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Revision Notes

• Theses revision notes will deal with question one and question two from the case studies: You must do further background reading to strength your understanding: Use Film 4 Productions as your main case study in the exam and the others to support your case study.

Question one: The issues raised by media ownership in contemporary media practice.

Learning outcome: You will know how the ownership of the production, distribution and exhibition companies affects the type of films that are being made.

At the end of this revision notes you need to be able to

answer: How does the ownership in the film

industry effect how films are produced?

How does the ownership in the film industry effect the distribution of film?

How does the ownership in the film industry effect the exhibition of films?

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Question two:The importance of cross media convergence and synergy in production, distribution and marketing.

– Learning outcome:Will understand how all aspects of the media (websites, newspapers, television etc) are used to market a film and show you understand how companies work together to produce and distribute films.

– Questions

– What is cross media convergence

– What is synergy in production, distribution and marketing?

– How does the media use websites, newspapers, television to market films?

– How do companies work together to distribute films?

– Why do companies work together to distribute films?

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

Ownership• When we are talking about ownership we are

talking about a monopoly where a few powerful institutions control pretty much everything you see here and read. Although there are other independent companies, these global media giants referred to as parent companies control the production companies and the means to distribute.

• One of these parent company called News Corporations owns through one of its subsidiary companies the Sun, and in the past it has been said that who even controls the Sun supports in an election that party will get in. The evidence is the Suns support of Thatcher, then the Sun’s support of Blair and to a lesser extend the Sun’s support of Cameron over the labour administration.

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There are two types of ways a company can be structured in its ownership.

One is referred to as vertical ownership-where the companies in that portfolio supple and depend on each other.Horizontal: Where companies are owned by the same parent company but do not rely on each other.

What do you think is the benefit of vertical ownership for a media company? If they own both the production company-distributor and the means to exhibit i.e. News Corps own Fox production company a distributor and also Sky which most of their films are broadcast, so they are paying themselves money and in charge of the whole process cutting out the middle man. That’s why News Corps refers to themselves as vertically integrated media company. 6

Vertically Ownership

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Hollywoodstudio

Distribution company

Cinema

Different parts of the organisation are involved in the same process

Horizontal Integration

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Parent companyNEWS CORPS

Subsidiary companyMYSPACE

Subsidiary companyTHE SUN

Subsidiary company20th CENTURY

FOX

Companies do not supply or depend on each other in this model.

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An institution (in the film industry)

Definition: any company or organisation that produces, distributes or  exhibits films.

What is Production• Production: Is the creation of the film,

however it also means the decisions and processes that go into making a film. There are different types of companies involved in the production process: Both major studios and also production companies

•

• A production company is the company that is responsible for making of a film and also maybe responsible for raising finance for that film, but this is not always the case. A production company maybe a small company, which sells its idea to a major studio or may co-produce a film. This is often the case because films are so expensive to make that.

• Major studios can be involved in both the production and distribution process.

Watch video following video clip

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Two types of film companies

• Film production companies can be classed into two categories; Major film studios and Independants.

• Major film studios own both production companies that make the films and also the distribution companies that either distribute their own films and also distribute independent production companies films.

• Independent production companies produce their own films, but do not have the money to distribute their own films. They often find it difficult to raise money to produce the films and will have to seek to involve the majors early on in production.

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Major studios

Major studios• There are 6 major studios in the world that they are a subsidiary

company of a handful of dominant media companies which own most of media in the world from TV, Film and even music. The same parent companies who own the film studios also own the music industry

• News Corporation-owns 20th Century Fox, The Sun, Myspace

• Time Warner: Warner Brothers, IPC magazines

• Disney: Walt Disney Motion pictures, Disney Channel, Pixar

• Bertelsmann: Channel 5

• Viacom-owns Paramount Pictures, Nickolodian, MTV

• Sony-Sony Pictures-Columbia Pictures

• Vivendi-Universal

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Music Industry

• Major labels since 2009 (Big Four)

