Film History

In the 1930's , Film in America was being revolutionized because of the film, Wizard of oz. Directed by Victor Fleming, the film was the first major production to be in color. It was filmed in a three- striped technicolor. It boosted the film industry in America because other films started to do the same. However over in the U.k, Alfred Hitchcock's Murder! was a black and white Drama that did not compare to the american film.

In the 1940's, Film in America consisted of Comedy's, Dramas and westerns. The biggest movie in America at the time was Rebecca Directed by Alfred Hitchcock and this film made $6 million and in its day was very popular. However, the decade as a whole for America was dark following the attack on the u.s Pearl Harbour. Which evoked a spark in the film industry to create films that would boost moral in the war. In Britain in 1940, it was a different story. The British industry was making films to create false sense of what was going on over in Europe at the time. Again the budget for these would have been low because of the war and the fact that the films themselves would not have been that expensive to produce and make back then, because the lack of technology to produce the films that we do today.

In the 1960's, American studios returned back to financially supporting the British film industry. they supported those that especially used and capitalised the term, 'Swinging London' which was propagated by time magazine in 1966. Films like, ' the knack and how to get it' and 'Darling' (both in 1965) explored the term, Swinging London. Another event to mark film history in the U.K would be films like, ' women in love ' and ' Alfie ' using female and male full-frontal nudity in mainstream movies for the first time. Meanwhile in America, (1965) The sound of music was released boosting the industry into the 1970s.

The 1970 opened with a financial slump for America but in 1975, the film industry was boosted once again with films like Jaws, Star wars and close encounters. All of which were ground breaking in their approach to film. Star wars was the first of many and it invented the merchandise that we have today, like figurines.However in Britain, the film industry was struggling because America had stopped funding british films because of the recession. However, they still were making films like the Battle Of Britain.

The 1980's began with a huge recession that effected the film industry in Britain. Only 31 U.K films were made. this was down 50% from the previous year. The start of this decade also saw the emergence of self-financed British films. This was very different because when a film was made in the U.K, they were either American financed or had American director/producers. However, the 80's soon turned itself around in the film industry when the companies, like Channel 4 and Gold crest, started to make gritty comedies that were hugely popular in the U.K and internationally. To conrast this, America was Thriving in the film industry. They were making huge films like, Airplane and Riders of the lost Ark (which made 389.9 million US dollars in box office.)

At the start of the 1990's the  British film industry was on a low once again because of the lack of interest in the cinemas for British made films. However, once again, they had managed to turn this around when the film, Four Weddings and a Funeral was made. The film started a new trend in british film to make British set comedies, like Notting Hill and Bridget Jones. Both were as successful as Four Weddings. In America, cinema attendance was up mostly in multi screen complexes throughout the country. Altough the budget for a film in 1998 was $53.million, the films cost over $100.million to produce. This called for better stories and plots throughout the hollywood scene. This also lead to James Cameron's Titanic. (1997)

The 2000s hadn't had a huge impact on British film history because of the government not funding the British films. However this changed when Harry Potter was made. J.K Rowling did not sell all of the rights making the film British, which boost the film industry greatly. However in America, they finished the decade with the revolutionary Avatar ( 2009- James Cameron.)  which broke the record of the highest grossing film world wide. Which was previously James Cameron's own Titanic.

production cycle

In filmmaking and video production, pre-production formally begins once a project has been greenlit. At this stage, finalizing preparations for production go into effect. Financing will generally be confirmed and many of the key elements such as principal cast members, director and cinematographer are set. By the end of pre-production, the screenplay is usually finalized and satisfactory to all the financiers and other stakeholders.

During pre-production, the script is broken down into individual scenes storyboards and all the locations, props, cast members, costumes, special effects and visual effects are identified. An extremely detailed schedule is produced and arrangements are made for the necessary elements to be available to the film-makers at the appropriate times. Sets are constructed, the crew is hired, financial arrangements are put in place and a start date for the beginning of principal photography is set. At some point in pre-production there will be a read-through of the script which is usually attended by all cast members with speaking parts, the director, all heads of departments, financiers, producers, and publicists.

Even though the writer may still be working on it, the screenplay is generally page-locked and scene-numbered at the beginning of pre-production to avoid confusion. This means that even though additions and deletions may still be made, any particular scene will always fall on the same page and have the same scene number.

Pre-production is the process of fixing some of the elements involved in a film, play, or other performance. There are three parts in a production: pre-production, production, and post-production. Pre-production ends when the planning ends and the content starts being produced.

Production

(funded by production company)

• Principle photography takes place, in studios and/or on agreed locations (on average this takes 3 months). Hollywood has the advantage as vertical integration means access to studios, equipment etc. Also, they can afford to spend longer on shoots.

post production. 

