Music

Once Ms Moore told me to look at music, I started to listen to some of the soundtrack. AND I found out the dude who does the music for Saw is an ex-band member of Nine Inch Nails! The soundtrack turns out to be much more listenable than non-metal fans might think at first glance. This isn't the type of hard rock that strives for screaming vocals and overly heavy guitar. Instead, there's a general sense of anger and struggle running through these tracks that plays nicely under the surface of the music rather than straight up front.

Saw - The Game?!

An action, horror video game currently in development by Brash Entertainment for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, Wii and Xbox 360. It is an adaption of the film series, and has a tentative release date of October 2009.



It will use the Unreal Engine 3 as licensed by Epic Games (Gears of War). Throughout the game, the player character is expected to make use of a number of weapons. The game was first presented at a Brash Entertainment press event early this year where a teaser trailer was played which portrayed Billy the Puppet preaching to reporters about their wasted lives. Oren Koules, the series producer has revealed that the characters featured in the video game will be voiced by the corresponding actors who portrayed them in the films. It has also been confirmed that Charlie Clouse, who composed the music for each of the films, will reprise his role for the game's soundtrack, as well (yay). On 14 November 2008, Bloody-Disgustin reported that Brash Entertainment would be ceasing operations dye to financial difficulties. It further reported that since Brash Entertainment was developing Saw: The Videogame with Twisted Pictures, the game may be left in a "possible state of limbo",



Brash promises that the game 'will have its own unique storyline, while answering questions left unanswered by the films'. The firm says it is 'working closely' with film companies Lions Gate and Twisted Pictures, as well as the creators of the Saw franchise.

Critical Reception

Saw
Critical responses were mixed. It earned a 46% rating from Rotten Tomatoes! and a 29% rating from the most esteemed professional critics, qualifying it as "rotten" =[
Despite the mixed critical response, the movie attracted a strong following and spawned over 4 sequels!
Critic Roger Ebert called the film "an efficiently made thriller" but "finally not quite worth the ordeal it puts us through". Carla Meyer (The San Francisco Chronicle) wrote that the film "[combined] B-movie acting with a twisted mind-set and visual tricks designed to camouflage cheap effects” and that it was “terrifying at some moments an insinuatingly creepy at many others”.

http://uk.rottentomatoes.com/m/saw/

WHAT IS SHE ON ABOUT?! Saw was gooooood. It had a suprising twist, silly critics ><" Saw II

Critics found Jigsaw's diabolic "games" to require a large amount of planning and fortuitous timing in order to succeed, even more so than in the previous film. Tobin Bell (Jigsaw - the creepy old man) addressed some of these criticisms by saying, "My sense is that [Jigsaw] is so detail oriented that I think he thinks in terms of worst case scenario. I think he's a very good judge of character, so his sense that, for example, that Detective Matthews was going to play right into his trap, which he did, was right on. Now, it seems to me that he's got plan 2 always in place. And there's probably been a number of plan 2s. I mean, we've only seen three movies. Maybe there are six more somewhere where he failed, where something didn't play out".

(Perhaps a little biased, but Jigsaw owns!)

According to Rotten Tomatoes, the rating of this film was only 36% with several reviewers revolted by the explicit gore and torture scenes. (people are weenies!) Of the few critics who provided positive reviews, some remarked that it was a worthy follow-up providing plently of what fans of the first expected. (DAMN RIGHT!)

The film garnered far more positive reception with the public than tha critics (because critics are losers who don't like anything). It currently holds a rating of 74% by users at Rotten Tomatoes, and a score of 6.8 at the Internet Movie Database.

http://uk.rottentomatoes.com/m/saw_ii/

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0432348/

Saw III
At screening in the UK, three people were reported to have fainted at seperate cinemas, resulting in ambulances needing to be called. (AGAIN, people are such weenies!)

Rotten Tomatoes gave the film a 26% rating, qualifying it as "Rotten".

http://uk.rottentomatoes.com/search/full_search.php?search=Saw+III

Saw IV

Critical reception was generally negative. The holds a rating of 18% on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 16 reviews.

http://uk.rottentomatoes.com/m/saw_4/

On Metacritic, the film has an average score of 36 out of 100, based on 16 reviews.

http://www.metacritic.com/film/titles/saw4

Scott Schueller (Los Angeles Times) called it "a film as edgy as a rubber knife" (BURN!) and said that "if the terrible craft of Bousman's film doesn't turn your stomach, the borderline pornographic violence will. It's disconcerting to imagine anyone enjoying the vile filth splashing the screen".