1. Sony Music Entertainment parent company sony who also owns Sony Pictures

2. EMI Group3. Warner Music Group Parent company Warner Brother who also own Warner

Brother Pictures4. Universal Music Group-Parent Company Vivendi and General Electric

5. Consider that Film the Boat that Rocked is produced by Working Title which

is a British production company, but is co owned by Universal Studios. Not

only does this mean it has a big company behind it to finance more

expensive films but also their distributing power. Guess which record label

produced the soundtrack? Mercury Records and I bet you can guess who

owns them? Universal, so this is how synergy works by promoting your own

products which also means more profit.

6. Link-Boat That Rocked is made by Working Title which is co owned by

Universal, Universal also Own Mercury Records which made the soundtrack.

The same parent companies own films and music industry

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The difference between an independent film and a studio film?

• Copy this link to view the video: http://www.videojug.com/interview/pre-production

s

Independent films are different from film studios because they do not have as much money to both product, distribute and market films this means they often have to work with other companies to produce their films. Some institutions need to join with other institutions which distribute films. Vertigo Films is able to distribute its own films, Channel Four distributed Slumdog Millionaire through Pathe. ,Working Title's distribution partner is Universal, a huge US company which can make, distribute and show films. The type of owner ship within an institution matters as, for instance, Channel 4 and the BBC are able to show their own films at an earlier stage than other films made by other institutions. They are also better placed to cross-promote their in-house films within their media organisations. The BBC makes films with their BBC Films arm; Channel4's Film Four produces films, Working Title also produce films, as does Vertigo Films, etc.

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How does ownership effect the production of a film?

• The first stage of production is getting financial backing.• Independent companies and particularly smaller British

companies, which are not linked to a an American conglomerate have to rely mainly on money from the National Lottery fund and also other government organisations i.e. EM media, East Midlands development agency, or an other regional agency ,which wants to develop local talent . If they are lucky a private investor or through pre-sales i.e. selling shares before a film is made, or through sales of television rights

• Independent and smaller companies like Film 4 have to focus on social realism as these films are cheaper to make as they don't have the big Hollywood finance for production or distribution to market their films. They may also link up with one of the main distribution companies by selling the distributor pre-sales in order to get money for the production.

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Film Finance• Major studios can make big budget films

because they are part of a bigger conclomorate and have more money to make the big blockbusters. This means that their films will focus on blockbusters, special effects and big marketing campaigns. Avatar for instance cost as much in marketing as it did in product.ion Further, advertisers, and tie in deals with companies like Mcdonalds, and Coca Cola will be more likely to want to be involved in big budget films because they have a wider audience and are shown at more exhibition houses.

• This is because independent films are often low budget and focus particularly in Britain on social realism as they do not have the funds for CGI and 3D and are shot in digital because it is cheaper than 35mm film.

• They also do not have the money to act as distributor which means they have to rely on either co-funding or using film festivals to promote their films. Major studios can get a lot of private investment because they have a proven track record, a lot of independent film companies have to rely on getting

• Money from UK film council and other regional development agencies.

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Independent film finance• Independent companies and particularly smaller British

companies, which are not linked to a an American conglomerate have to rely mainly on money from the National Lottery fund and also other government organisations i.e. EM media, East Midlands development agency, or an other regional agency ,which wants to develop local talent . If they are lucky a private investor or through pre-sales i.e. selling shares before a film is made, or through sales of television rights

• Independent and smaller companies like Film 4 have to focus on social realism as these films are cheaper to make as they don't have the big Hollywood finance for production or distribution to market their films. They may also link up with one of the main distribution companies by selling the distributor pre-sales in order to get money for the production.

