UK Film Statistics

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UK Film Council Report

Cinema takings at record high

A scene from Avatar, the biggest grossing movie of all time. Photograph: 20th Century Fox

One was the year of A Clockwork Orange and decimalisation. The other was that of Avatar and the shattered economy. But while 1971 and 2009 were wildly different in terms of the technological limits of the films on offer, new figures published today show that they shared similarly buoyant levels of cinema-going.

They record that last year was the best ever in terms of box office takings and the second best year since 1971 in terms of admissions, fuelled by the continuing growth of 3D and the through-the-roof success of Avatar, as well as the enduring, recession-resistant appeal of the big screen.

The figures were published in the UK Film Council's annual statistical yearbook, a mammoth, eye-hurting publication that is nevertheless packed full of interesting data on film trends, showing that cinema-going appears to be bucking the recession.

For the first time, the yearbook will be available in full online. The council's chief executive, John Woodward, said the point of the figures was "to allow everyone to stand back and have a look at the big picture yourself and take your own view".

Woodward said, in terms of jobs, inward investment and contribution of cinema to the British economy, "there is absolutely no doubt the film sectors are firing on all cylinders". He added: "The figures prove that film really matters to people, it's an absolutely integral part of their leisure time."

In terms of box office, it was a record year with takings topping £944m. Cinema admissions also shot up from last year's healthy 164 million to 174 million, not quite beating 2002 (176 million), but still up 6% and the second highest number since 1971.

To put that in perspective, cinema-going began declining in the 1950s and 1960s with the arrival of television and plummeted in the 1980s with the video revolution, reaching a nadir in 1984 (The Karate Kid, Ghost Busters) when admissions were down to 54 million people. The arrival of multiplex cinemas soon after drove a steady increase, hitting a peak eight years ago when several blockbusters came out, from Spider-Man to the second Lord of the Rings and the second Harry Potter film .

The UK Film Council statisticians examined the correlation between recessions and cinema admissions going back to the 1970s.

David Steele, the council's head of research and statistics, said: "It does appear that, over time, cinema admissions are recession resistant."

One reason for that, he said, was that if people did start cutting back on luxuries and cancelling foreign holidays, they were then even less willing to give up going to the pictures.

The 3D revolution arrived in earnest, with 14 3D films accounting for 16% of UK and Ireland box office revenues, up from 0.4%. There are still sceptics but Steele said: "It does not appear to be a flash in the pan."

The biggest 3D film of them all, Avatar, played a big part in the financial health of the movie industry. Not only did it replace Mamma Mia! as the biggest grossing movie of all time, it replaced 1998's Titanic in the council's inflation-adjusted top 20. Third in that list is Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, with Jaws in sixth place and The Full Monty in ninth.

Other interesting stats show that comedy accounted for 24% of releases and 20% of box office, while drama was 21% of releases but just 7% of box office.Avatar made science fiction the box office king.

There are tables showing the strength of British talent at making movies, both in front and behind the camera. One shows that between 2001 and 2009, 14% of all film awards were won by Britons. Another shows that of the top 200 movies at the box office between 2001-09, 30 were based on stories or characters by British writers. And Orlando Bloom may want to print out the table showing the top UK actors' frequency of appearances in the top 200 films.

The list goes Bloom, Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint, Ian McKellen, Christopher Lee, Jonathan Pryce, John Cleese, Ewan McGregor and Christian Bale.

It is not all good news though. UK independent film makers face difficult times with producers finding it harder to make the films and lowering their budgets.

Woodward said: "This is where I'm worried. Independent production has always been a tough business but the overall value of low budget independent film production in the UK fell by 18% in 2009. Budgets fell from £1.7m to £1.5m. And the overall number of films made fell from 77 to 71. I'm not saying it is a catastrophe; what I am saying is that there is something quite serious going on."

Much of the problem stems from the global economic downturn and also the failure so far of the movie industry to work out how best to make money from the internet.

