LO4 - task 5 Legal and Ethical + Regulatory Bodies

Impact on the Audience
The Hypodermic syringe theory is Theodore Adorno's idea that Media has a negative impact on the masses and that people believe everything that they hear/see in the media.
An Active audience  is an audience that digests what they're given and are able to filter and adapt to what is put on screen forming their own opinions about it and will not just take what they see as gospel
The opposite to an active audience. Media is able to completely influence an audience and can control them in any way it wants.
Dead man's shoes features a story line filled with the idea that revenge will bring justice, this idea could inspire the idea that violence solves problems to the audience. This would be promoting violence which would be a negative thing for the audience to have paraded in front of them.
There is also a scene nearer the end of the film in which one of the characters refers to character with disabilities in an offensive way, this could encourage audiences to view people with mental disabilities in a negative way and not treat them in an appropriate manner.
In Dead man's shoes one of the strongest themes of the film is the bond between family and brotherhood. this would help remind the audience of the importance of their family and remember to appreciate them a lot more.

Representation
Representation is the how a certain character trope or feature of personality, gender, sexuality (ect.) is presented to the audience.
Tessa Perkins theory of stereotypes states that not all stereotypes are negative and whilst most of them are they can sometimes be based around fact and not just completely made up
One positive stereotype in my film is the way in which the drug dealers are Portrayed as having lives that come off as almost pathetic, we see from the very beginning how they aren't role models either and shouldn't be sympathised with fully. A negative stereotype is how the character with disabilities is constantly being bullied and used for other character's amusement. This representation could have a negative affect on a passive audience as it could be seen as offensive or discriminatory to people with special needs.


Legal and Ethical
Copyright infringement is when a piece of content (e.g. music) is used as part of a product with the owners permission.
In my film there is a licensed soundtrack throughout the film, this would have cost the filmmakers a lot of money as there are 24 different songs used, this would have taken up the majority of the film's budget, as the rest of the film could be made quite cheaply. Another thing warp will have had to pay to use are the locations, even though some of them are in public there are certain locations in the film that were part of private property so will have required permissions to film on.
The BBFC rated my film an 18 age rating (http://www.bbfc.co.uk/releases/dead-mans-shoes-2004) this is because in my film there is frequent use of violence, drugs and offensive language throughout. There is also use of sexual references but not as much as the other material that could be seen as offensive. The violence in the film comes from the several murders that happen throughout and because of the sensationalism of the film it makes them even more shocking and inappropriate for younger audiences; because of how Richard uses violence to get his revenge he could be seen as more of a vigilante character by audiences: encouraging them to break the law.  We also see drugs used to evoke humour and lighten the mood at various points throughout the film, this could be seen as glorifying their use and encouraging more passive audiences to start taking them.


BBFC & ASA

The BBFC are the British board of film classification. It's their job to watch the films before they're released and figure out an age what age rating is most appropriate for the film, along with all of the reasons why they have to this conclusion.
My film was rated an 18 by the BBFC. The reasons that were listened as the BBFC's insight for this are strong language, strong violence and hard drug use.
Dead man's shoes maintained its age rating of an 18 from as soon as it was first released in 2004. This might be because films with more mature age ratings often don't change them that much and if they do it it usually to increase it, since Dead Man's Shoes is already rated an 18 its age rating can't be increased.
In the USA the age rating for dead man's shoes is very familiar, it was deemed a NC-17rating by the Motion Picture Association of America. This means that people who are under 17 shouldn't be allowed to watch this film, even with a guardian to accompany them.
Dead man's shoes was given an 18 age rating, this means that it doesn't have to any guidelines and rules that it needs to adhere to. There're no themes that are prohibited at this rating, and adults as free to choose their own entertainment as long as it is legal and doesn't pose any potential harm, this means that are still some themes that the audience will find offensive, but aren't prohibited to watch.

LO3 - Task 4 Distribution and Advertising

Distribution


Distribution is when a product is given to a certain group of people in this case the audience. Distribution also includes the marketing campaign for whatever the product is. 

