Production
There are 3 main stages within production. These are pre-production, production, and post-production.
Pre-Production
These are the tasks undertaken before the production stage begins. Firstly, the budget will be set in order to decide the scale of the movie and help outline a budget for each key stage. Once he budget is set, people will be hired to carry out specific roles. An independent film company (such as Coffee Films, or Bargus) is likely to have an initial idea and possibly a screen writer, however they will have to find a producer, director and independent distributor who will take equity on the profit. A conglomerate film company (such as Warner Bros or 20th Century Fox) will already own people who will help with production as they work solely with the film company.
Pre-production involves:
Production
The production stage (also known as principle photography) is the recording of the footage. This will involve filming the direction of actors as they perform the scripts produced in pre-production. In large scale film productions, this is known as the 'point of no return'. This means that it is no longer financially viable to cancel a production, and they are less likely to loose money by continuing a project. This is mainly because the company has already hired people in the pre-production stage, and b releasing a product, they are more likely to regain the money lost in production. However for an independent company, most people hired in the pre-production stage are working for a percentage of the film's financial intake, therefore it easier for an independent company to cancel a production without loosing a large sum of money.
Post-Production
Post-production is the final stage to the production process. Normally post-production is more time consuming than the actual production of the film, due to the precision of the tasks involved.
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The Main Producers of American Films
- Steven Spielberg: A co-founder for The Dreamwork Studios, Produced films such as E.T and Men in Black.
- James Cameron: Produced Titanic. Avatar. Owns the company 'Lightstore entertainment.'
- Quentin Tarantino: Produced films such as Django Unchained and Reservoir Dogs. Owns company 'Rolling Thunder Pictures' by Miramax.
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Ownership of Studios
Different studios will produce different genres of film. For example. DreamWorks produces many animation films (such as Shrek or A Bugs Life) because they will have people specialising in special effects and animation, whereas a company like 20th Century Fox will often produce comedy titles, as they will hire screenwriters with a comical writing style. Studios will produce specific types of movies due to their niche within the film industry. For example, Dreamwork studios are aimed at a younger audience, therefore are very likely to produce films with a PG or U certificate.
Independent Production
This is a feature film produced completely outside of a major film studio. Many of the people hired within the production process will not work for a larger company, and many of these films are often low budget.
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Distribution
Distribution is the process of sharing a product (film) out to companies such as cinemas (Vue, Cineworld, PictureHouse), online video streaming (Netflix, Amazon Instant Prime) DVDs, videos or Blu Ray. A larger company may already have relations with large cinema/video companies, therefore a well known director who would work for a large scale production may have offers from cinemas, however an independent film will have hired an independent distributor who was hired during the production process. A traditional form of distribution would be through cinemas, TV, DVDs, videos or Blu Ray. A more modern form of distribution is due to the increasing use of the internet. For example, Netflix, Amazon Instant, Youtube, Vimeo, who all stream movies online.
A film festival is a annual event celebrating the production of popular or critically acclaimed films. They may also feature films likely to be a big hit, and will often feature established directors/producers/actors. Large film festivals such as Cannes Film Festival or Venice Film Festival are likely to draw a large profit to an established film. due to its access to a large audience and reputable critics.
Timing is a crucial element in film distribution. Films specific to a certain time will be released in relation to the time of year. For example, the film Frozen which features snow and ice was released in winter, where as The Inbetweeners which features Sixth Form students was released a week after the academic year was finished. This is a successful method for distribution, as it is likely to pull in a larger profit within the first weekend, allowing for a longer air time at a cinema.
Distribution is an essential part of the film chain. If a film is not distributed well, it will not receive a good audience population and will not make a profit. If a film cannot secure a distribution deal, the production of the film will go to waste unless they continue on their search to find a new film distributor.
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Marketing
Marketing is the advertising aspect of the film. This will include promotional events, TV trailers, posters, interviews with he cast, clips from the film released before the release of the film. It differs from distribution, as it is used to reach and gather the audience, whereas distribution is the actual viewing of the film.
