Inception is sure to make a number of Christmas lists this year, but a very cool collector’s edition will be available at launch for the die hard fans.

Currently only announced for the UK market, a briefcase special edition boxed set of the film and goodies like the spinning top will be available December 6th.

 

Press release:

"Warner Home Video UK will release a limited edition Blu-ray briefcase SKU plus Triple Play and DVD releases of Inception on 6th December 2010. Customers can opt for the Inception briefcase from today when pre-ordering Christopher Nolan’s Inception from all major online retailers including Play, Amazon and HMV. The limited edition briefcase SKU will also be available in store from 6th December.
The briefcase configuration consists of a Triple play pack, Spinning Top, Theatrical Dream Machine Leaflet and four art cards showing main Key Art. It is available whilst stocks last priced £39.99
The Triple play pack includes the feature film on Blu-ray and DVD discs, Digital Copy and a disc of special features.
Inception will also be available on digital platforms from 6th December."

Marketing Inception

We all have our own personal experiences with dreams. Some of us dream in black and white, some in full Technicolor with Dolby surround sound and eye-popping special effects. Some of our dreams are pretty boring and deal with driving to work while others meld together different areas of our life into one disorienting (especially when we wake up) new reality. What always struck me as fascinating, though, is that according to most people we don’t remember 90 percent of our dreams. They’re just gone and don’t leave that residue others do when we wake up.
But what if someone could invade your dreams? Not only that, what if they could manipulate them to an extent that they use those dreams to penetrate the recess of your mind and learn whatever secrets you hold?
That’s the premise for Inception, the new movie from director Christopher Nolan. Seeking to extend the enormous goodwill from both audiences and critics he has following 2008′s The Dark Knight, Nolan has created another highly-glossed thinking-man’s thriller. The movie stars Leonardo DiCaprio as an agent of a company who has the ability to invade anyone’s dreams, a talent his company puts to use by trying to steal the corporate secrets of their client’s rivals. Before embarking on the biggest job of his career, though, he seeks to recruit an assistant and potential successor. To that end he enlists the aid of his mentor (Michael Caine) and finds a young woman (Ellen Page) who may be even better at the job and he is. Cillian Murphy, another veteran who has worked with Nolan before, plays the mark targeted by DiCaprio.
Inception was pegged early on in its production as one of the most-anticipated movies of 2010 and one that, despite it being almost wholly original and not based in some way on an existing franchise or property, could be a break-out hit this summer. As we’ll see all that thinking will come up more than once in the campaign and publicity. So let’s take a look.
The Posters
The initial teaser poster presented a suitably, in light of the previously released trailer, surreal image. DiCaprio stands knee deep in water in the middle of a city street, seemingly perfectly calm. This sort of image has been used plenty of times before in movies from Vanilla Sky to I Am Legend. The copy at the top “Your mind is the scene of the crime” compliments that design nicely since it makes it more clear to the audience that this is a psychological drama and that we can expect plenty of such weirdness in the film itself.
The second poster actually comes off as more of a teaser than the first one, with the movies title written on the tops of buildings that the camera is looking down on. It sports the same copy as the other one-sheet, with both also not naming Nolan specifically (outside the credit block) but making the claim that this comes from the director of The Dark Knight.
The next poster put most of the cast on the street, but this time instead of being knee-deep in water for no apparent reason you’ll see not only are they standing on the street, but they’re standing in front of another street that’s rising directly behind them. That continues to tell the audience that this movie is going to be about shifting realities – or at least shifting perceptions of reality. Despite getting top billing, DiCaprio is not that featured in the design of the poster as he’s just as far away from the camera as the rest of the cast. That, combined with his face not being directly seen on the first poster, tells me the studio is selling the premise more than the star power, despite the formidable cast.

A fourth poster brought the cast more in to focus but continued with the reality shifting motif. Yes, the actor’s faces were more front and center and easy to make out but they were all at odd angles walking along the outside of buildings that were upside down or in some other way contorted. It’s as if they were all walking around a Salvidor Dali painting, only without the melting clock in the background.
A series of seven character posters were later released that featured each of the main actors from the film as well as an identifier as to what their character’s role is. So DiCaprio is “The Extractor,” Murphy is “The Mark” and so on. All of them had the actor’s face appearing amidst the bent, rolling sea of buildings that’s similar to what we’ve seen in the trailers. They almost look like photo mosaics and come off with the same sort of cool vibe.

