Independent, international co-productions and developing countries production contexts

Independent, international co-productions and developing countries production contexts

In this blog post I will be discussing independent, international co-productions and developing countries and how they differ from each other with regards to the financial detriments, distribution   and exhibition and funding bodies.

An Independent production context is produced by subsidaires of other major studios, as they fund them films production. Some of the famous subsidaries include, Focus Feature, Lions Gate, Mirimax, Fox Search Light, Paramount Pictures and Think Film. Some famous films that you wouldn't guess are an independent production. For example, American History X a film that is about a former neo-nazi who tries to stop his younger brother going down the same route as him. Independent films use famous faces to make people want to see the film.

In American History X you have Edward Norton who is famous for a wide variety of films such as Primal Fear and Fight Club. Another famous face is Edward Furlong who is known for his role of John Connor in the second Terminator film, Terminator: Judgement Day. Another way of making an independent film popular is by showing it at film festivals such as Sundance and Cannes film festival. For example,

 The Blair Witch Project became popular after it was shown at Sundance and Cannes film festival. the film also created a website to promote the film before it's release.
For a film to be Independent half of the film's finances have to be from a major studio, independent films also need companies help after they have created the film, as companies help to distribute the film theatrically, onto DVD and broadcasting onto TV. Usually three separate companies will do this but it can be just once company. This film had a budget of $20 million and made $23,875,127.


An international co-operation film is a film that has multiple film production companies working together to create the film. Usually it is two companies working together but it can be more than this. For example, the Harry Potter film were made by USA company, Warner Bros. Pictures, and UK company  Heyday films. When these companies work together on a film they open up new markets for films and TV programs. Before the film is made a treaty is drawn up and this is when the companies decide what they are going to do with the production, this can mean the story line of the film, the location of where it is going to be set etc. and what the companies will get. The profits that the companies get are usually half and half. From having two companies work together this will allow the film to have better technology as one company might have better more up to date equipment than another and working together on the film can allow the other studio to use the equipment and make the film look good. Also the distribution of the film goes into the agreement.
As they can share resources when working together on a film. There is good opportunity while working together with another company and they can have access to a partners market, certain locations and cultural benefits.For example, with Slumdog Millionaire, it was set in India and had a Bollywood and UK film companies, it allowed Bollywood to distribute its film into the UK film market and allowed the UK film company to use Bollywood locations that they might not have been able to use before.
But the bad side of an international co-production is that heir is an opportunity for one side to have loss of full creativeness. There are increased costs with government as it could cost to do certain things over in another country. There is also opportunistic behavior by production companies as they can have ulterior motives. The distiribution of this type of production context is the same as independent films as they are released into cinema, DVD and TV. For example, with Harry potter the films went first onto cinema because it was a sucessful book and then it was released onto DVD. The Harry potter film series are also broadcast onto TV ITV1 has the rights to air it. The films had a budget of $1,155,000,000 (all 8 films otgether.) and made $7,723,431,572.

An developing countries film is a film that is from the 'third cinema' this means any films from Africa, Asia and Latina America. First cinema is Hollywood with its block buster movies such as World War Z, second cinema is European art house movies such as In Fear. Nollywood in Africa produces films a fortnight and this is different to other production contexts as they do not release films that many films in a year. But the film quality is not as good, even viewing the film isn't the best quality as the films are sold on CD video's. The cheapest film made by Nollywood was $15,000. Some Nollywood films have become popular and have a big budget for example, Last fight to Abuja. A film about a Nigerian plane that has to land due to an emergency. It is a thriller film. The budget was ₦40 million and it made ₦57,050,000. Jan Vrijman fund supports festivals and film makers in developing countries, the money can be used to acquire actors/actresses, locations and equipment etc.
The funds main goal is to make sure that local film cultures are stimulated and turn documentary's into global film art. The distribution of Nollywood films are straight away onto CD Video, as there is not a big value on cinema as much as other countries.

British Film Production Context in In Fear

British Film Production Context in In Fear

In this Blog post I will be discussing In Fear and why it has a British Film production context and how this relates to genre and how that in turn effects the production context. I will be giving examples from the film as to why it is what it is. In Fear is a film about a young couple who go on a trip to have a romantic holiday in a hotel and on the way to the hotel they find themselves lost where a psychopath torments them in the countryside trails.

