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.