The Trailer
The first teaser trailer definitely set a spooky and mysterious mood for the movie. It plays up the movie’s artistic pedigree, especially director Nolan’s involvement, and while it’s light on plot it’s heavy on weird visuals, from the two guys bounding after each other on the walls of a hotel hallway to DiCaprio gasping for breath after emerging from a bathtub to that cool shot of the glass of water that’s on a severe angle. Again, this is all about setting a mood and not necessarily telling anyone what the movie is actually about and on that level it works really well.
The second trailer went a little – but only a little – bit deeper into the story. Through narrated voiceover, DiCaprio makes it clear that this is a psychological battle being waged as he intones about ideas being the most persistent parasites and most potent weapons. All this while various trippy visuals unfold around him as city streets fold over on themselves, various people seem to drown and buildings collapse around our main characters. There’s also a bit about his character needing to steal an idea which, combined with the on-the-nose text about the your mind being the scene of the crime, makes it clear that much of the movie will take place outside the physical world and its constraints.
A third trailer went even deeper into the plot. It more or less opens with DiCaprio recruiting Page into his operations, offering her a job as part of his sub-conscious intelligence gathering force. Much of this spot’s running time is spent hearing him explain what the job is and how it’s done to her, including the limited amount of rules that seem to exist for the job. Aside from and underneath that exposition we’re treated to all sorts of amazing visuals that represent the dream worlds that the characters create or have to navigate, from buildings folding up on themselves to entire seaboards collapsing. In addition to that there’s some brief nod to this being DiCaprio’s last job, or him hoping this will be his last job so that he can reunite with a lady love. At least that’s how it comes across in the trailer, though that aspect of the story is not fleshed out all that much.
Online
The landing page for the movie’s official website is quite different from those for most sites in that I’m not immediately assaulted by 17 options to click or view right at the outset. Instead the only prompt there aside from the Enter the Site button is an invitation to watch footage from the movie’s premiere and a performance of the score by Hans Zimmer and Johnny Marr.
After you do Enter the Site and it loads, the first thing you see is a recreation of one of the poster’s key art with Zimmer’s score playing over it.
The first section in the Menu is “About the Film.” The Synopsis that’s there does a better job in one paragraph of explaining what the movie’s about – at least from a plot standpoint – than all the trailers combined. There are also Cast and Filmmaker backgrounds and some PDF Notes you can download.
“Videos” has all three trailers and an extended spot that’s sort of a trailer called The Characters that introduces each of the main characters more individually. Unfortunately none of the many TV spots that have been running are here, which is too bad since some of them were quite good.
There are all the movie’s Posters, a Screensaver, a dozen or so Wallpapers and eight Buddy Icons in “Downloads.” About 40 stills, mostly from the movie but also including some featuring director Nolan, are found in the “Gallery.”
The “Sweepstakes” section just has links to the sites that have partnered on running sweepstakes in conjunction with the movie.
“Protect Your Thoughts” takes you to information from Verizon on the app they’ve created that is discussed more fully below.
The “Mind Crime Game” is kind of cool. You can play as either an Architect or an Extractor and, respectively, design your own maze or play someone else’s. If you play as an Extractor you run around a virtual city collecting clues to unlocking a safe with the mark’s secrets while trying not to be noticed by the pedestrians who populate the dream.
Finally, you can create your own poster by uploading an image to one of the templates and then having your image become part of the cityscape. Once you’ve finished you can share the result with your social networks or download it to admire forever.
The movie’s Facebook page is pretty standard, with updates on publicity and sweepstakes and such on the Wall and plenty of photos and more to view and download. There’s a heavy emphasis, especially in the last week or so, on the streaming (now archived) video from the movie’s premiere and other events. There are also a couple of tabbed sections such as Videos, Downloads and Gallery that are lifted straight from the official site, including the graphics and overall navigation.
An online ARG campaign that was pretty similar in execution to that of The Dark Knight though nowhere near that scale was run as well.
The first component of the ARG came when visitors to the official site in December realized they could click through to another site, YourMindIstheSceneoftheCrime, and after building and completing a maze game people were shown the first poster for the movie.
Next, a QR code included with swag that was handed out after Nolan’s appearance at WonderCon brought people to PasiDevice, a site that contained a user’s manual for the mysterious device used by DiCaprio’s character in the film.
The ARG continued with a video with researchers and scientists talking about REM sleep and the potential that exists for taking part in other people’s dreams in a more active and cognitive way than people participate in their own. Eventually a user’s manual for the PasiDevice was sent to Wired Magazine, who posted the pages online and asked readers to help decipher some of the instructions and clues that it included.
The game at that point moved further into the real world with outdoor posters and even TV spots that warned audience members about the dangers of mind crimes and dream theft and other issues that related to the movie’s plot. But the site QR codes on the posters pointed people to didn’t immediately provide clues or further the game, leading to some confusion among those actively playing along.
A very cool mobile game was developed called SCVNGR (MediaPost, 6/24/10) that asked people to get involved using their smart phones. Apps for iPhones or Android-powered devices were needed for people to check in at locations in 100 cities – including major landmarks and movie theaters – and then complete some sort of challenge tied to that location. In response players were given exclusive movie content and special badges. Some of those challenges involved taking photos and then sharing them across social networks, helping to spread the word of the movie.
There was also a Mind Crime Prevention app that was created exclusively for Verizon’s Droid (AdAge, 7/12/10) that was more about getting movie information than playing a game, though the corresponding website promised an experience in helping you learn how to protect your thoughts.
More straightforward was a 15-page preview comic that debuted on Yahoo! Movies that provided the lead-in to the movie’s story. We see DiCaprio’s character and his team engage on a mission that doesn’t go quite right but which then provides the lead-in to what we’ll see in the movie.
Advertising and Cross-Promotions
Despite the fact that this movie is not based on a comic book and not an animated kid’s film there was quite a bit of TV advertising done. A number of commercial spots were produced that more or less follow the format of the third trailer, introducing us to DiCaprio’s job and the weird worlds he deals in. Most of them also make it clear that it’s Page’s character who will be the audience’s “in” within the movie, the one who’s learning things so that we can learn them and the touch-point for the audience, giving us someone we can relate to as we’re shown one unbelievable thing after another.
Three later spots really upped the dramatic ante, making it clear that there were major stakes the characters faced and real consequences if they should fail to achieve those goals. They diverged quite a bit from the trailer’s format and showed much more action-filled plot elements, the better to lure in summer movie audiences looking for big guns and chase sequences.
In addition to more traditional outdoor ads that used just the title treatment or some sort of variation on one of the poster images, some really creative outdoor units were created in New York City that made it look like buildings were peeling or water rushing out of their windows. The photo below comes courtesy of Moishe Friedman.

