The film industry

The film industry

Production

What is the role of the producer ? What different elements does it contain? What are the four 'blocks' that Nick Powell talks about?

Producer- The person who oversees the entire film production; this includes the development of the initial idea raising money for the film, making the film and then distributing it.

This role also includes protecting the directors artisitc vision throughout and to make sure everything is possible logistically.

The idea

What makes a good script? What must it include?

What makes a good script is a good story told well to the screen.

A script must include a big idea about it; what  about it makes it significant to the writer or to audiences?

The package

What does the package involve and who is it aimed at?

What is 'script development'?

The package refers to the logistics of creating a film i.e

• Who will be in the film
• Who will direct the film
• Whats the estimated budget of the film.

The package will be aimed at potential investors and financiers to the film as well as the producer.

Script development is the act of creating, developing and editing a script. up to 12-15 re drafts is common to a script.

Attracting investment

• Who can UK film producers go to for finance?
• How many partners is typical within a film
• what is a co-production deal? Where might a UK film producer find it?
• What is the negative side of having a single investor?
• How does a UK film producer decide on the best deal for each film?

Uk film producers can see  places such as channel 4, BBC film and regional film productions for finance.

Around 3-10 partners is typical for a film.

A co-production deal is a deal in which the UK producer finds a producer from abroad to help them with there production.

The negative side for having a single investor is the said single investor can have complete control of the film.

Planning

• What's the role of the producer in planning the shooting schedule?
• Who is the directors right hand?

The role of the producer when planning the shooting schedule is to work out which scenes will be hardest to shoot.

The directors right hand is known as the cinematographer.

 

Budget 

•  What is the significance of the budget?
• How is the budget broken down?
• What are 'above' and 'below-the-line' costs?

The budget is significant to a film as it determines how much your film is going to cost in an open market.

The Budget is broken down via analysis of script - cost of actors, scenes, special effects.

Above the line cost - the creative package i.e. script, rights to the novel, creative team

Below the line cost - people who put together the shoot (cameramen).

Audience

• What question should an executive producer ask for every film?
• Why is audience so important?

Executive producers always ask the producer who will be their potential audience for their film .
Audience is important because they determine whether the pitched film will be made.

Marketing

• Why is marketing considered a hidden cost?
• What is the importance of genre in marketing?
• What is the 'Need to see' and how does it work?
• What are the significant differences between Hollywood and the UK film industry?

Marketing is considered a hidden cost as not every company thinks about it when they are formulating the budget for their film.

The importance of genre in marketing is that say if you are marketing a film that falls in the horror genre there are certain times in the year in which your film will be noticed the most and therefore make the most money for example you would release a horror film during the Halloween season, in which audiences are the mood to be scared and not really the Christmas season in which audiences are more likely to want to get into a festive mood.

The term need to see in film refers to the idea that audiences would watch a film due to names attached to it such as directors like Spielberg. Not only this but positive reviews can increase 'the need to see factor' of a film.

The difference between the Hollywood and UK film industry is that Hollywood thinks about how the are going to sell their films before it's green lit whereas the UK film industry ignores this factor after the film has been made.

What is a distributor's job?
To bring a film into the film marketplace.
Distributors acquire film by visiting film festivals and buying the rights to said film.

Marketing -where do distributors start when marketing films?
First the distributor must find the usp- the hook to market the film, genre is also important as it helps to find the right potential audience.

Target audience -Who are the most frequent cinema audience?
15-24
Students
Families

Release date- Why is it so important? Why are school holidays so popular?
Release date is important as it determines how big your audience will be i.e by releasing your film during the summer you gain a mass audience in contrast to releasing it in January in which you audience will be very niche .

School  holidays  are popular since families will be off work and will have time to take their children to the cinema producers gain a mass audience.

Film research - Why does it happen? What does it involve?
Why does it happen - to find out if a film will work financially.
It involves, test screenings and questionnaires.

Marketing budget

•  How is the budget decided upon?
• Once its estimated, what tends to be the percentage spent on marketing?

The budget is decided on by an estimate on how well the film product would do on its own in the box office.
25-30% of the budget tends to be spent on marketing.


Advertising/publicity- what three sections does this involve?
Advertising
Cost of producing the adverts
Media promotion

The Marketing campaign

• Why do distributors find it so difficult to get their message to stand out?
• What remains the most important marketing tool for a film?
• Why is synergy important?

The reason why distributors find it difficult is because of the mass competition out there.
The most important marketing tool for a film is the trailer.
Synergy is important because a film and its asserts such as its type can be easily generalised and recgonisable if done well.

The poster

• Why is poster art important? Why do they tease? What should a good poster reveal?

Poster art is important as they are the first impression of the film audiences will have.
A poster teases by depict the characters on the poster in a way which convinces audiences to watch the film.
A good film poster must reveal the the release date of the film.

The trailer

• Why is the trailer important?
• What three different types of trailer do you have?
• Why would the perfect trailer not have a voiceover?
• How is a TV trailer different?

 The trailer is important as it is the first exposure of what audiences are going to buy into when they see the film.

3 different types of trailer:
Teaser
Main
Short trailer

The perfect trailer has no voice over because the visual should carry the narrative of the trailer.

A TV spot trailer generally has more scenes in it because the film has already been finished however these trailers tend to be shorter in length.

Multimedia

•  What two basic uses can distributors make of the internet?

Creating official websites for their film.
Viral marketing - creating content that could be easily shared from one another.

PR

• How can you get free publicity for a film

  By creating editorial space on the internet, newspapers,  TV,  magazines and radio

Tracking
When are tracking figures first released? What are they tracking?
Why is word of mouth king?
How do distributors create buzz?
Why is the opening weekend's three day figure so important?

Tracking figures are released six weeks before the films release,they track how many people are aware of the film and if they are going to watch it.

Word of mouth is considered king as it determines the films reputation (bad reviews of a film equals to the possiblity of people not watching it although this isn't true in some cases).

Distributors create buzz for a film by hosting advanced screenings with the hope of gainig good word of mouth.

The opening weekend is important as it signifies if your film is going to do well or not. Your film in that cinema has to be on top of the list during the opening weekend, if its not, its not likely that it will do well in the future and may be pulled from cinema screens.