British Film Industry History

Homework

1) What constitutes a British film? (the diff categories)

• Cultural content: The movie is filmed in the UK, has British actors, dialogue is mainly recorded in the English language and has a British subject matter
• Cultural Contribution: reflects the British culture
• Cultural Hubs: Music and effects are done in the UK 
• Cultural Practitioners: The people who worked on the movie are from the UK 

2) What are the various methods of marketing a film? (how do they?)

• Viral videos: distribution of the trailer
• Internet advertising: paid advertisements online 
• Merchandising: Something used within in the film then promoting the film outside of the film
• Trailers
• Film posters
• Paid advertisements in newspapers and magazines 
• Promotional tour: actors and directors take part in interviews across the media

3)What are the different ways a film can be exhibited or consumed?

• Cinema 
• DVD
• Downloaded
• Film on television
• Videos 
• The internet

Distribution notes

• The audience has the greatest power within the film industry as they choose what they want to see and then Hollywood will force what the audience want to see into action. 
• More than often 50% of a films budget will be spent on promotion rather than the creation of the film. 
• Contrasting the first view i noted, others believe the audience aren't in charge and that the distributors are just aware of what parts of the world and media are in need of its product, and also whom are willing to pay for them. 
• There are 2 views when it comes to film marketing, are consumers passive or active? 
• Production: the making of a film. 
• Exhibition: people watching the film.
• Film distribution explains everything that happens between production and exhibition. 
• Promotion concerns advertising such as billboards, posters, trailers, spin offs. This type of advertising is known as 'above the line' as it is paid for. 
• Unpaid for promotion is known as 'below to line' publicity, it uses newspaper and magazine reviews. 
• Big production companies control much of the film industry and therefore the distribution of their own products. These companies loan their film out to the cinema for a certain amount of time and secure certain screens in a cinema for a certain amount of time. 
• Hollywood films are prioritised over any other film. 
• Smaller companies dont have as much money to get their prints into loads of cinemas as opposed to Hollywood films who have a lot more money to put their prints in more cinemas. 
• The UK film council are addressing the problem noted above via the Digital Screen Network as they receive financial support.
• Prints: producing physical copies of a film for cinema/ home release and finding the exhibitors /retailers to sell the film. 
• Marketing: raising audience awareness and anticipation of a new release.
• A distributor can have a long term arrangement with a certain production company and may provide them with financial support. 
• A film is likely to have different distributors for releases in different countries, cinema releases and home-video releases. 
• 360-degree branding is when a film promotion surrounds all around us with their brand, converged media forms and multi levels. Their aim is to 'trigger engagement' in audiences. 
• Guerilla marketing run classified or small ads offering their brochure and people direction to their website via awareness on the radio, cable tv, business magazines. They also participate in forums, chatrooms and email.

Homework

What is Distribution? 

• Distribution is about releasing and sustaining films in the film industry.
• Distribution can be divided into 3 sectors, licensing, marketing and logistics. 

Licensing

• Licensing is a process where the distributor gets the legal right to exploit a film. 
• In the form of distribution, licensing can take place on two levels: international and local distribution. 
• International distribution makes sure the film which has been created makes its way to the 90+ market territories in the World. 
• US studios usually have their own distribution offices in the major territories, however, independent producers must sell their films to different distributors on the major territories. 
• Independent producers sometimes hire a specialist sales agent whose job is to understand the price of the film in different markets. 
• Local distribution is when the distributor gets a licence to release and exploit a film in a certain country.
• The distributor in local distribution will pay the producer a minimum a fee and obtain the rights to sell the film to a broadcaster, video and dvd exploitation, theoretical rights, the right to show the film in the cinema and tv rights.
• When the licence has been agreed, the distributor then becomes responsible for launching the film, a release in the cinema is usually chosen. 
• After the film has been released in the cinema, months later the film will be released on DVD and then on forms of pay television. For this to be success the distributor must have knowledge on the current market place.

Marketing

• Marketing of a film depends on when and how; in england films are usually released on a friday. 
• Releases are decided by the Film Distributors Association. 
• Distributors try to find a 'light week' when only a few films are releasing so that there will be screen space and review columns allocated to the film they are releasing. 

Marketing: Prints and Advertising

• Prints and Advertising are very important when releasing a film in the cinema as they make a film public. 
• The key elements of Prints and Advertising 

1. Quantity and production of release prints and trailers (commercial mainstream films have a lot more than specialized films)
2. Press materials, clip reels, images, press previews, screener tapes
3. Design and printing of posters and other promotional artwork ( the cinema poster is the corner stone of theoretical release campaigns, distributors also pay attention to billboards, underground advertising etc.) 
4. Advertising Campaign- locations, ad size and frequency (advertising in magazines and newspapers. With mainstream films heavy advertising is key. In the UK, distributors prefer electronic word-in-mouth advertising as the cost of print advertising is high)
5. Press campaign/ contracting a PR agency ( often hired as many distributing offices dont have a PR department)
6. Arranging visit by talent from the film (use of director and lead actors for editorial coverage)
7. Other preview screenings ( advance public screenings to create a buzz on the film) 

