Big Hero 6 - Case Study Introduction

1. Film genre and type of production

Genre: Superhero-Comedy, Action, Animation

Type of film: Event film, high concept, mainstream blockbuster

Rating: PG

Budget: Yet to be revealed as the the film is likely in post-production, however we can estimate that the budget is somewhere between 150-200 million dollars

Sources: iMDB, Wikipedia

2. What's the film about?

Synopsis: 

Hiro Hamada is a robotics prodigy following in the footsteps of his older brother, Tadashi. Soon after discovering one of his creations, an inflatable hospital care robot named Baymax, an unknown villain emerges. Determined to uncover the mystery, Hiro transforms his friends into a band of high-tech heroes called "Big Hero 6." 

Themes:

• Good/Evil
• Friendship
• Family
• Growing up
• Crime-fighting team

Sources: iMDB, Wikipedia, Big Hero 6 Official US Trailer 2, Art Book

3. Global and UK release dates? Where and what formats?

Big Hero 6 will be released in theaters globally throughout October 2014 to February 2015. Major release dates include:

• October 23rd - Japanese premiere at the Tokyo International Film Festival
• October 25th-27th - Multiple premieres across the USA
• November 7th - Theatrical release in the USA and Canada
• December 20th - Theatrical release in Japan
• January 30th - Theatrical release in the UK

It has not been stated whether the film will be released in other formats, but it is very likely that there will be DVD and Blu-ray releases following the theatrical release.

Sources: iMDB release information, Official website

4. Nationality of the film?

Big Hero 6 is a high budget, Hollywood blockbuster film. This is reflected in the cast, production and even the setting of 'San Fransokyo'. Fall Out Boy, a popular American band, also have a song featured in the trailers, so this too is a heavy signifier of nationality.

Sources: iMDB, Kerrang

5. Institutions behind the film's production and UK/US distribution? Where are they based?

Companies involved in the production of Big Hero 6 include:

• Disney Animation Studios
• Walt Disney Motion Pictures
• Marvel Studios (creative influence, symbiosis between Disney and Marvel)

Companies involved in the distribution of Big Hero 6 include:

• Walt Disney Motion Pictures
• Walt Disney Studios Japan
• Possibly other Disney subsidiaries

Sources: iMDB, Wikipedia, Trailers

6. What's the film's production budget?

The production budget for the film is yet to be released. However, we can make an assumption based on the budgets of similar films:

Wreck-it Ralph: $165 million
Frozen: $150 million
Tangled: $260 million

Judging by these figures, the budget of the film is likely to be somewhere between 150-200 million dollars. However, animation is quite expensive so the budget could be much higher as shown by Tangled. The budget will have been provided by Disney and the profits from the film will be invested into future films.
Sources: iMDB, Wikipedia

7. Any connections with other films?

Big Hero 6 will largely be following the success of recent Disney and Marvel productions. These include Frozen, Wreck-it Ralph and Tangled by Disney and The Avengers by Marvel. Chris Williams is an in-house Disney director who worked on these Disney films as well as Big Hero 6. Beyond film, the original concept is taken from a Marvel comic book series under the same name.
Sources: iMDB, Wikipedia, Disney Animation Official Website, Wired Article


8. Who's the director?

There are two directors working on Big Hero 6. The first is Don Hall, a director who has done work for Disney before on film's such as Tarzan. The second is Chris Williams, an in-house Disney Director well-known for recent Disney hits such as Wreck-it Ralph and Frozen.
Sources: iMDB, Wikipedia, Wired Article


9. How has the film been cast?

The cast of Big Hero 6 is as follows:

Scott Adsit - Voice actor
for Baymax

• Ryan Potter - "Hiro Hamada"
• Scott Adsit - "Baymax"
• Jamie Chung - "Gogo Tomago"
• Damon Wayans Jr. - "Wasabi"
• Genesis Rodriguez - "Honey Lemon"
• T.J. Miller - "Fred"

Almost all of these actors are new to film, having been popular in American TV dramas. Scott Adsit is the only actor who has been in film for a long time. The cast have been picked for their voice, as they will be recognisable to an American market. However some actors such as Jamie Chung will also appeal to the Japanese audience. Information about the cast is also posted on the film's twitter page such as behind the scenes footage of recordings.
Sources: iMDB, Wikipedia, Official Twitter Page


10. Core audience? Secondary/tertiary markets?

The core audience for Big Hero 6 is children and young teenagers in the UK and USA. Evidence for this is shown by the film's PG rating to allow for the largest possible audience. Furthermore, children will be accompanied by their parents, or the whole family. This allows for increased revenue. The secondary audience would be fans of Disney and/or Marvel fans. This could potentially extend to fans of the original comic as well as the Japanese audience. The tertiary audience as mentioned before would be parents, as they would need to accompany their children to see the film. Therefore it is likely that Disney would include some subtle humour that the children would not understand, but the parents would in order to appeal to them.
Sources: iMDB, Wikipedia

Preliminary Exercise Evaluation

Who did you work with and how did you manage the task between you?
During the task, I was working in a group consisting of myself, Ignacio, Ela and Serena. Serena and I were actors, and played the boss and the cleaner respectively, with Ela on camera and Ignacio as director. However, we tried to help out with each other's roles whenever possible to create a high-quality production. I feel as though we divided roles between us quite well and we were all able to cope with the task effectively.

