Film analysis: The Theory Of Everything

Film analysis of The Theory of Everything 

Production Background

The Theory Of Everything is a Working Title film. Its initial release date was the 

26th of November 2014. 
Director: James Marsh
James Marsh is known for The Theory of Everything (2014), Man on Wire (2008) 

and Shadow Dancer (2012). This is quite rare having an unknown director with a 

limited track record for high budget films directing this film. Another example of 

this is in the film Elizabeth which was directed by Shekhar Kapur. This is quite 

unusual as the director was Indian and the film is a traditional British film but 

they did this as they wanted the directer to have a fresh and new view on the history.

Box Office
Budget:

  $15,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

  $208,763 (USA) (7 November 2014)

Gross:

 $29,055,497 (USA) (23 January 2015)

World Wide:

 $81.8m

Budget and Implications

The budget for this for was $15 million. By having quite a low budget for the size of

 the marketing this meant that they could of got a bigger star. Eddie Redmayne was

 their main star. Being a british actor that isn't well known in british film it was a massive 

risk for Working title getting him for the starring role as they may not get box office in

 England never mind America.

Distribution and Marketing

This is The Theory Of Everything'sFacebook page. This page has over 300,000 likes which is a lot for a film that has only recently been released. 

Twitter Page

This is the poster for the film and also the DVD cover. The way he is looking at her signifies that she isn't of has fallen out of love with him even though this is a romance. It is also a two shot which also signifies romance.

• two shots
• sci-fi
• about her in small text

The Theory of Everything has got different distributors for different countries. In the UK it was distributed by Universal but in the USA it was distributed by Focus Features. This information also shows where they have already planned to release the film on DVD as well as cinema. This is quite interesting as working title had a 7 year cycle with NBC universal that said anything under $25m had the green light so seeing focus features distributing the film in the US is interesting. This is because NBC 

universal thought that there would only be a niche market for this film in the USA

 therefore letting Focus Features (who are owned by NBC Universal) distribute this

 film in the US. This is because Focus better at distributing art house films for a small 

audience, but the massive proportion of hype and awards for this film, intrigued a larger

 audience in the US than expected therefore opening up the niche market into an 

extremely big one. The main reason for this is the amount of awards they got nominated

 for at The Oscars including all of the main ones you can receive. 

Theory Of Everything just has an International trailer.

 This is quite interesting that they only made an international trailer as it shows they 

were trying to get their film released wherever they could.

Critical Reception

This is part of the Guardian's film review

It stands or falls, of course, on its central performance. But Redmayne towers: this is an astonishing, genuinely visceral performance which bears comparison with Daniel Day-Lewis in My Left Foot. His Hawking starts askew – the glasses, maybe the shoulders a touch – and over the course of two hours contorts and buckles into a figure at once instantly familiar and fresh. This is more than just skilful impersonation – it's inhabitation. To look on as his face and body distort is to feel, yourself, discomforted, even queasy.
The film's emotional punch, however, comes from the trauma the disease wreaks on Hawking as one half of a couple. It manages that rare thing in any movie, least of all a well-upholstered biopic, and that is a realistic relationship, with grace notes, and a 

bedrock of respect and affection. Jones makes for a formidable opposite number; she's a consistently brilliant actor who needs a breakthrough.
It's a film to leave you reeling but cheered, too. It's about battling love, as well as illness. 

A universal story, extracted from a unique one.Perhaps this may prove to be the movie. Though Redmayne will deservedly hoover up a great swagbag of awards, Jones shouldn't go home empty-handed. One beautifully underplayed scene between the two near the end hits with such choking force the viewer is left almost giddy.

Overall it has a very good review with their rating out of 4 out of 5 stars and the IMBD rating

 of 7.8 out of 10 makes this review a good watch.

