Revision help (Tv Drama)

Media Exam TV Drama Revision Guide and Help

How to do the exam

Media magazine-g322-overview from Andy Wallis

How is media convergence important for audiences and institutions?

How is media convergence important for audiences and institutions?

Without media convergence I personally doubt the film industry would be where it’s at (success wise) today. The key areas of marketing, distributing and exhibiting a film all rely on media convergence to ensure the film is a hit with their target audience. It ensures a market for the film before it has even been released which is key to make sure it can succeed in the box office and make the revenue it deserves.

During the production of ‘Attack the Block’ the British film industry hardly recognised the importance of media convergence. It used a small segment of social networking (Twitter) to virally market the film with the occasional ‘teaser’ post to entice the audience in before the film’s release, however it wasn’t used enough to create a viral word of mouth necessary to help really market the film. However, Big Talk Productions, UK Film Council, StudioCanal and Film4 all worked together to produce, market, distribute and exhibit the film.  Seen as Attack the Block was a British film, with a fairly small budget, four smaller companies such as these working together is ideal to help the success of the film. This is because they all have experience in working with smaller films  (such as Shaun Of the Dead) and have previously achieved success in knowing the best ways to produce, market, distribute and exhibit films such as Attack the Block within their budget.  But, Attack The Block was still promoted in the usual ways of; TV adverts, cinema trailers, teaser trailers, UK & US official trailers, posters, magazine adverts, a soundtrack available for purchase on ITunes etc., interviews with TV programmes and journalists in the UK and US and exclusive interviews with the director Joe Cornish talking about the upcoming film with journalists in the UK and abroad. To add to all of this the film/media magazine Little White Lies dedicated a whole issue to Attack the Block. With all of this media used to help promote the film, Attack the Block was still only a small budget, British film and was therefore at a disadvantage when promoting and marketing the film before its release, especially outside the UK.

On the other hand we have the film Kickass. Still a British film, but working with a larger budget and larger production companies such as Universal Pictures, Lionsgate, Marv films and Plan B Entertainment (which is owned by Brad Pitt) is was already at an advantage compared to Kickass as these companies were on a much larger scale and were able to market and publicize the film more heavily. The good starting point with Kickass is that it was also written as a series of comic books alongside the film which helped to market the film through its media convergence and also helped to attract a more varied audience. Kickass also released five different trailers and four TV spots to help promote the film, despite its surrounding controversy. Kickass also took to film critics on forums, blogs and websites such as Rotten Tomatoes after it’s released which really helped its promotion through viral marketing and showed free distribution of its trailers and TV spots. Kickass was also very heavily advertised through its poster campaigns which were not only being distributed professionally by its advertisement campaign, but Kickass’ film ‘geek’ fans also produced their own versions of posters which concluded into a substantial amount and really helped to market the film through media convergence. Alongside all of this Empire and Total Film magazine covered the film and its journey from page to screen and film reviews were available on their websites too. The film was also pitched at San Diego Comic-con and the Empire magazine Movie-Con. All in all, this huge amount of marketing and promotion through media convergence was significantly important to its success in the Box Office and DVD/ Blu-Ray sales.

Media convergence is becoming more and more important, especially as technology is advancing; viral marketing is becoming more essential in the promotion and marketing of films. As stated before things like Social networking are becoming a huge part of the film industry, and mid-production marketing is happening more often thanks to this. The advance in technology is creating ways in which the audience can gain an interest in films throughout its production right the way through to its exhibition and sales. The music industry is more commonly working alongside films with soundtracks being released in accordance with films and helping to market them through different windows. In conclusion I would definitely argue the significant impact and importance of cross media convergence happening within films today is a positive and its ever growing methods of doing this are a real credit to the film industry and its importance for audiences and institutions.

Taken Presentation

Taken on Prezi

Slide 1- Introduction
Taken is a 2008 French-produced thriller film produced by Luc Besson, starring Irish actor Liam Neeson,
American actress Maggie Grace and Dutch actress Famke Janssen.
Neeson plays a former CIA agent who sets about tracking down his daughter after she is kidnapped by human traffickers while traveling in France.

