Pirates of The Caribbean - On Strangers Tides

Pre-Production - The Pirates of The Caribbean are a series of films and "On Strangers Tides" is the latest of them to be released. There have been 4 released in total and the 5th film is in undergoing production. Writer Ted Elliott came across a novel written by Tim Powers called "On Strangers Tides" and concluded that it would be a good foundation to start, using it as inspiration to create the latest film. The first 3 films were all original ideas whereas this one is an adaptation. The Director for this film Was Rob Marshall as apposed to the previous director Gore Verbinski. Rob Marshall has directed films such as the Emmy-Award Winning film "Annie" and "Nine" staring the likes of Daniel Day-Lewis and Nicole Kidman.The budget for the film was an estimated $250 million. Actors such as Johnny Depp and Penelope Cruz were casted for the roles of Captain Jack Sparrow (played by Johnny in all 4 films) and Angelica. It was rumoured that Depp was paid an estimated $55.5 million for his role as they realized that he is an iconic character and that the franchise would be "dead and buried" without him.The studios behind the production were Walt Disney Pictures and Jerry Bruckheimer Films. I couldn't find any information on when the film was given the green light as there were issues with filming which I will explain.

Production -  The filming began on June 10th 2010 in Hawaii but was shortly moved  to California, due to strong tides. The joint total for "Dead Man's Chest" and "At Worlds End" was an estimated $300 million which resulted in the fourth installment for "On Strangers Tides" to be cut, resulting in moving primary production to Hawaii and London as the Tax Credits are much more favourable. The shooting schedule was cut down to 22 weeks as apposed to the original 40. The film was released in 2D, 3D and IMAX. 
The total amount of computer generated shots for On Strangers Tides was an estimated 1,112 which were created by 10 different visual effect companies. Cinesite visual effects supervisor Simon Stanley-Clamp claimed that the most difficult part was doing them in 3D. The lead companies, with over 300 shots each were Industrial Light & Magic and Moving Pictures Company. They were responsible for the majority of underwater shots, mermaid scenes, digital ships and designing cliffs and waterfalls. Filming the Mermaids involved 8 model actresses who portrayed them outside the water, 22 synchronized swimming athletes and a group of stunt women, all of which wore motion capture suits to be later replaced by digital mermaids. To make the mermaids look more menacing underwater the faces of the actresses had some digital touch-ups on the underwater scenes, making the teeth appear sharper and the skin more scaly. As the supervisor of visual effects stated, the film was shot in 3D during the production process and not afterwards. I believe that the reason why I cant find information on the green light is because of the problems due to the financial cut. The filming locations had to be changed and the shots were all very complicated meaning that production stopped and started many times. As far as I am aware there were no reshoots.

Post Production - Although there were a large number of special effects used, the director and production team said that the good story line is relied upon more. They said that without the likes of Johnny Depp the film wouldn't be a success meaning that they relied upon him and the screenplay to make the film successful, the effects are just a bonus. As I said in the Production the film was produced in both 2D and 3D and used a heavy amount of CGI.

Marketing and Promotion -  The first teaser poster of the film followed the pattern of the previous few, showing a skull wearing a red bandanna and crossed swords in the background. The teaser trailer shows snippets of Captain Jack Sparrows classic whit and various special effect scenes. The promoting website included short snippets of scenes and a Story Synopsis. Social Media was also used to promote and market the film, creating "like" pages that showed various videos and behind the scene photographs and film footage. A LEGO version of the characters and famous Black Pearl Ship was created shortly after the film was released. 

On January 6, 2010, Disney announced that the film would be released in the United States and Canada on May 20, 2011. The world premiere of On Stranger Tides was on May 7, 2011, at a premium ticket screening at Disneyland in California, home of the original Pirates of the Caribbean ride that inspired the film series. Many of the film's stars were in attendance and two other early screenings followed, one in Moscow on May 11, and another during the Cannes International Film Festival on May 14.

The 5th Film "Dead Men Tell No Tales" is due to be released in June 2015 but as production has come to a halt it is said that it is more likely to be released in 2016. The production of this film is back to back following the last one and Johnny Depp has been confirmed to return as his quick witted, beloved character Captain Jack Sparrow.