Tuesday, 1 December 2015
Wednesday, 25 November 2015
Image of renderd out plane from Maya Tuesday, 10 November 2015
Monday, 2 November 2015
Eragon
● First image from the DVD cover.
● Second from the Christmas poster when it
was released on to TVs
The two reviews i found
and my own critical analysis on comparing and looking at the differences in the
two reviews
A critical analysis
review of the film Eragon
Eragon was one of the worst
reviewed films of 2006; 16% of reviews by critics were positive with an average
rating of 4.1/10 at Rotten
Tomatoes stated.
The consensus reads "Written by a teenager (and it shows), Eragon presents nothing new to the
"hero's journey" story archetype. In movie terms, this movie looks
and sounds like Lord of the Rings and
plays out like a bad Star Wars
rip-off...the makers of Eragon should
soon be expecting an annoyed phone call from George Lucas. “The Seattle Times described the film as "technically
accomplished, but fairly lifeless and at times a bit silly”. The Hollywood Reporter said the world
of Eragon was "without much
texture or depth." The story was labelled "derivative" by The Washington Post, and
"generic" by the Las Vegas
Weekly. Newsday stressed this
point further, asserting that only "nine-year-olds with no knowledge
whatsoever of any of the six Star Wars
movies would find the film original." The acting was called
"lame" by the Washington Post,
plus "stilted" and "lifeless" by the Orlando Weekly. The
dialogue was also criticized, with MSNBC labelling it "silly"; the Las Vegas Weekly called it
"wooden".
Positive reviews described the film as "fun" and "the
stuff boys' fantasies are made of. “The CGI work was called
"imaginative" and Saphira was called a "magnificent creation.
“Christopher Pauline stated he enjoyed the film, particularly praising the
performances of Jeremy Irons and Edward Speleers.
A biased review on the film
Eragon
I saw this with a friend of mine over the weekend in a press screening
and I really did not enjoy it. The special effects are fine but the story is
rather hammy and the performances are not very good. The main character looks
like a deer in headlights most of the time and the villains acts like cartoon
stereotypes more than real characters. Most of the characters here seem like
rejects from other films and it shows by how unoriginal they were. The only
performance in the film that has any credibility what so ever is the dragon
Saphira and that's mainly because she is voiced by Oscar winning actress Rachel
Weisz, who has more talent in her vocal cords than all the actors working in
this film combined.
Comparing the critical analysis review of the film Eragon and also
including the biased review in my own critical analysis review.
Introduction my own critical analysis review on both the reviews i found
on the film Eragon which i will write my own review once I have watched the
film. This helps me decide what kind of review i would like to write and which
one would be fair more than a biased review. I will also in my own review i
will add the plot in as I know Eragon isn't a popular film. In this critical analysis
review though i am comparing and looking and the differences between two types
of reviews one is a critical analysis of the film like this one and one is a
biased review of the film Eragon.
The things that are similar from the two reviews are that they both give
reasons why the film was bad and what it looked like. However with the biased
review that was only one person's opinion. Meanwhile the critical analysis
review gave different opinions from many different medias from different places
around the world and many of them said the same begin the film could either
improve or it was so good there was no need for improvement and most of the
comments were not biased at all and they were fair to each side of the argument
on the critical analysis review of Eragon. The main things that stuck out that
are different between the two reviews was that on the critical review that I
read. In the very beginning of the review it gave a lot of facts about other
people and reviews that people had written and how they stranded out to be good
or bad in other opinions from the media. Giving it a 4.1/10 which only comes to
that conclusion from a non-biased review from other parts of the media.
Their opinions from both the reviews might differ because the media that
wrote the critical analysis review had more opinions and the people that wrote
they could had seen the film in a different perspective seeing its floors and
its positives as a piece of art for example one of the positives that was set
about the film Eragon was that the dragon in the film called “Saphira was a
magnificent creation” Which was from a media magazine which got different
opinions from other people making it a non-biased statement by the media. Linking
to that the biased review was only written by one person making it hard to see
what the full opinion of the film was as she states in her review that she
thought the acting in the film was “not very good” not to say her review or her
opinion was bad. However she did not give both sides she just said the film was
bad and did not make a fair statement for the film. Also saying the only bit
that was good in the end of her review was the voice acting of Saphira the
dragon which both reviews picked up on and said that it was well done either
the voice acting or the creation of the dragon itself which the critical review
mentioned at the end along with some other non-biased statements on the film.
However their opinions are similar in some ways this seems to be a
strong statement that all reviews I have looked at for this film state that it
needed improvement in one aspect or another. Including the critical analysis
review i found and the biased review they both said it could had needed
improvement which isn't a bad statement. Including they did make at least one
bad point and one good point in both the reviews.
