British film industry

 British film industry

1) A British Film is a film that is made by people who are British, if the film is funded within Britain, is the film about the British culture and finally if the film is shot and set in Britain.

2) Hollywood productions tend to have a higher budget than British film productions and also have a lot of celebrities that are notable and famous to star in their films however this is not the same for British film productions as there are a very large range of films that are targeted towards audiences.

3) The James Bond film franchise started with Dr No in 1962.

4) Content used to be less graphic before the 70s leaving there to be a large censorship in films thus limiting what the film can do however after the 70s, this became different in films being more graphic and having scenes that audiences would not be accustomed to prior to the 70s.

5) One of the groups that are represented are youth which can be shown in the movie Attack the Block which was released in 2011 which portrays a more realistic approach to teenagers in urban cities which can be shown in the clothes that they wear or the language they use in the film.

6) The actors and the people starring in the film or TV show, being British people which allows the audience to associate the actors to specific genre's e.g Idris Elba and Benedict Cumberbatch in action or drama movies or TV shows.

7) If a film does not qualify as a co-production, it must pass the British Film Institute’s Cultural Test in order to be defined as British.

8) The Sweeney - £3,000,000

Cultural test: UK

Attack the Block - £15,000,000 

Cultural Test: UK and France

The King's Speech:
Financing: $15,000,000
Cultural Test: UK, USA and Australia 

We need to talk about Kevin:
Financing: $7,000,000
Cultural Test: UK and USA

Skyfall:
Financing: $200,000,000
Cultural Test: UK and USA

9) 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 then 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. American actors are seen as more glamorous than their UK counterparts so a big, Hollywood name is often drafted into the lead role of a film in order to encourage the audience to see it.

10) Despite intense competition from Hollywood and the ongoing issues of funding and marketing, Britain has had a film industry since well before World War I and several important film studios are British, such as Ealing Studios and Pinewood Studios. 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.

11) In an ideal world, films with British subject matter would be British productions. However, despite being typically British in content, three of the biggest current film franchises are all co productions with American companies. Britain does not have a filmmaking institution that
could finance the production, distribution and exhibition of franchises such as James Bond, Harry Potter and Sherlock Holmes.

12) I think the British film productions should start to co-produce movies with American production companies as this would allow them to be introduced to a larger audience thus allowing them to generate more profits due to the audience wanting to watch the movie. Also, if they co-produce with American production companies, they will be able to have a bigger budget thus allowing them to cast famous actors, generate better scripts and locations for the movie and making it look better for the audience that is being targeted.