"The evidence is that the transition into the digital world is going to be quite bumpy," said Woodward.

Alongside the yearbook, the council also published film production statistics for the first half of 2010 which show a fall in inward investment, down from £617m in the first half of 2009 to £557m. That figure is healthy though if you compare it with £218m in 2008 and £333m in 2007.

The big inward investment movies – or Hollywood funded – of 2010 include the final Harry Potter, John Carter of Mars and the next Pirates of the Caribbean.

In terms of this year all the evidence shows that 2010 could be just as good as 2009, despite a miserable June when the World Cup meant there was nothing on so nobody went to the cinema; or nothing good was put on because it was thought nobody would go.

Revision Questions and exam technique for Institutions and Audiences

The key assessment objectives for Institutions and Audiences and TV Drama are:
AO1: Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of media concepts, contexts and critical debates, using terminology appropriately and with accurate and coherent written expression. ( 30% of the mark)

AO2: Apply knowledge and understanding to show how meanings are created when analysing media products and evaluating their own practical work. ( 20% of the mark )
Write a brief plan which addresses the question's most important key words.
Think about your institution(s) and how they target their audiences in the UK.
what are/were the issues and patterns for:

Production

Distribution and Marketing

Exhibition

Exchange

Technological Convergence (can be in any of the above)

Synergies (can be in any of the above)

Cross Media Ownership, etc.?



Remember to analyse the exam question for its key words and phrases to ensure that your answer's ARGUMENT is relevant. It's good exam technique to use some of the question's key words and phrases in your introduction to get you started with your essay's argument. You also need to refer to the question's key words and phrases regularly in subsequent paragraphs in which you make various points in your argument.
AO1 is the most important assessment objective for Institutions and Audiences: (The UK Film industry if you're in Miss Frearson or Miss Elger's group, Music if in Mr Ford and Mr Smith's group) You can show a broader context by making comparisons with big US institutions and their films/artists to throw light on the issues facing UK based institutions for choices of genre, budgets, casting, technology, special effects, marketing, exhibition, the targetting of audiences, critical reception, etc.
Practice Exam Questions

Answer the questions below, making detailed reference to examples from your case study material to support the points made in your answer.
1. Eric Fellner, who heads Working Title Films argues, "It's not the film industry, it's the film business".


To what extent to you agree with this statement? (obviously only do this if you've studied film)
2. "Media production is dominated by global instutitions, which sell their products and services to national audiences." To what extent do you agree with this statement?
3. To what extent is production, marketing and distribution important for an institution's success in the British marketplace?
4. How important is technological convergence for institutions and audiences within a media area which you studied?
5. To what extent have audiences influenced and affected an instution which you have studied?
6. Discuss the issues raised by an institution's need to target specific audiences within a media industry which you have studied.
7. To what extent has exhibition and exhange affected an institution which you have studied?

Institutions - Music

The world's largest music company has admitted that piracy cannot be stopped.

Francis Keeling, head of digital at Universal Music Group International, said: "Are you going to stop piracy? No you're not.

"To try and set that as an objective is just not going to succeed. Can we make piracy socially unacceptable?

"Absolutely, and that has to be our ambition around the world." Mr Keeling was speaking at the Great Escape music convention in Brighton.

He is responsible for striking deals to get artists including Lady Gaga, Eminem and Rihanna onto digital services outside North America.

He added: "We've got markets like Spain and Italy, where [people say] 'You buy music? What are you doing buying music when you can get it for free?'

"Clearly those markets are in the situation where, unless we can turn those markets around, we're going to have a major problem having a music business there."

Full weight

Universal has been prominent in the fight against illegal file-sharing.

It has also thrown its full weight behind the UK's Digital Economy Act, which will bring in sanctions against serial offenders, including the possibility of temporary internet suspensions.

The controversial law was approved last month and Mr Keeling stressed it was the "right solution".