Seeing as how modern technology allows audiences to view products, it is now easier to access on different platforms, so audiences are able to view the product in more than one place as opposed to just being able to experience it in the cinema or on home DVDs. This is technological convergence. More simply put there are two different types of media analogue and digital (old and new) technological convergence is when they come together to maximum availability for audiences. Dead man's shoes is owned by film 4 and warp so they can show the film on their channel whenever they want to without having to pay for its use. It is (or was at least) also available on Netflix so anyone who pays the monthly subscription fee would be able to view the film for free as much as they want.

Dead Man's shoes is available to viewers on many different services: Cinemas, DVDs, Streaming services, network premiers (viewed on TV) and  Blu-ray. All of these are available to most people, especially the target audience that the film is aiming at, which means that it should be easy for audiences to watch the film when they want. Also, due to smart phones and tablets being able to stream things on the move, people can watch the film whilst they're traveling or whenever it’s convenient.

Dead man's shoes is an example of converged technology. It was made on lower budget, which meant that the production couldn't be completed using only analogue or only digital because it would be too expensive. This meant that the crew would need to find out which parts of each different types of technology would need to be used to create the best film possible with the limited budget that they had. For example most the advertising would be done using new technology (e.g. internet adverts) as it can be done for cheaper and reach a wider audience more easily, but there was also uses of analogue technology when they advertised the film in cinemas using a trailer. There were also some posters put up, which is an example of analogue technology, but not a large amount which would mean that it wouldn't be as seen by people in streets who weren't looking for a film to watch.

On IMDB there are 204 different reviews for dead man's shoes by users and critics alike, one user gives the film a 9/10 and talks about the appeal in it's dark and violent narrative coupled with Consadine's performance.

Dead man's shoes was produced on a budget of £723,000 but the revenue for the film was only $198,000. This shows me that the marketing didn't work that well and that the film probably wasn't distributed as much as the filmmakers would have liked. This may have been due to the marketing techniques used wouldn't have been as easy to access by the film's main target audience, decreasing awareness among those who would be most likely to go out and watch the film. The filmmakers would have likely noticed this effect with the small revenue for cinemas so may have invested more money into advertising campaign for the DVDs.
  
Advertising

The film was advertised using Posters, trailers, since the film was co-created by film4 they would have been able to advertise it on their channel and all other channels owned by the same company as film4, reviews (EMPIRE) and social media.

Most of the advertising done for dead man's shoes was NEW advertising, this is because of how it would be easier and cheaper for them to do, so more could be accomplished with their budget.


Dead Man's Shoes was made on a budget of £723,000 but had a box office of only $198,081, this shows how advertising didn't work that well as the film made a very low amount of money not even achieving half the budget. However, Dead man's shoes wasn't intended for a mass audience and was marketed towards a smaller niche audience., so this can partly account for the film making so little money.

Because Film 4 were a part of the making of the film, they could advertise it across all channel 4's channels for free. Because Warp films is an independent company they don't have many ways in which they can advertise the film however since they're funded by the BFI, that company could also provide an advertising budget and help to promote the film.

LO2 task 3 - Audience

Audience Profile

Trevor is a 38 year old man who is a father of a small child. He is self employed as a plumber and lives in a small house near the centre of Sheffield city. He is married and most of his money goes towards his family, but he allow himself a few luxuries like beer and a night out with his friends every now and then.

He listens to lots of rock and punk music, but isn't afraid to try new genres and bands. He likes to watch films but isn't able to watch many mature ones as he has to watch things appropriate for his children, except when they're out. On friday night after a hard day of work, he hits the pub with the lads to throw back a few pints and complain about everything. Every fortnight on a Saturday he has a 11 a side with the local team against Rotherham, which always ends in a healthy trip to the pub with both teams to celebrate.

Gender

I believe that my film is aimed towards a male audience, this is because of the content and scenes that take place within the film. This is because of how intense and gritty the action is in the film, which is appealing to a male audience.