Slide 2- Cast

Liam Neeson- Bryan Mills, Maggie Grace- Kim Mills (daughter), Famke Janssen- Lenore Mills (mum & ex),Olivier Rabourdin- Jean-Claude, Australian singer Holly Valance- Sheerah (singer), Katie Cassidy- amanda (Kim’s Friend)

Slide 3- The Idea

Co-writer and producer Luc Besson came up with the idea for TAKEN.
Luc had met with a Paris police officer who told him about the underworld of kidnappers who take young women and force them into prostitution through drugs and then the girls would then be auctioned off just outside of Paris.
Besson and Kamen turned this idea into a compelling story.
Besson hired Pierre Morel to direct Taken as they had previously worked together when he’d been the cinematographer, who had shot "Unleashed," which was also written and produced by Besson, but also because he loved the internationally acclaimed action film "District B13," Morel had previously directed with a vast amount of choreographed martial art fighting styles which Besson wanted to incorporate into Taken.
Taken was finally rated as an age 15 movie due after the surrounding controversy due to its explicit violence & drug use

Slide 4- Developing Finance
The main production company for Taken was EuropaCorp which is co-owned by the film’s co-writer and producer Luc Besson, europacorp takes on a range of production activities like film distribution in France, DVD distribution, sales of French TV rights, and producing advertisements.
From this europacorp also had many other French television channels that it worked alongside to produce the film such as M6, TPS star and Canal+.
It also had the help of American production company Wintergreen Productions.
EuropaCorp working alongside all these minor French production companies and Wintergreens productions is called a synergy and doing this means that expertise and costs can be spread and also to ensure a larger effect than if they were to act independently.
Because of Taken’s French origin it was working with EuropaCorp and other minor TV production companies but also one of the big six film studios which was 20^th Century Fox to produce the film, even though the film had a small budget of only $25million and lacked in any special effects and collection of big Hollywood stars, the synergy between the companies helped the huge success of the film in its production.

Slide 5- Script Development
Taken was an original script by French film-maker Luc Besson and American screenwriter Robert Kamen.

Slide 6- Production
As said before the film was produced by Luc Besson's production company EuropaCorp.
Taken was mostly filmed in Los Angeles, California but also in Paris, France at the Studios Eclair which is the main filming studio in France that works closely with EuropaCorp.
There are three different versions of taken altogether, The first is the International Cut, released as an "Extended Cut" which is unrated on dvd in the US and also as an "Extended Harder Cut" (with an "18" classification) on dvd in the UK. The second is the UK Cut, which is nearly identical to the International Cut, with the only exception being the torture scene where the clamps are attached to the chair in the UK Cut, but in the International Cut, they're attached to spikes which are stabbed into the man's legs. Obviously this is much more graphic and concludes why this version is unrated in the US and was cut in the UK to secure a "15" classification rating, however this cut was shown at cinemas in the UK. And finally, the third version is the US Cut, edited by 2-3 minutes to receive a PG-13 rating in the US, this cut was forced by the US distributor 20^th century fox, and was eventually shown in cinemas in the US.
The main distributors for Taken were Europacorp and 20^th Century Fox, who distributed the cinema & home media versions of the film in France the US and the UK and also many other countries worldwide.

Slide 7- sales
There were three different trailers for Taken; an official trailer, an international trailer and a teaser trailer. There were also two different TV spots released in the US for the film.

Slide 8- Marketing
Taken had the usual marketing techniques of posters on buses, in magazines on billboards etc, TV, cinema and DVD trailers. But because of the release of the film in so many different countries all this advertising and promotion work was done in four different languages (English, French, Albanian and Arabic). Altogether Taken released three trailers and two tv spots, however some controversy was created as it was revealed Neeson’s character killed 35 people altogether throughout the 90-odd minute film.

Slide 9- Exhibition
Taken was released in French cinemas on the 27^th February 2008 and on the 28^th September 2008 in the UK. In its opening day in America the film grossed $9.4 million, and scored the best opening day ever for Super Bowl Weekend, and in the overall weekend it made over $24,000,000 worldwide and was shown on approximately 3,183 screens all over the world. The film has grossed a worldwide total of over $226,000,000.
Taken was released on DVD in the UK in May 2009 and as of march 2011 over 4 million copies of the film had been sold worldwide generating over $68,000,000 in sales. Taken was released on a blu-ray version of the extended and original cut and a DVD version of the extended cut and the original film.

