Working Title Case Study

Wild Child Presentation

Working Title Website

Working title has a very unique website. It is extremely detailed and hugely interactive. Although working title are a british company 67% of the company are owned by universal studios, this is why the website is such a good standard, because of the best financial backing and the best quality equipment and staff. There has been dedicated time and money well spent on making the website as useful as possible.
The website is extremely unique, it's homepage consists of a 5 page spread advertising the latest films and news, there is also a banner across the top of the page which leads to the other parts of the websites. The website is also an exclusive website for working title fans, it provides adverts and posters that were never published in the marketing campaign and unseen by the public. There is also features for past films and projects so that you can still look in to detail about films that are not on the market anymore.
Not only does the website have incredible amounts of information on its films,past and present, but along with trailors and posters, there as an interactive part of the site with various activities. There are games and downloads and there are articles about the actors and films which give a different perspective of the films. Another aspect of the films is the galleries of photos which show the off screen actions of the cast, at premiers or on set.
Working titles website is of great quality it is easily accessible, it gives the audience different aspects of the film and lets us really interact with it. The detail of the website also makes it very useful and a great source of reliable information.the website proves to ensure the audience gets what it wants and succeeds in its prime objective of advertising films to a world word audience. 

Working Title - Hot Fuzz

11) How many pieces of merchandise can you find for the film Hot Fuzz?
For the hot fuzz film, there was a variety of merchandise produced including; T-Shirts, Hats, Mugs and Posters.

12) How many different versions of the Hot Fuzz DVD are there (you can include imports)?
Over 1 million DVD’s were sold in the 1^st four weeks of the release. There was a U.S DVD, and a HD DVD, The HD DVD was also released with special edition features. There was also a 3 disk collector’s edition released and a Blu-ray copy.

13) What special features are contained on the two disc special edition DVD?
The special features included in the 2 disk special were; Commentaries, Outtakes, Story Boards and Deleted Dog.

14) Why do you think they place different ‘special features’ on DVD’s and who are these designed               to appeal to?
The special features were designed for the fans, so it would give them a greater knowledge on how the film was made, why it was made and problems that were faced along the way.

15) How many Oscar winners appear in the film?
Simon Pegg received and Empire Award for best actor. Edgar Wright won an Empire award for best director.

16) What was the film’s opening UK box office takings?
The film generated £7.1million in the first weekend of its release.

17) What is its current world wide gross?
The film made just over $80million dollars.

18) What convention did Nick Frost and Simon Pegg attend in order to promote this film?
They both attended the San-Diego comic convention in 2006 to promote the film. They showed small clips of the film and took part in a question and answer.

19) Why do you think they chose to attend this particular convention?
The main reason was to promote the film, the comic con is a big convention and the people that attend know a lot about films, it would give the Hot Fuzz team an idea of whether the film would be a success or not.

20)  

Doug Bihlmaier

Doug Bihlmaier is a living example of the cliche 'don't judge a book by its cover'. In a small class, it was easy to pick out what was thought to be a homeless man, lacking money, personal hygiene and respect. What to most people at first looks like a rough hair cut, tacky trousers and undesirable shoes is actually a fashion genious. Bihlmaier works for ralph lauren vintage, he is paid ludacris amounts of money to ravel the world finding patterns and items that he can work with to create 'vintage' items for ralph lauren in their vintage range. He has a teepee where he relaxes, it is a small area that is worth a fortune but again people can not appreciate the value of what he owns as it is impossible to tell whether some of his belongings are worthless or priceless.

He has been voted one of the top ten most stylish men in the world, and is responsible for a majority of the designs we see in high street shops today, although the high street shops have taken his original design ideas, that he makes millions out of, and have condensed them to make affordable products that everyone can afford. Bihlmaier has revolutionised the fashion world but still at first glance people stereotype. Stereotypes are forever getting out of control, teenagers with hoods up are always carrying a weapon or in this case a man dressed quite rough is homeless. We were given a suprise when we were told he was not a vagabond but a man whose shoes are worth more than our whole wardrobe. The shoes that it is easy to get the wrong idea about someone without knowing background information about them, this can be used in television aswell though to percieve a character to be something instantly, just by showing us a few things about the character and not actually getting to know them.

Memento-Narrative theory and Character roles

The narrative of Memento does not follow any traditional Hollywood narrative pattern. The film follows the story of Leanord, a man who has lost his short term memory and is confused as to how his wife dies but believes that the man to blame is a man by the name John G. The film is different to traditional narratives as it follows no chronological order.
The narrative pattern consists of the same story line split into 2 halfs and played alongside each other until they eventually meet, the way we are shown this to happen is through the use of colour, the images in black and white are of the story line in the present and the film in colour shows the film going in reverse, showing flashbacks of his past. this is to give us the perspective of his life, and not being able to figure out what happened.
Aswell as there being no real trraditional narrative the character roles are also very unusual and it is very hard to distinguish throughout whether or not anyone is the villain and if anyone is the hero, the only character role we can be sure on is that there are definately false heros throughout. Leanord is the main character has lost his long term memory. Teddy is shown frequently throughout the film and appears to be one of heroes, he is constantly helpful to leanord and although he can seem quite a suspicious character at times he never is actually hurtful towards him. We then get introduced to natalie, she goes from role to role, at first she seems like the donor she constantly gives lennie clues and information to write down, she then continues to be nice to him and turns into the hero but gradually takes advantage of him and becomes the false hero. Leanord is told about a man called sammy jenkis he is told that sammy jenkis was a con man and that lennie confuses parts of his life with the life of sammy jenkis. Sammy had no wife and lenaords wife survived the attack that led to him losing his memory and thinking his wife had died. It is actually lennies wife that was diabetic and it was her that was killed by an insulin overdose from leanord. We could say that Sammy Jenkis is the doner in the stroy because he gives leanord a reason for trying to find the 'John G' character, although he may be getting confused this is the only motive he had.

