Representation of ethnicity
- Top Boy Trailer

 

Inception Special Edition Briefcase Bluray Announced

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Posted by Rodneyon 03.09.2010 in News Chat

 

Inception is sure to make a number of Christmas lists this year, but a very cool collector’s edition will be available at launch for the die hard fans.

Currently only announced for the UK market, a briefcase special edition boxed set of the film and goodies like the spinning top will be available December 6th.

 

 

Press release:

"Warner Home Video UK will release a limited edition Blu-ray briefcase SKU plus Triple Play and DVD releases of Inception on 6th December 2010. Customers can opt for the Inception briefcase from today when pre-ordering Christopher Nolan’s Inception from all major online retailers including Play, Amazon and HMV. The limited edition briefcase SKU will also be available in store from 6th December.
The briefcase configuration consists of a Triple play pack, Spinning Top, Theatrical Dream Machine Leaflet and four art cards showing main Key Art. It is available whilst stocks last priced £39.99
The Triple play pack includes the feature film on Blu-ray and DVD discs, Digital Copy and a disc of special features.
Inception will also be available on digital platforms from 6th December."

Movie Marketing Madness: Inception

We all have our own personal experiences with dreams. Some of us dream in black and white, some in full Technicolor with Dolby surround sound and eye-popping special effects. Some of our dreams are pretty boring and deal with driving to work while others meld together different areas of our life into one disorienting (especially when we wake up) new reality. What always struck me as fascinating, though, is that according to most people we don’t remember 90 percent of our dreams. They’re just gone and don’t leave that residue others do when we wake up.
But what if someone could invade your dreams? Not only that, what if they could manipulate them to an extent that they use those dreams to penetrate the recess of your mind and learn whatever secrets you hold?
That’s the premise for Inception, the new movie from director Christopher Nolan. Seeking to extend the enormous goodwill from both audiences and critics he has following 2008′s The Dark Knight, Nolan has created another highly-glossed thinking-man’s thriller. The movie stars Leonardo DiCaprio as an agent of a company who has the ability to invade anyone’s dreams, a talent his company puts to use by trying to steal the corporate secrets of their client’s rivals. Before embarking on the biggest job of his career, though, he seeks to recruit an assistant and potential successor. To that end he enlists the aid of his mentor (Michael Caine) and finds a young woman (Ellen Page) who may be even better at the job and he is. Cillian Murphy, another veteran who has worked with Nolan before, plays the mark targeted by DiCaprio.
Inception was pegged early on in its production as one of the most-anticipated movies of 2010 and one that, despite it being almost wholly original and not based in some way on an existing franchise or property, could be a break-out hit this summer. As we’ll see all that thinking will come up more than once in the campaign and publicity. So let’s take a look.
The Posters
The initial teaser poster presented a suitably, in light of the previously released trailer, surreal image. DiCaprio stands knee deep in water in the middle of a city street, seemingly perfectly calm. This sort of image has been used plenty of times before in movies from Vanilla Sky to I Am Legend. The copy at the top “Your mind is the scene of the crime” compliments that design nicely since it makes it more clear to the audience that this is a psychological drama and that we can expect plenty of such weirdness in the film itself.
The second poster actually comes off as more of a teaser than the first one, with the movies title written on the tops of buildings that the camera is looking down on. It sports the same copy as the other one-sheet, with both also not naming Nolan specifically (outside the credit block) but making the claim that this comes from the director of The Dark Knight.
The next poster put most of the cast on the street, but this time instead of being knee-deep in water for no apparent reason you’ll see not only are they standing on the street, but they’re standing in front of another street that’s rising directly behind them. That continues to tell the audience that this movie is going to be about shifting realities – or at least shifting perceptions of reality. Despite getting top billing, DiCaprio is not that featured in the design of the poster as he’s just as far away from the camera as the rest of the cast. That, combined with his face not being directly seen on the first poster, tells me the studio is selling the premise more than the star power, despite the formidable cast.

A fourth poster brought the cast more in to focus but continued with the reality shifting motif. Yes, the actor’s faces were more front and center and easy to make out but they were all at odd angles walking along the outside of buildings that were upside down or in some other way contorted. It’s as if they were all walking around a Salvidor Dali painting, only without the melting clock in the background.
A series of seven character posters were later released that featured each of the main actors from the film as well as an identifier as to what their character’s role is. So DiCaprio is “The Extractor,” Murphy is “The Mark” and so on. All of them had the actor’s face appearing amidst the bent, rolling sea of buildings that’s similar to what we’ve seen in the trailers. They almost look like photo mosaics and come off with the same sort of cool vibe.

