In
Section B of your examination, you answer a long essay question on
aspects of the film industry and processes of production, distribution,
marketing and consumption. We focus on specific studios/production
companies that target British audiences. We consider contemporary film
distribution practices (digital cinema, DVD, HD-DVD, downloads etc) and
how these affect production, marketing and distribution. We will study:
- who makes, owns, funds and distributes specific recent films
- cross media convergence and synergy in production, distribution & marketing
- new film technologies such as digital cinema
- technological convergence
- proliferation in hardware and content for institutions & audiences
- how national and British audiences are targeted by film institutions
- how your own experience illustrates wider trends
Below are some examples of case studies:
The King's Speech was
the highest earning film for three weekends in a row at the British box
office. It has been widely praised by film critics for its visual
style, art direction and acting. Other commentators discussed the film's
misrepresentation of the historical events it portrays, in particular
the reversal of Winston Churchill's opposition to abdication.
The film received many awards and nominations, mostly for Colin Firth. The film was nominated for seven Golden Globes, winning Best Actor – Drama for Firth. Furthermore, the film also nominated for fourteen BAFTAs, the most of any film, winning seven, including Best Picture, Best Actor for Firth, and both Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress for bothGeoffrey Rush and Helena Bonham Carter,
respectively. The film was also nominated for 12 Academy Awards, the
most of any film, and ended up winning four, all in the major categories
including Best Picture, Best Director for Tom Hooper, Best Actor for Firth and Best Original Screenplayfor David Seidler. This
is an excellent return on the £9 million that the film cost to make. A
huge proportion of these takings will go to seminars and on advertising
and marketing costs but the film will return £60 million to its British
backers and creators.
The
UK film Council provided £1.21 million to fund the film and in return
it will receive over a third of its profits. The British film Institute
is taking over the UK film Council's functions and will use the money to
fund further new films.
British
Oscar successes include Christian Bale in the fighter (best supporting
actor), Christopher Nolan for inception (cinematography, pursuant
effects, sound mixing and sound editing).
RELEASE: The film had its world premiere on 6 September 2010 at the Telluride Film Festival in the United States. It was screened at the 2010 Toronto International Film Festival, on Firth's 50th birthday, where it received a standing ovation and won the People's Choice Award. The
theatrical release poster was re-designed to show an extreme close-up
of Firth's jaw and a microphone after Hooper criticised the first
design, as a "train smash".
The film was initially given a 15 rating by the British Board of Film Classification for
its release in the United Kingdom, due to scenes where Logue encourages
the King to shout profanities to relieve stress. At the London Film
Festival, Hooper criticised the decision, questioning how the body could
certify the film "15" for bad language but allow films such as Salt (2010) and Casino Royale (2006)
to have 12A ratings despite their graphic torture scenes. Following
Hooper's criticism, the board lowered the rating to "12A", allowing
children under 12 years of age to see the film if they are accompanied
by an adult. Hooper levelled the same criticism at the Motion Picture Association of America, which gave the film an R rating, preventing anyone under the age of 17 from seeing the film without an adult. This rating was not appealed. In
his review, Roger Ebert criticised the R rating, calling it "utterly
inexplicable", and said, "This is an excellent film for teenagers". In January 2011, executive producer and distributor Harvey Weinstein said
he was considering having the film re-edited to remove some profanity,
so that it would receive a lower classification and reach a larger
audience.
Tom Hooper, however, refused to cut the film, though he considered covering the swear words with bleeps. Helena Bonham Carter also
defended the film, saying, "[The film] is not violent. It’s full of
humanity and wit. [It's] for people not with just a speech impediment,
but who have got confidence [doubts]." In the press room after receiving the Academy Award, Colin Firth himself
has noted that he doesn't support the re-editing of the film, and while
he doesn't condone the use of profanity, he maintained that the context
of the use wasn't offensive and the scene "serves a purpose". An alternate version, with some of the profanities muted out of the soundtrack, was classified PG-13 by the MPAA; this version was released to theatres across the United States on 1 April 2011, replacing the R-rated cut.
The film is distributed by Transmission in Australia and by Momentum Pictures in the United Kingdom. The Weinstein Company is the distributor in North America, Germany, Benelux, Scandinavia, China, Hong Kong and Latin America. The film was released in France on 2 February 2011, under the title Le discours d'un roi. It was distributed by Wild Bunch Distribution.
SHIFTY: 2009 LOW BUDGET FILM CASE STUDY
Watch this presentation on the film that was screened at our BFI study day:
Shifty case study
http://www.slideshare.net/mickgoogan/g322-section-b-shifty-case-study
MAMMA MIA! : 2008 MEGA SUCCESS
The decade's most popular movie, Mamma Mia!,
produced by British filmmakers at Pinewood Studios, is also the top
grosser of all time in UK cinemas with box-office receipts of £69.1
million.
SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE: 2009 HUGE SUCCESS
http://www.slideshare.net/filmcgs/the-british-film-industry-2-section-a
Distribution:
How Slumdog Millionaire was promoted through Creative Search Marketing
Technological convergence is present at each stage in the media and in this instance, the distribution part of the film industry. Here, "Tug" plays up its part in the use of search marketing for Pathe to publicise Slumdog Millionaire using online marketing on the Internet. For those researching case studies on this film and its institutions notice also how niche audiences were targeted: "Indian moviegoers and Danny Boyle enthusiasts".
Launching Pathe’s Slumdog Millionaire Using search marketing
Problem
• Pathe was launching a new independent movie in the UK: Slumdog Millionaire.
• They wanted to use online marketing to build awareness with the public while also targeting niche audiences such as Indian movie goers and Danny Boyle enthusiasts.
• To support their above the line advertising, Pathe developed a suite of online marketing collateral including a viral, a widget and a trailer focused microsite
• But how could Pathe cost effectively gain an online share of voice in the competitive January release season, create engagement and drive traffic to their online assets?
Solution
Tug developed a PPC campaign on the major UK search engines targeting searchers interested in: Pathe, Bollywood, Danny Boyle, Slumdog, Indie movies and the like
• Tug launched targeted banners across the Google Content network to build
awareness of the film on a cost per click model. Eye balls were free.
• Tug worked with Google to create click to play trailer ads. Pathe only paid
when the surfer clicked through to the microsite. Banner and even trailer views were free!
• Tug tested and improved ad copy weekly and included Bafta award and box office hit messaging when the movie met these milestones.
• A tactical SEO programme was also put in place concentrating on the film name to ensure top positioning for the difficult to index, flash microsite.
Results
• PPC drove over 75,000 new visitors to SlumdogMillionaireMovie.co.uk
• More than 21 Million ad impressions were served and viewed by targeted audiences – for free. On a blind network at £5 CPM that would have cost over£100K
• 73,000 movie goers engaged with and viewed the video trailer
• These terrific results cost a mere £13,000 in media spend over a 5 week burst.
• Slumdog Millionaire smashed UK box office records and has won 7 Bafta awards and 8 oscars!
• Tug are working on an integrated SEO & PPC template campaign structure for further Pathe film releases.
Tug
Creative Search Marketing
77 Leonard Street
London, EC2A 4QS
www.tugsearch.co.uk www.tugsearch.co.uk/blog
GET TO KNOW HOW THE INDUSTRY WORKS
Read the FDA Handbook for 2009/10 (above) which refers to Shifty, The Boat That Rocked and Slumdog Millionaire. Then go to the FDA website to learn from the series of brief video presentations.
THE BOAT THAT ROCKED: 2009 UK FLOP FOR WORKING TITLE
Booklet on WT will be handed out in class
AVATAR: A US SUCCESS STORY
We will use Avatar as a comparison case study.
SNAPSHOT OF INDUSTRY IN 2011 by Lord Putnam
moviecitynews.com London — 24 March 2011. In
his role as President of the UK trade body, Film Distributors’
Association (FDA), Lord Puttnam of Queensgate CBE today gave a keynote
speech in which he called for thedistribution of
cinema releases to be placed at the heart of planning for a new UK film
policy. Speaking in London’s Leicester Square to an audience of film
industry members, press and politicians, Lord Puttnam said:
“By
acquiring, positioning, licensing, marketing and publicising films,
distributors are the point at which movies connect with their audience,
the largest possible audience that can be identified and motivated in
each individual case. Films reach their audiences by professional
design, not purely by accident or lucky chance. And it’s only when
they reach their audience that they achieve their extraordinary
potential to seize people’s consciousness – to amuse, amaze and excite.
The global demand for film, including British films, has never been
greater. But because all intellectual property markets are
‘content-led’, any forward-looking film policy in the digital age must
adopt demand-side, as well as supply-side, strategies.”
Having discussed
some digital challenges and opportunities affecting UK media, Lord
Puttnam observed that however the release of movies is remodelled across
myriad platforms, the cinema launch pad remains distinct and special,
for audiences and filmmakers alike: “The cinema is where directors and
actors aspire to have their work seen; in fact it’s where they make it
to be seen, and there’s no sign of that changing one bit.”
FDA publications
At today’s event Lord Puttnam also launched two new publications: The FDA Yearbook 2011,
which contains an array of data on the last 12 months cinemagoing, and
the £300 million investment by film distributors to launch 573 feature
films for UK cinema audiences in 2010 – a new record number in a single
year.
Encouraging
signs for cinema in 2011
Cinemagoing in the UK for January and February
2011 was up by an impressive 10.1% year-on-year compared to 2010 –
32.46 million admissions were recorded during the first two months of
2011. This is partly due to the tremendous theatrical success of The King’s Speech,
and a very buoyant half term period, Valentine’s weekend and an array
of awards titles that captured audience appetites. February 2011 on its
own notched up the highest ever UK box office takings on record for the
month with £112.1m in cinema receipts.
UK cinema snapshot 2010
Some highlights extracted from the FDA Yearbook 2011:
* No
matter what the economic climate, cinema continues to offers the
ultimate escape. One in sevenBritish adults go to the cinema at least
once a month.
*
UK
box-office receipts topped £1 billion in 2010, an all-time high. 3D
accounted for £237.9m – more than a fifth of the total box-office.
