Genre analysis and Auter Theory Essay

Producer and audience - Iron man 3

Me and My Movies

Me and my movies from Steampunk_Productions

Remakes - The Karate kid

Karate kid

The Karate kid is a perfect example of the phrase; Milking a Cash cow. Originally made back in 1984 the karate kid was an instant classic enjoyed by people of all ages and became an iconic film to watch in the 80’s. Directed by John G. Avildsen and Starring Ralph Macchio as the main protagonist, Daniel Larusso, the story follows young Daniel who is relentlessly tormented and bullied at school after moving to a new city with his mother. The handyman of the building is the eccentric but kindly Mr Miyagi (Noriyuki ‘Pat’ Morita) who agrees to teach Daniel karate after he saved Daniel from an attack from his bullies. The story is a classic and really makes you feel sorry for Daniel the underdog because we have all felt this way at one point or another. The way the Director uses Character personality to make you feel certain ways is very effective and captivates the audience well. The film was distributed by Columbia pictures and raked in $90,815,558 at the box office. In 2010 the film was remade purely for financial gain and is often criticized by the fans of the original 1984 edition, Starring Jaden smith and Jackie Chan the film is pumped full of everything or instant recognition and millions of dollars to roll in. Jackie Chan is a well-respected and well known martial artist and instantly recognizable film star, Jaden smith is the son of the extremely famous will smith which means that he doesn’t even have to do anything to be instantly recognizable as the son of will and also become very famous. Following the Same basic Story of the original the film feels so artificially produced to a point where there feels like no artistic merit behind it. One of the main Reasons the karate kid was remade?  Synergies. Synergies are products that the film companies can sell to further increase Revenue beyond ticket sales. These can range from everything from hats and clothes to Games and phone covers and such, Merchandising is such a huge part of the Re made karate kid it feels less about the film and more about buying some mass produced products with the logo and title on it.  Even the soundtrack felt artificially forced for popularity with the main song being ‘Never say never’ Written by about 4 different people and sang by Justin Bieber and Jaden smith. The song itself was mostly positively received but was not as popular as probably expected Reaching only low places on the singles charts around the world (e.g Uk – 34) but Reached Number 8 in Americas Billboard hot 100 charts, (Big surprise there).Generally the Film was well Received and made millions as expected Raking in about $359,126,022 from just ticket sales alone. This Rendition of the film was also Distributed by Columbia pictures But this time around Featured a different director; Harold Zwart. The thing about annoying the fans of the original karate kid is it will make them want to watch the original for nostalgic reasons, so obviously this allowed Columbia pictures to re-release the original karate kid on dvd and even went as far to bundle it with the new copy and charged twice as much. Rather sneaky but cleverly done . All in all the Karate kid 2010 could be seen in a more positive light  by saying that the film companies simply wanted to bring something iconic and loved by many parents into the modern era for their children to love as well but in a more relevant and recognizable format.  and so we come to the end of the remakes articles where we have explored areas such as Synergies, horizontal integration and multiple other factors that influence a remake.        

Remakes - War of the worlds

The original war of the world’s written by H.G Wells is a cult classic that was brought to life on screen by director Bryon Haskin in 1953. Hailed as a revolutionary and scary Sci-fi the film is a story on the invasion of earth by Martians, at the point of creation Martians and UFO sightings were very popular and feared so the reason that everyone was so scared of the film at the time was due to this. The story follows a small Californian town were a huge meteor comes crashing down to earth and there is an air of buzz and excitement all around until the townspeople realise that the visitors that have come with the meteor are evil and slowly but surely the Martians begin to take over leading to a war against the human race. Today looking back the effects that scared so many look cheesy and funny to us but this possibly may be that due to the increasingly violent content within the media that we as a modern society have become desensitized and scare less often than back then.  A lot of thought and hard work went into the overall design of the film to avoid the cliché flying saucer look but at the same time keep that sense of fear that people get from the fear of flying saucers. The final product was that the spaceships themselves ended up looking like sinister manta rays that would float above the ground, the long protruding neck and singular eye/beam on top of them was modelled after cobras. The iconic Sound effect of the Martian heat ray was created by having an orchestra play a piece using mostly cellos and Violins and became the standard and iconized sound for laser beam sound effects for many years after the creation of the film.  In 2005 Stephen Spielberg remade War of the worlds as part of an ideological message on the attacks at the world trade centre in 2001, playing on the fear and vulnerability of the American audience after morale and security were hit by the fear of terrorism.  There are often clear references to the attacks in the film itself in the way that people are incinerated by the Martian heat rays and everywhere and everyone surrounding is covered in ash. The story itself Follows a divorced father who’s children come to visit him as part of his custody over them when a strange storm takes over the skies and weird electrical bolts rain down from the sky and penetrate the ground below where the Martian tripods rise up. You could say that instead of a shot for shot remake the 2005 edition is more of an inspired piece using ideology from the novel and first film to create a new original piece. Unlike back 1953 the effects in the film have become something of a bore due to the fact that we see effects everywhere we turn we are no longer shocked or surprised by how real anything looks.  

