Discuss the issues raised by media ownership in the production and exchange of media texts in your chosen media area.

In many cases, lack of money due to media ownership can be an extreme inconvenience during the production stages of a film and also in exchange, as this limits choice in casting, the quality of special effects, how the film can be viewed i.e. 2D/3D/IMAX etc.
This was the case for Matthew Vaughn’s Kick-Ass, which initially had a budget of only $10 million, as Vaughn had to focus on producing the film himself and had to invest money in the film from his own pocket and his relatively small production company, Marv Films. This was because the source text (the comic book) was extremely controversial, and so, many companies were not expressing any interest in its content – the final product portrayed an 11-year-old girl to be tremendously violent and slipping in the notorious ‘c’ word. Once pre-production started, however, Plan B Entertainment – another relatively small production company - decided to get involved. Consequently, Brad Pitt, owner of Plan B, supported Vaughn with an additional $20 million, bringing the budget of the film to $30 million, which now made the process a lot more achievable. Although, this increase in budget was still not enough to supply the demands of big, Hollywood stars, unless they worked for the screen actor’s minimum, and so the cast was made up of relatively unknown actors such as Aaron Johnson, whom the audience may have recognised from ‘Nowhere boy’, and up-and-coming actors such as Chloe Moretz. An exception to this was Nicholas Cage, who, as previously mentioned, would have had to work for the screen actor’s minimum, though he is a huge star. The rest of the cast included a significant amount of British actors, posing as Americans, which would have resulted from the influence of Matthew Vaughn, a British director. Furthermore, although Vaughn had managed to sell the film’s US distribution rights to Lionsgate Films, one of the ‘mini-major’ studios, which would have significantly boosted potential for the film, he was still at a disadvantage as they could not use an all-star cast as a weighty marketing tool, and therefore around a third of the budget had to be spent on heavily distributing the film across the US instead, so as to secure an American audience along with the British and consequently bring in a larger profit. This was also thought about during the production stages of the film, and so a lot of the filming took place in parts of America and Canada as well as England, so as to entice the American public more to the film. 
Kick-Ass was also distributed in the UK by Universal Pictures, one of the six major movie studios, which was promotion for the film in itself, thus proving how significant the size of the companies involved are when compared to the success of the film – if Kick-Ass had been distributed by two studios of the same size as the two production companies involved (Marv & Plan B), then audiences may not have felt as inclined to watch Kick-Ass as profit suggests.
Without this use of synergy and co-operation between companies, the film would have been a flop no doubt, as Vaughn could not have possibly produced, promoted or distributed the film on a similar level by himself.
Another issue raised by media ownership in the production of Kick-Ass was due to the fact that they could not afford to perfect a lot of the special effects with the use of CGI, which once again would have placed the film significantly behind others of the same genre such as Iron Man, as the companies involved with production – Marv and Plan B - were now going to have a very hard job to convince the audience that the action scenes within the film were believable.
Nonetheless, the soundtrack created for the film was not much of an issue, as most of the tracks featuring on it were recognisably from other films or shows, thus cutting down costs in this respect, and consequences due to this would not have been enormous, as this would have conformed to the stereotype of a traditional superhero movie.
Issues raised by media ownership in the exchange of Kick-Ass, however, could be seen as more threatening to its success, as the film had to be rated R in the US and was labelled a 15 in the UK during cinema exhibition, because of its violent content and language – to say the least – and so did not portray a typical family film which others of the same genre would have fallen under, such as Batman or Spider-Man. Usually, comic book adaptations fall under a 12/12A certificate, and so this change would have dramatically affected box office figures, as the rating of the film had significantly limited the audience. Therefore, Kick-Ass could be classed as a cult film, as it was made specifically for a particularly small audience. This was once again due to the production of the film, however, and so could not be prevented, as the content had already been provided by the source text and could not be altered without completely damaging the storyline.
Kick-Ass was also sold to online distributors such as LOVEFiLM, which would have increased profit overall, as it would have provided a way for the audience to view the film in the comfort of their own homes without paying out a tremendous amount of money for the one investment.
The film was not converted into 3D, but this decision may have been made due to the fact that it would not fit the generic conventions of a traditional superhero film, rather than lack of funding.
Within the first week of its home media release, Kick-Ass sold 1.4 million units in America alone, one third of these in Blu-ray format, and debuted at number one on the DVD sales chart. This shows that although the rating of the film affected the number of participants which viewed the film to begin with - achieving only $19.8 million its opening weekend in the US, though it did widely gross 3 times its budget overall – the film was obviously not a flop due to its production practices, as people were more than willing to make a permanent investment in Kick-Ass, and the exchange techniques used were more than satisfactory in this sense.