Media and Publicity
Much of the publicity around the movie focused on just how big and different the movie was and how far director Nolan was reaching (Los Angeles Times, 1/13/10) with his artistic vision. Future features would follow suit (Los Angeles Times, 4/4/10) and be timed around the movie’s junket-esque appearance at WonderCon, where Nolan also spilled a few more details about the plot and showed up a clips package.
What was interesting was that since the movie was not, unlike so many others this summer, part of a franchise, the constant attention by the press on the director turned Nolan into the brand that audiences were expected and encouraged to latch on to. From those early stories through later features (New York Times, 6/30/10), Nolan was the hook in place of a toy line or comic book character that became the brand the publicity was rallying around and which the studio sought to turn into the familiar and nonthreatening audience draw.
There were even stories about just how hard the movie was to market (Hollywood Reporter, 7/9/10) and which made it sound like any comment about it being “brainy” or something similar was to be read as vague at best. The crux of this seemed to be an attempted level setting for the movie’s expectations in case it doesn’t turn out to be the smash of the summer that early buzz has set it up to be.
The supporting cast got a bit of notice as well as Nolan, as Page and Gordon-Levitt got interviewed (Los Angeles Times, 7/11/10) and profiled as being part of a group of young actors who are more concerned about their art and craft than in being on the party scene.
Whatever the primary focus, the overall theme in the press stories was that Inception was an unknown property (LAT, 7/13/10) and therefore represented a risky move by Warner Bros.
Buzz, of course, begets more buzz and the conversations around the movie spiked up in recent days (AdAge, 7/15/10) as people began to discuss the film more and more and anticipation began to mount.
Overall
The focus on Nolan in the publicity section of the push was, I think, a smart move since much of the rest of the campaign showed a movie that was potentially more challenging intellectually than the average summer blockbuster. So this was the attempt to make it clear to the audience that there was an accessible entry point for them in the form of the director of that Batman sequel they enjoyed so much a couple years ago.
But that puts a lot of pressure on the director and it’s extremely likely that within Hollywood the campaign’s emphasis will mean that the movie’s success is seen as a referendum on his future. If it winds up being a well-reviewed hit he will probably be able to write his own check on whatever  future projects he chooses. If not then it winds up tainting how he’s treated the next time he steps up to the plate, most likely when he starts revving up Batman 3.
Putting aside the issues of the movie not being based on an existing property, I really dig this campaign. Does it fully explain the movie? Not by a long shot. But it does something better: It actually has me anticipating the journey the movie will take me on. It’s not just selling me something I’m already inclined to purchase and then more or less enjoy. It’s making me want to see the movie because I want to figure out what the heck is going on. I’m anxious to see how the movie’s story unfolds and how it is going to engage me. That hasn’t happened in a long time with a mainstream Hollywood campaign and, honestly, it’s a feeling only truly original movies can create.
That’s also only created by an effective campaign and this very much fits that description. The posters are interesting and confusing, as are the trailers. The ARG is just fully-featured enough to be interesting without becoming overwhelming. While most of the rest of the online campaign is good as well, my favorite part is the prequel comic since with a movie which has dealt with so much “What’s it about?” conversation, any sort of table-setting it can do for the movie is a good thing.