The style of the reviews are different to for example the critical
analysis review had links and add on to the review to the Medias that wrote the
statements about the film. The biased review on the other hand had none of that
only had her thoughts on the webpage and said nothing about anyone else's
reviews or statements not even her friends opinion or statement about the film
itself which I thought she would had added in to help it make it a less of a non-biased
review.
The similarities of both the reviews styles would be they both make good
points about the film for example the statements in the critical analysis
review were not made up because they were either facts or other people’s
opinions. Including the biased review her information was also correct as it
was how she felt about the film as a hole in her opinion though that is what
was different.
To conclude both reviews have very strong different opinions but both
could had been correct as in the biased review she isn't wrong to say her own
opinion however it is very biased as it is only her opinion. Also the bad
statements from the media's critical analysis are also correct as they are lots
of other people's opinions however that review also added facts and detail to
also the good things even though there are not many they still payed attention
to the good parts to the film a lot more than the biased review.
My own review on the film
Eragon
The Plot of the film
Arya, an
elf and princess of Elsmere, runs for her life with a "stone" stolen
from the evil king, Galbatorix. She is surrounded by a ring of fire created by a Shade
(dark sorcerer) called Durza, and to protect the stone from him she uses her magic to
send it to a distant forest, where Eragon (Ed Speleers), a 15-year-old farm boy
from the small village of Carvahall in the country of Alagaësia, is hunting for
food. When the stone magically appears before him, he takes it to his hometown
in hopes of trading it for food. After he brings it home, he realizes it is an
egg, as a blue dragon hatches from it. As he reaches to touch the dragon, a
magical mark is burned into his palm, magic that is felt all across the land by
those who have a connection to legend of the dragon, mainly Arya, a former
dragon rider named Brom, and Galbatorix himself. Eragon tries to keep the
dragon and take care of it until Galbatorix sends his monstrous minions, the
Ra'zac, to capture Eragon and the dragon. Eragon sends the dragon into the sky
so she may learn to fly, which she succeeds before she returns to him fully
grown due to her magic. She reveals herself to him that her name is Saphira,
and that they are able to hear each other's thoughts. After seeing the Ra'zac
in town, Eragon hurries home to protect his uncle, but Saphira picks him up and
tells him that the Ra'zac are after him. When he gets home, Eragon finds his
uncle dead and blaming Saphira, he sends her away. As he mourns over his
uncle's body, Brom arrives, and asks Eragon to call his Saphira. After a brief
scuffle, Brom implores Eragon to leave town, which they do after Brom sets fire
to his uncle's barn, burning his remains.
On the way to see the
rebel freedom fighters devoted to destroying Galbatorix called the Varden,
Eragon learns that he and Saphira have a special attachment like other dragon
riders, and that if he dies, she will die as well. Brom also tells him that he
is not fully ready to face the Ra'zac or Durza, and starts training him in
sword-fighting and magic. On the way they take shelter in a small village,
where a fortune-teller tells Eragon that a woman is calling her name so that he
can save her and that his path is full of deadly obstacles. Soon they are
attacked by Galbatorix's servants, the Urgals, but Eragon unintentionally
produces magic that wipes them out, but the strain of doing this causes him to
fall unconscious. Eragon soon learns how to produce small scale magic and to
bond his powers with Saphira.
After seeing Ra'zac fall,
Durza uses his black magic on Arya, setting a trap to lure Eragon. Even after
Brom's warning, Eragon arrives to rescue Arya, but is confronted by Durza.
During their battle, Durza magically hurls a spear at Eragon, but Brom throws
himself in its path and is mortally wounded. Eragon shoots an arrow into
Durza's head, causing him to disappear. The trio escapes, and Brom dies of his
wounds while flying on the wings of a dragon one last time.
Following the way to
find the Varden, Eragon takes oath so that he may fulfil Brom's destiny: to
overthrow the tyrannical empire of the evil king, Galbatorix. As Arya goes weak
from Durza's poison, Eragon confronts a hooded figure that has been following
him. He reveals himself to be Murtagh, who offers to take them to the Varden.
Once there, the Varden welcome the new rider, but expose Murtagh for what he
really is, the son of the traitorous Morzan, who betrayed the dragon riders?
Eragon, Saphira, Arya, and the Varden prepare for war as Durza and his men
surround the rebel camp. The Varden fight Galbatorix's forces as Eragon and
Saphira duel in the skies with Durza, flying on a shadowy beast of dark magic.