Near the beginning of Dead Man's shoes there is a scene in which three characters are all sat in one room taking drugs and talking to one another, throughout this scene there is a strong scene of competition and male bravado, which is something that should be relatable to men and make the characters in the film seem more realistic to them.

Another scene in which the films seems to cater towards a male audience, is the scene before the confrontation on the farm:  where the two brothers are sat back to back talking to each other and reminiscing. This is the scene where the bond between the two characters is the most prominent in the whole film. This scene would attract males as it is something only they would understand and the way in which the family looks after and appreciates one another which most people look for in family.

At one point during a flashback in the film, we see sonny forcing a female character to have sex with Anthony, We don't learn a lot about this character and they don't appear in the film apart from this scene. There is also one other female character in the film, who also has limited screen time. this could be seen as the female characters are only there to be seen as sex objects. This could alienate female audiences, with them feeling a sense of inequality between male and female characters.

Richard was in the army for many years before returning to the village. This would appeal to male audiences as being a soldier is seen as a very masculine occupation and thereby would make Richard into more of a classic "manly man" that the audience would find an appeal, like an action hero of sorts

Age 

I predict that the age that my film is aimed for is around 38 years old, even though the age certificate is 18. I believe this because of how the narrative of the film unfolds and how the film is paced, which makes it seem like to much of a slow burn for a younger audience to enjoy.  

The film has a strong focus on family and responsibility, something which would be more easier to understand and empathise with if you're starting to settled down, something more common at that age.  

There is also frequent of drug use throughout the film. Whilst a younger audience might be attracted to this and see it as more funny or not as strong of a negative character aspect, an older audience will be able to recognise the threat that it poses and be able to view the characters accordingly.

The characters in the film are all aged above 30 (excluding Toby Kebbel as Anthony). this means that they are near enough the age that the film is aimed at, this makes it stand out compared to many films which only star young and beautiful people. This allows them to take the film and its themes more seriously as they can picture themselves in this film and not just a perfect and young version of themselves.

Another example of age in the film is nearer the end when we meet Richard's last target. He's a middle aged family man with two children. This character would be important to audiences as he would probably have a very similar age to those of the audiences, and has a very stereotypical lifestyle for someone of that age. This would mean that he would be the character that audiences could picture themselves as the most and more easily empathise with, this would make the scene between him and Richard even more effective and they understand why Richard is killing so many people, but will also feel sorry for the other character who has tried to redeem himself. This would create a sense of moral ambiguity with audiences not being able to decide how they want the confrontation to end.

 Lifestyle

The National Readership surveyors  are the company who decide the different groups within Britain and how they all fit into each other. for example the audience of my film could be described as both settled suburbans and hard pressed families as the content of the film and the verisimilitude make it more relatable to them. A lot of the characters in the film take drugs, so the audience would be expected to have a bit of knowledge about drug use. People who would have grown up in a more middle and working class environment are more likely to have had a closer view of drug use, be it in schools or just wherever they live. This would make it easier for the target audience to understand what's going on and remove the need for lots of exposition. This would make the film feel more streamlined and not disrupting the pace. It would also help them to remember that although it's these people that are being hunted down, they aren't good people and that Richard's revenge is more noble than it might seem at first.

All of the character in the film are middle to working class. This would make them the same as the target audience of the film. The characters would therefore be easier to empathise with as they would have most likely been similar to either the audience or someone that the audience knows. This would make the characters of the film feel more like real people and make their struggle seem all the more realistic.

All of the characters in the film wear costumes which essentially equate to normal clothes. This means that all of the costumes are very realistic and audiences would be able to notice how they're wearing things that can be so commonly found, this would make it easier to take characters seriously.

