Film Industry Research QuizBy Liam Attridge

Director In the film industry, a director is the person

that ultimately has full control over creation of a film. They can choose the style of the film, and how scenes that were already created are orientated.

Examples; Christopher Nolan - The Dark Knight Rises

(2012), Inception (2010) Watkins – The Woman In Black (2012), Eden

Lake (2008)

Producer The producer is commonly the first person to

get involved in a particular project. They take part in all of the sections of a films production directly. They see the project throughout production, post-production, marketing and distribution.

Examples; Simon Oakes – The Woman in Black (2012), The

Resident (2011) Emma Thomas – The Dark Knight Rises (2012),

Momento (2000)

Screenwriter A screenwriters main priority is researching the

story, developing the narrative, writing the screenplay, and delivering it in the appropriate/required format to the Development Executives, who would then decide to fund the film or not.

Examples; Jane Goldman – The Woman in Black (2012), X-

Men First Class (2011) Jonathan Nolan – The Dark Knight Rises (2012),

The Prestige (2006)

Other roles in the production of a film Besides the ones I have mentioned,

three other roles in the production of a film are; Stunt Coordinator Casting Director Unit Manager

How are films funded? Private investors

Wealthy people looking for a profitable film to invest in. They will offer networking opportunities and connections for the producers. They could take a management role on in the film they choose to invest in.

TV Companies When a television company earns enough money from a

program they produce, they might fund a film based on it. An example of this would be the Simpsons Movie, that 20th Century Fox funded after the success of the television show.

Link to source: http://industry.bfi.org.uk/filmfund

How are films funded? Lottery (UK)

The national lottery supports aspiring film-makers in Britain. This is England is an example of a film that has been supported by the UK Film Council.

Governments In many European countries, especially in France, a lot of films

that are created are funded by the Government. This is done via taxes, tax incentives and government contributions. In the UK government money is currently provided through the Film Council.

Foreign Investors Often, UK film-makers look abroad for foreign investment. Most

of which is provided by major US companies such as Time Warner. An example of a British film funded by foreign investors is Chariots of Fire (1981).

Major Film Distribution Companies Warner Bros. Pictures – The Dark Knight

Rises (2012), The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012)

Walt Disney Studios – The Avengers (2012), Thor (2011)

Momentum Pictures – The Woman in Black (2012), Haywire (2012)

20th Century Fox – Avatar (2008), Taken (2009)

The typical technologies used during production of The Dark Knight Rises http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=

3RBBQvfwJQA Costume Design – A 3D model of Tom

Hardy’s (Bane’s) face and skull to design his mask, meaning it fits perfectly on his face.

Almost no CGI, green screen, etc. was used, one of the few scenes in the film to include CGI was at the beginning, when “the larger plane rises, ripping off the wings of the smaller plane”.

Nolan prefers his films to be realistic, which would bode down well with comic book fans as they are usually quite dark.

Green screen was also used in this scene, imitating the pit that Batman had to escape from in part of the time. It is one of the few limited times Christopher Nolan has used green screen.

He otherwise states that he prefers “physical magic to green screen and computers”

The typical technologies used during production of The Dark Knight Rises IMAX cameras were also used during the production of The

Dark Knight Rises, this allows for immense detail to be seen in the film, but also means that for the best quality you would have to see this film in an IMAX cinema.

Nolan states that the reason he uses IMAX cameras as apposed to 3D cameras is because “the question of 3-D is a very straightforward one. I never meet anybody who actually likes the format, and it’s always a source of great concern to me when you’re charging a higher price for something that nobody seems to really say they have any great love for - http://www.webpronews.com/nolan-the-dark-knight-rises-isnt-in-3d-because-nobody-likes-3d-2012-07

The typical technologies used during production of The Women in Black http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=

gpgLYXjsOZU

Film Distribution “The distribution of a film (or movie) is that process through

which a movie is made available to watch for an audience...”(www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Film_distribution)

Films after being produced go through a distribution phase. The most common way of distribution is via the theatre. Distribution companies would send the film to the theatre, which the audience would then watch.

As online viewing is becoming more prominent, more and more films are becoming available online. Via programs such as netflix. These programs generally require a subscription fee.

As online is becoming more prominent, piracy is becoming bigger and bigger…

Film Piracy Films are becoming easier and easier to access

online nowadays. Websites have started hosting films on a website that can be streamed and viewed for free. These films are usually viewable before their DVD release.

Piracy is slowly shrinking the film market, and this means that film production is generating less and less profit.

Adverts like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HmZm8vNHBSU are being packaged more and more with DVD’s.

Film Marketing and Promotion More and more films are getting more and more

coverage as the film industry continues to explode. An example of this would be The Dark Knight Rises being featured on bottles of mountain dew. This is an example of synergy, as it is two companies joining together that otherwise wouldn’t have. They both promote their product as well, so the effects of such synergy is very positive.

Another example of synergy would be Lamborghini advertising a competition with a trailer of The Dark Knight rises (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0k-uK_dR64) both the car and its retrospective competition along with the film get recognition from this.

Film Marketing and Promotion The Dark Knight Rises also advertised using

lunch boxes and figurines. This helps the film appeal to another one of its target audiences, children who admire/like superheroes. The Dark Knight rises is trying to access as many of it’s target audiences as it can, and producing action figures and lunch boxes as well as the aforementioned Mountain Dew shows they have done just that via synergy. I feel that marketing to this audience would be the most effective as the children would want to go see the film, and then would have to get at least one older member to come along as well due to the films age rating.

