b) Scan the Sample Essay again to find:

o opening sentences introducing the topic of the essay;

o thesis statement;

o topic sentence(s) of each body paragraph;

o sentences that serve as links between body paragraphs.

  Does conclusion sum up the essay arguments revealed in the topic sentences?

c) Read the essay again making notes of the facts that were new to you.

Sample Essay

Factors of Titanic’s Commercial Success

Every producer, director or actor, regardless of whetherhe states it orhides it deep down, wants hisfilm to be a commercial success.The movie industry’s aim is to entertain millions of viewers and its success depends on the preferences of the movie-goers. The wider the target audience is the more successful will the film be at the box-office. If viewers do not choose to see a movie millions of dollars can be lost. Therefore the film business is very risky and highly competitive. This essay focuses on the key factors of a movie success such as: plot and story, their relevance to the audience, protagonist and his environment, star power, director, new technologies and special effects, budget, release date and marketing plan, critics’ reviews. The influence of these key factors will be traced on the basis of the movie Titanic (1997) which was the first film to reach the billion-dollar mark and remained the highest-grossing film of all time for 13 years.

For a movie to be a commercial hit, its plot has to resonate with the dreams, fears, beliefs and values of its target audience.Titanic is an American epicromanticdisaster film. The plot is really tugging at the heartstrings of the audience. It features the love story of two young lovers from different social classes (Jack and Rose) aboard the Titanic, set amongst one of the most tragic and dramatic events of the early twentieth century - the sinking of the ship.So it is a fictional romance story that is based on a real historical event. Titanic’s commercial and aesthetic success depended on its ability to provoke a range of emotions in a wide variety of audience groups. Teenage girls were attracted by a love story, young women were attracted by the main male character played by Leonardo DiCaprio which even caused “Leo-Mania”, men were attracted by historical background of the plot and great special effects. As James Cameroon said“The story could not have been written better... And above all the lesson: that life is uncertain, the future unknowable...the unthinkable possible”. So all age and gender groups can easily identify with the characters.

Jack Dawson is an ordinary character who is forced to survive in an extraordinary environment and under unusual circumstances for which he is not prepared. He is portrayed as a homeless, poor boy who wins two tickets onto the RMS Titanic in a poker game and travels as a third-class passenger. He is attracted to Rose at first sight and saves her from committing suicide. The moment the love story reaches its climax, the ship hits an iceberg and the spectacular action movie begins. We witness the disaster from the perspective of Rose, Jack, and the other characters as we follow Rose’s life story. It revolves around a ship-wreck and demands growing acts of risk and sacrifice on the part of both protagonists. Star power is very important to make characters believable and likable.   

When an actor has a large and enthusiastic fan base, virtually any movie he is in, is going to be guaranteed an audience. LeonardoDiCaprio was 22 years old when he was brought to Cameron’s attention by the casting director. By the moment of shooting DiCaprio had already been famous among teenage girls for his performance in Romeo + Juliet (1996), a modern day retelling of the classic Shakespeare play. So DiCaprio was considered to be “a marketable star” with a guaranteed fan base. At first, he did not want to portray the character and refused to read his first romantic scene on the set but Cameron strongly believed in DiCaprio’s acting ability. As for Kate Winslet the situation was quite different. Though the actress had already had an Oscar as Best Actress for The Reader(2008) Cameron went on casting Gwyneth Paltrow, Claire Danes, and Gabrielle Anwar because he was searching for an actress of “an Audrey Hapburn type” . The actress started to send him daily notes, bombed him with telephone calls and even sent Cameron a single rose with a card signed "From Your Rose". Her persistence and her screen test with DiCaprio convinced the director to make a perfect cast. Besides, she had a huge fan base in Great Britain which could help to draw international audiences. The unique success would have been hardly possible without the background of the director himself.

