Film Distribution

The first step after producing a film is two get it into cinemas. The people behind this is either an individual film distributor or a film distributing company. They are responsible for releasing films into the cinema, DVD, Video-On-Demand, Download, Television etc. For the distributors to gain a profit they must secure a written contract stating a percentage of the gross ticket sales that they will recieve. They also have to make sure that there are enough prints of the film at each cinema contracted on the contract-based opening day, check to see that the exhibitors are showing the film and the original prints return back to the distributors. Something else they are responsible fir is ensuring that there is a sufficient  full line of film advertising material so the film can attract the largest amount of audience possible. If the advertisements are not created by the production company then this will be their job.

"In Manhattan, a mother of two preparing for her daughter's sixth birthday party has no idea of the challenges she's about to face in order to pull off the event." is the plot summary for a film that was released in the UK starring Uma Thurman and was called Motherhood. The total UK Theatrical Box Office for ‘Motherhood’ in the opening weekend was $131, which is £86. This is less than ten people in the whole of the UK who actually bought tickets. However, the tax man took 17.5% of that £86 (VAT), the theatre will take 75% of the remaining, as well as the distributor having to recoup many £thousands first, and take their fee for releasing it. A film distributor has explained that: the film isn't very good but it's not terrible, the film was released in one cinema in London and very little PR was done, the limited release could be a tactic to gain exposure and reviews for DVD, VOD and TV sales, the distributor may have been contractually bound to release the film in theatres when in fact it should never have appeared in theatres (but the film maker demanded it) so they did the minimum needed to fulfil their end of the deal, The DVD was released on the same day as the theatrical release.

Metrodome released the film and their very own James Brown gave a presentation at the Australian Film, Television and Radio School, this is what was reported on the Last Night With Riviera Blog...
Metrodome's James Brown gave a rambling presentation on the state of UK distribution. He'd just learned that Metrodome's chair had let go of large portion of the staff and was pulling the company out of theatrical (12 films a year) to concentrate solely on DVD (60 films a year), which informed much of his talk. In an hour of constant, roundabout banter, he made only two real points (over and over again):

• The GFC (Global Financial Crisis) has killed UK distribution, which is on life support. Retailers are going out of business. Theatrical is dying. There is no theatrical audience over the age of 35 in the UK. We don't know how lucky we have it here etc.
• In the UK, the audiences for theatrical and video are distinct. This means that, for example, you can make UKP 2.4 million on Broken Embraces at the box-office, but only ship 1,000 DVD's. Or UKP 800,000 on Away We Go and only ship 800 copies of the DVD in the 1st month. Conversely, it means there are massive DVD audiences for films which would not warrant a theatrical release, such as Metrodome's moneymaker for 2009, Mega Shark Vs. Giant Octopus. (Hey James, have you seen Chihuanhas?)
• His main message: "I'm here to give you permission to make commercial crap to fund your passion project". His next project: derivative WWII action Age of Heroes.

Red One- Filmography

The first film created on the Red One 4k was called Red Canvas which stared Ernie Reyes Jr. It was directed by Steven Soderbergh who also shot the movie Che and with both parts he did it with only the Red One camera. Steven Soderbergh has been quoted to say  "this is the camera I've been waiting for my whole career: jaw-dropping imagery recorded on board a camera light enough to hold with one hand. I don't know how Jim and the Red team did it—and they won't tell me—but I know this: Red is going to change everything" which shows a great enthusiasm from him about the camera. He then went on to use the camera for other films including The Girlfriend Experience, The Informant! and District 9.

Disney's "Mars Needs Moms" - A Flop

A 3D film that could see the end of the success of 3D film making is Disney's flop Mars Needs Moms. This film cost $175 million to make yet only managed to make $7 million in its opening weekend. This was due to using expensive CGI and other digital technology which also cost them lots of money. When compared to films such as The Kings Speech which managed to win Oscars and Baftas on a budget of $12 million dollars, and this 3D film made a loss there is worries about how bad the need for 3D films will get.

3D at the Box Office

After 80% of people decided to see Avatar in 3D it was decided that 3D would take over the usual 2D in cinemas; one of the main reasons for this being how expensive it is. In comparison to Avatar, Despicable Me only made 45% of it's opening box-office revenue came from 3D sales. Another  bad achievement was Cats and Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore- it only grossed roughly $6.9 million in 3D in it's opening weekend which is the worst performance in its era.

Many believe that the the publics interest for 3D is slowly dying but studio executives refuse to believe this, even thought there is evidence to prove this.

TRON

Both local and national audiences have been targeted by Disney in their promotion of TRON, and each has been done in very different ways. This was due to Disney lining up an exciting new marketing plan.

The first way in which Disney marketed locally was introducing ‘TRON Night: An IMAX 3D Experience which took place on October 28th. Specific cinemas which could show special 3D and IMAX were selected from around the world and 20 minute sneak peeks of the film were shown. Another example is they had special midnight screenings in selected IMAX 3D cinemas, and tickets were purchased before the film had even been released. The last example is they created ElecTRONica. This was held at Disney California Adventure and was a night time dance party. The party consisted of music, lights, food and drink, all to promote the film.

The national audiences have also been targeted with big ideas too; the first one being a video game called TRON: Evolution that is based on the film. It could be played on the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Windows Vista, Nintendo Wii and PSP. The second example is a vast amount of TRON products were created, these included: clothing, shoes, accessories, toys, technical gadgets and so much more. All of these items helped to promote the film. Another marketing idea was the TRON soundtrack. This consisted of classic band Daft Punk so it immediately pulled in fans. An original idea that was done was creating a TRON sweepstake- this took place online so everyone could take part and was named Get on the Grid Sweepstakes. The last example is quite simply called TRON Tuesdays. This was done every Tuesday in the run up to TRON being realised on December 17th. It consisted of videos such as behind-the-scenes, trailers and artwork all exclusively being uploaded onto the Internet.

A difference between the way TRON and Moon were marketed is instead of having screenings in selected cinemas around the world like TRON did, Moon's first screenings were only shown in New York and Los Angeles which immediately limited it's audience. Due to TRON showing screenings worldwide it was able to broaden its audience because it wasn;t limited to one country. Moon then went on to be released in Britain, Australia, Germany, Switserland "couple of other smaller territories" which also doesn't gain the national audience it could.

Film4

1. What is Film4's remit (its reason and purpose for being)?
2. What types of films are green-lighted by Film4? Give examples of films and genres.
3. Why is Tessa Ross regarded as "the mother of British film-making" and therefore instrumental for Film4's success?
4. How much is Film4's yearly budget and how much of it did "Slumdog Millionaire take up? ( Be careful with this one as co-productions, UK Lottery money and deals with Pathe, etc. helps make Film4's budget stretch further!)
5. Why does Film4 form partnerships with other companies/individuals?
6. What is the future for Film4 - budget and film-wise?
7. What problems did Film Four face in the naughties?

1. Film4’s purpose for being is to provide opportunities for new, up and coming directors or established directors that perhaps haven’t had the recognition they deserve for a while. They aim to produce these with quality, innovation, diversity and distinctiveness.


2. A huge film produced by Film4 is Slumdog Millionaire made in 2008 which can be found under a drama genre. Another including Four Lions created in 2010 which can also be found under the genre of drama as well as comedy. Others include Touching the Void, This is England and The Last King of Scotland.

3. Tessa Ross is regarded as “the mother of British film-making” because as the channels executive she has turned Film4 around since taking charge 6 years ago and creating a promising future for the film production company. Another example is her dedication to the institution she’s been there helping to produce the majority of all the films that Film4 have produced. An example of how she goes out of her way to help is when the idea of Slumdog Millionaire was coming into production she realised that they’d need to seek permission to use the game show Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?, so she travelled to Celador to gain rights and partner up. Danny Boyle went on to say "She knew to put it together with Celador, in the way that a good executive producer does." This proves the dedication and time she has for the production company.

4. The budget for Slumdog Millionaire was originally £8 million, but was later on increased by 20% to £10 million. The overall cost of the film was $15 million, which is roughly £10 million.

5. The reason for Film4 forming partnerships with other companies is to ensure that they gain rights to use companies ideas in their films. The reasons for doing this are shown by Tessa Ross’ actions. It must be ensured that they have rights so they cannot have action taken over them with the Copyright, Designs and Patent Act.

6. Film4 is hoping to boost its overall budget by £50 million in 2011. This will take place over the next 5 years going up roughly by £15 million per year. This is set to commence at the same time as Film4’s newest financed film being released, Never Let Me Go staring Carey Mulligan and Keira Knightley.

7. A major problem that FilmFour Ventures faced in 2001 was a huge loss of £5.7 million. This was due to Charlotte Gray making one of the most expensive films they have ever made yet it doing very poor in the box office. It was stated that in 2011 Film Four put out 14 films, yet its releases were only accounted for just 0.7% of the UK’s box office market. In 2006 Film Four were struggling very much so announced a huge change. There original business model of a pay TV on a subscription basis was failing so they decided to change this and bring in adverts; they believed this is where they’d get their money from.

Film Flow Chart

Flow Chart

Avatar (2009)

The main stars found in Avatar are Sam Worthington- who has stared is other films such as Terminator Salvation and The Clash of the Titans, Zoe Saldana who has been in Pirates of the Carribean, Michelle Rodriguez; she played a part in TV series Lost and film Resident Evil, Giovanni Ribisib- who was in hit TV comedy Friends and played a part in Saving Private Ryan and Sigourney Weaver who's famous for her Alien films. As well as these, other less well known actors in the film include Stephen Lang, Joel Moore and CCH Pounder.

The genres Avatar is classed under is action, adventure and fantasy.

The films estimated production budget was a stagering $310,000,000. Avatars gross budget was roughly $2,778,527,559. $760,505,847 of the money being from the USA and $4,007,750 from just it's opening week in the USA when it was showed in 812 screens.

The production companies of the film were Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation (who have been behind the production of many major films such as The Simpsons Movie, The Last King Of Scotland and Fantastic four), Dune Entertainment, Ingenious Film Partners and Lightstorm Entertainment.

The film had various distribution companies, some of these being Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation, 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment, Home Box Office (HBO), and FX Network.

Examples of above the line advertsing were promotional posters, interviews with the actors on television, in magazine, and on websites, as well as film premieres. There were also examples of below the line advertising, these included: Avatar dolls being created, merchandise such as t-shirts, bags and hats and a game for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii, Nintendo DS, Sony PSP and PC.

An Example of Ethnicity- Gavin and Stacey

The ethnic group represented by Uncle Bryn in this Gavin and Stacey clip is Welsh. Peoples typical view on Welsh people is that they live in 'the valley', speak with quite a dim accent, and are huge fans of agriculture. Quite a few aspects of this clip from Gavin and Stacey reinforce these ideas.

When watching the clip you immediately become aware of the mise en scene. The clip is set in Uncle Bryns house, who is a Welsh man in his early 50's and stays very true to his roots. Being in the 21st Century we have quite high tech technology, and from looking at his computer you can tell he's defiantely not 'up to date'. The furnature in the room is also very old looking, and you'd imagine it to be in a much older persons house. This is very similar when it comes to looking at the wallpaper too. All of these features in the room help to back up the idea of the Welsh living in 'the valley' and being quite seperated from the rest of us.

There are only a few various camera angles used. One being a close up of their faces when mid conversation- it was a good choice to use one on Gavins face because it shows you his expressions clearly when being 'taught' how to use the Internet. The other one is a basic mid shot capturing Bryn, Gavin and the computer in the center. This could imply that the computer is the center of Bryns life or the main focus point at this moment in time. This also showing that the Welsh have only just been introduced to the Internet; which could infact be the reason because they've only just been able to gain a connection because of living so far away from civilisation.

The sound you can hear is only their conversation, so it's quite a quiet scene. However, this helps you to listen to his accent and hear the itelligence in his voice. When Bryn is describing to Gavin how to use the Internet he speaks his words quite slowly, and what he's describing is a very simple task to us. Speaking in a Welsh accent and being quite slow with his words also reinforces the fact that people have the idea of some Welsh people being quite dim and not very bright- this is also backed up by the topic of conversation.

Film Preliminary

The following film is of our final preliminary film. Please excuse the poor acting on my behalf!

Ethnicity

Ethnicity refers to ethnic traits, background, allegiance, or association of cultures. People who belong to ethnic groups are indentified by characteristics. The words 'ethnicity' and 'ethnic group' originates from the Greek wod 'ethnos' which means 'nation'. The term 'ethnic' in the UK often means 'race', whereas in North America 'race' tends to mean colour.

Examples of ethnic groups include: Mexicans, Spanish, Scottish, Catholic, coloured people, Muslims and Hutus. A stereotypical example of describing an ethnic group is Spanish people eat tapas or paella, they're Catholic and enjoy bull fighting.

Kick Ass

The production of the film took 14 weeks and the people behind the film were working 14 hour days. It included drafting the script, the costumes, the sets and the filming. It was prouced by Mark Miller who had previously been the executive director of 'Wanted' and directed by Matthew Vaughan.
Kick Ass is based on an American Marvel Comic written by Mark Miller called Kick Ass. However, the ending in the film is different to the ending in the comic because lead gets the girl, whereas in the film he's 'blown off'.

They encountered a couple of problems when making the film- the script being one of them. Miller was used to being in control of films so when he was told he must make accomodations he was shocked. As previously stated about the ending to the film being changed, Miller wasn't very for this idea. He was quoted to say "I don't really do happy endings" so for him having to change the ending to a happy one was quite a difficult choice.

He believes the UK  to be "world class leaders" when it comes to making films; however, he does not think we actually have a UK film indusrty. He uses James Bond and Harry Potter as good examples of British films but goes on to state that even though we've produced these films, we still can't manage to "get films off the ground in England". He would like the UK to build an indusrty with "the best writers, the best directors, the best crew, actors"

One of the ways they tried to keep the budget down was to film in London, even though it is set in Manhattan, New York- but Vaughan prefers to shoot there so it wasn't too much trouble. They made it look like Manhattan by building a studio, and using a huge green screen with images of Manhattan on and then using Media Composer to make it incredibly realistic. However, even though they had a low budget not all of the technology was cheap.

The film was rated 15 by the BBFC, which meant it's younger audience who are into superheros wouldn't have been able to go to the cinema to watch it. However, it was rated PG in France which was a shock to Vaughn.

The main controversy surrounding the film was the use of violence and swearing by young actress Chloë Moretz. For example, the line "Okay you cunts, let's see what you can do now" was highly compained about by family advocacy groups, claiming "the language [was] offensive".

The film was promoted in various ways, with the comic being one of them- another, newer comic was written at the same time as the fiolm was being produced. There was also a soundtrack for the film, and costumes of the characters too. As well as this there was a video game based on the movie for iPhones and iPod Touches, which later on went to be released on PlayStation.

The soundtrack was released on 29th March 2010 in the UK, and a day after in the United States. The title song is called 'Kick As'' By Mika, and was released as a single on 2nd May 2010. The rest of the songs found on the soundtrack are as follows:
1. "Stand Up" The Prodigy
2. "Kick Ass (Radio Edit)" Mika vs. RedOne
3. "Can't Go Back" Primal Scream
4. "There's a Pot a Brewin'" The Little Ones
5. "Omen" The Prodigy
6. "Make Me Wanna Die" The Pretty Reckless
7. "Banana Splits (Kick-Ass Film Version)" The Dickies 
8. "Starry Eyed" Ellie Goulding
9. "This Town Ain't Big Enough For The Both Of Us" Sparks
10. "We're All In Love" The New York Dolls
11. "Bongo Song" Zongamin 
12. "Per Qualche Dollaro in Più (For a Few Dollars More)" Ennio Morricone
13. "Bad Reputation" The Hit Girls
14. "An American Trilogy" Elvis Presley

Kidulthood

The first camera angle we see if a medium long shot. The shot is of the pupils in the playground. This is effective because it gives you a clear shot of the pupils in their 'habitat', so you can view their mannerisms closely, but because of the long shot you can see clearly all the different variations of people that attend the school. To use this as an opening shot is a good idea because you're immediately introduced to what type of school the film is set in. This is also reinforced when they camera crew start to use panning- giving the the full effect once again. It pans across the playground quite fast which gives the impression that a lot happens in the playground- and fast!

The next shot used is a close up on the young boy and his machinery. I think this is used because it's quite effective as you can see the full concentration in his face- showing that what he's doing is of high importance to him. The close up of the drill he's using also give the full effect of the precision of it, and you see every detail.

There is a mid shot followed soon after this of a male on female couple. They are stood behind a tree, and the reason being for this is the fact that they are hiding from someone. Due to the fact that a mid shot being used instead of a long shot portays the intamacy and secrecy better, and in a sense you brought into hiding with the characters.

Another medium long shot is used again when the group of men are 'talking' to two young girls. By using this you can view clearly what the men are deliberately doing- this being intemidately the girls and almost bullying. You can see how they are taller than them and leaning over them, making them seem more superior.

Age Representation

Old
Knowledgable

Wise

Give out advice

Routine

Crosswords

False teeth

Racist

Tea

Knitting

Walking stick

Story tellers

Critical

Young
Influenced easily
Motif t-shirts
Nauty
Bored quickly
Demanding
Believe in fantasy
Lack common sense
Vunerable

Teenage
Wasters
Rebellious
Into drugs, smoking, alcohol
Fights
Sleeping
Having sex
Street corners
Argue with parents
Hoddies
Pregnancy

Adults
New car
Hobbies
Busy
Parents
Mid life crisis
'Sexy'
On the phone
'Taxi'
In the money

Moon Audience

Surprisingly, I enjoyed watching the film Moon. I had an idea of what I believed the film would be like- this idea consisted of a monotonous, sci-fi story line, however I was proved wrong. As well as the basic story line of Sam Rockwell living on the moon, there was in depth ideas which were occasionally quite difficult to understand, but once these were made sense of, watching the film became easier to watch and there was even some emotional scenes.


Without watching the film, I would have said Moon is most probably just a one quadrant film- this would be men aged 25 and over. However I was proved wrong because I believe maybe a few people, that being younger than 25 and both males and females. I think the males over 25 will appreciate the film because there was a reference to the 1968 film 2001: A Space Odyssey. This is when Gerty tells Sam "I can't let you do that", which occurs in 2001: A Space Odyssey when Hal says "I'm sorry Dave, I'm afraid I can't do that". There is also similarities with the fact that both films use a robot; although Gerty is different because it doesn't try to kill Sam.


Using Sam Rockwell will also appeal to the sci-fi males because his most famous role was Zaphod Beeblebrox in The Hitch Hickers Guide To The Galaxy.Men who are into their sci-fi films will then instantly recognise him and feel comfortable with what they are watching.

I think what attracts the younger audience is the idea of cloning. This is because cloning is quite a unique idea, asd well as the idea of death followed after it. Young people tend to be more open minded than elders, so I think they can believe the idea that the cloning idea that is happening could one day may be possible- so it intrigues them.

Bulimia

The character Harry Fisher in Waterloo road has the mental disability of bulimia. The reason for this is mainly because of pressure he's put under and his current living conditions- in a broken home. He's represented as quite a strong character in the sense that he's going through it by himself. Alternatively, this could also mean he's quite vunerable and lonely because he believes he can't share his problem with anyone0 that being friends or family.

Moon, Pre-Production and Production

Moon was director, Duncan James' first feature length film. The film was produced by Trudie Snyder who has also produced films like Snatch, Lock Stock and Liberty Films (Duncan Jones' own production company). At first, Jones offered a script to Sam Rockwell, but after a long discussion and lots of rewriting they finally came up with Moon. Before filming they had one week to reherse. Jones wanted to get Kevin Spacey involved in the film; however, he only did so after the film was finished and he was only used for half a day because that's how long he could be afforded for.

Stage 6 Films were one of the studios behind the film. These are known for producing films that go straight to DVD, and making the cost less then $10 million. After the film has been made, Sony then decodes whether the film should been shown in thr cinema or go straight onto DVD. In moons case, in went into the cinema.
Moon had a budget of $5 million. Jones did quite a few ideas to try and get the cost of production down, these included: having a small cast and filming in a studio. It was produced and filmed in Shepperton Studios in England in 33 days. He preferred to use models instead of digital animation. For example, he worked with Bill Pearson to create a full 360-degree set of the moon. The visual effects were provided by Cinesite which are known for their cheaper costs for independant films. To add some of the other special effects they used CGI. This was used during the ping pong scene; after they recorded Rockwell miming the sound of the ping pong so he could play against himself, they added the ball after.

The budget was so tight on the film that Sony refused to send copies to the Oscar panel judges as they thought it might cost too much.

Overall, the film took $1,813,302 in the UK for a total of $9,747,108 at the box office ($5,010,163 US + $4,736,945 worldwide). Jones has since stated "The crazy thing is the business side of things. Moon is out in Germany now, Switzerland, and has maybe a couple of other smaller territories to be released in. It has earned nearly $9.5M so far, worldwide… it cost just under $5M to make… and yet we are STILL trying to pay back our initial investors. That was always one of the biggest priorities for me and it has been the most frustrating part about our apparent success. The lesson of the film business they don’t tell you in film school is this; if you make back everything you spent on making your movie, you’re still barely half-way to going into profit. That certainly educated the hell out of me!"

Tourettes

Tourettes is a physical disability. The people with the disability in this documentary are portrayed as quite happy characters- even though they have a physical disability, it doesn't seem to get them down. However, towards the end you see an insight as to how they are feeling and even though the disability gets them down, they realise they're quite lucky as life could be worse.

(500) Days Of Summer

The Damned United