Distributors’ support of digital switch-over is gathering pace in UK
cinemas. Already around 1,500 screens are digital, nearly half of the
total, and most of those are 3D-enabled.
* The
number of feature films released, which has exceeded 500 a year in each
of the last five years, leapt higher than ever to 573, an average of 11
openings each week, all competing for available screens, media space
and audience time and money.
*
Hot
summer: 24% of the year’s admissions took place in July and August – by
far the busiest months – led by Toy Story 3, Inception, Shrek Forever
After, The Twilight Saga: Eclipse and The Karate Kid. In those two
months alone, the box-office exceeded a quarter of a billion pounds
(£268.9 million), driven by 83 new releases, while admissions (40.5
million) were equivalent to two-thirds of the population.
*
136
films took more than £1m at the box-office. 55 films grossed over £5m,
of which the top 27 grossed over £10m. The seven highest-grossing
releases of 2010, led by Toy Story 3, earned places in the UK’s all-time
top 100 box-office hits.
*
Overall
admissions dipped slightly below 2009’s total to 169.25m, the first
decline in four years, yet still an average of 3.25m per week.
Cinemagoing pre-Christmas, like other retail activities, was hampered by
the Arctic weather conditions: December 2010 had the lowest admissions
for any December since 2000. At the end of November, the moving annual
total of admissions was up 2.3% year-on-year.
Top 20 films of the decade 2001 – 2010
This chart is peppered with franchises based on British stories, such as Harry Potter, James Bond, The Lord of the Rings and The Chronicles of Narnia. Many titles, including Mamma Mia! and The Dark Knight,
had British cast and crew members fulfilling key creative roles. All
these British titles have been hits worldwide, not just in the UK.
 | |||||
 |
| Top 20 films of the decade 2001 – 2010 |
JOHNNY ENGLISH REBORN (2011)
It is worth noting how the P&A machine works in the run-up to distributing a film, for example, by tracking how Johnny English is promoted: look on Working Titles website to follow the process: read it here World Premiere in Sydney September 4 2011 and here about publicity in Germany Johnny English Reborn Publicity Tour
 |
| Publicity in Germany |
Rowan Atkinson returns to the role of the improbable secret agent who doesn’t know fear or danger in the comedy spy-thriller Johnny English Reborn.
In his latest adventure, the most unlikely intelligence officer in
Her Majesty’s Secret Service must stop a group of international
assassins before they eliminate a world leader and cause global chaos.
In the years since MI7’s top spy vanished off the grid, he has been
honing his unique skills in a remote region of Asia. But when his
agency superiors learn of an attempt against the Chinese premier’s
life, they must hunt down the highly unorthodox agent. Now that the
world needs him once again, Johnny English is back in action.
With one shot at redemption, he must employ the latest in hi-tech
gadgets to unravel a web of conspiracy that runs throughout the KGB,
CIA and even MI-7. With mere days until a heads of state conference,
one man must use every trick in his playbook to protect us all. For
Johnny English, disaster may be an option, but failure never is.
(Working Title website)
TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY (Tomas Alfredson, 2011)
 |
| Inside MI6 |
A British film in
that it is based on the book by best-selling author John Le Carre and
features the convoluted and dark world of MI6 and international
espionage during the Cold War period. Set
in the 1970’s, TINKER, TAILOR, SOLDIER, SPY finds George Smiley (Gary
Oldman), a recently retired M16 agent, doing his best to adjust to a
life outside the secret service. However, when
a disgraced agent reappears with information concerning a mole at the
heart of the Circus, Smiley is drawn back into the murky field of
espionage. Tasked with investigating which of his trusted former
colleagues has chosen to betray him and their country, Smiley narrows
his search to four suspects – all experienced, urbane, successful
agents – but past histories, rivalries and friendships make it far
from easy to pinpoint the man who is eating away at the heart of the
British establishment.
NOWHERE BOY (dir. Sam Taylor-Wood, 2009)
Production companies
John
Lennon's most famous imperative, "imagine", looks to have been taken
to heart by the artist-turned-director Sam Taylor-Wood in this biopic
about the Beatle's teenage years: it alters the facts in ways for
which justifications are hard to see (writes Edward Potter The Times 02.10.2011).
Whatever you make of it, the film is vigorous and engaging. Aaron
Johnson plays Lennon and Kirstin Scott Thomas excels as his Aunt Mimi.
Consider reasons why this film is likely to attract international
audiences.
Production Companies
- Stealth Films
- Cipher Films
- TMC Films
- UK Film Council (developed with the assistance of)
A Grange Hill for the gun-crime generation, Menhaj Huja's film crams
every social problem into its story of London teenagers, among whom are
Noel Clarke (who wrote the script) and Jaime Winstone. Rough and
energetic though it is, it will have been judged uncool by some members
of its young target audience, writes Edward Potter (The Times 02.10.2011).
Consider the target audience for this film: it may find adults among
its viewers desperately trying to understand the world it depicts. The
sequel is Adulthood.
 |
| Music from the film: one way of adding value to financial returns |
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