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This article is about how Steve Jobs changed the industry when he set up Pixar. It talks about how he saved Pixar and how no other studio has made a string of hit movies.
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This article explains how the British Film industry is thriving. With British independent films such as 'Shame' coming out. British film has never looked quite so prominent and healthy.
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This article discusses why Sherlock holmes is an improvement on the first film due to it being more true to the Arthur Conan Doyle books.
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This article talks about how the BFI needs to be more commercially productive. Whether this means making franchises out of british films is the question.
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What is wrong with the British film industry in modern film?
The British film industry has found it hard to gain international success in recent times. With the exception of the King’s speech and slumdog millionaire, British film isn’t thriving as much as Hollywood or Bollywood. The British film industry doesn’t lack in good directors with Riddly Scott and Edgar Wright directing great films nor does it lack in great actors or actresses, Gary Oldman and Christian Bale to name a few. The industry doesn’t have the same calibre or budget of a Hollywood blockbuster. This means that less visually spectacular films are released leading to an older more critical audience rather than a young vibrant one.
Films such as the Harry Potter series, who have a British director and a predominantly British cast are snapped up by American production companies e.g. Warner bros. If we could hang onto financially successful films like these then the British film industry may once again be great like it once was.
In the near future British independent films such as “shame” are tipped for success which may trigger a turnaround for the industry, but until then British film will always come second best to a Hollywood blockbuster with A list actors.
What is wrong with the British film Industry?
In recent times the British film industry has been criticised due to its lack of competitiveness with Hollywood and Bollywood. It also has been criticised for its distribution. A lot of British films are sold to American companies e.g. Harry Potter and Warner Bros. I will examine both sides of the argument and will give my own personal opinion on the BFI
In my opinion I believe that the BFI is doing fine. We have seen films such as Kings Speech and Slum dog Millionaire thrive at the Oscars. The BFU has been quoted as as entering a “golden age” due to releases next year e.g. shame which has already been tipped for Oscar success. While it doesn’t have the large budget Hollywood films get, I believe it makes the films more meaningful and real rather than unrealistic. The BFI has produced lots of talent such as directors Edgar Wright and Riddley Scott who are now household names in Hollywood. The actors that have come out of the industry are now huge stars such as Christian Bale and Andrew Garfield. The BFI helps promote these directors and actors and moves them onto stardom in Hollywood. We also see huge movie stars come over from America to play in the British films such as Brad Pitt in snatch and Robert Downey Jr in Chaplin. Spiderman, Batman and Superman are all played by British actors who all started out in BFI.
In contrast to what I think, others may disagree and believe that the BFI are not competing with Hollywood due to the lack of great films that are being produced. It is thought that the BFI only produces one or two good films every couple of years. This is backed up by not being a really strong British film before atonement. Another argument is that the distribution power the BFI has cannot match Hollywood. British films will be put to the side in place of Steven Spielberg’s next blockbuster. American companies now take our films to get a wider distribution for example James Bond and Harry Potter are both distributed by American companies. We also see less turnout for a british film than we would a blockbuster. This is down to the idea of the teenagers growing up watching American films such as Disney and then not being interested in a british period drama and instead opt for a film with explosions and aliens. It is widley believed that if given the funding the BFI can once again compete with Hollywood.
In conclusion both sides produce good arguments for and against the BFi. The idea that it is not funded well enough and that we don’t hold onto our best films are backed up well by films such as Harry Potter. Others believe that the industry is doing fine and is heading in the right direction in terms of it’s future. I believe that the BFI actors and directors for Hollywood. So the BFI is a training ground for promising young directors and actors.
Notes on Pre-production, production, distribution, exhibition and piracy
Self Evaluation of Project
Notes on Pre-production, production, distribution, exhibition and piracy
Pre-Production
The producer’s job is to protect the director and make sure the film gets onto the screen.
To produce the film a good script is needed.
You have to write a good screenplay, then choose the actions that will fit with the screenplay.
You have to find companies to fund the film.
British and American companies can fund films together.
Decide on the budget film
Production
Breaking down the screenplay into what the hardest scenes to film are.
Cinematographer tries to put what’s in the director’s mind onto the set.
Director needs to pick a refined audience.