Logistics

• Logistics is the supplying and circulating copies of the film to cinemas, tapes, DVDs, rental stores etc. 
• It is VERY important the distributor delivers the film on time to a cinema
• When films are shown in the cinema the distributor delivers them by film

Bullet Boy

• Bullet boy is a specialized film which was low budget and an independent feature. 
• Due to its context of contemporary urban life, the distributor had faith that the film would receive exceptional reviews.
• The ad campaign approached diverse audiences due to the actor being a rapper from So Solid. 
• By the actor being in So Solid, the film was also advertised on hip hop, r n b and garage radio stations. 

Digital Distribution 

• With Digital Distribution, life is predicted to be a lot less stress free as film files can be sent and received through use of email. 
• It will also be cheaper. 
• The Digital Screen Network is a digital distribution and exhibition program introduced in 2005. 
• In the future, the DSN will allow files will be locked to be sent straight to the cinema to be downloaded and then unlocked, and then opened as files for screening. 
• This will better the logistics of film. 
• It is predicted that with this form of digital distribution, films will go from screening 3-6 months in cinema to 1-3 months. 
• This will bring forward distributors release of DVD. 

Production Movie Costs

Avatar cost $425 million to make. 

Avatar earned $2,783,918,982 in worldwide gross.

This means that overall Avatar made $2,358,918,982

Figures by: http://www.the-numbers.com/movie/budgets/




Trainspotting cost $3,100,000 to make.

Trainspotting earned $72,001,785 in worldwide gross. 

This means overall Trainspotting made $68,901,785

Figures by: http://www.the-numbers.com/movie/budgets/





Differences: 

• Avatar uses computer generated imagery 
• Trainspotting is older than Avatar 
• Trainspotting is set in normal places as oppose to Avatar which has been created 
• Avatar uses more well known actors as opposed to trainspotting where the actors look like they are making their debut
• There are more actors in Avatar

New Media Technologies

Newspaper Industry

• apps
• twitter
• internet (in general)
• tablets
• the official website
• mobile phones 

Magazine Industry

• apps
• twitter
• internet (in general) 
• instagram
• facebook 
• tablets
• the official website 
• tv 
• mobile phones

Film industry 

• Cinema 
• Tv
• LoveFilm
• Netflix 
• Youtube 
• Illegal downloading websites
• mobile phones
• xbox
• playstation 
• Dvds
• videos 
• tablets
• laptop/ computer
• 3d
• itunes
• social networking sites (promotion)

Music industry

• tv 
• radio 
• cds
• spotify 
• soundcloud 
• youtube 
• itunes
• mobile phone
• laptop
• tablet
• mp3/mp4
• ipod
• cassette player
• walkman 
• xbox
• playstation
• cd player
• tape 

Television industry

• Iplayers
• phone
• tv
• laptop
• tablets 
• internet
• netflix
• lovefilm
• dvds
• youtube 
• illegal websites
• catch up
• on demand 
• recordings 
• 
  

Doc Martin- Regional Identity

What the thing is and what it tells me about regional identity. 

Shots

• There is a master shot and within this shot the composition of Doc Martin and the 2 plumbers, this framing shows relative status and that Doc (who is from an urban background) is at the top of the relative status and that the plumbers are of lower relative status (whom are from a rural background). Doc is shown of higher relative status because he is standing as opposed to the 2 plumbers who are sitting down below him.
• There is a medium close up of Doc's face which shows his face and the distress which he has because of the previous problem of the sink breaking. Juxtaposing this, there is a medium shot of the other plumber on the phone, who is distracted by the phone rather than doing his job which represents him to be quite laid back, however this links into the stereotype that young people are obsessed with the phone as it is the younger plumber which I am referring to.
• There is a long shot which is tracking Doc as he walks down the street, this shot shows us that the street is small, uncrowded and the shops are only little. This opposes to the stereotypical urban environment which is busy, crowded and large department stores. 
• There is a long shot which tilts up the policeman as Doc enters the police station, this allows the audience to see that the policeman is hoovering. This then connotes to the idea that within the area there isn't a lot of crime and therefore the police force is not needed. This lets the audience know that the rural environment is quiet and perhaps more safe that an urban environment. 
• There is a medium close up tracking shot of Doc and the lady on the street, this allows the audience to also be aware of what is around them as it follows them as they continue to walk. This shot shows the hills in the background and the people behind them just stopping to admire the view, this connotes to be quite a slow paced, chilled environment. This contrasts against the stereotypes of urban environments where everybody is stereotyped to be fast paced and busy, and don't have the time to stop and enjoy everything they see. The fact that Doc is walking whilst the woman is trying to talk to him casts him as an outcast compared to everyone else as he is still rushing in a place which is lived leisurely. 

Sound

• Within the clip there are asynchronous