The Trailer
The first teaser trailer definitely set a spooky and mysterious mood for the movie. It plays up the movie’s artistic pedigree, especially director Nolan’s involvement, and while it’s light on plot it’s heavy on weird visuals, from the two guys bounding after each other on the walls of a hotel hallway to DiCaprio gasping for breath after emerging from a bathtub to that cool shot of the glass of water that’s on a severe angle. Again, this is all about setting a mood and not necessarily telling anyone what the movie is actually about and on that level it works really well.
The second trailer went a little – but only a little – bit deeper into the story. Through narrated voiceover, DiCaprio makes it clear that this is a psychological battle being waged as he intones about ideas being the most persistent parasites and most potent weapons. All this while various trippy visuals unfold around him as city streets fold over on themselves, various people seem to drown and buildings collapse around our main characters. There’s also a bit about his character needing to steal an idea which, combined with the on-the-nose text about the your mind being the scene of the crime, makes it clear that much of the movie will take place outside the physical world and its constraints.
A third trailer went even deeper into the plot. It more or less opens with DiCaprio recruiting Page into his operations, offering her a job as part of his sub-conscious intelligence gathering force. Much of this spot’s running time is spent hearing him explain what the job is and how it’s done to her, including the limited amount of rules that seem to exist for the job. Aside from and underneath that exposition we’re treated to all sorts of amazing visuals that represent the dream worlds that the characters create or have to navigate, from buildings folding up on themselves to entire seaboards collapsing. In addition to that there’s some brief nod to this being DiCaprio’s last job, or him hoping this will be his last job so that he can reunite with a lady love. At least that’s how it comes across in the trailer, though that aspect of the story is not fleshed out all that much.
Online
The landing page for the movie’s official website is quite different from those for most sites in that I’m not immediately assaulted by 17 options to click or view right at the outset. Instead the only prompt there aside from the Enter the Site button is an invitation to watch footage from the movie’s premiere and a performance of the score by Hans Zimmer and Johnny Marr.
After you do Enter the Site and it loads, the first thing you see is a recreation of one of the poster’s key art with Zimmer’s score playing over it.
The first section in the Menu is “About the Film.” The Synopsis that’s there does a better job in one paragraph of explaining what the movie’s about – at least from a plot standpoint – than all the trailers combined. There are also Cast and Filmmaker backgrounds and some PDF Notes you can download.
“Videos” has all three trailers and an extended spot that’s sort of a trailer called The Characters that introduces each of the main characters more individually. Unfortunately none of the many TV spots that have been running are here, which is too bad since some of them were quite good.
There are all the movie’s Posters, a Screensaver, a dozen or so Wallpapers and eight Buddy Icons in “Downloads.” About 40 stills, mostly from the movie but also including some featuring director Nolan, are found in the “Gallery.”
The “Sweepstakes” section just has links to the sites that have partnered on running sweepstakes in conjunction with the movie.
“Protect Your Thoughts” takes you to information from Verizon on the app they’ve created that is discussed more fully below.
The “Mind Crime Game” is kind of cool. You can play as either an Architect or an Extractor and, respectively, design your own maze or play someone else’s. If you play as an Extractor you run around a virtual city collecting clues to unlocking a safe with the mark’s secrets while trying not to be noticed by the pedestrians who populate the dream.
Finally, you can create your own poster by uploading an image to one of the templates and then having your image become part of the cityscape. Once you’ve finished you can share the result with your social networks or download it to admire forever.
The movie’s Facebook page is pretty standard, with updates on publicity and sweepstakes and such on the Wall and plenty of photos and more to view and download. There’s a heavy emphasis, especially in the last week or so, on the streaming (now archived) video from the movie’s premiere and other events. There are also a couple of tabbed sections such as Videos, Downloads and Gallery that are lifted straight from the official site, including the graphics and overall navigation.
An online ARG campaign that was pretty similar in execution to that of The Dark Knight though nowhere near that scale was run as well.
The first component of the ARG came when visitors to the official site in December realized they could click through to another site, YourMindIstheSceneoftheCrime, and after building and completing a maze game people were shown the first poster for the movie.
Next, a QR code included with swag that was handed out after Nolan’s appearance at WonderCon brought people to PasiDevice, a site that contained a user’s manual for the mysterious device used by DiCaprio’s character in the film.
The ARG continued with a video with researchers and scientists talking about REM sleep and the potential that exists for taking part in other people’s dreams in a more active and cognitive way than people participate in their own. Eventually a user’s manual for the PasiDevice was sent to Wired Magazine, who posted the pages online and asked readers to help decipher some of the instructions and clues that it included.
The game at that point moved further into the real world with outdoor posters and even TV spots that warned audience members about the dangers of mind crimes and dream theft and other issues that related to the movie’s plot. But the site QR codes on the posters pointed people to didn’t immediately provide clues or further the game, leading to some confusion among those actively playing along.
A very cool mobile game was developed called SCVNGR (MediaPost, 6/24/10) that asked people to get involved using their smart phones. Apps for iPhones or Android-powered devices were needed for people to check in at locations in 100 cities – including major landmarks and movie theaters – and then complete some sort of challenge tied to that location. In response players were given exclusive movie content and special badges. Some of those challenges involved taking photos and then sharing them across social networks, helping to spread the word of the movie.
There was also a Mind Crime Prevention app that was created exclusively for Verizon’s Droid (AdAge, 7/12/10) that was more about getting movie information than playing a game, though the corresponding website promised an experience in helping you learn how to protect your thoughts.
More straightforward was a 15-page preview comic that debuted on Yahoo! Movies that provided the lead-in to the movie’s story. We see DiCaprio’s character and his team engage on a mission that doesn’t go quite right but which then provides the lead-in to what we’ll see in the movie.
Advertising and Cross-Promotions
Despite the fact that this movie is not based on a comic book and not an animated kid’s film there was quite a bit of TV advertising done. A number of commercial spots were produced that more or less follow the format of the third trailer, introducing us to DiCaprio’s job and the weird worlds he deals in. Most of them also make it clear that it’s Page’s character who will be the audience’s “in” within the movie, the one who’s learning things so that we can learn them and the touch-point for the audience, giving us someone we can relate to as we’re shown one unbelievable thing after another.
Three later spots really upped the dramatic ante, making it clear that there were major stakes the characters faced and real consequences if they should fail to achieve those goals. They diverged quite a bit from the trailer’s format and showed much more action-filled plot elements, the better to lure in summer movie audiences looking for big guns and chase sequences.
In addition to more traditional outdoor ads that used just the title treatment or some sort of variation on one of the poster images, some really creative outdoor units were created in New York City that made it look like buildings were peeling or water rushing out of their windows. The photo below comes courtesy of Moishe Friedman.

