"Cross media convergence and synergy are vital processes in the successful marketing of media products to audiences." To what extent do you agree with this statement in relation to your media area?

I agree with this statement in some aspects because cross media convergence and synergy are both very vital processes of which have to take place in order for particular films to become successful for the audiences that they are aimed at and marketed for. Cross media convergence is the way in which films and other different products are produced and distributed to other marketing platforms. An example of this would be how trailers for films have leaked onto the internet by accident to websites like Facebook and YouTube resulting in them being further marketed by accident to more people. Another example would be the marketing and distribution on iPhones and iPad apps and how people can access the marketing for films and things through this example of the media. Synergy on the other hand is the interaction and cooperation that two or more organisations have on particular products. This meaning that agents can produce better marketing techniques of which can then be seen by more audiences marketing the products in a more effective and greater way.

The two processes mentioned are important to the success of media products as without them, certain trailers for films or different advertising techniques might not be as accessible to the audience. An example of how cross media convergence affects the success of marketing a media product includes the use of YouTube. YouTube can almost be seen as a streamer for trailers and adverts for films and they quite commonly are found on there from different distributers. What I mean by this is that, members of the public can access film clips and then upload them to YouTube for further audiences to see. These audiences may not have originally seen the trailer and because the leak of the particular marketing techniques, films can become more available and open to more audiences. All this is done by accident and without the help of the film industries distributors. Another example of cross media convergence is how Facebook becomes a marketing technique. People post comments about what they have done and if someone was to go and see a new film, people might see that and become interested therefore watch the trailer of which another person may have shared from YouTube. This would also be an example of synergy. It is an example of synergy because it represents both Facebook and YouTube working together with the film companies and industries in order to advertise a film. It could be advertising the film through many different techniques such as a trailer or a film review. 

Relating directly back to the statement of, "Cross media convergence and synergy are vital processes in the successful marketing of media products to audiences," I feel that without the use of the internet film marketing is a lot more difficult as the synergy between film industries and other companies within the internet are strong and are seen as reliant when it comes to films becoming successful or not.

My next example of cross media convergence is how film marketing can fall accidently into newspapers and magazines like the Guardian. Many reviews and adverts can be found in magazines and these are read by different audiences to who would go on the internet in some cases. What I mean by this is that if your target audience of a film was older people around 50, those people are more likely to read a newspaper than they are going on Facebook. This means that any film companies and distributers would benefit from the marketing in magazines. The reason why this is cross media convergence is because if a critic was to and see a film and then write about in a newspaper, he would be indirectly advertising the film to another audience.

Films themselves are made to attract particular audiences to go and watch them. Marketing techniques includes thinks like; posters, trailers, promotions, merchandise and events. In some way or another most film marketing techniques can relate to convergence and synergy and how that can be dependant of the success of films. The spread and release of trailers can be related to cross media convergence as only one person needs to see the trailer for it to then be shared on social media websites and YouTube for it to then be seen by millions of people. Synergy is used in this respect by the bigger companies who can promote to two at the time that then market each other. In my opinion an example of this is The Avengers. At the end of the film there is a clip of which shows the leading story of the next film. This would be an example of advertisement. Therefore the film is advertising itself and its merchandise and then the next film that people will then want to go and see to see what happens next. Another example of synergy is vital to the success of a film is the film company Eon Productions. Eon Productions made the film Skyfall and Skyfall advertised all the James Bond films, which then advertised the soundtracks, which then advertised the games which then advertised the further merchandise and so on and so on. This would be a continuous marketing cycle that most film companies would benefit from. Another example would be Disney’, High School Musical. This film advertised the other films, the games, the company and all the outlet shops as people after seeing the film then went and bought products relating to the film which then encouraged more people to go and watch it.

Overall I feel that the cross media convergence and synergy are relied upon in terms of the success of a film and how it is marketed because without the use of it, films and its marketing may potentially not be as open and accessible to all audiences.

