Film Star and Fan Websites

Tom Cruise official webpage

Tom Cruise fan fanpage

Kiera Knightley official webpage

Kiera Knightley fanpage

Synergy

Synergy is the act of multiple organisations or substances coming together to be more powerful and make a stronger effect than they did individually.


There are several different examples of synergy within the film industry :

• Film and video games e.g. Warner Bros. and EA worked together to create video games for all of the Harry Potter movies, thus, mutually promoting each other.

• Film and food e.g. Warner Bros. and Burger King created a burger called the 'Dark Whopper' and advertisements with the slogan 'bring out your dark side' which advertised both the film and the burger. WB also merged with Mars, giving buyers of a family pack of Mars chocolate the chance to win tickets to the movie.

• Film and toys e.g. McDonalds' Happy Meal contains varying toys of characters from recent movies, encouraging children to get Happy Meals but also to watch the movies.

• Film and clothes e.g. To help with marketing, Warner Bros. joined with French Connection to create limited edition T-shirts. This allowed fans to have tees of one of their favourite movies and unconsciously promote the movie and French Connection just by wearing them in public.

• Film and comics e.g. Marvel and D.C. comics (among others) have had many of their superheros (Superman, Batman, Iron Man, Thor, Wolverine, Spiderman etc.) transformed into living characters in film. Fans of the comics want to watch the movies, and fans of the movies want to read the comics, creating a win/win situation.

Within the film industry, there is also the alliance of production companies. For example Pixar is a subsidiary company (partly owned) by Disney. This isn't an entirely equal partnership: while Pixar is a great help to Disney it is not indispensable, whereas Pixar is close to nothing without Disney.

Christopher Nolan and 'The Dark Knight Rises'

**http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKztvwmBeyI&safe=active

• Directing style:

Nolan's focused genre is action/drama. He only agrees to go into a movie if he knows that he's got a good enough story to tell. He takes his time planning everything, calmly and in relaxed way. He seems like a very organised and methodological director. When casting actors, he focuses more on what he thinks they could bring to the character rather than whether they fit the role perfectly.

• Trilogy:

Nolan and his team have been working on the Batman movies for 9 years. They felt like they needed to make the third film to wrap it all up and complete a trilogy. He has grown with the people that he's worked with and seems to have formed a very strong bond with them. He explains that he enjoyed watching Christian Bale's development and how he grew with the character of Bruce Wayne/Batman.

• Choice of characters:

Nolan decided to use Bane as the villain for the final Batman movie because he was very different to the previous villains. For example, unlike the Joker who had a more psychological approach, Bane is a very physically violent character. He represented a major physical issue: someone who could fight, and possibly even kill, the Batman.

• Narrative:

'The Dark Knight Rises' is set 8 years after 'The Dark Knight': the same amount of years that Batman had not been in action. Despite this fact, Bruce Wayne feels compelled to intervene when his city is put in harm's way by the arrival of a new villain: Bane. Bane threatens to expose 'who Harvey Dent really was' while torturing innocent civilians. There is also another new arrival in town: Catwoman. The problem is nobody knows who's side she's on.

• Audience expectations:

Christopher Nolan is a very well-known and loved director. He's famous for his incredible action movies, and notably his opening scenes. Before the movie was released, fans were very excited and overcome with anticipation for its opening scene. It evidently lived up to, and even surpassed, their expectations.

• Overall impression of Nolan from the interview

As a director, Christopher Nolan seems very efficient and maybe even a bit of a perfectionist; his actions are all choreographed and he leaves no space for error. As a person, he seems very calm and relaxed. He also seems to be very friendly and quite fun. These attributes all make him the kind of person other people would love to work with.

The Dark Knight Rises - Case Study

Discuss how the film viewing experience has changed with reference to Warner Bros and 'The Dark Knight Rises'. What may the future hold? (Make reference to finance, organisation, production, distribution, marketing and exhibition.)

BASIC INFO:

• Release date: 20th July 2012

• Genre: Action/crime/drama

• Running time: 165 mins

• Director: Christopher Nolan

• Main actors: Christian Bale, Tom Hardy, Anne Hathaway, Gary Oldman, Michael Caine

FINANCE:

• Budget estimate: $250, 000, 000 (most expensive Batman movie)

• Box office: $1, 081, 041, 287

• Profit estimate: $831, 041, 287

ORGANISATION:

PRODUCTION:

• Development: Christopher Nolan (director of the trilogy) only agreed to make the third movie if he found a good enough story. After thinking about it for over a year, he finally agreed to make it with Bane as the villain. The story is considered a mix of 2 comic book stories, 'Knightfall' (1993) and 'No Man's Land' (1999), and the mini-series 'The Dark Knight Returns' (1986)

• Filming: Nolan didn't want to film the movie in 3D but filmed over an hour of it in IMAX ('The Dark Knight' only had 28 minutes filmed in IMAX). 

DISTRIBUTION:

Main distribution company: Warner Bros. Pictures (owned by Time Warner)

• Special screening for over 100 critics and reporters: 7th July 2012

• Premiered at AMC Lincoln Square Theater in New York: 16th July 2012

• Premiered at Leicester Square in London: 18th July 2012

• Available on DVD and Blu-Ray (U.K.): 3rd December 

MARKETING:

Many different techniques were used to promote 'The Dark Knight Rises':

• An Official website was launched in 2011 including an encrypted audio file that was decrypted by users to the Twitter hashtag '#TheFireRises'

EXHIBITION:

*Wikipedia

*http://www.slideshare.net/Liamattridge/the-dark-knight-rises-and-the-woman-in-black-case-study