Assignment 26.2 Film Remakes The Karate Kid (1984) & The Karate Kid (2010)
Introduction
In this brief report i am going to discuss the relationships between films and their production contexts and how different production contexts from different decades (20th and 21st century) differ to many and also how they influence the films themselves. I will be comparing The Karate Kid (1984) and The Karate Kid (2010) how they are similar and different in their production contexts.
In film, production context means the economical and social structure of the films aspects, in other words, a particular part of a film that makes it unique and stand out to watchers. Now a days film producers are chasing the money instead of chasing the audiences need of a good movie.
The director of the Karate Kid (1984) is called John G. Avildsen and the director of The Karate Kid (2010) is called Harald Zwart. In my opinion after watching both these films, the main reason why i think the films are different each other is because they were filmed in different places at different times. The Karate Kid (1984) was filmed in America, Los Angeles as the Director thought it would be a great idea as it was a perfect setting for a suburban-based film. The Karate Kid (2010) was filmed in China, Beijing, i'm inferring that the director wanted a different twist to the original instead of filming it in America too.
Synopsis
A quick synopsis of The Karate Kid (1984); The main character Daniel moves to Southern California with his mum as she's got a job transfer and hope to live a better life outside their hometown Reseda. Then he gets targeted by a group of males his age whom are bigger than him and tend to bully him for no apparent reason, bearing in mind these bullies are part of the Cobra Kai dojo. Later Mr. Miyagi, whom is a repair man, gets to know about Daniel and train him to become at his maximal strength before they get to the tournament to defeat the students of Cobra Kai dojo to earn respect whenever they confront each other in public.
A quick synopsis of The Karate Kid (2010); The main character Dre Parker and his mum Sherry moves from Detroit to China, Beijing for a better life style as things are hard back in the US and Dre sees China as a strange land as he is a stranger too. He becomes a target to a student called Cheng, a school bully, and is a major threat to Dre. Dre then finds Mr. Han, a repairs man, and he teaches Dre everything about Kung Fu and help him to defeat Cheng to earn respect from him.
Looking at these two synopsis' you could tell that the films are very a like with the same storyline but filmed at different times and a different location, which makes the 2010 version more exciting to see in a modern day setting.
Original Compared To New Film
The cultural background to both Karate Kid (1984) & (2010) is Japanese from a small part called Okinawa and this inspired the director to base a film in America as Karate was a big thing in the 80s in the US. The remake however was inspired through the original version but was shot in China instead of the US, as the director knew that karate wasnt as popular now as it was back in the 80s, so he took it back to China as it is more popular over there.
The budget assigned for The Karate Kid (1984) was $8 million and has made a whopping $90.8 million in the box office to date whereas The Karate Kid (2010) assigned budget $40 million which is $32 million more than the original and the reason for this being so expensive is because they had to get the all the crew from America to China just to film the movie and also pay for other essential things whilst they were there filming there too. Another reason why the budget for the newer version of The Karate Kid was so high compared to the old version is because there was not as much money as there is now in todays industries.
The production houses of The Karate Kid (1984) were Colombia Pictures Corporation, Delphi Productions II and the uncredited Jerry Weintraub Productions and they were granted permission by DC Comics to use the title 'The Karate Kid' for the film.
Actors Listed Below Are Assigned To Their Character Roles:
The director, Avildsen, was Morita's first ideal person to play the role Mr. Miyagi but the producer Jerry Weintraub thought that he wasn't going to be taken seriously by the viewers as Morita is based around in comedy. Since then, Morita grew more facial hair and then Weintraub changed his mind allowing Morita to take over the role. The fact that Weintraub didn't want Morita to play the role of Mr. Miyagi, shows that he want this movie to be a big thing and be very serious in the industry to the audiences and over producers to show off what he has made with such class of professionalism.
