2. Case study: Avatar
Target audience -
Avatar was 12a to be seen in cinemas, so
primarily anybody over the age of 12
male and female.
The genre of film is Action, adventure,
romance and fantasy so the audience is
most likely going to be in to one of these
three genres to most likely see the film.
Although Avatar was one of the most
hyped up films in history and was said to
be a new stage of film in animation and
in general film nearly everybody was
open to the idea that avatar had to offer.
So avatar having this kind of reputation
from film critics all over the globe even if
this wasn’t someone's kind of genre it is
most likely they would of gone to see it
because of the hype.
3. Scheduling and format
18th December 2009 was the release date of avatar in cinemas so near Christmas time I
think is an appealing time to watch the film as it would soon be later to be released on
DVD for a good Christmas present.
The film was 162 minutes which is a long running time for film especially a film like
avatar which is filled with amazing never seen before effects and such breath taking 3d.
A lot of people enjoy having long sittings through films but others feel as though they
drag on, so the film would give a mixed opinion on the length of the film.
The age for Avatar was 12a which is quite young for
a film as action packed as Avatar so it was mainly
directed for teenagers and for a older audience.
Avatar was made to be seen on wide screen and was
designed specifically for cinema viewing, this was
one of the other reasons it became so popular and
sold out every night nearly everywhere.
Colours and visuals of the location Pandora also massively increases the appeal from
the audience and was said to be the most realistic view of another world.
With Avatar being a film of action and adventure it also attracted a massive audience of
females because it also included a romance throughout the film, so Avatar attracted all
audiences essentially.
4. Narrative elements
The story of Avatar was a paraplegic Marine dispatched to the moon Pandora on
a unique mission and comes torn between following his orders and protecting
the world he feels is his home, in the process he finds romance on the planet
Pandora.
Characters:
Hero: Sam Worthington plays Jake sully the marine that becomes the key to
saving Pandora. Jake is a very strong character and is seen to be attractive in the
film.
Lead female: Zoe Saldana plays Neytiri one of the Navi alien race on planet
Pandora that helps the marine and in the process falls in love with him. Neytiri is
part of the alien race that plays the lead female role in the whole film, also to
some of the viewers she is shown to be attractive in a strange way.
Villain: Stephan Lang plays colonel miles Quaritch the man in charge of the
operation to harvest/destroy Pandora. The colonel is shown as a very strict old
aged man listening non other than too his own thoughts wanting to kill Pandora,
the colonel was seen as the villain throughout the films progress.
Throughout the story it has the concept of humans fighting aliens over planet
Pandora. The planet belongs to the aliens as there home where as the humans
only want it for resources and destroy it. The film reflects on the audience in the
same way the aliens feel, the audience has earth as its home but many people
are destroying it with pollution in ocean and power plants releasing chemicals in
the air.
5. Stars of the film
Sam Worthington:
Sam got his first major role in the latest terminator (Terminator salvation) in
2009, this lead on to snatching the lead role of avatar. The success of the
block buster Avatar lead to Sam taking on some major roles in the future
such as clash of the titans, man on a ledge and even a voice acting role in
one of the new call of duty’s (call of duty black ops 2). Due to the success of
the first Avatar there are rumours of Sam returning for Avatar 2 playing the
same role Jake sully.
Zoe Saldana:
Zoe had featured in many small roles before Avatar but one of her first big
block buster films she played a small role as Anamaria in pirates of the
Caribbean: The curse of the black pearl 2003. Zoe then continued with small
roles for many films until 2009 when she landed the voice of Uhura in Star
trek which then pushed her to finally take one of the main roles in Avatar.
So really the two main roles of the film hadn’t really hit cinema fame
until the release off avatar, this didn’t really effect the audience much in
anyway because the film was not suppose to be about having big named
stars in the film, it was about creating a new incredible world through
film and animation.
6. Mise en scene
One thing that determined the fact that Avatar was a fantasy film was the use of animated
characters and motion capturing too project that in to the film, a lot f sci-fi and fantasy film
fans will be very familiar with the use of animated characters and motion capturing, so that
always appeals to the audience. The location of the film was taken from footage of Wellington,
New Zealand and after heavily being edited by what was said to be over 900 special effects
editors, it created the beautiful tropic paradise that we all know as Pandora. Pandora as a
setting is without doubt one of the most breath taking places ever created by animation and
many of the critics and public picked up on this. Pandora’s beauty and colour was attractive
and appealing to all audiences which is what made it the perfect location for such a breath
taking Fantasy film.
7. Camera
One thing that Avatar did very well when filming some of
the scenes was making the audience feel part of the movie.
James Cameron (Director) was very good at creating the
atmosphere that the audience felt as if they played a part in
the film. He did this by using various shot techniques such
as panning shots during intense action scenes to give the
viewer the experience of following every step of the film,
he also used some free hand camera use which gave the
viewer the image that they were there experiencing the
film as if was real.
The use of 3d really did have a impact on how the audience
saw the film as well, the fact that they had all these
extreme detailed visuals and they used 3d to help make the
film come even more to life was just the icing on the cake
which made Avatar stand out from other fantasy sci-fi films,
3d is also majorly appealing to a wide range of audience
when used in films.
8. Editing
The editing of the film avatar was hyped up by critics and
advertisements all over the world to have amazing editing that
would create a new name for the word edit in the world of
cinema. Avatar defiantly lived up to its expectations with its life
like Intense action scenes and its beautiful colourful scenery
through out the world of Pandora. Avatar mainly uses straight
cuts like any other film to transact between each scene and
shot, and there were very little uses of slow motion shots unlike
other fantasy films with intense fighting and war scenes.
However there was many uses of various angle shots and
panning shots, during intense action scenes through the film
there was also many uses of panning shots that followed the
character during the scene this also creates the effect that you
some what take part in some of the film as well and can give
you the feel that you are actually there in the world of Pandora.
But once again the use of 3d really pushed the editing to the
limit with life like explosions and bullet fire during the action
scenes, and because of the 3d use the audience defiantly found
this to be a top level performance for editing the film.
9. Sound elements
The soundtrack and theme to avatar during the film contained a
lot of orchestra and created a very cinematic atmosphere like
what most orchestral music does in films, the theme of Avatar
appealed to the audience because it related and suited the story
and progress of the film, hence creating this strong cinematic feel
through out the film.
Other sound elements through out the film were just sound effects that were added to small
things such as gun fire, jungle noises etc, most likely the audience didn’t take much notice off
the sound because of the visuals, but the sound would have played a key role in the film and
wouldn’t off made such a successful film if not using the right sound effects.
10. Sound elements
The soundtrack and theme to avatar during the film contained a
lot of orchestra and created a very cinematic atmosphere like
what most orchestral music does in films, the theme of Avatar
appealed to the audience because it related and suited the story
and progress of the film, hence creating this strong cinematic feel
through out the film.
Other sound elements through out the film were just sound effects that were added to small
things such as gun fire, jungle noises etc, most likely the audience didn’t take much notice off
the sound because of the visuals, but the sound would have played a key role in the film and
wouldn’t off made such a successful film if not using the right sound effects.