The Grand Budapest Task 2 Comprehension

Adrien Bordy - Dimitri 
Ralph Feinnes - M.Gustav H 
Tony Revolori - Zero 
Jeff Goldbloom - Deputy Kovacs
Tilda Swinton - Madam D
Mattieu Amalric - Serge X
Tom wilkison - Author 
Edward Norton - Henckles 
Owen Wilsion - M.Chuck 
Lee Seydoux - Clotilde  
Bill Murray - M.Ivan 
Saoirse Ronan - Agatha
Jason Schwarzman - M jean 
Willem Dafoe - Jopling 
F.Murray Abraham - Mr Moustafa 
Bob Balaban - M.Martin 
Harvey Keiitel – Ludwig

Where did scouting for a hotel take place?
The scouting for a hotel for The Grand Budapest Hotel took place in Central Europe.

Which location did the production team eventually use?
Eventually the production team decided to use, Gorlitz.

Did they film on location or on a sound stage?
They actually filmed on location rather than on a sound stage.

Where were the production offices located?
The offices were on the top floor of the hotel/set itself.

How did they film the 60's and 30's hotel?
What they did was they actually made the 60’s set first and then they peeled away at it so that it revealed the 30’s set.

Where did inspiration for the hotel's interior come from?
The inspiration for the hotel came from what he saw in a library of Congaree and some different European hotels.

How many extras did it take to fill the lobby?
Overall there was 150 extras that filled the lobby for the scenes.

Media Ownership Influences

The issues raised by media ownership in contemporary media practice;

The people that own the media companies influence the type of film that is made and its success because it will have the input of their opinion. For example; anybody that works for the Marvel Studios will have some interest in superheroes, comic series, and the marvel industry itself therefore may have input from their own opinion about what is made and why it is made. Another influence that could make a film successful is the actual size of the company. For example; Marvel is a very large media company and they made a lot of merchandise and films for that company. This meaning that the films will be bigger as they have more followed up from them. In my opinion I do feel that bigger companies are more likely to make more money however some smaller companies succeed too and some big companies end up having failed films. I think this is due to audience in some ways as if a particular company are focused on say; action films, and then they make a film of a different genre, people/the audience won’t be interested. What I mean by this is that a smaller company could be failing with a particular type of film but then if they made something different it could be huge, therefore succeeding. This would be the same type of thing for bigger film companies.

 The importance of cross media convergence and synergy in production, distribution and marketing;

Companies work together as organisations to produce, distribute and publicize films by advertising each other’s films perhaps on the DVDs or just before the film begins. Another way they can work together to publicize is through sponsorship. Sponsoring each other as film companies to make a profit and encourage both of the company’s audiences to watch the other company’s film. Disney can use their size as an advantage to promote and publicise a film because people already know about the company and it world famous. What I mean by all this is that, for example, if someone was to go and see Wall-E, they may also be interested at the new film, Big Hero 6. Both of the films are similar in terms of who their audience would be and what the film is actually about. Similarities could also include the colours within the film. Where I’m going with this is that Wall-E itself was a very big film, produced as a big film, therefore doing something similar, but very different will help that particular film become bigger. Another example of this type of example is Frozen, a Disney princess film, and 2015 film, Cinderella (newer version). Smaller companies, yes, will struggle more in promoting particular films due to audience interest but they can work together as companies themselves and create a film slightly bigger, with a bigger budget etc. Making sure that it would meet all the criteria it needs to become a blockbuster hit.

The technologies that have been introduced in recent years at the levels of production, distribution, marketing and exchange;

The introduction of digital film, 3D, DVD, Blue Ray, internet streaming, downloadable content, home cinema has influenced the types of films made, the way we watch them and the way we 'buy' them in many ways. I think it has influenced what type of films are made because they can see what people buy more clearly through ratings, purchases and profit. Many years ago films were made more for the entertainment of the audience and less for the profit but nowadays its more about the profit than it is for the entertainment. So this will affect what films are made. The film industry and the companies within it will make their films to make money so they have to make sure that they meet the criteria needed to get a high quality film that’s going to make a lot of money. When they make their films they also have to make sure they can be 3D in some cases, and are able to play on Blu-ray. If they weren’t compatible with these things it could lower the chances of the film being sold therefore they spend more money on cameras just to make this possible. Most people these days, in my opinion, stay at home to watch films rather than going to the cinema and that’s where streamers and packages for a television come in. Examples of this would include; Netflix, Now TV, and Love Film. This means we are more likely to buy a package so the film companies actually miss out on income here. As well as this, a lot of people tend to download films legally or illegally, one paying, one not. This again means that the film industry and the companies that make the films are missing out with money because their film isn’t being bought.