Slide 10- Other Windows
Family Guy released an episode called ‘Leggo My Meg-O’ in May 2012 which is based on the film taken.
Taken was nominated for three awards in total and won one of the three.
It was rated 7.9/10 on imdb and it was rated on Rotten Tomatoes at 83%. In November 2010, 20^th century fox announced the production of Taken 2 would begin in October 2011 and it was released earlier this month on the 3^rd October 2012, the budget for the sequel was triple the first film’s budget at $80 million dollars and its box office opening weekend made over $49,000,000.

Direct Address (Breaking the 4th wall):

Direct address also commonly known as 'breaking the 4th wall' is where a character in a TV drama directly addresses the audience. I found a clip from the BBC Two comedy Miranda in which Miranda Hart's character Miranda commonly breaks the 4th wall with the audience. This is shown at approximately 1.04 minutes in where Miranda says "I literally can't make it any clearer" directly to the camera/audience.

Sound Motif:

A sound motif is a sound or tune associated with an individual character or situation. Viewers can tell from this specific sound  and relate it to a certain character or situation as it is constantly repeated throughout the series and episodes. The example i found was a sound clip from Doctor Who of the Tardis. Every time you hear this sound you know that the doctor has arrived in his Tardis. http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/sounds/tardis.mp3

Parallel Sound:

Parallel sound is when we watch a TV drama and the sound/muisc we hear usually compliments and follows what we see on screen. I got a good example from a Fast and Furious car chase, the background music you hear isnt overpowing or extremely loud but it does add an effect to the chase scene as it builds up a crescendo which creates an intense, exhilerating atmosphere which really suits the face pace and building pressure of the car chase. 

Contrapuntal Sound:

On the other hand we have contrapuntal sound, which is the opposite to parallel sound. Contrapuntal sound does not fit to the images we see on screen, which can add even more of a intense/dramatic effect. The clip i found of this is from the film Insidious one of the scarier scenes where the song 'Tip Toe Through The Tulips' by Tiny Tim is being played on a crackling old-fashioned grammophone with a supernatural ghost dancing along to the dismay of the woman who lives there. This upbeat song being put with a scary scene create a very eery and uneasy atmosphere.

Attack The Block Review

                                      

Attack The Block is a Sci-Fi action/comedy about a group of South London teenagers that find themselves in the middle of an alien invasion where they must fight and defend their home from evil extraterrestrials.

After watching Attack the Block for the first time, I didn’t think it was the worst film I’d ever seen but it definitely wasn’t up there in my top 10. But after the research I did on the film prior to viewing it I credit Cornish and all the others involved in the film making for how it was made on such a small budget with little resources. For example the camera shots and angles plus the way it was film was definitely a positive for me, my favourite shot being in the last few scenes where Moses is being chased by the aliens down the stairs in slow motion, I thought it was filmed and edited excellently with brilliant camera shots and angles. This scene was helped with the choice of music by Basement Jaxx (which I really enjoyed throughout) and I think it gave the film more of that suburban edge that it otherwise would have been lacking a great deal in. Another thing I thought was good about the film was the character's individuality. Although they all came from the same background they all had their individual roles and stories. If you take Moses (played by John Boyega) for example, the gang leader who plays a really hard faced character that until the last few scenes you think to be quite an arrogant adolescent with a huge attitude and always in endless amounts of trouble, but in reality he's actually just a 15 year old child living pretty much on his own having to solely support himself. I think the way Cornish and Boyega portrayed Moses character in Attack the Block gave a great understanding to the audience on how some teens in Britain are living and almost helped you as the audience form a connection with the character out of sympathy for his loneliness at such a young age and guilt for your judgements made beforehand. However, in comparison to Moses you have the two young boys 'Mayhem' and 'Probs' who add a touch of light-hearted humour to the film through their innocence and naivety in the suburban war against the aliens going on around them.

