A2 Thor Research 2011

Thor is a 2011 American superhero film based on the comic book character of the same name published by Marvel Comics. It is the fourth film released as part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The film tells the story of Thor, a god who is exiled from his homeland of Asgard to Earth. While there, he builds a relationship with scientist Jane Foster. However, Thor must stop his brother Loki, who intends to become the new king of Asgard.

The colour scheme for the poster is; Blue, Black and Red. The black surrounding Thor symbolising being darkness and death while the light shining down upon Thor showing his strength and righteousness.The red symbolises not only his strength but also his position of power. His blue eyes draw you to his eyeline and force you into looking at them. The blue while a symbol of goodness and royalty also seem sharp; the eyes of a warrior.The outfit worn by the character is not clearly seen but has obvious inspirations from the comic charcter himself.

The font used on the text is all written in capital letters, a way to attract the audience and help promote the movie.  I find the use of the text used well as "The God of Thunder" is a title for Thor and therefore having this saying placed above the title and date of the movie keeps the film fresh in the mind of the audience.

The poster is simple but that in is a strength of it, the poster dosen't give you enough information and consequently you want to see what happens in the film.

A2 Harry Potter Reseach 2011

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 is a 2011 epic fantasy film directed by David Yates and the second of two films based on the novel of the same name by J. K. Rowling. It is the eighth and final instalment in the Harry Potter film series, written by Steve Kloves and produced by David Heyman, David Barron and Rowling. The story continues to follow Harry Potter on a quest to find and destroy Lord Voldemort's remaining Horcruxes. The film stars Daniel Radcliffe as Harry Potter, alongside Rupert Grint and Emma Watson as Harry's best friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. The supporting cast features renowned actors and actresses such as Ralph Fiennes, Michael Gambon, Alan Rickman, Helena Bonham Carter and Maggie Smith.

The colour scheme for the poster is; Blue, Black, Red and White. The black and white are juxtopostion with the white denoting innocene and purity of the order and black being a representation of evil and the darkness of Voldemort. The use of these colours not only fits in with the idea that one is pure good and one is pure evil but that the are two sides of the same coin. The similarites between Voldemort and Harry and easily recognisable and is comment ed upon much during the previous films. This idea is also supported in by their position on the poster, as they are both looking towards each other with a firm look. The Blue is used to highlight the use of the white and grey to create a feeling of uneasiness through its mystical look. The Red is used to highlight the destruction in the lower part of the poster but also show the power struggle between the two opponents. 

The font used on the text is all written in capital letters, a way to attract the audience and help promote the movie. However the only text that is really drawn to the audience is the date of release and the saying "It all ends". This poster dosen't even have the title of the film. This I think is a good idea as the saying becomes more profound as it resonates with the audience. They know not only will the struggle between Harry and Voldemort be over but also to the end of the film series.

The characters are covered in grime which connotes that the war has truly begun. The two characters are also split apart in the poster by the elder wand, representing their opposing sides. However while they are clearly enemies they are know at the same height and are meeting each others' gaze. This seems to show the feeling of equality between the two, which is backed up by the fact that Voldemort marked Harry as his equal.

A2 New Line Cinema Research

New Line Cinema, is an American film studio founded in 1967 by Robert Shaye and Michael Lynne as a film distributor, later becoming an independent film studio. In 1996 it became a subsidiary of Time Warner and in 2008 merged with larger sister studio Warner Bros.

Unlike other independent studios such as Orion Pictures, Carolco Pictures, or Cannon Films, New Line Cinema grew and prospered to become one of Hollywood's major film studios, culminating in the hit Lord of the Rings film trilogy that brought commercial success to the studio.

Prior to this, New Line was responsible for genre films and cult classics such as Dark City, The Mask, the Austin Powers film trilogy, the fantasy Pleasantville, the Final Destination series, the Nightmare on Elm Street series, the film Friday (and its two sequels Next Friday and Friday After Next), the films of John Waters, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles films, and the highly successful movie adaptation of Mortal Kombat (as well as its ill-fated sequel Mortal Kombat: Annihilation).

A2 Columbia Pictures Industries Research

Columbia Pictures Industries is an American film production and distribution company. Columbia Pictures now forms part of the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. It is one of the leading film companies in the world, a member of the so-called Big Six. It was one of the so-called Little Three among the eight major film studios of Hollywood's Golden Age.

The studio was founded in 1919 by brothers Jack and Harry Cohn and Joe Brandt as Cohn-Brandt-Cohn Film Sales. Its first feature film was released in August 1922. It adopted the Columbia Pictures name in 1924 and went public two years later. Although a minor player in Hollywood in its early years, Columbia began to grow in the late 1920s, spurred by a successful association with director Frank Capra.

In the 1930s, Columbia's major contract stars were Jean Arthur and Cary Grant (who was shared with RKO Pictures). In the 1940s, Rita Hayworth became the studio's premier star and propelled their fortunes into the late 1950s. Rosalind Russell, Glenn Ford, and William Holden also became major stars at the studio.

In 1982, the studio was purchased by Coca-Cola; that same year it launched TriStar Pictures as a joint venture with HBO and CBS. Five years later, Coca-Cola spun off Columbia, which merged with Tri-Star to create Columbia Pictures Entertainment. After a brief period of independence with Coca-Cola maintaining a financial interest, the combined studio was acquired by Sony in 1989.

In 2002, Columbia broke the record for biggest domestic theatrical gross, with a tally of $1.575 billion, coincidentally breaking its own record of $1.256 billion set in 1997, which was raised by such blockbusters as Spider-Man, Men in Black II and xXx. The studio was also the most lucrative studio of 2004, with over $1.338 billion dollars in the domestic box office with titles such as Spider-Man 2, 50 First Dates and The Grudge.

In 2006 Columbia helped with such blockbusters as: The Da Vinci Code, The Pursuit of Happyness and Casino Royale, not only finished the year in first place, but it reached an all time record high sum of $1.711 billion, which was an all-time yearly record for any studio until Warner Bros. surpassed it in 2009.

A2 20th Century Fox Research

20th Century Fox is one of the six major American film studios as of 2011. The studio is a subsidiary of News Corporation.

 The company was founded on May 31, 1935,as the result of the merger of Fox Film Corporation, founded by William Fox in 1915, and Twentieth Century Pictures, founded in 1933 by Darryl F. Zanuck, Joseph Schenck, Raymond Griffith and William Goetz.

Some of the most famous actors to come out of this studio were Shirley Temple, who was 20th Century Fox's first movie star, Betty Grable, Gene Tierney, Marilyn Monroe and Jayne Mansfield.

Here is are a few franchises owned by 20th Century Fox

• 24 (on behalf of 20th Century Fox Television and Imagine Television)
• Alien
• Die Hard
• Dr. Dolittle
• Family Guy (on behalf of 20th Century Fox Television)
• Home Alone
• Ice Age (on behalf of Blue Sky Studios)
• Night at the Museum
• Planet of the Apes
• Predator
• Star Wars (on behalf of Lucasfilm)
• The Chronicles of Narnia (on behalf of Walden Media, and previously distributed by Walt Disney Pictures)
• The Simpsons (on behalf of 20th Century Fox Television)
• X-Men (on behalf of Marvel Studios)

A2 Film Institutions

For A2 I am looking at film institutions in order to find out how they operate and how important marketing and advertising is.
The companies that I will have a look at; '20th Century Fox', 'Columbia Pictures', and 'New Line'