Case Study - Mission: Impossible Ghost Protocol

Pre production:

Ghost Protocol was written by André Nemec and Josh Appelbaum, and produced by Cruise, J.J. Abrams (the third film's director) and Bryan Burk. It saw the return of the first film's editor, Paul Hirsch, and is also the first Mission: Impossible film to be partially filmed using IMAX cameras.

This was a sequel of the previous three mission impossible films and due to the success of the first three; there was no hesitation that this sequel wouldn’t be any better.

As mission impossible is such a well-known name it wasn’t hard for them to get financial backing from companies, such as: Paramount and Skydance Productions.

The production company was bad robot productions, which have produced many films including: Cloverfield, Mission Impossible 3, Star Trek and more.

The producers were Tom Cruise (also the main actor), J.J. Abrams and Bryan Burk. Tom Cruise has been involved in every single mission impossible movie so it is understandable that Mr Cruise would be part of the production team as he contains experience. J.J. Abrams was also chosen to produce the movie as he has a great record of movies that he has produced, he also directed, wrote and produced mission impossible 3 so he again had a lot of experience with this genre of movie.

The director was Brad Bird, who had directed many animated films including such as The Incredibles, Ratatouille, The Iron Giant and more. So this was a very bold and brave for them to appoint a director who has not got that much experience with action movies.

Production:

Casting – they kept the main character Tom Cruise which was a shock to some fans as there were rumors that the main character ‘Ethan Hunt’ was going to be replaced by other A – list celebrity actors, such as Brad Pitt. The movie cast also has other big named stars such as: Simon Pegg, Jeremy Renner, Paula Patton, Michael Nyqvist and Vladimir Mashkov.

Locations - Filming took place in Dubai, Prague, Moscow, Mumbai, Bangalore and Vancouver. Tom Cruise performed a sequence where Ethan Hunt scales the outside of the Burj Khalifa tower, which is the world's tallest building, without the use of a stunt double. Although Cruise appears to be free solo climbing in the film with the help of special gloves, in reality, he was securely attached to the Burj Khalifa at all times by multiple cables. Industrial Light & Magic digitally erased the cables in post-production.

Many of the film's interior scenes were shot at Vancouver's Canadian Motion Picture Park, including a key transition scene in a specially equipped IMF train car.

The film was originally announced with a working name of Mission: Impossible 4 and codenamed "Aries" during early production.

The film was partially shot with IMAX cameras, which made up approximately 30 minutes of the film's run time. Bird insisted that certain scenes of the film be shot in IMAX, as opposed to 3D, as he felt that the IMAX format offered the viewer more immersion due to its brighter, higher quality image, which is projected on a larger screen, without the need for specialized glasses.

Distribution:

The distributor is paramount pictures, they are a big distribution company founded in 1912 and have distributed many great and huge movies, including the Godfather, Grease, Mission Impossible and many more.

Following the world premiere in Dubai on December 7, 2011, the film was released in IMAX and other large-format theaters in the U.S. on December 16, 2011, with general release on December 21, 2011.

In July 2011, a teaser trailer for Ghost Protocol was released illustrating new shots from the film, one of which being Tom Cruise scaling the world's tallest building, the Burj Khalifa building in Dubai. Moreover; prior to its release, the studio presented IMAX footage of the film to an invitation-only crowd of opinion makers and journalists at central London's BFI IMAX Theater.

Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol was released on Blu-ray, DVD and digital download on April 17, 2012.

Publicity - During November 2011, Paramount released a Facebook game of the film in order to promote it. The new game allowed players to choose the roles of IMF agents and assemble teams to embark on a multiplayer journey. Players were also able to win tickets to the film's U.S. premiere and a hometown screening of the film for 30 friends.

They have a Facebook page which created awareness for the movie as there is over a billion people on facebook.

Trailer – the official trailer is very effective in attracting the audience as it has a well-known rapper (Eminem) singing, which draws in the audience. Also the clip is for 2:24 minutes, which is considerably a long time, which allows all the main actors to be seen by the audience that again entices the audience as they see that well-known, famous actors are in the movie. The trailer also represents the genre very well as it displays a lot of action going on in the movie and adventures actives, such as Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) climbing up the Burj Khalifa or Ethan falling of a building whilst shooting at some one.

Exhibition:

Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol received very strong positive reviews, scoring a 93% "Certified Fresh" approval rating on review aggregate site Rotten Tomatoes, based on 212 reviews, with an average rating of 7.7/10 and an audience rating of 85%, making it the best-reviewed entry of the series.

