Hollywood Case Study - Focus Questions

Shrek (2oo1)
Directed by: Andrew Adamson/Vicky Jenson
Written by: William Steig (Book 'Shrek!')/Ted Elliot/Terry Rossio/Joe Stillman/Roger S.H. Schulman

• Shrek is based on a 1990's book, Shrek! The book is written and illistrated by William Steig. The book was about a young ogre who finds the ogre of his dreams. The young ogre then goes on to leave home and see the world.

• Shrek had a budget of $60 million
• Actor Salaries:

- Mike Myers (Shrek) - $3 million
- Cameron Diaz (Princess Fiona) - $3 million
-Eddie Murphy (Donkey) - $3 million

• Production companies involved: Pacific Data Images.
• The genre of Shrek is a hybrid as it contains more than one genre. The genres involved are: Adventure, Comedy, Family, and Animation.

• Shrek contains many different soundtracks, some popular and some unknown. The main songs which consist of:

- 'I'm a believer' & 'All Star' - Smashmouth
- 'I'm on my' - The Proclaimers
- 'Hallelujah' - Rufus Wainwright 

• There are also many other popular music acts included in Shrek. These are all used in the final scene, 'The Shrek kareoke dance party'. These include more popular and well known songs like:

- 'Like a Virgin' - Madonna
- 'YMCA' - The Village People
- 'Who Let the Dogs Out' - Baha Men

• It took just under 3 years for Shrek to be fully produced and ready for release.
• The film had a high budget due the amount of CGI (Computer Genterated Imagery) that was needed to create the movie. Each aspect of the movie is created using CGI, each character had their own profile which took 275 artists, computer animators, software developers and engineers at PDI/Dreamworks. 
• The characters are easy to understand, which will appeal to a broader audience, especially as it is a family aimed film. This means that children will not be questioning what is happening, they will have a full udnerstanding. The plot is also easy to understand and follow, it is based on a book which does not have to be read at all to understand the film.
• The distribution company for Shrek is DreamWorks, who are also the distributers of 'Madagascar' and 'Flushed Away'.
• Shrek used many different marketing features to advertise the filme. Poster were made, a trailer was released, you could also purchase shrek related products:

- Ogre ear headbands
- McDonalds Happy Meals
- Pens, Pencils, Pencil Cases
- Soft plush toys
- Soundtrack CD's 
- Pyjamas
- Fancydress costumes

• Most of the films publicity was brought through the advertisement of the films poster and the trailer. However the actors and actress' also brought in the publicity as they were well known and all three main charcters have all had big roles before. Andrew Adamson also was linked with publicity after his success as the director of the 'Chronicles of Narnia'.
• Shrek was released between 22/04/01 and 15/12/01 all over the world:

- USA - 22/04/01 = Premiere
   -16/05/01 = New York and Los Angeles
- Australia - 21/06/01
- UK - 29/06/09

• Japan was the last country to release Shrek on the 15/12/01
• Shrek made $42,347,760 in its opening weekend, it made the film the highest grossing film of the week at that time. Shrek was second highest grossing film of that year with $484 million worldwide. Shrek was so popular in stayed in cinemas for 29 weeks.
• Shrek was released in cinemas, and was then later released to buy on DVD and more recently on Blu-Ray. Shrek has also been made into a theatrical preformance in the United States. The film is followed by Shrek 2, Shrek the Third, and also Shrek Forever After: The Final Chapter. Shrek has also been made into a few mini films too, e.g. Shrek the Halls. Universal Studios also holds a 4-D showing of Shrek, Shrek 4-D.

 

Unit 3 - The High Concept

1. 'Post Generic' Filmmaking
Top Gun (1986, directed by Tony Scott) is an example of a High Concept film. The High Concept model is represented as a ten-point formula. The film is made up of 3 genres: Action, Romance, and Drama which therefore makes the movie a hybrid genre because it has more than one genre. By combining these three tradional genres together the film is more likely to appeal to a wider audience: the action is likely to draw in the male attention with the drama and romance will attract the female attention. Doing this could also make the film more popular therefore earning more.
Top Gun is based around the character Maverick (Tom Cruise). Mavericks confidence is knocked when he is trying to win the Top Gun trophy with his best friend Goose (Anthony Edwards) dies in an accident during training. The movie focuses on how maverick's confidence is knocked and what he is now going to do with his career as he feels he is unable to go on with out Goose. however it is built back up again when he falls for the teacher Charlie (Kelly McGillis)
2. Use of extended montages
An extended montages are used to show the passing of time. The use of extended montages are becoming more commonly used in High Concept films. InTop Gun to show the use of extended monatges 'Highway to the Dangerzone' is played and then it shows the passing of time. A good example of this is at the start of the film when the fighter planes are being prepared for take off while 'Highway to the Dangerzone' is playing to the time passing by.
3. Design reflects advertising styles
Advertising is very important to making a film profitable. Top Gun was an early High Concept film, meaning that not a lot of money was spent on advertising as it would be today in a top Hollywood film. Top Gun released posters alongside the film, these posters were very simple and showed very little of what the film was about. The main poster showed Maverick and Charlie together with a fighter plane under the movie title. Another poster shows Maverick and Charlie again but on a motorcycle with the American flag flying in the background. This poster could be connotations to the film with the American flag showing patriotism to the audience.
4. Easily replicated in publicity
The trailer for Top Gun shows when they first arrive at Top Gun, it shows an introduction to what Top Gun is about and what they do. Further on into the trailer it shows some of the fighter planes in action. The trailer shows some of the storyline but does not give away the ending, it also introduces the main character of the film to the audience.