Part 3: The British Film Industry

Unit G322 Section B – Audiences & Institutions

PART 3: THE BRITISH FILM INDUSTRY

Q1. 3D films in general cost more than normal films to produce and screen at cinemas, and so it is fairly unreasonable to expect the average cinemagoer to constantly pay more to see a film only on the basis that it is 3D. Furthermore, films that didn’t require 3D, such as the King’s Speech - which grossed £45.7 million – and The Inbetweeners Movie, and were the recipients of most of the UK box office revenue in 2011, dominated the UK box office.

Q2. 82% of the 62% of British films made for under £500,000 were probably shown at independent film festivals or given a DVD or viral release if they weren’t theatrically released.

Q3. The majority of people probably attend the cinema mid-week because Monday-Thursday cinema prices are usually significantly cheaper than weekend ones. Pensioners, students or those with part time jobs, on average, have less of a tight-scheduled working week and consequently more free time. Coupled with perhaps having a less stable income, this means that the cheaper mid week cinema prices are a more appealing alternative to opening weekend cinema excursions.

Q4. The commercial rival to traditional DVD sales are now the online rental and delivery sites such as LOVEFiLM Netflix and Amazon. They are more effective if someone is pressed for time as they enable you to simply order a DVD online directly to your door or just stream it straight to your computer. These companies accounted for 46% of all feature film rental transactions in 2011.  However, many people now can watch films online for free, usually from illegal sources, and so there seems to be less need to pay money for an actual DVD.

Q5.  The most marked difference in the UK film market between 2002 and 2011 is the rising number of films that are produced annually (including independent cinema), and while admissions figures have remained level, the profits of the box office have increased, exceeding £1 billion in 2011, perhaps owing to rising tickets prices or savvier production and distribution costs.  The digital change throughout the decade means that the UK now has 1,475 digital screens capable of 3D, compared to only 2 in 2002.  The progression and expansion of the Internet has lead to an expansion in the way films are viewed, as formerly in 2002 the only on demand services were pay-per-view services on satellite and cable. As a whole the population are now more digitally aware and open to new mediums.

Q6. Instead of having a massive studio structure, UK films since 1997 have been produced with lottery funding from the Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), helping to run three mini-studios – Pathé Productions, DNA Films and The Film Consortium. The latter wasn’t entirely that successful, the others faired well, received extra financial aid from separate companies such the Regional Screen Agencies, BBC Films, Film4 and investment and partnerships in Europe.

Q7. It benefits film producers to have their films branded as British because they can then apply for tax relief or Lottery funding from the BFI. A lot of British productions that may be created and filmed in Britain by British filmmakers are sometimes financed by American companies, which then take over distribution in America and receive a chunk of profits. It benefits Hollywood and other foreign investors to have British films in their repertoires because the quality of stereotypical ‘Britishness’ in a lot these films is an individual selling point in itself.

Q8. Only 4 of the top 20 UK films of 2011 originated exclusively from the UK, but even Jane Eyre had an American director. The majority of major distributors were American, suggesting that a significant amount of profit actually leaves the UK. The British film industry operates on an international scale with large, ambitious productions and partnerships, making it harder to successfully distribute a wholly UK-made film.

Q9. Both My Week With Marilyn and The Boy in The Striped Pajamas were co-produced by BBC Films, maintaining the trend for adapting already-well know books by British authors (e.g. Brighton Rock, An Education), as well as having a foreign settings or character which give the films further marketing appeal.

Q10. The collation government decided to axe the UKFC because they felt it had not wisely spent £160million of Lottery money on 900 different film projects, with funding of small-scale arthouse cinema (via their New Cinema Fund) not proving to be profitable, and funding of supported mainstream work (via their Premium Fund) as unnecessary. Criticism was aimed at the content of a lot of their material, as well as obvious box-office failings and inability to compete in an international-market.

Q11. The UK film council needs bodies like the UKFC/BFI to provide financial support and hold together it’s mélange of actors, writers and filmmakers. This is due to the fact that the UK film industry does not operate from a single giant studio syndicate, but instead a mish-mash of companies and investors relying on each other to create a finished product. Without the all-encompassing safety net of the UKFC, it is especially hard for new filmmakers to propel themselves out into the open and generate publicity and profit for their work.