Pre-production: Independent and Hollywood film - Comparison Task.

Compare the impact of the Production company on an independent and Hollywood film

The two films which I have chosen to compare both belong to the drama genre. One being an independant film and the other being a Hollywood instituted film. The first movie is called 'Fish Tank' and it is based around the story of a foul mouth fifteen year old who lives on an Essex estate. The other film is a popular film entitled 'X-men: First Class' which in addition to being drama based also includes elements of action, adventure & Sci-Fi to appeal to a wider audience hence why it becomes popular and well known. It is about mutants who help the government  to stop a new world war three commencing.

Here is a trailer to preview both films:

CHARACTERS/AUDIENCE

We can differientiate between the two film's production company just by the type of conventions used. In 'Fish Tank', the characters are unknown to us because they aren't famous like the characters in 'Xmen'. This can be because they are appealing to a niche audience or because they don't have enough money to pay for the high class actors but I think it's because they want the film to a broader audience as the film relates to realistic situations like a teenagers life in the ordinary. On the other hand, 'Xmen' offers us generic, un-realistic characters which most Hollywood films deal out. It includes in this case  mutants which makes the film seem more entertaining and pleasurable. This is because they are extraordinary and the special effects which are added to enhance/produce this make the audience feel more captivated by the unique characters. Therefore, it would relate to a mainstream audience, however, it would also appeal to sci fi, action adventure enthusiasts as it includes a lot of fighting and battle which secure that the film is a success.

                                                  

SOUNDS

The sounds used in both films are very different. In the first film, we can hear some basic sound effects such as, arguing and doorslams. It also uses a basic instrumental (rap-beat). This is clearly used because it is highly expensive to use other artist's music or high quality sound effects. Ironically though, this helps to add to the grittyness of the film's storyline. On the contrary, Xmen uses highly advanced technology to make the sound effects sound more dramatic and add to the intensity of theme of good vs evil.

CAMERAWORK/EDITING

In 'Fish tank', the camera work doesn't deal with much difficulties. For example, there are a lot of static shots and shaky movements. The quality of the camera's quality isn't that great either. Whereas, in Xmen there are a variety of camera shots which include some being the sky. Much different to 'Fish tank',  the camera movement is not jerky and therefore, more smooth. The editing clearly shows that it uses a highly advanced film software whereas, the first film obviously uses a basic film editing program.

MIS-EN-SCENE

In 'Xmen' there are way more props and clothes used to present the film. It helps add interest into the film. For example, the aeroplane battle scene and different outfits. Whereas, in 'Fish Tank' there aren't many props or clothing choices for the film because it has a solified storyline for a specific audience. It has to bring a raw feel to the film which relates to the harsh storyline.

CONCLUSION

Furthermore, both films share noticable similarities, for example, they have characters with a clear manafactured personality, locations which such as, homes and streets which help move the storyline and other much a like features. However, there are striking conventions used for the two films which seperate them as being an Indie film and Hollywood Film. The most obvious difference is that the production value are very different because where X-Men costs 160 million to produce, the first video is cleary more cheaper (maybe a couple hundred or less).