pay between £200 to thousands to get their ad in a magazine. If I were aiming to get a £10,000 profit I would have to sell each magazine for £2.50, making 10,000 copies. 

Contents

It will have a more visual approach to displaying movie related news. It will have a mixture of bold lettering with a minimalistic page layout and a classic theme of red, black and white. I want the homepage to have a picture of the headlining/ most popular article, for example of an actor or an interesting scene from an upcoming movie. I would have an anticipation, enjoyment and must watch rating as I think this gives the reader more information about the movie. I would include links to popular podcast as well as radio links. My magazine would also have a page dedicated to exclusive clips and trailers from current movies. It would have a small bar at the bottom of the page where you can easily subscribe to my magazine.

Purpose

The purpose of this magazine is to get people interested in reading movie reviews and upcoming news stories. Most of the people i interviewed don’t read movie magazines because they haven’t found one interesting enough. I think it would be interesting to see if I can create a magazine that people will gravitate towards and want to pick up.

       Task 3, 4 & 5            

Task 6

FILM MAGAZINE RESEARCH

https://www.bfi.org.uk

The BFI Magazine provides detailed synopsis's of various movies and has many movies advertised for rental along with a brief description of what the movie is about. The BFI are able to supply a range of films selected by critics, which I would recommended for an older audience as most of the films are usually black and white. The BFI page also includes various themed movie categories with 10 movies for each category so that people are able to have a wide selection of films across all genres. If you scroll down the BFI page, you will come across the latest stories section where you will find a detailed summary of what actor will be in which roles in any upcoming movies.

At the bottom of the page you will find a bar where you can sign up to BFI London Film Festival emails, where you will receive news, competition and ticket release updates.

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https://www.empireonline.com

Empire Magazine is another British film magazine that takes a completely different approach to offering information about film and tv news. Empire uses a more visual technique that grabs the readers attention with bold lettering and short titles. There is a bar at the top of the page that provides subsections for movies; news; reviews; features; gaming; pilot episodes of certain TV shows; awards page and a subscribe button to receive the empire magazine.

The page provides the latest news for upcoming movies as well as exclusive clips,  even suppling a podcast link, widening the audience of the Empire as they accommodate people who like podcasts. At the bottom they have a series of various movie reviews, followed by the latest TV show reviews.

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https://lwlies.com/magazine/

Unlike the other magazines, Little White Lies magazine has a much more colourful and visual approach to movie and tv show news. It usually features a stunning painting or drawing of a particular actor, relevant at that time, and has that as the main cover, with little detail of what could be inside. The magazine captivates the audience with its bright colouring to make reader want to look inside. Online, the page is very clean, social media handles are placed to the right of the page, opposite the reviews, features, podcast, magazine and subscribe buttons. On the centre page, in the highlight review section it features an image of a film, with the title and author of the review beside it on the right, with a brief description of the movie itself.

Little White Lies magazine also includes an anticipation, enjoyment and retrospect rating for each film review they do, which was not included for any other magazine I looked at. Also, the brief summaries of the film include the authors opinion in the title, for example ‘Why I love … in this film.’ I think adding the authors opinion is a good idea as it immediately lets the reader know which actor played the role well in which film. It also includes a list of most popular articles down the side of the page.

https://www.starburstmagazine.com

Starburst magazine, like Little White Lies, has a more visual approach when presenting movies or TV news to an audience. In big, red, bold lettering it shows the title of the film and underneath, comedically reveals -by making a slight joke about the movie- that they have made their review, with a small ‘read more’ button in the lower left corner.

It has the logo in the upper left corner followed by, similar to the other magazines, a range of buttons, for featured news, reviews, podcasts, news, trailers, subscribe button, a link to the film festival page and also a store checkout basket, immediately indicating that you are able to buy the magazine. It has a features page if you scroll down, that has competition adverts and film releases in a patchwork, scrapbook style. It also includes an arrow where you can access more highlights. It has a separate news section near the bottom where you can flick through different news stories, be it movie releases, recent actor deaths or actor news.

