Amores Perros 

Narrative: The film follows three stories after they connect because of a car crash. The film uses the dogs as a metaphor, dogs are generally thought of as loyal, whereas the relationships in the films deal with disloyalty. Octavio betrays his brother as he has an affair with his sister-in-law. Daniel leaves his wife for Valeria, and El Chivo leaves his wife and daughter for a life in crime. The dogfighting symbolises the cruel nature of humans. Each story deals with different classes; the first story deals with the working class and how the characters are struggles with money, both brothers resort to crime to get money. Octavio goes into dogfighting, Ramiro becomes an armed robber, which helps to lead to his death. The second story deals with upper class. Daniel has enough wealth to be able to support his family. as well as an expensive apartment for Valeria and himself. 

How far do your chosen American films portray themes and ideas in similar ways? 

Dog Day Afternoon and Inside Man
- DDA- Sonny is portrayed as personifies the New Hollywood era, as he is a character who would have been a villain in old Hollywood ideology. He is shown as damaged and unprepared, the audience sides with him, examples are when he describes himself as a ‘fuck-up’, as he so unprepared at he enters the bank for the first time. 
- Spike Lee is a fan of DDA, made IM directly link to it,  same setting in of New York and in banks. New York is important is both films as it is the financial capital of America, important to DDA as NY has a diverse community that were more open to deal with the issues and campaigns happening in the 70s, IM set closely after 9/11
- Both auteurs, Lumet deals with politics, Lee deals with social justice. 
-Both talking deal with injustice, money creates power, struggle of the government trying to have power  with the revolt of people. 

How far is conflict between individuals and groups an important element in the films you have studied for this topic? 

Plan
Harry Brown:
-When the youths kill Len, to causes Harry to break
-The attitudes towards the police,- the youths being interviewed
-Alice and Terry against the police
-Alice and SI Childs/police-ignored when she says that there is more to the case, police focused on the bigger issue, at the end the police takes credit for Harry’s work, she walks away
-Alice and Terry: differences between the classes, Terry is from the area
-Len’s attitude toward the police 
-Peer pressure at the start: forced to smoke drugs
-At of the start: The youths and the woman: conflict between the youths and the people living in the council estate, conflict at the start of the film shows how it will affect the rest of the entire film
-Harry cannot be with his wife when she’s dying in hospital because of the youths creating conflict, important element in the film as it becomes understandable to the audience why he wants to buy a gun as he is living in fear
-Alice, conflict with herself; has to make the decision between focusing on Harry or the case
-Len and the youths,- he goes to threaten them, but they end up killing him
-Drug dealers and Harry
- Noel and his mother- his disrespectful attitude towards her

Attack The Block:
-Sam and the gang at the start:- they mugged her, but even before when she sees them she becomes cautious. Giving expectations for the rest of the film. 
-The way the police treat Moses, arresting straight away after Sam points him out and at the end, after he saves everyone.
-Hi-Hattz and the gang; threatening Moses as he worries that Moses is trying to take over the block.  
-The aliens and the gang fighting, the aliens embody the image that people have of young people “fucking monsters”, see other side to the gang
- Cornish made the film after hearing why some youths become criminals
-Moses conflict with himself, sacrificing himself to do good

How important is film marketing in attracting an audience? 

The marketing of Green Zone was misleading as it portrayed the film as a Borne sequel. As the film was mis-sold, it received negative comments as audiences ended up watching a film that they were not interested in, and because of this it lost out in the box office. Similarly, The Hurt Locker’s marketing campaign was slightly misleading as it looked like a film that was more about war, rather than how war affects the people among it, which meant it lost out on audiences. Although The Hurt Locker beat Avatar at the Oscars, by winning both Best Film and Director, Avatar beat it in the box office as there was such a hype about the film, as it was promoted on its visuals and the fact that James Cameron waited over 10 years to make the film, for the advancements in technology. The Hurt Locker was a lower budget film and didn’t have as much money for marketing and as it tackled current issues may have been another reason why audiences were attract to the film. The way a film is marketed sometimes helps attract an audience as it shows the audience what to expect from a film, reasons why a film like Saving Private Ryan was so successful was because it was marketed as a film about how soldiers are affected by war and how traumatising the experience is. 
But it can be argued that film marketing isn’t that important because of the success of films like The King’s Speech. This was a low budget film that didn’t use a lot of marketing, but still was very successful as audiences were recommending the film. 

What are some of the issues for UK producers and audiences in Hollywood’s domination of the UK film industry? 