Media Language - Genre + Audience
The Theory of Everything is a hybrid of a documentary and a romance. It's primary audience 

is both older woman and men as his best known by older people although young people are

 also a key part of the audience as they may look up the the main protagonist and want to be

 like him when they are older.
Media Language - 'British'
This film has all southern British characters set in the south of England. It is mainly set

 in the heart of cambridge and at the well known Cambridge University. This is easily

 identified by a US audience by the arcitecture and mise-en-scene. The main protagonist

 who plays Steven Hawking  is also British making it authentic and more realistic. If we

 compare this to 4 Lions which took a more stereotypical approach as it was set in Bradford 

in the middle of a city with muslim characters 

• Compared to 4 Lions which is set in britain it is the more steriotypical approach
• Commutation test and set it in bradford not the south of england wold get a totally 
• different view

Typical WT Film?
On one hand this is a typical Working title film as it is set in southern britain and also

 has british actors but on the other hand focusing on the genre, its not as working title 

don't usually do a documentary genre but this film is not a typical Working title film. The 

budget for this film is quite a low budget for working titles standards with no A list-stars in the

 film at all. The main reason it isn't is the director. The director is very unknown and they

 have only ever picked an unknown director once before in Elizabeth. They have also 

taken a very artistic approach to this film not a commercial approach which is unusual

 with Working title as the budget for an Artistic film is very high making it hard to get 

mass box office results compared to a commercial approach.

Film analysis: About Time

My film analysis of About time

Production Background

About time is a Working title film

Initial release: August 8, 2013 (United Kingdom)

Director: Richard Curtis

Richard Curtis has previously directed numerous films for Working title including Love Actually (2003 which he also wrote) and wrote Notting Hill (1999)  and also directed The Boat That Rocked (2009)

Distributed by Universal Pictures

Box Office

Opening Weekend:

 $1,076,250 (USA) (1 November 2013)

Gross:

 $15,294,553 (USA) (20 December 2013)

Overall Box Office $87.1m

Budget and implications of this

Their budget was $12 million. This could have restricted WT from casting a more recognised  lead male actor. Domhnall Gleeson the Irish actor who is well known in the Uk, having been in a few of the Harry Potter films as a minor role and another minor role in Anna Karenina. But he is fairly unknown in the US therefore he would have no impact on the sales of the film over there. However Rachel Mcadams is a very well known Canadian actress in the Uk and US due to her famous roles in The Notebook and Mean Girls, so her A list status will bring in a lot of money from all countries. Their budget could also have reduced the number of locations they could have filmed in, as the more locations used the more expensive the cost.

Distribution and marketing

About Time Facebook page

About Time UK Facebook page

About Time Twitter

This is the Uk and international poster 

This is the DVD cover

The About Time soundtrack

Fan made video 

Rachel Mcadams is clearly shown in the centre of the shot and Domnhall Gleeson is less obvious in the corner of the shot making sure all focus is on Mcadams (the more famous actor) 

The trailer 

Critical Reception

IMDb gave this film 4 stars out of 5

Rotten Tomatoes gave it 3 1/2 out of 5 

The Independent however gave the film a grilling review:

Tim, in any case, knows straightaway how he's going to use his power: he wants to get a girlfriend. Things look promising when he meets a cute American, Mary (Rachel McAdam, already a veteran of such whimsy from The Time-Traveler's Wife) but on account of a glitch he "loses" that first encounter and has to woo her all over again. Then, deploying his time-bending lark to edit out all his gaffes on their Big Night – a stumble on the stair, a fumble with the bra, a tumble in the sack that's not quite perfect – he makes smooth the course of true love without Mary suspecting a thing. This might have struck us as a clever conceit had we not seen it done with far more wit, heart and precision 20 years ago in Groundhog Day. It's the same routine that Bill Murray's misanthropic weatherman follows, obliged to rehearse the same moves and learn the same lines over one eternal day until he wins round the woman he loves.

