Belstone Pictures

Beliefs and aims

• They believe in ‘turning the lonely process of writing and development into a collaborative and exciting process to create a strong and unique IP’
• Deliver every project on time and under budget
• Aim to release 2-3 titles a year from 2021 onwards
• Trust loyalty integrity passion

About Belstone Pictures:

Finn Cardigan Bruce – CEO

Finn's love for film started at Hurtwood House Film Academy. He founded the company with a desire to make films that push the boundaries and share spellbinding stories. He started as photographer in America then learnt how to work a set at various shows including top gear, downtown abbey, X factor and Les Miserables. He then worked at Blink TV, Mario Testino, MPC and sky news. After that he was an executive assistant to Shaun Redick and Ray Mansfield in LA and Nicola Horlick for investment and development of her two films. He began to focus on Belstone in 2016 and since has raised over £1 million independent equity. They collaborate with various financing partners and small internal funding and receive distribution globally with Netflix. Film 4, IFC Films, Cineworld, HBO and Showtime. They are part of FCB production company and have released three feature films with a slate of over 10 projects.

Feature Films:

Tucked

A veteran drag queen with a terminal illness begins a new friendship with a younger man and cleans up unfinished business with his estranged daughter.

 

Cast:

Faith: Jordan Stephens

Jackie: Derren Nesbitt

Lily: April Pearson

Daryl: Steve Oram

MC: Brendon Burns

• Soundtrack: Robbie Williams, Lola Coca, Celeste and Elli Ingram
• Genre: Dramatic comedy
• Director: Jamie Patterson
• Writer: Jamie Patterson
• Gross revenue: $23,080 = £16, 734

Tank 432

A group of soldiers are forced to hide out inside an abandoned tank when they come under attack from an unseen enemy. As the forces outside begin to close in, the men realise that the real enemy is already among them.

Cast:

Reeves: Rupert Evans

Capper: Micheal Smiley

Karlsson: Deirdre Mullins

Gantz: Steve Garry

Smith: Gordon Kennedy

Annabella: April Pearson

Evans: Tom Meeten

Prisoner: Georgina Beedle

• Genre: Psychological thriller
• Director: Nick Gillespie
• Writer: Nick Gillespie
• Release date: 24 October 2015
• Estimated budget: £150,000

Making tracks

As Lucy and Chris set off on an interrailing trip, they look forward to rolling countryside and historic city centres.

At first it's all skinny dripping, adventure and nights out. But relationship problems rise to the surface as an attempt at sex on a train goes disastrously wrong - and when it becomes clear that Chris believes an 'al fresco' is a salad.

Chris hides his emotional repression and thoughtlessness behind a wall of childish behaviour, whilst Lucy begins to consider her future. As the trip forces the couple into close quarters, can their relationship survive?

Cast:
Chris Willoughby
April Pearson
Skye Lourie
Lily Donovan 
Jonay Sevillano Regalado
Edouard Fousset
Carli Sandweiss
Ramzi Dehani

• Genre: Comedy
• Director: Jamie Patterson
• Writers: Jamie Patterson, April Pearson, Chris Willoughby, Finn Bruce
• Release date: 18 August 2020

Paul Dood’s deadly lunch break

A weedy charity-shop worker is set on winning the big national talent show. But when the actions of 5 selfish people cause him to miss his audition, he sets out to seek deathly revenge. It's 1 lunch break, 5 spectacular murders.