Class and Status Notes

Edmund Carter, estate manager for Lady Ludlow, takes an interest in young Harry Gregson, the bright son of a poor local family, and offers him both work and an education.

Lower Class

- Bare feet

- Dirty

- Ratty clothes

- Speaks with a common accent

- Mise-en-scene, Dark, woodland, one candle only source of light

- Lives in a hut/shed in the woods

- Big family

- Mother is a baby maker

- Farther isn't interested in the baby

- High morals- didn't eat the fruit when in the green house, he doesn't want to steel

- Nearly faints because he's so hungry

- Wants to better himself in the future, he can read a little already, and he says to Edmund (I would like an office like this, I like the fact everything is covered in words) this shows that he wants to learn.

Upper Class

- Nice boots, Real leather 

- Hat, not a cap

- Over coat worn unlike Harry with his tattered clothes

- Cane/stick shows authority

- When in the green house, he's shown to be at a higher level then Harry. This shows the Class and Status divide Harry is a lower class

Lady Ludlow

- Women want to be married for security

- She has two men behind her, foot men

- Big wig, shows wealth

- She's shown on the stairs, she's a higher level than everyone else. The Class and Status divide.

- Chirpy music when workers are working

- The rank is there

Upper Class - (Made in Chelsea) Often shown as rich, clever, snobby and very posh

Middle Class - (My Family) Often shown as normal, good family values well behaved

Working Class - (Coronation Street) Often shown as poorer, less happy

Lower Class - (Shameless) Often shown having the lowest social rank, or standing due to low income, lack of skills, or education

How is disability represented?