Dead man's shoes fits Denis Mcquaid's theory of uses and gratifications. In this theory it comes under the category for building personal relationships and building self-identity. This is because of how the film makes you question whether Richard was right or not and the ending leaves some questions for viewers. Depending on viewers think these questions should be answered and their opinions on the events that happen in the film and whether they were right or not, will help them to understand about themselves and how their sense of morality works.Other people might feel different about this and so by talking about the events of the film people might able to discover things about one another and want to want more films with a sense of ambiguity which would help them to  develop their relationship. This ambiguity is presented in a format that that is more relatable to people with a grade of C1/C2/D and this makes all the questions that film asks feel more important and removes any aspect of pretentiousness that the certain other films with open ambiguity might have.

Spending Power

In Dead man's shoes all of the characters are dramatically grounded in reality. Sonny's crew are drug dealers but they don't have a massive drug empire and lots of money, they do this job because it provides them with the money they need to get by, they're still struggling to earn what they need. The whole of the crew have to share a single car which belongs to Sonny. This can relate to the more working class target audience as none of the characters in the film have more money than you would expect among the target audience.

The film was made on a cheaper budget so warp wouldn't need such a high box office for the film to be declared a success. This means that the film can be sold to audiences for cheaper, whether it's in cinemas or on dvd/bluray, this would make it more affordable to a more working class audience of C1/C2

There are several scenes in the film set inside character's houses, this reveals aspects of the characters and shows how have normal houses that you would expect to find for people like them and that the audience is likely to have something similar to, this makes the film feel a lot more realistic and helps the audience to believe that these characters are people and empathise with them more.

Paddy Consadine's character comes back from the Army in dead man's shoes, it doesn't state why he went away to fight, but seeing as how he has a brother with special needs and  that he doesn't come from that rich of a family, we can guess that one of the reasons would be money, this would be easy for the target audience to be able to compare to as they would also be trying to find money to support themselves and their family, and might have also needed to take a job that would take them away from home, so that they could support their families.

Dennis Mcquaid's theory of surveillance states that audiences can watch a film for four different reasons:

1) Surveillance

Gaining information (e.g. socially or morally)

2) Escapism

Escape Daily lives and enter a fictional narrative

3) Building personal identity

Discovering yourself and how you feel about certain subjects. Being interested in certain genres. Looking at actors and figuring out how they affect me

4) Building personal relationships

When the media product provides a topic of conversation and allows you to communicate with others.
Dead man's shoes fits all four of these criteria. It fits the first one by showing how people with disabilities are still mistreated and taken advantage of and how this would also affect people around them. It juxtaposes the often glorified idea of drug dealing and the profits of it, by showing a group of drug dealers characters and conveying them as quite pathetic characters that haven't done anythign with their lives. 
It also fits the criteria of Escapism,  by the fact that it tells a fictional story that creates a narrative that would envelope readers and allow them a chance to forget about their own lives and engage with the film for the running time allowing to escape their responsibilities and problems for a short while.

Tutor feedback for LO1 task 2

Improve "Production process" and "Content and meaning"

To secure the distinction grade:

·         Put the headings in order.

·         Include who the protagonist is and who the antagonist is.

·         Try and mention the term gender stereotypes for at least two examples.

·         You need to include specific examples for gestures, shot types, shot reverse shot structures .

 
Editing is missing the shot types that is used for each editing technique a crosscutting and  eye line match example. 

Hand in Video (Upload to Youtube, post link to video on script in blog and keep a hard copy of the video ready)

Improve literacy and punctuation errors

Target grade

My MTG for CDM is a Merit Pass.

Tutor feedback

LO1 task 1

Lo1 task 2

Mise en scene

LO3 task 4

LO4 task 5

LO1 - Task 2

Purpose

The purpose of this film is to entertain audiences and be used as a method of escapism. It is presented as a feature film and would have been released in cinemas nationally for a couple of months before also being released as a DVD and similar products for audience consumption in different ways.

Genre

The genre is thriller with slight comedy and horror elements. The advertising focussed more around the thriller and horror elements as a lot of iconography from the film fits into that more than comedy. The use of the location and characters defy and or twist the conventions or normal parts of that genre so that the film comes across as different which is important for warp as this was their first film so they had to make it seem unique and like they were a company worth looking out for. The choice to make the narrative and the protagonist’s arch morally ambiguous could make audience want to watch the film more than once which would make the film more money. 

