Significance of film critics

Bad reviews can be publicised and allow a film to gain publicity.
Film critics frequently just do films, even bad ones, a favour.
Philomena (Frears, 2013) was marketed with an outraged review.
Reviews don't have a big effect on box office gross.
Awful reviews can make people want to see the film more.
Overall, negative reviews have more impact than positive ones.
Some youtube critics, such as Jeremy Jahns, are very powerful.
Award nominations boost a film's popularity.
A British film rarely breaks even as they're not well marketed enough.
British films are more difficult to define, as international companies are involved with them.
Even British comedies focus on social class and issues, and British cinema is far more depressing than American cinema.

The Hunger Games

The HungerGames has a large and expansive interactive website. There is a feature where fans can earn sparks and badges and try and get the highest possible place on a top fans list. The website has many opportunities to earn prizes. For example, fans can share various things to win badges. There is a section to do with the entire network showing links to many different websites. You can see messages, adverts and speeches from the universe of the films. There are various mini websites from the world of the film, such as a Panem website, a website for fictional magazines and TV programmes  and much. There is a near unlimited amount of online content on the website.


The first movie grossed $700 million dollars thanks to the strong marketing campaign. The next 2 have done even better. For Catching Fire the marketing team at Lionsgate wanted to create a perfect destination for the dedicated fan base. The website is a real time social aggregation tool, which has many hunger games related things from the web. It's designed for multiple platforms. Users upload a lot of content to the website. The use of transmedia doesn't know any limits, and the people behind the campaign have a lot of faith in the fans to scour the internet for Hunger Games content. Twitter has many tweets from the hunger games universe.

BFI statistics

UK films share go global box office is 11%
Box office slightly down from 2012, which also had a decrease from previous years

The theatrical marketplace is dominated by a few very large companies. In 2013, the top 10 distributors generated
£1.14 billion in theatrical revenues, while the remainder made less than £42 million. 

FACTS IN FOCUS:
The top 10 distributors had a 96% share of the market in 2013, slightly higher than in 2012.
The market share for distributors outside the top 10, at 4%, was the lowest since 2005
Weekdays (Monday to Thursday) accounted for 41% of the box office in 2013, slightly less than in 2012.
Opening weekends represented 28% of the total box office.
The estimated total amount spent by distributors on advertising films released theatrically was just over £189 million.
The average advertising spend for studio-backed UK films was
£1.4 million, compared with £1.7 million in 2012.

Studio Canal is the top distributor of UK independent movies.

The UK has 3867 screens.

There are more traditional venues than multiplex venues.

Mixed use venues are important to the economy of the UK film industry.

Some places show British films because they're cheaper.

There are screens in the town and city centres, less in the rural areas.

In the UK, London has the most cinemas.

There are various specialist cinemas (Such as Indian cinemas) around the UK.

Independent films need film festivals for distribution often.

Events such as opera have been successful in the cinema.

Horrizontal integration

British films are generally distributed with American companies. They are made by British people but then American studios and other studios/companies which belong to the main studio help to distribute the film and the film appears in multiple places on the internet as a result. Welcome To The Punch was only distributed by Universal and only grossed $4 million worldwide on a budget of $8.5 million. However, Trash and The Theory Of Everything are more likely to be box office successes as they appear on a lot more websites and are distributed by several studios. All of these are connected to Universal, which is the main distributor for both. Therefore, distribution and horizontal integration are big deciders for box office results.    

British Film Institutes

British film industry

Who are the major industries in the British film world?
What was the golden age of British cinema?
Who were the major British studios?
What happened to them?
How are films funded in Britain?
Who are the major British film companies today?

BFI
What is their role in the British film industry?
Create a mind map to show how the BFI is structured.

THE BFI RESEARCH
The BFI has 5 clear functions:

1. To encourage the development of the arts of film, television and the moving image throughout the UK
   
2. To promote their use as a record of contemporary life and manners
   
3. To promote education about film, television and the moving image generally, and
   their impact on society
   
4. To promote access to and appreciation of the widest possible range of British
   and world cinema
   

To establish, care for and develop collections reflecting the moving image history

and heritage of the UK.

They have an archive of films for people to enjoy.

They organise the London film festival.

It does international work to ensure it has enough money to maintain its costs.

18. 
    

They support British and international filmmaking through festivals, film distribution, exhibition and education at BFI Southbank and BFI IMAX, publishing and festivals. 
The secretary of state is connected to it and the institute is government controlled.
They are run by a board of 8 members and have 444 staff members.
It runs a lot of educational programmes to develop the knowledge of films and development of the British film industry.
They have a Film Forever strategy, aiming

•   An increase in the total size of UK audiences
  
•   An increased market share for British independent films
  
•   An increase in the value of inward investment and of exports
  
•   An increase in the UK film industry contribution to GDP
  
•   Major domestic and international awards won by UK talent
  
•   An increasing diversity of UK audiences and UK film workforce
  

  An increase in the percentage of the UK population that values film as part of
their cultural life.
The BFI fund film projects from both new and established producer
SEVEN PSYCHOPATHS, SIGHTSEERS and UNDER THE SKIN are examples of films funded by the BFI. These 3 films were all successful critically and have done OK business at the box-office. 