Frank Scheck (The Hollywood Reporter) said "the famously inventive torture sequences here seem depleted of imagination", but added that "it hasn't yet jumped the shark like such predecessors as the Nightmare on Elm Street and Friday the 13th moves eventually did.

Peter Hartlaub (The San Francisco Chronicle) called it "the Syriana of slasher films, so complicated and circuitous that your only hope of understanding everything is to eat lots of fish the night before an then watch each of the pervious films, in order, right before you enter the theater".

Positive reviews came from Scott Weinberg (Fearnet), who said that while it "is almost certainly the weakest of the series where stuff like plot, logic, and chills are concerned...there's still more than enough here to keep the fans intrigued, entertained, and squirming in their seats" (WOO) and added that the "Saw-makers are to be commended for actually putting forth this sort of effort".

I agree with this, the Saw series in comparison to cheap horror sequels such as Halloween 5 and Friday the 13th Part 7 have actually done pretty well. The writers ACTUALLY care about narrative continuity, even right down to the smallet detail! & this is fairly impressive.

Saw V
The film received generally negative reviews from critics. The review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported that 12% of critics gave the film positive reviews, based on 57 reviews - with the consensus that "if its plot were as interesting as its torture devices, or its violence less painful than its performances, perhaps Saw V might not feel like it was running on fumes".

http://uk.rottentomatoes.com/m/saw_v/

Metacritic reported the film had an average score of 20 out of 100, based on ten reviews.

http://www.metacritic.com/film/titles/sawv

Elizabeth Weizman (New York Daily News) believed that the lack of Tobin Bell's character hurt the film: "Bell's deliciously twisted madman was the lifeline of this series, and without him we're left watching a routine horror flick that might as well have gone straigh to DVD (OUCH!). The series began with two major assests that set it apart: the concept of a brilliantly righteous executioner, and the actor who played him him. Now, aside from Bell's brief, intermittent cameos, it has neither. So where the original Saw was diabolical fun, this fifth installment is as bloodless as the most unfortunate of Jigsaw's victims.

Some reviews were positive, however. British website Digital Spy was relatively positive about the film, rating it 3/5 stars and commending the film for its "solid acting, slick direction and suitably filthy cinematography too", while also stating it will "make far more sense to those familiar with the previous installments".

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/movies/a133652/saw-v.html

IGN also awared the film with 3 out of 5 stars stating that the film ties up most of the loose ends of the previous 4 installements while also having a more straightforward and less complicated storyline. They also praised the traps for being the most inventive and best that the Saw franchise had had to offer. (YAY!)

http://uk.movies.ign.com/objects/893/893540.html

Conclusion

It seems to me, that every year the Saw films have got more gory, more twisted, more sick, and more disturbing. The films are a bit like marmite: you either love them or hate them.
If you have seen the first one, or atleast one of them and did not enjoy it why go see another one?!
The people who slate them really make me laugh. It is a genre piece and has certain expectations, AND they are talked about. So you have some rough idea what you are in for! YOU FOOLS!

This people annoy me, but also amuse me =D
However, I am backing Saw

SAW FOR THE WIN!

Saw V's Performance

Development

Saw V was written by Patrick Melton and Marcus Dunstan. The film went into production after Christmas 2007, so early this year. Filming began on March 17, 2008 in Toronto. Principal photography concluded on April 28, 2008. Saw V finished filming by May 2, 2008 and had started post-production. By mid July, there had been three photos released of David Hackl at the set.

The first trailer, depicting Agent Strahm's box trap, was released at Comic-Con 08 as a short clip. The trailer was also shown before The X-Files: I Want to Believe.

The website opened on August 6, 2008 but only lef to the teaser trailer after filling out with basic information chart. On September 29, 2008 Myspace began posting advertisements on their website about the film. ALSO on September 29, 2008 the website officially opened with other features besides just the trailer.