Style

The style of the film is very gritty and it strongly adheres to use of verisimilitude, this makes the events of the film seem more powerful as they appear realistic. The insertion of comedy into the film also adds to the characterisation and allows audiences to become invested in the narrative more easily.

Content

The content of my film is what appears to be a conventional revenge story but quickly starts to become different to the average film in that sub genre. Dead man's shoes follows Todorov's theory to a certain degree. There does seem to be at the beginning of the film, a sense of equilibrium, although it does appear to be a shady one based around drugs and the dealing of the them by a group of people. Whilst this doesn't seem like a good situation, overall it doesn't seem that bad as the film continues, however the people with who this situation applies to, could be seen as the villains of the film and are certainly made out to be characters that the audience aren't supposed to be supporting .The Introduction of Paddy Considine character soon disrupts this though, and throughout the film we see this "equilibrium" rapidly disappear and the characters being forced down an increasingly dark and desperate path.

We don't get to see whether or not Equilibrium is restored with the film ending in such a sudden way, however most of the characters who it applied to at the begging of the film are dead, and the remaining one seems shocked and changed by the events that occurred throughout the narrative.

Genre

Dead man's shoes is a horror thriller due to the nature of the narrative and how it's presented. There are also comedy elements throughout the film, but they aren't the main focus of it.

It also fits into the sub-genres of slasher and home invasion, which are both types of horror. It is also a revenge story, which is usually associated with action.

Content and meaning

Sound

Diegetic – In dead man’s shoes the sound a gunshot denotes that a gun has been fired but connotes that someone has died and that this is a violent situation. The sound of the rain denotes that it is raining, however it also connotes the mood of the characters and how this is a typical British village which are often stereotyped as being very rainy. 

Non diegetic – The soundtrack changes throughout the film, starting off as quite a light happy piece but quickly becoming darker and more intense. This connotes how the narrative of the film changes and how the situation which the characters are in continually transform. It could also reflect the mind-set of the characters, with each character becoming increasingly unsettled and further from any sense of humanity and normal life as each scene passes.

The diegetic sounds mostly all fit the conventions of the genre. The frequent use of dialogue is quieter than most of the other sound effects, which makes all the other sounds effects of the film seem even more violent and have an increased effect on the reader. The soundtrack also fits the genre which genre of the film. All of the music which is featured in the film is licensed songs by varying artists. However often the songs are edited and shortened to fit the sequence in which they’re used. Whilst the general use of songs and music becomes darker throughout the film, the majority of the songs remain quiet melodic acoustic pieces.

About a third of the way into the film there is a confrontation between two of the main characters: Sonny and Richard. This is the first time any of the drug gang encounters Richard when they suspect that he is a threat. In this scene Richard immediately displays his sense of power by interrupting Sonny. Sonny begins saying “You know, the lads have this ridiculous idea that-”, before Richard quickly interjects by saying “Yeah, it was me”. This immediately establishes Richard’s sense of power over Sonny and because of the casual manner in which he says it, demonstrates his lack of nerves or fear, that Sonny was hoping to try and expose. Later on in the scene Richard’s threat to Sonny becomes more aggressive, at one instance he points to the palm of his hand and says to Sonny “You’re F**king here mate”, demonstrating the grasp and control he has over him. 


Editing

In dead man's shoes one of the pieces of editing regularly used, is the shot reverse shot structure, this is because of how many parts of the film are comprised of dialogue and using that kind of editing makes it easier for viewers to be able to understand and watch the conversation unfolding.

One example of an action shot is near the beginning of the film when Herbie attempts to leave his friends flat and come down to see Richard waiting behind the door, the action match starts with an over the shoulder shot of Richard where Mark is clearly visible over through the door. In this shot we see movement in Richard's arm before it quickly cuts to a shot on the other side of the door where we can see from a front on view Richard hitting the door with the bottom of his fist. This is effective because, from the second we see the back of this character and a slight reflection in the window we can tell that they are dangerous and ominous, but by changing the camera to have the full view of the character and their mask on when the loud bang is heard, amplifies the fear that we feel and makes the audience jump out of their seat in fear.

