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What is a British Film?

British Film Institute (was UK Film Council)◦ fund script development, film production, short

films, film export and distribution, cinemas, film education, culture and archives, festivals and audience support schemes

◦Film Fund 15 mil per year (90% of applicants will be rejected) and money from Lotteries

◦ Innovation Fund – to help move to the digital age esp in rural areas

◦Export Fund – British films shown at key international film festivals

Funding for British Films

Co Production deals which BFI can help set up

Tax Breaks - Film Tax Relief (25%) Need to spend at least 10% of

the budget in the UKCan be a co production but must

pass the Cultural Test

Funding for British Films

Production Distribution Exhibition Export ‘Britishness’

http://industry.bfi.org.ukLook at the website

What else do they do, how do they help, etc.

Very different to the US set Govt support Independent Film Production Houses

◦Warp Films, Bedlam, Pinewood, Between the Eyes, Hammer, Aardman Animation

The UK’s top 40 Producers

Go and find out about some of these companies

Producing British Films

Need to team up with a distribution company◦‘British’ Distribution Companies

Can be very hard to get films made in Britain and they are not necessarily very profitable (Harry Potter/James Bond)

Need to be distinctively British.

Producing British Films

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‘Distinctively British’ – what does this mean?

Do British films have to say something to their audience about the ‘British experience’ to be a success?

Possible Questions

What obstacles or problems do you think a British studio would face in trying to find an audience for it’s films? What might stop that film from being a success?

Possible Questions

How important for the British Film industry is the use of UK 'talent' in films financed outside Britain?

Possible Questions

What strategies do you think can be used to create a successful British Film Industry?

Possible Questions

How important is it for the British film industry to have internationally recognised stars?

Possible Questions

Harry Potter was primarily funded by Warner Bro but did include a British production company – Heyday Films

They received tax breaks (unclear how much but overall there have been £8bn… This includes the HP films, Gravity, Maleficent. There were 222 films that received tax breaks in 2014)

Budget - $250m (shared with Part 2) Box Office - $960.3 (wiki – in American cinemas for

140 days, 147 in UK)

Case Studies – Harry Potter

• The UK Film Council awarded The King’s Speech £1,021,080 of Lottery funding. They were included in the title sequence and give Producer credits.• The films was also produced by See Saw Films and

Bedlam Productions (Producer credits)• London’s Prescience Film Finance stepped in to

provide two-thirds of the film’s £9 million ($14.5 million) budget using its £25 million Aegis Film Fund• Total Budget - $15m• Box office – $414.2m (in American cinemas for

126 days, 147 in UK)

Case Studies – The Kings Speech

• BBC and Channel 4 rejected this film as they saw it as being too controversial. Both BBC and C4 are required to support film making….• Film 4 finally ended up funding this along with Warp

Films (2.5 mil). Film 4 is owned by Channel $ but does work independently. Film 4 have worked with Fox Searchlight, Pathé; France’s cinema giant, and niche producers like Warp Films.• Total Budget - £2.5m• Box Office - £6.9 m

Case Studies - Four Lions

As a micro budget film there were several Production companies involved -DreamWorks SKG (as Dreamworks Pictures)

Reliance Entertainment (presents) Participant Media (in association with) Anonymous Content FBO Reliance Entertainment Umedia

Production Budget $28,000,000 (estimated) Box Office – Very hard to find information on. Weekend box

office - $1,714,000 (USA) (20 October 2013) (1,769 Screens) Rotten Tomatoes gives it 37%

Case Studies – The Fifth Estate

What are the consequences of funding in the UK?

• Loosely based on true events• The film's screenplay was based in-part on two books

• Co-produced by DreamWorks Pictures and Participant Media

• Directed by Bill Condon (Dreamgirls, Kinsey)

• Cost $28m (£17.1m) to make (not including marketing costs)

• Released in the United States on October 18, 2013 by Disney's Touchstone Pictures label

How to make revenue… One technique filmmakers use to

‘guarantee’ revenue is to employ elite Hollywood actors.