Cast:

Paul: Tom Meeten

Bronson: Kris Marshall

Clemmie: Katherine Parkinson

Rex: Johnny Vegas

PCSO Miles: Mandeep Dhillon

Jack Tapp: Kevin Bishop

Officer Able: Craig Parkinson

Kath: Alice Lowe

Jayney: Pippa Hawood

Jim: Steve Oram

Bruce: Jarred Christmas

 

Genre: Dark comedy

• Director: Nick Gillespie
• Writers: Brook Driver, Nick Gillespie, Mathew White
• Release date: 17 March 2021 US

Other Projects:

 

Hollow – short film

Sanctuary of collell

Improve your life now – documentary

 

In Pre-Production:

Untitled shrine taylor traveller film – biopic

Untitled festival documentary – behind the scenes documentary

Broken cove – historical drama

Room 17 – romantic drama

Cats in hell – dark comedy

Open heart – inspirational biopic

Untitled child slavery/palm oil project – investigative documentary

Untitled AM/DRAM project – musical comedy

The dealer – crime drama

Festivals:

Independant film companies rely heavily on film festivals because it provides exposure, a source of first income and credibility.

BIFA 2019

Finn Bruce 

  Nomination - Breathrough Producer

 

 Outfest LA 2018

TUCKED - BELSTONE PICTURES

Winner - Grand Jury Prize - Outstanding Narrative Feature

Winner - Audience Award - Outstanding Narrative Feature

 

Naples International Film Festival 2018

TUCKED - BELSTONE PICTURES

Winner - Best Narrative Feature

 

Raindance Film Festival 2018

TRACKS - BELSTONE PICTURES

Nomination - Best Comedy Feature

 

TWIST: Seattle Film Festival 2018

TUCKED - BELSTONE PICTURES

Winner - Grand Jury Prize - Narrative Honourable Mention

Nomination - Audience Award - Favourite Narrative Feature

 

Beloit International Film Festival 2018

TRACKS - BELSTONE PICTURES

Winner - Executive Director's Award

 

Out On Film Festival, Atlanta 2018

TUCKED - BELSTONE PICTURES

Winner - Audience Award - Best Feature

 

Rochester ImageOut 2018

TUCKED - BELSTONE PICTURES

Winner - Jury Award - Special Jury Prize

 

Filmfest Homochrom 2018

TUCKED - BELSTONE PICTURES

Winner - Audience Award - Best Fiction Feature

Websites used for research:

HOME | Belstone Pictures

Tucked (2018) - Plot Summary - IMDb

Paul Dood's Deadly Lunch Break (2021) - IMDb

Making Tracks (2018) - IMDb

Tank 432 (2015) - IMDb

Black Widow and No Time to Die

Black Widow and No Time to Die

No time to die and black widow have an endless list of differences and similarities but when we look at the two films holistically as products they use the same techniques to attract wide audiences and ultimately bring in the most amount of money as possible.

Black widow first started development in 2004 and had a budget of $200 million meaning the planning and organising behind the film would have been carried out in extreme depth and detail. No time to die started developing in early 2016 and had a similar budget of $250 million. Both films had to deal with the struggles of Covid and got pushed back  because of it. The bond film was delayed by around 18 months and finally got released on the 30^th September 2021, this is because the director and producers decided that they didn’t want the film to be released onto any streaming platforms before fans had the opportunity to see it on the big screen, more specifically on the IMAX screen. Black widow was released simultaneously in cinemas and on streaming platforms. Scarlett Johansson sued Disney for this because she was promised a ‘theatrical release’ which she felt was not achieved because of the release to streaming platforms. It also meant that although the film did incredibly well on the first weekend of being released (earning $218 million), box office receipts started to rapidly fall after this time. Whereas no time to die has earned $121.20 within the first 2 weeks and it has only been released in cinemas which suggests that once it is released onto streaming platforms this number will increase rapidly.

