Unit 26: Film Studies - Task 2 - Comparing Hollywood & British Film Production

Since the first World War, Hollywood has essentially dominated Britain's entire film industry. America's industry was growing at a faster pace than Britain's and it never caught up. Since then the film industry in America has been made up of a series of global media conglomerates with many subsidiaries while Britain is full of smaller, more independent companies.

The British Film Industry is often referred to as a 'cottage industry'. This refers to the smaller scale of the industry compared to Hollywood. The 'cottage industry' targets mainly British audiences, unlike Hollywood, an industry which is globally known and has a worldwide audience.

But Hollywood & British Film production aren't as separate as you might think. The majority of 'British' films are actually funded by American corporations as part of a co-production. This is because many of the top British companies are subsidiaries of American companies. For example, although people tend to class the Harry Potter films as British, they are distributed and partly funded by large American companies like 20th Century Fox and Sony. This actually means they aren't making all of the profit from one of their industries biggest franchises, which stops the British film industry being able to rise, not even necessarily to the level of Hollywood, but higher than it currently is.

As for the content both industries produce, they are totally different. Hollywood are known for their 'Blockbusters' and their 'big action flicks' while the British film industry usually create much more down to earth, relatable and realistic films. For example, some of the most popular and successful British films are This is England, Kes and Trainspotting. All three of these films are based around working class characters and areas in England. Kes follows a young boy who spends his free time caring for a pet falcon however around the main plot the character deals with many of the issues that working class people would deal with when this film was released (1969) and also is shown taking part in things that people in Britain would be able to relate to. Trainspotting & This is England are more modern films with very similar themes. Once again, both follow a group of working class characters. However, in both of these films there is a lot of drug use, which people consider a very large problem amongst the working class, which means both of these films have a very honest look at Britain.

Al 3 of these films had a low budget compared to something being made at the same time in the American film industry. For example, Trainspotting (1996) had an estimated budget of £2,500,000 while an American film such as Die Hard: With A Vengeance (1995) had a budget of $90,000,000. This is due to the huge difference in money the British and American film industries had and still have.

There are all kinds of methods for funding British films. One way is through BBC films. This method works by getting in contact with BBC films either through an agent or individually with your pitch or idea. BBC films is an established film production company with a high income due to their position in the film industry, which means the offer great funding towards any film that they decide to produce.

Another method is through the BFI Film Fund. Using money from the UK national lottery, the BFI provide investment in a film production to support it. This is a good method for smaller films and film makers that usually wouldn't get funding for production. They also support and fund UK distributors, sales agents and exhibitors.

Companies such as Film4 fund several feature films a year through using both licence fee and equity investments.

British films can qualify for tax relief funding. This is a method where the UK Government directing assists the production, providing that it meets the requirements. They need to either qualify as an official co-production or pass a Cultural Test. The Cultural Test consists of a series of statistics about the film and depending on if the production fits into those statistics it will dictate if it is eligible to be a British film. Tax relief funding encourages further investment, benefits many film making aspects, supports more UK independent productions and encourages minority co-productions where the UK spend is less than 25 %. 

The technology used on a production can effect the production's process. For example, if the film was going to be shown in IMAX it would need to be recorded with an IMAX camera. Filming 3D movies is a very similar case. Having extra technology like this used on the production adds cost and means less of the budget can be used on other aspects of production. Having a Blu-Ray or DVD release of the film is also an extra cost, including the additional features likely to be added to them like behind the scenes footage.

Speaking of Blu-Ray & DVD releases of films, while they are the main source of distribution in both the British & US film industry, they are only one part of the release. Another part of the distribution are the trailers and other promotional material. Promotion of films in the UK film industry and the US film industry can be similar however America tends to promote their films on larger scale. For example, in America, there are often huge billboards with the poster for the latest blockbuster movie on display. The UK also have posters on billboards and have other ways of showing the latest films however, these are usually also filled by films from the American industry. Even in the UK the posters we see are advertising America's latest blockbuster. Fully British movies are often promoted on a much smaller, lower level. Rarely will you see a poster advertising the latest film in the British film industry because America has dominated the entire global film industry so much.

Because Hollywood is such a dominating industry compared to Britain, they can use both Vertical & Horizontal Integration. Vertical Integration is when a large conglomerate owns different companies that work on all 3 stages of the film from production to distribution. This is a huge advantage for conglomerates as they are able to cover the entire film themselves. They can save time and money because they do not have to pay any extra money to another company to do it for them. Buying companies to work on each individual stage of the film is, in the long term, very expensive however it will almost definitely save the conglomerate money meaning they will generate more income.

 Horizontal Integration is essentially the opposite of Vertical. It's when a conglomerate goes into business with other companies through acquisition. This means the different companies from different sectors of the film industry can then work together on the same project. This means that there is no need to bring anyone else in to help work on the project meaning that money will be saved. An example of this would be the production of Skyfall (2012). The film, produced by Sony Pictures, needed a song and they got Adele to make one specifically for it. Since Adele was already singed to Columbia records, a subsidiary of Sony Music Entertainment, Sony would make money from the film and the music.

