film as industry report.ppt
TRANSCRIPT
FILM AS INDUSTRYAryanna Martin
FILM AS INDUSTRY
• Production, Distribution
and Exhibition
• Marketing
• Non theatrical Exhibition
Production
Scriptwriting and Funding• Producer: financial and
organizational• Screenwriter: prepare the
screenplay (or script)• As screenplay is being written
and rewritten, the producer is planning the film’s finances
Preparation Phase
• Preproduction: filmmakers prepare for physical production
• Several things are happening at the same time under the supervision of the director and producer.
• A writer may be revising the screenplay.
• A casting supervisor is searching out actors.
Shooting
• Shooting is known as principal photography.
• It is the entire process of making the film
Assembly
• Assembly phase is postproduction.
• It does not really begin after the shooting is finished.
• Postproduction staff members work behind the scenes throughout the shooting.
Artistic Implication of Production
• Every film is a compromise within constraints.
• These contraints pave way for innovation and creative choices
• By choosing within production constraints, filmmakers create film form and style.
Modes of Production
• Large-scale Production• Exploitation and Independent
Production• Small-scale Production
Large Scale Production• Filmmaking in studios• Studios are companies in the
business of manufacturing films.
• These companies owned equipment and extensive physical plants
• They retained most of their workers on long-term contracts.
Exploitation and Independent Production• Low-budget exploitation products • Tailored to a particular market-in
earlier decades, fringe theatres and drive-ins, video rental s and sales
• Exploitation films don't enter the theatrical market but independent films may.
• Filmmakers may have to finance the proj ectthemselves, with the help of relatives and friendly investors
Small-scale Production
• One person to do everything.• Plan the film, finance it, perform
in it, run the camera, record the sound, and put it all together
• Such films are seldom seen in commercial theatres
• they are central to experimental and documentary traditions.
Distribution
• Filmmakers need distribution companies to circulate their work
• Exhibitors need them to supply their screens
• Hollywood: Paramount, Warner Brothers, etc.
Distribution
• Provide mainstream entertainment around the world
• Advertise films, schedule releases , and arrange for prints to be made in local languages (either dubbing in the dialogue or adding subtitling)
• Can endure the risk of theatrical moviemaking
Distribution
• US: theater owners bid for each film a distributor releases
• Blindbooking: renting a film without even seeing it or before it has been completed
• Block booking: rent a package of films in order to get a few desirable items
Distribution
• Once the exhibitor has contracted to screen the film, the distributor can demand stiff terms.
• Distributor- minimum of 90 percent of the first week's gross, dropping gradually to 30 percent after several weeks.
Distribution
• Filmmakers get what is left after distribution fees and prints and advertising costs were deducted from the grosses.
• Out of the proceeds, the producer must pay all profit participants-the directors , actors, executives, and investors who have negotiated a share of the rental returns.
Distribution
• Producers wait to receive their share from video and other ancillary markets
• "first-dollar” participation- powerful actors’ and directors’ share will derive from the earliest money the picture returns to the distributor
Majors and Minors
• Major Distributors: Companies that produce and manufacture films while controlling subsidiary companieso Time Warner, Inc.
Majors and Minors
• Independent and overseas filmmakers: try to presell distribution rights in order to finance production.
• Specialized distributors acquire rights to foreign and independent films for rental to art cinemas, colleges, and museums .
Majors and Minors
• Multinational companies: bank financing, stock issues, and other sources of funding
• Media conglomerates can build synergy-the coordination of sectors within the company around a single piece of content, usually one that is "branded.“
• Every product promotes the others.
Majors and Minors
• Distributors release dates, make prints , and launch advertising campaigns
• Distribution is more efficient in big companies.
• Mass-market filmmaking: platforming and wide release
Majors and Minors
• Platforming: film opens first in a few big cities
• Accumulation of critical support and generate positive word-of-mouth (Brokeback Mountain)
• Wide release: film opens at the same time in many cities and towns
• Typical strategy of mainstream films (Harry Potter installment)
Majors and Minors
• opening wide helps recoup costs faster but it’s a gamble
• Distribution companies realized the risks of opening wide in the United States and then waiting weeks or months before opening overseas.
