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

No comments:

Post a Comment