Arthouse film institution research

Production: Independent film studios

1) Look back at the five films you have analysed for your existing product research. Find which studios made them – e.g. Film Four, Studio Canal, BFI, BBC Films etc.

• It follows - Northern Lights films 
• Girlhood - Canal
• Donnie Darko - Flower Films
• Boyz n the hood - Columbia Pictures
• United 93 - Studio Canal

2) What other films do these studios produce? Can you find any any other independent, arthouse or low-budget examples?

• Northern Lights Films - The golden compass 
• Flower Films - Never been kissed 
• Columbia pictures - The pursuit of Happyness 
• Studio Canal - High Rise

3) Do the studios have any notable successes? What is the most successful low-budget or independent film the studio has released?

• Northern lights - It follows
• Flower Films - Donnie Darko 
• Columbia pictures - 2012 
• Studio Canal - Macbeth 

Distribution: Independent film distributors

2) Summarise the 10 steps of film distribution in a list using your own words.
The 10 steps of film distribution is a very long method as there has to be directors, producers, editors and etc. Certainly, the film at first must be planned and the filmed which would take years to finish due to the right technologies being used and no corruption within actions. Also, then the movie will need to be edited by the editor being supervised by the director into what need to done. Then once the movie is edited, the BBFC will rate and classify the movie before it is distributed into the mainstream cinemas like Vue.

3) Now research the distributors for each of the arthouse films you have analysed for your existing product research. Who distributed each film in the UK?
The distributors for the movie "It follows" are Dimension films and The Weinstein Company. Moreover, Icon Film Distribution distributed the film in the UK. 

For the movie "Girlhood", the distributor is Pyramide Distribution. Also, the distributor that distributed this film in the UK was Studio Canal.

The movie "Donnie Darko", the distributor are Newmarket films, Pandora Cinema and United Artists. In the UK, the distributor was the Metrodome Distribution company. 

The distribution company for Boyz N the hood is Columbia pictures. Moreover, the Uk distributor is the Columbia Tristar Home entertainment. 

 The distributors of United 93 are Universal studios, Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures and United International pictures. Furthermore, the distributor who distributed this film to the UK is the Columbia Tristar Home entertainment.

5) How much money did each film make? Did it make a profit against the budget?
The movie "It follows" made up to 20.6 million dollars gross profit worldwide. The budget of the film was 2 million which meant that they made a huge amount of profit. 

The movie "Girlhood" made a gross profit up to only 1.7 million dollars. With the budget, I wasn't able to find the estimated budget of the film. 

The movie "Donnie Darko" had a budget of 4.5 million dollars estimated. And with their gross profit worldwide, they made 1.2 million dollars which is significantly lower than their budget meaning they didn't make ideal profit.

The movie "Boyz N the hood" budget was 6.5 million and their gross profit worldwide made was 57 million dollars which is a staggering amount with a low budget. It totally shows that the movie succeeded in the mainstream screenings such as vue and how much profit they made.

The movie "United 93" budget was a huge amount with an estimated 15 million dollars. With their gross profit that they made worldwide, was 76 million dollars estimated which goes against their budget as they made more profit.

6) Research Curzon Artificial Eye. Who are they and what do they do?
Curzon Artificial eye are an organisation that are UK's leading independant film distributors. They release critical acclaimed films to their discerned and enlgihtened UK audience. Also, these films are directed by many great directors in the world which makes the films more appealing.

6) Look at the Curzon Artficial Eye YouTube channel. Watch three trailers for recent or upcoming independent films and identify something you can learn from each film to use in your own film production.

1) With this movie trailer called "Valley of Love", I certainly consumed some amazing ideas from it which me and the group could discuss about whether to gather these ideas and perhaps use it to make our film more appealing and better. Firstly, with the shots, I thought that the variation of different shot types and angles immediately caught my eye. I immediately was appealed by the shot types and the shot angles within the movie trailer and it certainly makes the movie look more interesting and less dull. Also, with the sound within the movie trailer, there was a continuous non-diegetic sound of anxiety build sound which we could use in our final production to make our scenes more dramatic and enthusiastic. 

 2) This movie is called "Things to come". Within the trailer, it has many ideal and creative concept, editing and etc in it. But the lighting withn the movie trailer seem to be have appealed to me a lot. It is because the lighting is mainly high key which is the same as our idea for our final production but however, they also add up a little of low key lighting in the movie trailer which we as a group can think about. It can make scenes dramatic. 

3) With this movie trailer, the name of it is "The unknown girl" which has a link with our idea for our final film production's narrative. We have a girl that is forgotten by everyone and she is then unknown and left by herself. However, with the ideas that I have picked up within the movie trailer, the shot type is what appealed to me as there were many shot types such as the over the shoulder shot and also with the angle of the shots. They were very appealing to me and it an help us with our final film production as it gives us an insight of the variation and amount of shot types and angles we should use in our final film production in order for our film to turn out amazing. 