He also said he was confident the new Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government would "remain supportive" of the bill.

The details of the sanctions and how they will be imposed now have to be worked out.

"The solution needs to be fair, proportionate and implemented well," Mr Keeling told delegates.

Ethnicity Theory - Alvarado et al. 1987

Four Key Themes In Racial Representations

• exotic
• dangerous
• humorous
• piteous

Cannes 2010 : Logitech Video Contest

It just doesn't get any better than Cannes in the summertime! MOFILM will be there again alongside the Cannes Lions Advertising Festival, with nine of the world's biggest and most well known brands with our biggest prize pool yet! Make a winning advertisement for one of them and you could be right there with us, screening your work for the ad world's elite.

LINK

REPRESENTATIONS – COMMON STEREOTYPES

REPRESENTATIONS – COMMON STEREOTYPES

G322 Mark Scheme Jan 2009

g322 Mark Scheme Jan 2009

Guide to film distribution

Guide to Distribution

G322 - Film Industry

g322teachingfilm on Prezi

I Need That Record - Documentary On The Decline Of The Record Store

http://ineedthatrecord.blogspot.com/

The Business - Understanding Filmmaking

Filmmaking is a very complex business, whichever way you look at it. First there is the idea, then writing the script, then the financing, casting, crew, prep, shoot, post... the list seems to go on forever. Even experienced professionals struggle to understand how all the various parts of the filmmaking process fit together.


http://www.skillset.org/film/business/

AS Evaluation Questions and Activities - Print

Useful websites to help you can be found in the link bar on the right hand side. The film version can be found here

For the final 20 marks of the project, you must complete seven tasks on your blog, posting them in this order, with the question heading at the top of each task. You may do them as a pair/group, but must post individual copies on each blog. Make sure you answer each question as well as producing the visual elements. Try not to write more than 1500 words in total.

1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? (i.e. of music magazines)

2. How does your media product represent particular social groups ?

3. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

4. Who would be the audience for your media product?

5. How did you attract/address your audience?

6. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

7. Looking back at your preliminary task (the continuity editing task), what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to full product?

EVALUATION ACTIVITY 1

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? (i.e. of music magazines)

As part of your planning and research you should have looked at Music Magazines and selected a particular sub genre (e.g. Indie, pop, r&b, dance etc) to re-create. Find an example of a pre exisiting music magazine which matches your magazine, paste it into your blog and highlight the key generic conventions of the magazine (the list of terminology can be found HERE)

You should go through the final version of your project and select elements which follow conventions and any which do not.

The aspects we would like you to consider across your nine frames are:

The title of the magazine

Graphology/page layouts

Costumes, props, iconography used to reflect genre

Camerawork and framing of images

Title, article, header etc font and style

Genre and how the magazine cover, contents and spread suggests it

How your artist(s) are represented

Colour scheme

EVALUATION ACTIVITY 2

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Pick a key image of your artist from your magazine (ideally the cover image). Take a screengrab of a reasonable sized image of them. Think of one or more recording artists/stars from other magazines with some similarity to them (but maybe some differences too!), find an image on the web of that/those stars and grab it as well. Drop the two into photoshop, as a split screen. Export this splitscreen image as a jpeg then drop onto your blog and write about the similarities and differences in terms of appearance, costume etc.

So for example if you have a female R&B star on your cover, look for other female R&B star to compare them with (remember to try and ensure that they are of a similar age, race etc)...

EVALUATION ACTIVITY 3

What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

For this question, you are going to do a 'director's commentary' style voiceover explaining some of the key features of your magazine cover

You will need to script the voiceover which deals with institutional issues to include:

discussion of your production company name and logo and the role of such companies

What does a publishing company do?

the idea of a distributor and who that might be and why. start here

where the money might have come from for a magazine such as yours here

what your magazine is similar to 'institutionally' (name some magazines which would be released in a similar way)

You need to refer to actual company names and processes so you will need to maybe do a bit more research into magazine publishers like emap

When you have scripted, record the voiceover using iMovie, windows movie maker etc on a new audio timeline, then export to quicktime and embed on blog. (this is a good example of what you can do. It was created for A2 and a slightly different question but the style is correct).

