Genre

What is genre? 

Genre is a way of categorizing a media product based on its conventions. It is used by institutions to help identify their audience, the audience will have a pre-judgment of a film based off of its genre, therefore institutions use this to their advantage when it comes to marketing. There are two key parts within genre, sub-genre, and hybrid-genre. Sub-genre is a genre within a genre, whereby the main genre category is so broad that there are subsections within it, for example, gothic horror, it's a specific genre within the broad category of the genre. A hybrid genre is where two or more main genres are combined, for example, a romantic comedy. Hybrid genres are far less predictable than normal genres as there's no stereotypical ending as there's no one clear genre.

There are many classic associations with the genre, such as expecting to see Kevin Hart playing a comedic character in a comedy- if the audience were to see Kevin Hart in a period-drama their initial reaction would be that there's going to be a flare of humor, so from a casting perspective this certainly wouldn't work due to the actors' comedic connotations. Another example would be in horror movies, the audience generally expects to see the archetypical 'ditsy blonde' get killed within the opening scene, this is because of stereotypes linked with thecharacter type that is part of conventions. 

Walt Disney Research

Film Industry Research

Walter Elias Disney was an American entrepreneur, writer, animator, voice actor,

and most famously a film producer, whereby he developed several new ideas in the production of cartoons. He was born on 5th December 1901 in Chicago and later died on December 15th, 1966 in Los Angeles. 

Walt grew up in a small town called Marceline, his exposure to country life helped him indulge his imagination and began his drawing of animals. Although by the time Walt was 9 his father became ill and the farm was no longer profitable, so the family decided to move to Kansas City. Walt graduated from Benton School where he performed skits and routines with friends in local theatres, although soon enough he and his family moved back to Chicago where he started McKinely High school and started drawing for the student newspaper, although in 1917 Walt lied about his age in order to join the Red Cross Ambulance in Europe during the first world war. When his tour finished in 1919, instead of returning to education- he went to Kansas City where he experimented and learned animation and created his first animated series. In 1923, after many trials and errors with business, Walt and his brother Roy had a $500 loan from their uncle, which they used to set up “The Disney Brothers Studio”. 

Disneys headquarters are in Burbank, California; although there are 12 Disney Parks located globally, they also have 4 cruise ships and over 330 Disney stores worldwide. Today globally, Disney is recognized in the list of top ten brands, alongside Amazon and google, Disney now owns some of the biggest franchises (inc Star Wars, Marvel, and Disney princesses) which have been created due to the success of their movies. 

In 2020 Disney’s revenue surpassed $69 billion worldwide, despite covid; this is more than double what they made in 2006. A great contribution to their high revenue is their new edition of Disney+ - much like Netflix or prime, there’s a wide variety of (Disney) films and TV for viewers to watch- Disney charges a fee of £7.99 per month for the subscription. One key reason for the Success of Disney+ is the variety of channels, Disney has bought over 12 channels which brings more inclusiveness and diversity to the site, making a higher demand for new customers and families due to the large range of variety to choose from. There are currently over 95 million Disney+ subscribers worldwide, which is much more than they had anticipated within the first 5 years. Disney now owns Pixar, which they paid $7bn for although have since made Disney over $20bn. They have also bought: Lucasfilm (for $4bn), Marvel ($4bn) fox ($71bn), star wars (for $4bn), National Geographic (73% stake), Star, Hulu (60% stake), ABC ($19 bn), ESPN (80% stake), FX, A&E (50% equity), The History Channel (50% equity), Lifetime (50% equity), Vice Media (10% stake), and Hollywood Records. The surplus of channels offers a wider range for a potential audience, allowing them to easily compete alongside Netflix and Amazon prime.

Disneys top 5 box office successes are:

1. Avengers: Endgame

This was released in 2019 and has since made around $2.8 Billion, although they had a budget of $356 million. Not only is Endgame Disneys biggest film, but it's the second-biggest film of all time, closely behind Avitar. 

2. Star Wars Ep. VII: The Force Awakens

It was released in 2015, and has since made around $2.06 Billion, despite this they had a budget of $306 million.

