Research on Film

I chose to base my preliminary task on a remake of the film Paths of Glory, directed by Stanley Kubrick. I carried out some additional research on the film to assist me in the production of the poster and film trailer.
Paths of Glory is a 1957 American anti-war film by Stanley Kubrick based on the novel of the same name by Humphrey Cobb. Set during World War I, the film stars Kirk Douglas as Colonel Dax, the commanding officer of French soldiers who refused to continue a suicidal attack. Dax attempts to defend them against a charge of cowardice in a court-martial. The book was a minor success when published in 1935, retelling the true-life affair of four French soldiers who were executed to set an example to the rest of the troops. The novel was adapted to stage the same year by Sidney Howard, where it played on Broadway as Paths of Glory. The play was a flop because of its harsh anti-war scenes that alienated the audience, Howard was a WWI veteran and wanted to show the horrors of war. Stanley Kubrick decided to adapt it to the screen after he remembered reading the book when he was younger, purchasing film rights from Cobb’s widow for $10,000. Production took place entirely in Bavaria, Germany, especially at the Schleissheim Palace near Munich. The cast is predominantly men including actors such as Kirk Douglas, Raplh Meeker and Adolphe Menjou. The only female character in the film, a woman who sings “The Faithful Hussar”, was portrayed by German actress Christiane Harlan. She later married director Stanley Kubrick, and the couple remained married until his death in 1999. The film was released in January 1958 and premiered in Munich and Los Angeles. The film was considered a modest box office success, though it did earn Kubrick much critical acclaim. The release of the film and its showing in some parts of Europe was controversial, causing both active and retired military personnel to become offended. The film was nominated for a BAFTA Award under the category Best Film but lost to The Bridge on the River Kwai. The film also won a Jussi Awards’ Diploma of merit. In 1959 the film was nominated for a Writers’ Guild of America Award but ultimately lost. I then downloaded a copy of the poster as shown below to give me ideas.

I notice the colours are very dark with minimal amounts of writing. The props and costume in the poster show the genre of the film and as I don’t have such things to hand I shall create a poster which is less obvious perhaps with an element of mystery to it whilst still importing some elements of the war genre into it. The colour is minimal here apart from the effect of blood which I feel gives a dramatic impact to the poster.
I have also looked at the original film trailer for Paths of Glory and noted down some ideas. Here is the link for the film trailer. http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi76362780
These ideas are straight from the trailer and start to form a few ideas for my own trailer.
Key Quotes:
“Would you like me to suggest what you can do with that promotion?”
“You can go to hell before I apologise to you now or ever again”
“Are you saying that more than half my men will be killed?”
“These executions will be a perfect tonic for the entire division”
“There are few things more fundamentally encouraging and stimulating than seeing someone else die”
“Where in heavens name are they?!”
“Miserable cowards”
Reviews
“Unquestionably the finest American film of the year…extraordinary achievement” Saturday Review
“Amongst the finest ever made…don’t miss it!” Coronet
Sound (ClipArt)
‘Tortured at the gallows’ *screams*
‘Helicopter low’; ‘large jet’; ‘jet landing’ ‘bomb explosion’; ‘war fireworks’ *war*
Costume
Soldiers’ helmet
Brown jacket/uniform
Gun/weapon