Production CompaniesBradley Waterhouse

What are they and what do they do?• Production companies are the primary base of production of a

film, they oversee its production, they are the legal backbone of the production. Not only that, but they are the main source of funding for the film, and have a significant contribution in the editing and distribution.

• They are the bosses of the director, since it is the production companies that hire the director and just have the superior control of the production. They are in charge of assisting the sales and distribution of the film, the editing of the film in case cuts need to be made and make decisions on what aspects of the movie are possible/impossible based on the formation of budgets.

Example of a Production Company and how they effect movie openings

DreamWorks are a production company, who have a specialty in animation and animated movies. They are popular of films such as Shrek and are very well known at the start of a movie. If you see a DreamWorks logo in the cinemas or when watching a DVD you instantly know that this film is an animated film of some sort, much like if one were to see a Disney Pixar movie, they would know it as an animated movie, and it is exactly the same with DreamWorks. The production company really has a significant contribution in establishing the genre of the film, due to each film they specialise in, the directors they hire, even as far as the editors/animators and special effects specialists they employ. Films are heavily reliant on production companies to establish the movie and engage the viewer simply because first impressions usually matter.

My ideal Production CompanyLionsgate are typically used in Thrillers because of their tense opening, creating as much tension and delay as possible with the opening sequence. They are most commonly used in thrillers and action/adventure movies to create that extra tension at the start to create that typical build up that is always done at the start of a thriller or action movie to establish the genre, and this is what Lionsgate specialise in, working with tension. Sometimes, the production company will change their logo design to match the genre of the film during the opening, say if Lionsgate were doing a horror movie, their opening and logo would be a more dark colour like black or red and make the vignettes darker. Ideally I would consider Lionsgate to be my Production Company, seeing as they aren’t the biggest company to grace the world of movies, but not only that I believe they have taken part in some of the best action films, and Thriller movies especially recently with releases such as ‘Cabin Fever’ and ‘Cabin in The Woods’. Two highly grossing and very popular Thriller/Suspense movies, which did very well considering Lionsgate have only recently started producing Thrillers, Horror and Sci-Fi movies more recently. This is why I would consider Lionsgate to be a good production company for my Thriller. They have released other popular films which are huge, like ‘The Maze Runner’ and ‘The Hunger Games’, and though they are not Thrillers they are very successful movies which is why Lionsgate have the high potential to produce a successful Thriller to match that of those films. Lionsgate are also open to produce any kind of genre, they have done: Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi, Horror, Drama, Romance, Comedy and of course even the sub-genres of those films like Rom-Com and such.