Film Studies
Brief Introduction
The movie chosen for review in this essay is the biopic Ray, directed by Taylor Hackford and starring Jamie Foxx in the lead role. The movie is about a Ray Charles, a blind African-American, who became blind at the young age of 9 years and had faced enormous amount of hurdles all through his entire life. However, he is an amazing artist and is a gifted individual because he self-taught the piano for himself, just by listening to the sound of the rhythm and blue songs of his time.
Annotated Bibliography
1. IMBD. Ray (2004). 29 October 2004. Web. 07 March 2016. <http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0350258/>.
The source is an extraordinary source with respect to movies, especially Hollywood. The website offers exhaustive information including a plethora of elements related to a movie, ranging from the plot summary and the star cast to the minute details pertaining to the aspect ratio and various other technical specifications of a movie. The movie Ray has been described in terms of multiple aspects like the star cast, company credits, box office details, and even reviews from various people. This source also gives out details about the various certificates or the MPAA (Motion Picture rating that the movie received, for instance, Ray is known to have received PG-13 as it had portrayed aspects like drug addiction, sexuality, and a plethora of other thematic aspects. The estimated budget for this fil, as per this particular source is roughly about $ 40, 000, 000.
2. Ebert, Roger. Ray Film Review. 28 October 2004. Web. 07 March 2016. <http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/ray-2004>.
This source is another highly informative source that offers comprehensive detailing about movies. This source is unique in the sense that it does not offer a brief summary of the movie, but gives out a rather exhaustive description of the film and its plot along with review and criticism about the actors of the movie. It is more a critique rather than just a review or a summary of the movie that this source essentially offers. In addition, the source also gives out information about the backend crew of the movie, brief details of the ratings and the duration of the movie.
3. Flixster. Ray. November 2004. Web. 07 March 2016. <<http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/ray/>>.
This particular source is another popular source to know a lot of information pertaining to any movie and it is the same even with the current movie Ray as well. It offers authentic information on both the positive as well as the negative reviews about the movie and displays the same through a meter called the ‘tomato meter.’ There is also a trailer video that is found in this source which the users can play to get a quick look about the movie. The source also contains pictures of few important scenes in the movie. We can also find authentic versions of the reviews about the movie written by the reviewers themselves, both positive and negative.
Publicity and Advertising for the Film
Publicity and advertising are among the few important things that create an awareness and hype among the public about the movie. For the movie Ray, a number of such online advertisements and publicity in the form of interviews with the leading stars or the director can be found along with trailers that create a sense of enthusiasm in the minds of the audience to watch the movie once it hits the theatres.
Among such numerous publicity activities, one interesting interview with Jamie Foxx, the main character of the film who plays the role of Charles Ray is found on YouTube. ChucktheMovieGuy is a very well known interviewer throughout the virtual world, and he has quite a lot of good question through out his interview. This interview offers a clear understanding of Jamie Foxx’s perception about the role of Ray Charles that he donned in the movie.
While many people felt that the most difficult task for Foxx was to getting used to the mannerisms and other activities that were completely similar to that of Ray Charles, the truth was something else as described by Foxx himself in the above interview with ChucktheMovieGuy. He says that losing weight was the toughest part for him while working on this movie. Foxx had apparently lost about 30 pounds in order to look like how Ray Charles and the way he used to dress during the 1940s and 50s.
There are a number of trailers offered through video streaming on the internet that one can find about this particular biopic. However, the most engaging and appealing one was the trailer on YouTube given out by Universal Studios. Watching a good movie trailer essentially would help the audience in eliminating any kind of bad experiences of spending money for watching a movie that they perceived as being excellent and ending up being unhappy and disappointed after finally watching it at a theatre. Movie trailers display a few crucial scenes of an upcoming movie, in order to help the audience to know what actually happens in that new movie. It is more like a preview and the above trailer on YouTube is absolutely enthralling and makes the audience feel that they should definitely watch the biopic once it hits the theaters. . The trailer offers a hint about the actually plot of the film.
Reception of the fil at the Box Office
The Biopic Ray had won a whopping number of 53 wins in total that also includes the prestigious Oscar Award, which was given to Jamie Foxx for his remarkable performance and another in the category of the sound mixing that was given to the relevant team. The move also won the Golden Globe award, another famous and highly honored award and even this was given to Foxx for his exceptional and enthralling performance. Additional awards that the film received under various categories include the BAFTA awards, Screen Actor Guild Awards, AAFCA (African-American Film Critics Association) Award, Award Circuit Community Awards, among many others. Interestingly, almost all the 53 various awards that were bestowed for this film honored Jamie Foxx for his visually interesting and amazing performance. Music was another additional feather in this film’s cap that made people love the film. The whole movie had been narrated in a chronological manner, with alternating depiction about the past life of Ray Charles, which was humbly portrayed. This particular biopic of Ray Charles focuses more on the music of the 1940s and 50s, and this increased highlight upon the music genre in itself transformed into an enunciation of the celebrity’s life in a special way.
Works Cited
Ebert, Roger. Ray Film Review. 28 October 2004. Web. 07 March 2016. <http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/ray-2004>.
Flixster. Ray. November 2004. Web. 07 March 2016. <<http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/ray/>>.
Foxx, Jamie. Kamie Foxx Interview for Ray ChucktheMovieGuy. YouTube, 28 May 2008. Web. 03 March 2016. <<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aehlwfdbiBQ>>.
IMBD. Ray - Awards. 2005. Web. 02 March 2016. <http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0350258/awards>.
—. Ray (2004). 29 October 2004. Web. 07 March 2016. <http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0350258/>.
Metacritic.com. Ray. 28 October 2004. Web. 02 March 2016. <http://www.metacritic.com/movie/ray/user-reviews>.
Universal Studios. Ray - Trailer. 11 April 2011. Web. 03 March 2016. <<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0IPWc6rxjvw>>.