Horizontal & Vertical Integration are not often used in the UK film industry without the British companies involved being subsidiaries of American conglomerates.

One of the many differences between the British Film Industry & The American Film Industry is the ratings system. Britain has the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) while the US has the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA). The ratings in the UK consist of U, PG, 12A, 12, 15 & 18 while in the US it consists of G, PG, PG-13, R & NC-17. America's rating system can be seen as less strict than in the UK because younger viewers are actually allowed to see higher rated films in US theatres. For example, in UK cinemas, adults accompanying children under the age of 12 are not allowed to take them into any film rated higher than 12A while, in the US, adults are allowed to take children of any age up to 17 years old to see a film that has been passed as high as R (Restricted).

Unit 26: Film Studies - Task 1 - Auteur Theory & Genre Theory

Auteur Theory

Auteur theory is the theory that, despite everyone involved in the film making process, it is the Director that mostly leaves their mark on the final product. This is because it's the Director's overall vision which is being created. Because Directors leave their mark, you can often see running themes throughout their work.

A very good but obvious example of a Directors specific style is Wes Anderson. Anderson is known for his stylistic choices more than most directors and his style is much more obvious to spot than others too.

In the follow clip from Wes Anderson's film 'The Grand Budapest Hotel' we see several of the Director's trademarks such as symmetrical framing and tracking shots.

The shot where Gustav and Zero are stood outside of the Hotel perfectly demonstrates Anderson's use of symmetry in his films. You can see the doorman is dead on centre of frame and on either side of the shot there are identical windows with identical plants seen inside. He also frames the shot so everything is as perfectly in line as it possibly can be, also seen clearly in the picture below.

This kind of symmetry and framing is seen throughout Anderson's films too:

In this shot from 'Fantastic Mr. Fox' we once again have a character centre frame with symmetrical surroundings. While not perfectly symmetrical or even as symmetrical as the previous shot there is still a strong use; The fly trap light is in the middle of the frame while either side of the shot in the top corners there are 2 identical lights as if reflected.

This shot too contains symmetry but less obvious than the others. This time it isn't the background containing it but the subjects of the scene. The smaller actor has purposefully been put in the middle of the two taller actors for the effect.

Another example of the Auteur theory that people might use is Quentin Tarantino. Tarantino is, like Wes Anderson, a Director who's name is very valued on their films. Rather than identifying a film as a genre, many film audiences just identify his films as 'Tarantino movies'. He is as much of a draw to the film as the actors are.

Tarantino demonstrates Auteur theory slightly differently to Anderson. Anderson's camera angles and techniques are what make him stand out while Tarantino uses lots over gore and over the top violence.

However, Tarantino films can be identified by their camera angles too. He has a recurring theme of using a similar shot in all of his work. The shot I'm talking about is the 'trunk shot':

Tarantino also tends to intertwine his films, having them all take part in the same continuity (except for Kill Bill). He does this by making links such as Vincent in Pulp Fiction is the brother of Vic in Reservoir Dogs.

Genre Theory

Genre relates to a range of media forms. However, genre in film is the style or category the film fits into. There are all kinds of genres such as drama, horror, comedy, romance, sci-fi etc. And sometimes films fall into more than one category, creating a genre like Rom-com. There are also all kinds of sub-genres, for example; super heroes, sports, fantasy or disaster.

Genre can relate the 3 'phases' in the film industry. For producers the genre can be used as the template for the film before it is made. Distributors use the genre of a film to figure out who the best audience is and how they should market and advertise the film. And, finally, as the audience, a film genre helps us label different films whether we would enjoy them or not, meaning we can filter films by our individual tastes.

Over time genres become classics because of their influence over all aspects of cinema. These genres have been tried and tested over a long period of time allowing them to be 'perfected' or at least for the film makers to completely understand what is needed from a film or script for it to fit into the chosen genre.

Genre has many rules or conventions it needs to follow. Having these rules makes a kind of promise between the distributor and the audience because they are knowing (vaguely) what to expect.

One of these conventions can be symbolic, for example using the colour red in a horror movie fits because it represents danger to the audience. You could also use green to represent a sci-fi movie. A good example of colour used in film is in Edgar Wright's 'Cornetto trilogy'. The 3 films have different themes and a colour corresponding to each of them.

Another is technical. Like how in different genres of movies the use of shot types, lighting etc. will be different as certain technical conventions fit with some genres more than they do with others. For example, fast paced 'shaky cam' style that might be used in action movies for a fight scene almost definitely wouldn't be seen in a rom-com.

The third convention is historical. This is about setting the scene correctly for the film to fit into the right time period and make sense to the audience. So, if the film was set in the middle ages everything from the props to what the actors were doing would have to make sense in that period.