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FILM FINANCE:• • Banks: Barclays, Coutts, pre-sales and tax credit

• only

• • Funds: Aegis, Silver Reel, BMS, Ingenus

• provide gap, pre-sales and UK tax credit finance

• (often as a package)

• • Equity Investors: Prescience, EIS funds, BBC

• Films, Film4, UK Film Council, screen agencies

• (see below)

• • National/regional screen agencies: EM Media,

• Scottish Screen, Wales Creative IP Fund,

• Northern Ireland Screen

• • Post-production houses: Ascent Media,

• Molinare, LipSync

• • Distributors: Pre-sales; minimum guarantee

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Case study-A small scale story:

• Warp Films-Is a truly independent film company-because of this it will focus on low budget films and also co-funding. It produced the film this is England with Film 4, and this film focuses on social realism, which is a key genre associated with British film because it is cheaper to make that Hollywood films, which focus on special effects, CGI, HD,3D. Warp Films does cannot rely on a big studio to finance their films and it cannot act as a distributor. Warp Films also own a record label.

• This is England was distributed in the UK by optimum releasing, whose parent company is Vivendi which also owns Universal Studios.

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Case Study Questions• Look at how much Warp films cost to make particularly this is

England, and how much is made?

• Production: Look at their films where do they get their money to fund these films is it private investment, UK Film council, Pre-sales, Product placement or co funding?

• Production: Are there films in HD, Digital or FIlm compare this with bigger productions by Universal ?

• Distribution: Who acts as a distributor for their films? Who is their distributors parent company?

• Exhbition: Where have their films been released in mainstream cinemas, art house independant film studios, have they won any awards at festival to promote their films.

• Look at Warp’s involvement with the digital distribution

• http://www.ukfilmcouncil.org.uk/14539

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Case Study Working Title• Working Title Films is a Britsh film production company, based in England. The company was founded by Tim Bevan and

Sarah Radcyliff in 1983. It produces feature films and several television productions. Bevan are now the co-owners of the company along with the conglomorate of Universal.

• Working Title Films, the UK film production company behind box office hits including Four Weddings and a Funeral and Shaun of the Dead,Working Title Television is a joint venture with the NBC Universal and will be based in London and Los Angeles. NBC Universal is Working Title's parent company.

• Some Films they have made

• The Boat that Rocked, Love Actually, Nottinghill.

• Ali G Indahouse

 Atonement (film)

 Bean (film)

 The Big Lebowski

 Billy Elliot

 Blood and Ice Cream Trilogy

 The Boat That Rocked

 Bob Roberts

 The Borrowers (1997 film)

 Bridget Jones's Diary (film)

 Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason (film)

 The Calcium Kid

 Captain Corelli's Mandolin (film)12

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Continued• Working title film has the appearance of being an independent production

company, but it is owned by universal pictures, who distribute its films. The most notable successes from Working Title are Four Weddings and A funeral, Bridget Jones’s Diary and High Fidelity, as well as the Cohen brothers films Fargo and O Brother, Where Art Thou? Working Title has a smaller subsidiary company, WT2, which makes small budget films.

An example of a recent major title from Working Title is Atonement. Unlike many films produced by British companies, Atonement’s sole production credits are held by Working Title. However, as a subsidiary of Universal, whether the film counts as a British film is a matter of debate. The film was distributed by 8 companies: Finnkino Oy Finland, Focus Feature in the USA, Hoyts Distribution in Australia, Studio Canal in France, TOOHO-Towa in Japan, United International Pictures in Argentina and Singapore, Universal pictures International in Holland and Universal Pictures in the UK.

The film was shot entirely in England and was adapted from a novel by British writer, Ian McEwan . The screenplay was by Christopher Hampton, also British, and the film featured a mainly British CAST. However, because Working Title is owned by a major US company, it is not entirely clear whether we can treat this film as ‘British’, using BFI categories.

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Warp Films and Working Title

Warp films and working title are two institutions. Warp is an independent company and working title is a conglomerate company. Conglomerate is a high budget film, they usually produce Hollywood blockbusters and include a higher standard quality i.e. special effects; more famous actors/actresses Etc. However, Independent films usually base their budget from low to medium as they are not as popular as a conglomerate film, and don’t have such a big amount of money to work with. Working films have produced many films Love Actually and Four Weddings. Warp films, have produced a range of films as well, these include; My Wrongs; Dead Man Shoes and This is England.

