Induction Project

What was your favorite film this summer?

My favorite film of summer 2015 was Pixar’s animated film, Inside Out- it follows the five emotions inside Riley, an eleven year olds head as she is faced with frightening new opportunities as Riley and her family move to San Francisco. The film shows a simplified and fun idea of what goes on through our heads, it gives the viewers new and imaginative ideas to think about.

         There are five emotions shown throughout the film: the two main emotions that we see throughout the entire movie is Joy and Sadness, with the other emotions being Anger, Fear and Disgust.

         The film shows Riley in Minnesota throughout her years growing up, from the day she was born to the day she moved- this affects the entire film as it shows her life as she is growing up in comparison to her struggle in this new life as she moves to San Francisco. Through this move, Joy attempts many times to keep Riley positive, however these do not work and leaves Riley to see this new area in different eyes, allowing fear, anger and disgust to creep their way in and take control. Sadness is a key character throughout this as you see her attempting to help at many points, but being split from the other emotions in fear that she would harm Riley. This barrier eventually breaks when Sadness handles a core memory- one that is a vital part of Riley’s life so far- then starting her and Joy’s journey to retrieve this core memory and help Riley get it back while the other emotions are in control of Riley’s control-room. The journey takes them throughout Riley’s head, from Long Term Memory, Imagination land to the Memory Dump. These are all vital areas that are in her mind, showing the audience the key areas of her mind and what is most important to her throughout her life.

         Although Joy is the dominant character in this film, taking control of Riley’s emotions most- as can be seen through the short term memories in the film, Sadness is also a key emotion, allowing Riley to react to many situations in a healthy way- the film shows how you should allow sadness into your life, as well as what happens if you don’t. Although Sadness, Fear, Anger and Disgust are seen as “negative” emotions, they are healthy in a person’s life and necessary for our survival through finding new things and making a variety of responses to them through these emotions. Towards the end of the movie, you start to see how each of Riley’s emotions take an equal role in how she perceives the world around her, showing the importance of each emotion. Even though Riley’s emotions are the main focus of the film, you also get to see her mother and fathers emotions- both of which are shown to be the same gender as the individual. This shows how Riley is different, showing her emotions to be both male (Anger and Fear) as well as female (Joy, Sadness and Disgust). Of each character, the emotion which is in control is also important in how it affects the movie and the impact it has on those watching. As Riley’s main emotion is Joy at the start of the film, you get an idea of how her life would have been previously- full of joy and happiness. However, her mother’s main emotion is sadness and her father’s anger- this shown by the emotion that is centred in the control room, showing how their own lives could have been lived previously and how they live their lives in sadness and anger.

         I enjoy this film as it uses a range of real life ideas in a fun and imaginative way to portray a variety of lessons and concepts. It is a film that both adults and children can enjoy both together and separately, as well as being able to watch again and again. The animation of this movie is incredible to portray a fin and creative style to the film that everyone will enjoy, in addition to leaving its brilliant mark in your heart. 

Induction Project

How did Jurassic World become a box-office success? How is a film’s success measured?

There are various different variables as to how Jurassic World became a box- office success, producing $204.6 million in the opening weekend alone and from June 14^th, the movie has a gross of $511.8 million worldwide. A films success is measured by how the film measures up against expectations as well as how much profit it makes.

     One of the main ways that helped this film to become as successful as it has turned out is the audiences of the past movies. As the first Jurassic film, Jurassic Park came out in 1993, many of the audience who watched this first film would have followed the story as each new film was made, meaning that they would have grown up watching these movies through the past 22 years. Many of these people would now have the chance to bring their own children along with them, just as their parents may have taken them to the first movie when they themselves were young- this would bring a nostalgic feeling to them by bringing back memories of the first film and realising the differences in the first and current film.

      The choice of actors to star in a movie can be the difference in the success or failure of the movie. Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard play the films leads- Pratt playing Owen Grady, a Velociraptor expert and trainer with Howard playing Claire Dearing, the parks operations manager. Chris Pratt is a Hollywood rising star who many are beginning to know the name of, his charm, humour and acting skills help people to see him as a good actor, making his role aid the success of this film. Howard is also an important actor for the success of this movie, however due to her having no big film hits prior to the film such as Pratt in Guardians of the Galaxy, many people did not know who she was. This however did not change her role in the film as many of the viewers would be intrigued to find out how well she did in the film. Another actor was a key part to the achievement to this film- B. D. Wong’s character in the film is the chief geneticist, Dr. Henry Wu. Both Wong and his character were revived from the original Jurassic film- this meant that many of those who had seen the first movie would enjoy watching a familiar face of the movie, creating a link of memories to the first one 22 years ago.

      Each film has a different director that brings their own style to a film- Colin Trevorrow was the director for Jurassic World, taking the movie into a new and exciting direction. The right director can make a film into a success, which was exactly what Trevorrow did- he used ideas that would interest both adults and children as well as bringing his own style to the film. Trevorrow used old references to the original film, creating a link to the original film.

      One of the most known aspects of the Jurassic films is the dinosaurs- the fascination of the viewers towards these prehistoric creatures’ means that this interests many people. The movie uses the old ideas of the original film in a new way- adding more detail to the creatures to make them look even more realistic, causing more people to watch and enjoy the film. Those who have followed the films throughout the years would have also been able to witness the progress of the dinosaurs throughout the years.

      Cinemas are also a reason why this film was a success as there are many cinemas across the world that would have shown this film over a number of weeks.  North America fetched the majority of money, generating over $611.23 million, whereas 60% of the money earned came from international countries. Both China and the UK generated the most money (see Figure 1), with China generating over $228.7 million and the UK generating over $100.3 million. This success was largely helped by China as this film was one of the 34 foreign films to be shown in this country, boosting the amount of people paying to watch it. The premiere of Jurassic World in China was also the same weekend as in the US, meaning that many people would want to see it sooner due to the lack of ratings of the film and the unknowing of whether it is good or not. China has produced over 20% of the total money earned- showing how much the movies success has been affected by China’s screening of the film.

       To sum up, there are many things that have made this movie a box-office a success, but from past audiences to the choice in directors and actors, there is no one reason that Jurassic World has been such a success in the box-office, but many different reasons built up.  

 

Figure 1