The significance of proliferation in hardware and content for institutions and audiences;

Nowadays a lot of people decide to watch films on their phones and they often get the films from YouTube or from illegal sites. This is affecting film industry’s in the way that people are just waiting for the film to become available on their rather than going to the cinema and spending money when the films initially come out. Some companies now have to make their films differently slightly so that people can’t watch them for free on their phones so easily. They have to change the quality they use because some phones can’t show certain things and they have also started charging some YouTube accounts for the videos they have on them just to save the film companies money for themselves. Audiences in cinemas now are often a lot smaller than they use to be because of these new technologies so some cinemas are having to charge more for the same thing just so that the film companies are still making the money they need to be successful.

The importance of technological convergence for institutions and audiences;

The film industry itself has adapted and many different technologies have come together to help it out to improve it and help it develop further. The industry itself appears to be shifting towards two separate things. This is firstly to do with higher quality visuals that, using technology, are being worked on and the other shift is to do with experiences that an audience has when watching the film itself. Whether its high-tech, more personal, and it will also impact peoples film experiences at home. There are, in my opinion 9 different technologies that have come together with the film industries to help it out and make it more popular and modern. The first technology that will help the film industry is simply IMAX cameras. Making more films with IMAX cameras will improve the visuals of the films instantly making a film more appealing to an audience. Another different technology would be digital cameras that the camera crew can run with. This will make a film seem more realistic when watching it in my opinion as the audience will feel like they are running with the characters or scene. Now, watching films on your phone is quite a popular thing to do but new technologies are making it available for people to film on them in good quality also. This will have a great impact in two ways on the film industry. It could have a negative impact as more people will be interested in using their phones, and then a positive impact would be that people won’t necessarily like the software on the phone and instantly watch normal films at the cinema. However this won’t help out the industry in a massive way it could get people or an audience more interested in a film. Another technology that has come together to help the film industry would be experience apps. There are now second screen experience apps that you can download while watching a film, to let you interact almost with it and play games to affect what the film does. This is a very expensive way to create a film but in the long run it could potentially really help out the film industry in terms of profit. Another technology that can also help the film industry out is the ability to project films onto any surface. This will help the film industry in the fact that people will buy films of perhaps a higher quality so that when they project them on a larger scale they will look better. This makes more money for the industries and companies and it is also keeping the consumer happy. One very clever and important development that has occurred recently is being able to watch 3D things without the use of 3D glasses. This will be good for the film industry because sometimes people don’t go and see 3D films because they don’t like to wear the plastic glasses so they don’t spend as much money on the tickets. Therefore having ability to watch a film 3D without wearing the uncomfortable glasses will encourage people to pay more for a better quality film that will give the audience a better reaction. Along with this they have also developed a technology to help the film industry by creating a better and more realistic audio experience. What this means is having audio that makes the audience feel more connected to the picture as they feel also like they are there, within the scenes. This will again encourage people to go and see a film rather than staying at home with an average sound system. Going along with the 3D experiences they have also further developed the films, making them 4D. 4D is when perhaps things happen whilst you’re watching the film, e.g. the chairs shake, things grab your legs under the chairs etc. This will give an audience a more ride thrill as well as the experience of watching the film. This will benefit the film industry as people will spend their money at 4D cinemas instead of 2D and 4D cinemas are generally more expensive to go to. The final development that can help out the film industry is the new use of interactive film screens. This is a very complicated thing to have people of how vast an audience can be however you can sometimes get them with buttons in the chairs and you as an audience as a whole can decide what will happen next with the on screen choices. This is a good thing to have because it can potentially keep children who visit the cinemas, more entertained and less likely to fidget as they have something to do as the film is being shown. This will help the film industry because it will encourage people to take their children to see an interactive film.

The issues raised in the targeting of national and local audiences (specifically, British) by international or global institutions;

Film companies attract there audiences in many different ways, whether it is through marketing or having an advert for another film within a film. What I mean by this is having at the end of a film, a clip that is introducing a story line for an up and coming one. An example of this would be Marvels’: The Avengers. At the end of this film you see ‘a problem’ that gives away what the next avenger’s film will be about. Marketing that helps attract audiences includes basic and obvious things like trailers and bus adverts but another includes places and events like comic con. Comic con is a convention all about comic books and things like that and the majority of the people that go are comic fans. So having an advert for a comic based film here would be a great way to attract an audience because you would be relating to the audiences interests. The Avengers itself was advertised and marketed at this event therefore made more money from audiences.