This tactic will allow the film to rake in more money in the box office.

How can the cultural industry theory be generally applied to films? Action films generally follow the same pattern that

is proven to work time and time again. They have the protagonist chase after an antagonist who then captures a damsel in distress. The films usually end with the antagonist being capture and having justice set upon him and the damsel in distress being saved and going off with the protagonist.

The highest grossing film, and the 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th highest grossing films are all action films (as of 26th November 2012). These figures alone show that there is a huge preference for action films in the cinema.

How can the cultural industry theory be generally applied to films? Superhero Films are a very good example of a group of

films that don’t change much but still excel at the box office. The Avengers was released this year and is now the 3rd highest grossing film of all time, with a sequel expected for release in 2014.

These films are so popular arguably because of their wide target audience. You have the comic book fans of old and new, people who enjoy action films, and maybe families looking to go and see an easy film.

Most of these plots are pretty simple, however, superhero films are getting darker with the release of films such as The Dark Knight Rises and Dredd 3D, amongst others.

How can the cultural industry theory be generally applied to films? Taken 1 and 2 are two films that have pretty much

shamelessly copied eachother. The first film was something somewhat fresh, with a mans

daughter being kidnapped and the man had to rescue her. This had been done before but the protagonist had never been somebody in their 60’s.

After the surprise success of the first film, a new director decided to make a sequel. This film was highly anticipated due to the previous films great reception, but flopped.

The plot was identical to the previous film, except with both the mother and daughter being kidnapped this time, and obviously by different people. Most audiences reacted horribly to this, and felt they had wasted their money.

How can the cultural industry theory be generally applied to films? Besides focusing on the genre of film that The

Dark Knight Rises (one of my chosen films) conforms to, other genres follow a similar pattern

Horror films are known to follow a pattern of having a female looking weak, looking inferior, being the damsel in distress, and being involved in a chase scene where she would typically fall over something.

Comedy films are generally not plot centric, and the plots are usually organised around the pre-planned gags/laughs.

How can the encoding/decoding theory be generally applied to films?

Films of today are either accepted, and well received, questioned and received partially well, or disliked, and therefore received poorly.

Every film you watch in the cinema will have some type of code, depending on the target audience that code was aimed at, and whether or not you conform to that target audience, you may accept the code, you may not.

How can the encoding/decoding theory be generally applied to films? The code in The Dark Knight Rises might not be seen until the

end, when Batman sacrifices himself to save his city, he states that anybody can be a superhero. This would generally be well received by children, one of their target audiences, who might aspire to be like Batman.

Older teens may be on the fence, and perhaps try to read into it slightly more, saying that Batman means that anybody could be the “good guy” and do a good deed.

Adults might simply flat out refuse, and be oppositional to the message. They might just state that superheroes don’t exist in general so any message posed by the film is flawed.

“Another example of this theory in use is in films when a strong message is trying to be portrayed – this can be seen in a lot of war film and/or real life based films.”

How can the hypodermic needle theory be generally applied to films? “The hypodermic needle theory is the idea that the media is like a syringe which injects

ideas, attitudes and beliefs into the audience and does not allow them a chance to challenge or process the data, the theory also suggests that the intellect or opinions of an individual are not relevant to the reception of the media text.”

“The theory can be done to such an extent that it can create a ‘Moral Panic’. A moral panic is a drastic change in the opinions of an audience due to the viewing of a media text.”

In 2006 the Film ‘Kidult Hood’ caused a Moral panic, in the film it showed teenagers and youths as Deviants and trouble makers and affected a lot of people who viewed the media product, generating a fear or spite of teenagers due to the film.

Trailer

How can the hypodermic needle theory be generally applied to films?

The Hurt Locker is a 2008 American war film about a three-man Explosive Ordnance Disposal team during the Iraq War, the hypodermic needle was present in this movie not to create a moral panic but to pull people into joining the army, the whole film is used as propaganda.

“This is the idea that different people will process the information they get from the media in different ways”

One of these ways is Diversion, the means to escape. A film that could be watched to help entertain you and make you forget about the troubles/boredom of the daily routine would be The Dark Knight Rises.

The Dark Knight Rises is a film that is larger than life and would serve to entertain the audience, perhaps making them think they are in that world.

How can the uses and gratifications theory be generally applied to films?

Another way films can be interpreted is “personal relationships”, and this basically covers our need to interact with people.

A film such as Titanic might achieve this, you see the interaction between the characters and almost feel part of it, allowing you to enjoy the film more.

Any film that has some kind of “personal relationship” or social interaction in it could possibly achieve this.

How can the uses and gratifications theory be generally applied to films?

Another way films can be interpreted is via “personal identity”, and this means “our need to define our identity and sense of self”.

Examples of this can be found all across film, especially in films based on true stories, mockumentaries, or documentaries turned into films. These types of film allow for the audience to identify with the characters a lot easier and perhaps find yourself in one of the characters.

How can the uses and gratifications theory be generally applied to films?

The last way a film can be interpreted is via “surveillance”. This is basically “our need to know what is going on in the world”.

Films such as The Hurt Locker achieve this, portraying an accurate representation of war.

Films based off of true stories, and documentaries that are released in the cinema would also achieve this, as they are reflecting what is happening in the world at the time.

How can the uses and gratifications theory be generally applied to films?