Advert Analysis

The name of the product is very prominent which means that the eye is drawn to it. Also, the light shining onto the pizza connotes a godliness which makes it look tasty. The use of several colours excites the senses which triggers the desire for food. The garlic butter oozing out of the product name connotes that it really is completely filled with it. The stretchiness of the cheese connotes that the pizza brings you closer together or keeps you from falling apart. The presence of so many different types of food with such a wide variety of flavours connotes that all of the flavours work together to create the ultimate taste. The bubble effect of the font connotes the roundness of the pizza and the butter-filled crust.

Film Noir and Femme Fatale

Film Noir, or Black Cinema, is a term coined by French critics to refer to the films coming out of America after the Second World War when films became a lot darker and rarely had an optimistic ending. The films reflected the tension and insecurity felt by many in that time period.

It is not technically a genre but is a tone of film. It also refers to the films made in the decade after the Second World War and the name didn’t become known until the period had ended.

Noir films were usually centred on a cynical, disillusioned male who encountered a beautiful and seductive femme fatale. She would use her feminine wiles to manipulate him, usually into becoming a fall guy for a crime. After a betrayal, she would frequently be destroyed, but often at the cost of the hero’s life.

Primary Characteristics and Conventions of Film Noir: Themes and Styles

The primary moods portrayed in noir films were melancholy, pessimism, moral corruption, paranoia and guilt. Heroes were usually conflicted detectives, gangsters, government agents or killers. They were often morally-ambiguous low-lifes from the dark and gloomy underworld of violent crime and corruption. They may also have been cynical, obsessive, menacing, disillusioned, struggling to survive – and in the end, ultimately losing.

Storylines tended to be non-linear and twisting. Narratives were maze-like and complex, witty and using flashbacks. Amnesia suffered by the protagonist was a common plot device, as was the downfall of an innocent Everyman who fell victim to temptation or was framed. Revelations regarding the hero were made to explain/justify the hero’s own cynical perspective on life.

Film Noir films typically showed the dark and inhumane side of human nature and emphasises the brutal, shadowy and sadistic sides of human experience. An oppressive atmosphere on dingy realism and fatalistic expectation of defeat and entrapment were also stylised characteristics of Film Noir.

Film Noir films were visually marked by disorienting visual schemes, jarring editing and circling cigarette smoke. Settings were often interiors with low-key lighting, Venetian-blinded windows with claustrophobic and gloomy appearances. Exteriors were often urban night scenes with deep shadows, wet asphalt and dark alleyways.

Femme Fatales in Film Noir:

The females in film noir were either of two types (or archetypes) - dutiful, reliable, trustworthy and loving women; or femmes fatales - mysterious, duplicitous, double-crossing, gorgeous, unloving, predatory, tough-sweet, unreliable, irresponsible, manipulative and desperate women. Usually, the male protagonist in film noir wished to elude his mysterious past, and had to choose what path to take (or have the fateful choice made for him).
Invariably, the choice would be an overly ambitious one, to follow the dangerous but desirable wishes of these dames. It would be to pursue the goadings of a traitorous, self-destructive femme fatale who would lead the struggling, disillusioned, and doomed hero into committing murder or some other crime of passion coupled with twisted love. When the major character was a detective or private eye, he would become embroiled and trapped in an increasingly-complex, convoluted case that would lead to fatalistic, suffocating evidences of corruption, irresistible love and death. The femme fatale, who had also transgressed societal norms with her independent and smart, menacing actions, would bring both of them to a downfall.

"The Film Industry Is A Hit-Driven Industry"

This statement can be proved by several different reasons. The first is that a director of a successful film will be associated with quality films and will go on to be involved with other hit films. For example, since James Cameron directed The Terminator in 1984, he has gone on to direct five other award-winning films, including Avatar and Titanic, the two highest grossing films of all time.

Another reason is that successful films often have a large profit. Part of this profit can then be put forward to fund another film. This means that the next film has a lot of funding behind it and can afford better actors, CGI and marketing. Films that are made by the same company as a previously successful film can also be marketed as “from the makers of …”. This links the film to a commercially successful film and the producers behind it will hope that the first films success will rub off onto the second film.

A third point proving the above statement as true is formulaic filming. Films that are commercially successful, such as Shaun Of The Dead, which was eventually succeeded by Hot Fuzz, a film with an almost identical cast and a plot with several similar scenes or plotlines. These films usually achieve similar success or, in the case of Hot Fuzz, make even more. One reason that these films continue to make money is that the similarity between the films will allow the viewer to feel more connected to the story. Also, the use of the same cast ties in with using the profits of a previous film and the same production team.

Films that recieve a lot of publicity, whether its good or bad, will often do well at the box office. For example, The Dark Knight began to be featured in a large number of news articles due to the untimely death of Heath Ledger. This sombre news may have been an influenicing factor in the film becoming the seventh highest-grossing of all time. Another factor that may have caused it, and others, to become hits is that it is a sequel. Sequels are almost always hyped more than their predecessor and also have the advantage of being seen because people liked the previous one. To show how well a sequel often does, just take a look at the All Time Worldwide Highest-Grossing Films List on the imdb website. It shows that 26 of the top 50 films are sequels and a further ten eventually spawned sequels of their own.

Of course, not all films that do well have had all of the factors previously considered. One of the main points of making a film is to allow the viewer to enjoy the directors work. Some films that only achieve minimal success in cinemas go on to become cult hits which sold a large number of DVDs and videos. While these films are largely ingnored by mainstream media, they are often revered by collectors and hailed by many film critics as the true greatest films of all time.