The ways in which the candidates’ own experiences of media consumption illustrate wider patterns and trends of audience behaviour.

Overall my opinion of the film, the avengers is that it has met, to begin with, the rules it needs to in the fact that it has; an a-list star of Robert Downey Jr, spectacular action involved with it, a decent budget that was met and it also isn’t a film based on comedy. On the other hand it does include aspects of humour throughout between the characters. I feel that this was done to make the audience have different opinions and it could also attract different types of audiences too. The film itself does have a slight development happening with it as it is being extended through more avengers’ films.

 

Avengers Documentary

This is my Film Documentary, all about the Avengers.

Why Did Dredd Fail at the Box Office?

Pre-Production

Dredd is a film all about a violent and futuristic city that where police have a place in the authority to act as a judge. They decide the punishments for those crime committers and they make the point of why they did it. One cop called Dredd teams up with a trainee judge and takes on a gang from Beach Trees tower block that deals with the reality-altering drug, slow-mo. I would say that it is a fast pace film that is quite quick at getting into the action. The film’s producer was someone called Alex Garland who also produced 28 days later and sunshine. These two films however are very different from Dredd. The distributers for the film played a big role of the film getting known and they were; Entertainment Film, Distributers and Lionsgate. Lionsgate are a Canadian or American entertainment company who have distributed many other films like the hunger games, and the power rangers. Both quite big films therefore Alex Garland probably thought going with Lionsgate was a good option. Lionsgate also announced a three picture deal with another company, IM Global in 2010. Finally the script writer, the script writer was someone called John Wagner who has worked on A History of Violence. He worked alongside another script writer called Carlos Eiquerra who worked on Comics Britannia. This means that both of these writers have worked on things to do with the past so doing the future is a bit of a mix up for them.

Another film distribution company includes IM Global. IM Global is leading film financing, sales and distribution company so you would be surprised how Alex Garland didn’t have IM Global as a distributer as well. Another example would be DNA films. DNA Films is also a film company however it is British and it is founded by Duncan Kenworthy. Duncan Kenworthy is the producer of very famous film, Love Actually. The company is all funded from the national lottery so they make their money very differently. DNA films also however decided to maintain a relationship with Fox Searchlight because of potential bigger projects that could work on.

The stars of the film Dredd include huge star Carl Urban who announced his main part in Dredd at comic con in 2010. Comic con is a huge comic book event and convention that’s all about superheroes, marvel that’s held in a variety of places. Carl announced his role in LA. I feel that he did this because it might have attracted the target audience of the film as it is a comic book event and Dredd was originally a comic book. Also it would get the people interested in the concept of the film because he would be able to talk about what the films going to be about. Because of this early announcement of Carl Urbans role and the way he announced it, the company actually made $30million dollars in film pre-sales. As well as this the distributer paid $7million dollars to show the film in the UK because they thought it would be a big hit. This is surprising because Dredd was actually filmed in Cape-Town in Johannesburg so you would have thought that Dredd would be an American dominated film. On the other hand 12 Years A Slave is a film that was also filmed in America and that was very popular in Britain.

Production

In the film Dredd a lawgiver gun had to be created. The gun was designed in 1995 and appeared in the comic book, in the first original film and now again in the new film (2012). The could have meant that people were bored of the same older concepts like the gun from the comic book and wanted to see something different. This, may be the gun but it could be changed slightly. All this relating to the box office figures as people didn't want to see all the same things. As well as the gun being made the slo-mo sequence had to be designed. This sequence also appeared in the film, Never Let Me Go by Jon Thurn. There was a problem with all these drugs and violence because they wanted to keep the film at an 18 certificate. It includes lots of forbidden language so they didn’t particularly want it to go any lower. Some people think that having a film as an 18 is difficult to get known because the audience range is a lot smaller. However the film makers actually had no doubt about the film being known, they felt as if it would become huge. The filming of Dredd began on the 12^th November 2010 and it took approximately thirteen weeks to do. The second unit photograph occurred with the in the first 7 weeks and was over by the eighth. When it comes to the shooting of the film and what cameras were used it was done digitally and primarily in 3D using Red MX, S12K and Phantoms flex high speed camera. This made sure that the film could be watched in 3D and 2D, opening up there audience range further. To use these difference cameras the producer had to involve multiple camera rigs, some of which had to be newly created so that they could fit and work to certain camera angles.

