Silver screenings: Hwd leaves older to Indies n arthouse

Ignored by youth-obsessed Hollywood, older audiences flock to indie films http://gu.com/p/4mnfg?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Blogger

Video journals

[in]Transition: where action meets academia http://gu.com/p/4nae2?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Blogger

Brexit blow to Brit cinema diversity

As it stands, only a small fraction of British films are profitable; just 7% of UK films made from 2003 to 2010 saw returns for investors. The loss of public money from CEM will likely result in production companies and investors prioritizing box office yield over creative risk-taking. 

nofilmschool.com

BFI launch VoD and subscription

BFI Player: a homespun alternative to the VOD giants http://gu.com/p/4yegx?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Blogger

Sky Cinema rains on rivals with daily premieres

Sky Movies rebrand to feature one premiere a day http://gu.com/p/4y82k?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Blogger

BIFS options

Some possibilities for 2016 BIFS, running Sept 20 - Oct 2nd across 3 cinemas in Luxembourg.

StG STUDENT WORK: FILM OPENINGS, MUSIC VIDEOS
Top of my wishlist is to incorporate the 3 film openings (2-3mins each) and 6 music videos (4-5mins each, including 2 versions of same track) - the final cuts are viewable below:

Why EU law and Brexit could kill UK Indies SUMMARY

Realised I'd blogged a few on the same theme, so I'm gathering them together in this revised post, looking at how influential EU law is - and the possible impact of the UK's surprise Brexit vote. In a nutshell, the EU as an increasingly neo-liberal, free market institution is pushing for reforms that in theory boost competition - but in reality will severely undermine Indies and slash film production while boosting the conglomerates. Brexit poses similar threats, with production, funding and distribution all facing huge cuts at the Indie level, co-productions made difficult and access to EU cinema markets cut, while the huge studio production industry will face issues too.

Rebecca O'Brien is quoted in this nofilmschool feature, a detailed analysis of how the industry works - and will struggle post-Brexit. It argues there are 3 key areas of concern:

1. Fewer European co-productions
2. Decline in British cinema—both in quality and quantity
3. UK may no longer be a top international filming destination

1: Fewer European co-productions

Co-productions are the lifeblood of European cinema. In 1994, Treaty No. 147, or the European Convention on Cinematographic Co-Production, was ratified in order to "safeguard creation and freedom of expression and defend the cultural diversity of the various European countries." It was not only the portal to creative synergy in a continent rich with varied cultures, but it also created the framework for film financing across international borders.

Co-productions significantly reduce risk; where one production company might be unwilling to assume debt on a single film, three companies can share the risk and bring different financial resources to the project, such as country-specific tax incentives and investors. In an industry built upon the assumption of risk, a co-production can mean the difference between development purgatory and getting a film made.
Furthermore, co-productions can receive aid of up to 60% of the production budget.
Rebecca O'Brien, a producer on I, Daniel Blake, said that the success of co-productions is exactly the international cooperation for which Europe at large should strive. 

2: Decline in British cinema—both in quality and quantity

US stars in British films a tawdry tradition, terrible trope?

From Snatch to The Iron Lady: British films hobbled by a Hollywood star http://gu.com/p/4k86v?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Blogger

Disney on Alice and Tentpole model

Sad hatter: Johnny Depp’s Alice sequel makes half its predicted box-office http://gu.com/p/4jqbt?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Blogger

CONVERGENCE DISTRIBUTION Amazon enables VoD for all

Big development this: Amazon Video Direct enables anyone to upload video and monetise it through streaming fee, as revenue share or a small share of the $1m Prime pot.

This reinforces Amazon as one of the global big tech 4 with Apple, FB and Google, all now competing in video and music, with the likes of Netflix hoping to establish themselves as effective rivals (but most would-be competitors end up bust or as subsidiaries).

Amazon launches YouTube-style video service http://gu.com/p/4j3ap?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Blogger

Avatar, Paul, Cornetto Trilogy: audience, marketing, digitisation

http://www.threeflavorsscreenplay.com/theworldsend/
https://www.instagram.com/theworldsendfilm/
https://www.tumblr.com/tagged/the-world's-end
https://www.facebook.com/TheWorldsEndMovieUK/
https://twitter.com/hashtag/TheWorldsEnd?src=hash
https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/beyond-the-screen/id830552609?mt=8
Wend Intl trailer;
http://corporate.comcast.com/our-company/businesses/nbcuniversal#accordion-3
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Ynzqn83T1c

WorldsEnd UK site;

2016 cornetto trilogy compressed from DB3igs

Quite simply bringing together some of the material on here on these...



WT use game to market Paul - play it here.


might add more...