Eragon and Saphira kill Durza, but not before Saphira is mortally wounded in
the battle. Eragon uses his magic to heal her wounds and once again passes out
from the strain.
The following morning,
Eragon awakes with Murtagh at his side. He calls for Saphira, fearing she might
have died from the battle, but she appears fully healed. They fly off together
to catch up with Arya, who is on her way to Ellesméra to help lead the elves
against Galbatorix in the coming war. She calls Eragon "Shadeslayer"
and bids him goodbye. Meanwhile, in Galbatorix's castle, angered that his men
were defeated by a mere boy, the King rips off a curtain, revealing his pitch
black dragon, Shruikan, who breathes fire.
In my opinion the plot
for the film is very good. However it is very non original the main story line
is saving a woman and beating a bad king who treats its people bad a rebellion
stands up against the king and his power the king loses and therefore forces to
attack more some parts are original adding dragons is but the main storyline in
my opinion is not so original in the director's part. The techniques to engage
the views are very good because they have gone for a fantasy style which is
getting the people out of the real world and into a made up world which will
attract a lot of viewers in my opinion. The message and purpose of this film is
to show a world where dragons are real and also make a film that also is based
on the book Eragon that was made a couple of years before to make a film better
or as good as the book itself. Image of the book cover:
Facts about the film
●
Release date was 12 December 2006
●
Recorded in 2005 and
beginning of 2006
●
The Producer Patrick
Doyle,Maggie Rodford
●
Budget for the film was
$100 million they actually spent $249.50
●
Where they filmed Eragon
was In August 2005, Fox began filming Eragon
at various locations throughout Hungary and Slovakia, including:
●
Pilisborosjenő, Budapest
Metropolitan Area, Hungary
●
Budapest, Hungary
●
Ság-hegy, Hungary
●
Celldömölk, Hungary
●
High Tatras, Slovakia
Filming ended a month
later in September, beginning the film's post-production stage, with Industrial
Light & Magic creating the film's CGI.
The decision was made
later on in production to add feathers to the standard bat-like wings of the
dragon Saphira. The studio had been inspired by the Angel's wings in X-Men: The Last Stand. Jean Bolte, lead viewpoint
artist for ILM on the film, calls them "sketchers" (half-feathers,
half-scales) and was inspired by the scales of the pangolin. It was eventually decided
that Saphira's colours scheme should be subdued rather than vibrant in order to
be more realistic.
Background and
information on the film Eragon
Development: Plans to
create a film based on Christopher Paolini's best-selling novel were first
announced in February 2004. 20th Century Fox purchased the rights to Eragon. Screenwriter Peter Buchman,
whose credits include Jurassic Park III, wrote the screenplay. Buchman, a fan of fantasy and
science fiction literature and films, says he was "blown away" by the
author's precociousness, his mastery of plot lines and characters, and his
ability to create several completely imaginary worlds.
Casting for the film
Eragon
Speleers was selected
for the title role after a worldwide casting search. "Ed came into the
casting session], and we just looked at each other and said, "That's Eragon, that's the guy from the
book," said director Stefen Fangmeier: "I got a strong sense of Ed's
sparkle, of his life. It's the kind of thing where you just know he's destined
to become a movie star. Speleers won the role as he was trying to learn his
lines for a school production of Hamlet.
Others considered for the role included Alex Pettyfer but since production took
place in central Europe and Pettyfer is afraid of flying, he declined the role.
On July 15, 2005, in
an official press release from 20th Century Fox, it was confirmed that Speleers
had signed on to the project. Over the following months, Jeremy Irons, John
Malkovich, Chris Egan, and Djimon Hounsou were all confirmed as joining the Eragon cast. Paolini, author of the
original novel, had expressed his wishes to be featured in a cameo role in the
film — specifically, as a warrior who is beheaded in the battle of Farthen Dûr.
However, he was unable because of his European book tour.
Jeremy Irons, who
welcomed the opportunity to reintroduce himself to younger audiences, took on
the role although Dungeons & Dragons
(a previous fantasy film he had acted in) had flopped, and he said that he
thought that Eragon "had been better managed" than that film.
How the film uses
techniques to enhance and convey his message and purpose for the film for
example
Colours of the film
are mainly blues greens and when the bad guys are around blacks and reds light
colours for the heroes and dark for the bad guys. To give clear indication of
the hero's and bad guys the dragon in the film is ocean blue to show she is not
a dark dragon like the kings the bad in the film.
However in my opinion
and also my family's opinion is similar to mine they agree that the colours of
Saphira the dragon are very easy to see from the very begin when she is a baby
dragon that she is a good guys dragon than a bad one. Like for example the
king's dragon or Durza's dragon he creates out of dark magic.
