TITANIC

WHERE DOES THE TITLE COME FROM?

The name Titanic derives from the Titans of Greek Mythology. Today, a titan is someone who
is god-like or powerfull. The Titanic was the largest ship afloat at the time she entered
service, so from there comes the name.

THE MOVIE GENRE / THE TYPE OF FILM

The film Titanic combines the movie genres: romance, drama and disaster.
Romantic films focus on the representation of a love story between two or more participants
who face obstacles that threaten to break their union of love. This cinematographic genre
builds its plot upon situations such as love at first sight, love between a young person and a
mature person, tragic love, impossible love …
Drama is a genre that deals with non-epic situations in a serious context, likely to inspire
sadness and compassion. As a general rule, a dramatic film is based on a script that deals
with a serious and transcendent theme with a focus on some kind of social injustice.

A disaster movie is a film genre with an ongoing or upcoming catastrophe for humanity as its
main theme. These films bring with them a large cast of actors and multiple story lines, and
they focus on the characters' efforts to avoid, escape or withstand the consequences of
catastrophe. A main character, several secondary characters and many extras often die
before the resolution of the story.

THE PLOT.
The film starts with the research of the remains of the ship. A team is searching for them
hoping to find a necklace with a large diamond known as the Heart of the Ocean. Instead,
they only find a drawing of a young nude woman wearing the necklace. Rose Dawson claiming
to be the person in the drawing goes to the place where they are doing the research and
starts telling the story:

In 1912, 17-year-old Rose, her fiancé Cal, and Rose's mother, Ruth, boarded the Titanic. Ruth
thought that Rose's marriage to Cal would resolve the family's financial problems and maintain
their upper-class status. Meanwhile, Jack Dawson, a poor young artist, wins a third-class Titanic
ticket in a poker game.
Rose tries to commit suicide until Jack appears and rescue her. The two develop a tentative
friendship, which wasn’t approved by Ruth and Cal. Soon Rose realizes that she has
feelings for Jack.
Rose asks Jack to draw her in the nude wearing the necklace Cal has given her.

Meanwhile, orders are given to turn the ship but the ship takes too long to make the turn and
the starboard side scrapes along the iceberg, causing substantial damage.
Cal discovers Jack's sketch of Rose. When Jack and Rose attempt to tell Cal of the
collision, he has put the necklace into Jack's pocket and accuses him of theft. He is arrested
and handcuffed to a pipe.
With the ship sinking, Rose is desperate to free Jack. She runs away of Cal and her mother,
who has boarded a lifeboat, and rescues him.
Jack and Rose return to the boat deck. All the lifeboats have departed and the ship breaks in
half. The Titanic disappears into the darkness below them, and they both swim to the surface
Within minutes, Rose and Jack find a piece of wood, and he helps her to get onto the
wooden panel big enough only for one person.
I don't want to spoil for you so i¡I’m not going to tel you what happens in the end.
THE CAST
Leonardo Dicaprio
The son of a German mother and an Italian father, he started out in television, appearing in
several commercials. At the age of fourteen he performed in commercials for Matchbox toys
and in educational films. Afterwards, he had roles in TV series such as The Outsiders and
Growing. James Cameron's blockbuster Titanic launched him to stardom and he went on to
perform in films that received praise from audiences, such as Shutter Island and The Wolf of
Wall Street. He won his first Oscar for the full-length film The Revenant.
Kate Winslet
Raised in a family of actors, Kate began her professional career as a child, appearing in
advertisements and studying acting at Maidenhead School. In the early 1990s, she made
her debut in theater and television. In 1944 she became popular thanks to the film Heavenly
Creatures and achieved international recognition thanks to Titanic.Additionally, she is
famous for having been nominated for several Oscar and Emmy awards.
Billy Zane
Raised in a family of actors, he became passionate about acting after attending a drama
camp. He tried his luck in Los Angeles and got a role as a villain in the film Back to the
future. He was also chosen for the role of Johnny Castle in Dirty Dancing, but the director
realized in rehearsals that he had no idea about dancing so he took on Patrick Swayze. His
career took a leap forward when he was offered the role of Kate Winslet's husband, a part in
Titanic originally offered to and rejected by Matthew McConaughey. However, since then
Billy Zane has not played another character of such recognition.
Frances Fisher
The daughter of a construction supervisor who worked all over the world, she lived in many
different places with her family before moving to New York to work as an actress. Over the
years, Fisher has played leading roles in more than thirty Broadway shows. She is best
known for her starring role (as Ruth DeWitt Bukater) in the blockbuster Titanic, although her
big screen performances also include The Stars Fell on Henrietta and Female Perversions.

THE MAIN CHARACTERS

Rose DeWitt Bukater Thomas Andrews
Jack Dawson Margaret Brown
Ruth DeWitt Bukater Edward Smith
Caledon Hockley Fabrizio De Rossi

THE FILM DIRECTOR

James Cameron is the director of Titanic, he began his career as a scriptwriter, writing the
script for Rambo II and he directed his first film Piranha II: Vampires of the Sea in 1981. It
was recording Terminator, when he showed his skills with special effects. After that movie he
filmed Abyss, and then the blockbuster Terminator 2 in 1992.He achieved the pseudonym of
"king midas of Hollywood" after directing Titanic and turning it into the biggest blockbuster in
history. He broke this record with Avatar, which quickly surpassed Titanic at the box office.
Nowadays, he is shooting two Avatar sequels.
The film Titanic was the result of Cameron's fascination with the history of the ocean liner,
and his interest in it grew when he met the oceanographer who discovered the wreck in
1985. The filmmaker searched for sponsors in Hollywood to carry out an expedition to the
ship's resting place. After the expedition, he wrote a sketch for a film about the sinking of the
Titanic and presented it to 20th Century Fox executives, who gave him the "green light" for
the project. Cameron carefully studied each of the ship's historical characters and
passengers, as he wanted to honor all those who died in the disaster.