Technology used back then was quite advanced and looking back to the film with establishing shots and long shots of Daniel & Mr Miyagi's dialogue it seems as they would record the speech in a studio and then they would use it the recorded audio to dub it over the scene where they were far away from the camera. This technique is still in use today, mainly to stop the overhead microphone from being shown in the shot but it really encourages professionalism production-wise and for the viewers sake too. To dub over sounds computers were used to graph the words together in a busy environment and also sound effects were added to the dialogue to make it seem as the audio was actually recorded along with the visuals. Camera shots used throughout the film were close ups, mid-range shots, establishing shots and also extreme close-ups. These shots were used by using the cameras they were filming with, which were used for showing emotions, scenery, body language and also other things that may catch the viewers attention.
The Karate Kid 2010 took 2 years to put together. The ideal production started 10th November 2008, and the initial filming began July 2009 and ended on October that same year, giving the editing crew 8 months to put the film together prior to its release date.
Actors Listed Below Are Assigned To Their Character Roles:
Technology used in Karate Kid (2010) would be obviously way better than the original since as time passes as often we tend to get brand new technology which is always better and advanced than the technology before. Considering that the original Karate Kid was released 1984, high definition wasn't released till 1996, which basically means that this feature was obviously used in the remake since we are in a modern time and every image and movie we see now a days are in a superb quality. But throughout the remake version there are much more improved camera techniques and lighting too compared to the original, for example, when Dre chucks a bucket of water on the bullies and he gets chased by them, the camera then moves drastically along with Dre as he runs which creates more tension than the original when Daniel was trying to escape as it just cut through different scenery he was running through. The reason why the director used this effect is to make the audience feel like they are running along with him which gives the audience a stimulated feel of adrenaline. Another effect which wasn't used in the original but was used in the remake was a slow motion effect and this was when Dre was in the final with Cheng (school bully) and Dre gets the final hit by doing a back flip kick . The back flip was in slow motion whilst the kick returned to normal motion. Here i think the production tries to make a nerve racking experience for the audience as he pulls off this stunt or then again he could of used the slow motion effect to make the backflip more realistic.
Financial Determinants
Now considering that the original Karate Kid was budgeted for $8 million dollars, the newer version was $40 million dollars and the amount looks so ridiculous that you would think that how did they get such money to put this film together. As Will Smith being a producer for this film, whom is also the father of Jaden Smith "Dre, made funding more easy for the production of this film as he has a net worth of $250 million not to mention that Jada Pinkett Smith was involved too as she is Jaden's mother and as their son is in the cast in this movie as a main character too the parents are supporting him and the whole production of the film by chipping in the money to produce the film. Funding body for Karate Kid (2010) is the Chinese Film Industry despite the fact that this was a part American film, whilst the original Karate Kid's funding body was Hollywood Studios as the film at the time was entirely shot in America, Los Angeles.
Quotas
With the original film Karate Kid (1984), there were no filming restrictions as it was filmed in America 31st October 1983 and no major rules and regulations were around till later years. As for the remake, there were serious restrictions, especially whilst filming and producing in China. The rules for the film industry in China are, Non-Chinese companies are not allowed to work independently and only 34 movies a year would be able to play in Chinese theatres. This potentially was seen as a big disadvantage to the producers as they want to make as much money as they have put in to the whole process. Even though the film has made a flipping $359.1 Million, the film could of made more without China's regulations.
Technologies Of Production
As said before, high definition cameras were used to create the remake of this film and it made visuals look more realistic than the original and made it come back to life. Due to the use of high quality cameras, sound effects and environmental issues, it meant that this costed more than the original movie as it didn't have advanced technology as the remake, which is a real disadvantage of making films when you put so much money into the production of it. The original was formerly released on a video tape and cinema and also promoted through billboards and posters whilst the newer film was released in cinemas, DVD, Blu-Ray, Internet movies (sites such as Show Box or 123Movies) and also was promoted through posters, billboards, TV adverts, Trailers and also worldwide too.
