Working Title

Atonement, one of Working Title's finest films, was one of the top contenders at the Golden Globes in 2008. 

"Atonement in contention for 7 Golden Globe Awards

19th December 2007

Atonement, starring Keira Knightley, James McAvoy and Saoirse Ronan is the top contender for this year's Golden Globe Awards, leading the field with 7 nominations including best picture. The full list of categories in which Atonement has been nominated is as follows: - Best Director (Joe Wright) - Best Actress, Drama (Keira Knightley) - Best Actor, Drama (James McAvoy) - Best Supporting Actress (Saoirse Ronan) - Best Screenplay (Christopher Hampton) - Original Score (Dario Marianelli) - Best Picture Cate Blanchett has also been in the actress in a dramatic role category for her performance as Elizabeth I in Elizabeth: The Golden Age. The 65th annual Hollywood Foreign Press Association Golden Globe Awards will be announced at a ceremony in Los Angeles on Sunday, January 13th. Pictured: James McAvoy, Keira Knightley and Joe Wright, who are each nominated for a Golden Globe, at a screening of Atonement at the Toronto Film Festival in September."

(http://www.workingtitlefilms.com/news/view/post/142)

However, is they key to a successful film the amount of awards/nominations it receives? I can understand that it is obviously fantastic to receive recognition for your work but how is the process of the award ceremonies important to the success of an individual film/company. Also, is it the nominations or the actual winning of the awards that ensures success? Some films receive many nominations but never win the awards where as other films receive few nominations but win them all. Out of the seven nominations Atonement received they won two, this is clearly a fantastic achievement but are the 2 wins ranked higher than the 7 nominations? 

In more recent new though, Senna has won a hugely prestigious award.

"Senna wins at Sundance

7th February 2011

SENNA has won a prestigious award this years Sundance Film Festival, collecting the World Cinema Audience Award for Documentary and was one of 12 films from an entry of 796 to make the final cut at Sundance. Director Asif Kapadia was there to collect the award  "This is amazing. This festival has restored my faith in film festivals, Sundance is all about the films, the audience and the film makers. Every single screening is sold out. We were told that no one in the US knew who Ayrton Senna was, that there was no interest in Formula One, that we should forget about releasing the film here, so to win the Audience Award at Sundance is just fantastic, it makes us feel so proud. We hope this shows that there is an audience for SENNA in the US, both fans and people who have never heard of him before and I hope this is just the beginning of a long journey for SENNA in 2011.” 

SENNA, written by Manish Pandey and directed by Asif Kapadia, tells the remarkable story of Formula 1 legend Ayrton Senna, charting his physical and spiritual achievements on the track and off, his quest for perfection, and the mythical status he has since attained. This documentary feature spans the racing legend’s years as an F1 driver, from his opening season in 1984 to his untimely death a decade later and has been made with full support of the Ayrton Senna’s family

SENNA has opened  to rave reviews in Brazil and Japan .  The next release is Italy (Feb 11) followed  by Germany ( May 12), Spain (May 20),  before arriving in the UK in the summer. (http://www.workingtitlefilms.com/news/view/post/197)

This story gives a new form of hope to the film industry, after being beaten down by the US who said that it wouldn't show well there, to gain such an amazing international award has installed new hope. I personally do not know of Ayrton Senna but as the director said "This festival has restored my faith in film festivals, Sundance is all about the films, the audience and the film makers. Every single screening is sold out." it is clear that film festivals are important to getting the name of films into the public eye. 

Hollyoaks.

SlideShare isn't working tonight so I'm just going to copy and paste (to prove I've done it) and then upload the nice SlideShare version another time...

Hollyoaks – Case Study 5.1

The episode I chose to study was aired on Tuesday 01 March 2011. The focus of this episode is a young character called Seth who has been rushed to hospital after having a bad reaction to some illegal steroids from his friend Gaz. Seth’s sister Jason (originally Jasmine) is trying to get Gaz to come clean about selling them to him but Gaz is concerned about loosing his job and going to prison again. Elsewhere Ste and Rae have planned a night in to have a curry and watch some movies. The section of this episode I have chosen to study starts at 11 minutes 57 seconds and ends at 15 minutes 19 seconds.

Camera

A good majority of the camera shots are close ups. The shots quickly cut between each character and their head and shoulders fill up a majority of the frame. Some midshots are used but it’s not often and mostly the camera is static. When Seth’s parents and older brother are talking to him they use low angle shots to make them look intimidating, almost the view that Seth would get from his hospital bed. When Jason tries to talk a slightly higher angle shot is used to show that they are not really interested in his/her opinion and they’re often quite rude in the dialogue towards him/her. The angle only changes when s/he stands up and voices his/her opinion. We also see Gaz through open blinds, making a barrier between him and the hospital room, this could foreshadow his fate. When we change to the ‘lighter’ scene with Ste and Rae the camera isn’t as static. It gently moves to the two of them cooking and talking and then moves with Ste as he walks around the frame. The camera continues to follow the characters as they move with barely any quick cuts. This could show that this storyline is a bit more relaxed and ‘lighter’. Close ups are started to use when the characters sit down to eat and start to talk, this allows the viewer to feel more involved with the characters and read their facial expressions more. I feel that the placement and shots of the camera in this short clip help the viewer to interpret the storyline more so. E.g. a smoother shot may make the viewer feel the mood is more smooth and relaxed.

Editing

I have mentioned a fair bit of the editing process in the paragraph above. A lot of the clips are put together to make really quick cuts and give a sense of pace. In the crucial ‘bridge’ between the two storylines there are a lot of very quick cuts between different characters faces and their facial expressions which then bridge into a really smooth shot which stays the same and follows both characters as they move around the frame. This allows the viewer to make a clear relation to the two storylines not being interlinked and the differing pace helps establish this too.

Sound

During the clip of the first storyline pure dialogue is used and the faint noise of people talking in the background ca be heard lightly; I’m unable to tell whether this is diegetic or non-diegetic. However, in the second storyline clip we can hear faint music playing in the background behind their dialogue. I get the impression that the music is non-diegetic because the volume increases as the characters go to sit down in the other room, it also stops suddenly when Ste’s phone goes off. The rest of this clip is pure dialogue.

Mise en Scène

The locations of the two storylines are the most immediate change notable I believe. Seth’s story is taking part in a bright and busy hospital and his actions are public to his family and a lot of other people, in contrast Ste’s story is happening in a small flat where the lights are quite dim and it’s just him and one other character. Ste is in a comfortable home environment where as Seth is in an unusual environment for him. Costume isn’t incredibly different apart from Seth is wearing a hospital gown; this does make him stand out amongst other characters though. Ste and Rae are wearing fairly neutral, warm colours which make their storyline seem far more relaxed and the props and surroundings are true to that as well, there are no incredibly unusual things that stand out. In Seth’s hospital room there are a lot of whites though and the lighting is rather harsh, causing a lot of shadow. The two scenes contrast in terms of the quick cut static shots and smooth shots and also with tone and volume of dialogue. 

Hollyoaks: Storyboard.

Hopefully this is clear enough? Anyway, this is my storyboard to accompany my writing piece which shall be uploaded shortly if it will ever finish processing on SlideShare... it covers 20 seconds over the transition of the two storylines.