Examples of Marketing
Trailers: These are video summaries of the film, and are often released months before the film. growing a large sum of views on video hosting sites such as Youtube, or through Facebook.Youtube alone has over 100,000,000 viewers per day, and is a free service. Click here for an example: (Love, Rosie.)
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| the film 'Bruno' on the side of a bus |
Transport adverts: Large Posters attached to the sides of public buses in many cities across the world, with major cities such as Britain being a priority. In London, 30 million people will view a single bus advertisement, with 80% of these people responding to the advert via purchases or sharing on social media. Adverts are also placed on tube lines, and on the side of bus stops for maximum publicity.
Happy Meals: The fast food company McDonalds will advertise upcoming children' films on the side of their food boxes, with toys representing the movie inside. This is also an example of convergence, as McDonalds will draw in customers who want to have a figurine of the film by buying their food, whilst the film will gain advertising, and draw in a large younger audience.
Newspaper/Magazine Advertisement: These advertisements are largely visual so that they capture a readers attention. The film company will pay for advertising space in a magazine that has a similar audience to that of the target audience of the film. For example, the film 'Friends with Benefits' is rated 15, and aimed at teen girls. Therefore the advertisement is likely to be placed in a young fashion magazine such as 'Look' or 'Heat' rather than newspapers such as 'The Independent'.
Promoting to different audiences
Very large scale films will try to target a variety of audiences. For example, the hugely successful film series Harry Potter is adapted from an English book and features an almost exclusively English cast. However translations of the movie are available for 67 other languages, making the films a world-wide success. Another way to extend the target audience is by age. For example the film Avatar has alternate trailers. One that captures the alien characters and the fantasy storyline to appeal to a younger audience. The second trailers shows lots of high quality visual shots with many references to the quality of the animation, to draw in an older audience that will enjoy the visual aspects rather than the storyline.
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Exhibition
Audiences view films by:
- Cinema (2D, 3D, IMAX, Premieres)
- Online illegally
- Free online video hosting sites (Vimeo, Youtube)
- On demand services (Netflix, Amazon Prime)
- Online illegally
- Television
- Film Festivals (Cannes, Venice)
The box office of a film is in relation to its success. (The size of it's audience or the takings that a film makes.) If a film has a large box office, it means that it has attracted a large sum of money or popularity.
When a film becomes successful, the producer earns the profit. The producer finds investors to pay for the film, and then they get back money proportionate to what they paid in. People involved in the film, like actors, can invest their own money as well, or work out an agreement to trade part or all of their salaries in exchange for part of the film's revenue. There are also residuals, which give a person working on the film money for each unit sold, which were at the heart of the last writer's strike. All of these things are issues worked out via the contracts.
Cinemas only make 1% profit on a film played, so to make their money, they must sell food, drinks or VIP seating options. Because of the poor profit made by the cinemas, cinemas have to prove their food at high price (85% profit on concessions) to stay in business.
Due to the convince of internet streaming, cinemas have suffered a huge decline in sales over the last 5 years. To try and attract new customers, the cinema now produce many films in 3D, an experience hard to replicate in a house.
Ancillary markets are non-theatrical markets for feature films. This includes internet streaming, on demand sites, DVD, video, TV and airlines. This enables the view to watch a film without having to leave the house or watch it at a specific screening time. The flexibility of the ancillary market has meant a huge rise in video companies such as Netflix, which now has over 50 million members since its established opening in 2009.
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The BFI (British Film Institute) is a charitable organisation, and describes itself as "promoting greater understanding and appreciation of, and access to, film and moving image culture in the UK." They Maintain the worlds largest film archive, owns the largest cinema screen in the UK, run the London annual film festival, and support the teaching of film and media in schools.
This is helpful for the British film industry, as it increases access to independent films, funds opportunities for British film makers, encourages UK distributors to form strategic partnerships, and supports digital projects to increase audiences.
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