MICROBUDGET BRITISH FILM: SHIFTY

On Wednesday 11 September we watch Shifty (Eran Creevy) in class on BBc iPlayer HERE. It is available until 16 September. If you are on the Drama trip, please do this prep and class anyway.

We use this as an example of a microbudget film. We note what makes it a British film, how it used unconventional distribution methods and what Creevy made next.

Plot: Shifty, a young crack cocaine dealer in London, sees his life quickly spiral out of control when his best friend returns home. Stalked by a customer desperate to score at all costs, and with his family about to turn their back on him for good, Shifty must out-run and out-smart a rival drug dealer, intent on setting him up for a big fall. As his long time friend Chris, confronts the dark past he left behind him, Shifty is forced to face up to the violent future he's hurtling towards.

THE FILM INDUSTRY

• Hollywood and British film: differences in genre, cinematography, budget, audience, studio systems
• The four stages: production, direction, distribution, exhibition
• Digital film
• What does a distributor do?
• On which platforms do you view films?
• Theatrical exhibition: protected windows, revenue, peripherals

PREP Use Blogger to make a blog in the style of the class blog and email me your url.

FILMING A FILM OPENING

• We have viewed Delicatessen here on THE ART OF THE TITLE and Cherie HERE ON THE MEDIA DEPT YOUTUBE CHANNEL as examples of film openings using panning shots.
• We look at a couple of books about the Vietnam war to set the scene and discuss a possible treatment.
• In class we lay out the artefacts, costumes, lanterns, parasol, props, material and print work that we have collected on a long black cloth to create the world of the film.
• We use additional task lighting where needed.
• Each student uses the Canon D550 to take tracking shots along the set as well as some stills.
• Next double period, some live action is planned as well as the first edit.

Top films featuring the Vietnam war include the following. See extracts here on this site

• Good Morning, Vietnam (1987)
• We Were Soldiers (2002)
• Forrest Gump (1994)
• Born on the Fourth of July (1989)
• Platoon (1986)
• The Deer Hinter (1979)
• Apocalypse Now (1979)
• Full Metal Jacket (1987)

INTRODUCTION TO TEXTUAL ANALYSIS

OCR is our exam board so you should bookmark the link on your laptop LINK HERE
On the site, you have access to the specification, past papers, examiner's reports and useful tutorials.





In your end of year exam, Section A is the analysis of representation in television drama. An unseen clip will be screened four times.
You are expected to analyse and discuss the technical aspect of the language and conventions of moving image in the extract's representation of individuals, places, groups and events.

• camera shots, angles, movement, composition
• editing
• sound
• mise-en-scene

 You will be asked to discuss how these technical elements create specific representations of individuals, groups, events or places and help to articulate specific messages and values that have social significance. Particular areas of representation that may be chosen are:

•Gender

•Age

•Ethnicity

•Sexuality

•Class and status

•Physical ability/disability

We watch Nowhere Boy (directed by Sam Taylor Wood, 2009) and analyse the visual codes (camera angles, camera movement, shot types) and sound (dialogue and soundtrack).
We use technical codes (the language of moving image).

We note the exam mark scheme for a grade A response:

• use of terminology (8-10 marks)
• use of examples (16-20 marks)
• analysis, explanation, argument (16-20 marks)

We practise from the very start formulating responses that cover these three elements in the order given above. We note just how precise  and detailed our points must be.

WELCOME, MODERATOR

Dear Moderator,

You will find the work of the AS students on the right of this class hub.
We hope that you enjoy looking through the work.

Jenny Mann 
mann.jenny@mac.com

NETFLIX, AMAZON AND YOUTUBE MAKE THE FILMS OF THE FUTURE

PROLIFERATION 
From The Times 11April 2013 Andrew Billen

Are old technologies expiring? After the launch of satellite digital, we may be on the brink of a second TV revolution. These each have a different business model offering viewers something unique but all mine a world increasingly connected by broadband. Will traditional BBC opt out of licence fees and use only BBC iPlayer?

NETFLIX has origins in DVD rental and started as a steaming service. USP: all episodes available at once. To watch House of Cards, you must subscribe to internet service Netflix then view episodes on PC, tablet, smartphone or internet-connected TV. Next series Hemlock launches on April 19th and all episodes debut simultaneously. Netflix tracks what we watch, for how long, when we pause and rewind. It invested in director David Fincher (House of Cards) as 33 million subscribers had rented his films like The Social Network. " We know this ahis audience likes social dramas, horror and Eli Roth," says director of communications Joris Evers.  
AMAZON the world's biggest department store (rival to Netflix) through its video arm LOVEFILM
makes available for free 14 TV pilots mostly sitcoms. USP: crowdsourcing Hunt for next big sitcom involves audiences critiquing scripts, adding to them, suggesting improvements eg Meatheads set in US gym. Attracts audiences that have felt excluded from Hollywood process & professionals wanting to do something different.

YOUTUBE adds an astonishing 72 hours of material every minute: in any ten days, YouTube has more content added than has ever been produced for TV. USP: front page now features channels of aggregated content so as you subscribe tochannels you like, your homepage changes. " We can build a following around almost any interest group. We are hugely interactive:audiences get really close to content and the creator has total freedom. We have no editorial control whatsoever."Ben McOwen Wilson, director of content.