When compared to a film like Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, however, which had a massive budget of $250 million (shared between both parts) due to generous funding by Warner Bros., this suggests that media ownership can sometimes raise no issues at all, providing they can afford to supply an extensive amount of money in the production and exchange of a film, which clearly Warner Bros. could, and that the content of the film appeals to everybody, which Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 came very close to doing.
Although the size of Warner Bros. contributed to the fact that it could lenient with money, the same could be said for Universal Studios and why they did not do the same for Kick-Ass.
Had Warner Bros. believed that the final film in the Harry Potter series would not do well, I scarcely believe that they would have provided as much money as they did, though this was almost certainly not likely to happen. Kick-Ass on the other hand was a stand-alone film, and so a public fan base had not been established yet, therefore Universal Pictures and even Lionsgate Films would not have felt inclined to significantly contribute to the budget of the film.
Since deciding that he wanted to focus on film adaptations of books, David Heyman, a British producer, founded his own production company, Heyday Films, and put his faith in the Harry Potter series. Although the company is relatively small, the financial support from Warner Bros., particularly during production and of the final film, was substantial enough to secure worldwide success.
Most of the cast had been established already, due to the fact that this was the eighth and final instalment in the Harry Potter series, although I’m sure this wouldn’t have been a major issue had this not been the case anyway, as the budget for the film suggests that other named stars would have been interested, due to being well-paid.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 received a 12A certificate from the British Board of Film Classification, who noted that the film ‘contains moderate threat, injury detail and language’, which was the only Harry Potter film to receive a warning for ‘injury detail’, though no real restrictions had been made where audience was concerned, as this would have allowed all ages to view the film during its cinema release.
Marketing was extensive across all areas of the world, special effects were mastered terrifically, cinema tickets were being bought like no one’s business – the film broke five box office records, including ‘opening weekend worldwide’, bringing in an impressive $483,189,427, and ‘highest grossing film of 2011’, bringing in a total of $1,328,111,219 - DVD and Blu-ray sales went through the roof, selling 2.71 million Blu-ray units in three days and 2.83 million DVD units during its debut, and the film had even been converted into 3D.
Virtually no issues were raised in the production or exchange of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, which was solely reflective of Warner Bros.’ financial contribution to its success; and although few negative reviews will have still criticised the film, I do not believe that this has anything to do with media ownership, and rather personal opinion, as the companies involved could not have possibly done any more to improve the film.

In conclusion, these two case studies show that media ownership plays a massive role in the production and exchange of a film, whether it be its downfall or its claim-to-fame. Either way, the companies involved are extremely important to a film’s success, as they provide the bulk of a film’s existence - the budget -which can either limit or widen the choices which can be made when producing and distributing a film.

(Already marked. 45/50 'A' grade.)

What significance does the continuing development of digital media technology have for media institutions and audiences?

The continuing development of digital media technology has extreme significance for media institutions and audiences, because without it, several production, marketing and distribution techniques could not possibly be used, thus lowering profit dramatically.
Everything a film needs to be successful comes from the power of technology
An example of this is the quality of special effects used in production practices.
For instance, although several companies worked on the production of Attack The Block, including Film4 Productions and StudioCanal, because of their size, they could not generate a big enough budget to use an extensive amount of CGI when creating the aliens for the film.
This could have been one of the reasons it did not succeed at the box office, bringing in only £3,615,712, which was less than half of its budget at £8 million, resulting in a loss of money.
However, films on a larger scale such as Prometheus show that a good special effects team – made possible due to a bigger budget – can really make a difference, as the film gained $402.48 million, which is just under 3 times as much money as Ridley Scott gathered to produce the film ($130 million), with the use of CGI included.
Also, when compared to Alien, (Scott’s first project), which had a budget of $11 million and grossed $104,931,801 at the box office, we can see that the use of CGI is significant in drawing in customers, as Alien didn’t feature the use of CGI at all, and although it made a successful profit, could not compare to the success of Prometheus.
Obviously Prometheus had a larger budget to work with, but spending a significant amount on creating better special effects really paid off in terms of attracting customers to the cinema release.
This proves that the development of digital media technology is important when producing films, as new software dedicated to improving the use of special effects obviously has a good outcome on sales figures.

The way institutions such as 20^th Century Fox market their films also depends on the development of digital media technology, as without access to the internet, Prometheus would not have received the amount of publicity it did, as Fox’s viral campaign for the film was something like no other – it was most well-known for featuring a short film which showed Guy Pierce in character as Peter Weyland, head of ‘Weyland Industries’, giving a TED talk in 2023. This provided the audience with a gateway into the secrets of the plot before the film had even been released, and made the story seem all the more real.
A second video was then released, in which Michael Fassbender revealed a lot about his character and the world he lives and works in, so as to give the reader an extra insight into the film. In addition to this, a website was set up for ‘Weyland Industries’, which could easily be mistaken for an actual corporate website.
This form of marketing proved to be very successful because the movie had been shrouded in mystery, and fans were confused as to whether the film was a long-awaited prequel to the Alien series or whether it stood alone, and so these little snippets of information were enough to tide the sci-fi fans over until the release of the film, as well as increasing general hype surrounding the film and encouraging other people to join the bandwagon.