Media Language- Genre
It's a romantic comedy-drama. Its audience is partially focused on the American audience as it contains a famous American star. Its also directed towards the type of people who were fans of Love Actually, Notting Hill and Four Weddings and a Funeral as they mention that this film was directed by the same director who directed these films very centrally and largely on the poster, and in the right hand corner of the DVD cover. This market for rom-coms are usually focused on the female audience as the romantic genre is key how ere the comedy aspect also appeals to the male audience. The age rating is R therefore the audience is not restricted. 

Media Language- British and Typical Working Title film
The lead characters are all upper class attractive Brits. The focused family have a house in the country and in London, these are the main locations for the film. The lead male is played by a rich, upperclass. bumbling, awkward man who is kind of a remake of many Hugh Grant for example in Notting Hill and Four Weddings and a Funeral. These are all qualities of a Richard Curtis Working Title film. 

Summary
As a whole I didn't mind the film, it wasn't great but it did contain Bill Nighty who I love and who brought a few laughs ti the film. Overall the film didn't receive great reviews however the Britsh and American audience seamed to like it due to the high rates and gross profit of the film. 

FILM ANALYSIS/INFLUENCES : Submarine- mies-en-scene, locations, sound, music

Analysis of Submarine and how it could influence our film

Mise-en-scene

Submarine has many different aspects that we would use in our film opening. 

For example the  mise-en scene of the boys bedroom is key in this as it portray the boys 

character in the first few shots. 

They use old furniture and intriguing art and objects to connote that this 

protagonist is mature, quirky and acts older than his age.
Influence
As we want our female character to be quirky and an individual we can represent this through the mise-en-scene. Taking inspiration from this film we can add strange retro art and books to help connote that the female protagonist is an individual.

Submarine mise-en-scene

Submarine Title with background

Locations

Within Submarine establishing shots are used to add exposition, it denotes that the film is set along the coast in Wales.
Inspiration
Locations is another big component in our film opening. We will start with a series of long shots of landscapes just as Submarine does. Living near Ilkley Moor is very important as it gives us the idilic location to film all of the establishing shots. We will do this to denote that our film is set in Yorkshire as it will show a lot of fields. 

Sound and Music

Sound and music are also other key factors that Submarine has. It uses slow 

music to set the scene as calm and relaxing. We can tell this by if we used the

 commutation test and replaced it with rock music it would have a huge change

on the audiences interpretation of the female protagonist. The audience would now see her as a rebel and an outcast rather than quirky. The acoustic guitar also denotes that part of the films genre is romance.
Inspiration
We would also use Submarines approach of using acoustic guitar soundtrack to denote the  romantic aspect of our hybrid genre. 

FILM ANALYSIS : Tyrannosaur- narrative, music

Analysis of Tyrannosaur

Narrative
Tyrannosaur is also a good example of Todrovs Equilibrium. This involves Equilibrium,

 Disequilibrium and New Equilibrium. This is how our film would be structured if we did the

 full thing. Also the different shots used is part of the narrative as we see most of the shots are focused at the start on the main protagonist. This will also be the same in ours but we will

 slowing reinforce the preferred reading as we will hint the forthcoming activity's by

 introducing the other two people that forms our rom-com love triangle.

Music
Music is one of he main components that we will use from Tyrannosaur. It 

uses slow acoustic instrumental music to create a sad and calm atmosphere

 but in comparison ours will get faster and more upbeat when we transfer into

 the busting scene.

FILM ANALYSIS : Trick or Treat - mise-en-scene, camera shots, sound and music

Film analysis of Trick or Treat

Director:   Charles Martin Smith

Box Office: $6,797,218 (USA)

Distributors: 

Arsenal Filmverleih (1987) (West Germany) (theatrical)

De Laurentiis Entertainment Group (DEG) (1986) (USA) (theatrical)

Paramount Pictures Corporation (Canada) (Canada) (theatrical)

Castle Home Video (UK) (VHS)

Concorde Home Entertainment (2003) (Germany) (DVD)

Esselte CIC Video (Netherlands) (VHS)

Future Film (2004) (Finland) (DVD)

