Film of the week: Listen To Your Heart

COULSDON COLLEGE: MEDIA TEXT INFORMATION SHEET

TITLE:

Listen to Your Heart

YEAR OF PROD:

2010

TYPE:

FILM

TELEVISION

DOC.

MUSIC

ADVERT

MUSIC VID.

OTHER:

DIRECTOR

Matt Thompson

PRODUCER

Kent Moran, Luke Moran

WRITER

Kent Moran

PRODUCTION COMPANY

Wishing Well Pictures, Rebel One Pictures

KEY CAST /ARTIST

Alexia Rasmussen (Ariana), Kent Moran (Danny), Cybill Shepherd (Victoria).

KEY CREW

Music: Kent Moran, DP: Harvey Rosenstock, Casting: Michael Hothorn

GENRE

Drama, Music, Romance

BUDGET

N/A

BOX OFFICE

N/A

THEMES

Love, conflict, betrayal, defeat, jealously, death, connection, communication, ‘living in the moment’.

AWARDS

6 wins e.g. Action on Film Award (Film International Film Festival USA).

NARRATIVE: The IMDb description: “Danny (Kent Moran) has an apartment as small as his paychecks, no family, and a struggling music career. But with unwaivering optimism, for Danny, "every day is a great day to be alive." It's love at first sight when Danny meets Ariana (Alexia Rasmussen), a wealthy hearing-impaired girl from Greenwich, CT who tragically cannot hear the music she inspires him to write. Ariana is torn between hanging onto the shelter her controlling mother (Cybill Shepherd) provides and fighting for a love that, if just given the chance, might just change her life. When tragedy strikes, determined that nothing can keep them apart, they must trust in the power of their love, and together discover just how important it is to "listen to your heart."” My opinion on the film: This film shocked me because I honestly did not expect it to be so sad. I watched it on Christmas Eve thinking it was going to be a more light-hearted musical but it was not that and the last 30 minutes of it was truly heart breaking which was not good and I probably should have watched a Christmas film instead. Although it was mostly very predictable and filled with clichés, it was still great story-telling and I did not expect the tragedy towards the end. The characters were well developed and of course, the relationship between Danny and Ariana was key and wonderfully performed, it felt real and true. The character of the mother really annoyed me, (which I guess was her role as she is causing a great deal of the conflict in the film) but to an extent where I was not enjoying the film as much and I understand films have antagonists but I feel they are not effective when the viewer is put off the film because of them. However, overall it was good, it is likely to make you cry quite a lot but if you are not into cliché romance films, you probably won’t like it. 7/10.

KEY SCENES: MAJOR SPOILER ALERT ·         Danny first sees Ariana in the café ·         Their first date and playing the piano together ·         Ariana talks in front of her Mother ·         Ariana slaps her Mother ·         Ariana’s Mother kicks Danny out of her party ·         Danny gets terminal cancer ·         Danny’s death ·         Ariana listens to Danny’s CD of music he composed for her.

COMPARABLES: Short film: The Most Beautiful Thing. In Your Eyes

PROGRESSION OF KEY CONTRIBUTORS: Matt Thompson went on to direct Bloodline (2013) and has recently completed a short film called Zombie Talk. Kent Moran has gone on to act in: Down on the Ground (short-2010), Inspiration of the Past (short-2012), Contest (2013), The Challenger (2015) and Regret (2015).

ANY OTHER BUSINESS? “The idea of the movie came to Kent Moran in a dream. He dreamed about the story for two weeks, writing notes each morning, and wrote the first draft of the screenplay in just two days. The final draft is very close to the first.” “Lisa Benner, who plays Marianne, was the only actor that knew sign language before the movie. Alexia Rasmussen and Kent Moran both had to learn quickly for their roles. They did so with the help of Lisa and a sign language interpreter.”

Film of the week: Star Wars: The Force Awakens

COULSDON COLLEGE: MEDIA TEXT INFORMATION SHEET

TITLE:

Star Wars: The Force Awakens

YEAR OF PROD:

2015

TYPE:

FILM

TELEVISION

DOC.

