Comparitve Analysis

Hollywood Vs. Independent

Comparative Analysis

East is East and Superbad are the two films I have chosen to look at. East is East, is the independent movie, it was released in 1999 and directed by Damien O’Donnell. One of the production companies involved is Film Four. Where as the Hollywood movie I chose was released in 2006 and directed by Greg Mottola. Superbad had one of the big Hollywood production companies, Columbia pictures. Both Movies are comedies, yet has different storylines and deals with different themes.

Actors and Characters:
In Superbad the actors are Hollywood actors that have been in previous movies, for example Michael Cera, who plays one of the main characters in the film (Evan) was also in a movie called Wayside School (2005). The actors are shown to be glamorous and have been “Air brushed”. However, in East is East the actors look like real people. Even though some of the actors have been in a few movies and TV programmes, they haven’t made any big hits and are not well known.

Sound:
In East is East, some of the music played are bollywood, this appeals more to the Asian audience. Also, their dialogue and the way the speak sounds like the way people talk in real life. Where as in Superbad they are upbeat and dance songs. This appeals to the younger generation as they are more likely to listen to this, especially when they go to parties songs like in Superbad will most probably be played. The dialogue is mainly the way teenagers speak.Even though the music used is different and has a different target audience, it still has the same effect on people when they listen to it, the music in East in East and the music in Superbad are both upbeat.
- Superbad (soundtrack)
- East is East (soundtrack)


Camerawork and Editing:
It is quite obvious which film is independent and which is Hollywood. In East is East there was not that many camera movements, it was very simplistic. There was not much variety of shots, only straightforward shots. However, in Superbad there is much more variety. The editing in East is east is also basic and simple. There are not many transitions used. In Superbad there is more editing used and SFX. In Superbad and East is East there are some scenes were it is filmed in the car, which is difficult to keep the camera steady.




Mise-En-Scene:
In Superbad, it was actually filmed in Southern California. But it also had other locations, such as the liquor store scene, the parking lot, Supermarket, The high school, the track and field scenes, “party house”, and the mall scenes. They used a lot of different places to film the movie, as Hollywood movies can as they have the money. In East is East it had some variety of locations, it was filmed in Manchester, and had other places, like the fish and chip shop, the house, the street, the club and France. As East is East is an independent film, it had to have Found locations.

Conclusion:
To conclude, the independent film “East is East” had a low budget of £1.9m, but still was very successful in the UK and the US grossing over £10 million. The film also did extremely well through rentals making £12,300,000. It was distributed by Channel 4 Films (UK theatrical), and in the US by Miramax (theatrical). The film did very well for an independent movie.

Where as the Hollywood film “Superbad” had a high budget of $25,000,000 and made a gross revenue of $170,871,719. The film won four awards and was nominated for 8 awards. Both films did extremely well, even though East is East is an independent film it still did remarkably well. This just shows that both independent and Hollywood films can make brilliant movies even without the “amazing” equipment.