The Endlessness of Advertising for Paul

Empire done interviews:

http://www.empireonline.com/interviews/interview.asp?IID=1193


Online trailers distributed by a variety of channels (from professional companies to sad film nerds):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KdHUQtnJsyQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pv07HOLv2eo&feature=related

Facebook pages:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Paul-The-Movie/196168137066105
http://www.facebook.com/paulthemovie
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Paul-the-Movie/177422285625994

Cunningly titled official web page (first result on google search for Paul):

http://www.whatispaul.com/

IMDB page:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1092026/


Reviews (why are all these people obsessed with film....its just weird):

http://www.empireonline.com/reviews/review.asp?FID=136467
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/filmreviews/8317200/Paul-review.html
http://www.obsessedwithfilm.com/reviews/review-paul-extraterrestrial-but-not-quite-extraordinary.php
http://www.denofgeek.com/movies/743531/paul_review.html
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/paul/

Posters (seen on bus stops and other places.....probably):



Twitter:

Nick Frost has a Paul profile picture so he must talk about it at some point, right? Probably.
Simon Pegg does the same (they pat each other on the back about stuff, they think its ironic...I think its daft)

http://twitter.com/#!/simonpegg
http://twitter.com/#!/nickjfrost

The pair of them were also on Top Gear at the weekend. Which is apparently a respected chat show nowadays.

Sigourney Weaver was on the Graham Norton Show promoting her cameo. A clip was played. Not that I watch Graham Norton or nothing. Brian Cox was on it too and he likes space. So in this respect its  a double advert.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISmIRkhGyHs


Google cinema times (google thinks I live in Leeds, for a moment I was actually convinced I did):

Paul

Trailer - IMDb

‎1hr 40min‎‎ - Rated 15‎‎ - Comedy‎‎ - English‎
Director: Greg Mottola - Cast: Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Kristen Wigg, Bill Hader, Jane Lynch, Jason Bateman, Seth Rogen, Sigourney Weaver

For the past 60 years, an alien named Paul has been hanging out at a top-secret military base. For reasons unknown, the space-traveling smart ass decides to escape the compound and hop on the first vehicle out of town -- a rented RV containing Earthlings Graeme Willy and Clive Gollings more »

Showtimes

Vue Cinemas - Leeds The Light

The Headrow, The Light, No. 22, Leeds, LS1 8TL

13:15  15:45  18:20  20:50

Vue Cinemas - Leeds Kirkstall Road

Kirkstall Road, Cardigan Fields, Leeds, LS4 2DG

19:30  22:00

Easy Riders and Raging Bulls - New Hollywood

What significant factors contributed to the critical, economic and cultural success of "New Hollywood?" Discuss key actors, directors, producers, films, the audience of cinema.  Explain the attitude of the era.

The new wave of Hollywood began in the mid-1960s, as directors and actors began to take control of the industry and the conventions of the early and inter-war decades were over-ruled. The new wave provided a strong foundation of Hollywood to develop on over the subsequent years and allowed for a more diverse range of films to be produced. The new wave of cinema drew audiences back into films and away from the rise of television, providing a refreshed industry following the downfall of the studio system (in which lots closed, films bombed and became generic and meaningless).
           This wave of cinema began within the release of the 1967 film Bonnie Clyde. Inspired by the popularity of French director Francois Truffaut (the foreign film market's success is arguably a factor for the success of New Hollywood, since directors like Truffaut and Godard inspired the new wave), writers Newman and Benton wrote the script, while Arthur Penn directed. Despite the studio's disapproval, the film grew to experience wide success as star Warren Beatty rebelled against the feebleness of being "just another star" and audiences were drawn in by the fresh, daring take on violence and romance. 
               Many young, intelligent directors began to work in the era, using their knowledge of films and popular culture to target the baby boom generation (as many teenagers began to feel less alienated by the industry) and spur the success of their films during the era. Hollywood began to encourage more of this young talent to come to Hollywood, with names like Robert Altman and Dennis Hopper making their first films within this era (Hopper's success with Easy Rider showed how the generation were using friends and associates to help further their film while also appealing to audiences with fresh names and concepts). Hopper's film also demonstrated the success of the auteur film with a new award at Cannes Film Festival being created just for it (while John Sleisinger's Midnight Cowboys - the first studio film with an X-rating - gathering the approval of the industry with 7 Oscar nominations). 
                 Directors like Sam Peckinpah took advantage of the era, using drugs and alcoholism to fuel his filmmaking and to almost challenge audiences to experience the danger of his lifestyle through his films. These directors also arose controversy, and brought the film industry back to the attention of the media (whereas marketing campaigns around 3D and other technological developments had put audiences off in the past). This speculation reached its peak in 1969, when Charles Manson and his followers killed star (and wife of Roman Polanski) Sharon Tate. For the first time in New Hollywood (in a similar manner to the distrust and horror that arose around the Black Dahlia murder from the previous generation of film), the film industry was damaged with directors using incidences from their own lives to create the mood and tone of their later films (Polanski, for example, went completely mad and cast Keith Chegwin in his Macbeth). 
                    Not only did the films of New Hollywood surge the industry with a newfound popularity, but a new appreciation and understanding from critics. They applauded films from men such as Peter Bogdanovich (specifically The Last Picture Show) finding new found levels of meaning in an exciting and daring medium, influenced by popular culture and the lives of peers and family, while also becoming stars in their own right. Reality was an important factor in the industry's success then, as films began to show real people, with real emotions and situations (with Robert F Kennedy's assassination and later the moon landings, changing taste and need for films and genres). 
                     It was the rise of young, film-buff directors and actors then, that broke away from the dying studio era (in search of less binding contracts and perhaps more money and/or appreciation) that saw the creation of daring, reflective, real, emotive and meaningful films that contributed to the success of the New Hollywood era, which itself saw the invention of the blockbuster (through Steven Spielberg's Jaws) and a surge in critical and commercial success. 


