Ratatouille and Flushed Away

Flushed Away is a computer animated British film that was released in December 2006. It was directed by David Bowers and Sam Fell. The film had a partneship between Aardman Animations and Dreamworks Animation. It was distributed by Paramount Pictures in cinemas. Flushed away was released on dvd in the UK on the 2nd of April 2007. The box office perfomance collected $64,488,856 in the United States, which was below the average of other CGI films from Dreamworks Animation, but a healthy $111,814,663 from international markets for a worldwide total of $176,319,242. Flushed Away was Nominated for BAFTA Film Award. It also gained another 6 wins and 10 nominations. The certificate of the film is PG as it contains some crude humour and mild language. The plot summary is as follows “The story of an uptown rat that gets flushed down the toilet from his penthouse apartment, ending in the sewers of London, where he has to learn a whole new and different way of life.”
Ratatouille is a 2007 computer-animated film produced by Pixar and distributed by Walt Disney Pictures. The film was the eighth movie produced by Pixar, and was directed by Brad Bird, who took over from Jan Pinkava in 2005. The title refers to a French dish which is served late in the film, and is also a play on words on the species of the main character. In its domestic opening weekend, Ratatouille opened in 3,940 theaters and debuted at #1 with $47 million, the lowest Pixar opening since A Bug's Life. However, in France, where the film is set, the film broke the record for the biggest debut for an animated film. In the UK, the film debuted at #1 with sales over £4million. As of January 13, 2008 the film has grossed $206,445,654 in North America and a total of $624,445,654 worldwide, making it the third highest grossing Pixar film of all time, just behind Finding Nemo and The Incredibles. The film Won an Oscar and had another 43 wins & 20 nominations.
Both of the films share similar assets. For example, both films use computer-generate imagery (CGI). Both films use animorphism, which is where animals act like humans and can speak. The use of animorphism is a typical convention of animation/feature films and particularly pleases a younger audience. Both films have also released merchandise, making the film even more successful in terms of advertising and revenue.

Sommers Town- After Viewing

4) How would you categorise this film in terms of genre? Does it remind you of any other films you have seen? I would class the film summertown as a drama/feel good film. The film includes many aspects of a range of genres including comedy, crime, and to some extent an adventure film. I think the main purpose of Shane Meadows including these sub-genres is to broaden the target audience for the film, and make the film appeal to more people, as there are many different bits that would appeal to different people.

5) What do you think is the film’s appeal for audiences? The main features that would appeal to the audience would be the fact that it is filmed in black and white and created on a low budget like a traditional English film. I think that the setting of the film also reflects on the traditional English film cultures as this films characters are mainly of the working class and show the life of the working class, which is a convention of traditional English films.

6) As well as being in black and white, the film is subtitled during a conversations in Polish between Marek and his farther; there are also sections in French. In what ways do these factors affect your responses to the film, the situation and the characters? I think the way that the film is in black and white helps the audience get involved more with the film. It really helps to set the scene of the film, and the effect makes it seem like a traditional English film. I think the subtitles have been put in place so that Marek and his father can still retain their original language, which has a nice effect to the film.

7)To what extent do you think the audience is expected to be ‘comfortable’ with this portrait of two teenagers? I think that the audience start of quite surprised at the fact that Tommo is so young, but living on the streets without any friends, family or money. As the film goes on and the plot unravels the audience may take a liking to the teenagers witty and pleasant character and become involved in the film by becoming happy when he meets Marek. The two teenagers come amongst each other in a café, but don’t get off to the best of starts, which could be to do with the fact that they are only teenagers and can be immature. The film portrays teenagers as occasionally trouble makers, but mainly out to please, which is why the film has a pleasant feel about it.

8) A sign on the estate reads “ children playing on these grounds is prohibited”. In what different ways do Tomo and Marek seek to amuse themselves within this enviroment? Do you think the film encourages us to judge any of their actions? In such an enviroment, you might think that the two teenagers would find it hard to have fun without causing trouble. However, they find a wheelchair and decide to treat the French waitress (who they both have crush’s on) to an escort home. I think the two boys make the most out of the enviroment they are living in. It comes across that Tommo is the more outgoing one of the two, and Marek is still finding his feet, however this still does not stop him enjoying themselves.