Selling the Film
• The distributor provides not only the movie but a publicity campaign.
• Trailer: single most effective piece of advertising
• Soundtrack albums • Onset interviews and talk
appearances• Special premieres
Selling the Film
• Electronic Press Kits (for journalists)
• Websites: plot information, star biographies, games, screen savers, and links to merchandise
Selling the Film
• Merchandising: a form of promotion that pays back its investment directly
• Manufacturing companies buy the rights to use the film's characters, title, or images on products
• Shrek clothing, games, lunchboxes.
Selling the Film
• Cross-promotion or Brand-partnering: allows a film and product line to be advertised simultaneously
Ancillary Markets
• When a film leaves theatrical exhibition, it lives on.• These typically return more money than the
theatrical release• Distribution companies carefully plan the timing of
their video release– airline flights --cable broadcast– hotel television systems --network
broadcast– pay-per-view television --cable reruns.– DVD release
Ancillary Markets
• Cyberspace: Video on demand promises huge profits and can limit consumers ' access by blocking copying
• Google Video Store and YouTube- citizen filmmaking
• Allow anyone to upload a video• Open room for innovative work
Ancillary Markets
• Cyberspace: Video on demand promises huge profits and can limit consumers ' access by blocking copying
• Google Video Store and YouTube- citizen filmmaking
• Allow anyone to upload a video• Open room for innovative work
Ancillary Markets
• Paperback novels• Themeparks• Video Games
Ancillary Markets
• With the rise o f digital distribution and the boom in ancillary markets, the conglomerates police their products vigilantly.
• Alert for piracy• Cable tv, Internet and DVD provide
more money out of movies yet still bring about piracy.
Nontheatrical Exhibition
• Includes all other presentations, such as home video, cable and satellite transmissions, and screenings in schools and colleges
• fiction films, documentaries, and experimental works
• Kino: allow filmmakers total freedom of content, an audience for their short films, and a network of like-minded colleagues who encourage them to make more films.
Nontheatrical Exhibition
• Already driven by a digital technology, the DVD• Portable, took up less storagespace than a VHS tape,
and offered good picture and sound quality• Widely available• Commercial theaters began competing home
theaters, video games , and Internet entertainment.• Windows: time between a film ' s theatrical release
and its release on DVD and other platformso IMAX, 3D
• DVDs were easy to copy and manufacture in bulk.
Artistic Implications of Distribution and Execution
• ways in which movies are circulated and shown can affect viewers ' experiences
• Video distribution and exhibition have created new choices in the realm of storytelling– With videotape, and especially DVD, viewers can
pore over a film– Some interactive DVD movies permit the viewers
to choose how the plot develops
Artistic Implications of Distribution and Execution
• Variations in the narrative form can take place esp. in the Internet
• Marketing and merchandising can extend a theatrical film's story in intriguing ways
• Style can be affected by distribution and exhibition, as is evident in image size
• Technology and exhibition circumstances have created stylistic constraints
Artistic Implications of Distribution and Execution
• Letterboxed: Dark bands at the top and bottom of the screen approximate the film’s theatrical proportions
• Product placements offer some artistic opportunities
PRODUCTION CONTEXTS
PRODUCTION CONTEXTS
• Mainstream Filmmaking
• Independent Filmmaking
Mainstream Filmmaking
• Feature-length narrative films created for entertainment and profit
• Usually associated with ‘Hollywood’, regardless of where the film is made
Independent Filmmaking
• A production realised outside one of the majors
• May be divided into two areas:o Independent Mainstream- aims to
compete with the big studios but without any large financial backing, and thus finds it difficult to survive
o Used to describe film-making outside the mainstream sector (film workshops, avant-garde film, feminist film)
SOURCES
Bordwell, D. & Thompson, K. (2008). Film
Art: An Introduction (8th ed.). New
York: McGraw-Hill.
Nelmes, J. An Introduction to Film Studies
(3rd ed.). London: Routledge