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film 3.5 out of 4 stars, saying the film "is a terrific thriller with action sequences that function as a kind of action poetry". Stephen Whitty of The Star-Ledger wrote, "The eye-candy - from high-tech gadgets to gorgeous people - has only been ratcheted up. And so has the excitement." He also gave the film 3.5 out of 4 stars.

The budget was £145 million

Ghost Protocol grossed worldwide total of $694,713,380. It is the highest-grossing film worldwide in the Mission: Impossible series, and the 5th highest-grossing film of 2011. It is also the highest-grossing film worldwide starring Tom Cruise, eclipsing War of the Worlds from the top spot.

Mini analyse 5

In this clip, sexuality is clearly represented by the use of semionics of camera, editing, sound and mise en scene.

At the start, Miss Mord is shown to have feelings for the other female character. One use of mise en scene which demonstrates this is at the start of the scene. The female character is standing in front of a mirror whilst Miss Mord is behind her. Both of which are looking into a mirror whilst the female character holds a dress against herself.

The use of a midshot allows the audience to see Miss Mords facial expression. She gazes as the females reflection in the mirror with the expression of being slightly taken aback by the "beauty" of the female character. This may give the audience the impression that she may find the female attractive. This is further enhanced as the use of non-digetic sound allows the audience to hear Mords thoughts which are "she looked beautiful". Another scene which shows this is when Mord and the female character are on a bed.

Whilst the female character is asleep, Mord can be seen resting next to her with her hand hovering over the females body. Mord seems unsure of whether to touch the female or not, so runs her hand down the womans body without touching her. This demonstrates that Mord clearly wished to caress the female character and shows a form of boundary between the two characters as Mord feels unable to express her feelings to the female.

Mini analyse 4 - A Touch of Frost

A touch of Frost Disability is clearly shown within this clip via the use of camera, editing, sound and mise en scene. During the scene of the police and Billy within the forest, a variety of camera angles are used to show how disability is represented within society.

The close up shot of the police dog, resembles Billy being hunted as if he is pray, as we can see the policemen and dogs are eager to find him. Once the police see Billy, a close up shot of Billy's face enables us to see that he appears to be scared and worried. Being able to see that Billy is disabled also makes people feel sympathy for Billy as they may assume him to be innocent and pity him for being disabled. Therefore seeing him scared emphasises this.

A low angle medium shot is used to show Billy being tackled to the floor by the officer and not being able to escape the officer's hold. This resembles Billy as being less powerful than the man and therefore more vulnerable. Within this shot the audience can see Billy being held up by his collar which also resembles his vulnerability. Here the use of digetic sound is used to emphasis the fact the audience would assume Billy is innocent due to the fact he is disabled.

Billy says that he hasn't "done anything wrong" which appears to make Billy seem powerless. The tone in which this is said by Billy is almost childlike and further links with making the audience feel pity for him. Dialouge is further used in the next scene during a conversation between Billy's father and the inspector. The inspector refers to Billy as being "mentally subnormal" to which the father firmly corrects him by saying "handicapped". This shows that the use of words by the inspector represents Billy as not being the same in terms of someone who is normal. Maybe referring to an abled person. To which this seems to slightly offend the father. Handicapped is used instead to describe Billy as does not single him out as being un-normal.

Cutting It Essay

In the opening scene the characters are in the back of a London taxi, this highlights that they are middle class people who have some money. Also the way they are dressed helps portray the characters to be wealthy, as they are wearing smart clothing and look well groomed. They are both wearing gold wedding rings which indicates they are both married to each other, the dialogue also implies that they are married and deep in love. The woman in this clip is portrayed as the one who is in control as the male is questioning the female about where they are going, this keeps the audience enticed and thinking. Also when the woman gets out of the cab she pay for it, this highlights that the female in this clip is taking the controlling role. This is unusual as the stereotypical male usually is the one who is in control. Also the fact that she wants to go to see the consultant by herself, again symbolizes that she is strong enough emotionally to deal with the news she is about to hear, good or bad, the audience still don’t know. The low key lighting in the consultants room connotates with the mood of the characters which is nervous and fright. The final scene with the woman lying on the floor with flowers all ruined on the floor indicates the mans life and how it is also ruined.

