Friday, 3 December 2010
Film4 Distribution.
- In 2002, big changes came about at Film4. Tessa Ross decided that to prevent bankruptcy, Film4 would no longer distribute their own films, and that investment needed to be boosted through third party partnerships, much like Working Title.
- Today, Film4 has secured an increase budget from £8-10m a year to £15m, allowing them to produce between 6-8 films per year.
- A low-budget studio has been set up with the Film Council and other distributors; Optimum and Warp X ( digital production house).
- Working across TV allows for economies of scale and cross-fertilisation as well as an increase in advertising.
Partnerships:
- Film4 have now partnered with Working Title, the BBC and BBC films.
- Warp X - a Film4/UK film council joint project with the Sheffield-based indie warp that can finance three low-budget films a year.
- Film4 Hub - BT Vision has created a 'Vision Film Club'; a movies subscription pack with more than 75 films available to watch per month. Film 4 is in partnership with BT Vision and allow club members to view movies before released on real TV. Other film companies include PictureBox and WarnerFilms.
Thursday, 2 December 2010
Working Title Productions.
Working Title Productions is another of the British Film Industry's highest-rank companies. Founded in 1984, the company is co-owned by Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner.
The company is also partly owned by major Hollywood Film Company Universal Studios, having a 67% share in the company. Despite this, Working Title has since been listed as being one of the largest companies in the British Film Industry today.
Despite this status, the company has only 42 employees working full time, spread also across the sister company ‘Working Title 2 Productions’ , a subsidiary company launched in 1999 by Bevan and Fellner. The company is run by Natascha Wharton, producing well-received films such as Billy Elliot and Shaun of the Dead.The Distribution of films from Working Title is affected greatly because of their partnership with Universal as they have the most power over the company, they can decide when it is best to distribute films. For example, if Universal produces a film of their own at the same time as Working Title, they will hold back distribution of Working Title’s film to make room for Universals big block buster film. On average, Working Title produce four films a year, one of which needs to be a block buster film, their partnership with Universal helps immensely with costs and distribution etc.
A block buster produced by Universal will always receive a huge response at the box office in the first weekend, for example in 2004, Working Title produced Bridget Jones’ Diary, Thunderbirds and Shaun of the Dead. Thunderbirds turned out to be a major flop at the box office, against the predicted response. Despite this, the film company was supported by the two other films distributed that year with the help of Universal.
A strong reason for successful films from Working Title is their reputation for having a wide genre appealing to niche audiences for example; films such as Notting Hill and Hot Fuzz both have a targeted niche audience. Aside from this, the company’s main audiences are Romantic Comedy audiences and family audiences. Due to their partnership with Universal, Working Title has access to fresh talent actors and well known directors to help produce a successful film, for example, Stephen Dadly. Cherished actors by Working Title include Hugh Grant and Richard Curtis, both being British which is a huge positive aspect for the British film company, worldwide viewers will remember that it is a British film despite Universal ownership. Working Title tend to treasure actors and use them again in other films, almost like a family.
The philosophy of Working Title is: ‘to make films for an audience which are then played in a multiplex as this is the only hope of sustaining the UK film industry’, according to Tim Bevan.
Despite this status, the company has only 42 employees working full time, spread also across the sister company ‘Working Title 2 Productions’ , a subsidiary company launched in 1999 by Bevan and Fellner. The company is run by Natascha Wharton, producing well-received films such as Billy Elliot and Shaun of the Dead.The Distribution of films from Working Title is affected greatly because of their partnership with Universal as they have the most power over the company, they can decide when it is best to distribute films. For example, if Universal produces a film of their own at the same time as Working Title, they will hold back distribution of Working Title’s film to make room for Universals big block buster film. On average, Working Title produce four films a year, one of which needs to be a block buster film, their partnership with Universal helps immensely with costs and distribution etc.
A block buster produced by Universal will always receive a huge response at the box office in the first weekend, for example in 2004, Working Title produced Bridget Jones’ Diary, Thunderbirds and Shaun of the Dead. Thunderbirds turned out to be a major flop at the box office, against the predicted response. Despite this, the film company was supported by the two other films distributed that year with the help of Universal.
A strong reason for successful films from Working Title is their reputation for having a wide genre appealing to niche audiences for example; films such as Notting Hill and Hot Fuzz both have a targeted niche audience. Aside from this, the company’s main audiences are Romantic Comedy audiences and family audiences. Due to their partnership with Universal, Working Title has access to fresh talent actors and well known directors to help produce a successful film, for example, Stephen Dadly. Cherished actors by Working Title include Hugh Grant and Richard Curtis, both being British which is a huge positive aspect for the British film company, worldwide viewers will remember that it is a British film despite Universal ownership. Working Title tend to treasure actors and use them again in other films, almost like a family.
The philosophy of Working Title is: ‘to make films for an audience which are then played in a multiplex as this is the only hope of sustaining the UK film industry’, according to Tim Bevan.
Film4 Productions.
Film 4, one of the main independant production companies in the British Film Industry. Owned by Tessa Ross, the company was founded in 1998 and is a spin-off from channel 4. Despite the separation, Channel 4 still make regular donations to fund the production of Film 4, a big help to a small company.
On average, the company produces about 20 films a year. Successes include huge films such as Slumdog Millionaire.
The company's philosophy is 'to experiment, innovate and cater for audiences not dressed by other channels'.