Both films heavily relied on their marketing strategies to keep their audiences interested during the delays. Black widow had a marketing budget of $150 million. When the film was first announced in 2019 at the San Diego Comic-Con sneak peaks of footage was released from the first 30 days of filming and cast members started promoting the film via social media. The first teaser trailer was released that December and got the attention of fans all over the world and various critics who praised it for being ‘surprisingly emotional’ and highlighting its spy thriller tone. One critic, Mendelson, found the trailer to be an improvement over the teaser, attributing this to its theme of "found families, forced families and actual family". After the announcement of the delay the marketing team paused their campaign and decided to build a new approach to the film. Rather than focusing on Black widow in her black costume as before they began spotlighting her in her white suit and her legacy as an avenger, this meant that posters now had two different approaches that appealed to different audiences and therefore attracted more people to the film. Pre-sold elements also contribute to the marketing because the Black Widow comic books and her appearance in other marvel films means the film will already have a fan base that will be talking about the films release on social media which means more people hear about it and come to see it. The Bond film had a similar approach first releasing a teaser trailer, then multiple trailers, however the Bond film was delayed for a far longer time than Black Widow meaning they had to try even harder to hold and attract audience attention. They did this by producing multiple different posters and made deals with different brands for example Heineken that kept mentioning the film whenever that brand was advertised. Some of the posters tailor to people who prefer the more vintage approach to the bond films with the classic 007 behind Daniel Craig dramatically holding a gun or the comic book drawing effect to the image. Whereas others take a more modern approach for example the heavily edited poster that includes multiple characters and a mysterious atmosphere to ensure you know what genre the film. This being Daniel Craigs last Bond film had an impact on the marketing as well because it meant that no matter how delayed it was fans would still wait to watch it because they had looked forward to it and followed the bond franchise for a long time. Like Black Widow, there are also pre-sold element for the Bond film with the Ian Fleming books and all the previous films. This attracts a huge fan base that crosses multiple generations which ensures a following and again that it will be talked about on social media and spread by word of mouth. Using Billie Eilish to sing the opening song caused massive publicity because she won a Grammy for it, became the youngest artist to sing the Bond opening and the film now appealed to her fan base around the world.

There is various product placement in both films. In the Bond film there is: 

• Triumph motorcycles
• Omega watches
• Moscot glasses
• Land rover SUV
• Aston Martin cars
• Nokia phones

In Black Widow there is: 

• CCM motorcycles
• TOV Artich Vodka
• Chevrolet
• Ford
• Piper aircraft
• Lada
• Dell technology
• Microsoft
• BMW

Both of the films are very high concept and have all the aspects associated with this like the A-list cast such as Scarlett Johansson and Florence Pugh and then Daniel Craig and Rami Malek. This makes the film seem more credible as people know that these actors are talented and have been in successful films in the past which promises that their future films will also be successful and high grossing. The stunts for the Bond film relied on hiring all the right people rather than CGI for example the motorcycle jump that happened when Bond came around a corner, onto a narrow street filled with parishioners exiting church, so he aims left, rockets up a long stone staircase and launches over the stone wall at the top. This stunt was performed by Paul Edmondson five time world eduro bike champion and the stunt was completed on his 50^th birthday which was very impressive. However unlike the Bond film, Black Widow had a large amount of CGI involved in scenes that may or may not have been noticeable for example de-aging David Harbour and Rachel Weisz during the flashback sequence and in the final action scene where Natasha (Scarlett Johansson) is sliding down a solar panel that is falling through the sky a mix of GCI techniques was used. Johansson was in full costume sliding down a blue ramp, digital effects supervisor Hanzhi Tang said "There’s a lot of stuff going on in this shot. Scarlett Johansson was filmed in a full Black Widow costume sliding down a blue ramp. That’s the plate.” However, she typically might not do the full move as was needed for this shot. Because her body actions didn’t line up exactly with the solar panel or the pose, from the neck down, it’s been replaced by the digi-double version of Black Widow. And because her hair would have just gone in front of her face, that also needed to be replaced in CG.” No time to die was filmed in many different countries including Italy, England, Scotland, Norway, Faroe Islands and Jamaica. Black Widow was shot in Norway, Hungary, Morocco, UK and US and filming locations included Macon, Georgia; RAF Upper Heyford, Oxfordshire; Sæbø, Ørsta; Budapest, Hungary. Filming in all these different countries spreads news about the films all around the world.

