Saving Private Ryan Case study

Director  - Steven Spielberg

Writer – Robert Rodat

Cast – Tom Hanks, Tom Sizemore, Matt Damon

Genre - Action, Drama, History and War

Release Date – July 24, 1998

Budget - $70 million

Revenue - $481 million

Inspiration – the writer Robert Rodat was inspired to create the film when he came across a monument dedicated to four brothers who had died during the American civil war, he decided however to base his idea around the Normandy landings in the second world war. The reason he chose this setting was because his son's birthday (June 6) shared the same date as the Battle of Normandy, and thus this was further inspiration for him.

·         The film was directed by the already respected Steven Spielberg, who had notable success with films based within the world war, such as schindlers list and empire of the sun ect.  Thus due to his creditability any possible investors would immediately be struck by the great potential for a successful film.

·         The main star within the film was the actor Tom Hanks, who was a well respected actor due to his performances in films such as Forrest Gump and big, which had won him a fine string of accolades. Much like having Steven Spielberg directing the film, the thought of having such a popular actor playing the lead role would generate revenue in itself, as people will always pay to see his films, which in turn gives the producer a greater chance of making a profit. Tom Sizemore was enrolled to play the role of the films “tough guy”, which due to his roles in films such as “heat”, he was perfect for, and just his reputation alone would help him portray the character.

·         Another key selling point was that there had not been a truly successful war film for some time, and as Spielberg had the intention of making the film as realistic as possible, the film had the capability to generate a large audience base, especially as it was recommended by true veterans from the war, who claimed it was as close to the real thing you could possibly get. This would attract attention from people keen to see what the conditions of the war would actually have been like.

Pulp Fiction Case Study

Director  - Quentin Tarantino

Writer – Quentin Tarantino, Roger Avary

Cast – John Travolta, Samuel L Jackson, Bruce Willis and Christopher Walken among others.

Genre - Crime

Release Date – October 1994

Budget - $8.5 Million

Revenue - £212.19 Million

Inspiration - The initial inspiration for pulp fiction was the three-part horror anthology film Black Sabbath (1963) from which the idea of the 3 interlinking plots within the film was gained. This inspiration for the “golden watch” segment of the story was taken from a previous work of Avary "Pandemonium Reigns".  Two scenes originally from true romance (Work of Roger Avary, but did not feature in the final cut) were also drafted into pulp fiction and redeveloped to fit the plot.

·         Directed by Quentin Tarantino, a director known for previous successful films such as reservoir dogs. This would be appealing to an aspiring financer, because as a director, Tarantino had a grand reputation, and this therefore leads to the potential of achieving a good profit

·         As a co-writer, Roger Avary, had previously wrote true romance. This meant that to a potential financer the film had a great deal of promise in terms of generating a successful plot.

·         The film stars established actors such as John Travolta, Samuel L Jackson, and Bruce Willis. When it came to selecting john Travolta to play the lead role, there was a great deal of scepticism due largely to fact he had not starred in a successful film for sometime. Despite this he reputation amongst film viewers remained high as a result of the successful films that he had been in, and he eventually repaid the trust that was placed upon him in the form of an academy award nominated performance. There were also questions raised when Uma Thurman was cast as “Mia Wallace” the husband of the crime lord “Marcell Wallace”, as she was a previously unknown actor with little acting experience so nobody knew what to expect. Quentin however expertly moulded her into her role as a mysterious women, who has come from nowhere into the limelight as the “big mans wife”, this is also retrospective of her career, where she was also cast into fame from nothing.

·         The 3 interloping plots was also a key selling point to the film, as it had not yet previously done on a box office level, with any success.  This in itself meant that if successful, pulp fiction would near enough be a unique film.

·         There was also the opportunity of producing merchandise to sell after the films release. This came in the form of the specially selected soundtrack, and t-shirts featuring captions and images from the film, such as the iconic pistol pose (John Travolta and Samuel L Jackson). Altogether this added to the chance of producing more revenue for the potential investors.

Film Development Timeline

Idea

This is the initial stage of a film, where the Writer or Director creates an idea for a potential film.

Development Finance

Once the idea of the film has been established, the Writer/Director will pitch the idea to possible investors, who then judging by the potential for success will then give the Writer/Director the funds required for the development of the film, such as the writing of the script.

Script Development

This is when the script for the film is developed and finalised. A general insight to the plot of the film will also be required to give the possible financers a better idea as to what the film is about.

Packaging Moment

Within this stage the genres of the film will be established, as well as details on the potential cast for the film. Any possible merchandising available from the film will also listed here in order to enhance the chance of a large financer investing in the film.

Financing

Once the film has gained its key investors, the financing of the film will have to be set, this includes the budget for actually creating the film, as well as completion bonds which is a form of insurance that covers the film in the event of it not being completed, and the investors money lost.

Pre-Production

This is the section of production that takes care of the preparation to the actually shoot of the film. It includes things such as selecting the cast, set and costume design (props also) and the storyboarding of the film

The Shoot

The section of a films production dedicated to the actual filming.

 Post Production

Once the film has been shot, special effects will then be edited in along with non diegetic sound such as soundtracks and further special effects.

 Getting a distributor

Now that the film is complete, it is essential that a distributor is found, so it can finally be released (distributed) and then hopefully the film be successful with the hope of generating a profit for all parties involved.