The Soloist production notes

• Many producers expressed interest in Steve Lopez's story but gained the trust of Russ Krasnoff and Gary Foster and their production company.
• When Joe Wright was offered the chance to direct the film he said that after reading the story and going to Skidrow, his decision was made easy. 
• Soon after striking a deal, Dreamworks studios were brought on board as was Sussanh Grant, on oscar nominated screenwriter.
• She created the story around the news articles and created an ex wife for Lopez to add to the storyline.
• Jamie Foxx found the story of Nathaniel Ayers very moving, he was very pleased to meet him after being cast in his role. And quickly got down to the task of knowing the character and learning his voice, mannerisms etc. He also began learning how to play the cello
• Foxx was interested in the story and knew he wanted the role, Robert Downey Jr was 'taken away' after his meeting with director Joe Wright. 
• The extras used were members of LAMP 450 were signed up and there was 20 main extras out of these that are shown most in the film. 
  

The making of The Soloist.

• The producers were Gary Foster and Russ Krasnoff
• Steve Lopez questioned whether they could make a film on his story as it didn't have an ending
• The producers met Nathaniel shortly after meeting Steve Lopez at a lunch meeting, Lopez then took them to LAMP to meet him.
• The real life locations used in the film were the Disney concert hall, LAMP, a street down from skidrow and the actual car tunnel where Nathaniel played.
• Sussanah Grant wanted the film to show an honest representation of how bad the homless situation is.
• The director Joe Wright was apprehensive before making the film as he didn't know much about the USA but felt it would be better to make it from his 'outside' perspective.
• Robert Downey Jr felt that Jamie Foxx's role of Nathaniel had a high degree of difficulty, he had lots of elements to consider: playing the cello, trying to show the mental issue and to try and match the real life Nathaniel Ayers as best he could.
• Joe Wright felt the authentic locations and particularly people could benefit the making of the film as they would give a very real representation of theb homless living in the area, they could also feedback there own thoughts to add to the authentic feel.
• The set designers had 4 weeks on location, a lot of preperation was done in the workshop to save them time for building sets on location.
• The actos in the film became very close while filming and spent a lot of time together, they also spent a lot of time with the people they were trying to portray, particularly Jamie Foxx with Nathaniel Ayers. They got to know all the mannerisms etc. that they needed to make there representations as authentic as possible.
• The producers felt that with the ending they wanted to show that someting like skitzophrenia cannot just be cured, they didn't want it to be a fairytale. Sussanah Grant felt if this had happened some people may have even found it offensive.

Representation of race - Danny 'Spooks'

Danny Spooks

Let The Right One In Essay

Let the Right One In

The Soloist

The Soloist is a working title film by British Director Joe Wright (Atonement, Pride & Prejudice) It stars Robert Downey Jr and Jamie Foxx. The film was released in April 2009 (US) and September (UK).

• The screenplay is based on the book 'The Soloist' By Steve Lopez, the film is about the true story of Nathaniel Ayers (Foxx) a cello player who is discovered by Lopez (Downey Jr) a LA times newswriter.
• The film budget was $60 million, but covered just over half and gross revenue was $31 million.
• Some say that the poor revenue was due to the film being initially delyayed and coming a week before the summer 2009 film season.
• Director Joe Wright's biggest budget before this was in Atonement ($30million approx.) which in contrast made over 4 times the budget.
• Many critics felt the film was a 'mismatch' for Wright and that it was a relatively weak film compared to his succeses in Atonement and Pride & Prejudice.
• The film recieved only 55% on Rotten Tomatoes and 61/100 from metacritic.
• It was shot in Los Angeles mainly, with some shots in Cleveland.

Reviews

''The Soloist has the required combination of honesty and emotional pull to potentially inspire audience members to do more for the homeless in their community. I often roll my eyes at “message movies” for trying to shove self-righteousness down my throat, but I responded to this one and certainly recommend it.''

Cinema verdict 8/10

''With its heightened imagery and sound design, the movie tries its darnedest to intuit the troubled, disturbed existence of street-dwellers. This offsets the ­potential cheesiness – but without ­making for a very satisfying, involving film.''

Gaurdian 2/5

''Thankfully, there's no contrived Hollywood ending but you can't help thinking this is more a three-minute wonder than a dramatic symphony.''