REMEMBER WHAT TO SAY ABOUT YOUR CASE STUDIES

..and remember to refer to your own habits & preferences as an audience...
..and finish with a brief discussion of trends! 
HOLLYWOOD BLOCKBUSTERS
Avengers Assemble, Skyfall and Iron Man 3 illustrate the Hollywood 4S mega franchise model and how global audiences are targeted through synergetic distribution methods.

How Avengers illustrates Hollywood production and distribution practices HERE

Megafranchise post revise story, sequel, spectacle and synergy HERE

Iron Man 3: "This month, I have seen that distribution for Iron Man 3 has included film website trailers, in-cinema trailers and a TV advert tie-in. I watched the 30 second teaser trailer with very high production values which highlighted the thrills and spills side of the film; in cinema whilst watching Oblivion I saw an extended trailer (addressed to like-minded audiences). On TV I watched no less than two Audi R8 e-tron car advert featuring Robert Downey Jr extolling the qualities of Audi engineering, linking his high-tech CGI suit to an Audi ("Iron Man approved" and "Engineered for Iron Man"). This is an example of cross-promotion or synergy."
 
As former Walt Disney CEO Michael Eisner put it : constant media synergy. 

Schatz (1997): 'movies, videogames and theme-park rides aren't separate entities or isolated media texts. Rather, they are related aspects or ‘iterations’ of entertainment supertexts, multimedia narrative forms which can be expanded & exploited ad infinitum, given the size and diversity of today's globalized, diversified entertainment industry. The essential UR-text within these media franchises is the Hollywood blockbuster.'

BUT In future, Hollywood may not have such a hold over global markets. In the first three months of this year, ticket sales for American-made films in the world's second-largest cinema market took an unexpected nosedive. Hollywood's bombastic superheroes have met their match as they struggle to keep their foothold in China: revenues fell in China, compared with the same period last year as big budget movies like The Hobbit failed to impress. ChinaFilmbiz.com reports that American movies "now hold a mere 23% of mainland China ticket revenues, a disastrous drop from the 57% share they held at this point last year".

It is interesting to note what Iron Man 3 has done to distribution in China: although the hero, brash but brilliant industrialist Tony Stark exemplifies the gung-ho spirit of the US, the script was vetted by Beijing, the film has a Chinese co-producer, many of the gadgets are from the Chinese electronics firm TCL, Ben Kingsley plays The Mandarin and a famous Chinese actor plays the villain Dr Wu. These measure aim to target the huge (global) Chinese audience. However, China also manipulates figures by imposing quotas on foreign film while giving incentives to national cinema.

Nevertheless, it may be that Asian audiences in general are tiring of  Hollywood action films that prioritise spectacle over story or character, and rely heavily on computer-generated explosions. I say this because I have read in The Times (23.04.13) that Hollywood has not done well this year in Japan, Korea and other parts of Asia." 

ISSUES ABOUT GLOBALIZATION: cultural imperialism (Team America says it all); threat to national cinemas; lack of provision for niche audiences; mainstream audiences are not the only ones to be served; disagree with Cameron & think of the loss - King's Speech did just fine, a UK Council funded film from lottery money; if 'easy appeal' is the aim, then all we'll get is dross like The Boat That Rocked when Danny Boyle says we should be producing challenging not easy-pleasing stuff.


BRITISH FILM AND NATIONAL AUDIENCES 
What characterizes British films and what do global, international and national audiences want to see? 

• BRITISH FILM What does British film industry do best:

identify genres: historical films [The King's Speech], 
literary adaptations [Salmon Fishing], 
social realism [Made In Dagenham], 
romantic comedy

• Why do we need need a national film industry?

To serve national and local audiences, and reflect national concerns 
 and because Hollywood blockbusters do not meet all national audience needs: DIVERSITY is good! Britissh cinema can offer us:

National social history: Made In Dagenham HERE

London estate life: Shifty, Shifty (Eran Creevy, 2008) SlideShare here and interview with Eran Creevy here on how they came out of nowhere to win acclaim 
As a result of early determination, Creevy last month released Welcome The Punch (2013) internationally with big names and big budget: investment in national talent pays, but has Creevy sold out to Hollywood values?

Ethnicity: Four Lions a film that allows audiences to see how terrorists are radicalised without stereotyping or demonizing all Muslims

Micro budget films emerge from local sources (crowd funding from Compton Bagpuize: Tortoise In Love (Guy Browning, 2011) ; Tortoise In Love  How TIL (very low budget film) built its audience using social media TIL on FaceBook. TIL then helped by BFI funding  HOW THE BFI FUNDED DISTRIBUTION & MARKETING HERE

Niche audiences: InBetweeners (Ben Palmer, 2011) TV spinoff. How the film beat records as most successful British comedy article here on breaking box office records]

• Working Title is a UK success story but it isn't typical 

(say why: Universal):  Working Title website HERE. WT produced Oscar-winning The King's Speech with Film Council funding as well as Les Miserables