Remakes - Rec and Quarantine

REC – Quarantine
Remakes?  Why are they made? Is it just a ploy for more money or is it more innocently just giving you something you enjoyed once with a fresh face and overhaul?  There are some people who will argue that certain films are classics and should be left as such but the prospect of remakes is not all bleak.  The revenue from a remade film could fund the creation of a future film that could become a classic. First we will be exploring REC and Quarantine.  REC is a successful cult classic supernatural horror and although in Spanish was enjoyed and received well world over causing a huge cult following.  When released it was very well received due to the camera work, unlike most conventional films REC was shot using a handheld camera technique and because of this was surprisingly cheap to make compared to larger films, although the budget may have been lower the film never felt as though it cheaped out and looks very real and not over the top. The overall feeling the film throws out is that this could actually be a real story, the attention to detail in the acting and script really help to make this film feel as though more of a documentary than a fabricated story.  I believe that the huge cult following came from the unique use of camera and the similarities to Video games, this is a positive link that allows those of a younger audience to connect on another level, they could see themselves playing something like this on an Xbox or Playstation.   Not long after the release there were also a few other films using the handheld camera technique for their film, although personally I feel that Rec did it better The director Juame Balaguero Believes that the usage of this particular camera style is becoming increasingly more popular due to changes in the technical and audiovisual world and how the Roles of the audience are changing.  The use of this kind of story telling where everything feels real and live is a way of bringing the audience closer to the horror and allowing them to feel things and a new level as though they are part of the horror and experiencing themselves. The camera sort of acts as your eyes and it makes feel as though you are the one stood there with them instead of just watching a conventional horror where everything feels impersonal and instead of feeling the sense of horror for the other people you can also feel it for yourself aswell.  The usage of particular characters aswell in the story allow you to connect with the characters and also feel even more scared. For example the young girl and old lady characters are often perceived as sweet and innocent so when twisted around and made grotesque this hits harder than just an adult male or female, although sort of cliché in today’s zeitgeist I believe that the film used the roles well and they never came off as too cheesy or boring, a feat with is rather impressive.  Quarantine is the Re-made American version of the film which was created in a very short period after the original film was released this is due to what I perceive as greed, the interest in REC was still fresh and with a huge Niche audience to reap the Americans soon pounced on this film and re-made it basically shot for shot allowing a closer feel to the actual film meaning more revenue and interest in the film. The act of remaking the film for an English speaking audience allows the film to gather even more popularity and fame because some people might not like to watch films with subtitles and would prefer to see the film in English. Although there are dubbed over versions of REC I think it is the Spanish that adds more to the feeling and it just doesn’t seem the same without it.  At box office REC grossed a total of $32,492,948 whilst Quarantine grossed a total of $41,319,906. Although yes Quarantine earned nearly 10 million more I believe that REC is a better film and if released in Cinemas in America in Spanish it would have gained a bit more popularity. The increased audience reach in the English speaking film pretty much guaranteed larger revenue and because it was made by a much larger production company it also had a much larger budget. Personally I feel that When a Cult classic like REC is re-made into an over glorified American version it loses some of its magic and just doesn’t feel the same.