Working Title, get their funding from Universal Studios, which is the parent company of Working Title. They also get a big sum of money from previous films that they have produced. Warp films get their funding from NESTA a big company is the filming business. In the case of Warp films, the budget is low-mid, this affects the genre that they could work on as an action packed thriller and films that focus on social realism.

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Task

• Compare the types of films made my both companies how much do they cost to make who distributes these films?

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Film 4 Productions case study

Film4 Productions is a British film production company owned by channel 4. The company has been responsible for backing a large number of films made in the UK. Film 4 does not have the money that a bigger conglomarate does so most of their films are either co-funded and made with other studios and not distributed by them. However, Film 4 Productions also owns Film 4 so their films can be shown on this channel. A British production company – finances British films

• 1982 – 1998 known as Channel 4 film

• Part of channel 4s remit was to experiment and innovate and cater for audiences not addressed by other channels

• Nowadays they fund around 20 films per year

• A number of films are by first time feature screenwriters or directors

• They look for distinctive films which will make their mark in a competitive cinema market

• Television premieres on FilmFour Channel and Channel 4 2 years after theatrical release

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• Film 4 Films

• David Rose, commissioning editor, “a preference for contemporary and social political topics”

• My Beautiful Laundrette (1985) portrayed the homosexual relationship between a white fascist and a Omar, born in Britain to Pakistani parents.

• Main audiences were contemporary critical audiences in the 20 – 30 age ranges

• Before Laundrette, a large percentage of the British population went largely unrepresented.

• Look at how Channel 4’s remit has influenced the films they make, which are different to the mainstream and have something to say.

FilmFour made its reputation with films such as Trainspotting in 1996, which made £23m at the box office but cost only £2.4m to make and launched the career of Ewan McGregor. It was also involved in The Full Monty, which had a similar budget and made nearly £16m. However, since East is East, with FilmFour focusing on fewer, more expensive films, it has seen a series of flops with Lucky Break and Charlotte Gray, starring Cate Blanchett, failing to make a big impact last year.

FilmFour Ltd, the film making division, is distinct from the FilmFour subscription movie channel, for which executives have high hopes.

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• FILM 4 PRODUCTION

• 1996

• Starring Ewan McGregor in his 2nd film

• Directed by Danny Boyle a British director

• A co-production with Figment Films, Polygram and The Noel Gay Motion Picture co.

•Budget $3,500,000 1996

• David Aukin, Head of Drama at Four Films “it isn’t really about drugs…it’s a buddy movie”

• US critics compared the movie to Kubricks ‘A Clockwork Orange’

• Both are anti-social-realist films dealing with subjects – gangs, violence, drugs – which are stylised and fast-paced.

• Both are independent films which shocked the critics and audience

• Marketing: • Trainspotting was more an object of

youth culture or popular culture than it was cinematic

• Britpop was Trainspotting's main vehicle to integrate youth subculture into popular culture.

• Polygram put large sums of money into a sophisticated marketing and branding strategy including posters and a soundtrack

• Knew film would appeal to clubbers and ravers so targeted these – Underworld’s Born Slippy became a massive hit from the soundtrack

• Film gained distribution in the US although it did need subtitles!

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SYNERGY film 4.