Reviews for movies can be found at the bottom of the page, followed by a section called the ‘Trailer Park’ where you can access a range of trailer for upcoming films. Starburst magazine also have a sections for podcasts, so that the interests of that audience is met.

You can sign up to the newsletter at the bottom of the page to receive all the latest updates from the magazine.

VERDICT

In my opinion, if i were going to create a magazine i would go for a more visual approach, like the Starburst and Little White Lies magazine as it immediately grabs attention from the viewer. I would also include an enjoyment, anticipation and a must watch rating like the Little White Lies magazine as i found that not many other magazines included this. To branch out my target audience i would also include podcast and radio link, where people can easily access various categories of podcasts.

I would create a bar on the top of the page, similar to the magazines i looked at for any important subsections like, movie reviews; tv reviews; features; exclusive clips and a subscribe button so people could be notified when i would release the next edition.

I found that the magazines i didn't like as much would often include competitions which i personally would ignore so i wouldn't put it in my magazine. 

Task 7

horror	6		once	4		want a rating	9		friends	6		visual	10		radio	6		Reads them	8		Flashy	7		none	3		watches them	12
comedy	2		never	7		don’t	3		family	4		informative	2		podcasts	1		don’t	4		Minimalistic	5		one	5		doesn’t	0
			twice	1					both	2					both	2								two	4
drama	2														neither	3
documentary	2

Task 8

When interviewing the people I chose, the first question I asked was whether they were subscribed to a magazine or not. I wanted to collect two perspectives on film magazines, one being people who read them and know what they want to see and what they expect; another being the view of the people who don’t read them, so I can find out what would make them read film magazines and understand what’s missing from current magazines that doesn’t make some viewers want to read them.

After submitting the data from my film survey into a pie chart it is clear the most popular genre of movies across most ages is horror. As a result of this, I think I should base my featuring articles around the subject of horror, advertising upcoming horror movies and news stories about the actors starring in those movies, as very many said they enjoy reading news stories. I will also include movies from other genres as well, like family, drama, thriller, action, etc.

As of the anticipation, enjoyment and must-see rating, most people thought it would be a good idea to include it as they said that if they were deciding on what movie to watch it would help them.

When asked if people would prefer a more visual page or an informative one, most people immediately opted for the visual page paired with bright flashy lettering that would instantly grab the audience’s attention as well as a short humorous paragraph or two summarising recommended movies, as most people said a factual one would bore them and they wouldn’t read it.

Almost all the people I interviewed said they liked watching trailers for movies and said they watched them regularly, so in the interest of the audience I should include a tab/link on the front page so people can be directed to the trailer page, without having to scroll down a lot.

Finally, I have decided to include both a podcast and radio link in my magazine. Based on the results, there are a considerable amount of people who listen to either, as well as both. So in an effort to cater to everyone’s wants and needs, I think I should incorporate both a podcast and radio page/link.

Task 9

Film Magazine

Synopsis: I am creating a magazine that will have a more visual approach to displaying movie related news. It will have a mixture of bold lettering with a minimalistic page layout and a classic theme of red, black and white. I want the homepage to have a picture of the headlining/ most popular article, for example of an actor or an interesting scene from an upcoming movie. I would have an anticipation, enjoyment and must watch rating as I think this gives the reader more information about the movie. I would include links to popular podcast as well as radio links. My magazine would also have a page dedicated to exclusive clips and trailers from current movies. It would have a small bar at the bottom of the page where you can easily subscribe to my magazine. 

Questionnaire

How old are you? 

 What genre of movies do you usually watch? 

 How often do you read movie reviews? 

 Do you think an anticipation, enjoyment and must see rating would help you choose a movie if it was there? 

 Who do you usually watch movies with? 

 What would attract you more, a more visual picture page or a more informative page? 

 Do you listen to the radio or podcasts often? 

 Do you prefer a more jokey and fun way of summarising a movie or a more factual one? 

 Do you like to read news stories about actors in upcoming movies? 

 Do you like bright flashy colours or do you prefer a more minimalistic approach? 

 Are you subscribed to any magazines? 

 Do you like to watch trailers for movies?