Moreover, during the marketing process of The Inbetweeners Movie, Film4 handed their Twitter account over to the cast members in the months leading up to the film’s release, which created a lot of hype surrounding the film, as information could be spread to the typical audience of the film (mainly 15-25 year olds) more easily through a social networking site, rather than just adding the information to a regular website which teenagers/young adults might not come across.
However, the film was almost guaranteed to be successful, as an existing audience had already been established due to the TV series prior to the film, and advertising on Channel 4 was very extensive.
The Inbetweeners Movie became the most successful British comedy in cinema history, and gained £13,200,000 in its opening weekend alone, which was an amazing achievement considering the budget of the film was only £3,500,000.
Because of this, it could be argued that the continuing development of digital media technology is not as important as first thought, as The Inbetweeners Movie was made in a traditional way, without the use of special effects, and gained the most publicity due to its advertisements on channel 4, which is not something that has recently been invented.

Furthermore, with regards to Matthew Vaughn’s Kick-Ass, Universal Pictures and Lionsgate Films decided to go back to basics when promoting the film, which was best known for its wide range of posters. This would have attracted classic ‘comic-book nerds’ to the film, as they could collect these posters and when laid out next to each other would spell out ‘KICKASS’, acting as collectables.
The companies didn’t rely on viral marketing as much as Prometheus did, although several trailers and TV spots were created to attract the mainstream market as well the film geeks, as the content of the film was typical of old superhero movies, rather than something which needed to fit in with new technology, and so their approach was much more traditional.

However, the introduction of 3D has had a massive impact on institutions and audiences, and brings in a significant amount of sales during cinema exhibition.
For example, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 was shown in 3D, despite the fact that none of the previous films had been, and smashed the box office by earning $1,328,111,219.
As the budget of the film was $250 million, but had been shared with part 1, this was an amazing achievement, and it is clear that a considerable amount of success was due to release in 3D and IMAX, as in the United States alone, it played in 4375 cinemas, 3100 3D cinemas and 274 IMAX cinemas, making it the widest release for an IMAX, 2D and a Harry Potter film.
This suggests that although the process of converting a film into 3D costs a lot more than traditional 2D and requires a lot more time and effort to spent in the production stages, statistics show that it pays off in sales figures, and according to Odeon, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 3D had a 70% 5 star rating and a 21% 4 star rating, which shows that the people who paid the extra money to see the film in this way did actually enjoy it.

As well as this, recent online distribution provided by companies such as Netflix and LOVEFiLM have also had an impact on institutions and audiences, as people who want to see a film but don’t want to pay extortionate cinema prices often find this way of viewing more beneficial.
Without this development of digital media technology, several films would have ceased to have made as much of a profit as they have done.
Finally, the release of a film on Blu-ray also increases the profit of a film, as people who don’t mind spending a lot of money but would rather watch a film in the comfort of their own home will be more inclined to purchase a film in this way, and so without this advancement in technology, a loss in profit will again have resulted from this.

All in all, the continuing development of digital media technology has allowed both institutions and audiences to improve their way of working, as films of a higher quality are thus enabled to undergo production, as well as a considerable range of marketing and distributing techniques being used in attracting a specific audience to a film.

(Already marked. 42/50 'A' grade.)

Use of Disabled Stereotypes

The media continue to enforce disability stereotypes portraying disabled individuals in a negative un-empowering way.

In his 1991 study, Paul Hunt identified 10 stereotypes that the media use to portray disabled people:
the disabled person as pitiable or pathetic;
an object of curiosity or violence;
sinister or evil;
the super cripple;
as atmosphere;
laughable;
his/her own worst enemy;
as a burden;
as Non-sexual;
being unable to participate in daily life.

Shakespeare (1999) presents a potential reason behind the use of one of these stereotypes:
"The use of disability as character trait, plot device, or as atmosphere is a lazy short-cut. These representations are not accurate or fair reflections of the actual experience of disabled people. Such stereotypes reinforce negative attitudes towards disabled people, and ignorance about the nature of disability"

In other words, the disability itself is often used as a hook by writers and film-makers to draw audiences into the story. These one-dimensional stereotypes are often distanced from the audience - where characters are only viewed through their impairment, and not valued as people.

Shakespeare (1999) continues:
"Above all, the dominant images [of disabled people] are crude, one-dimensional and simplistic."

Prometheus And The Continued Challenge Of Digital Movie Sales

This month The New York Times reported that Fox has started to experiment with windowing in order to try and drive EST (electronic sell through, aka download-to-own) revenues. Specifically, they launched Ridley Scott’s sci-fi thriller PROMETHEUS for digital purchase three weeks before the October 9 DVD/VOD street date for a reduced $14.99 HD price (standard HD pricing on studio fare is $19.99).

It’s no secret that digital sales are struggling to make up for the steady erosion of physical media sales (translation: DVD is going the way of the CD). Why folks are not prone to buy movies digitally is up for debate but a few of the discussed reasons are as follows:

(1) Price: $20 may be too much for a file that takes a long time to download (these things can be up to 5G) and is locked into a certain ecosystem.