Post – Production

The makers of the film had to experiment with some of the visual aspects of the production in the ‘mega city’. This included the positioning and initial design of the tower blocks that were supposed to make the impression of the city being new a modified over the top of the older city scape. When the tried to replicate the tower blocks from the comic book pictures they noticed that it would make the buildings just look small. To alter this, instead of putting the set close together they spread them out so they could really emphasise the bigger tower blocks. As well as making the buildings look smaller it also made the roads and cars more visible out of the ‘mega city’ scenes. There was one main issue that occurred when it came to the editing of Dredd and this was that Travis, the main editor was prohibited in the editing process as there were creative disagreements between some of the production team and executives. A man named Garland then had to take over at late notice but his contribution was actually considered to be significant enough for him to get a directors credit. This was considered to be quite unusual as Garland had never directed a film before. The whole disagreement with Travis resulted in him just monitoring the progress of the film and he ended up with no input into the editing of the film production. In October, Travis and Garland actually paired together and announced a joint statement about an ‘unorthodox collaboration’. This meant that Travis could still be involved in the film and proved that Garland was in fact not looking for a co-directors credit.

All of this in my opinion relates back the question because it talks about how someone had to take over directing due to issues at late notice. This could have an effect on the box office figures because the person who took over wasn’t very experienced in what he was told to do therefore the film could have been quite stuttery in some ways as he won’t have known what to do and when to do it. Another point to make about the change in role for Garland is that it might have initially put people off watching the film because its a more unknown director and people like seeing what they know. What I mean by this is that Garland isn't well known when compared to people like JJ Abrams and that could mean that people would much rather see something else that almost has a guarantee of being a good film whereas Garland would be more of risk. All this could affect the box office figures for Dredd. nother thing in the pre-production stages that could have linked back to the box office could be about the comic books. Did they try too hard to replicate the books or should they have changed it slightly so people became more interested in the new and potentially better film version?

Distribution and Marketing

Dredd as a film was shown in 2,506 locations and cinemas and only 2,200 of them were 3D. This means that there wasn’t too much option to watch it as a 2D film. This could result in a problem because some people wouldn’t want to pay the extra few pounds to see it in 3D when for less money they can see a different film. To get the film more views, the producers had to advertise it further through marketing virally. To do this they almost did a whole section about the new film at Comic Con to under 25s and these people would be the prime people to go to the cinema. As part of this campaign to get Dredd known, LG partnered with other publisher 2000AD and Motion Comic and created an online comic strip for people to see that was a prequel to Dredd. The viral marketing was something a bit different and a bit simpler; the film won the Golden Trailer Award so that when people watched the trailer they would see that it won an award. The film also appeared at the Fantastic Fest. This event is an annual film festival in Austin Texas and was founded in 2005. This would appeal to Dredd’s target audience because it shows films similar to Dredd and the people that go to the Fantastic Fest are people very interested in all different types of films. This meaning that the film would probably gain more viewers just from this one event. Again I have to mention that the films trailer won a Golden Trailer Award so this would influence the audience of the people that attended the awards to go and see the film for tips and things to make their own films better.

