This blog explores US influence (financial + cultural), Anglocentric (ie, primarily English) representations, digitisation, ownership, industry developments, audience, media theories, tracking key news + events, with Film/Media A-Level/undergrad students + educators in mind. Examples often include Sheffield's Warp (Indie) and London/LA-based Working Title (NBC-Universal subsidiary), ie This is England/Four Lions v Bridget Jones/Green Zone! Please acknowledge the source/blog author: Mr D Burrowes
I've cross-posted this on the rom-com and AS Coursework blogs, so won't post again here, but there is a lot of info and analysis very pertinent to British Cinema in there, with Warp and Working Title prominent in the analysis and examples used.
Its not quite an autobio, apparently more of a humour book though framed on his film work...
As I type, he's being interviewed on Stuart Maconie's BBC R6 show (from 1:30 if you want to try it on the iPlayer). He describes it as an affectionate spoof of the Truffaut on Hitchcock book (the great French director interviewed Hitchcock, and the book is a straightforward transcript).
Can't see any reviews, though as its out on October 2nd I'm sure you'll quickly find a fair few on Amazon next week. The only (user) review I could find reckons its funny - but that the joke stretches a wee bit thin. Any insight/views would be welcomed...
There are links lists for both companies on this blog!!!
Some useful links for each film:
WILD CHILD: IMDB page (for rating, budget, some box office data, cast etc); Wiki; RottenTomatoes.com (for reviews and ratings); Trailer (look for it in this playlist);
SUBMARINE: IMDB page (for rating, budget, some box office data, cast etc); Wiki; RottenTomatoes.com (for reviews and ratings); Trailer (look for it in this playlist);
SOME FACTS ABOUT THE FILM INDUSTRY YOU COULD CONSIDER:
NO film 'grossed' (took in from total cinema ticket sales) over £50m in 2013
Only TWO of the top THIRTY UK cinema box office hits of 2013 were British, including Les Miserables which is only marginally 'British'
The rest are American!
The combined cinema takings (box office) of all films released in the UK in 2013 was £1.17bn - its a big business!
Of the current top ten at the UK box office, only THREE have made over £10m since their release
If a film is budgeted over £10m, it almost certainly needs to include factors which will help it appeal to audiences in the US and elsewhere outside of the UK
The 'Gant rule' (which is generally fairly accurate!) states that a US box office hit will make around 10 times as much money as a UK box office hit
You can generally multiply the number of screens by 10 too!
As Disney's $250m mega-flop John Carter showed, there are NO guarantees in the film business, no matter how many stars or how much money you throw at a film - especially if the marketing is as messed up as it was for this film!
However ... as 2008's £10m budget Slumdog Millionaire showed, you can sometimes make serious box office despite picking unpopular genres, unknown cast and unlikely settings!
These are the trailers for each Warp Films/X/Australia movie; BBFC ratings are noted, so obviously use as appropriate. These are also accessible as a YT playlist.
Warp clearly has long-term relationships with a number of distributors, even if they continue to struggle to gain cinematic releases:
UK: Optimum
Releasing (now renamed StudioCanal UK); US (IFC Films, BUT did this temporarily end around 2010? Submarine was Weinstein Co, Four Lions Drafthouse Films, Tyranossaur Strand Releasing; 2011's Kill List and Snowtown and 2012's Berberian Sound Studio were IFC again);
The key elements of Prints and Advertising (P&A) that a distributor must consider at this stage
are: The quantity and production of release prints and trailers:
Specialised films will often be released with fewer than 10 prints
into key independent cinemas, with these prints subsequently 'toured' over a
6-month period to all parts of the UK. On the other hand, commercial mainstream
films will often open on over 200 prints, simultaneously screening in all major
UK towns and cities.
Each individual film print costs around £1000 (or $1500-2000), so any major release of, say, 500 prints is looking at a cost of £0.5m before advertising spend is also factored in (multiply by 10 for the tent-pole US releases). It should be clear why so few Warp movies manage a wide release, though some (notably Four Lions) bucked this trend, with additional prints being rushed out after initial demand proved much higher than expected! Digitisation will gradually remove this barrier, with the effective cost of hard-drives or streamed/downloaded films near-zero.
As you watch each of these trailers, try asking yourself some simple questions...
Who do I think was the (core/primary and/or secondary) audience/s for this?
What are the selling factors? (awards? director? cast? genre? narrative? atypicality/difference from the norm?)
Is it a successful trailer? (can you sum up the film in a sentence? remember, John Carter showed how a trailer and marketing, if misdirected, can ruin a film's prospects)
In what ways (if any) does this strike you as a British film? (you'll note that while there's hybridity, the aesthetic of social realism is often present)
I've cross-posted this on the rom-com and AS Coursework blogs, so won't post again here, but there is a lot of info and analysis very pertinent to British Cinema in there, with Warp and Working Title prominent in the analysis and examples used.
Its not quite an autobio, apparently more of a humour book though framed on his film work...