(2) Perceived Value: while iTunes extras (a desktop only version of DVD extras) and other such forms of digital bonus content are gaining traction, consumers are still not getting much more than a big, heavy file. And as it’s hard to display the digital movies you’ve bought at home, the self-expressive benefits of movie ownership may die with physical media.

(3) Windowing: maybe people don’t want to buy the file because they don’t have to. If you’re only going to watch the movie once or twice, VOD/digital rental is the more sensible option and currently the VOD/EST windows are one and the same. Simply put- why buy when you can rent?

The PROMETHEUS release addresses (1) and (3) and thus far the results look pretty good. Despite only being available for purchase, the movie is currently #3 in iTunes.

Click on 'reported' to find the article.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 Production Notes

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2

Attack The Block Production Notes

Attack The Block

Kick-Ass: Production and Distribution

Produced by the British company MARV Films (KA) had an inital budget of $28 million, very large for a British company, and this was because $10.5 million was spent on distributing the film by the North American company Lionsgate. This left a budget of $17.5 million on production, which was almost eqaully spent on above the line costs and below the line costs along with script costs. Kick Ass wanted to successful gain an American Audience along with a British and therefore had a larger budget. Location was one way in which production tryed to entice american audience, with allot of filming taking part in Canada & America along with England, and the actor Nicholas Cage (A very famous actor from America) was extra insentive for the American audience to become attracted to the film. Lionsgate's marketing scheme consisted with the constant release of new posters and teaser trailers that slowly revealed the idea of super heroes without powers. The first batch of posters saw each individual charcter have their own, with their back turned to the camera and the word KICK-ASS was spelt if all posters were placed together, this revealed the name of movie but deliberately didn't reveal allot of information about the characters which got the audience wondering and intrigued about what they could be like. A second batch of posters were then distributed out, revelaing each individual character again but this time concentrating on the colour scheme of each and a front shot, which enticed and attracted the audiences attention, each poster had a url adress that seemingly linked them to the characters own website, instead all of them linkign to the (KA) official website were teaser and full length trailers could be watched. (KA) in return had box office figures of $96 million and won Best British FIlm in the Empire Awards. ($48 million grossed in North America).

Written by Stephen Hare.

Marketing

A successfully marketed film: Hammer's Dracula (1958)

 

The marketing of a film release revolves around two key questions: 'When?' and 'How?'
In the UK, new films are released theatrically on Fridays. The schedule for forthcoming releases is coordinated and published by the Film Distributors Association. A distributor will assess this schedule to identify a Friday release date where there are only a few films scheduled for release. Finding a 'light' week will ensure that there will be both screen space and adequate review column inches in the press allocated to any potential release. A further consideration for scheduling a release is the seasonality of the film. For example, it is widely assumed within the industry that specialised films have the greatest potential to reach audiences during the academic year. Finally, the distributor will try to position the film distinctively and avoid a release date occupied by other films with similar traits (story, subject, country of origin). In recent years in the UK, these two aspects of release planning have become increasingly difficult, as the release schedule has regularly featured over 10 new releases in a week.
After setting a release date, the distributor works towards the theatrical release, investing in the materials and the marketing campaign to support it.
The costs of theatrical distribution, met by local distributors, are often referred to as 'P&A', or Prints and Advertising. P&A are the nuts and bolts of marketing and distributing films into cinemas, the tools used by the distributor to create a public for its film. P&A also represent the bulk of the distributor's investment, after paying the initial fee for rights, and can range from less than £1,000 to over £1 million for the release of a film in the UK.

Taken from BFI Screenonline.

What Is Distribution?

The history of film is usually related through the achievements of producers, directors, writers and performers. Making films, production, has always been perceived as a glamorous pursuit.
Alternatively, our personal understanding and appreciation of film is shaped by our experiences at the cinema. The exhibition of film is a commonplace, shared cultural activity highly visible in every city and town in Britain, constantly feeding the popular memory.
By contrast, distribution, the third part of the film supply chain, is often referred to as 'the invisible art', a process known only to those within the industry, barely written about and almost imperceptible to everyone else.
Yet arguably, distribution is the most important part of the film industry, where completed films are brought to life and connected with an audience.
So what is involved in this invisible process? Distribution is about releasing and sustaining films in the market place. In the practice of Hollywood and other forms of industrial cinema, the phases of production, distribution and exhibition operate most effectively when 'vertically integrated', where the three stages are seen as part of the same larger process, under the control of one company. In the UK, distribution is very much focused on marketing and sustaining a global product in local markets.
In the independent film sector, vertical integration does not operate so commonly. Producers tend not to have long-term economic links with distributors, who likewise have no formal connections with exhibitors. Here, as the pig-in-the-middle, distribution is necessarily a collaborative process, requiring the materials and rights of the producer and the cooperation of the exhibitor to promote and show the film in the best way possible. In this sector, distribution can be divided into three stages - licensing, marketing and logistics.

Taken from BFI Screenonline.

3D - Why it should stop?

Click on the image to view an article against the growth of 3D films.