Film Studies Audiences sheet

TOM CRUISE CASE STUDY

Tom Cruise is still a very powerful Hollywood star whose movies make a lot of money. Through various factors, he has become one of the highest paid stars around and is still leading action blockbusters. Cruise is very well paid and has a net worth of $380 million. He has used this for some philanthropic activities. He took part in America: A Tribute to Heroes and became a founding Board Member for the Hollywood Education and Literacy Project. He has supported:

Barbara Davis Center for Childhood Diabetes

Children's Hospice & Palliative Care Coalition

Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation

H.E.L.P.

Jackie Chan Charitable Foundation

Mentor LA

Raising Malawi

Stockings With Care

UNICEF  

In his personal life, Tom Cruise has been married and subsequently divorced 3 times. Due to his failed relationships, involvement in the controversial Church of Scientology and various public meltdowns, Tom Cruise has also been the subject of controversy and media ridicule.

AUDIENCES: HOW?
From VHS to DVD, viewers have had access to new special features and have had more control over the DVD viewing experience. DVDs are better quality and use better technology, so in general home releases have been better and longer lasting. In my opinion, the new special features enhance the film and make the DVD more interesting. They perhaps reduce the suspension of disbelief by showing how things were done and overall make the viewing experience more interactive and interesting.

In mainstream cinema, style is definitely more important than substance. This is because the blockbusters aren't about story and are primarily entertainment based. They typically feature eye catching visuals, simple plots and plenty of enjoyable elements for the audience. Major blockbusters are marketed heavily with posters, trailers and online content. This allows the marketing to reach more people and makes the marketing more interactive, diverse and able to reflect the film and the promise of its premise better. Viewing experiences are now more individual since films can be watched in planes, cars, drive thru theatres, on handheld devices, computers and more.

AUDIENCES: WHY?

 This poster tells audiences to expects loads of action, guns, violence, stylized visuals with gender stereotypes and not a lot of story. In general, it's offering escapist action thrills.

This poster is for a rom com and promises a funny and touching romance story with some well known actors. It looks like something many can relate to and it looks amusing.








There is often pressure to watch a genre, as genres have different genders linked to them through connotations. Action is linked to male, while rom coms are linked to female for example. I like going to see action films and also quieter, dramatic or less conventional movies. Action, horror, comedy, science fiction and any other genres emphasizing excitement are popular at the moment as they can be blockbusters.

THE EXORCIST (Friedkin, 1973)
The hype and controversy probably helped it to become one of the most successful horror films ever. This made everyone more curious to see it and informed them they hadn't seen stuff like it before. The clip from the film is disturbing even by today's standards and certainly partially deserved the hype. 70s audiences will have been more affected as they'd likely never seen anything like it before, or if so only a little.

FANS
Valkyrie did fine at the box office, but was affected by controversy to do with Cruise's links to Scientology and the Nazi subject matter made the film more of a risk. Fans often influence films a lot and their criticisms are frequently more powerful than those of the critics. Valkyrie didn't do as well as it might have done since fans were reacting negatively to Tom Cruise's role in Scientology.

I think fans drive the marketing since the producers are doing all they do for the fans, and the fans influence what goes into the marketing. The producers work to please the general public.

TOM CRUISE
I think the websites are mainly affectionate in tone and boost his popularity, showing that there are many fans who like him enough to make websites. There was one called Tomisnuts.com which would not present him in such a good way but most of them do not harm his image and are biased towards him. I think fans are sometimes being exploited as their demands are usually what shapes a films marketing and the producers often refer to the general public when promoting movies.

Fan behaviour is powerful enough to influence the film industry since they are the ones producers are trying to please and their reactions often affect a film's commercial success. Negative fan reaction often negatively affects a film for example.

AUDIENCES: WHERE?
The Exorcist clip
Parents: Watching it with my parents, it would likely be more awkward. The Exorcist is the kind of film I prefer to watch alone.
Nan: Watching it with my nan would be even worse.
Girlfriend: It would probably be a more jokey atmosphere and more relaxed, with a feeling of getting scared being fun.

When seeing a film, audiences may affect it. For example, watching a children's film in an audience full of young children and their families would make me feel out of place and embarrassed. Watching a more grown up film with adults feels more awkward as it is very easy to assume they are finding it a lot worse than you are. If it's a scary or emotional film, watching it alone is often more comfortable so that reactions to the film can be private. As for circumstances, certain films are suited to certain circumstances. For example, blockbusters are suited to a big screen and horror is suitable for watching with friends. Trying to watch a nasty horror film with your family would be a bad idea. Overall, circumstances do affect the enjoyment of the film and how comfortable a viewing experience it is.