Media and Publicity
Much of the publicity around the movie focused on just how big and different the movie was and how far director Nolan was reaching (Los Angeles Times, 1/13/10) with his artistic vision. Future features would follow suit (Los Angeles Times, 4/4/10) and be timed around the movie’s junket-esque appearance at WonderCon, where Nolan also spilled a few more details about the plot and showed up a clips package.
What was interesting was that since the movie was not, unlike so many others this summer, part of a franchise, the constant attention by the press on the director turned Nolan into the brand that audiences were expected and encouraged to latch on to. From those early stories through later features (New York Times, 6/30/10), Nolan was the hook in place of a toy line or comic book character that became the brand the publicity was rallying around and which the studio sought to turn into the familiar and nonthreatening audience draw.
There were even stories about just how hard the movie was to market (Hollywood Reporter, 7/9/10) and which made it sound like any comment about it being “brainy” or something similar was to be read as vague at best. The crux of this seemed to be an attempted level setting for the movie’s expectations in case it doesn’t turn out to be the smash of the summer that early buzz has set it up to be.
The supporting cast got a bit of notice as well as Nolan, as Page and Gordon-Levitt got interviewed (Los Angeles Times, 7/11/10) and profiled as being part of a group of young actors who are more concerned about their art and craft than in being on the party scene.
Whatever the primary focus, the overall theme in the press stories was that Inception was an unknown property (LAT, 7/13/10) and therefore represented a risky move by Warner Bros.
Buzz, of course, begets more buzz and the conversations around the movie spiked up in recent days (AdAge, 7/15/10) as people began to discuss the film more and more and anticipation began to mount.
Overall
The focus on Nolan in the publicity section of the push was, I think, a smart move since much of the rest of the campaign showed a movie that was potentially more challenging intellectually than the average summer blockbuster. So this was the attempt to make it clear to the audience that there was an accessible entry point for them in the form of the director of that Batman sequel they enjoyed so much a couple years ago.
But that puts a lot of pressure on the director and it’s extremely likely that within Hollywood the campaign’s emphasis will mean that the movie’s success is seen as a referendum on his future. If it winds up being a well-reviewed hit he will probably be able to write his own check on whatever  future projects he chooses. If not then it winds up tainting how he’s treated the next time he steps up to the plate, most likely when he starts revving up Batman 3.
Putting aside the issues of the movie not being based on an existing property, I really dig this campaign. Does it fully explain the movie? Not by a long shot. But it does something better: It actually has me anticipating the journey the movie will take me on. It’s not just selling me something I’m already inclined to purchase and then more or less enjoy. It’s making me want to see the movie because I want to figure out what the heck is going on. I’m anxious to see how the movie’s story unfolds and how it is going to engage me. That hasn’t happened in a long time with a mainstream Hollywood campaign and, honestly, it’s a feeling only truly original movies can create.
That’s also only created by an effective campaign and this very much fits that description. The posters are interesting and confusing, as are the trailers. The ARG is just fully-featured enough to be interesting without becoming overwhelming. While most of the rest of the online campaign is good as well, my favorite part is the prequel comic since with a movie which has dealt with so much “What’s it about?” conversation, any sort of table-setting it can do for the movie is a good thing.

