Cowboys and aliens

Cowboys & Aliens

Attack the block

Marketing

Big Talk Productions

Big Talk Productions was founded in June 1995 by Nira Park, who previously worked at The Comic Strip from 1989.  Big Talk Productions employs twenty-five people and has produced comedies such as Black Books and Spaced. Subsequent to Spaced, Nira continued to work with Edgar Wright, a British director, to produce 3 films:

Shaun of the Dead (2004) starring Nick Frost and Simon Pegg.  Produced along side Big Talk Productions by Inside Track 2 and FilmFour.  Distributed (UK) by Universal Home Entertainment.  The film had an estimated budget of £4 million and produced a gross revenue of $30,039,392.

Hot Fuzz (2007) starring Nick Frost and Simon Pegg again.  Produced by Studio Canal, Workign Titles Films and Ingenious Film Partners.  Distributed by Universal Home Entertainment.  The films budget was £8 million, double Shaun of the Dead and received a gross revenue of $80,573,774, a big success.

On October 13, 2008, it was announced that BBC Worldwide had bought a 25% stake in Big Talk.  The deal meant that former BBC creative head of comedy, Kenton Allen joined Big Talk as joint CEO.

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010) starring Michael Cera.  Produced by Mark Platts Productions, Closed on Mondays Entertainment and Dentsu.  Distributed by Universal Pictures.  A much greater budget of $60 million but only made $31,524,275.  This film made a large loss.

Paul (2011) starring Nick Frost and Simon Pegg again along with the voice of Seth Rogan.  Produced by Relativity Media and Working Title Productions.  Distributed by Universal.  This film had a lower budget of $40 million but still made a loss with a gross revenue of only $37,371,385.

Attack the Block (2011) starring Nick Frost.  Produced by Big Talk Productions only.  Distributed by Sony.  The film had a low budget of $13 million and only made a fraction of that back in gross revenue of $4,275,216.

Primevil - Representation of gender

A wide shot shows us a woman character driving a digger through the forest. This shot allows the audience to see the location and to appreciate the prop.  The woman has short-ish hair and is wearing a leather jacket and camo trousers.  The costume gives us the impression the character is rough and aggressive, a representation that is very different to typical female characters.  During this long take, a man walks across carrying some wood.  He is quite scruffy looking and dressed casually in soft colours.  There is a short montage sequence of the woman operating the digger, showing she is capable of using the machine well.  The digger is a very large piece of machinary that is assciated with a construction envirnment that strong, working men would normally work in.  This shows the woman to be a very masculin character.  When a tiger appears from the forest, the man is down in a trench and the woman still operating the digger.  A high angle shot shows the man trapped and in danger from the attacking tiger.  A low angle shot shows us the tiger from the mans perspective (eye line match), putting the audience in the man's position and making us feel his fear.  A wide shot shows the woman fighting the tiger using the digger now as a weapon.  This is the complete reverse of typical gender roles.  The character fighting with tiger would typically be a male character. Controversially in this clip, the man is in the role of 'damsel in destress' and the woman assumes the role of the hero.  A series of shots (wide shot, long shots) observing the 30 degree rule, show the tiger ferociously attacking the digger.  A wide shot shows the man entering the woods, showing his vulnerability to attack.  A reverse shot shows the tiger seeing him and taking the bait.  This appears to be a foolish error by the man as the woman seemed to be in control.  The man has now put himself in great danger once again, resuming his female-like role.  A high angle shot looks down from the tree to show the tiger beneath, revealing the danger and putting the audience in the man's position again.  A low angle shot shows the man escaping via a zip-wire with a tilt to show the tiger giving chase below.  The camera pans across to follow the man's movement on the zipwire and then a cut-away shot shows the woman coming to his rescue with a rifle.  This prop is a very long gun used for precision shooting and represents a strong, experienced character.  There is a high angle wide shot to show the woman pointing the gun up and a reaction shot close up of the man looking shocked and relieved.

Later in this clip, a medium close up shows a different woman character with tidy hair, a stylish costume and a lot of attention on her make-up.  She also later says she is wearing her "best coat".  The reverse shot shows a male character that she is speaking to who's costume is very plain, dull and casual.  A medium long shot shows the man angrily grabbing a gun and aiming it at the woman.  The reverse shot shows her reaction; scared expression and defensive body posture.  A match-on-action as he throws her down to a low angle medium close up of the man pointing a gun down at the woman puts the audience in the woman's position, so we feel threatened by him and sympathy for her.  This is a representation of a typical female role.  A long shot reveals 3 characters standing in the doorway, the man and woman from the previous scene aiming hand-guns and another man with a very feminine costume wielding a shovel.  This shot allows us to see all three characters, including the woman, posing as the heroes.

There is a very complex non-diegetic sound track in this clip.  The score music is composed using a variety of orchestral instruments to create an adventurous theme.  The sound track is used as a sound bridge between all scene in this clip and runs quite consistently throughout.  Sound effects are used to make the scene credible. The music picks up pace and becomes more 'percussiony' when the tiger bursts through the bushes and remains this way until it is killed. This is to build tension and add drama to the scene.  Sound effects are added of the tiger growling and roaring when it moves and attacks which adds tension and builds fear in the audience.  The sound track picks up pace again when the man in the final scene pulls a gun on the woman.  Sound effects of dogs barking are also added, making the situation the woman character is in more threatening and tense.