MUSIC

ADVERT

MUSIC VID.

OTHER:

DIRECTOR

J.J. Abrams

PRODUCER

J.J. Abrams, Bryan Burk, Kathleen Kennedy

WRITER

J.J. Abrams, Lawrence Kasdan, Michael Arndt. Based on characters created by George Lucas.

PRODUCTION COMPANY

Lucas Film Ltd. Bad Robot Productions.

KEY CAST /ARTIST

Harrison Ford (Hans Solo), Adam Driver (Kylo Ren), Daisy Ridley (Rey), John Boyega (Finn), Peter Mayhew (Chewbacca) and Anthony Daniels (C-3PO).

KEY CREW

Music: John Williams, DP: Daniel Mindel, Editors: Maryann Brandon, Mary Jo Markey and Production Design: Rick Carter, Darren Gilford.

GENRE

Action, Adventure, Fantasy

BUDGET

$200 million

BOX OFFICE

$1.161 billion

THEMES

Friendship, betrayal, love, revenge, teamwork, good vs evil, destruction, rage, death, torture, redemption.

AWARDS

NARRATIVE: The IMDb description: “30 years after the defeat of Darth Vader and the Empire, Rey, a scavenger from the planet Jakku, finds a BB-8 droid that knows the whereabouts of the long lost Luke Skywalker. Rey, as well as a rogue stormtrooper and two smugglers, are thrown into the middle of a battle between the resistance and the daunting legions of the First Order.” My opinion on the film: I had previously only seen two Star Wars films and they never really appealed to me so when Star Wars: The Force Awakens was released, I did not really intend on watching it. However, I did end up watching it and it exceeded my expectations. Before watching it, I had seen so many positive comments on social media regarding the film so I did go in with high hopes. I thought the storytelling was brilliant and I understood it the whole way through which was good as I did not know much about Star Wars and it was great to see some familiar characters such as C-3PO. Personally for me, the cinematography is what made the film outstanding, it was beautifully shot and I was completely transported into their world. There were too many stunning shots and compositions for me to pick out just one favourite but an example is the wide shot of the bridge which Hans Solo and Kylo Ren are standing on- this was shown near the end. So the camera and special effects apartment have done an incredible job. I watched it in 3D which was good to start with but then I got a bit of a headache and it probably would have looked better in 2D but I’m not complaining because it was still great. I would recommend you to watch it whether you are a fan of Star Wars or not. 8/10.

COMPARABLES: All the Star Wars films.

PROGRESSION OF KEY CONTRIBUTORS: Since Star Wars: The Force Awakens, J.J. Abrams is working on a lot of projects: Portal (Producer-announced) Half Life (Producer-announced) Westworld (Executive Producer- filming) 11.22.63 (Producer- filming) Valencia (Producer- post production) Star Trek Beyond (Producer-post production) Roadies (Executive Producer- pre production) M:I 6- Mission Impossible (Executive Producer- filming) Untitled Cloverfield Sequel (Producer-announced)

ANY OTHER BUSINESS? “The production had a preference for using real locations and miniature models over green-screens and computer-generated imagery whenever possible in order to make the film aesthetically similar to the original Star Wars trilogies.” “Mark Hamill claimed George Lucas nonchalantly told him over lunch a new Star Wars trilogy was going to be made by Disney, and if he did not want to be involved, Luke Skywalker would simply be written out of the script. However, Hamill immediately agreed to reprise the role. Hamill admitted, however, that he pretended to also be nonchalant about it so it didn't seem like he was excited for the role.”

Film of the week: Still Alice

COULSDON COLLEGE: MEDIA TEXT INFORMATION SHEET

TITLE:

Still Alice

YEAR OF PROD:

2014

TYPE:

FILM

TELEVISION

DOC.

MUSIC

ADVERT

MUSIC VID.