During October, several new clips from the film were also released on the internet - one depicting a flashback featuring Hoffman, strapped to a chair with a shotgun pointing to his head, conversing with Jigsaw about Seth, the man in the Pendulum Trap.



The other released clip features five people in a room where they are placed in a connected trap while Billy the puppet appears on screen, explaining the rules.



Box Office Performances

Saw's Box Office Performance
Saw was a financial success. With a budget of US $1.2 million, it earned over $55 million at the box office in the US alone and $102,917,772 worldwide.

Saw II's Box Office Performance
Made for only $5 million (NOT including a $20 million P&A budget), Number 2 grossed $153 million worldwide, which includes $87 million in the United States.

Saw III's Box Office Performance
Playing in 3,167 cinemas Saw III grossed a total of $33, 610, 391 on its opening weeked. With a production budget of $9.98 million, the was already considered a box office success. The film ended up grossing $80,238,724 domestically and $150,907,724 worldwide. As of May 2008, the film had made $164,874,275, making Saw III the most successful film in the series worldwide thus far.

Saw IV's Box Office Performance
The film opened October 26, 2007 in the United States and Canada and grossed $31,756,764 in 3,183 theaters its opening weeked, ranking #1 at the box office. As of March 29, 2008, Saw IV grossed $63,300,095 domestic and $139,352,633 worldwide. The film stayed in cinemas for 49 days (7 WEEKS!!!)

Saw V's Box Office Performance
In its opening weeked, Saw V grossed $30 million in 3, 060 theaters in United States and Canada, ranking #2 at the box office behind High School Musical 3. As of December 2, 2008, it has grossed $56,670,155 in the United States.

Money earned:
Saw - $102,917,772
Saw II - $153 million
Saw III - $164,874,275
Saw IV - $202,652,728
Saw V - $56,670,155

This post has been more successful than my other post, (http://videokid-film.blogspot.com/2008/12/are-people-sick-of-saw-movies.html)
I have found out more here, so I guess this can be guess this has been a sort of development.

That is a MASSIVE drop! Although it hasn't been out for that long and the films don't seem to make all the money til early next year
We'll see!

Reviews

Rotten Tomatoes (http://uk.rottentomatoes.com/m/saw_v/?critic=creamcrop)
Consensus: If its plot were as interesting as its torture devices, or its violence less painful than its performances, perhaps Saw V might not feel like it was running on fumes.

I find these comments more interesting than critics/reviewers. (Click to see bigger)


Editors' Review - Eric Moro & Jim Vejvoor!

They quite liked it! I think it would be interesting to see a woman's point of view.

Merchandise

I am really interested in merchandise in this particular genre.

Of course you can buy the basic merch such as: T-shirts, Soundtrack and Dvds.

On the official saw website, I came across an ebay auction

For sale there are a ridicuous amount of pointless props, for example: you can buy the tapes.


http://shop.ebay.com/merchant/raybin-management_W0QQ_nkwZQQ_armrsZ1QQ_fromZQQ_mdoZ#item260294342993

There is also some cool stuff on there, like signed stills!

CHECK IT OUT!

Trailer

Saw V



I also found out some other info about the film! (details on video)
Cinematography: David Armstrong
Editor: Kevin Greutert

Followed by: Saw VI
NO WAY!
I couldn't help but research this =P
(source: www.joblo.com)
Saw VI, the inevitable sequel that'll be released in 2009. The demented fiend at "Bloody Disgusting" have learned that director David Hackl won't be back to direct the next film. The role is being passed onto Kevin Greutert (the kickass editor!) Marcus Dunstan and Patrick Melton, however, who've been scripting Jigsaw's elaborate torture traps since Saw IV, will be back one again to pen the torture mayhem.
Extra Tidbit: You may be tired of SAW right now but SAW VII AND VIII but will no doubt revitalize the franchise. You'll see.

Blood Drive

During the last annual Saw III Halloween Blood Drive, the American Red Cross demanded the studio Lionsgate to remove Red Cross logos from the uniforms of the infamous Saw nurses in that year's Blood Drive posters. The Red Cross logo was not affiliated with the annual Halloween holiday blood drives organized by the studio to help promote the Saw film series.