The Fifth Estate has plenty of A-star talent, especially Benedict Cumberbatch who has a large passionate fan following…

Benedict CumberbatchStar Trek Into Darkness

Daniel BruhlInglourious Basterds

Laura LinneyFrasier/The Truman Show

David ThewlisHarry Potter Series

Peter CapaldiDoctor Who/World War Z

How to make revenue… Another technique in guaranteeing strong

box office returns is promoting your film appropriately to your audience.

The Fifth Estate was marketed in two ways (Trailer and Poster)

Official Movie Poster

Other posters

Questions

What do you learn about the film from these posters?

Are they successful at marketing The Fifth Estate?

Why/Why not?

Theatrical Trailer

Global vs. Local SettingAlthough the film uses mostly British and American actors, and it is made and distributed by an American conglomerate, The Fifth Estate is based on true global locations making it more universal…

Themes The role of journalism in international

affairs Media ethics in a changing world Free press (Fourth Estate) being

transparent The balance between privacy and

transparency Media literacy

Other films……in a similar vein have prospered at the box office in recent years.

Also…Hollywood agency WME is said to be offering a film about Edward Snowden, who exposed the US National Security Agency's programme of surveillance of its own citizens

Another way to make revenue.. Larger institutions have the means of

distributing and marketing on a much larger scale due largely to one thing…

MONEY

The Fifth Estate is a Disney Film, and was initially distributed by Touchstone (one of Disney’s asset companies). The following Disney-distributed films occurred large sums at the box office in recent years…

Gross: $3,255,008

Gross: $182,207,973Gross: $623,357,910

Gross: $415,004,880

Gross: $83,151,846

Gross: $79,884,879

Target AudienceThink back to when you were discussing what you thought the target audience was for this film…

Young tech-savvy people (possibly more male)

18-35y/o?

Interested in current events and journalism

Fans of Assange and Wikileaks?

Wikileaks weighs in… WikiLeaks leaked the movie's script along with a detailed

manifesto explicating all the perceived errors in the film Then Wikileaks Twitter feed posted a link to all of The Walt

Disney Company’s major shareholders. Assange told the Hollywood Foreign Press during a Skype

conversation that the movie was going to fail because audiences would “rather have a "combative underdog" to root for than see an anti-WikiLeaks movie”

Some have said WikiLeaks "sabotaged" The Fifth Estate by releasing its own documentary, called Mediastan, for free download.

 Assange directly pleaded with star Benedict Cumberbatch not to play him in the movie before production began.

Critical Reception

Do you think that The Fifth Estate’s largely adult audience rely on movie reviews more so than an audience of say, teenagers?

IMDB Rating (as of 23/03/14)

Rotten Tomatoes Rating (as of 23/03/14)

Public ReceptionAt the box office, the movie was consumed by… 54 percent male 90 percent over the age of 25The latter number is troubling, as it indicates that more young people, typically more digitally savvy, weren't interested. 

Disney said most of The Fifth Estate’s revenue came from the big cities; the film didn’t begin to connect with Heartland and small-town audiences.

Other possible thoughts…

This was an overcrowded weekend, with at least six high profile premieres, not to mention the continuing box office machine Gravity.

Was it wise for Disney-DreamWorks to try to release the film as a blockbuster thriller rather than a smaller, intellectual movie?

Maybe moviegoers just don't care about Assange or Wikileaks? “Insiders close to the film say Americans, particularly those living in conservative states, have no interest in Assange or WikiLeaks,"

Other possible thoughts The film’s disappointing premiere at the Toronto

International Film Festival failed to create the kind of buzz necessary for a movie hoping to win over educated and discerning moviegoers

That summer Edward Snowden was all over news media. Snowden leaked the National Security Agency surveillance program, which bypassed WikiLeaks in favor of traditional media outlets. This perhaps also robbed Assange of much of his Most Dangerous Man on the Internet mojo.

Your task… WHY was The Fifth Estate a flop at the Box Office?!

Create your argument using some of the evidence above, but mostly your reasoning in order to choose good evidence.

Brainstorm an essay plan which details your argument

HOMEWORK – create your essay using the brainstorm plan