   

In this episode of The Street, disability is being represented in a very negative way. Generally when we think of someone with a disability we atomatically think... Wheel chair bound, someone with loss of limbs, or blind/deaf. But here we are looking at a man with severe burns to his face, neck and hand.
Here we see, the him facing day to day obstacles because of his disability, and the facing up to the fact he's no longer classed as 'normal'. The sence of disability being negative is evedent throughout the cilp, at the start of the clip, when the man is in the builders yard with this ex work mates, us the audience our looking through 'bars', bars are shown several times. This can mean that the man feels trapped within himself now he is classed as disabled. Also the at the begining the image of the man is blured, this gives me the impression that he is being classed as an outsider by his now ex work mates.
As the image is unblurred the first shot we see of the man, is the side of his face that is unscared. As the conversation esculates between him and the other men, fast pace editing is used to show the emotions on all the faces of the men, showing us what the characters see (POV). then the camera angle is changed. Therefore showing us the burnt side of his face. Immediately the audience have a bad/shocked reaction, but then sympathise and have pity upon the man. The camera focuses on the burnt/scared side of his face using close ups. Close ups are used to make you feel sympathy again but  guilty because of it. Pity is shown to be the emotion that the man doesn't want from anyone. And anyone shown to be giving him sympathy angers him and a tense atmospher is created instantly.
As he is rejected by his ex work mates he is shown walking away, the image is then again blurred and the figure of the man is shown behind 'bars'. This shows that he has made no progress and can again signify the fact he is trapped within his disability and is struggling to move on in his life as it is now. In this scene nothing but digetic sound is used to show the importance of what is being said/done. And the emotion it is causing the man.
Then it cuts to the section of the clip where the woman is shown with her two sons, getting their shopping out of the taxi. It shows mid-shots of the three of them slowly getting wider to then include the man running up the street, and going out of his way to help them out. A wide angle shot is used to show the street, also show the lack of cars, and close proximity of the houses with a industrial background. The street could be a part of a council estate/ or a poor area. I get this impression from the fact the woman is using a taxi, maybe she can't afford to buy her own car. The camera then switches from a wide shot to an extreme close-up, the extreme close up is focused on his face but only for a split second to show the audience what the woman has just seen to give the reaction she has. Fast pace editing is then again used here to show the reactions of each of their faces in turn. The close up of the man after shows alot of sadness, and shock that he made a friend of his so scared, with his own face. Again the audience will feel pity/sympathy for the man at this point.
The close-up of the woman shows instant regret for what she's just done, and she goes on to justify that it wasn't the sight of his face that made her jump, but was that fact that she didn't expect anyone to be there that made her scream. Non-diagetic sounds of military music suggesting he is a man on a mission/ finding it hard to cope with what the army has done to him.
The camera then cuts to the man in army office, talking to one of the corporals. The conversation is heated and the man is very emotional/angered. The phrase "scare the shit out of the enemy" is used, this makes us think he is talking about is burnt/scared face. We instantly again feel sad/sympathy for the man, even more so now because we have some idea of what he has been through and the obstacles he is facing to regaine a normal life.




.



 

Columbia Pictures- Prezi.

Columbia Studios on Prezi

The big six.

Major Film Studios

A major film studio is a film producer and production company that releases a substantial number of films annually.

The Big Six film studios are:

1. Warner Bros. Pictures. Comprising a whopping 19.7 percent of the US/Canadian market share (2007 figures), Warner Bros. Pictures is the biggest player in the film industry. Securing the rights to major films like Harry Potter, Superman, Batman, The Matrix and Star Wars have made Warner Bros. the No. 1 name in the business.

2. Paramount Pictures. With 15.5 percent of the US/Canadian market share (2007 figures), Paramount Pictures continues to be one of the most successful film production companies in the world. Star Trek, War of the Worlds, the Mission Impossible series, Transformers and Tropic Thunder are just a few of the popular films produced by Paramount Pictures.

3. Walt Disney. One of the most renowned film production companies in the history of the business, Walt Disney now holds 15.3 percent of the US/Canadian market share (2007 figures). With highly successful movies like Pirates of the Caribbean, National Treasure, Meet the Robinsons and Enchanted, there's no doubt that Disney will continue to play a key role in the industry for years to come.

4. Columbia Pictures. Comprising 12.9 percent of the US/Canadian market share (2007 figures), Columbia Pictures remains a big player in the business. Some of this company's recent successes include Casino Royale, The Da Vinci Code, the Spider-Man series and Step Brothers.