THE SETTING
The huge set for the movie took 100 days to be build and was later turned into Baja Film
Studios, one of the world’s largest stages and filming tanks. ‘Titanic’ was filmed in
Dartmouth(USA), Nova Scotia (Canada),Fox Baja Studios in Rosarito, (Mexico) and the
Atlantic Ocean.
THE COSTUMES
The director and the designer Deborah Lynn Scott wanted to be as accurate as possible so
the really studied the period and the styles. They read a lot about etiquette and tried to figure
out the protocol about how you behave at a table, including the manners of dress. In the
third class, appeared interesting ethnic clothing from different countries.

The wardrobe for the film was a mix of a lot of vintage and made clothing for the most part,
and that almost all of the principal garments were made. People are also surprised to find
that all of the women had to wear corsets, because it’s important to establish the silhouette.

MOVIE RELEASE
In the beginning, the film was supposed to be released on 2 July 1997 as a strategic
decision to raise more money because of the summer holidays. However, the date was
postponed as the director felt in April of that year that "the special effects were too complex"
for post-production to be completed by then. Titanic premiered at the Tokyo International
Film Festival on 1 November 1997, where the film was praised by the attending press. The
premiere with the main cast and director took place on Sunday 14 December at Mann's
Chinese Theater in Hollywood, California. A few days later, on 19 December, it was
released worldwide.
In 2009, Cameron announced his intention to re-release Titanic in 3D format.The re-release
was thought to take place on 6 April, four days before the centenary of the Titanic's
departure from England, however, in early 2012, the film was said to have its 3D debut on 14
February, to coincide with Valentine's Day.

FILM BASED ON A BOOK

The film is not based on a book. It is based on the historical incident but the love story
between Jack and Rose is fictional. This story was written by James Cameron, the director
of the film

IS IT A BLOCKBUSTER?
With a budget of $200,000,000 Titanic raised $8,658,814 on its first day only in the US and
Canada , after being shown in 2674 movie theaters.

Titanic increased each week the number of cinemas in which it was screened: in week 16 it
reached 3265 cinemas. Among the records Titanic broke, one of the most important is being
for 15 consecutive weeks at the number one spot at the box office.
In the end, it closed with more than 1.8 billion dollars worldwide. Thanks to these figures, it
became the biggest blockbuster in history, snatched by Avatar.

In its re-release, the cost of the 3D adaptation was $18 million. In one month of release, the
remake of Titanic earned $56,925,174 on top of the original box office in the US and
Canada, making it the second most successful 3D re-release in cinema history, only behind
The Lion King.

DID THE CRITICS LIKE THE MOVIE?

Titanic received mainly positive reviews from film critics and also from audiences and scholars,
who commented on the film's cultural, historical, and political impacts. In the website Rotten
Tomatoes (which compiles numerous criticisms) determined that it had a 89% acceptance rate.

I personally love it because I love romantic films. I would describe it as romantic, passionate and
melancholy.

AWARDS
❖ Academy awards
❖ Best director: James Cameron
❖ Best art direction: Peter Lamont
❖ Best cinematography: Russell Carpenter
❖ Best costume design: Deborah Lynn Scott
❖ Best film editing: Conrad Buff IV, James Cameron and Richard A. Harris
❖ Best original song: James Horner and Will Jennings
❖ Best picture: James Cameron
 ❖ Best visual effects: Robert Legato, Mark A. Lasoff, Thomas L Fisher and Michael
Kanfer
❖ Best sound editing: Gary Rydstom, Tom Johnson, Gary Summers and Mark Ulano
❖ Best sound mixing: Tom Belfort and Christopher Boyes
❖ Best soundtrack: James Horner
❖ Golden Globe Awards
❖ Best soundtrack: James Horner
❖ Best original song: James Horner and Will Jennings
❖ Best director: James Cameron
❖ Best dramatic picture: James Cameron

PERSONAL OPINION
From my point of view, Titanic is the best full-length film that has ever been made, it is a
masterpiece. It is a breathtaking story based on true events. Titanic is not only a film that talks
about the sinking, but also about the moving romance between Jack and Rose. It is my favorite
film because it is realistic and there are many scenes that are extremely dramatic. You can feel
the desperation of the passengers who are trying to save their lives. Furthermore, I am
passionate about the direction of the film. James Cameron makes a bold film by focusing on the
emotions of the characters and the result is astonishing. In conclusion, I would definitely
recommend this film to anyone who likes historical dramas and exhilarating love stories.

WEBGRAPHY
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titanic_(1997_film)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romance_film
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drama_(film_and_television)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disaster_film
https://www.biografiacortade.com/leonardo-dicaprio/
https://www.biografias.es/famosos/kate-winslet.html
https://www.biografias.es/famosos/billy-zane.html
https://www.lahiguera.net/cinemania/actores/frances_fisher/biografia.php
https://www.sensacine.com/actores/actor-1066/biografia/