Lorimar Home Video (1987) (USA) (VHS)

NSM Records (2014) (Austria) (DVD)

Nea Kinisi Video (1988) (Greece) (VHS)

Nelonen (1999) (Finland) (TV)

Platinum Disc (2003) (USA) (DVD)

Transworld Video (1989) (Finland) (VHS)

Umbrella Entertainment (2002) (Australia) (DVD)

VCL Communications (West Germany) (VHS)

Warner Home Video (2009) (Japan) (DVD)

Warner Home Video (USA) (VHS)

 Mise-en-scene

This is the mise-en-scene in the opening shot of Trick or Treat. It is very similar to what we are going to produce as all of the details connote what the character is like, but in ours we are going to connote a quirky arty character instead of rock style music lover.

Camera Shots
The camera shots in this opening shot is also very important as they use a 

panning shot around the room at the start just like we want to do in our film. 

This will show more of the surround's which is typical in a social realist film. 

Sound and Music
In trick or treat we get rock music straight when the film starts until 5:48 seconds into the film. In our film opening we will also have music running over the top but it will be soft acoustic to start of with but then getting more upbeat as it progresses. There is also a voice over which we will do also as we can hear what they are thinking which helps the audience understand the film.

FILM OPENING 7 EG - Four lions

Four Lions(Chris Morris , 2010)
Produced by Warp films, Channel Four films; distribution: Capelight Pictures, Dafthouse Films
Budget:£2.5m
Box Office:  £2.7 (UK) $4.7m (World) $30.2k (USA)

In the first frame we are presented with a slight tilted shot which could connote that something isn't right within the scenario in which we are presented. The low resolution of the image is denoting that this scene is filmed using a cam corder, this is also signified by the tilted framing. The loosely hanging sheet, unevenly hung shown by the sag lines connotes the amateurish nature of the character/characters. This medium shot, even though clumsily done still fits the rule of thirds. This centred young 20 something Asian male is wearing vaguely militerianistic clothing (boots and combat trousers), signifies that the meaning behind this shot is do do with violence or war. He is also wearing a black bandanna with white Arabic script on it which could connote that religion is a central theme in this film.  His shaven head links to the army uniform which anchors the idea of violence due to the multiple signifiers of the military. We associate all these factors to a suicide bombers video which denotes that the genre will be a serious/political drama, except for the small fact of the man's short well kept beard which is not what we expect, as we presume that he would have a long traditional beard. This signifier goes against the idea of a serious drama. The line "sit properly….." signifies the comedy element to this piece. Also the southern and Bradford accents that we hear is not what we would expect as we would suspect this to be set in Afghanistan. This short take of 17 seconds works for a younger audience as it is quick, snappy and emphasises the comedic aspects in this scene. 

The idea of a narrative enigma is carried on into the second shot as we see an unidentified man looking into a camera which clearly connotes that he is the one who is filming the original man. The camera then tilts upwards which shifts the focus to a different character this hints that he is the central protagonist. The audiences confusion is mirrored by this new character, through his bewildered facial expression, which also signifies that he could be the protagonist. 
Next we see a lot of quick shot changes ranging from a 3 medium shot to a close up to a straight forward medium shot. These snappy fast paced changes adds to the comedy timing as well as the confusion surrounding this scene. We can clearly see that this is an Indie film due to the hand held approach (used as its cheaper and quicker) and that it contains hybridity as it has more than one genre, a comedy also containing social issues. 

Again we see a lot of shot variety varying from an over the shoulder shot to a medium two shot and then a high angle over the shoulder medium close up, all of these happen within the space of 3 seconds. These short quick shots contrast with the next long take, this is done to high light the comedy within this scene. The abnormally small gun is used as a comedic aspect as it contradicts the characters serious motive of a suicide bombers video. The line "Guns small as i'v got big hands innit" anchors the fact that this films is a comedy. 