 

Post Published: 15 July 2010
Author: Chris

Inception Marketing

Inception Marketing

October 27, 2010 Author Adam Singer

 

Inception infographic by user dehahs on Deviant Art

You’ve likely seen the movie Inception by now, but even if you haven’t you’ve heard of the plot.  That, in essence, it is possible to plant an idea in a person’s subconscious they would interpret as their own.  In the movie this feat is accomplished through a group of thieves infiltrating their mark’s dream (or, more specifically dreams within dreams as noted in the infographic above).
Yet this isn’t simply a concept for the movies – it’s also a potent communications strategy.  Social scientist Dan Ariely shares an example of how effective this concept is in his book The Upside of Irrationality.  Chapter 4, titled:  The Not-Invented-Here Bias:  Why “My” Ideas Are Better than “Yours” shares multiple examples and thorough research supporting this simple concept:  that we value our own ideas ahead of others.  This explains why the idea of Inception would be effective.
Dan’s inspiration for this research stemmed from a personal example: his experience sharing research findings to groups of executives in the hopes they would use some of them to create better products. Specifically, he was sharing thoughts to a group of bankers encouraging them to help consumers save money for the future, rather than spending their paychecks as soon as they get them.  Dan presented win-win ideas to the executives which would help their customers improve financial decision making and, in the process, increase their customer base and loyalty.  Unfortunately the execs didn’t seem all that interested:

…here I was, looking at a sea of unenthusiastic faces.  I was presenting the bankers with a good idea — not just some vague notion but one supported by solid data.  They sat back passively in their chairs, clearly not taking in the possibilities.  I began to wonder if the lack of excitement on their part was due to the fact that the idea was mine rather than theirs.  If that were the case, should I try to get the executives to think that the idea was their own or at least partially theirs?  Would that make them more interested in trying it out?

As a social scientist, Dan had to get answers to these questions, so naturally he conducted several experiments.  In one such experiment, participants looked at a list of three problems one at a time and generated proposed solutions for each.  Once the participants finished generating their three solutions, they then went back and rated each one on practicality and probability for success.  Another group received the same set of problems but didn’t get to suggest solutions, simply evaluate answers given.
The problems were:

1. How can communities reduce the amount of water they use without imposing tough restrictions
2. How can individuals help to promote our “gross national happiness”?
3. What innovative change could be made to an alarm clock to make it more effective?

In all cases participants rated their own solutions as much more practical and having a greater potential for success than the control groups.  They also said they would invest more of their time and money into promoting their own ideas rather than the ones provided.
I’m not going to share more from the book because it’s highly worth reading, but the lesson is simple:  people have a clear bias for their own ideas.  And as marketing and communications professionals, that spells opportunity.  Influencing your target audience to come to organic conclusions about about your brand — before you actively market to them and generating interest in a new product concept — before you go to market with it — is a powerful play.
Surgically implanting ideas through dream technology is science fiction, but priming your market before they’re ready to buy or have even heard of you is a devastatingly powerful approach.  And the best part: there are ways to do this that are far less invasive than manipulating people’s dreams.  All that may be required is for you to truly understand your audience: if you already know how they think, you can develop strategies that take advantage of existing biases, viewpoints and worldviews and put them to work for you.

Tom Douglas&Harry Cooper Paramount Pictures

 Representation of race in EastEnders
I will be looking at The Masood family and how they are represented in the TV drama EastEnders with a focus on there Muslim religion. 