EVALUATION ACTIVITY 4

Who would be the audience for your media product?

You should have a drawing of your target audience member and an explanation of what kinds of taste they might have- where they would shop, what music they would listen to, what their favourite Tv programme would be, etc.

make sure you have taken a photo of it, post it on the blog and write a few notes on why they would buy your magazine.

EVALUATION ACTIVITY 5

How did you attract/address your audience?

Take a screen grab of your magazines cover, content and spread and place into iMovie, movie make etc. You will then use YOUTUBE's annotation tools to add NOTES, SPEECHBUBBLES, and LINKS to your magazine:

http://www.google.com/support/youtube/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=92710

These annotations will highlight the ways in which your Magazine links to other similiar films in order to attract the particular Audience you have previously identified.

Your annotations will refer to genre conventions, use of iconography, similarities with other magazines and what you have identified as the Unique Selling Point of your imaginary film.

EVALUATION ACTIVITY 6

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

In pairs, take a picture of each other holding the kit you have used. This might just be the camera and tripod, and your Macbook but there may be other things you want in the shot.

Drop the image onto your blog and annotate it, adding all the programs and other technology you have used as screengrabs and what you learnt about it/from using it. Your written text need only be minimal. You could include reference to all the online and computer programs you have used such as flickr, blogger, facebook, photoshop, vimeo, scribd, slideshare etc.

EVALUATION ACTIVITY 7

Looking back at your preliminary task (the school magazine task), what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to full product?

Concentrate on mise en scene and camerawork.

Grab some images from both tasks and put them on the blog and show what you know about shot types, magazine terms etc. Explain how you've improved.

EVALUATION QUESTIONS - FILM

For the final 20 marks of the project, you must complete seven tasks on your blog, posting them in this order, with the question heading at the top of each task. You may do them as a pair/group, but must post individual copies on each blog. Make sure you answer each question as well as producing the visual elements.

1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? (i.e. of film openings)

2. How does your media product represent particular social groups ?

3. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

4. Who would be the audience for your media product?

5. How did you attract/address your audience?

6. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

7. Looking back at your preliminary task (the continuity editing task), what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to full product?

EVALUATION ACTIVITY 1

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? (i.e. of film openings)

Remember when we looked at 9 frames from Art of the title sequence? Well now it's your turn to do the same with nine of your frames.

You should go through the final version of the project and select nine distinct frames which you screengrab and drop into a photoshop in the same style as the website. You will be using these to write about how typical or not of opening sequences your particular design is, so choose them carefully.

Once you have the nine frames neatly in Photoshop, screengrab the whole thing and post to your blog, then write an analysis of how you have used such conventions.

The aspects we would like you to consider across your nine frames are:

The title of the film
Setting/location
Costumes and props
Camerawork and editing
Title font and style
Story and how the opening sets it up
Genre and how the opening suggests it
How characters are introduced
Special effects

EVALUATION ACTIVITY 2

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Pick a key character from your opening. Take a screengrab of a reasonable sized image of them. Think of one or more characters from other films with some similarity to them (but maybe some differences too!), find an image on the web of that/those characters and grab it as well. Drop the two into photoshop, as a split screen. Export this splitscreen image as a jpeg then drop onto your blog and write about the similarities and differences in terms of appearance, costume, role in film etc.

So for example if you have a lone cop type character, look for other lone cops to compare him with...

EVALUATION ACTIVITY 3

What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?