Image of Durza’s
dragon:
Dark dragon to show an
evil character and to help portray more of a character that does not care who
he kills he kills for joy and the dragon and the black and red colours portray
this every well in my opinion.
Image of the king's
(named Galbatorix) dragon: The colours are red and the dragon itself is dark
and dust texture which is a great idea by the producer that came up with the
idea because you only see the dragon once at the end of the film which adds suspense
and you have heard about what the dragons are like and how they work by
following Saphira and Eragon the boy on their journey through their own
friendship.
Over all the colours
in the film go from light to dark a lot to change the atmosphere and the suspense
which in my own opinion makes the film full of action and makes it more of a
memorable film?
The Style of the film:
The style of the film
is very Fantasy and a style that is very Dundunge and dragon like as a film.
The film is also very spaced and is an very open film to changes in the story
as it is a simple story to take on saving a loved one and killing all the bad
things that have been created by one big bad boss. The art style in the film is
very realistic almost down to the dragons in my opinion as that's what most
people vision dragons would look like if they were real. Also the back story to
the whole film is told at the beginning with a lot of action and information
that is clear to understand. In my opinion the style of fantasy in a film is my
favourite type of genre of film. For example another film is How to train your
dragon and the Hobbit.
The space and camera
view also the outside space and the scenes space
One angle the camera
was aimed at a actor in the film Eragon:
The scene itself was filmed
in the open planes of Pilisborosjenő, Budapest Metropolitan Area, and Hungary
●
Budapest, Hungary
●
Ság-hegy, Hungary
●
Celldömölk, Hungary
●
High Tatras, Slovakia
There was no actual
studio as everything was filmed outside. However there was a number of camera
angles aimed at the actors to get the best shots of their full emotion or anger
they had to feel of that part of the film. Also front face shots most of the
time were used in the film for the dragon to show battle ready or just angry
for example:
This image and camera angle in my opinion is the best one
in the film as it shows lots of detail in the face of the dragon Saphira and
it's one of the first close up camera angles you see head on of her head and it
shows that in the film dragons have all sorts of emotions through their riders
and this scene just from this camera angle i think is the best way to see how
she feels about what they are discussing a close up shot of her face head
on.
I could not find from
research of the film about the geographical space and how it was presented as
the whole film was not filmed in a studio it was filmed outside in the
environment the producers wanted it in to give the best effect possible for the
film.
Graphics used in the
making of Eragon
Industrial Light & Magic was used to help make the film and therefore there
computer graphics made the film. Industrial light & magic is an American
Academy Award-winning motion picture visual effects company that was founded in
May 1975 by George Lucas. It is a division of the film production company, Lucas
film, which Lucas founded, and was created when Lucas began production of the
film Star Wars. For many years,
particularly during the widespread inception of computer graphics in film
during the 1980s, Industrial Light & Magic was considered the leading
industry standard production house for computer graphics in film. It is also
the original founder company of the animation studio Pixar.
Industrial Light &
Magic originated in Van Nuys, California, then later moved to San Rafael in
1978, and since 2005 it has been based at the Letterman Digital Arts Centre in
the Presidio of San Francisco. In 2012, The Walt Disney Company acquired ILM as
part of its purchase of Lucas film. The graphics for the film in my opinion are
very good for its time the film was made in 2006 also it's also still up to
date and does not look old even to date as the graphics used for the film have
stood the test of time and the film still looks great in my opinion. Also doing
further research on the films graphics similar graphics used to create the
dragon Saphira to look more lifelike the same method was used in the helping to
make the dragons in How to train you dragon.
Animation Style
There is no Animation
style to this film as it was all made and done by actors and also Computer
graphics. This is not an animated film. However the dragons in this film were
animated and were created using 3D models put together by the artist that
created concept art for the dragons for example here is Saphira's concept art
for the film:
And
also what the producers wanted the actors to wear in the film for example Galbatorix:
In my opinion the concept art isn't great from how the film actually
turned out but the 3D models of Saphira in the end looked amazing in my opinion
and other people did agree with me also in the other reviews most people said
the good thing about the film was the 3D model of the dragons all of them but
most of all Saphira.