Tim Evans - Sky Movies

Disability representation - Joe Family Guy

Joe Swanson 

Example of typical mockery of Joe Swanson 




The character Joe in Family Guy is paralysed from the waist down, his job is as a Police officer.
In episodes of Family Guy there are different stories as to how Joe became disabled, including falling off a roof whilst trying to catch the Grinch. 
He is mocked and shown in situations that he can not cope in as a disabled person, it is normally intended to be mocked in a comic manner, there are many gags pulled by other characters in vein of Joe, in fact there is rarely a scene with Joe where his disability is not mentioned or taken the mick out of. 
Joe Swanson is shown in quite a negative manner and sometimes you feel that the jokes may have been taken too far and the show can only really get away with it because it is a cartoon and not taken very seriously, I can't give an opinion from a disabled perspective but I do imagine that sometimes a person in a wheelchair may be offended by some of the more distasteful jokes used in the show. 

Objectification - Benny Benassi

How are Women Objectified? 
- Shown in Bikinis, oiled, not much clothes
- Shown doing simple tasks, maybe showing they are being told to do so
- Camera focuses on curves 
Why are they objectified? 
- Increase views of video/record sales
- Appeals to male audience, images of women and power tools 
- Quite humourus, details of power tools - won't really be read
- May appeal to women who desire to look like women in video
Is it fair?
- Lots of music videos include similar images (particularly male artists) 
- Fits male gaze 

Categorising Facial Expressions

Women - Marjorie Ferguson (1980) 

• Chocolate Box : half or full-smile, lips together or slightly parted, teeth barely visible, full or three-quarter face to camera. Projected mood: blandly pleasing, warm bath warmth, where uniformity of features in their smooth perfection is devoid of uniqueness or of individuality.
• Invitational : emphasis on the eyes, mouth shut or with only a hint of a smile, head to one side or looking back to camera. Projected mood: suggestive of mischief or mystery, the hint of contact potential rather than sexual promise, the cover equivalent of advertising’s soft sell.
• Supersmiler : full face, wide open toothy smile, head thrust forward or chin thrown back, hair often wind-blown. Projected mood: aggressive, ‘look-at-me’ demanding, the hard sell, ‘big come-on’ approach.
• Romantic/sexual : a fourth and more general classification devised to include male and female ‘two-somes’; or the dreamy, heavy-lidded, unsmiling big-heads, or the overtly sensual or sexual. Projected moods: possible ‘available’ and definitely ‘available’.

Men - Trevor Millum (1975)

• Carefree : nymphlike, active, healthy, gay, vibrant, outdoor girl; long unrestrained outward-flowing hair, more outward-going than the above, often smiling or grinning.
• Practical : concentrating, engaged on the business in hand, mouth closed, eyes object-directed, sometimes a slight frown; hair often short or tied back.
• Seductive : the eyes are less wide, perhaps shaded, the expression is less reserved but still self-sufficient and confident; milder versions may include a slight smile.
• Comic : deliberately ridiculous, exaggerated, acting the fool, pulling faces for the benefit of a real or imaginary audience, sometimes close to a sort of archness
• Catalogue : a neutral look as of a dummy, artificial, waxlike; features may be in any position, but most likely to be with eyes open wide and a smile, but the look remains vacant and empty; personality has been removed.

Paul Blogs

These blogs are made to document production, the main actors (Simon Pegg, Nick Frost) are featured. The blogs are used to show the audience what the film is about and to give them a 'behind the scenes' view into the movie but will be conscious of ruining the plot or giving away spoilers, it's treated as a teaser. They contain the same humour as would be used in the movie, this would give an incentive to the audience to watch the film. These blogs, along with being on the internet will be used as DVD extras to help sell more copies. 

Freddie Ljungberg Calvin Klein

- pouting

- defined cheek bones

- staring into camera, quite intensely 

Face seems quite feminine 

- muscular body, maybe tensing, bar could show he's been working out although probably just a prop

- oiled/ sweaty like advert with Eva Mendes

- stance seems very posed, left hand pulling boxers down adds to a sexual element again like the Mendes advert. 

This would be aimed at men, women would find it seductive and men will want to look like Freddie. 

Calvin Klein Eva Mendes

- eyes are closed

- gritted teeth 

- parted lips

Face could indicate pleasure maybe 'orgasm face', her look could be this or maybe even pain, looking away?

- hair is wet, messy maybe sweaty? 

- oiled/sweaty skin 

Links to sex again

- legs open, on tiptoes in high heels, makes her legs look longer 

- stance makes her look 'ready' - again links to sex

This advert is aimed at women, men who will find the images appealing and find them seductive and this could cause women to feel that they want to look like the woman in the advert.