For this question, you are going to do a 'director's commentary' style voiceover explaining some of the key features of your opening

You will need to script the voiceover which deals with institutional issues to include:

discussion of your production company name and logo and the role of such companies

What does a production company do? start here
the idea of a distributor and who that might be and why. start here
where the money might have come from for a film such as yours herewhy the various people are named in the titles- which jobs appear in titles and in what order and how have you reflected this?
what your film is similar to 'institutionally' (name some films which would be released in a similar way)
You need to refer to actual company names and processes so you will need to go back to the early posts on film companies and maybe do a bit more research

When you have scripted, record the voiceover using Final Cut on a new audio timeline, then export to quicktime and embed on blog.

EVALUATION ACTIVITY 4

Who would be the audience for your media product?

You should have a drawing of your target audience member and an explanation of what kinds of taste they might have- where they would shop, what music they would listen to, what their favourite Tv programme would be, etc.

make sure you have taken a phot of it, post it on the blog and write a few notes on why they would watch your film.

EVALUATION ACTIVITY 5

How did you attract/address your audience?
You will use YOUTUBE's annotation tools to add NOTES, SPEECHBUBBLES, and LINKS to your video:

http://www.google.com/support/youtube/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=92710

These annotations will highlight the ways in which your Film Opening links to other similiar films in order to attract the particular Audience you have previously identified.

Your annotations will refer to genre conventions, use of music, similiarities with other movies and what you have identified as the Unique Selling Point of your imaginary film.

EVALUATION ACTIVITY 6

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?


In pairs, take a picture of each other holding the kit you have used. This might just be the camera and tripod, and your Macbook but there may be other things you want in the shot.

Drop the image onto your blog and annotate it, adding all the programs and other technology you have used as screengrabs and what you learnt about it/from using it. Your written text need only be minimal. You could include reference to all the online and computer programs you have used such as youtube, flickr, blogger, final cut,photoshop,vimeo garageband, etc.

EVALUATION ACTIVITY 7

Looking back at your preliminary task (the continuity editing task), what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to full product?

Concentrate on editing and camerawork.

Grab some frames from both tasks and put them on the blog and show what you know about shot types, edit terms and techniques.


Make sure you mention the 180 degree rule, match on action and shot/reverse shot

Movie industry debates DVD releases - BBC article

3D films and DVD release dates have been high on the agenda at ShoWest

By Tim Masters
Entertainment correspondent, BBC News

A hot topic in Hollywood right now is how long cinema audiences should wait until they can watch a movie on DVD.
The subject has been high on the agenda at the ShoWest convention in Las Vegas this week as the industry grapples with the impact of home cinema systems and changing viewer habits.
The issue was thrust into the spotlight last month when the Odeon cinema chain threatened to boycott Disney's Alice in Wonderland in the UK, Irish Republic and Italy.
Disney wanted to release Tim Burton's 3D fantasy on DVD at the end of May - three months after it opened in cinemas.
In the UK, the usual window for theatrical release is 17 weeks. Ten years ago the gap was six months.

Odeon reversed its decision after reaching "an enduring agreement" with Disney.
Actor Michael Sheen, who played the White Rabbit in Alice, described the row as "a storm in a mad hatter's tea cup".
But the reduced gap has worried some cinema owners who fear that it will dent ticket sales as film fans wait for the DVD instead of paying for the big screen experience.
In a speech at ShoWest, Michael Lynton, chairman of Sony Pictures Entertainment, said the theatrical window was important, but the industry needed to adapt.
"Showing films in theatres is what makes a movie a movie," he said. "It's what makes stars stars. It's what makes films famous. It's what makes the public perk up and pay attention."
But he added: "It is clear from the changing economic model of our industry that we're going to have to re-evaluate the way in which the current window structure operates.
"To meet audience demand for entertainment when and where they want it, and to keep ahead of the pirates who will fill any void we leave, we've all got to be open to experimenting with new and different windows..."