5. Universal Studios. 12.2 percent of the US/Canadian market share (2007 figures) belongs to Universal Studios, which continues to make millions for the film industry. With major hits like the Bourne series (Bourne Identity, Bourne Supremacy and Bourne Ultimatum), The American Pie series, Knocked Up, American Gangster and The Incredible Hulk, it's very clear that Universal Studios knows what it takes to make money in this industry.

6. 20th Century Fox. Also known as "Twentieth Century Fox," this highly successful movie production company makes up 11.9 percent of the US/Canadian market share (2007 figures). Some of the biggest and most successful movies from this empire include the X-Men series, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, Star Wars Episodes II and III, and the Fantastic Four.

Summary of Attack the Block research findings.

From reserching in to 'Attack the Block' and the works of Joe Cornish, also reading reviews of the film. I have learnt that Cornish is not only focusing on the story line of aliens invading a council estate in south London, but he has also investigated into the lives of the stereotypical type of teenagers and young adults that live in that inviroment. This is a classic "bad guy turns hero" story with such a great written script and talented young actors, Cornish has given the actors and actresses in his film a chance to be noticed by the media. The casting director did an excellent job finding these kids for the film. They are real, natural and very believable in portraying being born and raised in 'The Block'. I found myself actually caring about the characters and their destiny throughout the film, Which i think is the whole aim of using these kind of characters.
The scene of the gang mugging, has been deliberately used by Cornish in the film, to relate to his own experience of being mugged in his home town. This experience Cornish will talk openly and honestly about in the mayority of his interviews because it was a major influence in the film.
From reserching and learning that the film had only cost £8 million to make and produce, the special effects have been said to be 'Brilliant'. Attack the Block is only a short film that has a runningtime of 88 minutes. £1,133,859 was made 2 days in on the 15th may 2011 on 352 cinema screens which is a massive amount for such a low budget film.
The film uses a lot of slang/ witty references throughout, and i think that is a good thing. Teenagers watching the film can instantly relate to the characters language. And understand what they are trying to get cross therefore finding a lot of the scenes humourous.
For a low budget film i think 'Attach The Block' has been put together brilliantly, also the dialouge and action scenes definatly live up to my personal expectations, From the reviews i have read i am a bit surprised to see how many people didn't like it.

Attack The Block- Prezi

ATTACK THE BLOCK on Prezi

Four Quadrants

A Four Quadrant Picture is a marketing term used to describe a film targeted to all audience quadrants: men over 25, men under 25, women over 25, women under 25.

Usage In the movie business, and it is most definitely a business, everyone is looking to maximize the audience for their picture. A four-quadrant picture is that magical type of film that attracts parents and kids, men and women, and brings in huge amounts of revenue on opening weekend. In the term “four-quadrant,” the quadrants refer to gender (male and female) and age (under 25 and over 25).
For most studios, the goal is to get enough details to line up so that they have broad-based, family-friendly appeal in designing a blockbuster or four-quadrant film. An important aspect of getting that appeal is the ratings system. An 18 Rating can be the kiss of death for a studio trying to market a film featuring pre-teen characters. A lowering from PG-13 to PG can mean millions more in revenue as parents feel more comfortable bringing young children to a given film like Evan Almighty.


Examples One of the most famous four-quadrant, blockbuster films is Star Wars and all of its sequels. Jaws is another landmark blockbuster film. Other more current examples include Night at the Museum, Journey to the Center of the Earth, Shrek (1-3), Spiderman (1-3), Pirates of the Caribbean (1-3), andWall-E.


Implications Another interesting by-product of the rise of four-quadrant films in the industry is cross marketing. Those films often are associated with toys and other products that both advertise the film and bring in revenue on their own. In addition, four-quadrant films are powerful vehicles for product placement advertisers looking to show their wares to the largest audience possible.On the down side, many wonder how much effort is placed on credible, engaging story lines as opposed to marketing opportunities in these behemoth cinematic endeavors.

Above the line and below the line- Advertising

'Above The Line'
is a type of advertising through media such as television, cinema, radio, print, web banners and web search engines to promote brands. This type of communication is conventional in nature and is considered impersonal to customers.

'Below The Line'
 is efficient and cost-effective for targeting a limited and specific group. This can take the form of tie in's with other products and companies.