WARP'S £48K LE DONK
This is both a good example of how low budget Indies can compete ... and an illustration of how much more Warp could/should be doing when promoting their films, even if that is the job of the distributor!!!
In this case, Le Donk was self-distributed in the UK, with a VoD (convergence!!! digitisation!!! proliferation!!!) US release. Below is a screen recording browsing the Warp web page for this



The page did offer the opportunity to send 'an exclusive Le Donk... Christmas card' ... but the link is dead now ... AND just look at the 'latest' news (I checked again May 2015!) ... its on Tyrannosaur!!! If Chris Anderson's long tail theory is to work surely they need to try harder with the online marketing?!

US VoD link and a dead link to some smart online marketing

Self-distribution!

This sums up the issue with Warp's online marketing - too little effort!!!

...

CONVERGENCE YouTube as TV network

Film channels are bound to be part of this mix, building on the pay-per-view system already built into YouTube, making self-distribution an easy option for even the most micro-budget filmmakers...

This is the news that YouTube are set to launch a TV subscription service to rival the likes of Hulu, to be called Unplugged, a reference to the US trend of unsubscribing from physical cable services and moving to online subscriptions.
A good example of digitisation and the disruption it has brought: even the traditional US TV networks will have little option but to sign up to the YouTube model or risk losing further business. The networks' traditional means of distribution, the cable box, is being radically undermined.

http://www.techradar.com/news/television/youtube-could-become-a-true-cable-killer-next-year-1320399

NBC-Universal buys DreamWorks - nightmare for WT?

If they got a chance to co-produce this could be good news, but that's unlikely, so WT face being a smaller fish in a BIG pond with parent company NBC-U picking up DreamWorks Animation for $3.8bn (a premium on the current stock market valuation of $2.5bn).

Already demoted from block funding to a first look deal this can only mean it will get more difficult for WT to gain financial backing or distribution agreement for their productions from within NBC-U.

As they've recently produced some ambitious, big budget family/children's movies, and have franchises like Bean and Nanny McPhee, this could mean in-house competition for attention and distribution.

WT are an admirably resilient company though, one that has retained its independent spirit and operating style while taking full advantage of their vertical integration in the NBC-U big six conglomerate.

They have a long-standing relationship with StudioCanal, a fellow NBC-U subsidiary, bringing production financing and, often, European distribution. Their track record ensures that the WT brand is enough to be taken seriously by all the big six distributors and earn a hearing (chance to pitch) any new productions.

Comcast’s NBCUniversal to buy DreamWorks Animation in $3.8bn deal http://gu.com/p/4tytg?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Blogger

REPRESENTATION Hollywood has no A-List Asian female stars

A row has broken out over the casting of a white actress in an anime remake

Max Landis: there are ‘no A-list female Asian celebrities’ who could have taken Scarlett Johansson’s Ghost in a Shell role http://gu.com/p/4tdyc?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Blogger

CONVERGENCE US cinema chain oks texting. sadface

I gather that after less than favourable feedback this horrible idea was binned, but multi-screen viewing is certainly a serious issue for film. And I found myself watching the latest Bourne and being very irritated at a pair to my left lighting the room with their phablets - even more than the ridiculous overuse of non-diegetic music to impress the kinetic tension on the producer-imagined dumb audience (in Aug 2016, a few months after picking up on this)

US cinema chain might introduce 'texting-friendly' screens.

Also ...

The Blue Room is being released in the UK by MUBI, first theatrically, then online. How do you feel about cinema becoming an online phenomenon?People keep saying that cinema’s about to die, but it has a way of transforming itself all the time. I never feel like saying: “It was better before.” OK, watching a film in a cinema is something different, but now people can use new tools, watch in different ways – they’re even able to watch three screens at once. That’s changing the grammar of cinema, it becomes like a mash-up or something. You have to take an interest – you have to use it all. [Mathieu Amalric: ‘Cinema has a way of transforming itself’]

BOX OFFICE v MARKETING software predictions

http://nofilmschool.com/2016/04/why-algorithm-promised-to-save-hollywood-destroyed-relativity-media

GENDER Stats on invisible mute women and male writers

Lots of killer statistics from multiple research papers here, detailing how little dialogue women get, how few films (18%) where 2 of the 3 lead roles are female, the dominance of male writers ... even the absurd long-term proportion of women in crowd scenes (17%!).

Also a good point, echoing one I make often, about the dismissive treatment of 'chick flicks' and the lack of a binary (we don't speak of men's movies!).

Why, in 2016, are women still (mostly) silent film stars? 

UK government report on film audience

The examples are little old, but this is still very useful: link.

The BFI, who took over the UK Film Council's role in using government funds to support the industry in 2011, publish an annual report and much more: link.

These are great sources for audience research as well as for a stronger idea on how the UK film industry operates.

a few of the 2015 reports, all freely downloadable

TECHNOLOGY 1st 4K discs and player out

4K TV and DSLR/camcorder has been going for a while, with most video editing software also offering upgrades to work with 4K.