The mother in the Masood family is Zainab. Zainab is the only female Asian adult character currently in EastEnders, and thus her portrayal represents Asian women throughout the country. She is represented as a strict who  brought shame on her family after having an affair with  Masood Ahmed, when she is already married to Yusef Khan. This is shamed upon for a Muslim going against her marriage and religious belief. This portrays the Muslim family in a negative way showing them as being deviant, departing from usual or accepted standards. 

Syed is the eldest of Zainab and Ahmed’s three children. He is also represented as devious because he steals from the family business which results in almost leaving his parents bankrupt. Also Syed turns out homosexual which is massively frowned upon the Muslim culture. Syed Marries Amira Shah, as shown together in the picture above, out of pressure from Zainab his mother, however he has an affair with another man. When Zainab finds out she 'disowns' her son because of the disrespect he has caused his family. In this Syed also creates a negative Muslim stereotype disrespecting his family.

The Big Six 

Major Film Studios

1. Warner Bros Pictures. 19.7 percent of the US/Canadian market share (2007 figures), Warner Bros Pictures is the biggest in the film industry. They have the rights to most major films such as Harry Potter, Superman, Batman, The Matrix and Star Wars have made Warner Bros. the No. 1 name in the business.

2. Paramount Pictures. 15.5 percent of the US/Canadian market share (2007 figures), Paramount Pictures continues to be one of the most successful film production companies in the world. Star Trek, War of the Worlds, the Mission Impossible series, Transformers and Tropic Thunder are just a few of the popular films produced by Paramount Pictures.

3. Walt Disney. One of the most renowned film production companies in the history of the business, Walt Disney now holds 15.3 percent of the US/Canadian market share (2007 figures). With highly successful movies like Pirates of the Caribbean, National Treasure, Meet the Robinsons and Enchanted, there's no doubt that Disney will continue to play a key role in the industry for years to come.

4. Columbia Pictures. Comprising 12.9 percent of the US/Canadian market share (2007 figures), Columbia Pictures remains a big player in the business. Some of this company's recent successes include Casino Royale, The Da Vinci Code, the Spider-Man series and Step Brothers.

5. Universal Studios. 12.2 percent of the US/Canadian market share (2007 figures) belongs to Universal Studios, which continues to make millions for the film industry. With major hits like the Bourne series (Bourne Identity, Bourne Supremacy and Bourne Ultimatum), The American Pie series, Knocked Up, American Gangster and The Incredible Hulk, it's very clear that Universal Studios knows what it takes to make money in this industry.

6. 20th Century Fox. Also known as "Twentieth Century Fox," this highly successful movie production company makes up 11.9 percent of the US/Canadian market share (2007 figures). Some of the biggest and most successful movies from this empire include the X-Men series, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, Star Wars Episodes II and III, and the Fantastic Four.

How Disability is Represented in TV Drama

Summary of attack the block research

From researching the blockbuster action film 'Attack the block' from the director and writer Joe Cornish, I have found that Cornish wanted to portray to his audience, being over 15's, a different view on teenagers that the stereotypical portrayal in most films of young people. In the film Joe Cornish starts with the stereotype and goes in totally the opposite direction when the alien invasion begins. The film is inspired and set in the place where Cornish grew up in South London. The idea for the film came when Joe Cornish was mugged by a group of  young South London kids. During interview he talks openly about this experience maybe because for him it was a major influence in writing Attack The Block  The actor in the film were not stage school kid because Cornish wanted the film to be authentic, partly to keep the production seem really and also for Cornish he wanted to include them in the production. Being helping with the costume choices and setting the scene for there rooms. I think this came across well in the film and for me made it easier to associate  with the actors on a more personal level and i think this came across more as the film went on. 

Joe Cornish wanted the film to be a fun, escapist, fantasy, adventure in the hope that the film will appeal to all kinds of people.Through research I have found that the film cost in total £8 million to make which is a small amount compared to £1,133,859 which the film made during the opening weekend after the release date on 15th May 2011 just in the UK, played in 352 screens. I found that the films production companies were Studio Canal, Film4, UK Film council and Big Talk Production these are a few without mentioning the distributors and the special effect companies. Compare to big high budget blockbusters that you associate with the 'big six'  major film studios.

For a low budget film i think that attack the block was a well made exiting film, I also like how Joe Cornish kept the aliens 'in the dark' and left it to your imagination. One think that that I thought  was bad about the film was that you never actually found out why the aliens were attacking the block.