In spite of all that, I also think Attack the Block had a lot of downfalls. Firstly I didn't think the plot itself was great, it majorly lacked any suspense or grip throughout which I think was due to its mixed-up genre that was stuck somewhere between a sci-fi horror (however not scary enough) and comedy (not being anywhere near funny enough). All this being a huge let down as Attack The Block being the follow up from the maker's of 'Shaun Of The Dead' who mastered this mixed genre of horror/comedy perfectly and better than anyone else, ever. I also thought Nick Frost's character Ron (the drug dealer) came as a huge disappointment compared to Frost's previous performances in 'Hot Fuzz' and 'Paul' where he usually plays the protagonist in any comedy scene as his trademark, this however was hugely missed throughout Attack The Block. I also thought any humour or jokes made in the film were very fabricated and even in some scenes not funny at all as it was pushed way over the boundaries of being funny and ended up being somewhat 'cringey' and even stereotypical. This lack of humour or 'wit' also comes with an almighty empty space of atmosphere in a scary or comical sense. Which, even when watching the film for the first time lead me to become bored and un-interested in what was going on.

And, last but not least I cant help but mention the poor 'special effects' used to create the aliens, who can I just say aren't in the slightest bit scary for an audience of 15+. Their fluffy jet black fur made them look like large cuddly soft toys for children and with this came their ridiculous glow-in-the-dark teeth.
But, after all with the tiny budget of approximately 13 million dollars (which is a minuscule amount in the film industry!) they had I understand why they didn’t go all out with the alien's appearance, famous cast members and other special effects that are missing and  usually what make the great Hollywood blockbusters. So in all honestly i should probably should give Cornish, the cast and everyone else involved credit for what they did make with the little money they had.

I would rate this film overall on a judgement with background research done about the making of the film itself a 3/5.

Attack the Block Research

How It Was Produced:

Big Talk Productions who are famous for Shaun Of The Dead, produced this film with Film4, The UK Film Council and StudioCanal. The block of flats it was filmed in was a composite of different council estates across London. The film itself was shot across London from March to May 2010, with 6 weeks of purely late night shoots. It was filmed on the Heygate Estate in Elephant and Castle, Myatts Field Brixton Oval tube station in Kennington and the Bemerton Estate in Islington. The interior scenes of the flats were filmed at Three Mills Studios in east London. The film's production budget was approximately £8 million.

What It Was Based On:

Attack The Block is a Sci-Fi action/comedy about a group of South London teenagers that find themselves in the middle of an alien invasion where they must fight and defend their home (block of flats) from evil extraterrestrials. The film starts off where a nurse 'Sam' is being mugged by a gang of Black British teenagers, however something crashes from the sky into a nearby car, the nurse uses this confusion to run whereas the gang decide to investigate the car for any valuable assets to steal, whilst doing this one of the gang members is attacked by an unknown creature, which they all eventually kill. This was influenced by something Joe Cornish himself experienced, this inspired him to create the first scene in the film and inject a sci-fi edge to it. It was also inspired by Cornish's great love for sci-fi films he watched as he grew up such as E.T, Critters, Predator and also the gang movies he loved such as The Warriors, Streets of fire and The Outsiders. But more than anything Cornish wanted to create a new genre of film which mixed Fantasy and South London suburban reality.  The film went on to box office £3,615,712, which indicates a huge loss from the millions it cost to make.

Problems That Arose In Making the Film:

A main problem that arose whilst filmmaking, was due to the low budget  3D CGI features were not available for use for special effects, so instead Cornish had to tackle the problem by instead of fully showing the aliens themselves to just suggest they were there by using practical and 'old school' effects. Another problem was due to the film being based on an alien invasion at night in the dark all of the filming had to be done throughout the night, which ended up in 6 weeks of continuous late night filming. Also another problem that was outlined mostly in the US was the use of British slang in the film that could be hard for people abroad to understand and connect with, therefore an idea of having to use subtitles was prompted.

The Directors Views On the British Film Industry:

Cornish describes himself to have been 'lucky' to have made the film with Big Talk Productions who are renowned for making the hit film Shaun Of The Dead. He gives them great credit for 'protecting him' and making it easy for him as the director to focus on making the film.