Interactive movie website

THE HUNGER GAMES

http://www.thehungergamesexplorer.com/gb/epk/mockingjay-part1-gb-en/

The Hunger Games series of films has a website called The Hunger Games Explorer. The first page has a description, images, videos and various interactive content. There is a brief synopsis of the upcoming film and a gallery of posters to look at. There is a gallery of screenshots from both the film and behind the scenes. Similarly, there is a video section for trailers and clips. There is a community so that fans can interact with social media, as well as a page for top fans. Also on the website are in universe websites for things from the Hunger Games cinematic universe and fan challenges where users of the website can earn awards. As well as this website, there is also a website for The Capitol, which is a major part of the Hunger Games universe.  

How technology has affected marketing

• Film marketing has been compared to a virus, and filters into people's lives
• It's a cheaper way of marketing a film
• To make a profit, Hollywood movies have to make 2 and a half times their budget as they spend more than the budget marketing it
• Examples of films using social media and user generated content to market themselves: Carrie (2013) (Viral videos, internet advert), Let's Be Cops (Social media, internet adverts), The Avengers (Website, social media) Chronicle (Marketed primarily through youtube), Wreck It Ralph (User generated content and games from the film's universe), films from the Marvel Cinematic Universe use internet marketing, Ted (websites and posts from the character in the film) 
• Ted website: Apps, photos, social media, various opportunities to interact with the film
• Snow White And The Huntsman used an interactive trailer, and you can see maps, behind the scenes, quizzes and interviews 
• The Dark Knight: An incredibly interactive marketing campaign involving following clues and doing jobs for the characters in the films

British and American releases

This is a comparison of 2 recent releases. One is American, one is British. Both were released a month apart, and despite the American film receiving better marketing, it's clear judging by the reviews which is the superior of the 2. The American release:

Let's Be Cops is an R rated comedy film which is similar in tone to things like The Hangover. It had a budget of $17 million. It was released during the summer season on August 13, and the distribution company is 20th Century Fox. It premiered in America on it's release date. The film had a saturation release at several hundred screens. On it's opening weekend it made an impressive $17 million dollars worldwide. There were a few trailers both green band (All audiences) and red band (Mature audiences only), several posters but the primary marketing was through Twitter and TV spots. The film was not pre screened for critics so reviews, which have been primarily negative, didn't affect the box office. 

The film is for a male audience as shown by male characters and the premise of fake cops which would probably appeal more to a male audience. The demographic is between 17 and 35 roughly. The poster creates expectations for loads of dumb thrills and funny, immature jokes. 

http://www.letsbecops.com

Above is a link to the website. There are photos, videos, a plot summary, a link to Tumblr, ways to buy tickets, links to social media and interactive content to do with becoming a fake cop, so the website involves the audience and makes its target audience clear with the informal tone and silly content. 

A still from the trailer is shown above. The first trailer promises a relatable story of losers sorting out their lives, and has an escapist feel. It also promises silliness, a lack of restraint, comic thrills and also a more grown up type of comedy. 

Some merchandise related to the film has been released. However, critics have panned the film. Let's Be Cops holds a 20% rating on rotten tomatoes with the general consensus: "Dwayne Wayans. Jr and Jake Johnson have comic chemistry. Unfortunately Let's Be Cops fails to do anything with it." Mark Kermode said all involved deserved short prison sentences and gave it 1 out of 5 stars, while Peter Bradshaw gave it 2/5 stars, as did the Radio Times. A few, such as Total film gave it a positive review but most disliked the film.

THE BRITISH RELEASE

 Pride is a British drama movie about the Lesbians and Gays Support The Miners campaign. The film was relatively low budget. It was released on 26 September and was distributed by Pathe. It premiered on September 2 in London, and has had a wide release, but mainly in Britain in probably a hundred screens across the UK. The opening weekend was a few hundred thousand dollars and has so far grossed $718 thousand dollars. Pride has had posters and trailers released, but the marketing campaign hasn't been a big as Let's Be Cops. 

http://www.pridemovie.co.uk

The website has a cast, synopsis, trailers and links to social networking but it is less sophisticated and interactive than the other website. It shows itself as a more British film, which isn't as bothered about money and the target audience is older people and the film is clearly not aimed at adolescents. However, it also presents the film as a humorous, uplifting story. 

The trailer has a humorous and inspirational air, and is effective as it presents Pride as a likeable and crowd pleasing movie which also has a serious topic behind it. It is offering an excellent British ensemble cast and a lot of humour and triumph. No merchandise has been released for the film. Reviews have been extremely positive, with 95% on Rotten tomatoes and 4 or 5 star reviews by nearly every publication.