Ironically enough, within days of this partnership announcement, the Red Cross found themselves being sued for misuse of the logo! by the company Johnson & Johnson. They claimed the charity is licensing the Red Cross logo for "commericial purposes". They believe this violates their trademark, but the Red Cross does not agree.

I found that little piece of info on the net (www.posterwire.com). I found it amusing, and also I thought it was revelent.

Here are the two Blood Drive covers, for Saw V

Film Posters

A film poster is essential to the marketing package! It's difficult to define what makes a 'good' film poster. Is it what's most visual appealing? What marketed the film best? Idealy, a good film poster should intriuge it's target audience, reveal the genre, and sell itself.

A number of films release a series of what are called Teaser Posters. I find them quite effective, as they create this immense built up just to see the OFFICIAL poster.

Here's the first look at the creepy teaser poster for "Saw V", latest installment of a popular horror franchise. Released by Lionsgate, here is where the hype begins! If you haven't seen Saw IV, you will not understand the concept of the image.

This is why the Saw series are appealing, because they continue to push the boundaries of accepted filmmaking and marketing in Hollywood, and of course if you love gore, crime and horror.

I think to some extent they are predictable, but with the Saw movies (espically number 2), they are predictable with a twist. Year after year, they continue to shock the nation. This is their unique selling point.

A second teaser poster was the "banned poster". All over buses, they was an advertisement for a poster, but had a huge sticker on it telling them to visit the website to view the poster. I find it amazing and slightly funny how many people that were fooled by this! This was obviously a successful publicity stunt. This also reminded me of the marketing for Blair Witch , the fake missing posters. This was a very smart move, leaving the audience dying of curiousity. This image could increase
1) the number of hits the official website has
2) the number of people going to see it upon cinematic release
and this would generate more money!

Here is the official poster for Saw V, the out of focus head is a nice touch. BUT I think it is the WEAKEST poster they have released. It is really different compared the last four. Although in its defence, us humans dont really have five of anything to show cut off. Considering they have already used fingers and teeth. I think people would complain if they repeated hands.

Another unique selling point is releasing the film (in the UK anyway) in October! HALLOWEEN - this was bound to attract an audience of all ages.

Saw - 1st October 2004
Saw II - 28th October 2005
Saw III - 27th October 2006
Saw IV - 26th October 2007
Saw V - 24th October 2008

If you noticed, the first film released was at the beginning of the month - I think the director/producers learnt this was a good, successful idea and thought next time round they would release it closer to halloween. I love how they decided to incorporate the Halloween theme with number three, the tagline being: " This Halloween He's Pulling Out All The Stops".

Hollywood Case Study

The three main things I am going to be looking at are:

-Marketing
-Distribution
-Exhibition

The sources I will be using are the following:

- www.impawards.com
- www.moviemarketingmadness.com
- www.imdb.com
- www.wikipedia.com

I HAVE CHOSEN SAW V =D

Director: David Hackl

Writers: Patrick Melton, Marcus Dunstan

Release Dates:
23rd Oct 2008 - Australia, Portugal.
24th Oct 2008 - Canada, Panama, Poland, Turkey, UK, USA, Venezuela
30th Oct - Argentina, Czech Republic, Greece, Hong Kong, New Zealand, Russia, Singapore
31th Oct 2008 - Brazil, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Mexico
5th Nov 2008 - France
7th Nov 2008 - Sweden
14th Nov 2008 - Norway, Spain
28th Nov 2008 - Japan
4th Dec 2008 - Chile, South Korea
5th Dec 2008 - Iceland, Italy
8th Jan 2009 - Hungary, Neverlands
15th Jan 2009 - Germany

Genre: Crime, Horror, Thriller

Tagline: You won't believe how it ends

Runtime: 92 minutes

Certificate: 18

There is some of the basics, but the thing I really wanted to find out was the studio, company, etc.

Production Company - Twisted Pictures

Theatrical Distributors - Asmik Ace Entertainment, Benelux Film Distribution, Cascade Film, Eastern European Acquisition Pool (EEAP), Hoyts Distribution, Lionsgate, Shaw Organisation.

All Media Distributors - Kino Swiat, Scanbox Entertainment.

Special Effects - Switch VFX

Other Compaines - Got Films (Camera equipment), Movie Armaments Group (Supplied weapons)

Sound Mix - DTS, Dobly Digital, SDDS