'Mad Max: Fury Road' - 7 areas of media ownership

Mad Max. Fury Road - 7 Areas

Film research: Mad Max - Fury Road

Mad Max - Fury Road (2015)

Producer/Production companies:

 This film was produced by Kennedy Miller Productions and Village Roadshow Pictures along with distributors such as Warner Bros. and Twentieth Century Fox in over 30 countries all over the world including Australia, Canada, Taiwan as well as the UK and USA.

Director:

Name: George Miller

Best known for: 'Mad Max' (1979), 'Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior' (1981), 'Happy Feet' (2006), 'Mad Max: Fury Road' (2015)

Awards: George Miller awards

Screen Writers:

George Miller: known from previous 'Mad Max' films

Brendan McCarthy: known for - writing comics from 1977 onwards including 2000AD's 'Judge Dredd' comics

Nick Lathouris: known for - ''Mad Max' (1979), 'Death in Brunswick' (1990) and 'The Heartbreak Kid' (1993)

Actors (Top billed):

Name: Tom Hardy

Character: Max Rockatansky

Known for: 'Inception' (2010), 'The Dark Knight Rises' (2012), 'Warrior' (2011)

Name: Charlize Theron

Character: Imperator Furiosa

Known for: 'Monster' (2003), 'Hancock' (2008), 'Prometheus' (2012)

Name: Nicholas Hoult

Character: Nux

Known for: 'Warm Bodies' (2013), 'X-Men: Days of Future Past' (2014), 'About a Boy' (2002)

Budget/Box Office sales/Screens shown on:

This film had an estimated $150,000,000 as its budget, of which it made $44,440,000 back in the USA in its first weekend of being released on the 15th of May 2015. By the 18th of September, it had totalled a gross of $153,629,485 in the USA alone. Around this time in September, Mad Max: Fury Road had made roughly $374,712,032 worldwide. When the film was first released in May 2015, it was shown on around 3,702 screens in the USA, bringing $44,440,000 into the box office. Even in September when the movie is only being shown on around 50 screens at one time, it is still bringing in $17,453 at the weekend showings.

Composers:

Name: Junkie XL (aka: Tom Holkenborg)

Best Known for: 'Green Street' (2005), 'Resident Evil' (2002), '21' (2008) and 'The Animatrix' (2003)

Awards:

• 2012 and 2007: Nominated for the Best Music award by Golden Calf

Marketing:

This movie was well advertised when the trailer was released at the San Diego Comic Con to an audience that were bound to want to see the film as it is a popular franchise within the Comic Con fans. It attracted a large audience as the movie posters, trailers, etc. showed Charlize Theron in the centre, portraying a strong female character (which is very popular in todays culture and society). She is also wearing a prosthetic arm, which shows and supports the importance of stronger representations of groups within TV and film, making this a popular film socially. The TV adverts and trailers were aired on around 45 networks on 858 national airings. Most of the airings were shown across MTV and Comedy Central, however the NBA basketball playoffs received the most spending on airings at around $1.5 million. A marketing campaign was also launched through social media where fans were asked movie-related questions and drawing questions and drawing them into this fictional post-apocalyptic world.

Official Trailer

Special effects/Technical specs:

This movie mainly uses pyrotechnics/vehicle technology as most of the effects were based around car chases and fight/action scenes. Stunt doubles were needed for the amount of physical effects created between the actors and the vehicles. Surprisingly, CGI was used sparingly - only to enhance the fantasy/Namibian landscape. 