This includes tasks such as the editing of raw footage to cut scenes, insert transition effects, working with voice and sound actors, and dubbing, to name a few of the many pre-production tasks. Post-production is the third and final step in film creation. It follows the pre-production and production phases.

finance2

Major USA Production/Distribution Companies

As Hanseen (2007) summarised, 'The Hollywood studio system era' of vertical integration that impacted production, distribution and exhibition (because the major companies owned the cinemas) came to an end in 1948; "when the USA Supreme Court issued its famous Paramount decision. The Paramount consent decree required the divestiture of affiliated cinema chains and the abandonment of a number of vertical practices" (Hanseen, 2007)

What this meant, in theory, was that the five major conglomerates (Fox, MGM, Paramount, RKO and Warner Brothers) and the partly integrated companies (Columbia, Universal and United Artists - N.B MGM have now bought out United Artists) who had made up the Hollywood studio system had to compete on a more level playing field with other companies. However, these companies did still have an advantage over independent studios because vertical integration could still take place at production and distribution levels - the court only ruled against cinema ownership (exhibition).

Distribution Companies

As McDougall (2008) summarised, five major distribution companies dominate the UK film industry:

- United International Pictures

- Warner Brothers

- Buena Vista

- 20th Century Fox

- Sony

None of these distribution companies are British, approximately 9/10 films seen in UK cinemas have been distributed by these Hollywood companies. In the majority of cases, these companies are either the same company who produced the film or are directly linked to the Hollywood production companies who made the film (vertical integration). Although the Paramount 1948 Supreme Court ruling now prevents these companies from owning the cinemas used for exhibition, films distributed by these Hollywood companies are still prioritized (for reasons of long term and short term profit) over films produced/distributed by independent companies e.g. Hollywood films generally gross more than a independent film and also because they make more films than independent companies cinemas can make more each year through supporting Hollywood films than they would if they started prioritizing independent films over Hollywood releases (doing this might prompt Hollywood to stop using this chain which would obviously impact profit for the cinema).

The fact that multiplex cinemas are often owned by American companies also has an impact here because they obviously have deals with the Hollywood distributors in the USA and UK that makes it easier/more cost effective for them to secure Hollywood blockbusters than it is for independent cinemas (it is basic business that works in the same way to Tesco's v independent stores).

Distribution is also expensive, Hollywood distributors can afford to spend millions on marketing and distribution while smaller independent companies struggle to compete. Aside from advertising, one of the biggest costs in prints (every film shown in a cinema is a separate 'print'). Each reel cost approximately £1000-£2000. When you multiply this by the number of cinemas in the UK, for example, it is easy to see why Hollywood companies can afford to 'blanket release' their products in the majority of cinemas while smaller companies struggle to do this.

In theory, this problem should be a thing of the past because we live in the 'digital age' and it would be straight forward for companies to simple digitally release their films to cinemas on the release date. This has a number of potential advantages:

1) Image quality could be improved. Have you every noticed 'scratches' on the screen at the cinema? The reason why you sometimes notice this is because the reels we get in the UK are the ones that have already been used in the USA cinema. Changing to digital distribution would solve this.

2) Piracy could be adverted if the film was released at the same time throughout the world.

3) It would cut costs dramatically and make it possible for British distributors to compete. Cutting cost could also mean more profits for production/distribution companies that they could then put back into films. 

The British Film Council even took steps to via the 'Digital Screen Network' to help equip independent cinemas with digital facilities. This has lead to more British films being shown in independent cinemas but the multiplex cinemas are not following this example because Hollywood films are still made on reels.

Why? Again, this links to economics and business - Hollywood distribution and production companies known they have a massive advantage over independent companies because they have more money. Through making films on reels they are ensuring they keep this advantage because it makes it harder for smaller companies to gain any market share without teaming up with Hollywood companies (to make D/E Category films) because they simply cannot afford to shoot 35mm pictures and print hundreds/thousands of reels without the financial backing from bigger companies. 

Finance 1

My British and American case study

British film history

http://www.britishcinemagreats.com/cinema_history/new_wave/page_3.htm


Slumdog millionaire ( 2009 ) 

• Lower budget than Avatar 
• Social difficulties
• not much CGI/ Special Effects
• Just set in India 
• Dev Patel 
• lower box office than avatar 
• set in the modern day ( 2008 ) 
• Very much like a Bollywood film.

Avatar ( 2009 ) 

• Sci-fi 
• high budget 
• high box office 
• loads of CGI
• James Cameron 
• futuristic 
• 3D cameras - that would have cost millions 
• Pandora 

The cameras on the avatar film was very expensive and better equipped than the cameras and equipment on the film, Slumdog millionaire. the colours in avatar is blue and darker lighting. in contrast to this, slum dog millionaire


American 
1970's

Star wars EP 4 ( George Lucas )
Jaws (Steven Spielberg )
The excorsist


1980's

E.T
Star wars EP 6
Ghostbusters
Back to the future

British 

1970
- The railway children
- The tales of beatrix potter



1980 

- the awaking

what is a British film?

What is a British Film?
As critic McDougall (2008) states there are various 'official' ways of categorising British films. The most common is through using the following categories defined by the BFI (British Film Institute):

Category A: Films made with British money, personnel and resources.

Category B: Films co-funded with money from British and from foreign investment, but for which the majority of finance, cultural content and personnel are British.

Category C: Films with mostly foreign money (but non USA) investment and a small British input either financially or creatively.

Category D: Films made in the UK with (usually) British cultural content, but financed fully or partly by US companies.

Category E: US films with some British involvement.