In the past the two films have been focused mainly on action and in black widow’s case the sexualisation of her body for a male target audience. This has changed in recent years to shift the focus to include the emotions and the backstory of the characters. For Bond this meant giving the audience a look into his relationship with his girlfriend and their history together. Natasha in black widow has often been over sexualised with her wearing very tight suits with a zipper that always seem to stop mid chest level and the audience never really got much information about her life story and her relationships. The new film focuses on Natasha’s family and how and why she grew up the way she did while still having plenty of action. I far prefer it when films focus on the characters emotions because it allows you to build a connection with them and in Natasha’s case when she dies in Endgame it has a far bigger impact on the audience if we are emotionally invested. (spoiler! They do this in Bond too when he dies at the end) It definitely targets a slightly different audience because after my family watched Black Widow together my dad ended up falling asleep while my sister, mum and I absolutely loved it. I think it is good that they made the film with the non-male audience in mind because ultimately in means bringing a larger audience demographic into the Marvel universe and if you watch one film you are likely to watch another one.

Websites used for research:

Black Widow (2021 film) - Wikipedia

No Time to Die - Wikipedia

No Time to Die (2021) - IMDb

Black Widow (2021) - IMDb
 

Dead Mans Shoes

 Dead Mans Shoes 

Director: Shane Meadows

The opening title sequence of 'dead man’s shoes' starts with a black screen and a gentle non-diegetic sound track of a British folk/country song. This immediately sets a nostalgic, reminiscent atmosphere. Which is then proven correct when different shots of old home video footage that has a scratchy warm filter over the top. This feels inviting,comfortable and familiar to the audience as everyone has some form of experience of watching old videos or looking at family photos from years ago. It then cross cuts to a wide shot of two men walking in the countryside. The cross cutting tells us that they men walking are most likely the boys in the home videos as babies. This is enforced when a dissolve is used to connect the shot of them walking to a home video of two babies hugging which makes us think that the two men are brothers. In all of the shots the brothers are walking from right to left and away from us which tells us they are perhaps returning home or are on a journey to somewhere familiar.                          

The younger brother dressed in black appears to be following the other brother suggesting the older brother is more dominant and the distance between them tells us their relationship might be strained. The long distance of the path and depth of field emphasises the long journey. The old video footage of the Christmas trees connotes that perhaps they struggled with money due to the small tree. We also notice that the brother dressed in green is carrying an army duffel bag which brings with it hints of violence and pain that may have come with being in the army. This contrasts the atmosphere that has been set by the soundtrack and the old home movies. The two brothers are dressed in opposite colours and never once look at each other or speak to each other, this makes it clear that something must have happened between them to cause this and intruiges the audience becuase they want to find out what it is. Once they arrive to their destination they walk into the distance and the shot fades to black. 

IMAX

IMAX

Features:

• Laser aligned audio placement
• Bright, detailed clarity in the images
• 40% more image than other cinemas
• 346 seat plus 8 on the sides
• 18 x 24m screen
• 70mm film stock
• Film runs through camera and projector horizontally instead of vertically
• 12k resolution

Company from Toronto that started as an experimental film company. They have their own line of high-resolution cameras, film formats, projectors and theatres. They create film images that makes you feel like you are in the movie. The first permanent IMAX was established in May 1971 and they started to go public in 1994.

Specific IMAX created movies are far better to be seen in IMAX theatres which tries to cancel out the competition of streaming companies. The key cinema audience is around 16-24 and IMAX provides an opportunity to make film watching a social event.

Key facts:

• IMAX film stock has 15 perforations instead of the regular 5 perforations
• Vertically shot on large noisy cameras can only shoot 30s – 2mins of 12k footage at a time
• Projectors use a unique xenon arc lamp that is extremely sensitive
• 1500 IMAX in the world spread over 80 countries
• Two projectors run simultaneously
• Bigger picture = better clarity 
• Only uses IMAX cameras for specific scenes in large production films

Websites used for research:

IMAX | The World’s Most Immersive Movie Experience.