• s

• The ‘brand’ Trainspotting

• Soundtrack

• Posters

• DVDs

• Copied of the screenplay

• Reprinting of Welsh’s novel featuring the poster on the cover

• Music cross-promotion

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Four weddings

• Marketing: Played upon aspects of national identity

• Played upon the more ‘naïve’ elements of Britishness

• Hugh Grants quintessential fumbling middle class gentleman

• Appealing to an American audience

• A universal storyline of romance and a feel good happy ending

• SYNERGY: Soundtrack

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• 1994

• Starring Hugh Grant and Andie MacDowell

• Co-production with Polygram and Working Title

• Budget $6,000,000

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Last King of Scotland

• The last king of Scotland is described by Film Four’s Tessa Ross as the film the company should be most proud of, because it was directed and written by home grown talent(Kevin Macdonald and Peter Morgan), has subject matter that is challenging political and Hard-hitting and was the result of partnership with an American Major (Fox Searchlight) So for Ross this film seems to represent the current success story of British film and the newly found ability of producers to attract the current success story of British film and the newly found ability of producers to attract American investment for less commercially obvious projects.

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The film was produced by 8 companies in collaboration (dna films, Fox searchlight, film Four, Cowboy films, Scottish Screen, Slate films, Tatfilm and the UK Film council) and distributed by 3 (Fox searchlight in the USA, Japan, Holland, Singapore, Argentina and Germany, Channel 4 films in the UK AND Fox-Warner in Switzerland) The writers cast and crew were British and American. As these details and the views of the Head of Film at one of the production companies demonstrates, this is a good example of a co-funded British film with British cultural content. Despite the Ugandan setting and political context, the film portrays the fictional story of a Scottish visitor to Uganda who is taken in by the dictator running the country, but is based on real events, hence the title. Despite the claims made for the film as a British success story, however, this extract from a review in the San Francisco Chronicle sees things rather differently:

“Now that Hollywood belatedly has gotten around to Amin, he shares screen time with a fictional character, something the self aggrandizing general surely would have found galling. But the brilliance of ‘The Last King of Scotland’ – an immediate contender for Oscar consideration and a spot on critics’ top 10 lists – is the way it shows his dangerous allure through the eyes of an innocent.”

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This is England

• This is England is directed by the midlands director Shane Meadows. The plot couldn’t be more indigenous, but this is not the England of films like The Queen, Notting Hill or Pride and Prejudice. Instead the 1970’s skin head movement, its uneasy relationship with West Indian culture and its distortion by the racist national front forms the backdrop for a story about the adolescent life of a bereaved boy. Meadows previously had box office and critical success with a range of other films all based on domestic life and relationships in the Midlands, including Twenty Four Seven, Once Upon a Time in the Midlands and Dead Mans Shoes. In his films the presence or absence of fathers and older male authority figures and the effects of such on young working class men are depicted with a mixture of comedy and sometimes disturbing drama.

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Another major difference between the Meadows’ output and the more commercially ‘instant’ British films from Working Title and similar companies, is the importance of cultural reference points – clothes, music, dialect – that only a viewer with a cultural familiarity with provincial urban life in the times depicted would recognise.

‘This is England’ was produced as a result of collaboration between no less than 7 companies – Big Arty Productions, EM Media, Film Four, Optimum releasing, Screen Yorkshire, The UK Film Council and Warp Films. It was distributed by 6 organisations –IFC Films, Netflix. Red Envelope Entertainment and IFC First Take in the USA, Madman Entertainment in Australia and Optimum Releasing in the UK.

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This is England• The critical response to This Is England has largely been to

celebrate a perceived ‘return’ to a kind of cultural reflective film making that was threatened by extinction in the context of Hollywood’s dominance and the Governments preference for funding films with an eye on the US market, as this comment from Nick James, editor of the BFI’s Sight and Sound magazine shows:

“I forgot when watching Shane Meadows’ moving evocation of skinhead youth This is England at the London Film Festival, how culturally specific its opening montage might seem: it goes from Roland Rat to Margaret Thatcher to the Falklands War to Knight Rider on television. What will people outside of Northern Europe make of the regalia of 1980’s skinheads from the midlands? Hopefully they will be intrigued. This Is England made me realise, too, that some British films are at last doing exactly what Sight and Sound has campaigned for; reflecting aspects of British life gain and maybe suffering the consequences of being harder to sell abroad.”