A well-known director is one more important factor of a movie success. James Francis Cameron is a Canadian film director, film producer, deep-sea explorer, screenwriter, and editor who works for Hollywood. He is the director who has been having a string of cinema successes in his belt: the science-fiction hit The Terminator(1984), Aliens(1986), The Abyss(1989),Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) True Lies(1994). In Titaniche managed to convey the emotional message of the tragedy. The idea of the film started from Cameron’s interest in shipwrecks. Cameron wrote a scriptment(a written work by a movie or television screenwriter that combines elements of a script and treatment) and pitched it to 20th Century Fox executives as "Romeo and Juliet on the Titanic". After some period of hesitation they gave him a green light. Then he went on with shooting the Titanic wreck itself to make the film more realistic and undertook several undersea expeditions. James Cameron has been specializing in special effects since Aliens (1986). He used scale models, and computer-generated imagery to recreate the sinking.

In Titaniccomputer-generated imagery (CGI) has not only reduced the cost of building sets but also integrated historic footage into a contemporary context and created the atmosphere of disaster without actually destroying anything. This movie won the Academy Award for best visual effects. Many of the visual effects were produced by “Digital Domain”, and they used both CG and miniature models to depict the ship. Afterwards, digital water and smoke were added. Cameron criticized previous Titanic films for the lack of realism and wanted to show the sinking as the terrifyingly chaotic event. He used computer generated people for the dangerous falls and visual effects, therefore supervisor Rob Legato scanned the faces of many actors, including himself and his children, for the digital extras and stuntmen. The costly special effects bring us logically to the film’s budget.

Titanic had a budget of $200 million that could adequately cover costly special effects, high talent fees and at the same time enabled the director to come up with creative ways of making a spectacular high-grossing movie. The film was co-financed by Paramount Picturesand 20th Century Fox, and, at the time, was the most expensive film ever made. Both studios wanted the return on investment. Paramount handled the North American distribution and Fox handled the international release. To get the figure of $2,186,772,302 at the box office they needed to work out a marketing plan and fix a release date.

The film was to be released on the 2^nd of July, 1997 in summer season as all big budget action movies, because there are more people able to see them at any given time throughout the day. But in April, Cameron said the film’s special effects were too complicated and that releasing the film for summer would not be possible. So the release date was changed to December 14, 1997, a week before the Christmas holidays. Titanic was first officially shown at the Tokyo International Film Festival on November 1, 1997 and the premiere was followed by enthusiastic word of mouth and chatter on the Internet. Even DiCaprio, who usually avoided journalists, gave several interviews. A preview screening in Minneapolis on July 14 generated positive reviews from critics which influenced the viewers’ intention to see the film.

Critics – just like actors – have their own fan base and influence on whether a new release will be labeled as a “must-see” or a “don’t bother”. In case of Titanic it was a “must-see” as it was highly appreciated by critics and launched a lot of favorable reviews. Roger Ebert called the film “intelligently constructed and strongly acted”, “a glorious Hollywood epic, well-crafted and well worth the wait”. “You don’t just watch Titanic, you experience it”, James Berardinelli wrote. “To describe Titanic as the greatest disaster movie ever made is to sell it short. It’s one of the most magnificent pieces of serious popular entertainment!” Joseph McBride exclaimed. Though some reviewers felt that the story and dialogue were weak, they admitted the visuals were spectacular.

To sum it up,Titanic is a classic example of a commercially successful movie where various factors come into play to bring millions of viewers to movie houses. It was a perfect entertainment attraction whichengaged the spectators’ attention with the help of magical possibilities of the cinema. The professionally crafted plot where love and disaster come together, the ability to provoke a range of emotions in a wide variety of target audience groups laid the ground for the success. Likable characters, who have to survive in an extraordinary environment, supported by star power and director’s popularity guaranteed successful pitching and top budgeting, provided by two major studios. It allowed the film-makers to use costly special effects, to choose the right release premiere date, to sustain its delay and to build up an effective marketing strategy which involved various advertising tools including Internet, word of mouth and critical acclaim.