Wednesday 11 March 2015

Annotated catalogue - Christie Ellis

Films:

1. Focus film ~ Revolutionary Road
2. Film 1 ~ Titanic
3. Film 2 ~ Inception
4. Film 3 ~ The Holiday


Books:

5.  Susan Hayward, Cinema Studies ; The Key Concepts.  Third edition, Routledge 2006 and pages 375-384  
I found this book very useful because I found some concepts about  stars in general.

6. Richard.Dyer.  Stars (BFI, London, 1979), pages 72–98.   
This book was about the industrial dimension of the stars image.


Websites:


7. https://www.commonsensemedia.org/reviews - This source was useful because I found it interesting looking through people's opinions on the films that I studied.  Titanic is my favourite film whereas some people really don't like it, but they liked Revolutionary Road I didn't like. 

8. http://www.hellomagazine.com/celebrities/2014100221233/kate-winslet-talks-about-relationship-with-leonardo-dicaprio/This source is showing what DiCaprio and Kate actually think about each other from their own opinions.  I found it useful because it was fascinating to see what Kate and Leo thought about each other personally instead of the press saying it.

9.  www.wikipedia.com -I used this source quire a lot when finding about background information for each of the 4 films I studied for this project.  Wikipedia allowed me to learn who directed the film, where most of the filming took place and also any awards the film one.  While researching more information about 'Revolutionary Road' I found out that Kathy Bates was in this film and was in Titanic which is where she met Winslet and DiCaprio.

10. www.youtube.com - I have used these sources to get videos from the films and also to get some YouTube comments.  This was very useful because I could see what people thought of the clip and watch the clip at the same time.

11. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/oscars/4784517/Oscars-2009-Kate-Winslet-wins-best-actress-for-The-Reader.html - This link is explaining the night that Winslet won an Oscar for her role in 'The Reader.  This was very useful to read and it also mentions what she said during her speech which was interesting to read.  Through-out her speech she also mentions how much she has loved Leo for 11 years.  

12.  Blog, http://christierellis.blogspot.co.uk/


Material not selected:

  • Paula Parissi, Titanic and the making of James Cameron.  1998 and pagers 95-99.  I didn't use this source because even though it was interesting finding out behind the scenes information about the making of Titanic, it didn't really mention a lot about how Kate and Leo were like working together.  I wanted to read what the director (James Cameron) and other cast/crew members thought of the pair but I couldn't find any information.


  • http://www.express.co.uk/news/showbiz/368722/Leonardo-Di-Caprio-reveals-Kate-Winslet-remains-closest-friend/ I used both of these sources quite a lot because they are showing the reader what Winslet thinks about her relationship with DiCaprio and then the second source is showing that Leo is revealing that Kate and himself are still close friends.  I didn't use this source because I have already got a source that tells me about what Kate and Leo thought about each other, I didn't want another one.

  • http://www.hollywood.com/news/celebrities/22201299/kate-winslet-calls-her-titanic-performance-awful?page=all/ - I found this very interesting because it is Kate reacting to her old self and telling the interviewer that she hates her American accent in Titanic.  Winslet revealed that she is actually embarrassed by the way she is acting in Titanic and she hopes that her accent is a lot better than it was.  This source was very useful but it wasn't reverent to my project when I was looking at the chemistry between Kate and Leo. 


Presentation script


Introduction:

  • Presentation on relationship between Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio
  • Their partnership on and off stage
  • 2 films they have been in (Titanic and RR)
  • 2 films they have co-starred with a different actor/actress (Inception and The Holiday

Films I studied for this project are:

Focus film: Revolutionary Road (2008)
Related film 1: Titanic (1997)
Related film 2: Inception (2010)
Related film 3:  The Holiday (2006)

Source: www.wikipedia.com (9)


Scene 1 from R.R (focus film)

  • Clip from YouTube.

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2lTpPptOWA

What I think about it:

  • Very powerful
  • Breath-taking
  • Changes emotions quickly
  • Calm to angry
  • April: frustrated/angry/laughing/shouting
  • Frank: calm/angry/furious
YouTube comments:

  • "It really scares me...Leo is such a marvellous actor."
  • "Queen of accents"
  • "Jack and Rose fifteen years after the Titanic"
Source: YouTube (10)


Scene 2 from The Holiday (films ~ 3)
  • Clip from YouTube

Source:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1CMnZDllDU


What I think about it:


  • Iris breaking up with Jasper
  • Similar to RR scene
  • Winslet's character takes control
  • Quite unusual for female character to be in control 

Susan Hayward (5)
  • "For some film stars 'going to Hollywood' could make them into megastars, for often t could consign them to oblivion or ultimately."
  • Page 376
  • Reminded me of Kate Winslet
  • Titanic was her first major role
  • She won 'Best British Actress' from Empire Awards
  • She won an Oscar for her role in 'The Reader'

'Cinema Studies; The Key Concept (6)