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Slumdog Millionaire• 2008

• Funded by Film4

• Co-production with Celador and Pathe

• Directed by Danny Boyle

• Budget $15,000,000

Text

Synergy:Book salesDVDSSountrack: Pussycat DollsChannel 4 also used it to promote their Indian Winter week, which promoted their other shows.Shown on Channel 4

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Slumdog nearly never made the role of the distributor, marketing and promotion. See

following links for case study :

• DISTRIBUTION

• http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/boyle-reveals-slumdog-millionaire-distribution-struggle-1331821.html

• http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/film/oscars/article5793160.ece

• http://content.foxsearchlight.com/inside/node/2803

• MARKETING:

• http://www.labnol.org/india/slumdog-millionaire-clever-marketing/6755/

• http://www.utalkmarketing.com/Pages/Article.aspx?ArticleID=16147&Title=How_‘Slumdog_Millionaire‘_attracted_over_21_million_online_viewers

• FUNDING

• http://www.euindiachambers.com/PressRelease/Feb_25_PressRealese_Slumdog%20Millionaire_.html

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Distribution probems:

• Check out this link to look at Film4 distribution history and how Film 4 nearly closed:

• http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/box-office-flops-may-force-channel-4-to-close-trainspotting-studio-647656.html

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Film 4 Exhibition problems• One of FilmFour's biggest

problems has been competing for cinema space with multinational film companies, whose films account for more than two thirds of UK box office takings. FilmFour blames the poor box office results on its lack of clout in the distribution market rather than the quality of its films. (BBC on Film Four Partner Search)

• FILM 4 how it overcame those problems:

• Originally only subscribers could access the channel

• The company wasn’t making enough money through subscriptions alone

• Relaunched the channel in July 2006 as a freeview channel

• Believed they could make more money through advertising

• Has become the Uks largest free film channel available to 18 million homes

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Exhibition of films

• In Exhibiting films major studios do not have the same problems with exhibiting films in cinemas. Cinemas rent the film they are more interested in mainstream films. Further, major studios have the money for marketing, distributing which makes exhibiting, films easier. Exhibition of films at film festival for smaller productions might be more profitable.

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• Be able to compare your British Case Study with an American One. 20th Century Fox's Avatar would be a good choice.

• 20th Century Fox's "Avatar" (2009) By comparing the film  and media practices of the much larger US film industry with your own wholly British Case study you will be able to appreciate differences in institutional ownership and media convergence. You will also be able to understand conceptually how the massive budgets of US film can offer choices of genre not available to primarily UK production companies. The types of films and the scale of their releases, together with target audiences can also be examined and compared. Even the application of technology and the growth of 3D films and the opportunities to produce such films can be compared.

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Now you have looked at different film companies both independant and co owned consider the differences particularly between Film 4 production company and a big conglomerate like 20th Century Fox. Use Avatar as an example and look the differences in institutional ownership, production, scale, budgets, genres, distribution, exhibition, use of technological convergence, synergies. This comparison will give your British case study a wider context and you will be better placed to argue how film practices in the British Film Industry are directly affected by the giant US conglomerates based in Hollywood. 

• What you should do

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Production: Avatar

• Initial budget 287 million began filming 2005

• Principle Production 2007 utilising 3D fusion camera system.

• University California developed Navi language (Dr Paul Frommer)

• Production studio: Lightstorm (owned by James Cameron) Dune. 20th Century).

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Distribution Exhibition

• Released 16th December 2009

• 3,457 US theaters, 2032 3D

• 90% tickets were 3D

• Film Value =Cinema-DVD-Blue Ray, Download, Subscription, Terrestrial TV

• Every film has a tailor-made distribution plan, which the distributor develops with the producer and or the studio. The most important strategic decision a distributor makes are when and how to release the film to optimize its chances.

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Marketing

• R-Marketing:• Avatarmovie.com• trailer released 21 august 2009• Action figures for sale• Tie in Merchandising deals with

Mcdonands• Avatar book deals and Art work

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