The
Kings Speech
The King's Speech is a British film about King George VI
who becomes King after his brother having a change in mind of wanting to be on
the throne. King George has a stammer and is consider unfit to be King, with
the help of an un-certificated speech therapist, Lionel Logue, George is able
to find his voice and lead Britain through the Second World War. Britishness:
What
Makes a Film British:
The movie was filmed in the UK; it contained well-known
British actors such as: Colin Firth & Helena Bonham Carter. It was also
filmed in English language which also contains some old referenced speech such
as: Chap, referring to a gentleman. The film reflects British culture of the
times it was made about: 1925 – 1939, which includes the announcement of World
War 2, there is also the actors wearing costumes from what would have been worn
in this time period and the houses Mise en scene is set to fit the time period.
The music and effects used in the film were created in the UK which also
reflects on the Britishness of the film. The director Tom Hooper is also
British, as is the writer of the story David Seidler. Some of the production
companies were British such as The UK Film Council, Momentum Pictures, Aegis
Film Fund, Molinare Investment, See-Saw Films and Bedlam Productions. But the
film did accept money from the further national production companies: Weinstein
Company (US) and Film Nation Entertainment (US).
Exhibition
Box
Office in the UK: It exceeded Momentum Picture's expectations when it gained £3.52 million on the opening weekend which is almost double the opening gross of Slumdog Millionaire at £1.83m and the gross profit to date of The King’s Speech was £44,407,313 in box office in the UK.
The
Films Reception & Criticism of the film:
Phillip French from the guardian highly rated The King’s
Speech and said that “the film is a major achievement, with Firth presenting us
with a great profile in courage, a portrait of that recurrent figure, the stammer
as hero.” However he did also say that “The film is not without its odd faults,
the truly annoying one being the representation of Winston Churchill”. Other
more critical reviews have criticised The King's Speech for making errors about
the historical accuracy in the film. Other editing errors were pointed out where
the king throws his speech and is then shown holding it in his hand in the next
scene. The King’s Speech mainly received praise and good reviews.
This is a Canadian member of the audience who outlined
the movie as ‘Brilliant’ on the website IMDb. “This is a powerful, hilarious
and deeply moving story, told against the backdrop of a critical juncture in
modern history, of the emergence of a deep friendship out of a professional
relationship between two men who would otherwise never have socially interacted.
The screenplay, written by David Seidler (who also wrote Tucker: The Man and
his Dream), is excellent.”
Some critical reviews have criticised The King's Speech
for making errors about the historical accuracy of some aspects of the film.
For example the font used for the text in the BBC broadcasting room not being a
font that was available till the 50's. The fact some women were shown wearing
seamless stockings when they did not appear until later. Other continuity and
editing errors were also pointed out where the King was shown throwing his
speech then shown holding it in his hand the next shot.
Award
nominations and Oscars:It received nominations for 12 Oscars including best picture, best director, best supporting actor and actress, best screenplay, best editing, best art direction and costume. It won 4 Oscars for best picture, best director, best Actor (Colin Firth) and best original screenplay. It was also nominated for 14 BAFTAs of which it won 7. Mark Kemode comments that Oscar and BAFTA nominations and awards are often expected when playing a monarch for example with Judy Dench - Shakespeare in Love Helen Mirren - The Queen etc. and especially when the story is about humanising the monarchy.
Web 2.0 and Exchange:
The film itself had its own Facebook that advertised the
film, posting posters and trailers as well as director comments and actors
comments to attract a wider audience that are available on social networking
sites. The film had a number of YouTube clips posted about it like people
giving reviews and expectations of the film, for example a YouTube clip by
beyond the trailer got 70,102 views. There were reviews and comments on the
film in newspapers such as in the guardian by Phillip French and in the telegraph
by Sukhdev Sandhu.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1GBS1QUOMMU&feature=relatedProduction Issues
The
film's origins:
David Seidler the writer read about George VI's life
after overcoming a stuttering condition he endured during his youth. He started
writing about the relationship between the monarch and his therapist as early
as the 1980s, but at the request of the King's widow, Queen Elizabeth The Queen
Mother, postponed work until her death in 2002. He later rewrote his screenplay
for the stage to focus on the essential relationship between the two
protagonists. Nine weeks before filming began, Logue's notebooks were discovered
and quotations from them were incorporated into the script. Therefore this film
originated from a true, real life story about an event that happened within the
royal family.The finance:
Prescience saw the film's potential early on and became the key financier of the film. The Weinstein Company and Momentum Pictures were also large investors for the film. The UK Film Council gave See-Saw £1 million for the production. Together they created the budget of $15,000,000
The
production companies:
The production companies of the film were Weinstein
Company, The UK Film Council, Momentum Pictures, See-Saw Films as well as other
companies. See-Saw, a British/Australian company, financed and produced the
film but by getting deals with key distribution partners such as The Weinstein
Company (USA) Momentum Pictures (UK) Transmission (Australia) and Alliance Film
(Canada). This is a good example of a film that can receive a huge global
success and without the help of huge Hollywood studios.
Distribution
and Marketing Issues:
The trailers used for the UK and US differ, as the UK
trailer shows more of Colin Firths character and his personal journey,
overcoming his stammer and becoming King. But the US trailer shows more of
Geoffrey Rush’s character and how he plays a huge part in helping George
overcome his struggle with speech. In the US trailer Helen Bonham Carter’s
character refers to her husband as the King rather than the Duke of York which
is what she calls him in the UK trailer, which makes the US trailer want to
seem more British to attract the American audience that love the British Royals
so much. The UK trailer as well uses a well-known British quote from
Shakespeare "some men are born great, others have greatness thrust upon
them" this adds to the sense of Britishness in the UK trailer.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dq2IT299EKo UK Trailer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzI4D6dyp_o US Trailer
Major Issues Facing British Film Makers:
“It's clear that British cinema has been weathering the
global recession well” said UK Film Council chief executive John Woodward. He
said the sectors of production, distribution and exhibition were "firing
on all cylinders". But he said the marketplace for financing smaller,
independently-produced British films has become more difficult. This was partly
as a result of the overall economic slowdown and partly down to "the
increasingly tough transition from the analogue to the digital age".
However, it has been a record of couple of years at the UK box office overall
from 2009-2012, with takings of £944m and the highest admissions since 2002
(173.5 million) thanks to films like Kings Speech, Slum dog millionaire and
Avatar.
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