Runtime	2 hr (120 min)
Sound Mix	Dolby Digital | Datasat | SDDS | Dolby Atmos
Color	Color
Aspect Ratio	2.35 : 1
Camera	Arri Alexa M, Panavision Primo Lenses Arri Alexa Plus, Panavision Primo Lenses Blackmagic Cinema Camera (some shots) Canon EOS 5D Mark II (some shots) Olympus P5 (some shots)
Film Length	(7 reels)
Negative Format	CF Codex
Cinematographic Process	ARRIRAW (2.8K) (source format) Digital Intermediate (2K) (master format) ProRes 4:2:2 (1080p/24) (source format)
Printed Film Format	35 mm (anamorphic) (Kodak Vision 2383) D-Cinema (also 3-D version)

Issues:

There were apparent issues during the filming of this film as two of the main actors, Charlize Theron and Tom Hardy did not get along on set which made it difficult during the filming process. Also, there are moral issues that are tackled in this movie such as the portrayal of a patriarchal society where women were abused which put the audience in a difficult position. There were also issues with the weather on some shooting days where it was cold when it was supposed to be hot, etc. Reshoots delayed the release of the film. 

Box Office sucess: Ex_Machina (2015)

Box Office success: Ex_Machina

Film research: Ex_Machina

Ex-Machina (2015)



Producer/Production companies:

This movie was produced by DNA films in collaboration with Film4 along with many international distributors all over the world such as Universal Pictures International, Universal Pictures, NOS Audiovisuals, A24, intercontinental video and Mongrel media. The production companies and distributors have distributed this film in around 14 different countries. DNA films is the same production company that worked on the movie '28 days later' which was made by the same writer and director that produced Ex_Machina, giving them a marketing point to go from when advertising as the film '28 days later' was very successful and gave DNA films some kind of positive reputation.

Andrew Macdonald (best known for 'Trainspotting', '28 days later' and 'Ex_Machina') and Allon Reich (best known for 'Ex_Machina', '28 weeks later' and 'The last King of Scotland') are the main producers that worked on this film alongside many executive and associate producers.

Director/Screenwriter:

Name: Alex Garland

Best Known for: '28 days later' (2002), 'Ex_Machina' (2015), 'Dredd' (2012) and 'Sunshine' (2007)

Awards: 

• 2004: Nominated for Saturn Award by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films, USA: Writing for 28 Days Later
• 2004: Won the Best Screenplay Award at the Fangoria Chainsaw Awards for his screenplay of 28 Days Later
• 2011: Won an award from the Writer's Guild of Great Britain (along with co-writer Tameem Antoniades) for his writing on the video game, Enslaved: Odyssey to the West (2010).
• 2015: Won a Jury Prize for writing/directing Ex Machina at the Gerardmer Film Festival.

Actors (main cast):

Name: Domhnall Gleeson

Character: Caleb

Best known for: 'About time' (2013), 'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2' (2011), 'Unbroken' (2014) and 'Ex_Machina' (2015)

Name: Corey Johnson

Character: Jay

Best known for: 'The Bourne Ultimatum' (2007), 'Captain Phillips' (2013), 'Saving Private Ryan' (1998) and 'Ex_Machina' (2015)

Name: Oscar Isaac

Character: Nathan

Best known for: 'Inside Llewyn Davis' (2013), 'Drive' (2011), 'Ex_Machina' (2015), 'A Most Violent Year' (2014)

Name: Alicia Vikander

Character: Ava

Best known for: 'Ex_Machina' (2015), 'A Royal Affair' (2012), 'The Man from U.N.C.L.E' (2015), 'Seventh Son' (2014)

Name: Sonoya Mizuno

Character: Kyoko

Best known for: 'Ex_Machina' (2015), 'Beauty and the Beast' (2017), 'The Theo Adams Company' (2015)

Name: Symara A. Templeman

Character: Jasmine

Best known for: 'Ex_Machina' (2015), 'Jupiter Ascending' (2015), 'Darkness' (2014)

Name: Gana Bayarsaikhan

Character: Jade

Best known for: 'Ex_Machina' (2015)

Name: Claire Selby

Character: Lily

Best known for: 'Ex_Machina' (2015)

Name: Tiffany Pisani

Character: Katya

Best known for: 'Ex_Machina' (2015), 'Britain and Irelands next Top Model' (2005), 'Hollyoaks' (1995)