Now Samsung have released the 1st consumer 4k player and Fox are releasing 4K discs at £19.99 - with The Life of Pi and Kingsmen among the titles. 

A 4K disc has 16 times the data of a DVD; it's basically the bitrate used in digital cinema projection.

Convergence continues.

Life Of Pi in ultra high-definition video? No thanks http://gu.com/p/4t6jq?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Blogger

INDIE DISTRIBUTION Festival then VoD day after, Swanberg strategy

This guy puts even Shane Meadows (the 5-day shoot £48k Le Donk) to shame, releasing SEVEN features in a year.

Over time he has responded to the limited benefit of festival buzz (6/7 months later when the DVD/VoD release occurs, the buzz is gone he notes) with his own unique strategy: put it out on VoD the day after a festival screening, tap into that buzz.

He urges Indie filmmakers to keep as much control as they can over production and distribution, noting that he makes most money when he has self-financed rather than relying on investors.

http://nofilmschool.com/2016/03/how-drinking-buddies-director-joe-swanberg-made-7-features-year

EDITING terms and examples

http://nofilmschool.com/2016/03/rocket-jump-film-cuts-and-types-transitions-editing

AUDIENCE WEB 2.0 Fans call BVS ratings BS

This is a point that has almost been taken for granted for some time: in the web 2.0 era, where the audience/producer divide is unclear at best, the power of the traditional media critics is gone.

Batman vs Superman SEEMS to be a good example of this: awful ratings but record-breaking opening figures (ahead if Avengers, the 3rd biggest hit of all-time).

HOWEVER... word of mouth has not been great, and it seems doubtful that the film will enjoy sustained success. Many believe that this is a conspiracy of paid-off hacks protecting Marvel's empire by trashing the Warner Bros/DC rival, for which this film marks the start of a 5 year schedule of comic book movie adaptations, seeking to replicate the huge success of the ultra-converged Marvel Universe which skips between TV and cinema routinely.

Moreover, 9/10 of the year's top 10 biggest hits had 60%+ RottenTomatoes ratings (a new shorthand for critical consensus).

The modest examples of Warp's '71 (low opening Friday night turnout but box office staff in Bradford correctly predicted that once The Guardian had reviewed it the audience would pick up) and Le Donk (placing trailers for a theatrical release that was never planned to generate newspaper reviews to boost DVD and VoD sales) also show that the established, traditional media continue to play a part in determining movie's success.

After all, the stars of this mega-budget tentpole ($250m and same again on prints and marketing) duly trooped over to the UK to film a Graham Norton Show Special, looking to boost its appeal beyond its core youth audience and firm up it's four quadrant credentials!

Is the biggest Batman v Superman smackdown between fans and critics? http://gu.com/p/4hqkd?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Blogger

SELF-DISTRIBUTION Orion £25 package with vinyl

Consume with care: are bespoke releases the future of film? http://gu.com/p/4hzpv?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Blogger

Biggest cinema markets ranked by box office. UK in top 5

These will vary over time, but the UK and France are Europe's biggest markets, with Japan and China key Asian markets. China is expected to eventually exceed the US box office (perhaps towards the end of 2017?), but India's massive population is less likely to follow suit with ticket prices so much lower in the countryside.

The UK is dwarfed by the US and China, but it, France and Japan are closely matched and are ranked differently depending on the survey/year but is the 3rd, 4th or 5th biggest cinema market in the world, a definite top 5 market. Note how low its share from nationally produced films is - US films account for 4 times the box office of UK-produced films. No figure is given for the US but this would be in the high 90%+ range.

Table from Wiki. Note that China's figures are more recent than the rest, significant as they are growing every year.

DISTRIBUTION disruption debate

Fantastic article (or at least the SXSW panel debate it reports on) with strongly contrasting views on how the industry works, whether digitisation has opened doors for the little guy, if stars really make a difference, if the whole industry is nuts as only 1% of releases make money (probably a rhetorical claim)...

http://nofilmschool.com/2016/03/sxsw-is-indie-film-healthy-if-99-percent-fail

Film PITCHING guide from executives at SXSW

A hit team of Hollywood producers discussed the art of pitching at a SXSW (the Texas festival) session. Quotes are from the article by Liz Nord (2016) How Not to Pitch a Movie: Production Execs Tell All.

NB: the article contains an image which may be considered disturbing/NSFW (poor choice from a great site).

I did learn a new term from this myself: sizzle reel! Read on [click the read more] to find out what that is!

Last year, Shaked Berenson's company got 28 scripts from agents, double that number from managers, and slightly more from producers. About ten times that number were unsolicited. 