Audience and Institution Revision

OCR MEDIA - G322 Section B Revision Guide ppt from tessiemedia

IMAX Info

IMAX (an abbreviation for Image Maximum) is a motion picture film format and a set of cinema projection standards created by the Canadian company IMAX Corporation. IMAX has the capacity to record and display images of far greater size and resolution than conventional film systems. Since 2002, some feature films have been converted (or upgraded) into IMAX format for display in IMAX theatres and some have also been partially shot in IMAX.

IMAX is the most widely used system for special-venue film presentations. As of September 2012^[update], there are 697 IMAX theatres in 52 countries.

Click on image to go to IMAX Wikipedia page.

Warner Bros. and IMAX have had a successful partnership over the last few years, and now the two companies have announced that they will work together on up to twenty more films through 2013.

As part of the announcement, there are a few details on notable films. One is a release date for The Hobbit (December 2013) and another is the first ‘official’ acknowledgment of Batman 3, which is mentioned as one of the ‘additional 15 films’ to be released in IMAX between 2011 and 2013 alongside Superman and Dark Shadows. Note that this press release comes from IMAX, not Warner Bros., but this still reveals a window of release for the new Batman and Superman films.

IMAX Corporation and Warner Bros. Pictures, a unit of Time Warner Inc., announced today that they have completed an agreement to release up to 20 Warner Bros. films in IMAX’s format over the course of the next three and a half years (from 2010 through 2013). The agreement strategically aligns Warner Bros.’ tent-pole business with the increasing worldwide popularity of The IMAX Experience(R) in both 2D and IMAX(R) 3D, providing the studio with an added distribution platform that consistently delivers strong box office returns. The agreement underscores the excitement around the studio’s future films which are anticipated to be among the best Hollywood event titles slated for release in the coming years.

Under the agreement, Warner Bros. movies that will be released in IMAX are: Legends of the Guardian: The Owls of Ga’Hoole 3D (September 24, 2010); Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 (3D) (November 19, 2010); Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part II (3D) (July 15, 2011); Happy Feet 2 (3D) (November 18, 2011); and The Hobbit (December 2013). Warner Bros. and IMAX also plan to release an additional 15 films over the course of 2011, 2012 and 2013, including Gravity, Dark Shadows, Fury Road, Batman 3, and Superman.

 “Our track record with IMAX has been incredible, and incorporating 3D into this collaborative effort will serve as the ultimate experience for our audiences,” said Dan Fellman, President, Domestic Distribution, Warner Bros. Pictures. “We are extraordinarily proud of our forthcoming slate and eager to offer these films to audiences in the most premium of movie-going experiences.”

“We’re thrilled to join with IMAX in bringing global audiences new and exciting experiences through the 3D IMAX format,” said Veronika Kwan-Rubinek, President, International Distribution, Warner Bros. Pictures. “We have a tremendously powerful slate of quality tentpole films, and as IMAX theaters continue to expand internationally, more and more audiences will have the opportunity to experience our films using this exciting format.”

“Warner Bros. is and has been an important strategic partner for IMAX. The success of our partnership to date is a result of our integrated approach to marketing and release strategies, and we believe this formula will lead to more box office success in the future,” said Richard L. Gelfond, CEO of IMAX. “Our digital theatre system has accelerated the growth of our theatre network and provides us with significant flexibility in the release and programming schedule in our theatres. This important announcement provides increased visibility into our future film slate, enabling existing and potential exhibitors to better know what’s ‘coming soon’ in their IMAX(R) theatres.”

“IMAX has a deep appreciation for Warner Bros.’ approach to the film business; they consistently work with the industry’s most talented filmmakers, produce and release blockbuster films that captivate global audiences and make going to the movies a fun, powerful and inspiring experience,” said Greg Foster, Chairman and President of IMAX Filmed Entertainment. “We are confident that continuing to team with Warner Bros. to distribute market, promote and showcase their ‘all-star’ titles in IMAX will delight movie-goers around the world and achieve box office and critical success that will benefit our two companies and our exhibitor partners.”

Since June 2003, Warner Bros. Pictures has released 25 titles in IMAX’s format, 10 of which featured IMAX 3D, including several live action pictures that were partially converted into 3D with IMAX’s proprietary 2D-to-3D conversion technology. Warner Bros. films have generated approximately $565 million in box office revenues at IMAX theatres around the world. Each Hollywood title was digitally re-mastered into the image and sound quality of The IMAX Experience using IMAX’s proprietary IMAX DMR(R) (Digital Re-Mastering) technology. Also included in the tally are the studio’s four original IMAX 3D co-productions, “NASCAR 3D” (2003), “Deep Sea 3D” (2008), “Under the Sea 3D” (2009) and “Hubble 3D,” in select IMAX theatres now.

Exam Tips

Media magazine-g322-overview from Andy Wallis

Film4 Revision

Film4 revision from ksomel

Example essay (full marks)

Successful Media Products Depend as Much Upon Marketing and Distribution to a Specific Audience as They Do ...

Film4

 

Film4 was originally known as Film Four when established in 1998 as channel 4's second channel but was for subscription only.