The company's philosophy is 'to experiment, innovate and cater for audiences not dressed by other channels'.
Stephen Frears directed the first Film 4 film entitled ‘Walter’ which was a box office hit, this was a good start for a new film company although the film was also partly produced by Working Title. Due to finances and the small scale of the company, Film 4 in recent years have partnered with FilmFlex, now called Film 4 on demand, which supplies films to buy and rent online, many of them being released close to the release of the film on DVD and Blu-ray. This decision to join forces with FilmFlex has increased the profit and status of the Film4 Company.
Unlike Working Title, Film4 are not best known for sticking to similar genres of film. Funding around 20 films a year, Film4 look for stand-out films that differ from other production companies. This has created a reputation for Film4 as having an un-expected film production and therefore a higher competition with other film companies. For example, Slumdog Millionaire was an un-expected film produced in 2009, resulting in a huge box office success.
Unlike Working Title, Film4 are not best known for sticking to similar genres of film. Funding around 20 films a year, Film4 look for stand-out films that differ from other production companies. This has created a reputation for Film4 as having an un-expected film production and therefore a higher competition with other film companies. For example, Slumdog Millionaire was an un-expected film produced in 2009, resulting in a huge box office success.
Monday, 29 November 2010
Sound in media
In media, there are several types of sound used;
The first being Diagetic Sound - these are natural sounds that are all scourced whithin a scene, for example, a conversation between characters, the sound of a door opening, or the sounds of the city(background noise).
For example, in soaps such as 'Hollyoaks', usually only diagetic sound is used to keep social realism.
The second type of sound is Non-diagetic - This is sound that is added after filming to create an atmosphere of tension for example, a theme tune.
A problem with this type of sound is that it may corrupt the scene to be less realistic although an advantage is that it may create more drama.
For example, the iconic theme tune from 'Jaws' automatically creates a tension in a scene.
Other types of sound include;
A sound bridge - this is sound that bridges over two scene and creates a transition from one to the next.
Indicental music - This is a short sequence of music added to emphasise an emotion being portrayed in the scene e.g. a death.
Asychronous sounds - A 'natural' sound that is out of place in the scene, without a scource.
Contrapunctual - This is sound which contrasts an emotion in a scene, this creates an exact binary opposite almost for example, a sad piece of music playing when a charater is portraying happiness.
The first being Diagetic Sound - these are natural sounds that are all scourced whithin a scene, for example, a conversation between characters, the sound of a door opening, or the sounds of the city(background noise).
For example, in soaps such as 'Hollyoaks', usually only diagetic sound is used to keep social realism.
The second type of sound is Non-diagetic - This is sound that is added after filming to create an atmosphere of tension for example, a theme tune.
A problem with this type of sound is that it may corrupt the scene to be less realistic although an advantage is that it may create more drama.
For example, the iconic theme tune from 'Jaws' automatically creates a tension in a scene.
Other types of sound include;
A sound bridge - this is sound that bridges over two scene and creates a transition from one to the next.
Indicental music - This is a short sequence of music added to emphasise an emotion being portrayed in the scene e.g. a death.
Asychronous sounds - A 'natural' sound that is out of place in the scene, without a scource.
Contrapunctual - This is sound which contrasts an emotion in a scene, this creates an exact binary opposite almost for example, a sad piece of music playing when a charater is portraying happiness.
How Sexuality is represented in TV Drama Skins.
After viewing a 10 second clip from the first ever episode of skins, we, as an audience, are able to gather many questions about Tony, who is being introduced in this scene.
There is firstly, no dialect in this scene as it is purely based around sound to influence thoughts and connote questions as an audience. The clip begins with an extreme close-up camera shot of Tony’s eyes, wide open, the camera then begins to slowly zoom out. Whilst this is happening, church bells ring, an asynchronous use of sound, this is a cultural code which triggers British civillians to believe that this day is a Sunday and a church service is probably congregating. This, as an audience, makes us question why a teenage boy is awake so early on a Sunday, as stereotypically, teenagers are portrayed as being lazy and useless. This could be interpreted as an enigma code.
As the camera zooms out, we see that the bed has not been slept in, it is clinically tidy, which makes us question, was the character awake all night? or could he have possibly just gotten to bed?
The most obvious thing to notice about Tony's bedroom is the two clear naked pictures of a man and a woman side by side, printed on his bed sheet. This raises an enigma code, questionng how Tony's parents would react to the quilt being in his room?
There is firstly, no dialect in this scene as it is purely based around sound to influence thoughts and connote questions as an audience. The clip begins with an extreme close-up camera shot of Tony’s eyes, wide open, the camera then begins to slowly zoom out. Whilst this is happening, church bells ring, an asynchronous use of sound, this is a cultural code which triggers British civillians to believe that this day is a Sunday and a church service is probably congregating. This, as an audience, makes us question why a teenage boy is awake so early on a Sunday, as stereotypically, teenagers are portrayed as being lazy and useless. This could be interpreted as an enigma code.
As the camera zooms out, we see that the bed has not been slept in, it is clinically tidy, which makes us question, was the character awake all night? or could he have possibly just gotten to bed?
The most obvious thing to notice about Tony's bedroom is the two clear naked pictures of a man and a woman side by side, printed on his bed sheet. This raises an enigma code, questionng how Tony's parents would react to the quilt being in his room?
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