3. Avengers: Infinity war

It was released in 2018 and has since made around $2.04 Billion, although they had a budget of $316 million.

4. The Lion King

It was released in 2019, and has since made around $1.7 Billion, despite this they had a budget of 260, whereas the original Lion king which was made in 1994 had a budget of $45 million

5. The Avengers 

It was released in 2012 and has since made around $1.5 Billion, although they had a budget of $220 million.

Although it's proven if a film is distributed internationally it makes 5x the gross it would normally. Furthermore, 8/10 of the highest-grossing films of all time are owned by Disney.

Disney has made many sequels, for example, they now have 12 Star Wars films- and in circumstances like this, they do tend to use the same actors as the characters have been established, although they tend to bring in new characters where they're able to build their career through the huge fanbase star wars already have. Although in completely new films, the use of an unfamiliar cast means there's no previous judgment nor association to the character, although often Disney uses already A-list actors to draw more attention to the movie, as these stars will have a pre-existing fan-base, creating a wider audience for the movie. Furthermore, John Ratzenberger has voiced a character in every single Pixar movie.

Additionally, Disney does tend to use the same directors for some of its movies, especially franchises/sequels, although in the past has chosen to replace its directors in order to benefit the movie.

Disney currently has 13 movies in pre-production, including ‘The Batman’ and ‘Spider-man: No Way Home’  which are both due to be out within the next 6 months. They also have 8 movies in production including ‘Ponochio’ and ‘Doctor Strange in the multiverse of madness’ which is due to come out in 2022. They finally have 6 films in post-production, including ‘The little Mermaid’ which is set to be released in May 2023! It's further announced 43 movies including a Star Wars due to come out in 2027, and has 100 movies in development!

To conclude, the reason for Disney's continued success is the extent of its business, Disney is now perceived as “too big to fail” due to all of its assets and franchises. An advantage of how big their institution is is the costs that go behind the making of the films, alongside the ability to have full A-list ensemble casts. Additionally, Disney has such a big fan base now, that even if they were to make a film that didn't quite meet their normal standard, it would still (hopefully) make a significant amount of money due to their ability to market products.

Belstone Pictures Reasearch

Belstone Pictures Research

Belstone Pictures is an independently owned British film company founded by Finn Cardigan Bruce in 2012. It is inspired by his love of film, which he discovered when he was at Hurtwood House School, it was here where he was able to direct and produced various films and documentaries- these opportunities ignited his desire to make films, especially those that create tension and touched upon subjects often considered taboo, he wanted to make the audience ask questions whilst enlightening them of inspirational stories.

Finn worked on various film and tv sets including Top Gear and Downton Abbey before working for Blink TV, Mario Testino, MPC and Sky News. Finn then went on to work as an executive assistant in Los Angeles for Shaun Redick and Ray Mansfield, he then worked for film financier Nicola Horlick helping with the investment and development of her two film funds. By 2016 Finn had a strong range of experience that he soon used to focus on Belstone Pictures which he had started back in 2012. Belstone is based in South-West London, in Chelsea- near to where Finn lives. Finn’s family owns the festival ‘Boomtown’, which he in the past has briefly used to market his company, despite this Finn managed to get all of the funding to start up his institution by himself, with little help from family and friends and more financial partners. Belstone continually collaborates with various financial partners as well as smaller internal funds giving them the ability to create the projects they do. Cardigan-Bruce also co-founded the lifestyle magazine brand "the Gentleman's Journal" where for several years he was made the creative director, he did all of this whilst producing a number of short films and TV Pilots.