Distribution
Getting an audience to see the film and having to consider if people will part with there money to go and see it
You have to forget your own personal tastes and look at what you got
The representative of the film and market the film to an audience
High concept films- Simple story but driven by star power and CGI
They must find a USP (unique selling point)
They have to make a target audience e.g. 15-24 year olds are the most frequent cinema goers
When will the film be released e.g. school holidays? Nowadays it’s a 52 week market
Distributer-The role
They have to give the film a unique look e.g. Spiderman font.
The poster plays an important role as it entices the audience to go see there film.
Trailer- the key to selling the film
TV spots-advertise the movie in 30 seconds
Multimedia e.g. viral marketing
PR and Press
Reviews can help see or not sell a film
Tracking figures
Word of mouth is the most important part of selling a film
Exhibition
In 2007, cinema attendances were the highest for 40 years due to the multiplex being a popular place to hang out as well as a wide range of fantastic films e.g. Harry potter 5 and Spider Man 3
Multiplex is key to exhibition
Constantly reinventing the cinema experience is key
Cinema location- now in the town centres but used to be on the outskirts of towns hence low attendances
Distinguish between personal tastes and commercially
Understanding the audience wants
Piracy
Erodes the revenue that goes back to the studio
In order to get the people paid revenue needs to be made
Computer streaming and downloading is ruining the film industry
Self Evaluation of Project
Discuss the issues raised by media ownership in the production and exchange in films.
The British Film industry is now struggling due to a number of the British films being bought and distributed by American companies so this means the Industry cannot benefit from the profits made from these movies. British film making was world famous for producing high quality cinema and now we see that American companies are buying and distributing the good films to bring profits to the American film industry.
The American Film industries are now adopting our star directors and actors so they can produce high quality cinema like Britain di throughout the 20th century. We now see Andrew Garfield and Christian Bale playing Spiderman and Batman in Hollywood films which just indicates the talent that Britain produces. Another example is director Ridley Scott who is now directing Hollywood Blockbusters because America wants to make more films like the British did. The reason these actors and directors go to Hollywood is for the big money and the world wide recognition they receive if their movie is a hit.
The distribution of a film from an American film company is huge as they get the film into most cinemas up and down the country. The production scale is also huge with directors having access to the best equipment as well as a fairly large budget as well. The exhibition is also different as we see American blockbusters in IMAX’s and in every other cinema. The British Film industry does not have the same ability and struggles to compete with the distribution side. Most British Films end up in an art house and will not be played at the large multiplexes like the American films are .
The British Film companies such as Vertigo Films do not have the financial stability to back an 8 film project like “Harry Potter or “Twilight” as there is a fear that if the franchise is a flop it will completely bankrupt the company. That’s why big American film companies like warner Bros produced and distributed it.
Due to The British film council going out of business most British films don’t get to be made and due to the mass amount of piracy and downloading when they get made there box office return is very poor therefore the films cannot be made into franchises.
In conclusion we see that the American Film Industry is dominant when it comes to ownership vas well as being the third biggest producer of film behind India and Nigeria. The British film makers don’t have the wallet size to be able to afford large CGI based films.
“Successful media products depend as much upon marketing and
distribution to a specific audience as they do upon good production practices”
to what extent would you agree with this statement?
To an extent, I agree with this statement because many films,
particularly in America, the MARKETING campaign as well as
the DISTRIBUTION
side play a huge part in the production of blockbuster movies.
An example
of this would be Star Trek (JJ Abrams 2009) as they relied on the marketing
campaign to create some hype around the film. The film already had a large
following due to it being based around the highly successful and influential
Star Trek film and TV series. But the marketing campaign was key in creating
the interest and buzz around the film. The production was very secretive and
therefore people didn’t know what to expect from the movie. Teaser trailers
were released to create more buzz for the movie and appeal to a wider audience
outside the conventional ‘trekkie fan’. The film had a large production company behind
it in paramount pictures and therefore it could get the film out to a wider and
world-wide audience. It had also won awards for its later trailers before the
film had been released. This brings into play the argument of COMMERCIAL
VS CRITICAL SUCCESS, as the film is already deemed successful because
of its awards and history. The MARKETING
CAMPAIGN was focused on the ‘MySpace generation’ and therefore could appeal to
a wide range of audiences. The film itself had lots of advantages as it already
had a firm fan following before its release and therefore the production team
could then choose another type of SPECIFIC AUDIENCE which was
the ‘ MySpace generation’. The distribution side of the film also massively
influenced its success as
I again agree
with this statement because of the success of ‘The kings Speech’ (Tom Hooper
2010) which was produced by the, now bankrupt, British film council and relied
on a powerful script and household British stars with large STAR
POWER to become a success. It was also helped by its distributor,
the Weinstein Company, who distribute in America as well as Britain. This helped
make more money from the film as it had a wider distribution. They marketed the
film well with TRAILERS and also review on websites added to the viral campaign.
