The British film industry: blog tasks

1) Write a one-sentence definition of what makes a film British.

A film which mostly consists of British actors and has a British directory team also it has so to have aspects of British culture to attract the right audience and display its social contexts .

2) What is the difference between a Hollywood production context and production context of a British film?

British film as a production context also tends to be varied but idiosyncratic to the story being told within the film. A films production context is the conditions under which the film has been made. For instance the Hollywood production context means that most films made by Hollywood studios have high budgets, a heavy reliance on celebrities both in the cast and crew and spectacle driven stories.

3) When did the James Bond franchise start?

1962

4) In terms of film censorship and graphic content, what began to change in British film in the 1970s and 1980s?

The 1970s sees a rise in British Films of sexual content, both the act of sex and sex linked to violence with films like A Clockwork Orange (Warner Bros, 1971) coming under a lot of scrutiny. The 1980s see the rise of videos and the ‘video nasty’s scare where filmmaking was becoming more accessible and more extreme content was being created and finding its way to Britain. And so a continual evolution of film censorship and classification in this country has happened since the 1980s .

5) What groups are often represented in British film? Give examples of films these groups feature in.

Upper class - The queen  

South Asian - East is east 

Black - Babylon 

6) What does the Factsheet suggest might be the audience appeal of British film? 

As we have already established it can be difficult to label a film as British, however those few films that can be labelled as British are so because of the content and focus on British culture. This is the first step towards targeting and appealing to a British audience as with any film made by a country for its own populace. The main characteristics that can be identified as appealing to a native British audience would include; the actors, British actors tend to be clearly identifiable as British and will often be associated with a particular genre of British film, for example Hugh Grant having an association with British romantic comedies.

Find Media Factsheet #100 on the British film industry. You can find it on the same link as above. Read the whole of the Factsheet and answer the following questions:

1) What is the 'cultural test' to see if a film counts as British?

The film is set in the UK .

The lead characters are British citizens or residents .

The film is based on British subject matter or underlying material.

The original dialogue is recorded in mainly the English language.

2) Complete the task on the Factsheet, researching the films listed and finding out what they score on the cultural test: The Sweeney (2012), Attack The Block, The King's Speech, We Need To Talk About Kevin and Skyfall.

The Sweeney (dir. Love, 2012)

A - Cultural Context

A1 The film is set in the UK 4 points

A2 The lead characters are British citizens or residents 4 points

A4 The original dialogue is recorded in mainly the English language 4 points

C - Cultural Hubs

C1 British studio and/or location shooting, visual effects or special effects 2 points

C2 British music recording, audio post-production or picture post-production 1 point

D - Cultural Practitioners

D1 British director 1 points

D2 British scriptwriter 1 point

D3 British producer 1 point

D4 British composer 1 point

D5 British lead actors 1 point

D6 Majority of cast are British 1 point

D7 British key staff (lead cinematographer, lead production designer, lead costume designer etc.) 1 point

D8 Majority of crew are British 1 point

Total Score: 23

Attack the Block (dir. Cornish, 2011)

A - Cultural Context

A1 The film is set in the UK 4 points

A2 The lead characters are British citizens or residents 4 points

A4 The original dialogue is recorded in mainly the English language 4 points

B - Cultural Contribution

B The film represents or reflects a diverse British culture, heritage or creativity 4 points

C - Cultural Hubs

C1 British studio and/or location shooting, visual effects or special effects 2 points

C2 British music recording, audio post-production or picture post-production 1 point

D - Cultural Practitioners

D1 British director 1 point

D2 British scriptwriter 1 point

D3 British producer 1 point

D4 British composer 1 point

D5 British lead actors 1 point

D6 Majority of cast are British 1 point

D7 British key staff (lead cinematographer, lead production designer, lead costume designer etc.) 1 point

D8 Majority of crew are British 1 point

Total Score: 27

Skyfall (dir. Mendes, 2012)

A - Cultural Context

A1 The film is set in the UK 4 points

A2 The lead characters are British citizens or residents 4 points

A4 The original dialogue is recorded in mainly the English language 4 points

B - Cultural Contribution

B The film represents or reflects a diverse British culture, heritage or creativity 4 points

C - Cultural Hubs

C1 British studio and/or location shooting, visual effects or special effects 2 points

D - Cultural Practitioners

D1 British director 1 point

D2 British scriptwriter 1 point

D5 British lead actors 1 point

D6 Majority of cast are British 1 point

D7 British key staff (lead cinematographer, lead production designer, lead costume designer etc.) 1 point

Total Score: 23

3) What is the main problem for the British film industry?

Historically, the British film industry has been production led rather than distribution led. This means that many UK films are made but, in order to get the film exhibited, the filmmakers have to sacrifice the distribution rights by selling the film to a distribution company. Once sold, all revenue from cinema screenings, DVD and Blu-ray sales, plus sales to television companies, are lost. Even a highly successful British film is not necessarily making money that will be reinvested in British filmmaking.

4) What are three of the strengths of the British film industry?

• outstanding creative skills of practitioners

Directors like Richard Curtis have made films, such as Love Actually (2003), which have grossed billions of dollars worldwide and intellectual property, such as J. K Rowling’s Harry Potter books, have also enabled British film production companies to be involved in the production of financially successful franchises.

• outstanding facilities

British studios, camera companies and digital post-production houses all attract investment from filmmakers around the world, especially the USA.

The British film industry has several strengths that make it the third biggest film industry in the world. British films take 5% of world box-office takings, which is extraordinary for such a small nation.

5) What are the two options for the future of the British film industry?

Option 1
Firstly, British filmmakers could choose to rely upon co-productions with American studios to keep the industry afloat. However, the drawback would be that much of what makes the film British may be lost, such as regional accents and dialects or cultural and political references. Since these features would make no sense to an audience outside of Britain, it is unlikely that an American company involved in a co-production would approve of them.

Option 2

The UK film industry’s second option is to attempt to make low budget films targeted at a niche, British audience. Though the production costs will have to be lower and box-office taking and profits will necessarily be lower too, the filmmakers will be able to retain what it is that makes British films so distinctive without compromise.

6) In your opinion, which of these two options would best safeguard the future of the British film industry?

Option 2 ensures that it will provide customer satisfaction aswell as confirming of cheaper budgets .