To begin with the genre of this film, I would say that it is  horror/thriller as it uses different techniques that make people jump and that is iconic of  a horror and thriller. As both of those genre's play make people jump and feel scared. The setting is in the dark and anything can be happening in the dark, this is a primal fear that people have because we cannot see in the dark as well as we would like especially when we want to. This happens in the film as when Tom and Lucy are running in the dark they can barely see where they are going and we as the audience want to see where they are going, as we cannot see where they are going we feel on edge as the characters do as we cannot see what is going to happen to them.
The music that has been used in the film is eerie and creepy, fitting the situation that is happening, this is creating suspense for the audience and this is what happens in horror and thriller films they use music as a way to get people scared, as well as what they are seeing on screen as without the music in the background would what you see in a horror film be as scary? One scene that shows why this is a horror film is, for example when Tom is standing by some bushes and Lucy is watching him in the car. It is dark and a man appears next to him unexpectedly causing the audience to jump and be scared for the character. But before that happens the music is setting the scene by starting up slowly and when something suddenly happens or appears it becomes loud to help make the audience jump. With horror and thriller films they sometimes have cliffhangers that will make the audience wonder what has happened. In this film they have a cliffhanger about whether or not Lucy runs over Max or not. The scene cuts to when the car Lucy is driving towards Max and the film ends before she reaches him.This gives the audience a sense of mystery as to what has happened, this may make some people think about the film more and with good horror films people can not stop talking about them. Also the location in which the film is set is a secluded location where nobody can help them and this is the case in horrors, it is secluded so that there is no help and people end up dying as there is no one to help them escape from the murderer.

In Fear fits into a British Film context as of the locations that are used and the language that they have used for the characters. As British films tend to be have a lot of swear words in them compared to other production contexts, such as Hollywood as if they do have swear words they are only a few and not as bad as the ones that are used in British films. The characters names in this film are common British names, Tom, Lucy and Max. The accents the three of them have are irish and british, there is no mistaking where the film is set. There is one location and it is in the countryside and it has a typical British weather in the rain, as it rains a lot in the film. But by having that british weather in that particular location helps set up the atmosphere of the film. As the darker it is getting the more creepy the woods are becoming and it is hard to see if somone is following the pair even though we as the audience know that there is because of the strange things that are happening to the pair. When it starts to rain it is mirroring the mood of the couple as they keep getting lost and are not finding the way out and are getting fed up and more scared. For example, the pair have a fire emergency map that they think will get them give them a way out but when they use it they are more lost, this is when it is growing darker and starting to rain. It could be interpreted that as the hope of their escape is dying so to is the light around them and the darkness is their fears creeping up on them. The budget that was used in this film is not a low budget but not a huge budget which means this film is nto independent otherwise it would have had a bigger budget.

The three stars in this film have been known in other productions before this film has come out, this can give the film more publicity by people who have seen the other productions and want to see this film because they are in it. The actress who plays Lucy, Alice Englert, played a leading role of Lena Duchanes in the 2013 film adaptation of Beautiful Creatures. The actor who plays Tom, Ian De Caestecker, played the role of Adam Barlow in Coronation Street, 2001-2003 but also could be recognised for his role as Ocky in the 2013 film Filth. The actor who plays Max, Allen Leech, is probably best known for his role as Tom Branson in Downtown Abbey.  Having actors and actresses that people recognise will help the publicity of the film.

There is a simple narrative to the film a young couple find themselves lost and are terrorised in the countryside where they cannot find a way out. The simple narrative works with the few characters that are in it, as the film only has 3 characters in it. The location a secluded location as it is countryroads surrounded by woods, this helps communicate the production context as Britsh films tend to show british locations and in this film there are a lot of shots at how beautiful it is in Ireland. The dialogue used in this film are irish and british accents and British production contexts use a lot of swear words as when the characters begin to know something is not right about the situation they are in they become scared an swear to get their frustrations out. For example, after Lucy is almost taken by Max she responds when she is safely in the car by saying 'What the fuck is happening?' and repeats this as she begins to worry and freak out about what is happening.
Most film use some of the seven spheres of action set out by Vladimir Propp and it's only Hollywood that try and use all seven whereas other production contexts only use a few at one time. In this film there is the Villian Max is this character as he is the one who goes out of his way to terrorise Lucy and Tom by changing the sings so that they get lost and terrorises them by doing strange things, as pretending he has been attacked by who is terrorising them, he cut his own face to make it convincing enough, arguably his most crazy way of hurting them knocking Tom unconcious,putting him in the boot of Lucy's car and attaching a pipe from the exhaust to his mouth,making Lucy drive fast so that the exhaust fumes kill Tom, it breaks her as she killed her own boyfriend. It could be argued that Lucy is the Hero as she makes it to the end of the film, as well as she remains stronger than Tom is towards the end of the film.