The film’s TARGET AUDIENCE was a British audience as it was about their history.
This is film is a good example of how distributors are important as they use
their power and influence in the film industry to get their film recognised and
noticed by the right audiences. This is one of the reasons why The king’s
speech was such a major success at award shows and in the box office
However, in
retrospect, some films are let down by poor distribution and marketing
campaigns a good example of this is ‘The Boat That Rocked’ (Richard Curtis
2009) as its audience was too narrow and aimed too much at Americans with its
humour and star, that it was a disaster and surprised the industry . Its
production practices were very well executed, with it including star power and
also financial backing for the film was good. In hindsight, the distributors
didn’t manage to create any buzz around the film, like Star trek or the king’s
speech did. This highlights the fact that marketing and distribution of a film
is very important and can influence a film’s success massively.
This again is not always the case. Some films are almost
guaranteed to be a success without the input of distribution. Using the example
of X-Men: first class (Matthew Vaughn 2011), It was produced by a number of
studio’s such as Marvel entertainment and Dune entertainment. This shows SYNERGY
as the different companies are working together to create the film as well as
promoting it using different types of media to do this such as online, and also
television. The film was distributed by 20th century fox, meaning it
had all the financial backing it needed as well as a large fan following, due
to the comic series, Star power was not a key factor as the two
major stars of the film were not necessarily household names like Tom Cruise. This
gave a fresh, new look to the x-men film franchise itself. There was TECHNOLOGICAL
CONVERGENCE behind the film as there was use of 3D and CGI
automatically attracts more people as its new technology and can change the way
we view the film. This links with the PARADIGM SHIFT and cinemas
have to install more up to date technology to keep up. This can connote to the
movie being a success and had a broad target audience before marketing and
distribution even started. The film
grossed over $300 million worldwide and is considered to be the most successful
as well as the best x-men film out of the franchise. With this in mind, this
film makes me disagree with the statement as it shows that any film with good
production practises and a strong fan following can do well without a great
influence from the marketing campaign and the distributor
In the
future, I think that the DIGITISATION OF THE FILM INDUSTRY
is imminent. The film industry will start to change the importance of
distribution and marketing as I think that while there is new innovative
technology being created in film the pre-production and the production side of
the film will become the more intriguing part of the film-making process. The
technology that is used in the film will create its own buzz and audiences will
go see a film just to see the technology being used and what effects it creates.
However, in conclusion I do agree with the
statement as at the moment the marketing and distribution sides of the film are
the more important part in if the film is successful or not. The larger the
marketing campaign and the distributor, in most cases, the more money the film
makes in the box office.
"What significance does the continuing development of digital technology have for film instituitions and audiences"
Introduction
The
continuing development of digital technology has a significant impact on the
film institutions and audiences as it will change the way films are
distributed, marketed and consumed. Digital technology will impact the costs of
distributing a film to a cinema as it will be significantly cheaper than it
used to be. The development of viral marketing as well as the way we view a
film has changed due to digital technology also e.g. 3D and IMAX
Conclusion
In conclusion we can see that the future of digital technology and it's continuing development is bright. Digital technology will contin ue to change with new ways of viewing movies or watching a film at home on your tv. it may also influence the way we live our lives with technology such as the ipad being released on a yearly basis, trying to make our lives that little bit easier when it come to viewing, reading or playing media.
Topic sentences
Video response
Topic sentences
- The film instituition and industry is being affected by digital technology...
- The way we view films is changing due to digital technology
- Hollywood blockbusters are all in 3D showing thedevelopment of the way we view film
- Xmen first class wass released in 2011 and was in 3D
- Bronson was not 3D and did not make alot in the box office due to the technology
- The future of digital technology is bright with developments all the time.
Video response