How They Saved Money, the Technology Used:

Cornish helped to save money mostly on the type of effects they used to produce the film. For example 3D CGI wasnt used to create special effects for the alien but instead they used practical and 'old school' effects such as puppeting and giving the aliens glow-in-the-dark teeth. They also only used CG to remove any unwanted details of the puppets rather than the usual of editing in effects. Although the film wasnt produced using top, highly priced technology like Hollywood films, it still contains the usual action film's explosions, chases, stunts etc. Another huge saving Attack The Block made was the actors/actresses used, all apart from Nick Frost were unknown/new actors some without any experience at all, this made a massive saving but could also have made them lose money because having leading, well known actors/actresses helps to sell a film because of their loyal fan bases, whereas Attack The Block probably didnt get this sort of promotion to help.

Issues With Film Rating & Controversy Surrounding the Film:

Attack The Block had no issues whatsoever about the film rating which was a 15. Or in fact any controversy surrounding the film. It was a highly anticipated film from the British public and was recieved pretty well in Britain for its South London suburban reality and humour.

The Film's Promotion:

Attack The Block was promoted in a number of ways; tv adverts, cinema trailers, teaser trailers, UK & US official trailers, posters, magazine adverts, soundtrack available for purchase on Itunes etc, interviews with tv programmes and journalists in the UK and US, interviews with the director Joe Cornish talking about the upcoming film with journalists in the UK and abroad. The film/media magazine Little White Lies dedicated a whole issue to Attack The Block. Attack The Block got its own special trailer for the US which was specially suited for North American audiences, they also released a new clip of one of the movie’s many tension-building sequences. And most importantly Attack The Block had its own premiere in Leicester Square, London.

The Soundtrack:

The soundtrack for Attack The Block was collectively composed by Simon Ratcliffe, Felix Buxton and Steven Price. Both Simon Ratcliffe and Felix Buxton who are both part of the electronic dance music group Basement Jaxx and then Steven Price who is a British composer. This soundtrack was released on 16th May 2011 it is available to buy on Itunes, Amazon, HMV and more. The soundtrack includes 20 tracks.

5X5

Five television programmes:

Styled To Rock- British reality series on Sky Living, new this year is producer by singer Rihanna to find a fresh new fashion talent with the help of designer Henry Holland, singer Nicola Roberts and Rihanna's personal stylist Lysa Cooper.

Revenge- American television drama about a young woman set to take revenge on those who destroyed her family. Shown in the UK on E4.

New Girl- American television sitcom about an off-beat young woman called Jess who moves into an apartment with 3 single men.Shown in the UK on E4.

Celebrity Juice- British television comedy panel game shown on ITV1 and hosted by notoriously vulgar comedian Keith Lemon (Leigh Francis).

Two Broke Girls-American television sitcom, about two women who work and live together in Brooklyn, New York with the hopes of launching a successful business but first they have to raise the cash. Shown in the UK on E4.

Five Films:

500 Days of Summer- 2009 american romantic comedy starring Zooey Deschanel and Joseph Gordon-Levitt about a young woman who doesnt believe in true love and the young man that falls for her.

The Notebook- 2004 romantic drama based on the novel of the same name, starring Ryan Gosling and Rachael McAdams as a young couple who fall in love in the early 1940s.

P.S I Love You- 2007 American romance/drama about a young widow who goes on a life journey following 10 letters intended to help ease her pain and start a new life which were left by her late husband.

Cool Runnings- 1993 American adventure comedy about the unlikely debut of a Jamaican boblsleigh team. Starring Leon Robinson, Doug E. Doug, Malik Yoba, Rawle D. Lewis and John Candy. 

Step Brothers- 2008 American slapstick comedy about two middle-aged men still living at home who are forced to become roommates when their parents get married. Starring Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly.

Five Bands/Musicians:

Arctic Monkeys- English indie rock band who formed in 2002 in High Green, Sheffield. the band consists of frontman Alex Turner, Matt Helders, Jamie Cook, Nick O'Malley and former member Andy Nicholson.

Azealia Banks- An American rapper, singer and lyricist from Harlem, New York.

Crystal Castles- An electronic/experimental band formed in 2004 in Toronto, Ontario. Band consists of producer Ethan Kath and lyricist and singer Alice Glass.

The XX- English indie band formed in London 2008, band consists of Jamie xx, Baria Qureshi, Romy Madley Croft and Oliver Sim.