The camera shots in this clip help portray the couples relationship and how in love they are. Firstly, the camera shot of the couple in the back of the cab emphasizes how in love they are as the camera keeps showing them touching and linking with each other. The medium close-up of couple also helps to indicate to the audience that the conversation is serious, the dialogue also suggests that the conversation is serious. The extreme close-up of the couple holding hands with their wedding rings on show draws the audience’s attention and indicates that they are married. in the background of the shot of the woman getting out of the taxi there is an ambulance, highlighting that they are at a hospital, this allows the audience to understand what is going on and that the woman is actually ill. The over the shoulder shot of the woman hearing the news from the consultant focuses on the womans face and emotion, the woman is crying which is surprising to the audience as at the beginning of the clip she was portrayed as a strong minded female. This indicates to the audience that even though she seemed to be strong and independent, she still shows her emotion like stereotypical females. The camera shot of the man stirring his coffee, then the camera cuts to his point of view of the woman emerging, which builds tension as the audience still doesn’t know if she is okay. The medium shot of the man’s face when he realizes she has been hit by a car, highlights his emotion and then the jump out closer to his face expresses the feeling of shock. The final close-up shot of his face symbolizes he is distraught, it also highlights his tears which is unusual for a stereotypical male to show emotion.

The editing in this clip is very effective in the way it helps build tension and keeps the audience interested. The editing at the beginning of the clip is very relaxed and show from the man to woman, this allows the audience to see the love and caring I the relationship. When the couple get out of the cab the cuts become more frequent and quicker as the conversation gets more serious as she wants to go to the consultant by herself. This helps the viewer see the expressions and emotion on the characters face.  The cuts between the woman and man whilst she is in the consultant is slow and cuts happen a lot, this builds up tension and makes the audience enticed in the clip as they want to know if she will be okay. There were slow motion shots also to help build up tension in the scene and make it more dramatic. When the woman comes out of the hospital and the man is waiting to hear the news, he suddenly hears a crash, however a bus is in the way. The man immediately thinks its his wife involved with the incident, the camera does a jump shot from a medium shot to a close up shot to emphasize his shock. The slow motion shot after the bus passes also helps indicate that the man is stunned and surprised and conotates with his feelings as he feels like part of his life has stopped.

The sound in the clip has a mixture of non-diegetic and diegetic sound which helps the viewer understand the characters emotions and how the clip is very feminine. Firstly, the non-diegetic sound of the couple speaking with the noise of the street in the background and the taxi helps the scene seem real and like a normal day for the characters. When the diegetic music starts whilst he is waiting it emphasizes the emotion of the characters which is worry and stress. The music is quite feminine which connotates with the man in this clip as he is not the stereotypical male as he shows a lot of emotion throughout the clip, he also never seems to be in charge and it usually is the woman. The echo sound of the car crash and then the silence of the clip creates an effect as it again indicates that the mans life has stopped as his wife is going to die. Then the non-diegetic sound enters the clip again with a car horn it makes the audience come back to reality. The final scene when the woman is on the floor with the slow depressing diegetic music playing creates a sad scene and has connotations of the characters emotions.

Mini Analyse 3 - Cranford

Cranford (class)

Mise en scene

The settling and the costumes in this clip really helps to emphasis the differences in class between two families and how in the late 19^th century to early 20^th century there was a big split in society with the poor and the rich.

The clip starts of with a young boy in ragged clothes that looks dirty and old, which instantly gives the impression that he does not come from a wealthy background. He is walking through the woods with a bag and vegetables which implies again that he is a from a non wealthy family as in these times families with money often has servants and people to gather their food for them. The boy get given a pair of shoes for his birthday, which he makes a rather big deal out of which suggests to the viewer that he is grateful for every little thing he gets as he doesn’t often get given a lot from his parents. However suddenly when the boy signifies to his parents that he can read a little bit suddenly changes the mood of the scene and his dad does not seem happy with him, as he believes that ‘learning’s not for everyone’. The lighting is low key, which highlights the mood of the characters in the scene, as the boy looks sad that his dad is un-happy with him.

However when the boy finds a mansion house he enters a green house on the land and gets caught. It gives the viewer a chance to see how the other side of society lived in this era. The scene with the lady in full white dress instantly signifies to the audience that she is wealthy as she is the owner of the property and she speaks very well and correctly. The bright white flowers highlights and conotates the lives of the people living at the mansion as happy, easy and enjoyable.

The next scene with the large family getting into horse carriages signifies that they are the opposite to the young boys family and are wealthy people as only the people with money in these eras had horse and carriages. Also the costumes of the characters are all very elegant pieces that look expensive and well made, this again indicates to the audience that this family is wealthy; also the fact that it is a rather large family again suggests to the viewer that they have a lot of money as, wealthy families in the early 20^th century had large families. 

Star Trek Case Study

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