Belstones’ biggest successes are Tucked (2019), Tracks (2019) and Tank 432 (2015). Tucked is now available in the UK, US, and all over Europe. The budget for Tucked was around £50,000, which is next to nothing compared to the extortionate numbers Disney pay. Belstone doesn't tend to work with the same actors and directors on their movies, this is most probably to do with the diverse topics discussed and the niche audiences they would attract. Furthermore, Belstone is only a small institution with a limited budget, therefore breakout performances are a common pattern they use, as they have not yet established a name for themselves, therefore they’ll work for experience and far less money than pre-established actors who have a previous reputation, furthermore their debut is likely to boost their career. 
Currently, Belstone has 3 films, 1 TV show and 4 feature films, although they have 1 film in pre-production, they also have 1 film in post-production and over 10 films and tv projects in development. For the past few years, they have released one film per year, although from 2020/21 their aims are to release 2-3 titles per year. Belstone started out with corporate filming events, although it is now grown slightly and moved into motion pictures. They're only a small institution, an advantage of this is the genres they cover- rather than striving to become the biggest in the world and appealing to multiple audiences, they focus on “developing fascinating and inspirational stories” which generate awareness of often taboo subjects. Although, despite the size of Belstone- their films are distributed globally by Netflix, HBO, Fox, Film4, Cineworld, IFC Films and Showtime.

Presentation of an opening scene

 

Mise-en-scene of a film poster

 How does the mise-en-scene and camera angle/composition within the poster communicate concepts and connotations to the audience?

Step Brothers was written by the two main actors: Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly, their humorous writing style was seamlessly pulled off, almost like it was written for them!! Mise-en-scene and camera angles within the poster communicate many concepts and connotations to the audience; furthermore, enhancing their humorous style.

The poster is relatively simple, it displays two grown men who appear to be in a physical fight, almost how young children fight with their siblings. The background is completely white and almost all of the writing is written in a sharp red. The people are displaying silly facial expressions as they look at the camera.

Despite the simplicity of the Step Brothers film poster, it really is quite engaging when you delve deeper into it. The use of the white background makes the bold, red writing stand out more, as the contrast between the colours helps the title to ‘pop’, drawing the audience's attention to the title, as the sharp colouring tends to be where people first look. The use of the strong yet traditional font works well alongside the red colouring as they both generate a bold, standout-ish vibe. The title is located in the central-lower quadrant of the poster, the positioning is well thought through as alongside the colouring and font, most people are drawn to the title first.

The ‘brothers’ are only visible in the right quadrant and take up the upper half of the poster. The lack of visibility reflects the genre of the movie as much like a classic comedy they’re all over the place! The actors are clearly grown men, although they’re being portrayed in a childlike manner, insinuating that they’re immature and that the movie is going to be a comedy based around their childish mannerisms. The men appear to be in a physical fight, as one has the other in a headlock and they’re both expressing silly faces, the facial expressions correspond to the genre of the movie, straight away the audience will be anticipating a comedy. 

The use of a male-dominant poster suggests the immaturity of ‘boys’, highlighting the common saying ‘boys will be boys’ this is backed up by the tag line ‘they may have grown up but they haven’t matured.’ this is shown in a black, bold font and is in a clear eye line. The use of the modal verb may, shows the uncertainty as to whether or not the men have grown up mentally, this is also backed up by the use of the full stop which shows that the tagline is more of a statement than a humorous opinion about the two men. The movie's target audience would most probably be men, as it’s a mostly male cast and crew which backs up Mulvey’s theory of the male gaze. Even though the movie will be marketed towards everyone, and every audience should enjoy it; men will be more likely to relate to it; despite the lack of over-sexualized women.

The film poster leaves lots of the plot to the imagination of the audience as there isn’t too much going on, what is clear is the film genre and the fact that it is going to be about the ups and downs of the ‘brothers’ relationship. The simplicity behind the poster was definitely intentional, it could be foreshadowing the movie or the personalities of the characters, simple yet chaotic! 

At the top of the poster, there are the names of the two main characters, Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly. The names are displayed in big, red, bold writing, drawing the audience’s attention to familiar names. The prevalence of their names helps to sell the movie, as the actors are widely renowned and have their own audiences and fan bases who would help to sell and gain more attention to the movie, as very often people watch movies due to the strength of the cast. The positioning of the actors’ names is strategic as studies show that the top is usually where the audience tends to look at first when looking at new film posters.  

To conclude, the film poster clearly reflects the movie through the use of camera angles and mise-en-scene, it portrays the genre- being a comedy- through the use of positioning and facial expressions. Furthermore, the use of a red and white colour scheme entices the audience, helping to maintain the audience's focus on the characters and their shenanigans.