The technologies that have been used in this film are similar to what was used in other production contexts. For example, at the beginning of the film it has a voice over explaining that Tom is taking Lucy to Ireland. It is an easy way of informing the audience a little backstory and starts the film instantly. After the voice over split screens have been used and this as well helps to tell a little bit of the story, as at a closer inspection the images shown on the split screens is Max making it so that people will get lost on the way to the hotel, he is fixing the map so that people will get lost and car crashes that he has caused. The story behind the car crashes is explained when he tells them a story about a kid who used to stand in the middle of the road making people swerve out of the way to hit the kid and die after they crash their car. There are a lot of scenery shots when Tom and Lucy are going to the hotel, this is a good use of technology that relates to the production context by showing the location the film is set in.

Rise of the Zombie Bollywood Production Context

Rise of the Zombie Bollywood Production Context

In this blog I will be discussing Rise of the zombies and why it fits into the Bollywood production context and how this will relate to genre and how that will effect the production context and I will be using examples that explain why it fits into this production context.

The genre of this film is a horror/romance as the whole film revolves around a man, Neil Parker, who is bitten and turns into a zombie while holding onto the love he has for his girlfriend Vinny. I would say this is a horror as there are gore scenes. For example, when Neil attacks a man and rips out his heart. To the target audience this scene will be horrifying and scary but to other audiences it isn't as they are used to more gory films and are used to seeing this kind of scene. But it fits into the horror genre by the use of gore, there is a scene where Neil is eating an eye and this is gory. Also the fact that Neil is becoming a supernatural being makes it a horror film. I would also say it is a romance as Neil's main focus is on Vinny he constantly calls her and when he is alone he reminisces about the time they spent together. As well as Vinny wanting to find Neil after he goes missing. Bollywood film's center around love and romance and because of this they only have a few spheres of action; in this film they have the princess, Vinny , the false hero you could argue is Neil as he seems the good guy at the beginning but turns into a bad guy once he becomes infected with the zombie virus and starts killing people. The helper is in this film as well as Neil is out in the wilderness on his own a man from the nearby village comes out regularly to give him food and help him. Even though this is a zombie film you cannot mistake that this has a Bollywood production context as the type of music that is playing throughout the film, and the lyrics are always relevant to what is happening on screen. For example, when Neil is eating an eye the lyrics are related.

A reason why this film is a Bollywood production context is that in has lots of sponsors shown at the beginning of the film, as Bollywood doesn't have a big budget and have to find the money elsewhere this is where sponsors can help. As the budget is not as big as other production contexts such as Hollywood they are not able to have big visually spectacular shots like in World War Z. This film had a lower budget and could be a reason why the effects for the zombie Neil were all make up effects rather than special effects. As well as why there was only two locations, as that could be all they could afford, but even with a low budget the area in which the zombie parts were filmed very visually stunning as it is in the wilderness, but with the type of story that this is having lots of locations wouldn't have fit in with the story line. As it has a low budget it has to have a slow acting bite to turn Neil into a zombie as the majority of the film, this also helps to set up people for the sequel. Another way that this film has been able to get the funds to use is by product placement as there is a blackberry phone, a Nikon camera, a mac computer and a converse t shirt, product placement will enable them to get the extra money they need to make the film better or get certain effects that they want.

In this film the main star is Luke Kenny as he plays the lead character Neil Parker and he is also the director, he will be advertising his own film and will publicize it as he is acting in it and directing in it. This will give him big publicity as most actors/directors who do both are well known in their field by their target audience, just like with Brad Pitt in World War Z as he was an executive producer as well a the lead actor in the film.

This film has used more edit styles than digital effects to produce a horror, as the budget could have only allowed them to do so. For example, when Neil starts to pull his own skin off it's fake make up rather than CGI effects. Their is a slight problem with the sounds in this film as it is really loud when it isn't necessary and quiet when people are talking.