Antler: Researching the Film Industry

Production

A production company essentially helps to create the film. It is directly responsible for the major tasks for making a film. An example would be the funding of the production itself which involves fundraising to attract investors. Production companies manage the filming from the film screenplay to the release. Its main focuses are on the budget of the film and the supervision of all legal concerns.

A film producer has the overall control on all the aspects of the films production. Their most important job is to create an environment where each talent of the crew and cast members can flourish meaning that they the credit for the success of the film.

For our coursework, we are effectively the production company and have had to undertake all their key tasks.

The job of the producer includes:

Job aspects	Description
*Development*	Start the initial idea for the film Have to select -the screenwriter -story editing team As well as raise the necessary funds to create the best film possible *We have had to outline our film, storyboard the first two minutes, write scripts and edit as we went along*
*Pre-Production*	Select and bring together the key members of the creative team i.e. the Director, Cinematographer and Production Designer Producers also approve of the chosen locations, studio hire, final script, schedule and budget *We had to find cast and locations and check we had access to the equipment*
*Production*	Producers are responsible for the smooth day to day operation of filming Producers approve of all script changes *We had to organise everybody's timetables and sort out transport etc and also have Plan Bs for if things went wrong*
*Post-production and marketing*	Expected to communicate with the Director and post-production departments which includes the editing of both picture and sound The producer will also deal with the finance and distribution companies in the marketing and distribution planning for the finished film. *We had to liaise with our teacher to see if we could use taxis etc. We have also had to think ahead to the editing and film accordingly.*

Production Companies

Warner Brother

Founded in 1918, Warner Brother’s is one of the most iconic production companies in the world. It is most recognised for its production of Harry Potter.

Warner Brother’s highest grossing films are:

Film	Release Date	Budget	Box Office	Ranking
*The Dark Knight Rises*	2008	$185 million	$1,004,558,444	1st
*Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone*	2001	$125 million	$974,755,371	2nd
*Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix*	2007	$150 million	$939,885,929	3rd
*Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire*	2005	$150 million	$896,911,078	4th
*The Matrix Reloaded*	2003	$150 million	$742,128,461	5th

Eon Productions

Founded in 1961, Eon Productions are known for producing the iconic James Bond film series. The company have produced every Bond Film from Dr. No (1962) to most recently Skyfall (2012)

The highest grossing Bond films are:

Film	Release Date	Budget	Box Office	Ranking
*Skyfall*	2012	$200 million	$805,136,889	1
*Casino Royale*	2006	$150 million	$599,045,960	2
*Quantum Of Solace*	2008	$200 million	$586,090,727	3

These are hugely successful companies and if we want our film to be a success, we are likely to need backing from a company of this kind.

The film Taken is an example of a film which is similar to what we are filming. Taken is based around a father trying to find his daughter who has been caught up in a human trafficking ring, this is similar to our film’s plot as the younger sister will search for her older sister whom she witness being abducted from their front door. Released in 2008, Taken brought in $226,830,568 and had a budget of $25 million. This shows that our kind of film can be very successful.

This film was produced by an individual (Luc Beeson) but 8 separate studios are associated with the product (Europa Corp, M6 Films, Grive Productions, Canal +, TPS Star, M6, All Pictures Media, Wintergreen Productions). This shows that you can go down a smaller route but still need a lot of backing - this is just shared amongst a lot of smaller companies rather than provided by one big company.

Christopher Nolan

Christopher Nolan is a well-known director/ producer/ screenwriter from his success with films such as The Dark Knight Rises and Inception. Nolan’s work would fit our chosen genre as Inception plays around the psychological thought of sharing dreams through the unconscious mind. With our film we hoped to include some sort of psychological twist which could help with the search for the main characters sister. Nolan has been nominated for many awards and I would chose him as our ideal producer as his knowledge of the industry would allow for our film to receive the right audience as all his films all hit the box office in most countries.

Film Distribution

Film distribution is the process which a film is made available to be watched by an audience by the work of a film distributor. This can be done by allowing the film to be made available on DVD/ Blu-ray. It is there job to decide when the film should be realised to the public in cinemas.

For distributors to get the film into the cinema, they either have to bid against other films or offer a percentage of the revenue to the cinema which they would make from the ticket sales.

Promotion

The Product (Film)	The film needs to be clearly in the genre for marketing. This needs to be presented to the audience so that they will choose to watch the film ie actors, special effects
Releasing	The film itself needs to have a perfect release date eg Christmas month for a Christmas film. It also requires correct date placing as the film could end up competing against another big action film as this would half the box office revenue. A better option would be to release a film that would contrast another eg. A romantic comedy against a horror
Promotion	The promotion of films -Trailers which are screened at the cinema or on TV -Print advertising on posters and in adverts in newspapers/magazines -Merchandise such as novel the film was based on, movie soundtrack and video games
Publicity	The publicity side of a film can lie highly on the actors that were featured in the film. These actors would take part in interviews that would in affect promote the film. Magazines would also