Synopsis
Slumdog Millionaire is the story of Jamal Malik, an 18 year-old orphan from the slums of Mumbai. Appearring on the show 'Who wants to be a millionaire', Jamal is one question away from winning before the show ends and he is taken away for suspicious cheating. He is forced to tell the story of his life; each event helps him answer a question on the show. The events in his life have shows his disasterous life, the way people have mistreated him, the death of his mother and his never ending search for his love - Latika.
The director of this movie is also Danny Boyle, who, together with FilmFour and Celador Picture, has directed Trainspotting, The Beach, etc.
The budget for Slumdog Millionaire was just over $15m; such a high budget is due to Danny Boyle's pervious success in films such as Trainspotting, etc.
It was filmed mainly in Mumbai, with clips in other parts of India such as Taj Mahal, Dharavi Slums, etc.
The Actors
Dev Patel [as Jamal K. Malik] who is mostly known for his appearance in the famous British TV drama 'Skins'.
Freida Pinto [as Latika] is an Indian actress who has mainly worked within TV shows such as Entertainment Tonight.
Anil Kapoor [prem] is also an Indian actor who has starred in Mr India, No entry, etc.
Most of the actors in this film are Indian stars and do not have worldwide recognition yet, however Dev Patel is on his way there.
The film was distributed in Fox Searchlight Pictures and Warner Bros studios. The film went on to being disctributed in many countries such as the UK, the US, India, Germany, Spain, Hong Kong, and many others. I think that the film is from Britain; it consists of a British director and British producers. The themes and associations made with the film are very British; even the TV programme is originally from the UK, however India has influenced this film greatly and it is set in India and therefore should not be overlooked.
Slumdog Millionaire has featured in the Torronto International Film Festival and the London Film Festival.
This movie has won many awards; in total it won 93 awards and gained 39 nominations. This included 8 oscar awards, 7 BAFTA's, 4 golden globes, etc.
Slumdog Millionaire caused some controversy in India, however in general this film was well accepted by the public.
Task 2: Marketing
The Poster
In terms of interactivity, this poster makes us consider love; is is an aspect of life that affects us all. The layout of the poster is a reflection of the TV show 'who wants to be a millionaire' which interacts with the audience because we automatically recognize this format; it also begins to establish the plot of the film. The 4 things 'money, smarts, luck and destiny' are all things we would desire, showing the difficulty of the choice and hence the difficulty of the boy's life.
The poster makes the film appear to be in the romance genre; the girl and boy are clearly in love. The vibrant colours however also suggest acton and adventure. In terms of narrative, Jamal [the boy in the poster] has lost his girlfriend and is trying to find her, who appears to be runing away at all times. This establishes a theme of love; however there is also an evident theme of money - the aim of the game is to win money. The target audience for this movie would be young adults and teenagers. The film was rated a 15 which affects the themes and target audience of the movie.
To sell the film, the poster consists of many features that promote the film. It clearly states "a Danny Boyle film" which we automatically associate with his good reputation of making good movies. The title is a contrast within itself; noone can be a slumdog and a millionaire. The top of the page consists of reviews of words like "winner" and "movie to celebrate" which automatiically portray the film to be successful and one to see.
The poster presents us information that the film is about poverty and love. It tells us the director, a few of the reviews and part of the plot of the film. I think that this poster is successful; it shows the success of the film and persuades me to want to watch it.
.
The Trailer
The trailer is more interactive with the audience, partly because of it's length and thus ability to present more information. The non-diegetic narrator asks the audience a question which involves the audience straight away. The reliastic settings and recogniseable music it engages the viewer into the trailer. The genre of the movie established in the trailer is romance and action; which show the themes of love and poverty. The narrative of the film is about an Indian slumdog boy trying to find his love by entering the showwith hopes that she will see him on TV. The traget audience is the same as the one presented by the poster; young adults that are affected by such themes themselves.
The trailer attempts to promote the film by initial critical responses that all praise the film and persuade us to want to see a 'successful' movie. The trailer presents the director Danny Boyle because of his high-class reputation as well as all te production companies - FilmFour, Warner Bros etc. It tells us what the film is going to be a bout without giving any spoilers.
I think that the trailer was very successful because it makes us beleve that the film is successful and a 'good film' before we've even seen it ourselves.
.
The Website
The website is interactive with the audience in the way that the vuser is able to explore the site and click on what they want. There is an option to play the game which is almost 'experiencing' what Jamal himself went through. The genre of the film is presented as romance; Jamal is shown with his love Latika which is presented throughout the website. The website gives off the entire narrative in the synopsis option, including the ending.
The promotional features of the website is in the initial introductory slideshow which gives the successful reviews and states that the film has the best actors, best director, best producers etc, which automaticlaly forms an image in our minds that this is a good movie. The website gives any information that the viewer wants to know - the actors, the synopsis, pictures, videos, etc.
I think that out of the three, the website is the least persuasive. It gives off the entire plot and many people would think that going to see it is unneccessary because they know what's going to happen. However, if they do not read the synopsis, then the sell points of slogans, pictures and good reviews would definitely persuade a person to go see the movie.
No comments:
Post a Comment