After a script is developed, a film gets made in the
following order:
Pre –Production
- Director and main cast is confirmed to secure the finance
- The script is broken down into individual scenes
- Location, Cast members, Props, Costumes, Special effects, Special
effects and visual effects are identified.
- A detailed schedule is produced
- Arrangements are made for the necessary elements and people to be
available at the appropriate times.
- The director, producer and line producer finalises the script and
schedule.
Production
- filming is carried out
- Scenes are filmed multiple times to gain the best quality for the
film
- It is now no longer financially viable to cancel the project even if
they want to, as it would be too expensive to stop.
Post –Production
- This is where the film is assembled together
- A rough cut is built up from the sequences /scenes based on the best
individual shots
- A fine cut is then produced from this, where all the shots flow
smoothly
- This is when the editing of the footage proceeds (Music, sound
track, Graphics, Menus ETC)
- At the end the director, producers and financiers approve the cut and
the film is locked- meaning that it can not be edited further
The main producers of Hollywood films are …
§ Jerry Brucheimer who produced Pirates of the Caribbean.
§ Brian Grazer producer of American Gangster and 24
§ Tyler Perry Producer of the Madea Films
§ Michael Mann producer of Heat
§ Barbra Broccoli Producer of the Bond movies
§ Karen Rosenfelt
producer of The Devil wears Prada and The Twilight movies
Main Studios
- Warner Bros Entertainment
created by Sam and Albert Warner
- Walt Disney Studios created
by Walt Disney
- Fox filmed Entertainment
created by William Fox
- Sony pictures studio
created by Harry and Jack Cohn with Joe Brandt
The ownership of a studio would have an
impact on what they makes depending on type of films they are known for making
/or have had success making. For instance Disney makes animations and family
films. Where as other countries concentrate on the horror genre or action.
An independent production is where a filmmaker
is able to keep more creative, artistic and editorial control. Finance is
raised from sources other than one of the main studios and sales and an
independent/smaller company, such as Lionsgate and Pathe in the Uk, normally
does distribution for them.
Film distribution
is making a movie accessible for viewing by an audience. A professional film
distributor will determine the marketing strategy for a film, the media by
which a film is to be exhibited or made available for viewing. A company or
individual responsible for marketing a film is the distributer, and the film
producer will present a film to a sales company who will then sell it to different
distributers around the world.
There are many
different ways in which you can distribute a film. Traditional ways used to be
packaging films with travelogues, comedy sketches and cartoons. However now
there are more modern ways to distribute a film like financing prints and
advertisement. Promoting the films release dates-creating hype, organizing
partnerships, public relations and sending publicity materials to the exhibitors.
Further they would book negotiations with exhibitors.
Why is it essential to have a distributer present when
creating a film?
- You need one to help market your film.
- They will know when is the best time during the year to release your
film.
- Normally distributers have their own theatres and film distribution
networks.
- If a film can’t secure a
distributer then the film might not get the maximum amount of marketing that
they could get.
A film festival is
an organized presentation of film in one or more cinemas or screening venues.
Sometimes showing specific genres and either recent date films or old films. These film festivals help with film
distribution as they give them publicity in the country the festival is showing,
and to get it distribution if it doesn’t already have it. Further if the film
wins a prize it gets film credibility, publicity and sometimes money.
The things that might make a
distributer release a film on a particular weekend would be …
- Season – as if the film is based on a particular time of the year
e.g. A Christmas story would not be released on Halloween or Valentine's Day.
- Buzz- If the film has unknown cast member or hasn’t been advertised
as much then it would be best to release it on a holiday so people wouldn’t
have to go out of there way and make time during the week to see the film.
- Block buster e.g. action/big budget films tend to get shown during
the summer months.
- Star Power- having movie stars present in your film will create a
much bigger fan base and help make it become popular, so particular dates
wouldn’t be as important because you know that people will want to see it.
Marketing is the business of promoting and
selling products and services, involving market research and advertising.
Marketing differs from distribution as marketing is when you someone takes an
idea and spreads knowledge of the film round the world, while a distributer
will build a channel that they will have control over and then use the channel;
to connect things to people.
Different types of marketing for films would be…
- Promotional tour
- Merchandising
- Posters on buses, magazines etc.
- Trailers
- Sound track
- Website
- Competitions
- Cross Media marketing
- Facebook pages
Way’s in which distributers could promote the film would
be…
§ By changing the language of the film as a whole or just adding on sub-titles
for different territories.
§ They can promote it by using never before seen trailers
§ Behind the scenes clips showing how they made the special effects
§ Magazine articles
§ They can use electronic press kit that can show what the actors
thought of making the film, or if there is a female lead how to get her
wardrobe style.
12 years of slave’s -when it was being
promoted in Italy they changed the poster of the film predominantly featuring the film's white male stars, Brad Pitt
and Michael Fassbender, instead of the black actors
who are the actual lead Chiwetel Ejiofor. They did this
because they have found that Italian people are less likely to watch a film if
it has a black male lead. The Italian distributor of the film had to apologize for the
promotional posters.
Different ways in which we get to view films would be …
- Cinema
- DVD
- Video on demand (VOD)
- Tablet
- On the internet
Who receives the money from a successful film?
- The film distributer
- Cinema
- Financiers
- Key creative-the writer, director, producer and sometimes the lead
actors
The box office is a place where tickets are
sold to the public for admission to an event. The owner of the venue will then
give the distributer the box office
grosses (income figure), referring to the total gross of tickets sold for a
particular movie.
How do cinemas make their money…
- Movie tickets
- Concessions-pop corn etc.
- On screen advertisement
What do cinemas do to attract people to go rather then
watch films at home …
- Bigger screens
- Ticket and concession deals
- Better seating
- Surround sound
- Some cinemas have become upmarket with luxury seating and services e.g.
restaurant quality food and drinks brought to your seat.
Ancillary markets are non-theatrical
markets for feature films for example home video, television and Internet
streaming. These enable exhibition of a film outside of /after a films release
at cinema and they give the film an extra stream of income.
The BFI is the British Film Institution, it
exists to promote greater understanding and appreciation and give access to
films, especially independent films and moving image culture in the UK. Further
they do audience development work to encourage people to watch a wider
variation of films like foreign and older movies. E.g. they take films into
schools and community centers. The BFI is also required to support film
development, production, archive work and distribution in the UK and it also
helps to promote wider audience participation.