Passion Pit- American electropop band from Cambridge, Massachusetts. Formed in 2007, band consists of lead vocals Michael Angelakos, Ian Hultquist, Xander Singh, Jeff Apruzzese and Nate Donmoyer.

Five Magazines:

ELLE Magazine- Worldwide magazine of French origin that focuses on Women's fashion, beauty, health and entertainment. Founded in 1945.

Vogue- American fashion and lifestyle magazine, published monthly in 19 national and one regional edition by Conde Nast, first issue released in 1892.

i-D- British magazine dedicated to fashion, music, art and youth culture. Founded in 1980.

Nylon- American magazine that focuses on pop culture and fashion. Founded in 1999.

Harper's Bazaar- American women's magazine first published in 1867.

Five Female Models:

Kate Moss- Born on 16th January 1974 is an English model managed by Storm Model Management.
Rosie Huntington-Whiteley- Born on 18th April  1987 is an English model/actress.
Cara Delevingne-Born 12th August 1992, is an English model/socialite managed by Storm Model Management.
Poppy Delevingne- Born 15th September 1986 is an english model managed by Storm Model Management.
Alexa Chung- Born 5th November 1983 is an English model/tv presenter/contributing editor at British Vogue.

Understanding Filmmaking

Scene One- The Idea

Source one: Sources Of Inspiration

• Remakes:Charlie and the Chocolate factory was remade in 2005 from the original version produced in 1971 different characters and development in technology all contribute to the success of the new version.
• Real Life Events:Calender Girls was made from a real life story in 2003.
• Original Ideas:The film Ted was made in 2012 from an original idea, these are the most valuable commodity in the film industry.
• Adaptations: The Twilight Saga was adapted first from the author Stephenie Meyer's series of books. The first one being 'Twilight' these books inspired major success and can generate publicity.
• The Producer:Producers are akways looking for great ideas for new films and its them that decides to make this 'great idea' into a reality. E.g Wlt Disney
• The Director:A director can visualise a script and make it into a reality, they know how to take a story and put it onto the screen. E.g Steven Spielberg.
• The Writer:the writer defines and clarifies the whole idea, the plot and the main characters and turns it into something tangible. E.g J K Rowling
• Treatment:The writer will then write a treatment, a one page description of the plot and the main characters. E.g J K Rowling writes a treatment for The Philosophers Stone.
• Pitch:A pitch contains all the information the producer needs in order to sell the idea to financiers to commission a script.

Scene Two- Development Finance

Pitching the Project:

• The producer uses the treatment and pitch, plus their powers of persuasion, to get money to develop a script. 

Production Companies:

• The produces approaches the film production companies and persuades them that the film is going to make profits, they may offer development money, to develop a script

Sales, Distribution and Broadcast:

• The producer can offer the future sales and broadcast rights for the film in return for money to develop the script.

Public Investment:

• The producer can alse apply to a public funding body such as the UK film council for a development grant.

Private Finance:

• The producer can even pitch the film to private investors, in the hope they will support the project.

Tying down the Writer:

• The producer can now use the development money to tie the writer down to develop the project.

Scene Three- Script Development

• Synopsis- The producer and the writer agree/disagree on the key scenes/events in the film
• Step outline-The step outl;ine contains short written descriptions of all the scenes that will eventually make up the script (detailing action and scene breaks).
• Drafts- Film script drafts whether first or final drafts dont contain just diaglogue, but also the action and events on screen and even transitions between scenes.
• Revisions-Once the writer and producer are happy with the draft, it is sent to the financiers who will all have their own ideas
• Final draft-Once everyone is happy with the script (the director, producer and the writer), it is locked off and becomes a final draft. Now the writer gets paid
• Sales treatment- The finak stage is the creation of a sales treatment (a synopsis designed to sell the film to potential financiers, in other words an advert for the script).