IMAX - Wikipedia

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 and Stranger than Fiction

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.2

Genre: Sci-fi, comedy, action

Director: James Gunn

In the opening title scene of Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 2 Groot is in focus on the left hand side trying to plug in the music while in the background a huge fight is taking place. Despite being blurred it is impossible to mistake the fight scene occurring behind Groot. The fuzzy background ensures that our focus remains on Groot and adds humour to the scene because of how unaffected Groot is. The titles appear straight away in neon blue lettering making them unmissable, the blue is also keeping in theme with the colour palette chosen for the main title. Once Groot manages to plug the aux cord in ‘Mr. Blue Sky’, an 80s pop song starts playing. This acts as the scenes soundtrack and sound bridge even though it is diegetic. When the main title appears the shot freezes with Groot dancing and then while still being frozen the camera moves 90* so that we have a different composition when the action starts again. The scene is continuous and has no cuts so the camera tracks Groot’s movement. The song is contrapuntal to the scene but synchronous to Groot’s dancing. After the tentacle of the monster lands behind him the camera quickly moves backwards into a wide shot and the background is no longer blurred. Groot has various interactions with the other characters; for both Peter and Gamora the camera takes a wide shot and for Drax the camera goes into a close up so we can clearly see Groot’s eye movement in response to Drax’s stare that seems to say ‘stop getting in the way’. Gamora says ‘Groot get out of the way, you’re gonna get hurt … hi’ before flying back into action this again adds humour but it also tells the audience that Groot is very much like a baby that the characters always worry about. The rest of the scene continues to follow Groot as he explores and dances while everyone else fights. The CGI and colours used immediately tell us that this is a sci-fi film on another planet. The vibrant constantly changing colours creates a disco effect for Groot as he is dancing which adds to the comedy that has already been established through Groot not bothered by the violence. The colour palette consist of bright purple, pink, orange, blue and green. The vibrancy of the colours makes for an exciting almost hypnotic effect which both works harmoniously with the scene and juxtaposes it at the same time. The colours add to the excitement of the fight behind but also contrast to the violence of it. The orbs of orange fire are beautiful but also dangerous as one of them explodes this could be foreshadowing the events to come with the people whom the planet belongs to.  

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 

Stranger than Fiction

Genre: Fantasy, Comedy, Drama

Director: Marc Forester

The opening title scene of ‘stranger than fiction’ starts with the camera rapidly zooming in onto a wrist watch. As it is moving past all of the buildings various non-diegetic sound effects are played such as a dog barking and a clock chiming to give the effect of the busy city early in the morning. Once we see the watch face the asynchronous voiceover starts, at this point the voiceover is non-diegetic. The wide shot of his dark and immaculately tidy bedroom suggests that he is perhaps obsessive before the voiceover even says anything. The camera then goes inside his mouth and we see him brushing his teeth in the mirror while a pleonastic sound effect of brushing is played. The close ups of him brushing his teeth combined with the upbeat curious music and the editing of putting multiple shots into one shot in a collage adds comedy to the scene because it makes such a mundane task seem interesting. The camera tracks his movement as he walks to work and talks to his co-workers. This interaction is not particularly social as all he is asked is to solve a maths problem they were having, the director demonstrates how his brain works by projecting numbers onto the screen to show him counting his brush strokes or solving the math problem. We find ourselves asking why he is like this and how it affects his life. Later the voiceover tells us that he is very lonely which makes the audience sympathise for him and we make the assumption that he is lonely because of how obsessive he is. When he brushes his teeth for the second time there is an over the shoulder shot so we can see him in the mirror of him listening to his toothbrush to try and figure out where the ‘voice’ is coming from. This has an interesting effect because not only is it hilarious that he is listening to his toothbrush with a completely straight and serious face but the audience feels as though we are invading his privacy in a way because the over the shoulder shot makes it seem as if we are watching him. It is at this point that the voiceover is no longer non-diegetic but diegetic as it is revealed that he can hear the voice. This is enigmatic because we immediately ask ‘where is the voice coming from’, ‘who does it belong to’, ‘why can he hear it but no one else’. These questions keep the audience hooked as the film continues.