• Channel 4 is a production house company, who's funding comes from adverts/commercial funding.
• Film4 - "committed to enhance the British film making industry by nurturing and funding new talent"
• Film4 has a nice (very specific small audience)
• It was then followed by many other Channel 4 further programmes who time-shared the air of blockbuster films.
• In 2006, Film Four modified its name to Film4 and also became a free digital viewing channel and started producing many adverts with celebrities in weird situations to stress and intrigue the audience that this is the only channel to watch free movies continuously.
• Tessa Ross became the controller of Film4 in 2004 and head of TV drama for Channel 4.
• Film4 is very heavily linked with Channel 4. Channel 4 financed in the helping of production in such films as "The Crying Game" and "Madness of King George".
• Channel 4 also decided that their side film channel would be made free on digital networks, therefore becoming the only free film program to boost ratings.
• Film4 are currently on some large projects including Tyrannosaur, which Film4 backed in production and distribution closely working with Warp X and Inflmmable films.
  This movie is an example of how Film4 help broadcast and produce English films and not just Hollywood Blockbusters as this was the first film ever to be directed by Paddy Considine.
  Also Film4 are in the final stages of distributing their own creation of Random, originally a theatre play by director Debbie Tucker Green.
  It is being regularly advertised on Channel 4 and competitions have started to try and attract people to see the film in cinemas.
• Film4 produces about 6 films a year and works alongside their subsidiary Warp X.
• Less of the budget is spent on distribution, because the films can be advertised on their own and parent companies' TV channels.
• They have won 5 Oscars in 4 years & 3 BAFTA's in 2007.
  They have won 5 Oscars in 4 years & 3 BAFTA's in 2007. 8.3 million AB Cl's a month, with an upmarket (42%) and male (55%) profile.
• Successful Films include - Slumdog Millionaire/127 Hours/Four Lions/This Is England/Trainspotting
• Film 4 work closely with specific actors and directors such as Danny Boyle's/Martin McDonagh/Steve McQueen/Peter Mullan/Chris Morris
• Film 4 recently launched Film 4.0 - digital/online arena
• Film 4.0's aim will be to find new talent and discover new ways of making, marketing and distributing films and engaging new audiences online in a multi platform environment.

Films:

• Johnny English - written in 2009 by the same people as James Bond, which grossed $160 million. Rowan Atkinson starred and the sequel was released on September 2010.
• Wild Child - budget of $20 million, films at Cobham Hall, was marketed on radio stations, social networking sites and TV adverts - was a financial flop with 2.2 mill opening weekend.
• The Soloist - based on a true story, budget $60 mill, based on books and articles/directed by Joe Wright, produced by Gary Forster & Russ Krasnof. Grossed $31,720,158 mill. Paramount helped distribute through DreamWorks animation and Universal Pictures. Released a year later than planned, therefore lost Oscar potential.

Written by Stephen Hare

Warp Films

• Warp Films was established by Warp Records founding partners Rob Mitchell and Steve Beckett. It was initially created with financial support from NESTA and had a remit to produce a number of short films.
• After the death of Rob Mitchell in 2001, Beckett decided to continue with Warp Films and enlisted the expertise of Sheffield friend Mark Herbert to run the company.
• The first film (Chris Morris' My Wrongs) was shot in 2002. It won the award for Best Short Film at the 2003 BAFTA Film Awards and became the first short film DVD in the UK market.
• Warp Films breakout success came with Shane Meadows' This Is England. Since its release in early 2007, it has gained many awards including the Best Film at the British Independent Film Awards, the Special Jury Prize at the Rome Film Festival and Best British Film at the BAFTAs.
• At the same ceremony, Warp Films recieved its third BAFTA as Paddy Considine's directional debut Dog Altogether won the best short film award.
• Three months after This Is England released in cinemas, Warp's third feature film, Grow Your Own, was released by Pathe. This film was Warp's first collaboration with BBC Films. The film was directed by Richard Laxton, written by Frank Cottrell Boyce and Carl Hunter, and produced by Barry Ryan for Warp Films, Like Alkin for BBC Films and Carl Hunter for Art in Action.
• In 2004, Warp Films made a significant expansion its capacity. Robin Gutch joined Mark Herbert and Barry Ryan to devise the Warp bid for the Low Budget Film Scheme tender put out by Film4 and UK Film Council. The Warp bid was backed by Optimum Releasing, Screen Yorkshire and EM Media. Warp won the tender against competition and Warp X was formally set up in 2005 as a low-budget digital 'studio' to develop and produce films with focus on new talent and commercial potential.
• Warp Films/Warp X productions, Tyrannosaur, Kill List and Submarine were nominated for a total of 18 awards at the 2011 British Independent Film Awards.
• Warp Films successfully ran a crowd-funding campaign to fund four short films shot at the All Tomorrow's Parties music festival by Vincent Moon, using the website Kickstarter.com. The project reached its funding goal on 15th October and the films are currently in post-production.
• Warp Films is currently developing several television products with Channel 4, the BBC and Sky. Warp Films' development slate currently includes projects with Shane Meadows, Chris Morris, Tony Grisoni, Paul Fraser, Gregory Burke, Paul Wright, Yann Demange, Tom Kingsley & Sharpe, The Sheeps, Peter Strickland, Olly Blackburn, Paddy Considine, Mikey Please, and Shynola amongst others. 