Exhibition: Arthouse cinemas

Find some London-based arthouse cinemas and research the following:

1) What is the name of the cinema? Where is it?
Name: The Everyman Cinema    Location: Canary Wharf

2) What type of films do they show? What films are on this week? How do their programmes differ from the major cinema chains like Vue? 
They mainly show arthouse films but are also showing films that are not in the arthouse category such as star wars: rogue one and Doctor Strange. From this, they are trying reach a wider audience so more people will start coming to the cinema. Movies such as A monster calls and Silence are on this week. The programmes differ from the major cinema chains like Vue as The Everyman cinema tend to mainly show arthouse films whereas Vue tend to show many movies that are mainstream which leads to more audience target.

3) What type of audience attends this kind of arthouse cinemas? Are there any clues on the website regarding the target audience? How can you tell?
The type of audience that attends this kind of arthouse cinemas like The Everyman is elderly people which is older generation as many movies in this arthouse cinema are rated over 15. This would be aimed at more middle and upper-class audience with good income a week. Also, they target people that are certainly into arthouse films.


A case study in independent film production: Film London and Microwave Film

1) What is Film London and why does it exist?
Film London is a company that is supported by Mayor of London. They exist as their purpose is to promote the culture in London by creating it and investing in it. Also, they want to help the young people with potential to become popular and famous stars in London.
 
2) What is the purpose of Microwave Film?
The purpose of Microwave film is to promote and help young and emerging talents. Also, they want to help and develop shortlisted projects that young or anyone make. Lastly, they want people to establish the film industry.
 
3) What is the London Calling project for Film London and how does it encourage independent filmmaking?
London calling projects is about convincing and trying to help the young and talented emerging film makers into creating better and more professional movies. They provide them with the right equipments that are essential to create a good movie. It motivates other independant filmmakers to create better films. 

4) Choose three feature films funded by Microwave Film and embed their trailers in your blog. For each film, explain why it fits the profile for an arthouse or independent film and what target audience the film might attract.

1) This movie trailer is from the movie "Lilting". This movie is all about a male character's death who was the son of the character "Junn" and the boyfriend of the character "Richard". When the death of the son happens, the character richard reaches out to his mother to speak about her son (his long-term partner). Unfortunately, hs mother couldn't speak English which made the communication between the two a challenge and difficult. So Richard brings a translator to communicate with his partner's mother which he hadn't met whilst his partner was alive. This movie fits the profile for an arthouse as the movie's budget was only 120,000 GBP which is a really low amount in comparison to other mainstream movies. This makes it arthouse because arthouse films tend to be low budget and tend to target little audience rather than many. Also, the movie includes foreign language which is quite artistic which also fits the profile for an arthouse. 

 2) Ill Manors movie is about 6 characters who are finding it very hard to cope with reality such as violence and are finding it to survive in the streets of the urban and violent London. Also, in this there is the main protagonist who plays the role of a good person that is trying to solve all the issues with everyone and in London. I think ill Manors fits the profile of Arthouse because it reflects real events that happen quite a lot in the real world. So essentially, it is reflecting those people who find it hard to survive in the streets. Also, this is what makes the movie look artistic as the whole movie was created to reflect the real life issues that happen to many people. 

3) This movie trailer is from the movie "Shifty" which is essentially about a young crack cocaine dealer that sees his life go out of control and with his friend, being with him always, also gets involved with the problem. One customer is stalking the 2 friends and is looking to hunt down the characters. This movie fits the profile of arthouse as the setting of it is very urban as well as with the accent, its cultural in UK. Moreover, this movie also shows the real life events that happen mostly everytime with individuals that are involved in these type of situations.

5) Watch these top tips for film production. List three things you've learned from these short videos that you can apply to your MEST2 production work. 

• With the tips for film production, there were many such as including the audience. With making a low budget film, the audience is the main priority and must be thought about from the beginning and till the end. They are the ones that your stories are intended towards and they are the ones that going to watch your film. From the beginning, think about what audience group your movie is intended to and who they Also, thinking about the audience from the start will help the narrative of the movie become better as you will know what audience group you are intending the story to and who you are communication it to. 
• Secondly, every low budget movies must be planned with the script, shot list, casting and location. I have learnt that the planning of a movie before the production part helps them to clearly know what to do, where to shoot it and what storyline it is. With the script, the actors can know what the story is and what they are meant today. The storyline must be strong and clear within the movie in order to approach the audience. This is what I have also learnt with the storylines being pivotal to the success of low budget films. The storylines are the ones that are communicating to the audience about the related problems or anything else. Also, with the variety of locations planned out for the filming will make the film more successful with more than one location. Essentially, I have learnt that these things are important when it comes to making your film more appealing and successful. 
• Lastly, I have learnt that making the casting of characters is very key to your film being remembered by people and appealed to a wide audience. If you have a one main character that leads everything and everything is circulated around him, then the audience are likely to remember the movie because of the character. Essentially, it is very important to have a leading character or have other characters that will reach out to the audience. Lastly, I will apply this to my MEST2 production work as we as a group will have a leading characetr that everything is mainly focused on.