  • "Traditions of performance, then, have national as well as individual resonates and need to be borne in mind when analysing a star"
  • page 376/77
  • Made me think of Kate and Leo
  • DiCaprio is American so doesn't have to have accent for Inception and RR, but in Titanic he had to put on an Irish accent (not very strong though)
  • Winslet is British so she had to put on an accent for RR and Titanic, but in The Holiday she didn't have to put on an accent
  • DiCaprio plays a lot of American characters, whereas The Holiday is the only film that I know of that Kate didn't need to put on an accent

Conclusion

  • I've learnt Kate and Leo's chemistry is special
  • On and off-screen
  • Proven by interviews together or separately
  • Other celebrities have mentioned their chemistry
  • Make it really convincing
  • Different nationalities help - DiCaprio is American and Winslet is British

Catalogue ~ All the sources

Films:

Focus film: Revolutionary Road
Related film 1: Titanic
Related film 2: Inception
Related film 3:  The Holiday

Books:

  1. Susan Hayward, Cinema Studies ; The Key Concepts.  Third edition, Routledge 2006 and pages 375-384  
  2. Paula Parissi, Titanic and the making of James Cameron.  1998 and pagers 95-99.
  3. Richard.Dyer.  Stars (BFI, London, 1979), pages 72–98.   

Websites

  1. http://www.buzzfeed.com/ariannarebolini/proof-that-kate-and-leos-love-is-the-deepest-love-of-all#.vnR2D108l - I found this source really fascinating to read/look at because it was showing all the special moments that Winslet and DiCaprio shared and then some people have commented on saying how they are meant to be and also how great their chemistry is.
  2. http://www.hollywood.com/news/celebrities/22201299/kate-winslet-calls-her-titanic-performance-awful?page=all/ - I found this very interesting because it is Kate reacting to her old self and telling the interviewer that she hates her American accent in Titanic.  Winslet revealed that she is actually embarrassed by the way she is acting in Titanic and she hopes that her accent is a lot better than it was.
  3. http://www.express.co.uk/news/showbiz/368722/Leonardo-Di-Caprio-reveals-Kate-Winslet-remains-closest-friend/ I used both of these sources quite a lot because they are showing the reader what Winslet thinks about her relationship with DiCaprio and then the second source is showing that Leo is revealing that Kate and himself are still close friends.
  4. http://sites.inka.de/humpty/titanic/script.html - This scene was used when I was evaluating the script for the First class dinner scene in Titanic.  I found it very useful and interesting looking at the stage directions for the scene.
  5. https://www.commonsensemedia.org/reviews - This source was useful because I found it interesting looking through people's opinions on the films that I looked at.  Titanic is my favourite film whereas some people really don't like it, but they like Revolutionary Road - I liked Revolutionary Road but it wasn't my favourite. 
  6. http://www.hellomagazine.com/celebrities/2014100221233/kate-winslet-talks-about-relationship-with-leonardo-dicaprio/- This source is showing what DiCaprio and Kate actually think about each other from their own opinions.  I found it useful because it was fascinating to see what Kate and Leo thought about each other personally instead of the press saying it.    
  7. www.wikipedia.com -I used this source quire a lot when finding about background information for each of the 4 films I studied for this project.  Wikipedia allowed me to learn who directed the film, where most of the filming took place and also any awards the film one.  While researching more information about 'Revolutionary Road' I found out that Kathy Bates was in this film and was in Titanic which is where she met Winslet and DiCaprio.    
  8. www.youtube.com - I have used these sources to get videos from the films and also to get some YouTube comments.  This was very useful because I could see what people thought of the clip and watch the clip at the same time.    

Thursday 5 February 2015

Reviews I found online

Titanic and Revolutionary Road reviews.


Hi ! I thought you would like to see some reviews I found online.  I found them very interesting to read what other people thought of the films.I decided to screenshot the reviews just for Titanic and Revolutionary Road because they have Kate and Leo in together. Enjoy!

Link: https://www.commonsensemedia.org/reviews


TITANIC
 REVOLUTIONARY ROAD                                                                                                               








Friday 9 January 2015

Presentation script plan

Topic: Kate and Leo's

Focus film: Revolutionary Road (2008)

Related films: Titanic (1997), The Holiday (2006) and Inception (2010)

Revolutionary Road

Behind the scenes: The making of: Revolutionary Road (part 1)
Start watching at 5:53

Favourite scene:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2lTpPptOWA

Titanic

Behind the scenes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ra3eGAujZfc

Favourite scene: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8MDPeL8lpzo

The Holiday

Behind the scenes:

Favourite scene: Tent scene (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjhUKCJYdFg)

Inception

Behind the scenes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dhsA9QUHDQc

Favourite scene: Mal's suicide scene (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCTAJ00nIlI)


Presentation script
 

Video to start presentation: Kate and Leo - She's everything to me (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJVwVWCaVN4)

Presenter:  For my project I am doing the relationship between Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio and how they partnership is so special, on-screen and off-screen.  I am also looking at their performances together on the 2 films they have been with together, and then 2 films that Winslet and DiCaprio have been separately. 