• British films seem to need money from Hollywood to produce successful films in the box office, like Harry Potter, which means that the profit from these films go back to Hollywood, so the British Film Industry stay the same. 
• The Hollywood domination on British films means that British films will lose their Britishness. 

How important is film marketing in attracting an audience? 

• Green Zone was marketed as an another Borne film, but this was misleading to the audience as this wasn’t true. As audiences were disappointed, they lost out in the box office due to negative comments. Marketing is important as it tells audiences what to expect. 
• The Hurt Locker only made £11 million as it wasn’t marketing as much as films like Avatar. Marketed as 
  
  Marketing campaign
  The Avengers have had a large audience before the film was released as it attracts  fans of Marvel, the fans of the relating films like Iron Man and Thor, fans of the previous relating TV shows, fans of the stars Robert Downey Jr etc. There has been such a large buzz about the film over the past year, including first releases of concept art and on set pictures. 
  Prometheus has had a large marketing campaign.When the trailer was first shown on TV, it was in the Metro paper and mentioned to talk about it on twitter using that  ”Areyouseeingthis”. 

British Film Week: 

• Improving broadband speeds would increase the market for legally downloaded films as the amount of time legally bought films take to download tends to take longer than illegally downloaded films, so therefore improving broadband speeds would provide more buyers as legal downloads are of better quality and it is instant. But it can be argued that the broadband isn’t the issue as it may because of money, and the number of films you want to watch. 
• 14% of American films are family based, suggesting that British Film Industry should focus on having more family based films as they is a large audience as it is more numbers, and only 2% of British films are currently family based. This is a market that can include both commercial and independent films, and as there is already proof of successful family based British films, like Wallace and Gromit and Arthur Christmas. 
• The Inbetweeners Movie was the fourth biggest film of last year. It was based on the   successful British TV show, with already a large fan base. Although the series is rated 18, the film was a 15, for a wider audience. 

Marketing Case Study  

• • Tyrannosaur- A small British film set in Yorkshire made with a budget of £206,540 made $7,635 on its first weekend in America. The film received many awards including a BAFTA for Outstanding debut and an award for best directing at Sundance, which would probably lead to better sales as a DVD, compared to the intake of box office. The film was featured in Film 2012 on BBC1 to help with publicity. The film was the first feature film of well-known British actor Paddy Considine, known for his roles in Hot Fuzz and Submarine, which may help draw in an audience. 
  • Prometheus- As it is a film related to the first Alien film, there are already fans interested. There has been a large online marketing project, including teaser trailers and viral videos released to help build up a hype around the film, including a video featuring the character of David, played by rising star Michael Fassbender. The film is directed by Ridley Scott, an incredibly famous director and features quite well-known cast, many actors that are of the moment. Special features in film magazines like Empire, with background information and interviews.
  • Avenger Assemble- Linked to other films including Iron Man, Thor and Captain America, films that have been a build up to Avengers. Based on the Marvel comics, there are already fans. Large marketing campaign, posters, the cast visiting chat shows like The Graham Norton Show to promote the film. Products like figurines of characters and links to some shops, for example UNIQLO are doing a limited edition collection of comic book t-shirts to promote the film. Directed by Joss Whedon, well known for creating popular TV shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Firefly. Same actors from the previous relating films to help create continuity.

Dog Day Afternoon and Inside Man 

Society - The hostages in Dog Day are almost all women. The blonde hostage is shown as quite strong, in one scene she tells Sonny to mind his language. 
In Inside Man, there is one female bank robber unlike Dog Day. The character of Lizz White is a strong female character, shown in how she speaks to others of higher status, she is in control of conversations. The smarter characters are the black detectives, the relationship of the two characters show a sense of community and warmth.

Political - Dog Day: It deals with gay rights as the news report refers to Sonny as a “attempted homosexual.” and the support of the gay community for Sonny. The issues of civil rights and the prison Attacca. 
Inside Man: The film refers to the racial discrimination, shown when the Sikh hostage is released to the police.  

An auteur is a filmmaker whose personal creative style and influence are characterised into their films resulting in them having a recognisable and distinguishing method.  Sidney Lumet’s style consists of having the cinematic elements of story and actors, with usually just one main set used, like in 12 Angry Men. Lumet tends to use a sense of realism.Spike Lee’s style uses the issues in black communities, like in Jungle Fever, which in about interracial dating. The themes of political messages and social issues, shown in Malcolm X.