When it comes to the actual box office figures the film actually earned just over $41 million at the box office on an estimated budget of $45 million. This sadly meant that the film company didn’t reach any profit at all. The film company had to use quite an unusual technique to get people to come and see the film and that was completely removing the chance to go and see the film in 2D. By doing this it meant everyone who wanted to see the film would have to pay for the more expensive ticket. The distributors of Dredd however feel that the film will attract loads of people and they think that the film will definitely get a greater profit by doing this because people don’t have the chance to see the 2D version. This strategy of getting a better profit didn’t quite work and the company failed to get the profit of money they wanted. This is the reason why no other big blockbuster films try this and take different actions instead. There is a certain percentage that are physically incapable of seeing the 3D image and that is 18%. This will make it even more difficult for the film to make a profit because they won’t even have the option of going to see the film. Another problem actually happened with the film and this was due to the time it was released. The film was released after The Raid and the two films had an incredibly similar concept in them. This would have probably stopped people from going and seeing the film because they will have already seen something very similar so would most probably not enjoy it. This meaning they would take their attention elsewhere and Dredd would miss out with more box office figures. When it comes to DVD sales and where Dredd actually came in the DVD charts it was much unexpected. In DVD sales the film made $10,623,857. This is quite a lot of money considering the production company became unsure and worried about the films intake. Dredd in the charts was seen as the number 1 selling DVD and Blu-ray and the money they made was all due to the fact that 650,000 copies were sold. However Blu-ray copies accounted for nearly 50% of that figure. All of of this shows that only releasing the film as 3D was a bad idea yes but it also didn’t have too much of an impact, in my opinion, to sales. This also probably meant that people bought the DVD instead of going to see it at the cinema. In the US there was one particular audience demographic that was the largest. I feel that this group is hard to specify however. This distribution pattern could of have an impact negatively on the film. This because people preferred seeing the film on DVD or Blu-ray due to pricing being so high in price. It made buying the DVD itself better value for money even if you did turn out not to like the film. All this links to the film failing in the box office because it meant that people would make an instant decision of whether to go and see the film or not. The mass majority of people did in the end make the decision as to not go and see the film at the cinema and simply buy the film instead. This then became popular knowledge and even more people didn't see the film at the cinema. Did this mean the prices at the cinema had to rise due to not many people going? No, it didn't but what it did mean was that the film got lower and lower in the charts and started to get criticism from the press. 

When it comes to Dredd failing at the box office I have most probably given plenty of reasons above. What I am going to do however is highlight some key points of interests that are considerable factors to why the film struggled to get ‘mega’. The first point I am going to highlight is the fact that the producers only released the film in 3D. There have been films before that have been released and they didn’t take off. When they decided to do this they must have known about the risk they would be taking and how they might not get the attention for the film they wanted. With the film being the type it is, people really have to know about the story to decide whether they want to see it. After watching the trailer for the film, even though it won an award, I personally feel it didn’t express the feelings of the film well enough. It seemed to portray it as film about the whole city and not just one tower block. For me as a person who likes this kind of film, I probably wouldn’t have gone to see it and would have gone to see something similar but different.

So why did Dredd fail the box office? Some people say it’s because it wasn’t British enough. What I mean by this is that the American audience probably weren’t expecting the film to be so stereotypical and so UK influenced. This probably led to them losing interest quite early on.  Some people say it’s because it was an 18 so it wasn’t getting a big enough audience. And some people say it’s because it would get compared to films like Spiderman and The Avengers. That is probably true, it probably would be compared but that wouldn’t explain why the film was failing. During the marketing of the film, not much was done to make the film appear popular globally and this meant it was only really aimed towards Britain and America. As well as them using typical marketing techniques they also used a website, and the aim of that was attract ‘attention’ and give out spoilers about the film. Could have that ruined the film so much that people just decided not to go and see it? To conclude this assignment I personally feel that the failure was due to Dredd not being an overly popular comic book in the first place. The character wasn’t very accepted and audiences didn’t become interested enough in the story line. Dredd was a Marvel comic book and like I said before there were so many things that it could have potentially been compared to. Marvel comics include; Spiderman, Thor, The Avengers, Iron Man, Hulk, Wolverine. These six comics in particular were very popular and were seen as the mainstream reads of the graphic novel industry. Dredd on the other hand was one of those added extra heroes and was quite low scale in the aspect of storyline and character. At the box office in the UK Dredd earned a total of $6.9 million dollars. So it wasn’t really successful and did kind of fail with box office figures for many reasons but it will still be known as a comic book classic.