Music and Sound in the film Eragon
The music in the film in my opinion and my family's is that it fits in
very well with the atmosphere they are trying to create at different parts in
the film the names of the tracks are:
Eragon"
"Roran
Leaves"
"Saphira's First
Flight"
"Ra'zac"
"Burning Farm"
"Fortune
Teller"
"If You Were
Flying"
"Brom's
Story"
"Durza"
"Passing the
Flame"
"Battle for
Varden"
"Together"
"Saphira
Returns"
"Legend of
Eragon"
"Keep Holding
On" – Avril Lavigne
"Once in Every
Lifetime" – Jem
Most of the songs are
composed by Patrick Doyle who also did the score of 2005's Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Avril Lavigne also recorded
the theme song for the film, entitled "Keep Holding On"(notes below),
which was featured in the credits and on the soundtrack. The track was released
as a single in 2006. Also in my opinion i think the music they made for the
film is a beautiful track and most of the tracks are calm and very nice to
listen even when you're not watching the film as just a single playlist.
Mechanics for Eragon
I did some research on the mechanics for the film however i could not
find any specific mechanics for the film as everything was 3D model or concept
art then they made the concept art and 3D models of the dragons as the film the
actors wore the clothes the cast made them and read scripts that the directors
wrote and acted the scene out there was no mechanics for the film. However
there is a game of the film that did have mechanics. The details for the mechanics for the game based off the film and book
are the majority of the game is taken up by third-person
combat, usually on foot. At the start of the game the player can use four
"combo" attacks. Additionally, they can use three basic magic
attacks: magic push/pull, magic shield, and magic fire. These three magic
attacks can be utilised in different ways (for example, braising arrows, or
throwing spears in baskets magically). On the PC and console versions
(excluding the Xbox 360 version) there are sixteen levels. Some
missions permit the player to use the dragon Saphira in combat. The gameplay
mechanics within these levels are largely similar to those in ground-based
levels, with the exception of some different attack moves (such as tail
attacks). Protagonist Eragon sits on Saphira's back during these sections, and
can be made to fire magic arrows. The player has no choice as to whether or not
they use Saphira. Similarly, the player cannot use Saphira in ground-based
levels: they can call for her and she will swoop past, but it is not possible
to use this feature to ride Saphira. There is a multiplayer co-op mode which
allows two people to play through the main storyline. It is possible to switch
from playing a one-player game to a two-player game at any time. There are no
Internet multiplayer options. In my opinion as i have played the game as well
as watched the film the game is more based off the book than the film itself
and isn't the best game i have played as it has no multiplayer. However the
film in my opinion only needed 3D models and actors also a realistic scene
instead of a studio which it had made it a great film anyway.
Acting And Actors
List of actors:
●
Edward Speleers as Eragon
●
Jeremy Irons as Brom
●
Sienna Guillory as Arya
●
Robert Carlyle
as Durza
●
John Malkovich
as Galbatorix
●
Garrett Hedlund
as Murtagh
●
Alun Armstrong as Uncle Garrow
●
Chris Egan as
Roran Garrowson
●
Gary Lewis as
Hrothgar
●
Djimon Hounsou
as Ajihad
●
Rachel Weisz
as the voice of Saphira
●
Richard Rifkin
as Horst
●
Steve Speirs
as Sloan
●
Joss Stone as
Angela
●
Caroline Chikezie
as Nasuada
In my opinion all the
actors and the voices and acting was very good there were no bad noticeable
mistakes in what they were saying i could understand them all very well and
also what they were getting across from there part of the story. All the
characters in Eragon have a back story apart from Durza which as a character he does not have a backstory.
However the other characters the actors portray the way they would move if they
were real very well.
Also the voice for
Saphira was beautifully done in my opinion and my family’s also. Most of the
cast for Eragon are quite young as the centre charterer Eragon the boy is only
17 which he states in the film most of the others are older than him which
makes him look weak and that he is not fit enough to be a dragon rider but the
actor portrays him as he is not weak and that the character Eragon wants to be
as strong as his dragon Saphira which in the end pulls off. Over all i do think
this Film its music graphics acting were it was set as a film even down to the
post created for the film I think it was all beautifully made and also will
stand the test of time in terms of a good film. However there are some floors
to the film being there was only one made and the film left us with a cliff-hanger
and because of so many bad reviews the directors never made a second film which
I do think is sad as the first one may have some issues with the normal un
original story line and also Eragon begin a bit stubborn at times and if they
were going off the book he was never stubborn in the books. Also they missed a
lot of detail that was needed in the film that was in the books that they tried
to base the film on. However in my opinion i do think there should had been a
second one.
Overall I do think I
have written a more critical analysis review on the film Eragon because i have
given my opinion. However I have given my family’s opinion also included lots
of facts on each subject to back up my own opinion so that it does not look
like i am being biased in any way in my own review of this film Eragon. The
things that worked was the 3D models of the dragons and also the well acting of
the actors also the music was very well written i liked the music as it fitted
the emotion in the scene at the time . The things that didn't work so well in
my opinion was that the story could had more action in it which I did not like
so much.
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