Name: Elina Alminas

Character: Amber

Best known for: 'Ex_Machina' (2015), 'Residue' (2015), 'Cinderella' (2015), 'Jupiter Ascending' (2015)

 Budget/Box office sales/Screens shown on:

This film was made on an estimated budget of 15 million dollars and after being a huge success aroun the world, has brought in over 36 million dollars worldwide and has had many positive reviews from critics all around. In the USA the film made $250,000 on its opening weekend in April 2015, being shown on around 1,255 screens. During May of 2015, the film had its highest selling point, reaching around $3,510,000 and was shown on over 2000 screens.

Composers:

Name: Geoff Barrow

Other works: 'Lord of War' (2005), 'Wild' (2014), 'Columbiana' (2011), 'Assassins' (1995)

Name: Ben Sailsbury

Other works: 'Beyoncé: Life is but a Dream' (2013), 'Inside the Perfect Predator' (2010), 'The life of Mammals' (2002)

Marketing:

The production designer for this film is Mark Digby, notable foe his work in other films such as 'Rush' (2013), 'Slumdog Millionaire' (2008) and 'Dredd' (2012).

A viral marketing campaign was designed and in the USA which used the famous dating site Tinder to raise awareness for the Sci-Fi thriller. The robot in the film is played by the Swedish actress, Alicia Vikander and using her pictures, the marketing team set up a robot account on Tinder which asked fellow users what makes them human and what attracted them to Ava. This clever marketing scheme was designed to test the audience and almost involve them in the film as they had a brief experience of what the protagonist experiences in the movie.

Alongside this, a series of films posters and teaser trailers were also made and shown through TV advertising and general poster advertisements.

Official Trailer

Special effects:

The largest area of special effects was used on the actress Alicia Vikander as she plays, Ava - the robot. Most of her body has CG effects put onto it to make her look as though parts of her body are made of machinery and certain parts are completely see through. The only parts of her that are kept as skin are the face, hands and feet.

Special technology was used to make sure that Alicia looked as robotic as she could when playing Ava whilst still being able to move exactly the way a human would. To do this, she was taken into a photo booth and scanned from head to foot, from there a team then built her CG elements which were then refined to match the live action photography. An anamorphic lens was applied which could have been an issue as the rig used had to be 'astonishingly flexible' in order to convey the human likeness of Ava. This lens meant that if Alicia wasn't completely in focus then the image would be distorted and it would then have to be reverted back to how the image was originally.

Flares were used to create the almost sterilised brightness that is used in the house to create the feeling that the house is more of a research/hospital facility. It also conveys the fact that the movie is of the science fiction genre as flares are typically used to create a flashy futuristic atmosphere.    

Technical Specifications:

Runtime	1 hr 48 min (108 min)
Sound Mix	Dolby Digital | SDDS | Datasat
Color	Black and White (some shots) | Color
Aspect Ratio	2.35 : 1
Camera	GoPro Hero 3 Black Edition Sony CineAlta F65, Cooke Xtal Express, Kowa Prominar and Angenieux Optimo Lenses Sony CineAlta PMW-F55, Cooke Xtal Express, Kowa Prominar and Angenieux Optimo Lenses
Laboratory	Molinare, London, UK
Negative Format	AXSM SRMemory Video (HD)
Cinematographic Process	Digital Intermediate (2K) (master format) J-D-C Scope (anamorphic) (source format) Kowa Scope (anamorphic) (source format) (some scenes)
Printed Film Format	D-Cinema

Issues:

One of the main issues when shooting this movie was the fact that the lens used to create Ava's robotic yet human feel happened to distort a lot of the images within the filming. The anamorphic lens tended to reflect and distort everything around it, which interrupted the smooth, polished continuity that the directors wanted to create. However, this effect is successful in creating a false sense of intimacy with the audience.