Camerawork

One of the shots used frequently in dead man's shoes is the close up. This forces the audience to take a closer look at the character's faces and all of the small movements and reactions to what is being said, showing off in better detail the actors performances. This also conveys the 'in your face' kind of visceral and gritty film that Shane Meadows intended Dead Man's Shoes to be. Another shot used at regular intervals throughout the film, particularly near the beginning,  are long shots and establishing shots, which help to bring viewers into the films interesting and often not visited setting. These also let the viewers know about the isolation of the village, showing them how there is no easy escape for the characters, which pays off later on in the film, with the disruption of the equilibrium.

When high angle shots are used in the film, it's usually when the camera is focussing on the Sonny's crew. This shows them as weaker characters, who because of the bad things they do, should be 'looked down on' by the viewers. Low-angle shots are used for the opposite reason. Whenever Shane Meadows chooses to implement a low angle shot, it's when the camera is looking at Richard: this makes him seem bigger and more menacing than he is, his character immediately becomes more intimidating. It also often silhouettes his body against the background, giving the effect of some giant omnipotent presence, like a kind of wicked god. This also relates to parts in the film, where he says that "God will forgive these men" and that he "can't live with that".

One example of movement in the camera works, is when the story goes into flashbacks, the camera is often quite shaky, this shows the instability of Richard's mind and how what he remembers isn't vivid or clear which may be due to his emotional connection to them, which warps his view of it.

One of the first shots of the film is when the two brothers are both lying together as babies, this connotes the bond between them and shows how one will always follow the other, I can tell this as the camera starts by only showing one of the brothers, then pans to the side to show that they're lying together. This footage also resembles footage that would have been filmed by a family member, which connotes that it wasn't only Richard who would have been so massively effected by the loss of his brother.

Mise-en-scene

In dead man's shoes, mise en scene is used to try and help create a distinct setting and mood for the film. Most of the sets of the film seem just like viewers would expect to find in rural midlands villages, this makes the film feel more authentic and makes it a more believable story allowing the audience to become more invested. This also makes the events and nature of the film even more shocking as it hits closer to home by having it in a location that most people who would have watched the film would have visited or been familiar with. The camera is often close up to characters and used to make most of the sets seem smaller and confined, this creates an effect of chlostrophobia and makes the viewers feel more trapped; emphasising the terror of the characters.

Another example of setting in this film, is the farm in which Richard stays. The dilapidated and crumbling structure connote Richards insanity and slowly disappearing humanity. The idea of this place which would have once been so full of life, now empty and derelict, conveys the effect that the death of his brother would have had on Richard: taking all the joy out of his life and reducing him to a cold hard shell of anger and pain.

One example of iconography is the gas mask that Richard wears at certain points in the film. It is quite a scary piece of clothing, putting viewers on edge from the first time it's used. Due to Gas masks use in the 2nd world war, they have strong connotations of death and evil, this makes it use in such a peaceful setting even more terrifying because of how it is a dramatic disruption to the equilibrium.

Another example of iconography is the Citroën 2CV which the drug dealers all drive about in. This is effective because it helps to connote the comedic undertones that Shane meadows has used throughout the film. It also shows how under equipped the character are for the situation at hand as well as contradicting the  suave drug dealer stereotype that is often found in modern films.

Richard's gestures are often quick and small, this shows how he is brewing with energy and emotion which he is barely able to control. It also makes the audience jumpy, as they are never sure if one of these small moves is  going to lead into a bigger one, which could be more dangerous than all of the others.

Sonny tries to carry himself with a certain amount of swagger nearer the beginning of the film. this connotes his self confidence and how he believes himself to be untouchable. This makes it even more obvious when he begins to doubt himself, and whether or not he's going to be able to come out of this nightmare as a winner like he has so many times before.