The pace of the editing begins off relatively slow, with a particularly long take of the digger.  The pace becomes quicker when the tiger is introduced and as the woman shoots it, we see a slow motion shot of the tiger jumping and being shot by the woman.  There are a number of match-on-action shots during the fight scene.  This continuity editing make the scene play smoothly with all editing going unnoticed. This is to bring the climax of the scene to an end and show how the man was saved by the woman at the very last second.  The man in the first scene is privileged by the editing throughout this clip as even during dialogue scenes, the woman is marginalized.  This tells us he is a key, significant character and the story will mostly follow his narrative.  In the final scene there is another slow motion shot of the dogs barking and the man aiming the gun at the woman.  This is done to build suspense for the audience and make the scene more dramatic.

Sound

The absence of a sound track for the majority of the clip, creates awkward silences between dialogue.  The dialogue is very weak and quiet during this scene.  This adds to the awkwardness of the situation.  Also, a lot of the actor's lines are unfinished, they stutter and pause between words, highlighting their discomford and anxiety.

The diegetic sound effects, of the girl fiddling with the locks on the door, are amplified to draw the audience's attention to the boy's anxiousness.  Her dialogue during this scene also contains awkward pauses and unfinished sentences to empahsises her awkwardness in the situation.

The scene of the father sitting in his car maintains an ambient sound of street noises that you would expect to hear during the day.  The short diegetic soundtrack is asynchronous to the mood of the scene, which adds to the fathers discomfort and draws attetion to the discontinuity of the scene.  Diegetic sound effects of the car window, the seat sliding and the car horn are clearly heard to exaggerate the silences and to emphasise the father's anxiety.

A sound bridge of a non-diegetic soundtrack is used between the scenes in the two locations.  The soundtrack is composed using a harmonica, commonly used in blues and for sad moments.  This choice of soundtrack makes the audience feel pity for the boy, because of his disabiltiy and the awkwardness of the situation.

Editing

As the girl opens the door we see a long shot from behind her looking down at the boy in the wheelchair, and then up to see the father.  This tilt revealing the father shows the girl was not expecting the dad to be with him.

The next shot reverse shot shows an eye line match of the girl looking down at the boy and then up at the his dad, whilst waiting for a response.  This is used to emphasise the awkwardness of the situation.  This scene also establishes the 180 degree rule for the following scenes shot in this location, maintaining the continuity.

A long take follows this shot of the man looking for the money.  This drawn out take is used to give us time to see the father's expression and to make the audience anxious.

The following shots contain two action match shots, which are used to make the scene flow smoothly.  We then see an eye line match of the girl watching the boy talk to his father, drawing attention to her awkwardness 

The father has now exited and we see an eye line match of the boy looking across the room to the door as the girl goes to lock it.  A shot reverse shot is used to show the boy's vulnerability, then to her locking the door and then back to the boy, expressing his anxiety and nervousness.

The next shots are particularly long takes during their conversation.  These slow pace takes have been used to create anxiety in the audience, as the shots are longer than they need to be.

An eye line match of the father looking out his car window at the room his son is in, highlighting his anxiety and discomfort.

Next we see a series of jump cuts of the father in the car.  These series of shots have no relation and draw attention to the discontinuity of the scene.  This shows the father is anxious and fidgety.

A cross cut is used to imply the two events are taking place simultaneously, but in different locations.

The final scene privileges a master shot of the boy and girl.  The master shot shows her being on top/above him giving us the impression that she is in control.

Camera work

The first scene is a short dolly shot, giving the audience the opportunity to appreciate the traditional farmer costumes and the props that are being handled by the men in the scene.

The second scene begins with a long shot of Amy.  As she walks closer the camera pans, following her movement, to a medium long shot displaying her costume in full.  This shot also allows us to establish the new location.

The third scene is a dolly shot, moving closer to the vehicle Amy is in.  This gives us a sense of uncertainty as the shot becomes a close up to show her facial expressions.

The fourth scene opens with an establishing shot to show the new location, followed by an medium long shot, giving us a view of the crash in the foreground, and the character's in the background.  The crash acts as a barrier between Amy and the Headmaster, giving us a sense of division between the characters.  The camera pans up to Mr McDonald once he has arrived on the scene and then back down to Amy's level, emphasising the contrast in height and superiority of the characters.  The final shot is a close up on Amy, forcing the audience to feel sympathy for her.

Scene five opens with a long shot, establishing the new location and displaying the props placed around room, as well as the decoration of the room its self.  The over-the-shoulder shots which follow, are tilted, low angle shots, from Amy's assumed eye level.  This gives the characters authority over the audience and makes them appear more intimidating.

Scene six consists of more over the shoulder shots down at Amy's eye level. The low angle shots of Mr McDonald put the audience in Amy's position.  The over the shoulder medium close up shots of Amy display her body language.

The seventh scene starts with an establishing shot to show the change of location.  This shot is followed by a montage of insert shots of men using props associated with hard labour, building a theme of experience and age.

The eighth scene begins with a tilt up shot to reveal a note left by Amy, with very girly, childish handwriting, followed by another tilt up shot and a slow zoom on a photo to build sympathy for Amy and to emphasise her emotions.

Scene nine starts with a tilt up to the window of Amy's room, to show that it is an open window we're looking in through.  This signifies that this is a serious event, that Amy has left via her bedroom window.  The positioning of the camera represents Amy's emotions of feeling cast out, looking in on her note being discovered.

Scene 10 is significant as it is not shot at Amy's level, but at Mr McDonalds eye level.  This expresses the absence of Amy and now the audience will experience the narrative from his perspective.