The Film Industry Exam
What is it all about?
You are expected to be able to
discuss the Film Industry with reference to specific examples. In a nutshell,
that is it. So as this is a broad area, there are some ways to break this down.
There are FOUR key areas to think about:
PRODUCTION
DISTRIBUTION
MARKETING
EXCHANGE/EXHIBITION
There are also several question areas that can come up that
have been predefined by the exam board for you.
Roughly translating as:
1. What difference does it make, if
any, who owns the ‘means of production’
2. What effect does working across
medias have when making, distributing and marketing a film?
3. What new technology stuff is
out there and being used to make, market and ‘exchange’ film?
4. What has been the effect of
everyone having more access (through technology) to ways to watch/consume and
purchase films?
5. What has been the effect of
there being more film related content
out there for audiences to consume and the (mostly cost related) impact on the
film-makers in having to produce more content!
6. How things have changed as
audiences have devices that can do
multiple media ‘things’ and access multiple media forms
7. What film companies have to
think about in relation to audiences and geography and their content. How do
they appeal to audiences across territories?
8. How do you consume film? How is
this like how everyone else is also consuming (and changing their consumption
of) film?
You MUST find examples - what we call 'case studies'
Further on Q1
What difference does it make how much money film companies
have? With examples!
Further on Q2
For example – looking at the impact of using the TV and
internet (perhaps viral marketing) to market your film or looking at the impact
of having a videogame that is linked to your film – looking across medias to see where film making,
sharing and selling has benefitted by using more than one medium (film, tv,
internet, videogames, radio etc) to sell its products. This is where you will
find references particularly to the impact of the internet and convergent
devices as these are essentially the newest areas in terms of development. So
you need to look at how films and film companies can use the internet
(advantages and disadvantages) and how the increase of devices that can ‘do more than one thing’ (called
convergent – like converging lines (rather than parallel lines) – many
different things end up together (parallel keeps them apart) so your tv, phone
and computer were separate devices,
now your phone also functions as your TV, your phone, your computers, your
access to the internet etc) has affected the way you can access
films and in turn this has affected the ways in which film makers can/must allow
access to devices (now your phone also functions
as your TV, your phone, your computers, your access to the internet etc) and so
this has affected the way you can access films and in turn this has affected
the ways in which film makers can access YOU – your consumption of films, how
you consume films etc. You must also consider the ways in
which film makers can SELL their wares – how they behave – how they sell, where they sell, what formats they
use, if they’re doing things differently now and how (for example think about
how FACEBOOK and Twitter affect films – you can ‘kill’ a film very quickly by
word of mouth (everyone tells their friend not to see something because it’s
‘pants') – think how much faster this is if you use Twitter – Bruno (2009) was ‘killed’ by poor word
of mouth on Twitter in one weekend!).
Further on Q3
We say ‘exchange’ to cover both consuming a film by watching
it (exhibition) and by 'buying' it
(exchange).) This would also be new ways
to make film (e.g. 3D, CGI), new ways to market film (e.g. using
viral advertising on the internet, using Facebook (having a film FB page for
example), using Twitter (via Hashtags) to generate discussion (and therefore
awareness) and in turn ‘purchase’ (either as watching, buying the DVD/BluRay or
download), by linking with other products such as having a videogame-film
jointly made and new ways to consume
film – on the internet, on your phone, tablet, on your TV via your Satellite
provider or internet enabled TV (Netflix, Lovefilm etc)
Further on Q4
How do film companies have to negotiate this? Audiences can
now watch in multiple ways and this can make a difference. Each element has
different costs – some make more money/profit for the company – for example, do
they make more money if you watch the film in the cinema than if you buy the
DVD? How do they persuade you to watch the film in the cinema, download the
film AND buy the DVD? How do you entice your audience? (Think about extras,
time restricted content such as free digital copy with this DVD until 31.5.13
for example, or Special Editions, Blu-ray only content etc) but with SPECIFIC EXAMPLES!
In terms of distribution/production, how many more forms do
the companies have to make their films in? Think about it...and do they have to
make it differently if it needs to be viewed on a smaller screen? (Not so much
a film industry ‘thing’ but if we were studying the videogame industry this
would be a bigger issue.) What are the cost implications? What affect does this
have on indie companies who typically have less money?
How do the film companies deal with piracy now we can share
so easily, widely and rapidly on the internet (using torrents and downloads
etc)? How do they deal with copyright and copying and sharing of iTunes
downloads etc?
Do they make more money as there are now more ways to ‘sell’
the content? Or is it the same, just spread out over a longer time? Does this
affect indie vs big corps?
Further on Q5
This means that we expect more – A film company has to make
more trailers for different platforms (such as suitable trailers for iPhones
and Tablets and a wider audience (think about selling an '18' film - your trailers can be viewed anytime now, how do you alter (and control) content to allow for 10 yr olds on the internet/youtube watching your trailer?), Websites need content, Blu-Rays and DVDs have extras (content)
that all have to be produced etc). There are cost and organisation implications
– the companies need money to produce websites and when filming, someone has to
be thinking about what is going to be on the ‘special features’ of the Blu-Ray whilst the film is being made – you
can’t do ‘behind the scenes’ features once you’ve finished filming! There are cost implications which may affect big
film companies more than little companies.
Further on Q6
So, for example, phones that can download and view films but
also access the internet to see what ‘everyone’ has said about the quality of
the film on the internet (like ‘Rotten Tomatoes’) or on social media (like
Twitter and FB). Think about how instant things are, portability, size issues
(miniaturisation), lack of control of content for companies, piracy, poor
press, sharing amongst the audience (legal and illegal), differing expectations
of audiences now...
Further on Q7
So if you’re targeting a UK audience - and you’re a
multinational company – how do you make sure you get as big an audience as
possible? Or how do huge global companies ensure their products are palatable
in multiple territories (i.e. across the world or in Europe and Asia (for example)? Do they need to
‘alter’ content? If you’re a small company, how do you gain an international
audience? If you’ve made a British film, how do you successfully sell and market it in America (for
example)? Do you make your 'British' film with a global audience in mind? or just a UK audience? what effect does this have on your content? or your potential for profit? EXAMPLES!
Further on Q8
The exam board assume that how you consume film is different now than in the past AND that this is
like (or similar) to how everyone else has also changed how they consume film.
Essentially they’re asking – ‘how have you accessed film recently and how is
that like how others are now also consuming film?’ – looking for patterns of change – so anecdotally
using your experience to show changes in the audience generally. If you no
longer go to the cinema so much as now you download more films from iTunes,
them they’re saying this is indicative of how the audience generally is behaving.