OTHER:

DIRECTOR

Richard Glatzer, Wash Westmoreland

PRODUCER

James Brown, Pamela Koffler, Lex Lutzus

WRITER

Lisa Genova (novel), Richard Glatzer, Wash Westmoreland (screenplay)

PRODUCTION COMPANY

Lutzus-Brown, Killer Films, Big Indie Pictures, Shriver Films

KEY CAST /ARTIST

Julianne Moore (Alice), Kate Bosworth (Anna), Shane McRae (Charlie), Hunter Parrish (Tom), Alec Baldwin (John), Kristen Stewart (Lydia), Stephen Kunken (Dr. Benjamin)

KEY CREW

Music: Ilan Eshkeri, DP: Denis Lenoir, Editing: Nicolas Chaudeurge

GENRE

Drama,

BUDGET

$5 million

BOX OFFICE

$41.8 million

THEMES

Alzheimer’s, memory, family, love, change, acceptance, defeat, frustration, heartbreak, disability

AWARDS

27 awards, e.g. Julianne Moore won an Oscar, Golden Globe and BAFTA for best performance. She won 13 more awards for best performance so nearly all of the films awards were for her.

NARRATIVE: “Alice Howland is a renowned linguistics professor happily married with three grown children. All that begins to change when she strangely starts to forget words and then more. When her doctor diagnoses her with Early-onset Alzheimer's Disease, Alice and her family's lives face a harrowing challenge as this terminal degenerative neurological ailment slowly progresses to an inevitable conclusion they all dread. Along the way, Alice struggles to not only to fight the inner decay, but to make the most of her remaining time to find the love and peace to make simply living worthwhile.” My opinion: Words can’t even describe how much I loved this film, it was honestly a masterpiece. A story so beautifully written and performed that I still feel sad now so it has had a lasting impact on me. Julianne Moore was phenomenal, her changing state of memory was made clearly evident and she was able to portray the emotions her character was feeling perfectly. Some parts were so upsetting that it was hard to watch and the speech scene was just wow, amazing. I think it was so impactful because Alzheimer’s could happen to any of your loved ones and it made you think that this could happen to someone close to me which personally, made me even more upset. Also, I felt so connected to the narrative and characters that I felt Alice was almost part of my family so I was experiencing the heartbreak along with her family and when the film ended (incredible ending), I had so many emotions running through me. So, if you couldn’t tell by now, I loved Still Alice and if you are reading this right now then you should stop and go and watch the film, there is no doubt you will love it and if you don't like it then you have no heart and maybe you should re-watch it, ok thanks.  11/10

KEY SCENES: ·         Opening scene- birthday celebration at restaurant- Alice is perfectly fine ·         Alice forgets her words during a lecture ·         Alice gets lost during her run ·         Doctor tests Alice on her memory ·         Doctor breaks it to Alice that she is likely to have Alzheimer’s Disease ·         Alice tells John about her Disease ·         Alice breaks the news to her children, tells them there is a 50/50 chance they may have it ·         Beach scene with Alice and John ·         Alice’s speech on Alzheimer’s ·         Alice gets lost in her own home ·         Final scene “love” ·         Alice tries to take the tablets, following the video ·         Lydia asks Alice “what is it like?”

COMPARABLES: Do you remember love.  Maybe 50/50 and The Theory of Everything.

PROGRESSION OF KEY CONTRIBUTORS: Together, Richard Glatzer and Wash Westmoreland have previously directed: The Last of Robin Hood (2013), Echo Park, L.A. (2006) and The Fluffer (2001). Very sadly, Richard passed away this March so Still Alice was his last film. Julianne Moore has progressed to act in: Mockingjay- Part 1 (2014), Seventh Son (2014), Maggie’s plan (2015), Freeheld (2015) and Mockingjay- Part 2 (2015).

ANY OTHER BUSINESS? “Co-director Richard Glatzer suffers from ALS and can't speak. He directed the film using a text to speech app on an iPad. Both Moore and Stewart dedicated their "Ice Bucket Challenge" to Glatzer. The directors of the film, Wash Westmoreland and Richard Glatzer were unable to attend the Oscars to see Julianne Moore win, due to the fact that Glatzer was suffering from ALS and his condition had deteriorated significantly.”