Epic Pictures Group made five films that year.
Berenson and his fellow SXSW 2016 panelists, who have decades of Hollywood producing experience between them, gave a few pointers. The group included Gudrun Giddings, CEO of G4C Innovation; Travis Stevens, CEO of Snowfort Pictures (whose film Teenage Cocktail is playing at this year’s fest); and Winnie Kemp, Director of Development at Super Deluxe/Turner.

ROM-COM Is this Working Title's signature genre?

In this post I highlight a recurrent point that has been made for some years now: the rom-com is DEAD and (box office) buried!

That is based on the lack of major, 'breakthrough' [very wide audience, typically overachieving for its budget] rom-coms in recent years, with the series of Jennifer Aniston flops symbolising this seeming reality. Is this true? Debatable. All genres go in and out of fashion. There is a solid argument that TV is now the home of the rom-com (not least the TV adaptation of About a Boy!).

Working Title are arguably more commonly associated with the genre than any other film production outlet, not just in the UK, but globally. They have had an impressive run of rom-com hits, and it seems unlikely that they will simply fail to add to this list. The upcoming third Bridget Jones flick could well change views on the rom-com's box office potential.

As far back as 1987, WT's 3rd production was a rom-com, albeit one with a social realist style which made minimal impact, Hanif Kreshi's Sammy and Rosie Get Laid (US cinema release only through Cinecom, just $1.2m, no budget figure available; it is also listed as unrated, indicating it didn't get a wide release). Director Stephen Frears had also directed their debut feature, My Beautiful Laundrette, and would go on to direct many more for the company.

The Tall Guy didn't stand too large at the box office...but did bring Richard Curtis into WT

1989 saw the introduction of Richard Curtis, screenwriter of The Tall Guy, a rom-com with a US star (Jeff Goldblum) plus Emma Thompson and Rowan Atkinson. Apparent changes to remove some British references (replacing US actors names in dialogue) and positive reviews didn't save it from box office gloom, a mere $500k and no record of releases elsewhere (straight-to-TV in the UK?). You can visit its blank WT website page here!

ROM-COM no more love for the classic hybrid?

I've read a variety of articles over the past decade announcing the death of the rom-com after some genre flick flopped (often starring Jennifer Aniston!).

Here's another ... which goes a step further in pronouncing a range of genres as dead and box office buried, but also argues that TV is now the true home of the rom-com, an intriguing point in this era of digitisation and convergence:

REPRESENTATIONS Hollywood's war on Muslims?

A detailed analysis of the real world impact of the normative representation of Arabs, the Middle East and Muslims (all very diverse demographics) as anti-Western, violent and a threat.

A recent study found a stunning 97% of such Hollywood characters to be negatively portrayed.

This is despite the seeming lack of box office appetite for films on the Iraq or Afghanistan campaigns - though this us now being reflected in a turn to satire and comedy after the failure of even critically acclaimed dramas such as The Hurt Locker.

‘Death to the infidels!’ Why it’s time to fix Hollywood’s problem with Muslims http://gu.com/p/4hcpx?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Blogger

STARS Hiddlestone key to Wheatley's High Rise financing

“You’ve always got the question of how to trigger the finance for a film as crazy as this,” Wheatley says. “And that comes from casting as much as anything.

Ben Wheatley: ‘Financing a film as crazy as this takes good casting’ http://gu.com/p/4h7jh?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Blogger

RELEASE WINDOW Star Wars 16.5 week wait for DVD

A typically jargon-packed column here on the UK's weekly box office; regular exposure to writing such as this will teach you a lot about the way this industry thinks and operates.

We have the 'counter-programming' of Working Title's Hail Caesar, adult fare from the Coens in amongst the various franchise, tentpole releases dominating the box office as ever.

Then there's Deadpool dropping 48% in its 3rd 'frame' (week of release, with weekend takings really the key measurement, thus the term 'opening weekend'), a typical figure.

Grimsby is compared to all the previous Bacha-Cohen releases, a serious flop given the heavy marketing campaign. I thought it was notable that the actor chose to appear as Ali G when doing his turn at the Oscars on Sunday; now a well established brand, unlike the struggling 90s-style English lad/lout he's failing to sell in Grimsby.

The major story nails down the precise terms demanded by the UK multiplexes for exclusive exhibition rights before DVD release: 16.5 weeks. Star Wars may actually exceed this, with the lucrative Easter holidays not far off and the film only just outside the top ten. No DVD release date has yet been announced, suggesting an extended cinema window is being considered.

It's now up to £122m, easily the biggest ever in the UK, trouncing the £105m Skyfall raised as the only other 9-figure film (the latest Bond, Spectre, topping out just short at £94m).

Bear in mind that such figures are routine in the US, where $1bn is the target figure for the truly monster hits (Gant rule...).

Grimsby sickens but fails to gross as Deadpool continues heroics at the UK box office http://gu.com/p/4h7c4?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Blogger