CHANGELING

Christina Linehan ~ Bobby Lewis ~ Erica Longoria

Changeling is a film set in Los Angeles in the late 1920's. The film is based on a true story of a women who believes the son returned to her after a kidnapping is not her son. The movie was written by Micheal Straczynski and directed by Clint Eastwood. When researching Changeling we found that the most emphasized in the posters and the trailers is the Star of the movie, Angelina Jolie. On their main poster you see just her main head and a small figure of a child below. Though the trailer shows more than just her, throughout the trailer you mainly hear Jolie speaking throughout clips of her struggle to find her son. On the surface we found that they used the fact that she’s an Academy Award winner to really push how great this film should be, however they also pushed her as a selling tool for the movie because the director felt she greatly portrayed the 20’s feel of the movie. The poster itself depicts her as an academy award winner, really pushing that a great actress stars in this thriller about finding her son, appealing to mothers, as Jolie is portrayed as a strong womanly figure. The trailer then reinforces the concept of a mother struggling to find her lost son, going up against a system, not only appealing to mothers, but to those who’ve struggled to overcome a large system. The trailer also pushes the genre of the movie as a thriller based on a true story, from the background music, to quick flashes of her struggle; viewers greatly get the sense of the genre of a suspenseful story. Since it is portrayed as a thriller based on a true story, viewers know it will be more than just low level b horror movie but instead of a real problem. All together, we don’t feel that there is a large significant difference in the poster and the trailer as they work together to intrigue audiences to see the film.

The Official Site for the film, only again reinforces the idea of a mother standing alone against everyone else in hopes of being reunited with her lost son. When you first enter the site, the background is actually the poster for the movie. It’s in that first glance upon the poster where you understand why Clint Eastwood chose Jolie for the role. You then are able to choose to enter the U.S. site where you are given a quick trailer of the movie, shortly after a screen pops up where you see Jolie as a main figure while options appear about the movie.

Cannes Review offers a critical review as well as a brief synopsis of the film. This site links to some tangential sites that cover everything from "blog style" reviews (Blogging Sundance) to an article about an Angelina Jolie doll that recently sold on eBay. Rotten Tomatoes is a site that provides reviews from both "top" critics and site readers. Finding additional information requires a bit of digging since the film has yet to be released, there are other releases with the same title and merchandise has yet to be sold (unless you want a poster). There is a lot to say about the historical premise of the movie (for example, an article in the LA Times) but be warned…it might spoil the plot. In the meantime, you can always check out behind the scene photos, preorder the DVD, or become best friends on Facebook.

It seems that P2P networking is a common resource for those interested in pirating movies. Torrentz.com (streamline searches within P2P networks) and Limewire.com (requires software) are a couple of places one can look for free downloads, but we were unsuccessful in finding Changeling. There is plenty of information about legal downloads out there, but of course none of it was helpful in our quest. If we learned anything, it is that our hacking abilities are worthless and purchasing a ticket is our only hope to see this movie.