Distribution & Exhibition
Karate Kid (1984) was officially distributed by videotape back then and can be found on internet sites too such as Netflix.
Karate Kid (2010) was officially distributed by DVD & Blu-Ray and can also be found on Netflix too, as it is one of the world's biggest streaming service.
Market Trends
Back in The 80s in America, karate was a top trend and this inspired Avildsen to make a film based on karate but as for the newer version, as karate wasn't as popular anymore in America, it made it harder for producer Harald to bring this movie back to life. A film similar to the Karate Kid is "Kung Pow: Enter The Fist" and this film was another popular film in the "Martial Arts" section (Fighting)
which helps producer's Harald's work more credited.
Genre
There is more than one genre to the original, and that is Action, Family, Drama, Sport & Romance and the way the film all comes together makes it an all-round sensational film probably resulting to Harald recreating this film as he thought the same thing. The genre for Karate Kid (2010) falls under the same format as the original but it tends to leave out romance since Meiying wasn't involved as much as Ali was, the directors intention was probably to pay more attention on the Action side and Sport side of things but as there were scenes of Dre and Meiying together, i classify it as a romance special too.
Stars
The Karate Kid (1984) had star actors Ralph Macchio and Noriyuki "Pat" Morita, Pat being a comedian at the time and also dominating TV shows such as "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and making other appearances in other shows and movies too. The Karate Kid (2010) had more star actors however. Including in the production area too, producers Will & Jada Smith. But main actors were Jackie Chan & Jaden Smith. Jackie Chan is a Hong Kong martial artist, producer and also stuntman and singer and he is commonly known for his acrobatic fighting style. He has made appearances in popular movies such as the "Rush Hour" franchise, Rumble In the Bronx, Mr Nice Guy and plenty more. Without Jackie Chan being involved with The Karate Kid (2010) it wouldn't of had such a great impact on the film to be honest. Star actor Jaden Smith, also son of one of the world's top grossing entrepreneurs, Will Smith. After making his fame from the Karate Kid, Jaden Smith became the most paid youngest actor. He has made appearances in the remake of "The Day The Earth Stood Still", After Earth and also "The Pursuit Of Happyness". At his young age then, Jaden got nominated for a lot of awards and his fame continued to rise from there.
Audience
The audience between the two versions would be kind of similar and kind of different, similar by all means since both of these films are produced by American people would mean that this would get the same sort of audience from the original. But a difference in audience is that it meant a lot more people saw the production in China as it was co-produced by China Film Industry, which they had to be involved in the making of this film since non-Chinese companies weren't allowed to produced by themselves in China. This was a great advantage compared to the original version of The Karate Kid as it was only filmed in America meaning the audience was only limited to American citizens prior lack of social media to spread the word out across the globe.
Conclusion
In conclusion, my most preferred version of the film is the remake as it has more features than the original. What I've also learnt through this essay is that producing a film is not easy, especially when you are shooting in a different country, the funding, the policies, advanced technology, the actors availability and also environmental issues. I could imagine how hard it was obtaining a good quality camera in the 80s and other sources of good quality technology also sources of good actors as there wasn't a lot of famous actors back in the 80s compared to now a days.
As a whole, the way films have changed throughout the years of their production contexts have improved so much, acting, visualising, directing and also putting together the most eye catching films.
References:
http://mentalfloss.com/article/57156/30-facts-about-karate-kid
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Karate_Kid#Filming
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Karate_Kid_(2010_film)
http://www.fandango.com/thekaratekid2010_48651/castandcrew
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-definition_television_in_the_United_States
http://www.celebritynetworth.com/richest-celebrities/actors/will-smith-net-worth/
http://chinafilminsider.com/trends-in-chinese-film-law-and-regulation/
http://itcher.com/mag/movies-like-the-karate-kid-2010/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pat_Morita
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jackie_Chan
http://www.popmatters.com/post/194208-jackie-chans-10-best-films/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaden_Smith
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