super 8 film

0th Thursday October 2011   Film Review- Super 8


About the director and institution companies
The Film Super eight is an American Science-fiction (hybrid genre), film to be honest even though I have never been interested to watch science fiction film because I was not interested in the use of fantasy, spaceships , and alien characters but this film made me think that not ever science fiction film has to include these genre conventions and that it can include other genre conventions to attract such a person like me who is not in to this specific genre. The film influenced my mood in different ways by using a sad seen made me fell sympathetic and by using slow , white seems with sudden alien bits made me feel scared. It is directed by a successful director  called  Jeffery Jacob Abram. We know the directors name  from watching a moving image platform ' Youtube trailer'  used by the media institutions in order to be successful, the trailer starts off with the opening scene of the film followed by a few cuts in order to build up tension and then informs us with white, sophisticated text that appears with the directors name, the white gives and natural effect to the audience. I personally that J.J Abrams is a very creative director with good storylines.  J.J Abrams was Born in New York in 1996.He is an American film director, television producer, screenwriter, actor and a composer. J.J Abram has directed many other films such as Mission impossible III (2006) , Star trek (2009) and Morning glory (2010).  I will be writing a  review of the film Super 8 and how there was media codes and conventions used in order to make it appealing to me as a primary audience.  Super 8 was produced by Steven Spelburg a very well known producer who is also known for being a video game designer, director, screen writer and a studio entrepreneur.  Steven Spelburg  won academy awards for best director, directing many films including Jurassic park (1993) which achieved box office records and was a great success with the highest gross film made at the time. 
The institution company that has produced this film is Paramount pictures we see the logo of this institution company at the beginning of the film and at the start of the youtube trailer.  This is for the audience to recognise the institution company before  the film starts, I personally was informed by looking at the illustrations before the film started in cinemas which suggests to me that  the company are trying to inform their audience to let them know that these successful companies have produced the film ( inform- Blumar and Katz theory  for uses and gratification). The studio company are  Amblin entertainment and  Bad Robot productions, these are all very successful media institution companies that have produced a variety of films.  The films budget for 'Super 8' was $50million but raised $258,304,179 in box office . The films name Super 8" is a popular name for 8mm video camera film.  Which in  this case in the movie, the kids are making their own movie on 8mm film.  The use of the word “super” denotes the film stock’s improvement over the earlier “regular 8” format and the number 8 is a reference to the width (in millimetres) of the film reel.
Characters
The main stars  in the film are Joel Courtney who is an new  American actor born in 1996. He auditioned for Super 8 film and had got accepted. He is now been nominated for Teen choice awards for choice movie breakout male and for choice chemistry. He has signed for the following two films The healer and Tom Sawyer & Huckleberry Finn who will be released in 2012.  Joel plays the character of Joe Lamb a 14-year-old boy living in the fictional town of Lillian, in Ohio and has lost his mother in a factory accident. I personally think that he is the main male hero in this film (Vladimir Propp's stock characters theory) and has done a really excellent job as actor because he creates a sense of suspense and shows realistic emotional impressions which make us as an audience feel his emotions. He has a very close relationships with the actress Alice as this is shown to us when he puts on her makeup at the scene when they are filming near the train station. The costume he is wearing is a simple t-shirt and a jumper which represents him as a lower-class child in the olden eras.  Ellie fanning ( Alice) the female actress in the film was born in 1998, she is an American actress that has also starred in many other films such as Phoebe in Wonderland, Somewhere and we brought a zoo. Ellie fanning has started acting at the age of 18 months in the min-series Taken and the comedy Daddy day care. We are introduced to the actress in the film when she is the  protagonist's wife in the low  budget zombie movie which the children are making. She is wearing a simple beige coat which gives us an idea of how the film is set in the past era. She has a close relationship with the main actor as she comes back to meet him when her father kicks her out of the house and tell her not to come back which suggests she has some sort of feeling for him also when she agrees to do the film this gives some sort of  heterosexual ideology. The film also includes other actors such as  Kyle chandle ( Deputy Jackson Lamb) -who is the director of the film they are making within the film, Ron Eldard (Louis) Dainard and Riley Grffiths (Charles Kaznyk).  The best part is the shooting place near the train station because we are introduced to all the character at the same time and learn a little bit more about their persona.
Plot of the film and Todorov's Narrative theory
The film starts in February of 1979, at a steel plant in Ohio. Where a group of friends are making their film super 8 (Equilibrium) and suddenly witness a disaster of a train crash while making their super 8 movie and then suspect that it was not an accident that has caused this incident. Later the even begins to take place in a town and the truth is uncovered by the Local deputy and that something more terrifying has happened that was unbelievable. In the summer the six friends spend time making their film. As they are making their film sooner they realise that on the train was an object from the earth. And as the train crashes these pieces are crashed and are all open, they move and make digetic-sounds and that these pieces are now loose in the community. As people animals, metal objects start to disappear people complain to the police. The police then start investigating on this issue and as more destructions happen they start to realise (realisation) that there is this weird, magnetic, huge alien. But then when the main actress of the film goes missing the actor Joe Lamb tries to find her, he finds her at a  underground where the setting of the place is full of machines and dead bodies, he sees her hanging so he slaps her and awakens her in order to run away from the place ( attempt to repair). The new equilibrium is that the alien gives impressions that he will give back Alice and will go back.
Sound, computer graphic imagery and use of colour
There was use of non-digetic sound when he alien made noises, when a new scene started the music was played over the characters along with computer graphic imagery used when there was explosions and to make the alien look terrifying. The use of loud non-digetic sounds emphasises us as an audience because we don’t except what is going to happen but the music creates a sense of mystery and suddenly makes us jump. The use of really loud digetic sounds in the film entertained the audience making the specific scene look realistic e.g. when the main characters dad uses weapons such as guns and when the film suddenly 'clicks' and starts giving us a idea of how Joe's mum looks. The use of computer graphic imagery for the explosions and the alien makes us believe how terrible the reactions of the actions were.
The film has included mostly flashbacks  which suggest that there will be some sort of suspense and mystery and the bright colours used for the explosions such as red, orange and brown all give and impression of serious and how important the scene are.
Demographics
Primary audience will be teenagers and children from the age of 13 years to 21. This is because it an PG film and children will need parental guidance. I think that teenagers and children will like this film this is because they can link to the characters feeling and sometimes the position they are in e.g. lone parent families. Also it will realise stress and they can escape from their boring daily life’s ( escapism B&C theory of U&G. The secondary audience will be adults aged from 22-52 years old. This is because they are more interested in old science-fiction and maybe want to go and see the film because of their favourite director. Also the parents will have to go with their child if they are 13years old for PG. If adults watch this film it will entertain them, escape from problems and will give them a chance of social interaction. The socio-economic  would be E,D,C1, C2 and B  this is because the use of different media conventions appeal to a variety of audiences. Both males and females will enjoy this film as there is an important role of the actress in the film which will link to the female audience maybe wanting to go and watch the film because maybe they have seen her previous films. White, Asian and Black can all watch this film because now society is becoming more diverse. And the demographics will be mainly Americans and British people as the film was filmed mostly in America along with American actors. Also British people will watch this because they have maybe seen previous films like Star trek which lets them think that he's been successful so this film of his maybe successful to. Marital status would be mainly single people as there is a little hint of love between the Joe and Alice in the film.