                  

Everything is a Remix - Genre Conventions and High Concept Movies

http://vimeo.com/19447662

Robert Altman

Before M*A*S*H


Robert Altman (1925-2006) was an American film director known for the anti-war comedy M*A*S*H. (among other films). He served as a bomber during WW2 (flying over 50 missions) and following the war's conclusion he worked in California as a publicist. In 1947, he sold a script (Bodyguard) to RKO and encouraged by this success he pursued a short lived career as a writer in New York. Finding little success, he returned to his home town of Kansas City and began helming industrial films and documentaries before moving onto television work in later years (working on well known shows like Alfred Hitchcock Presents and Bonanza).

Selected Filmography

1970 - M*A*S*H
1975 - Nashville
1978 - A Wedding
1992 - The Player
1993 - Short Cuts
2001 - Gosford Park
2006 - A Prairie Home Companion

Style

Altman's films feature naturalistic elements, with components such as dialogue (in M*A*S*H for instance, the various characters speak over each other as if in a real situation) elaborating the film's realism, and suspending the audience's disbelief further. Altman's films also feature large ensemble casts, all supporting the picture between them. Many of the cast of M*A*S*H were cast as unknowns by Altman (hence why much of the credits feature "introducing...". Altman encouraged improvisation in many of his films to further the naturalistic dialogue. Frequently, Altman included subtexts and anti-war sentiments within his early works and, in this time , he also learnt to work quickly on a low budget.

Quotes


"Filmmaking is a chance to live many lives"
"Its all just one film to me. Just all different chapters"
"When I see an American flag flying, its a joke"
Due to his preference of character motivation and improvisation based around a basic plot, Altman was often labelled an "actor's director".


M*A*S*H


In 1969, during his rise to success (and at the age of 44), Altman was offered the script for MASH (an adaptation of a satirical Korean War novel that many directors had previously declined). Atlman agreed to the project and made his own changes to the screenplay (he rearranged many of the major sequences, threw out the dialogue - which was largely replaced by adlibbing - and by using an unorthodox - episodic - narrative technique he had previously experimented with). Due to his new (and rather strange) style of filmmaking, stars Sutherland and Gould repeatedly tried to fire Altman from the picture (which later resulted in Atlman and Sutherland working again - whereas Gould wrote the director an apology at a future date).

MASH was distributed by 20th Century Fox and shot on a budget of $3.5 million dollars. The film later made $81,600,000 at the box office and spawned a hit tv series several years later. MASH was nominated for 5 Academy Awards (Best Picture, Director, Supporting Actress and Editing), while winning one for Adapted Screenplay.

Hollywood...A History

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/culturepicturegalleries/7271960/Hollywood-is-100-years-old-a-history-of-Tinseltown-in-pictures.html

British Board of Film Classification - Recent Decisions

http://www.bbfc.co.uk/

The Green Hornet [Pretend 3D]: 12A. The film contains moderate violences and languages, and references to sex unsuitable for children, but possibly suitable for those over 12.

Season of the Witch: 15. Contains grisly images and infrequent strong horror, which would not be suitable for young children, but would provide less of a threat to mid-teens and above.

Tron Legacy [Slightly better 3D]: PG. Contains moderate fantasy violence that provides little threat since its all inside a computer world with no blood/profanity etc.

Its Kind of a Funny Story: 12A. The film contains an instance of strong language, references to sex, drugs and suicide and is thus unsuitable for young children.

Wake Wood: 18. The film contains strong violence and gory images. Children are not even near the target audience for this Hammer Horror film.

Todorov's Narrative Theory

Todorov's narrative theory is thus:

1) Equilibrium
2) Disruption
3) Recognition of the disruption
4) Attempt to restore equilibrium
5) New equilibrium

An example of a film that follows this theory would be Guillermo Del Toro's 2006 film Pan's Labyrinth, i.e.;

1) Equilibrium - Ofelia moves with her pregnant mother to live with the father of the child, in post-civil war Spain.
2) Disruption - One night Ofelia meets Doug Jones (dressed cunningly as a Spanish faun) and he tells her that she is the reincarnation of the lost princess of some far off magical place.
3) Recognition of the disruption - He tells her to complete three tasks to prove she is the princess and rather surprisingly, she believes him.
4) Attempt to restore equilibrium - This is provided by the angry Spanish captain as he hunts down Spanish rebels, stabs and shoots a few people and even smashes a man in the nose with a pistol. Slightly differently to Todorov's theory, is that Ofelia is seeking a new life and thus a new equilibrium instead of the original equilibrium (which the audience have seen none of).
5) New Equilibrium - Ofelia dies. Becomes the princess. Lives in the magical world. Arguably however, this is the same equilibrium as the beginning of the film as Ofelia has been restored to her status of princess (although the countless dead bodies and burning buildings in the human world indicate a new equilibrium for those staying in the non-magical world).

A film that does not follow Todorov's narrative theory would be Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part One, since the film ends without any real plot points being resolved (apart from there countless MacGuffins mentioned and the odd loss of an ear). Another film might be 2001: A Space Odyssey. The film follows the rise of humanity (first seen in an equilibrium state as men in chimp costumes apes) that is accelerated due to the appearance of a strange monolith on Earth (disruption). This equilibrium/disruption is then mirrored several thousand years later as astronauts find another monolith. They then travel to Jupiter and another disruption comes along in the form of a completely mental robot who tries to kill them. The film then goes rather psychedelic, with the lead character travelling across time and space and ending up in a room and nobody is really sure about the rest of it (but it is far from an equilibrium state, since its so open ended, un-resolved and overtly symbolic).