British Film Institute Trip

On the 7th November we went to the BFI in London to attend a conference. Once we were there we had a talk and were shown a presentation of all the things relating to independent and mainstream films. The conference introduced several speakers from different production and distribution companies and we were given the chance to ask them in a question and answers session. It was an interesting and enjoyable day. Here are some of my notes I took on the day. 

Independent vs. Mainstream Films

Independent films - make you think and make you want to ask questions. 

Mainstream films - make you laugh and cry, and you associate them with commercial success. 

Distribution led industry- Mainstream films attract significant advertising budget. 

"The big six"

• 20th Century Fox
• Sony
• Warner Bros 
• Disney 
• Universal 
• Paramount 

Typically a safe genre convention would be - Sci Fi or Fantasy - as these are popular amongst a large age group and therefore would appeal to a larger target audience. 

Skyfall (Mainstream)

• 2012 - Action Adventure
• Distributed by MGM/ Columbia Pictures 
• Starring Daniel Craig, Javier Bardem, Dame Judi Dench, Ralph Feinnes
• Directed by Sam Mendes 
• Adele soundtrack makes it mainstream (synergy)
• Drama and excitement 
• Violence (guns)
• High production values 
• Star marketing 
• Emotive, non-diagetic music
• Elaborative CGI

The double (Independent)

• Genre - Noir, Drama, Thriller, Black Comedy
• 2013 -Directed by Richard Ayoade 
• Critical success 
• Released at 2013 London film festival
• Independent distribution - Studio Canal 
• Based on a novel by Fyodor Dastoyevsky

What makes it independent?

• Character driven 
• Minimal set locations 
• Not a clear genre 
• Eerie non-diagetic music 
• Mise en scene - disorientation of characters 
• Difficult humour 
• Subterranean, claustrophobic location 

Film Production

• Warner Bros - owned by Time Warner 
• Paramount - owned by Viacom
• Universal - owned by NBC 
• Disney - owned by Disney 
• 20th Century Fox - owned by Fox Entertainment Group
• Sony - owned by public share holders

Big Talk

Big Talk productions - TV

Big Talk pictures - Film

Countries they sell to: 

1. Australia 
2. United States 
3. Scandinavia 

Distribution - The big six dominate but the UK has many independent film distributors. 

Film Marketing 

• POS (Point of sale) e.g displays in cinema 
• Market research - before, during, after 
• Above the line advertising - television, cinema trailers, press, outdoors, online
• Below the line advertising - viral videos 

Distribution case study (A Field In England)

• Multi platform release in 2013
• Director - Ben Wheatley
• Shot in black and white in a field 
• Took 12 days to film 
• Budget £300,000 

Exhibition/ Exchange 

• The way the audience consume film 
• Viewing via Netflix, Lovefilm is increasing 
• DVD/ Blu-Ray sales are down 
• Cinema - Box office curve suggests theatrical distribution still reasonably healthy
• IMAX/ 3D levelling out but still commercially successful
• Film on TV = 77%
• DVD/ Blu-Ray =14.2%
• Downloaded/ Streamed = 5.5%
• Cinema = 3.4%
• Less than 1 in 10 UK films make a profit 

Types of UK Cinema 

• Multiplex (278 cinemas)
• Independant
• Small chains 
• 2013 - 172.5 million cinema admissions, £1.1 billion
• 2013 - 769 cinema sites in the UK, 3817 screens 
• Piturehouse (runs its own film distribution company - Picturehouse Entertainment)
• Currently 19 in the UK