How did you plan your sequence? What processes did you use? What theories did you try to take into account?
The plan for our sequence was to have a comedy sketch in which the boss of a company invites an employee into her office to praise them for their hard work. What the boss doesn't understand is that they have called in the cleaner by mistake and doesn't realise due to their talkative nature. As the genre we were trying to connote was comedy, we spent a lot of time working on the script and the characters. The character of the boss was made to be talkative and interruptive whereas the cleaner was obedient and a little bit shy. These character traits allowed us to build up to the punchline, making the sketch more humourous.
During the planning phase, we arranged meetings for us to decide these key features of our sequence. A couple of processes we used include brainstorming and shot listing, as well as brief rehearsals of each possible narrative. When we were taking our shots, there were a couple of key theories we were considering. We tried to incorporate the 180 degree angle and 30 degree angle theories in to every shot, as well as looking for a match on action. These theories were an important factor during the production of our sequence, and had a large impact on how the finished piece turned out.

What technology did you use to complete the task, and how did you use it?
The camera we used to record our software was a Canon LEGRIA HF G30 Camcorder, on a tripod and fitted with a directional microphone. This piece of equipment, as well as all of the attachments, was integral to our production as it allowed us to record our footage in a very high quality. The tripod meant that our shots were not shaky and unprofessional, whilst the microphone was used for clear and coherent sound. The editing software we used was Adobe Premiere Pro CS5.5. Adobe Premiere Pro made it very easy to organise our shots and we were able to cut our shots with much accuracy. This was key, as it allowed for us to show off several matches on action, such as the knocking on, and opening of the door.

What factors did you have to take into account when planning, shooting and editing?
The most important things which affected our production were the continuity and narrative theories. Narrative theory specifically played an important role in our planning, as in the end, we were trying to tell a story. If the audience cannot understand the plot of a comedy sketch, it is unlikely that they will find it funny. Therefore, we tried to incorporate different techniques to build a more interesting and developed narrative. For example: we used binary opposites with the personalities of the two characters. The boss was interruptive and slightly vain, whereas the cleaner was obedient, nervous and was worried about speaking up about the boss's mistake. When we were shooting, continuity theory was at the front of our minds. We decided to act out whole sequences (filming the cleaner walking to the door and knocking instead of just the knocking) to make the scene more natural. We also used match on action to achieve this, as it makes the shots more fluid and realistic. The 180 degree and 30 degree rules also had a large impact on the shoot as ignoring them will break the continuity of the sequence.
Most of the theories weren't that necessary during the editing, as they only really applied to the shots themselves. However, the number of each shot we had impacted the editing phase quite heavily, as there were some instances where we were forced to use a shot as we had no other alternatives. The master shot was also useful in editing, as it acted as an anchor. We were able to bring the audience back to the master shot when the cleaner was sitting down and when he was leaving at the end of the sequence.

How successful was your sequence? Please identify what worked well, and with hindsight, what would you improve or do differently?
Overall, I think we achieved our goal of creating a short sketch that follows the rules of continuity. We followed the brief, as our sequence depicts a character opening a door, crossing a room and sitting down opposite another character, with whom they have a conversation with. We were able to demonstrate a clear understanding of match on action, shot/reverse shot and the 180° rule. We managed to complete our planning and practical objectives within the given time limit and personally, I believe we have created a high-quality piece of media. However, that does not mean that our sequence is without it's problems. During our shoot, we only took a few takes of each shot, some of which contained mistakes or other faults that made them unusable. This meant that when began editing, we were forced to use some shots with poor framing as we had no other alternative. If we had more time and more experience, we may have been able to fix this by cropping the shot, but we would not have been able to achieve this within the single hour we had. The other issue we had was that our final shot broke the 30 degree rule, as the set-up of the shot was too similar to the one before it. This is something we could have amended if we had taken a wider variety of shots during the shoot, but again, we likely could not have done this within an hour. These are the changes I would have made if I were to repeat the task. Despite these issues, I still believe our sequence was able to effectively convey a sound understanding of narrative and continuity theory.

What have you learnt from completing this task? Looking ahead, how will this learning be significant when completing the rest of your foundation coursework?
Personally, this task has helped to further my understanding of continuity rules and how to spot them. It becomes much easier to locate different ideas and theories in a film or video when you have tried to recreate and follow them yourself. Not only is this knowledge applicable to the film opening I will be producing in the future, but it is also useful in examining other pieces of media and the ways in which they follow these rules. The equipment I used for this task was familiar to me with the exception of the camera, as we have only used this type of camcorder once or twice before. Therefore it was useful to be able to use it in a more professional production as it allowed me to further cement my understanding of how to use the equipment. To conclude, I believe the most significant things that I have learnt during this activity were the execution of narrative and continuity theory.