Anna Skelding - 8276 - Film Industry - Centre No. 16607: March 2013

1. Which key concepts are the main focus for our study on the film industry?

How media institutions distribute and market their material

2. Who has taken over the role of the UK Film Council?

BFI (British Film Institute)

3. What is their brief?

4. How does one decide if a film is British?

Whether a film is British or not is usually determind through the production of the film. For example, whether it is made by an all British crew, if the cast are British and whether it is set in Britain. British films tend to be produced by Independent companies as they work at a low budget, aiming to produce purely British Films. However, due to the lack of money and marketing, these films tend to be less successful. Whereas well known production companies such as Working Title work alongside global companies such as Universal. Therefore, even if the narrative was considered as British, it would be debatable as to whether the film actually is or not. The BFI divide the defintion of a British film in catergories A, B, C, D and E.

5. Give an example of a successful British film company?

Working Title

6. What did they do to ensure their success?

Working Title have ensured their success by joining/co-working with the successful American company, 'Universal'. This allows them to take more risks when producing films, for example a change in genre (eg. romantic comedy to sci-fi) as together, they would have enough money to do so. As Universal are a global company, they would be able to afford famous, successful actors/actresses, helping attract a larger audience, leaving them at an advantage against competitor companies and a guarenteed profitWorking Title have also ensured their success through the recent film 'Les Miserable'. They have done this through the use of global actors and actresses that have previously starred in Universal Films. They ensured that the film would be successful by announcing its release at the 25th anniversary of the theatre production. This was a clever marketing strategy as a majority of their extreme fan base would have attended the event. They also released teasers of the trailer, maintaing their active audience and had blanket distribution helping promote the film.

7. Explain the significance of convergence in the film industry.

Convergence describes the coming together of technologies and how media industries are diversifying so they can produce and distribute across several media. Convergence is a significant factor when focusing on the British Film Industry as audiences can consume a film in various ways due to modern technology within our society. For example, purchasing DVDs is much less popular nowadays due to various new streaming sights such as Netflix. Films can also be accessed through companies such as Apple TV, where viewers can access the project on their iPads and iPhones. Because of convergence, media institutions are now diversifying.

8. What are the three processes that all films go through?

Production: Making of the filmDistribution: Promotion/marketing of the filmConsumption: The film reaching the audience

9. Which do you consider to be the most important (if any)

Although the production and consumption of a film are important, I think that the distribution would be considered as the most important of the three processes as it gains the film recognition through promotion/marketing, allowing the next stage of consumption to occur. If a film does not have a distribution company then it is hard for them to reach their audience as they would not know about it. An example of this can be seen through the film 'Do Elephants Pray?'. This is because they do not yet have a distributer and therefore cannot get their film screened in mainstream cinemas or recognized by the public. However, due to modern technology, the company have set up accounts on social networking sites such as Facebook, trying to attract an audience helping gain interest from a distributor. On the other hand, films such as 'I Give It A Year' that are produced by successful companies such as Working Title, easily attract an audience and gain recognition due to the use of blanket distribution. They do this through marketing strategies such as adverts, posters and social networking sites.

10. Explain classification and its implications.

The classification of a film determines how appropriate the content is for specific ages. Before the distribution process, an agreement must be made between production companies and classification agencies such as the BBFC (The British Board of Film Classification). Depending on the target audience of a film, the directors and editors would have to crate a balance between the narrative and target audience, making sure that they can watch the film. For example, a film rated 'U' (Universal) would be aimed at young children and would therefore contain no violent or obscene content.

The classification of a film can have a large impact on the public. An example of this occurring is when the film 'Spider Man' was released and rated a 12A. However, they had previously created their target audience of young boys through selling merchandise consisting of products such as lunchboxes, t-shirts, posters etc. Therefore the classification of this film caused controversy as the original target audience were not legally allowed to access the film. The BBFCs guidlines state that there are three main considerations for any film: Legal, Protective and Societal. Although the BBFC make recommendations, it is possible for local authorities to disagree and allow films to be exhibited to a wider range than suggested by the BBFC.

11. What is meant by the term 'exchange'?

12. What has been the impact of digital technology?
Digital technology has had a large impact on the British Film Industry in various ways. A key impact that has been effected by technology is the distribution and marketing of films. This is because companies can now reach their audience in different, more personal ways via social networking sites through the internet. As social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter are mainly used by the younger generation, if the film was targeted at an older age group, creating a page on the internet could possibly attract a secondary audience, increasing the popularity of the film. Modern technology has also had a positive impact on Independent Film Companies as without a website/social networking site it would be even more difficult for the companies to gain recognition from both the public and distribution companies. The internet maintains that a film has an active audience as they can interact with other fans of the film or even producers/screen writers who worked on the project. This can be done through new techniques such as the 'hash tagging' on Twitter, consequently resulting in the consumer feeling more involved and attracted to the film. Through digital technology, companies and films can also create their own website giving fans access to any desired information. An example of this can be seen through the film 'Do Elephants Pray?' as they have created a website for their niche audience, consisting of videos, production/distribution blogs and information about the film, making their fans feel connected and up to date. However, it could be argued that digital technology has had a negative impact on the British Film Industry through the stage of consumption as it is now easy for an audience to illegally watch and download films online, resulting in fewer people going to the cinema and paying for a film. Due to this, film companies could potentially end up with a lower profit than expected.

13. How do you expect this to change the film industry in the future?

Although it is hard to predict what the film industry will be like in the future, I presume that the use of digital technology will increase and have a large impact on how audiences are consuming and viewing their magazines. In the future, cinemas may find themselves in a difficult position due to low ticket sales because of illegal access via the internet. DVDs may no longer exist as everything may be accessible in other ways. However, technology could also develop and result in new 3D Hologram experiences at the cinema, helping attract their audiences back.

14. Consider your case study. Do you think it was/will be succesful in a commercial sense? Why is this?

Anna Skelding - 8276 - Film Industry - Centre No. 16607

Friday, 22 March 2013

David Gauntlett

Wednesday, 20 March 2013

British Film Industry Test