Unit 4 christmas films

Task 1 

 Is it a Christmas film/comparison

In a questionable Christmas film, films which have some people torn on their opinions such as die hard whether it is a Christmas film or not something like die hard is still very different compared to a hallmark Christmas film and a classic christmas film, many people argue that something such as die hard is a christmas film despite the plot not being surrounded or attached to christmas but rather being the backdrop, die hard consists of christmas elements which feature in many christmas classics such as  christmas songs, the die hard soundtrack is filled with christmas songs which ultimately gives an element of christmas to the audience despite the film not being centred around christmas. Many of the main elements of the film would not have occurred if it wasn't for christmas for example if there wasn't a christmas party at the Nakatomi plaza then ultimately these events would never have occurred in the first place. This is ultimately where people struggle to argue that die hard is not a christmas film, yet  die hard does not rely on these christmas events as its main driven part of the story  but is surrounded by consistent christmas themes where as hallmark films push the magic of the festive season to its limits, too many die hard just seems to be an action film that's set during christmas. Ultimately I think families enjoy this style of "christmas movie" at this time as it still resonates the audience with christmas and  creates that atmosphere around them whether its because its set around christmas time or that the soundtrack contains christmas classics, i also think that families may enjoy this tone more at christmas as this is a step away from typical christmas films but it still gives the audience a sense of christmas.

How to create/typical tropes of a hallmark Christmas film 

Typically a hallmark Christmas film consists of the same tropes, for example typically in a hallmark Christmas film the main character may be a girl who has everything and comes home for Christmas, to find that they are still not whole and still miss a few key elements in their life. Most of the time this appears to be love, especially in the festive time it is typical that hallmark christmas films and also other christmas classics rely on. Typically  both the main characters are fated for each other and they meet in a seemingly random way, otherwise if this is not the case it tends to be that the characters when they first meet each other are hostile and are at completely different ends of an issue this may consist of the character injuring themselves or simply bumping into each other. On the other hand in hallmark films the characters relationship can be something that has been hindered at before, for example typically if a girl returns to her hometown for christmas after leaving the big city they run into old relationships someone that they have not seen in a long time despite this they get along incredibly well and turn out to be perfect for each other a real christmas miracle. Ultimately families may enjoy this tone of film during the christmas time as hallmark films typically highlight the values of families and friends which represents how many people see christmas during the festive times.

Key differences

The key difference which separates a hallmark christmas film and a questionable christmas film is the reality, in something such as die hard the relationships that occur are realistic and relatable in some sense to the audience were as in a hallmark film the relationships are portrayed as magic and miracles, hallmark films are represented in many ways as fantasy as many of the relationships that occur are dream like in a sense that everything is too good to be true this is because it is around the magical festive time, where as if we look at the themes that occur in something such as die hard the themes are not as magically portrayed as they are in hallmark films they instead show us that just because its christmas does no mean that everything has to be subdued in this magical atmosphere.

Its a wonderful life is a classic christmas film it follows a man named  George Bailey who is shown the value of his life through a series of flashbacks after a guardian angel intervenes to prevent him from committing suicide on christmas eve. The film is a heart warming drama that celebrates the importance of family, friendship and community. Gremlins is a horror-comedy film set during the christmas time the film follows a young man named billy who receives a mysterious creature called mogwai as a gift, only to have it multiply into a horde of mischievous gremlins who go on a rampage throughout the town. One of the most prominent conventions of the christmas film genre is the use of the holiday setting to add an extra layer of depth and emotion to the story. Both its a wonderful life and gremlins use the christmas setting to great effect, with the holiday serving as a backdrop for the main events of the story. In its a wonderful life the christmas setting adds a sense of warmth and nostalgia, while the gremlins use it to create a sense of irony and absurdity to the horror elements of the film. Another common convention of the christmas genre is the use of themes related to the holiday, such as family, love and forgiveness. Its a wonderful life explores these themes in depth with George baileys journey to appreciate the value of his own life and the relationships he has with his family and friends serving as the emotional core of the film. Gremlins on the other hand subverts these conventions by using the holiday setting to play up the horror elements of the story, with the gremlins causing chaos and destruction throughout the town. In terms of genre conventions, its a wonderful life is a classic example of the heart warming drama subgenre of christmas film, while gremlins is a unique blend of horror and comedy that defies easy classification. Both films are memorable and enduring holiday classics that use the christmas setting and themes to great-effect, and demonstrate the wide range of styles and genres that can be found within the christmas genre.

Research

character design

Throughout the making of our film we went through four different scripts and we had to adjust the story at the last part after many problems we had encountered during the project we still worked together into getting our final piece this was the script for our last part.

Final film-https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WM_U5gpjZuQ

In the project I was the camera operator, at the start we had all imagined what our project would turn up to be like but we encountered many issues that did not turn out so great for the story we had imagined, the first issue we encountered was on our first day of filming we only realised this issue during the edit this was that there was no audio this was mainly my fault as I didn't bring headphones out with us at the time which is something that I will make sure to do in the future. This was just the beginning of our problems the next day we tried to film there wasn't much equipment for us to use we ended up having to plug the camera in and going into a classroom which was not ideal for us or the story. This left us with not much to work with in the edit at all and not even half of a story that makes sense. On our final day of filming we had to try our best at resurrecting this project despite what had happened so far we still worked well as a team and didn't let these problems overcome us. The last day was successful despite the problems we had faced this was still a great learning step for us all even though it didn't go as we planned I definitely did enjoy being the camera operator and have learnt a lot from what has happened.