When I compare the UK box office figures to something else of a similar genre like The Amazing Spiderman 2, you can see quite a big difference. Spiderman gained £19.77 million pounds so putting that in dollars it would be $32.12 million dollars. This is one big difference between the two films. The Amazing Spiderman 2 is based on the classic marvel comic book and is a remake of a previous Spiderman film. The film production stares people in it like Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone and Jamie Foxx. Andrew previously stared in a film called; Never Let Me Go. This film was a previously mentioned film. And Emma Stone in a films like; Crazy Stupid Love and Easy A. So both Dredd and The Amazing Spiderman 2 have well known stars in them so you would be surprised that Spiderman did better in the box office than Dredd did because you would have thought that they would have attracted the same audience. Spiderman was directed by a man called Marc Webb and he has previously directed other things like 500 days of summer and The Amazing Spiderman 1. The film was marketed in a similar way and it first released footage on April 16^th which was before it was meant to be. This meant that people would have been even keener to go and see the film because they would want the producers and distributors to release the actual film earlier as well. Like Dredd the film was marketed at comic con in San-Diego and it premiered a four minute trailer. This once again captured their target audience’s attention at the comic book event. From all the marketing the film received mixed reviews from film critics and you would have thought that this would have taken the box office figures down slightly but it didn’t. The reviews said that the film had over stuffed plot lines, set pieces and villains but Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone were very good at giving the film heart. When these reviews are compared to the once of Dredd you can see a slight difference. The reviews from Dredd appeared to be very positive and created memory. In my opinion I would say that Dredd got better initial reviews than Spiderman so this makes me again question why Dredd failed at the box office. However I think that it will always lead back to Spiderman being a classic and Dredd…not so much.

The British Film Industry

L.O to identify key issues within the British film industry.

L.O to evaluate whether the British film industry is more popular than others.

BBFC

The British Board Film Classification – The people that give certificates to films like U, PG, 12 etc. The ideal rating certificate is PG, PG12.

BFI

The British Film Institute

 
BAFTA

They give out BAFTA awards to actors actresses, film companies etc.

 
British Council – Government backed lead agency for films in the UK ensuring that the economic, cultural and educational aspects of film are effectively represented.

 
Big British Film companies – Film 4, Working title, Momentum Pictures, Pathe, Film Network.

All you need is three of these things to make it a British film:

·         A British Director

·         A British Producer

·         A Predominately British cast

·         A British production company

·         A subject matter that informs on the British experience

·         British identity defined by the BFI in sight and sound

·         Co – production with British input count as British films

Mainstream – Big summer blockbusters

Mainstream plus – Big summer blockbusters and smaller Hollywood films

Aficionados – Foreign language films with subtitles. The watchers can be encouraged to be more adventurous. Includes Sky etc.

Film Buffo1 – People who watch specialised films.

September is the time when you should put your films out in the cinema because summer is for the big Hollywood films and Christmas for classics.

 

 

Production Workers

Writer- The writer is the person that writes the screenplays. A screenwriter (proper name for him/her) has the job of writing the scripts for mass media productions like films, TV programmes, comics or sometimes video games.

 

Producer- The producer is the person that is responsible for the managerial and financial aspects of the making of a film or production. He could also be in charge of a play or opera.

Casting director- The casting director is the person in charge or roles and who plays them. This person will audition the actors or actresses for the role and say which part they will play or not. They are basically in charge of cast and their assignment.

 

 

 Director- The director is in charge of everyone and the department/organisation. He manages and oversees business responsibilities and makes sure everyone is doing things correctly. The director also supervises the cast and other staff members involved in the production.

 

Film finance- The films finance is an aspect of the films production. This occurs during the development stage before the pre-production. It is also something that is considered when the potential value of the film is decided.

Camera operator- A camera operator is part of the films crew. The film crew consists of director of photography and one or more camera assistants. In filmmaking and news the camera is often called to film unfolding and unscripted events so the camera operator has a job of being aware about things. An example of film like this is Bad Grandpa.

Editor- The editor is in charge of the process in which involves corrections, organization and many other modifications. He has to make sure that the final produced work is correct, accurate and completed. This is before it is sent to a trail audience. If they don’t like it, it can be sent back to the editor for more modifications.

Production designer- In a film or a television programme the production designer or the P.D is the person who is in charge of the overall look of the film. The production designers have one of the key creative roles in the creation of films and motion pictures and are very important in the production of them.

Marketing- Marketing is the action or the business of promotion. It is a way of making the film or production known to the public so that they are encouraged to go and see it. Market researches are in charge of making sure the ‘film’ gets enough promotion.

Exhibition- A film exhibition is the distribution of which the film is then processed through an audience. This is done by a film distributer.