Friday, 22 October 2010

Unit 2.01: Research: British B-Movies

In terms, to Anglicize our film, I researched more specifically the B-movies made on this side of the Atlantic. Although American B-movies were a big part of hollywood cinema, British b-movies contributed not only for British cinema, but also to worldwide cinema.

Investigating the importance of British B-movies, we looked at some trailers for the same films.

Devil Girl From Mars


Devil Girl from Mars is a British B-movie, best know for most of cheesiest moments, the cheap special effects, bad lighting and some bad acting, in cinema, however it populated with good things, being a low-budget film, it gave the chance to audience to go and see it more often at a cheaper price. Although the special effects can be define as being bad for today's cinema, for that time, they created one of the most chilling moments.
These factors can be seen already in the trailer, which consists of voicovers, which will basically tell you the whole film. The abundance of sci-fi sound -effects, and the look of cheap of special effects.


The Earth Dies Screaming

The Earth Dies Screaming is another good example, of a cheap version of film, by mixing real life footage with studio footage and with disastrous acting, creates a really chilling yet welcoming film to watch. The idea of using composited footages, will be something to consider in our project. Despite being a CG Animtion, we are trying to recordr footge seperately and later composited into the same animation.


Cosmic Monsters



Cosmic Monsters, is another british B-movie, which explores the imagination of birtish cinema, while in America films were worried to show an alien menace, The very British Cosmic Monsters, brought human together to fight an alien race of another type in so familiar soil. This was something present in many British b-movies, the use of totally different menaces and monsters with the same alien invasion narrative.


The Trollenberg Terror


The Trollenberg Terror, also known as The Crawling Eye in America, is other of many sci-fi British B-movies, It deals once again with composition technique of two footages, one being a small replica of the monster, and other a real fotage acting, although it is visible for the so attentive eye today, it was a amzing use of special effects of that time.


The Quartermass Xperiment



X The Unknown



Another 2 trailers really known to British audience as the story was first featured in BBC TV Series with the same name. Again these 2 trailers, show all the characteristics pointed before cheesy voice-over, cheap acting and poorly written storyline.

Overall, these trailers will helps distinguish our own animation, not only because they are British, but because they bear British characteristic on the B-Movies.

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