The British film industry

 The British film industry

Factsheet #132: British Film

Use our brilliant Media Factsheet archive on the M: drive Media Shared (M:\Resources\A Level\Media Factsheets) to find Media Factsheet #132 on British Film. You can find it online here - you'll need to log in using your Greenford Google login. Read the whole of Factsheet and answer the following questions:

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

The people making the film are British, is it funded from within Britain, are the cast British, is the film’s subject matter about Britain or British culture.

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

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. The British film production context does not have as many clearly defined characteristics.

3) When did the James Bond franchise start?

The 1960s brought about the start of the James Bond franchise.

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

The British film industry in the 1970s was dominated by the subject of censorship that continued into the video nasties banning of the 1980s. The BBFC in the last few decades has tried to engage more with British audiences, making its guidelines not only accessible to all but also engaging with the public when reviewing these guidelines.

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

• From the 1950s onwards and has seen an evolution in some parts of the representation as well as a persistent consistency in the way some films portray young people, especially in the British Horror Film. For example if we look at the way youth is portrayed in a very singular way in Stanley Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange (Warner Bros, 1971)
• This is echoed through British Cinema and into current films such as Eden Lake (Rollercoaster Films, 2008), where we see a similar, (if not less fantastical) set of values being given to the youthful antagonists of the film.
• There are contemporary representations of youth in films such as Attack the Block (Studio Canal, 2011) that attempt to show a deeper more realistic portrayal of youth that challenges the stereotype of the threat or the rebel. Representation of women has gone through similar changes over the years with common stereotyping of women as either, the virgin, the mother or the whore.

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

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.

Factsheet #100: British film industry

To complete our introduction to the British film industry, we need a little more background to the industries context.

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 Cultural Test is divided into four sections and a film must score at least 16 out of a possible 31 points to be classified as British.

2) Complete the task on the Factsheet - choose three of the films listed and research them to work 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) 4 4 4 4 2 1 1 1 1 1 1=24

Attack the Block (dir. Cornish, 2011) 4 4 4 4 2 1 1 1 1 1 1=24

The King’s Speech (dir. Hooper, 2012) 4 4 4 4 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1=25

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?

• The Film Fund- According to the BFI website (www.bfi.org.uk), this fund is intended to support “filmmakers in the UK who are emerging or world-class and are capable of creating distinctive and entertaining work”. The fund has an annual budget of £15 million to invest in pre-production, production and post-production of films. In addition, the BFI has a team of experts who can help the filmmaker during development and production.

• The Innovation Fund- This fund supports projects that can help the UK make a successful transition into the digital age. This includes investing in new ways of getting films to the audience, in distribution and in developing modes of exhibition. In the past, this fund has been used to finance the Digital Screen Network, which facilitated the installation of digital projectors in 240 cinemas in the UK, and a pilot project which is attempting to bring films to rural communities via the latest digital equipment.

• The Prints and Advertising Fund- Even when British films get made, it is often difficult to find additional funds to market the final product so audiences are unaware the film exists, do not go to see it and the film’s box- office takings suffer accordingly. The Prints and Advertising Fund has an annual budget of £4 million used exclusively to raise awareness of films through distribution and marketing.

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

• 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.
• The UK film industry could 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. Careful sale of distribution rights could also mean that profits are channelled back into the UK film industry.

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

In my opinion, the second option would be the best safeguard as they can save lots of money by reducing production costs and the films would still have a British culture, so it's better to keep the culture rather than relying on American studios.