Due to warp's smaller budget a lot of the costume's used are just normal clothes that most likely would have belonged to the actors beforehand. This does, however, work to show the normality of their lives before the introduction of Richard. It also makes them more believable.

Warp also didn't do much with the lighting. This gives all the film a more natural look, giving it a raw and gritty effect, that is difficult to find in many big budget, mainstream Hollywood films. However there are some parts throughout the film, where everything falls under a black and white filter. This happens during the flashbacks to make it obvious for viewers that these are in fact flashbacks, but also the darker footage offers a more visceral view of the whole story, making it even more hard to bear when viewers watch the events unfold onscreen. It also offers the viewers the chance to see for themselves what actually happened, and not the opinions of the characters, hence they are seeing the "black and white" facts of the matter.

            Production process

Pre-production

For the planning and pre-production of dead man's shoes, certain things needed to be done.

The script would have needed to be written by Paddy Considine and Shane Meadows. the choice of director and some of the cast would have already been decided, however the rest of the cast and crew would need to be hired and the budget would have needed to be established by warp films.

Production

 The production of the film would have been mostly made up of the actual filming of all the scenes. They also would have re-recorded that didn't sound as good in the camera footage, this could include dialogue and sound effects, although some of the effects would be added in post production. For the production the camera crew and actors will have travelled to Matlock so that they could get the scenes on location

Post production

The post production of the film would have primarily comprised of editing the footage, so that it would effectively convey the narrative in a way that would make it easier for viewers to watch and understand. The addition of certain sounds would be added: this would include all the sound that was re-recorded during the film's production, any of the foley sound that would have been made after the production and the soundtrack would be added to film and edited so that it didn't subtract anything from the other sounds and how the narrative is told, one example of this is the gun shots that are heard across the film as they would not have used a real gun because of the health and safety hazards it would have caused.

LO1 - Task 1

Ownership: Script 

My name is Lewis Wright and I’m here to talk to you about the world of movie production on behalf of educationwise.

Let’s start by talking out independent companies. Whilst many other companies are part of major conglomerates, Independent companies are often more arty and whilst they do still want to earn a profit, because money is a pretty important part of modern society, they tend to be in the business for the sake of being good at it. Take Warp Films for example, it’s not highly likely you’ve heard of many of their films, I mean, you might have seen four lions but it wasn’t really advertised or distributed that much. However if I asked you if you’ve seen any of the Transformers films you’d probably say yes.

Independent business’s often have to take part in joint ventures for big projects. This is often because due to their smaller size and often lower budget, the companies are limited in what they can do by themselves. And so by joining together they can make something even better. An example of this is warp films who very often team up with film4. One example of a film that was a joint venture was Ben Wheatley's "kill list".  Wheatley co-wrote and directed the film under the funding of warp films and film4 and whilst it only made £111,682, which is quite a low amount for a film, the film received multiple awards and was nominated for many more garnering it a critical success. Raise your hand if you know what a conglomerate is … now lower them because I’m a video and can’t see what you’re doing… idiots. For those of you who are unclear a conglomerate is basically a pie. You see a pie is made out of different slices, all of which are fine are fine on their own,but when they’re all together make something even better. Rupert Murdoch is the owner of fox and has a net worth of over 12.5 billion. Because of how long he's been making money and expanding his business he now owns two major conglomerates: Newscorp and 21st century fox 

Operating models

The nextx thing we will be looking at are operating models, which sound simple but actually have much mroe to them: did you know for example companies have 2 different types of integration: horizontal and vertical , but to understand them we first need to understand the 3 stages of a company releasing a product. Stage one is production so that's the actually creation of the product, it could be actually filming for a film or building something like a toy or gadget or writing a book. Then you have stage 2, the distribution, in which you take the take the product and get it out to the masses. Then there's the third final and possibly most important stage: exchange, this is when the company gives the product to public in exchange for something which is almost always money. 

