Media Essays

Text: Pride 
Question: Factors affecting production 
Essay: There are many associations when it comes to the topic of the 80's decade. For example, the pop music and Margaret Thatcher. These all make an appearance in the film Pride but are not the main focus. The main focus of the film is the topic of the Miners Strike of '84 and also the support for the Lesbian and Gay community towards the miners. A documentary starring Alan Davies explores the different events that took place in the 80s. He talks about the rise of marches and petitions for several rights movements such as Animal rights, gay rights, workers rights and battery farming. Due to Pride being based on a true story it was essential the producers, director and cast stay as true to the story as possible. It is important that they do this as they are touching upon a delicate subject for those who were involved. Due to it being set in the 80's work has to be done to insure that the creation and manipulation of the tone is right and that the audience can automatically establish that this film is set in the 80s. The problem with this is that each person has a different experience to the events that take place in the film which brings into question, Who's perspective do you tell the story in? There are a number of appeals to a true story. For example, it is a part of history. The Miners Strike not only involved the miners but also the whole country and the government. We are able to compare and understand where we are now and why. Taking into account Pride, the audience can understand the event of the strike and realise the effect it still has on us today and why certain parts of the country are opposed to the Tory Government. It provides people with nostalgia characters are relatable and provide viewers with a personal identity to the character. The audience will not only be effected by what is happening on screen but will also feel empathy towards the character as they are effected not only by it on screen but there is also the knowledge that this took place in real life. The audience are more likely to accept unusual or unexpected elements if the story is based in truth, it is easier to suspend their disbelief. Creative licences must be taken into account however when making a film. There are many reasons for this, such as the manipulation of time. The director must decide what stories and events are included in the film and what stories events must be omitted. The film must dramatic and entertaining in order to keep its audience meaning that there must be some light-hearted elements to the film. Pride includes many comical scenes that break up the serious films. Through creative licenses characters can be manipulated or even created to fit the conventions of narrative cinema, they are able to emphasis or exaggerate certain thematic concerns and reinforce generic conventions. The film is directed by Tony Award winning theatre director Matthew Warchus. Stephen Beresford the who wrote pride tracked down the original members of LGSM and found that there was almost no information available. Once he had all the available original source materials he had to decide how much of the screenplay would be fictionalised. He meet everyone from LGSM and had been to Wales in order to fully understand the event he would be creating for the big screen. The film altogether is more than 80 percent true. Pathe is one of the financers for the film including BFI (British Film Institute) which uses a percentage of the National lottery money fund to help fund films in production. The BFI introduced new targets on diversity that filmmakers had stick to if they wanted to win grants.The filmmaker must tick off two of the three categories which include On screen diversity, off screen diversity and crating opportunities and promoting social mobility – paid internships and employment opportunities 
Completed: YES Word Count: (Highlight essay, look bottom left corner) 675 Grade: 
Text: Pride 
Question: Marketing and Promotion 
Essay: The posters for the film are both light-hearted and have a tone of happiness. The poster features positive language such as the verbs 'laugh' and 'cheer'. This gives the film an automatic image of being a fun film that will leave the audience feeling upbeat and positive when they leave the cinema. They both feature plaudits that back up the point of it being a fun film, but they also imply that this film will have a serious edge to it 'make you cry' 'don’t try to resist'. This is reinforced by the background consisting of a brick wall on one of the posters, implying that the characters will face difficult times and many obstacles which will try to knock them down. The megaphone image connotes speaking up for yourself , a loud and unavoidable presence such as protests. The title of the film 'PRIDE' also reinforces this. There are several connotations of the noun Pride such as courage, being happy with something, pride in achievements. Their is also the event Gay Pride which began as a march is now a festival that most cities and countries host. There are many different characters ranging form different ages.There is no real sense of a main protagonist within the poster , this implies that there may be multiple plot lines that mingle together, implications of equality and suggests that the group have been brought together for a certain reason. The poster includes the typical character types, the young confident 'rocker' with the leather jacket and 50's jackets, the older wiser characters, the city beret wearing man and many more. All of the characters are undeniably British , this is established through the mise en scene of the characters, the tweed jackets that Bill Nighy is wearing, the actors themselves Paddy Considine, Bill Highy and Imelda Staunton. The BBC are also mentioned within the poster. There is an effort to point of that the film itself is based upon true events. The trailer however does convey much more about the film. There is archive footage at the start of the trailer which confirms that this is based on a true story. It takes on the story of the Miners Strike and how a group called LGSM(Lesbian and Gays support the miners) decide to help with the strike.It emphasises the themes of conflict and division between not only the miners and the LGSM but also the division between the public and the hatred towards the Lesbian and Gay community. The trailers presents the audience with a mix of dramatic scenes such as the scenes of conflict between the miners and the police and also comical scenes such as the nan character obsessing over the Lesbians and the one liners such as 'Dai, your gays have arrived'. The trailer provide the audience with a view that the film is an inspirational piece. This is achieved through the plaudits and also the showing of certain speeches. Themes that run on throughout the trailer are that anyone can become friends and that there should always be a level of equality. It shows that this film focuses on overcoming differences in order to solve a bigger problem. Social Media played a big part in the promotion of the film, especially Twitter. The Twitter associated with the film provided followers of the page with exclusive clips of the film and an interactive countdown, which would release a still from the film on everyday of the countdown. This is making sure that fans of the film were able to experience something new from the film everyday leading up to its release, which in turn keeps them invested into the film.During the Pride march in London the film producers took part in marching with the film banner to promote the film. Pictures from this event were posted onto Twitter and fans were encouraged to go and join them.Andrew Scott who played the character Gethin hosted an #askandrew in which fans where able to ask him any questions to do with the making of the film and the film in general. Twitter provided the fans with updates on the premiere with live tweeting. 

Completed: YES Word Count: (Highlight essay, look bottom left corner) 709 Grade: