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1
You will need to know
knowledge and understanding of film institutions
and their production processes, distribution
strategies, use of technologies and related
issues concerning audience reception and
consumption of media texts
How film industry operates Convergence How
audiences are formed Audience theory
Case Study The producers raised the initial
budget through a group of private investors, and
eventually it cost 80,000 to shoot and edit the
film. Several scenes were then shown to the UK
Film council, who subsequently provided 185,000
to complete post production and create all the
materials needed by a production company.

• Production Making films
• Distribution Promoting films and getting them
  into cinemas and out on DVD as well as any
  related media products.
• Consumption People paying at the cinema,
  renting/buying DVDs and downloading / purchasing
  related products. http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fil
  m_production

2
You will need to know

• The issues raised by media ownership in
  contemporary media practice
• The importance of cross media convergence and
  synergy in production, distribution and marketing
• The technologies that have been introduced in
  recent years at the levels of production,
  distribution, marketing and exchange
• The significance of proliferation (rapid change)
  in hardware and content for institutions and
  audiences
• The importance of technological convergence for
  institutions and audiences
• The issues raised in the targeting of national
  and local audiences (specifically, British) by
  international or global institutions
• The ways in which the candidates own experiences
  of media consumption illustrate wider patterns
  and trends of audience behaviour

3
Media Ownership

• Today the film exhibition industry in Canada is
  dominated by 2 rival chains - Famous Players and
  Cineplex Odeon Corp - both affiliated with
  Hollywood production/distribution companies,
  namely Twentieth Century Fox and Universal
  Studios (MCA)
• 80 of the Universal Studios, however, was
  acquired in 1995 for 5.7 billion by SEAGRAM
  CORP, thereby bringing Cineplex Odeon under
  Canadian control.
• While Cineplex Odeon and Famous Players together
  account for approximately 50 of the 620 regular
  and 103 drive-in theatres in Canada, in
  metropolitan areas they have between them a
  market share approaching 90, and in the cities a
  market share approaching 70.

4
Convergence and synergy

• Production - http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_
  Hollywood_movie_studios
• Distribution -
• Marketing

5
SlumDog Millionaire

• By the summer of 2006, British production
  companies Celador Films and Film4 invited
  director Danny Boyle to read the script Slumdog
  Millionaire. Boyle initially hesitated since he
  was not interested in making a film about Who
  Wants to Be a Millionaire? Boyle soon found out
  that the screenwriter was Beaufoy, who had
  written The Full Monty (1997), one of the
  director's favorite British films, and decided to
  revisit the script. Boyle was impressed by how
  Beaufoy wove the multiple storylines from
  Swarup's book into one narrative, and the
  director decided to commit to the project. The
  film was projected to cost US15 million, so
  Celador sought a distributor to share costs. Fox
  Searchlight Pictures made an initial offer that
  was reportedly in the 2 million range, and
  Warner Independent Pictures made a 5 million
  offer that Fox Searchlight could not top.
• http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celador

6
SlumDog Millionaire
Other Companies ARRI Media  camera and grip
equipment provided by Anvil Post
Production  foley recording Celador
Films  funding Dead  post-production services
Film4  development Film4  funding Fuji Photo
Film  motion picture film supplied by Gearbox
Sound and Vision  Avid Adrenalines and Avid Unity
LanShare LP supplied by HireWorks  film
equipment Pinewood Studios Group, The  sound
re-recording

• Production Companies
• Celador Films
• Film4 (funding)

Distributors Cinéart (2008) (Belgium)
(theatrical) Cinéart (2009) (Netherlands)
(theatrical) FS Film Oy (2009) (Finland) (all
media) Fox Searchlight Pictures (2008) (USA)
(theatrical) Golden Village Pictures (2009)
(Singapore) (theatrical) Monolith Plus (2008)
(Poland) (theatrical) Monopole-Pathé (2008)
(Switzerland) (theatrical) Pathé Distribution
(2008) (UK) (theatrical) Prokino Filmverleih
(2008) (Germany) (theatrical) Svensk
Filmindustri (SF) (2008) (Sweden) (theatrical)
Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation
7
Technology

• Production
• http//www.dvinfo.net/conf/digital-cinema-general-
  discussion/139567-impact-digital-cinema-production
  -technologies.html
• Exhibition/Consumption
• Internet youtube, bebo
• How will these kind of sites affect the
  exhibition of film?

8
Technological Convergence

• What can you now do with a mobile phone/ I phone?
• How does this affect audiences/institutions?
• How do you interact with the media?
• What does this suggest about audiences in general?

9
What impact has digital technology had on the
studio or production company you have studied?

• Steel Mill Pictures is a very small independent
  film company which directed and produced London
  to Brighton. Todays modern technology has
  helped this company produce a high quality film
  for just 85,000, unlike Blockbuster companies
  they filmed the whole film on a digital camera
  allowing them to film and re-film scenes that
  went wrong with out any extra cost, while
  Blockbuster film companies film on proper film
  cameras but the developing of the film reels is
  very expensive, and with a small budget
  re-filming can become very costly. Modern
  technology has also impacted the way companies
  can distribute their films, the internet has
  allowed small independent companies to advertise
  freely via Youtube and social networking sites
  such as Facebook. Vertigo films distributed
  London to Brighton to independent cinemas, but
  also advertised clips on their Myspace page and
  uploaded more trailers to their own Youtube
  channel. This is a big advantage to film
  companies as Youtube is viewed by millions of
  people each day and videos can be shared among
  friends via e-mail. Viral advertising is a free
  and easy way to get people to know and get
  interested in a particular film. Clips and
  trailers of the films are uploaded to the
  internet and forwarded to people who in turn
  forward it to their friends and so on this
  method allows film companies to advertise their
  film to thousands of people and acts as a chain
  letter but on e-mail. Advances in the internet
  has allowed viral advertising to happen as now on
  average most people have access to the internet
  whether its from their homes or in the library.
  The internet also allows independent film
  companies to enter film festivals without having
  to produce a film reel this allows their film to
  be shown at multiple film festivals which
  therefore lets people gain interest in the film
  and the actual film company itself. If small
  independent film companies gain interest it
  allows them to make films with a bigger budget,
  for example after London to Brighton Steel Mill
  pictures became well known and they made their
  second film The Cottage which was much more
  main-stream and had a much larger budget of 2
  million. This larger budget allowed Steel Mill
  pictures to get bigger actors such as Jennifer
  Elison also to create CGI enhanced scenes
  (Computer Generated Imagery). Advances in
  technology have allowed films with smaller
  budgets such as The Cottage to use CGI as
  computer technology has become much cheaper.
  Steel Mill pictures were able to make this film
  due to CGI as they were able to change the look
  of locations without having to spend more money
  having to film in two places. For example in The
  Cottage the cottage was too big to fit into
  frame so they were able to shrink the cottage and
  place it on another location, also they created
  the first scene using CGI and they were able to
  create the feeling of a car being followed.

10
What impact has digital technology had on the
film industry?

• Production
• Distribution - marketing
• Exhibition
• Write your own paragraph on one of the above in
  relation to the question.
• http//jcamediastudies.wikispaces.com/PartBWhat
  impacthasdigitaltechnologyhadonthefilmindu
  stry3F

11
Textual Analysis Opportunity

• Watch the clip
• Notes -