 Vertical and Horizontal integration are basically the different ways of which a company can go about completing a project, seeing as each smaller company like a subsidiary or an independent company can't find funding to complete the whole process by themselves, usually either focussing on either production or distribution, they need to come together with other companies for a joint venture or as I like the call it "the big fun super happy company friends game". 

Both forms of integration are a variation on this, with horizontal being when it happens with companies that you aren't part of a conglomerate with, making it the only option for independent companies, and vertical being when you complete the whole process from within the conglomerate. Vertical integration is the most economically friendly option seeing as it will allow you do everything for cheaper as you are all part of the same company and the profits will be equally useful to all subsidiaries who took part in the process. It's like buying a pizza for yourself or with friends, if you do it with friends it costs less, but then you also get less (*holds up a slice of pizza) and if you do it by yourself, it'll cost more but be worth it in the end (*takes a mouthful of the pizza). 

Conglomerates can use horizontal integration, whenever they have joint ventures with parent companies for example, but usually they'll stick to vertical integration, because it makes a lot more money  

To find out about Warp x you must first cast your mind back to 2005, when the Digital Screen Network was founded. It was founded to try and combat the fact that the only films available to see in cinema were blockbuster American action films. They thought to try and create more variety they needed to allow smaller independent film companies to be able to distribute their products easier. Thereby they introduced digital film projectors to most cinemas across the UK; this made it cheaper for smaller companies to distribute their films as they did not need to create large quantities of expensive film. 

Warp x is the sister company to warp films. Their job is to convert all of Warp film's products from film to digital and then distribute it to cinemas both local like the showroom and national like Odeon or Cineworld.  

Products

Warp films is in a parent company with warp records and a sister company with warp x and  until recently only made one product, films. However they have now started to venture into strange and exciting territory with a brand spanking new TV show called "the last panthers"  being released on sky atlantic and another show called "southcliffe" and whilst these aren't the first TV shows they've made, it'll be the first that didn't start of as a film. Of course I'm on about the "This is England" series, which has already had 2 series: "This is England '86" and "'88". the series is set to finish this year with the release of "This is England '90" concluding the story of the characters.

They have also released 2 documentaries, both following popular bands, with the first being a, warp favourite, Shane Meadows featuring the rolling stones, their rise to fame and their 2012 reunion tour. And the second as Richard Ayoade presenting the final gig of the arctic monkeys renowed 2007 tour.  

In total Warp have released 17 feature films, all of which are very niche and unconventional projects and while rates of commercial success have varied all of which have gathered critical acclaim and a cult following. Whilst for many studios an income the size of warp's would be a massive failure, their use of low budgets and horizontal integration means that it doesn't have as much of a negative effect if a film makes a low box office.

First up it's "independent productions", who have adapted several novels to films already including "we need to talk about Kevin, which was released to critical acclaim. This will help them attract a new market as people who have already read the novels would be interested to see an on screen adaptation. However their have been a few original projects with "the falling" a new film starring Masie Williams (Game of thrones) being the brainchild of writer and director Carol Morley. Though it was a critical success The falling only scraped together £359,082, which when considering it's probably one of the company's best known films isn't alot. Warp Films most successful project "This is England" grossed a worldwide profit of $8,155,222 absolutely dwarfing that of "the falling".

It also put warp on a lot of people's radars making them pay attention and give a lot of their films a chance,

this lead to a lot of their films being more successful and receiving a higher box office, e.g. Four Lions. 

So in short, though Independent productions do a have a strong set of films  

Another independent film company posing a possible threat to warp films is the equally pretentiously named 

Big Buddha films (*Logo flashes up on screen with a popping sound effect). They specialise in producing

short films to be released 

Market Position

Warp films is one of the most well established and successful independent film companies in Britain (or even the world). They have managed to release 17 feature films and won multiple awards including Baftas (*audience applauding sound clip) making them a critics favourite and often highly anticipated projects. Their current net worth sits at around £482,200 pounds and is only expected to go up as the company expands. Each year the company raises an increasing amount with their 2014 income being 50.9% higher than 2013’s.