Films:

• Dead Man's Shoes - A short film directed by Shane Meadows and written by Paddy Considine, Shane Meadows, and Paul Fraser.
  The film took $1,825 on the opening weekend (USA) (14th May 2006) and was shown on one screen. The total gross of the film was $6,013 (USA) (28th May 2006). 
• Four Lions - A film directed by Christopher Morris and written by Simon Blackwell, Christopher Morris, Sam Bain and Jesse Armstrong.
  The film took £608,608 on the opening weekend (UK) (9th May 2010) and was shown on 115 screens. The gross of the film was $30,527 (USA) (13th February 2011). 
• Submarine - A film directed by Richard Ayoade and written by Richard Ayoade and Joe Dunthorne, who was the writer of the novel.
  In the opening weekend, the film took £244,476 (UK) (both March 2011) and was shown on 60 screens. The total gross of the film came to $466,702 (USA) (14th August 2011). 
• Kill List - A film directed by Ben Wheatley and written by Ben Wheatley and Amy Jump. T
  he budget of the film was an estimated £500,000 and on the opening weekend, the film took $9,838 (USA) (5th February 2012) shown on two screens. The total gross came to $26,297 (USA) (4th March 2012).

Written by Sophie Nutt

Walt Disney Studios (1 of the Big 6)

• The Walt Disney Studios - also known as Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures Group and formerly known as Buena Vista Motion Picures Group and Buena Vista Film Group - is an American entertainment industry company division.
• The studio, which is one of Hollywood's major film studios, is based at the Walt Disney Studios in Burbank, California.
• Walt Disney Studios' film division is a member of the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA).
• Walt Disney Studios is the main production arm for Disney's motion pictures.
• They develop scripts and oversee theatrical production for The Walt Disney Company's production companies and imprints (founded in 1995).
• These include:
  Walt Disney Pictures, Walt Disney Animation Studios, Pixar Animation Studios, Touchstone Pictures, Disneynature and Lucasfilm

Walt Disney Pictures (1928-present):
Animated features produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios, Pixar Animation Studios, DisneyToon Studios and Studio Ghibli (North America distribution) are usually released by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures under the Walt Disney Pictures banner.
Beginning in 2011, the studio's production logo and on-screen credit was shortened to simply 'Disney'.

Walt Disney Animation Studios:
Headquartered in Burbank, California, Walt Disney Animation Studios is an American animation studio which creates animated feature films and animated short films for The Walt Disney Company.
Founded on October 16, 1923 as Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio, the studio has produced 52 feature films, beginning with Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), and most recently with Wreck-It Ralph (2012).
In 2006, Pixar executives Edwin Catmull and John Lasseter assumed Walt Disney Animation Studios as president and Chief Creative Officer, respectively.
Since the release of Meet The Robinsons the following year, the studio has had a new logo to make themselves separate from Pixar. The logo features Mickey Mouse in the classic short, Steamboat Willie.
Walt Disney Animation Studios is noted for creating a number of now-standard innovations in the animation industry:
Beauty and the Beast (1991) - the first animated feature to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture, and the only nominee for Best Picture to be traditionally-animated;
The Lion King (1994) - the highest grossing traditionally animated film of all time;
Tangled (2010) - the most expensive animated film ever made costing $260 million
(to name a few)

Pixar Animation Studios:
A computer animation film studio based in Emeryville, California.
The studio is best known for its CGI-animated feature films created with Photorealistic RenderMan, its own implementation of the industry-standard RenderMan image-rendering application programming interface used to generate high-quality images.
Pixar began in 1979 as the Graphics Group, part of the computer division of Lucasfilm, before its spin-out as a corporation in 1986 with funding by Apple Inc. co-founder Steve Jobs, who became its majority shareholder.
Pixar has produced thirteen feature films, beginning with Toy Story (1995), and also several short films.
Twelve of the films have received both critical and financial success, with the notable exception being Cars 2, which, while commercially successful, has received substantially less praise than Pixar's other productions.
As of February 2012, its feature films have made over $7 billion worldwide, with its $602 million average gross by far the highest of any studio in the industry.
Three of Pixar's films - Finding Nemo, Up, and Toy Story 3 - are among the 50 highest-grossing films of all time, and all of Pixar's films are among the highest-grossing animated films, with Toy Story 3 being the all-time highest, grossing over $1 billion worldwide.
The studio has earned 26 Academy Awards, seven Golden Globe Awards, and eleven Grammy Awards.
Touchstone Pictures:
Established in 1984 as Touchstone Films, it typically releases films that feature more mature themes and darker tones than those that are released under the Walt Disney Pictures banner.
Touchstone Pictures is merely a label (similar to a record label) and does not exist as a separate company: the two companies behind it are the Walt Disney Motion Pictures Group and Walt Disney Pictures and Television.
The Walt Disney Motion Pictures Group entered into a long-term, 30-picture distribution deal with DreamWorks by which DreamWorks' productions would be released through the Touchstone Pictures banner over the next five years beginning in 2011.