Now we have an ellipsis that takes us to the next shot which is an over the shoulder shot of a laptop playing the footage from the cam corder. Next we get a medium long shot of the family, this is anchorage that this character is the main protagonist as the he is now centred again in this scene. These shots are binary opposites due to the contrasting mise-en-scene of the first dull dark small room filled with men dresses in army attire to a bright, glossy, high resolution white family kitchen in which this scene is set. A medium 2 shot re-enforces the idea of a happy family. With in the medium 3 shot we first see the juxta position between the audio and the mise-en-scene of this family home, where a little boy is doing his homework and the mother is dressed in a nurses uniform, to the angry swearing coming from the computer. Then we see a traditional opening establishing shot of a building as the titles start.

FILM OPENING 5 EG - Gravity

Gravity 
(Alfonso Cuaron, 2013)
Produced by Warner Bros; distribution: 20th Century Fox
Budget:$100m
Box Office: $274,084,951 (world)

We first see an establishing shot of the earth, this is polysemic as it could connote that the theme of the film is space travel or aliens/alien invasion or it could just be an over view of the whole world and used to symbolise something wider in the film that will be revealed shortly.

We then see a small object floating towards the screen, this is an example of Barthes' narrative enigma idea as we can't clearly make out what it is; this creates suspense and tension. As it travels closer it is revealed that this is a space ship which anchors the idea that the film contains space travel. This idea of space travel denotes that the genre of the film could be action/thriller.

The mise-en-scene must have been very expensive to construct due to the large amount of CGI and editing as well as props that would have been needed to make this scene look authentic. This signifies that this would be more likely to be an American funded/American film.

A tracking shot follows an unknown man, which also again creates a narrative enigma that creates suspense. His face is then zoomed in on and we can now see that it is 'George Clooney' this anchors the fact that this is an American film as he is an A-list star.

Then the camera slowly zooms out to reveal 'Sandra Bullock' another A-list celebrity. She is working on something on the spaceship which connotes that something may have been wrong with the it. This sets up action which also anchors the fact that this could be an action film.

FILM OPENING 4 EG - The crying game

THE CRYING GAME (IMDb)
(Neil Jordan, 1992)
Produced by Palace Pictures, Channel Four films; distribution: Miramax Films
Budget:$2.3m
Box Office: $62.6m (world)

This first shot is an establishing shot that then starts to slowly pan across to reveal the setting. The fairground could signify that this is a  family friendly movie and also that it will contain a young central character. The slight shadow of the bridge around the edge of the frame also makes it look like a point of view shot.

The red text denotes that the genre of the film could be a romance and/or thriller. Also the serif font signify's that this may be a serious or social realist film.

As the panning continues the mise-en-scene connotes that this could be set in a seaside town due to the little beach at the end of the stretch of land.

Then the shot jumps to a long shot, the re-enforces the idea of a younger central character due to the fairground amusements crowded with young people.


The shot then zooms into two people. The denim jackets on both characters and hoop earns, red lips and a twirled up hair do on the girl denote that this is set around the 1980's.

The mise-on-scene I think contains intertextual references to the final scene from the musical film Grease (set in 1978) due to the American style far ground as well as the youths wearing leather jackets and other similar attire as in Grease.

At this point Stuart Hall's 3 levels of preferred reading does point to a romantic genre due to the close physical contact between the two featured characters, which fits with the previous red coloured font of the titles. Due to the tracking shot following the couple it denotes that these could be central characters in the film.

Now we see an over the shoulder (the person viewing occupying 1/3 of the frame) point of view shot. This signifies that someone is watching/stalking the couple, this denotes that something isn't right and also that this could be a mystery due to Barthese' narrative enigma idea.

The two shot between these two characters also signifies that something is not right as it connotes a relationship between these two characters. It could also signify that action/violence will occur soon due to the uncomfortable and nervous expressions of the female character and the sly and confident expression of the viewing male as this creates tension.

The shot tracks upwards to from an aerial long shot at a high angle. This denotes that the two characters specifically the male is in danger and is vulnerable.