Scene Four- Packaging

• What is packaging?- This is where the producer and director must now 'package' the script into a full commerical proposition, which is then ready for financing.
• The cast- Well known stars are commercial assets and are crucial in attracting funding to a film, some stars are known as Green Light Names (people which are well known in the industry or at the box office to secure financing for a film e.g Tom cruise)
• The heads of department- Commerciallu successful heads of department carry considerable power in the industry with knowledgeable financiers. These include: The production designer, the editor, the director of photography and 'the package' (the producer's assistant).
• Detailed budget and production schedule- To turn the film into a proper business propostion, the producer must know how much it will actually cost to make. The producer gets help from a line producer to supervise the budget, hire the crew, approve purchase orders and make sure all departments are doing their jobs properly and within the budget. E.g jane Frazer, Line Producer for Pride and Prejudice.
• Finance plan and recoupment schedule- Potential investors want to know how the producer plans to raise the money, and how she plans to pay them back. this includes The Recoupment Schedule & The Finance Plan.
• The 'complete' package- Now the producer has 'packaged' the film into a viable commercial proposition. Now the producer must present this package to a number of potential funders to get money to go on and make the film.

Scene Five- Financing

• The Market- The producer now has to complete the hardest part of filmmaking, attracting the investment to make the film. The director may also be able to help out at this stage, especially is he is well known in the industry
• Investment- The main potential sources of invesment are: Private Finance (private individuals willing to invest in film projects), Co-productions (production companies across the globe are reluctant to act as sole investors many are too small or dont want the risk. So they will enter into a partnership with the other production company sharing the costs, the risks and the profits).
• Pre-sales-The producer can also raise the money from 'Pre-sales' which is selling the rights to the film before it has even been made.
• Banks and Cap Funding- Some departments of banks specialise in film finance. They invest in commercial projects and also offer loans. E.g HSBC film services.
• Completion Bonds- Most financiers insist that a completion bond is in place before they agree to invest. This is insurance for the production.
• 'Green Light'- Once all the essential finding and insurance is secured, the film gets the 'Green Light' i.e. the go ahead.

Scene Six- Pre-production

• The kick-off meeting-  Once all the heads of department are hired (The casting director, the editor, the head of sound, the director of photography, the production designer, the 1st assisant director and the line producer). The shooting script can then be circulated and pre-production begins in earnest.
• Casting- The casting director, with the director and producer, begins the long process of identifying and casting the actors. An average film will have over 30 cast members.
• Storyboard- Storyboards are like blueprints for a film. where every shot is planned in advance by the director and the director of photography with the help of a storyboard artist.
• Production Design- The production designer plans every aspect of how the film will look, and hires people to design and build each part. this is done with the help of an art director, location manager, construction manager and costume designer. A set model is then made.
• Special effects planning- Effects shots are planned in much more detail than normal shots and can take months to design and build. The person responsible for all of this is the visual effects supervisor who uses computer technology (CGI) and special physical effects.
• The production Unit- The 1st assistant director, the line producer and the production manager make up the key logistic triangle  of the production, all having individuals roles to help make the production happen.

Scene Seven-The shoot

• First day of the principal photography: This is the key moment in the film production, shooting begins, and funding is released.
• Camera: The camera department is responsible for getting all the footage that the director and editor need in order to tell the story.
• Lighting and sound: Once the lighting and sound have set up and hair and makeup have been checked the shot can now begin.
• Acting: The actors as the only members of the film personnel that will be seen by the public, have a lot of responsibility, to make the film a huge success. Actors need to create a plausiable world and pretend that they are not surrounded by the crew of camera men and producers.
• Special physical effect: Every special effect is carefully constructed and must be filmed with a minimum risk of injury to cast and crew.
• Chain of command: Film productions are run with milatary precision.If they fall behind schedule, the financiers and insurers may step in.

Scene Eight-Post production

• Rough Cut: As the processed footage comes in, the editor assembles it into scenes and creates a narrative sequence for the film.
• Post production sound: Once the picture is locked, the sound department works on the audio track laying, creating and editing every sound.
• Digital effects and titles: Digital effects are added by specialist effects compositors and titles and credits are added in a compositing suite.  
• Grade and colour: The final stage of the picture edit is to adjust the colour and establish the fine aesthetic of the film.
• Final mix: After picture lock, the rough sound mix goes to a dubbing theatre where the sound mixer sets the final levels.
• Final cut: After the final cut the film reaches full lock, it is now finished and ready for duplication. 