Disneynature:
Founded on April 21, 2008 as a division of the Walt Disney Studios, Disneynature is an independent film label of The Walt Disney Company devoted to nature documentary productions.
Headquarted in Paris, France, it is the only Disney subsidiary not headquartered in the United States.

Lucasfilm:
Best known and responsible for the Star Wars and Indiana Jones franchises, Lucasfilm was founded by filmmaker George Lucas in 1971.
Based in San Francisco, the company has also been a leader in developing new film technology in special effects, sound, and computer animation, and because of their expertise its subsidiaries often help produce non-Lucasfilm pictures.
On October 30, 2012, it was announced that Lucasfilm would be acquired by The Walt Disney Company for $4.05 billion.

• In 2009, Disney acquired Marvel Entertainment, in addition to purchasing full ownership rights to Marvel Studios' films in 2010.
• Hollywood Pictures was another division of Disney, in which, like Touchstone, produced films for mature audiences, but was shut down in 2007.
• In 1993, Disney acquired Miramax Films and its Dimension Films label, but Dimension became a part of The Weinstein Company in 2005 and Miramax was sold to Filmyard Holdings in 2010.
• From 2007 to 2010, Disney and ImageMovers ran a joint motion capture animation facility - ImageMovers Digital.

(All film productions mentioned above are distributed theatrically by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures and on home media platforms by Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment.)

Disney Music Group:
A music production group led by Ken Bunt, that consists of multiple record labels - Walt Disney Records and Hollywood Records - and publishing identities that handle Disney's music.

Disney Theatrical Group:
The division producing live theatrical and stage events, currently under the leadership of Thomas Schumacher, responsible for the production of many different musicals, touring events, ice shows and other live theatrical events.
Their shows include: Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King, Aida, Tarzan, Mary Poppins, Newsies and numerous incarnations of Disney on Ice.

Information taken from Wikipedia

Working Title Films

• The company was co-founded by producers Tim Bevan and Sarah Radclyffe in 1983
• PolyGram became the company's corporate backer in 1992
• Radclyffe left and Eric Fellner, a fellow independent film producer, joined the company
• The company produced a variety of films for PolyGram's London-based production company PolyGram Filmed Entertainment
• PolyGram Films became a major Hollywood competitor
• PolyGram was sold to Seagram and merged with MCA Music Entertainment to form Universal Music Group, and Polygram Films was sold and folded into Universal Studios in 1999
• Parent company - NBCUniversal
• The company is known for having a limited number of employees
• Working Title is located in London, but has other offices in Los Angeles and Ireland
• It produces feature films and several television productions, including films starring comic actor Rowan Atkinson
• Bevan and Fellner launched a subsidary company names Working Title 2 Productions (WT²⁾ in 1999, which is an independent film production arm run by Natascha Wharton, and has produced films that include Billy Elliot, Shaun of the Dead and The Calcium Kid
• Working Title Television is a joint venture with NBCUniversal
• They released a modernised version of the children's novels, The Borrowers in December 2011 and Abi Mogran's adaptation of Birdsong in January 2012
• Executive producer in the BBC drama commissioning group and drama commissioner and head of development for Film4, Juliette Howell, WTTV's head of television (UK) will oversee the London office
• Working Title was involved in a bid for the London weekend ITV licence in 1991
  
  Recent films include:

Title	Release Date
Green Zone	March 12, 2010
Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang	August 20, 2010
Paul	March 18, 2011
Senna	August 12, 2011
Johnny English Reborn	October 21, 2011
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy	December 9, 2011
Contraband	January 13, 2012
Big Miracle	February 3, 2012
Anna Karenina	November 16, 2012
Les Misérables	December 25, 2012

          Others include:

Hot Fuzz (2007) - Director: Edgar Wright
Writers: Edgar Wright, Simon Pegg
Stars: Simon Pegg, Nick Frost and Martin Freeman
Budget: £8,000,000
Opening Weekend: £5,918,149 (UK) (18 February 2007) (427 Screens)
Gross: $23,618,786 (USA) (22 July 2007)

Pride & Prejudice (2005) - Director: Joe Wright
Writers: Jane Austen (novel), Deborah Moggach (screenplay)
Stars: Keira Knightley, Matthew Macfadyen and Brenda Blethyn
Budget: $29,000,000
Opening Weekend: £2,529,947  (UK) (18 September 2005) (397 Screens)

Gross: $120,051,592 (Worldwide)

Briget Jones' Diary (2001) - Director: Sharon Maguire
Writers: Helen Fielding
Stars: Renee Zellweger, Colin Firth and Hugh Grant
Budget: $26,000,000
Opening Weekend: $10,733,933 (USA) (15 April 2001) (1611 Screens)
Gross: $71,500,556  (USA) (5 August 2001)