Production
The stages of producing a film are as followed:
Pre-production- This is when all the planning for the project takes place. Locations, props, cast members, special effects and more are identified. The script for the film is written at this stage and schedules are made for specific elements for the film.
Production- This is the stage where filming takes place, all scenes planned already from the pre-production are filmed at the correct locations. Scenes are re-done if the director feels that the scene can be improved. At this stage its important to get all the right camera shots as it can be hard to go back to the location to film the scene again.
Post-production-This is the stage where the film gets edited, The editor has to create a rough cut taken from scenes based on the individual shots, the purpose of a rough cut is to gather the best shots. Also there has to be a fine cut, this is when all of the shots flow together. Other editing is done in this stage such as background music and graphics, once all the editing is done and has been approved by the director and producer the picture is locked, which means no further improvements can be made.
Main producers of films in America.
DreamWorks Animation, this is owned by Steven Spielberg. This particular film organisation specialise in animated films for children.
20th Century Fox, this is owned by Joseph M. Schenck. This film organisation has made successful film series such as ice age, planet of the apes and die hard.
An independent production is a film production that is produced outside of the major film studio system.
Distribution
Distribution is the link between films being complete and ready for views to see it and the film being able to be shown in the cinemas. The film is sent to the studio, the studio makes a licensing agreement with a distribution company, and the distribution company decides how many prints of the film is going to be made. The distribution company also shows the movie to potential buyers that represent different cinemas.
The traditional way of distributing a film is to show your film to as many relevant sales agents as possible so that they will take you on, enter your film in keys festivals, market
them to distributors and sell your film for you
worldwide. Once the film has been seen and hopefully bought by a
distributor it will likely go to the cinemas.
A distributor might decide to release a film on one particular weekend rather than another because maybe another film is going to be released on that particular weekend and the distributor doesn't want two films being released on the same weekend in case consumers choose to watch 1 film and not the other.
Distribution is essential to the film chain because without the film being distributed then there is a high chance your film won't be seen in the cinema's, and if a distribution deal cant be secured then again the chance of the film being at the cinema is slim or impossible.
Marketing
Marketing is when a business promote their product or service to the public or who ever their audience is. Marketing is different from distributing because marketing is what happens when the film is set to be in a cinema and you'll see the cover of the film on buses and billboards, but distributing is the act of trying to get your film to the cinema so you show your film to potential buyers that represent a cinema.
Examples of different types of marketing.
Some films have multiple trailers for different countries, for example the film Ice age is made in America and their trailer is in English but there is a trailer that is in Hindi which is targeted for people who live in India. The only thing that is different between the two trailers is the language that suits different audiences.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umy2T1ZgKq4
Exhibition
Audiences view films by going to the cinema, going on film sites such as Netflix, buying DVDs, downloading movies from illegal sites and streaming film from illegal sites.
A Box Office is usually a list of the highest grossing films, films that are on that list are the films that are popular and have received a lot of money from ticket sales.
Box office return is useful to identify the success of a film because it shows how much money was generated and how films are ranked, so far Avatar is at the top.
Cinemas make their money by selling tickets, selling refreshments and on screen advertisements.
To get people to go to the cinema rather than watching a film at home, they make the cinema more comfortable, for example the Hackney Picture House, the seating in that cinema is comfortable and the seats are recliners too so you can lay back and relax whilst watching the film, its as if your at home.
Ancillary markets are non-theatrical markets for feature films such as television, internet streaming and pay per view. This is a form of exhibition because the film can be accessed on TV but, the public has to pay for it before they can see the film.
BFI is the British Film Institute, they are required to encourage the development of the arts of film, television and moving image in the United Kingdom to promote education about film, television and moving images.