20 Questions on working title

1.     Who were the co-founders of Working Title?
Working Title Films was co-founded by producers Tim Bevan and Sarah Radclyffe.

2.     When was the company founded?
The company was founded in 1983.

3.     Where is Working Title based?
The Working Title in based in London, and is a British Film Production Company.

4.     Who are the co-chairpersons of WT now?
The co-chairpersons of 'Working Title' are, Tim Beven and Eric Fellner.

5.     What awards have Working Title won?
Working Title have won6 accademy awards, 26 BAFTA'S, 4 Oscars and many more.

6.     How many full time staff does WT employ?
There are only 42 full time staff working for Working Title.

7.     What is Working Title’s philosophy?
Their philosophy has been to make films for an audience and played in a multiplex.

8.     List 5 box-office hits that Working Title have made.
Johnny English Reborn.
Hot Fuzz.
Green Zone.
Paul.
Shaun of the Dead.

9.     List flops that Working Title has made.
'Wimbledon' and 'Thunderbirds'.

10.  What is Richard Curtis’ relationship with Working Title?
They have him and Rowan Atkinson as their favourites for their comedies.

11.  List 2 famous directors thar Working Title have worked.
Edgar Howard Wright. (Hot Fuzz, Shaun of the dead, Hitchhikers guide to the galaxy)
Oliver Parker. (Johnny English, St. Trinians, St. Trinians ll).

12.  What is Hugh Grant's relationship with Working Title?
Hugh Grant has worked with WT many times, He appears mainly in 'RomComs' that WT are involved with.

13.  Find out about the Coen Brothers (films, genres, status) and what they have to do with Working Title?
The Coen Brothers are two brothers, Joel and Ethan, They have directed and produced True Grit, O Bother where art though?, The Ladykillers. They have achieved academy award winning status for their mainly classic American style genre.

14.  Who owns 67% of Working Title Films? When did this happen? Why did this happen?
Many of Working Title films are now distributed by Universal Studios. Universal also owns this 67%

15.  List two of Working Title big blockbuster films and find out their budgets.
Atonement had a budget of £30 million and made about £130 million at the box office.
Johnny English had a budget of £40 million, and made about £160 million at the box office.

16.  What genre of film is Working Title famous for?
WT produce films from all genres but are most well known for comedy and romantic comedy.

17. What other genres do working title like to make?
WT make films from all different genres ranging from rating 'U' - 18

18. Find out as much as you can about WT2? (when established, films made, budgets, awards)
WT2 is a smaller branch of WT dedicated to making smaller films and helping independent ideas. It was established in 1999 and has made films such as Billy Elliot which only had a budget of only £3million but made just over £72million.

19. What information can you find out about Working Title through their web page?
They have recently released the Johnny English sequel, and SENNA.

20. Find out one other interesting fact about Working Title that you would like to share with the class.
After 1992 they made several films for production company Polygram, Polygram soon became a huge competitor against the U.S.A giants Hollywood.

How does Calvin Klein represent women in its advertising?

How does Calvin Klein represent women in its advertising?

Calvin Klein is an underwear company, which makes it difficult to advertise without the adverts being controversial, to advertise under garments it requires for the models male or female, to be standing nude apart from the items they are advertising. But especially in the women’s adverts it can be difficult to distinguish between was is a clever and unique advert and what is a crude and sexual objectification.

Eva Mendez is a very attractive women, this is why she has been used to advertise the underwear. Like many adverts it has many connotations and with it being such a suggestive advert it will make you think in a more sexual way causing you to be drawn more to the image. I do not think Calvin Klein are representing women as sexually empowering but as ways to draw attention to something through a professional means. I think Calvin Klein have tried to make the advert as tasteful as possible but could not escape the theory ‘sex sells’. I f you start by looking at her face, she has quite an invitational and sexual face, yet her face has nothing to do with the advertising of the underwear. The next thing you can see from the advert is quite different to what we have seen from her so far, unlike what could be stereo typed for a women posing nude that could be quite frail and shy, she stands in a very powerful position. The positioning of her body and the camera angle make her looks in control of what is happening and this may appeal to the target audience. She is wearing heels, this may be looked upon as quite strange because she is wearing nothing other than underwear yet she wears heels, this is to elongate her legs and is only to make her look better.

She is made to look her best for a number of reasons, the advert is designed to appeal to both men and women, women will view it and think that because the model is wearing that particular underwear and looks good in it that it will instantly look good on them if they wear it and they will look similar to the model. Men may view the advert and think that if they bought that underwear for their partners then they would wear it and seem to look as good as Eva Mendez.

I think that Eva Mendez is made to look overtly sexual in the advert but purely for the purpose of the advert, Calvin Klein have not used her for the sake of using a half-naked woman but used as a psychological enhancement for people to buy the product. Every aspect of how she has been carefully positioned and dressed is clever even there position of her stance with her arms on her wait cause all limbs to be directing the viewer’s eyes to the underwear, Therefore I do not think that women are objectified as sexually empowered or objectified but they are simply used to create an advert in the best way possible using their best features and the same thing could happen to a male.