World Cup effect

Richard Cooper, a senior analyst at Screen Digest, points out that Disney's actions over Alice in Wonderland doesn't necessarily mean that all windows will be shortened.
"What we've seen in the UK already indicates that it's only a handful of films that will see shortened windows - and it really will be to make the most of high sales points such as Christmas or Easter.
"The shortening of the window on Alice is largely so that it not only coincides with half term but also so that it misses the beginning of the World Cup - which historically has really dampened DVD sales."
Last month Disney told the BBC it was "committed" to theatrical windows, but there was a "need for exceptions to accommodate a shortened time-frame on a case-by-case basis".
According to Screen Digest, the "burn rate" of 3D films is a lot slower than 2D films - they continue to make money at the box office for a longer period. Nearly 30% of revenues are made after week four , compared to 16% on 2D films.

Sci-fi success

"What we've seen with Up and Avatar was the burn was far longer and this is almost irrespective of the number of theatres they are being shown in," says Mr Cooper.
This week, Twentieth Century Fox announced that the 2D DVD and Blu-ray version of Avatar would begins its global release on 21 April.
James Cameron's 3D sci-fi juggernaut was released in cinemas in December and is the highest grossing movie of all time, taking over $2.6bn (£1.7bn) globally.
Meanwhile, Alice in Wonderland has taken $400m (£262.4m) worldwide after just two weekends.
As well as cutting down on piracy, another reason why studios would like to see DVDs on the shelves sooner is to cut marketing costs.
"While it is in the cinema, the film acts as a very powerful marketing tool," says Mr Cooper. "That is a crucial part of the mix - the studios are trying to cut down on expenditure, now that package media sales are in decline worldwide."
The Cinema Exhibitors' Association, which represents the interests of around 90 per cent of UK cinema operators, says the Disney/Odeon row reflects wider-ranging efforts by studios to change "a key element of long-standing trading relationships".
"Cinema is not the music industry, where existing business models are widely seen as broken," it says, adding that UK cinema admissions have been steadily rising for the past 25 years.

3D screens

3D televisions have gone on sale this year
"Many cinemas have invested huge amounts of their own money in improving the cinema-going experience, most recently through digital 3D. Without a clear window between a film's theatrical release and its release on other platforms, such as DVD, that investment is at risk.
"Significant changes to the release window could cause a marked reduction in cinema admissions, particularly for those smaller operators who can only play a film several weeks after it is released.
"Hundreds of cinemas up and down the country would be put at risk by any significant reduction in admissions," the CEA says.
Unlike the UK, France has a more rigid model concerning DVD releases. DVD, Blu-ray and digital video-on-demand releases are available four months after the cinematic release.
Screen Digest's Richard Cooper says: "This is one of the few places where there is an officially mandated release window, there's some very firm legislation in place in France. Everywhere else it is by negotiation."
And while the debate about DVD release windows goes on, a further element in the mix is the dawn of 3D television.
3D sets are already on sale in the US, and manufacturers hope to launch their products in the UK and Europe over the next couple of months.
Sky rolls out its 3D service to customers later this year.
"3D in the home is coming," says Mr Cooper, "but those TV sets are going to be a bit more expensive than the standard top of the range 2D HD TVs - and if people want to watch 3D films it is a question of buying into a 3D enabled Blu-ray player."

Editing - the invisible art

In film-world editing is known as "the invisible art" - and it's probably the hardest to teach. After the director, the editor is the next most important person on the production side of making films. Once the film has been shot the editor gets to work and the process of shaping and creating a story out of a film's thousands of miles of footage can take months - and sometimes years!

Most of the terms you need to understand for editing in TV drama can be found in the link below. This link has most of the BASIC information on editing you need to know.

For practice in seeing how editing works in TV drama we can view a few sequences to identify the main types of edits and how they create meaning and narrative in a sequence from a TV drama.

Meanwhile, have a look at these abridged Youtube sections from "The Cutting Edge: the magic of movie editing". This is a "must see" for understanding the "invisible art". In Hollywood "the more invisible the cuts the better the editor".













Taken from AS and A2 Media Studies blog