Scene Nine- Sales

• Selling the product: To help sell the film to distributors the producer secures the services of a sales agent. A specialist in film sales. 
• The trailer: To help sell the film a trailer is made in order to show busy film buyers the most marketable aspects of the film.
• Sales Toolkit: The producer and the sales agent collect everything they will need to sell the film to distributors.
• Taking the film to the market: The market is saturated with films so the producer must go to great lengths to attract attention to the film.
• Screenings: A high profile screening at one of the top film festivals can be great for generating heat around a film. 
• Deals: The producer now has a hot product and can negotiate good deals with the distributors around the world. 

 Scene 10- Marketing

• The marketing team- To help sell the film to distibutors, the producer secures the services of a sales agent, a specialist in film sales. They then process through different marketing methods which is divided into two types ('above-the-line' and 'below-the-line'). 'Above-the-line' includes trailers, TV spots and poster campaigns and 'Below-the-line' marketing is more subtle, involving indirect forms of publicity such as press coverage, product tie-ins and merchandising.
• The audience- Knowing your audience is essential, and the marketing team runs test screenings to see how the film is recieved.
• Advertising- The potential audience for the film is targeted with posters, cinema trailers, TV spots and other marketing materials. E.g. The Batman Returns poster campaign on the side of a public bus.
• Press and media coverage- Television, radio, newspapers and magazines can all help create positive word-of-mouth about a film. Film journalists can help sell a film with good criticism and reviews.
• The intranet and new marketing models- The birth of digital media and the internet has flooded the world with information, but also made niche marketing possible by being able to aim their project at relevant audiences who are most likely to be interesting in what they are trying to sell rather than wasting money on nationwide advertising for people to just ignore it. E.g. Sci-fi fantasy films being advertised on gaming websites aimed at people who are interested in that genre.
• Selling the film to exhibitors-  In order to get the film to audiences, the distributors must negotiate a deal with the cinemas to screen it, a cinema programmer will watch all the films available and plan their exhibition schedule, they are the key decision makers in the exhibition world.

Scene 11- Marketing

• The premier- A high-profile, star-studded premiere is used to launch the film to the public with an explosion of media coverage. This is how fame really helps to sell films, stars have loyal fan bases following their careers already, this is why casting the right actors/actresses is so important. An example of a recent high-profile premiere is 'The Perks Of Being A Wallflower' starring Emma Watson.
• UK cinemas- The UK has over 3,500 cinema screens, although not all are British-owned, or show British films. Cinemas are the most important market for any film, as success at the box office can guarantee increased revenues in subsequent 'windows' (DVD sales and rentals, hospitality, broadcast, product licensing).
• Prints and logistics- Distributors supply the exhibitors with prints of the film, the more screens the film is shown on, the more prints are needed.
• Box office performance- Data about film attendance is collected continuously, and used by the cinemas to decide which films to cancel and which to prolong. if a film is underperformin, cinemas simply cannot afford to risk losing valuable income waiting for a film to become more popular.
• Revenues- The exhibitors take their share of the box office receipts, after which the distributors recoup their marketing costs. The box office gross is just the starting measure for what everyone involved will make from the film.
• Recoupment- Once the distributors have been paid, the financiers can recover their investments, as laid out in the recoupment schedule. Even if the film is a hit in the box office , the costs of marketing and exhibiting means that the producer is unlikely to see large profits once the exhibitor and distributor have been paid. So, the profits are most likely to come from DVD sales and broadcast.

Scene 12- Other windows

• Hospitality- Hospitality sales for hotel channels and in-flight entertainment can bring in millions in additional revenue.
• DVD and video- UK audiences spend more on DVDs than on cinema tickets, so success on DVD can compensate for box office failure.
• Broadcast- Television is the final source of revenue. Rights are sold separately for pay-tv showings and terrestrial broadcast.
• The game of the film- Rights for computer games and other product licenses can be extremely lucrative sources of additional revenue. The is a huge growing popularity in video games and is even seen as a threat to the future of film industry.
• Profit?- Once the film has made a profit, the producer and key creative people can reap their rewards. But sometimes even if the film has been a big hit, if the deals at the financing stage were not favourable they might not get much back at all.
• The end?- The final income from a film is never know, distribution continues for years and years and it may even be re-released in the future as an anniversary special  for example.