9)What message of childhood adolescence do you, or could you, take away from the film? A key theme of the film is friendship. Both of the boys have such a strong friendship towards the end of the film as they have been through some quite hard times together. Both being new to London, they needed each other and it was good for them to have someone there for them.

10)Do your reactions towards the boys change at different pionts in the film? Which moments in particular?
a) Encourage you to sympathise with the boys: I think throughout the film the audience sympathise the two boys simply because of the fact that they are so young. Both boys are new to London and the fact that Tommo got his only possessions stolen of him makes the audience feel sympathetic towards him.
b) Make you unsympathetic towards them: One scene In the film where I felt unsympathetic towards the boys is when they steal the bag of laudry and the clothes turn out to be woman clothes. I think this particular scene is quite comical and adds a spark to the film and prevents it from being serious but lighthearted.

11)some of the other characters include marek’s father, Mariusz, Graham the cockney neighbour, and a French waitress, maria. To what extent would you agree that Meadows is playing with stereotypes in his representation of these characters? The sterotype of Marek’s father is a polish labourer who is muscular and very hard working, (according to his boss, one of the best workmen he has ever had!). Maria sterotypes the typical character of a French woman, as she is pretty and very friendly to the two boys. Graham plays the typical cockney neighbour who is willing to sell anything to make some money. He is very friendly and has a keen interest for football, which is a typical convention of someone of his character.

Sommers Town

As part of national film week, my media group and I went to watch the film called Sommers Town. The film was directed by Shane Meadows and made in 2008, however the film is in black and white (until the last few scenes where it changes to colour). Sommers town is Even though the film was made in 2008, I think the purpose of choosing to shoot in black and white is to make the film seem like it was in the 1950’s which is the time period in which the story was set. In 1950’s they wouldn’t of had colour in films, so maybe Meadows was trying to recreate the same effect as original black and white films did. Some people may say that they don’t like the fact that it’s in black and white, others do like it, but after the first five minutes you completely forget the fact that it is colourless as the film is really interesting.
Sin City was directed by Frank Millar/Robert Rodriguez and was released in 2005. The genre of the film is action/crime/thriller. The film received many awards, 16 wins & 29 nominations. s an Robert Rodriguez is amercian filmmaker, writer, producer, cinematographer, editor and musician. He is best know for making profitable and crowd pleasing independent and studio films with low budgets and fast schedules by HollyWood standards.
The Man Who Wasn’t There was directed by the Coen brothers. The release date of the film was 26Th October 2001. The film was Nominated for Oscar and another 19 wins & 32 nominations. The genre of the film is crime/drama. They are known in the film business as "the two-headed director", as they share a similar vision of their films.
Rumble Fish was released on the 21st October 1983 and was directed by Francs Ford Coppola. The genre of the film is drama and was nominated for Golden Globe and had another 2 wins & 1 nomination. Francis Ford Coppola (born April 7, 1939) is an Italian-American film director, producer and screenwriter. Away from showbusiness, Coppola is also a vintner, magazine publisher and hotelier. He is a graduate of Hofstra University where he studied theatre. He earned anM.F.A. in film directing from the UCLA Film School. He is most renowned for directing the Godfather films, The Conversation and Apocalypse Now.
All of the above films are share themes of drama/crime. This could be linked to the use of black and white footage as the colour black connotes dark thoughts and maybe could relate to the film.

1. The film is named after Somers Town, the part of London in which it is set. Most of the filming also took place on location in that area.
a) Given the London location, what iconographic sights and sounds might you expect from the film?
As it is in London you would expect to see quite a lot of the famous landmarks, such as Big Ben and the houses of parliament. Also the film is set in the 1950's when the chanel tunnel was being made so you would expect to see clips of that. Marek and his dad comes over to England from Poland in order for his dad to be able to work on the crossing. I would expect to hear quite a lot of non diegetic sounds that reflect on the busyness of London and in particular the trafic congestions. There may be sounds car engines and buses.
b) What are you expectations about character and narrative based on this setting?
The setting of this film seems like quite a poor area of london, and you might expect to see people living in cramped and uncomfatable places. The main character Tommo plays a typical teenage boy character, but he still retains the fact that he is still young as throughout the film he finds himself in many bad situations.