Presenter:  In this presentation I will cover (display them as bullet points on P.P )
  • Explain that Revolutionary Road
  • Mention the other three films I will be looking at (Titanic/Inception/The Holiday)
  • Talk about G.G and T.H as they are the two films that Winslet and DiCaprio star in separately

Quotes Kate and Leo have said:  "laugh at the same things...she never lets me take myself seriously, even if I wanted to.  We have a special magic". LEO
 "We needed each other to lean on because we were very young and working all kinds of crazy bloody hours, and it was a shock to the system" KATE
Show these on PowerPoint as pictures

Photos:  Kate and Leo in Titanic and then in Revolutionary Road.  Show the difference in aging

Clip for Leo performancehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCTAJ00nIlI
Mal's suicide

Presenter:  I think that the performance in this scene is really good because you can see the pain in Leo/Dom's eyes when his wife is about to commit suicide.  This is a very sad scene to watch

What people have thought of Leo's performance:
Show screenshots on P.P

Titanic clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8MDPeL8lpzo

Presenter: I really like this scene because I think it is very calm and romantic - this is when Rose and Jack start to fall in love.  The scene starts off with Jack looking out at sea and then Rose calls Jack looks at Rose in amaze and they way DiCaprio showed the audience that Jack was in love with Rose was his eye-contact and facial expressions.  The next clip I am going to show you is an re-enactment of the "I'm flying" scene but Leo is with Jonah Hill. 

Clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tr3XK9FkNCY
Start at 4:55

Monday 5 January 2015

Review on Inception

Hi guys!! On 26th December I watched Inception.  So I thought I would write a review on what I thought about it.

At first, I found the begging quite hard to follow which made it really confusing and difficult to watch.   I think after half an hour or so into the film I started to enjoy it and understand it a lot more.  I thought the idea of dreaming and reality was a very good idea.  The visual effects in this film was very good because it made the storyline really realistic which was very clever.

My favourite scene from the film was when Dom (DiCaprio) saw his wife (Marion Cotillard) commit suicide.  I know that this scene is very upsetting because it is the moment Dom loses his wife, but I feel that the performances in this are really good.  DiCaprio's performance in this clip is really good because he uses all sort of hand gestures in this scene and also by the way he is speaking it is very convincing.  Cotillard performed also really well because she has to pretend that she is crazy and is about to commit suicide because she still thinks that she is in a dream not reality. She feels that the only way to 'wake up' from her dream was get a 'kick' (used to wake up the person dreaming suddenly).   At the start of the clip you see Dom stepping into the hotel room looking for his wife, which he then finds out is outside about to jump off the opposite building.  Dom does a lot of persuading to do, this is shown by stern words and eye-contact, towards his wife but it still doesn't convince Mal that she is in reality.


Sunday 28 December 2014

Inception

Hey guys!! I watched Inception the other day so I thought I would add a blog entry about it.


Background information...
  • Release date - 16th July 2010 (UK and USA)
  • Cast - Leonardo DiCaprio, Ellen Page, Joseph Gordon-Livitt and Ken Watanabe
  • Director - Christopher Nolan
  • Budget - $160 million
  • Box office - $825.5 million
  • Distributors - Warner Bros Pictures

Official trailer...




Images related to the film...


Sunday 21 December 2014

Comparing Titanic and Revolutionary Road - performance wise

Hi guys! I'm back and today I am going to compare Titanic and Revolutionary in terms of performance.  I will talk about the performance in a scene from both and explain the performance, and then lastly I will compare each performance.

Titanic performance:

 
 
I really like this scene because this is when Rose and Jack share their first kiss – the scene is when Rose says “I’m flying Jack”.  The scene starts off with Jack starting out at sea and then Rose appears, Jack asks Rose to grab his hand which she does and he leads her to go in front of him.  Jack grabs Rose’s other hand and leads her onto the top step of the deck (Rose has her eyes closed when this is all happening).  Jack tells Rose to open her eyes and this is when she says “I’m flying Jack, I’m flying”.

 The performance in this scene is breathtaking because as the scene goes on you see that both characters become more comfortable together and then start to trust each other. Especially Rose, in this scene she finally starts to trust Jack.  Jack (Leonardo DiCaprio) acting in this scene is remarkable.  This is because at the start of the scene you see Jack surprised to see Rose coming towards him.  Afterwards, he seems to take it all in and becomes more relaxed. You can tell he became more relaxed by his facial expressions. 
 
In an interview once, Kate said that she is embarassed by her Titanic performance - she said "even my American accent, I can't listen to it".  This shows that
Even though as an audience member I thought it was really good and very confincing, Kate doesn't think so.
 
 
 
Revolutionary Road performance:
  
 
 
 This scene is a lot different than Titanic because this is when Frank and April have a fight after April's first show at the theatre.  The scene starts off with an awkward silence in the car and then Frank pulls over and starts to slowly have a go at April.  This then turns into a very heated argument and it ends in April stepping outside the car and have a cigarette in order to calm down.  As Titanic is one of my favorite and I love the chemistry between Jack and Rose, I found watching this scene very difficult to watch as both characters are fighting all the time.
 
In this film Winslet had to do an American accent again.  I still think it is amazing and Kate did a really good job.