Doc Martin Essay

Task 10

Intro what is film distribution?

Film distribution is the process of making a movie available for viewing by an audience. This is normally the task of a professional film distributor, who would determine the marketing strategy for the film, the media by which a film is to be exhibited or made available for viewing, and who may set the release date and other matters. Distribution involves advertising.

What is the distributor's role?

A distributor will work out who will want to see a film, how it should be distributed and why.

What's a distribution plan?

The plan a distributor would make when considering how to market the film. They would consider audience and genre along with marketing techniques.

What's a P + A budget?

This is called a print and advertising budget. It is the budget a distribution company would use for marketing.

What is the average distribution cost for a big six film?

The average cost is around $50 million.

What does the distribution budget include?

Advertisements, commercials, radio adverts, posters, billboards, press release, online adds,

What is a simultaneous release?

This is a new method of releasing films. Some companies have decided to release there film on DVD and in Cinemas at the same time. Or online and in Cinemas ect.

What are some main distribution companies?

20th Century Fox Film Co. Ltd.

Aardman Animations

Artificial Eye

Axiom Films

Ayngaran International (Tamil films only)

Buena Vista International

Cinema International Corporation (CIC)

Columbia Pictures

What do you think is the link between audiences and distribution?

A distributor has to highly consider audience when marketing the film. If the advertisements aren't going to reach the target audience then no one will be able to see the film.

Define target market audience? What's audience positioning?

******************* Couldn't find anything for this.

Why is the release date crucial?
People want to release films around the same time as holidays and school breaks so that children will go and see there film in this period. Batman Vs Superman was released on Good Friday which is good as it allowed people to go and watch the film throughout the Easter holidays.

What is self distribution?
People who distribute film themselves by handing out leaflets and advertising online for free by themselves.

Task 9

1. Mainstream - safe genre films that are distributed to mass, national and often international audiences

2. Independent - films that have more localised appeal and niche audiences and that often utilise digital technologies to create 'brand awareness'. Independent films do not have access to extensive distribution networks.

3. Production (stages)
Pre- production – Casting, planning, script writing
Production - shooting
Post Production - editing

4. Distribution - getting the films out to cinemas and paying for the advertising and marketing

5. Marketing - The action or business of promoting and selling products or services including market research and advertising.

6. Exchange-

7. Multinational Conglomerate - large organisations whose business interests are global, utilising synergy and convergence and also cross media ownership.

8. Monopoly - where one company dominates the market

9. Oligopoly - where four or more companies dominate the market

10. Name the Big Six (90% of box office takings) - The big 6: Universal, Columbia, Paramount, 20th Century Fox, Disney, Sony

11. Horizontal Integration
(also known as cross media ownership) - where one media company acquires another media company in the same sector eg Vue acquiring Warner Village Cinemas in 2003

12. Vertical Integration - where the means or production and distribution are controlled by one company

13. Synergy - where two or more compatible products sell each other eg. a film and CD (8 Mile)

14. Merchandising - where the popularity of film are manipulated through the sales of spinoff goods eg. t-shirts and associated clothing, wristbands, stickers, badges and mugs

15. Ultra Violet - A marketing technique where there is a code in a DVD that you can use to share with other people so they can watch the film.

16. Above the Line - the list of individuals who guide, influence and hopefully add to the creative direction, process and voice of a given narrative in a film and their related expenditures. These roles include but are not limited to the screenwriter, producer, director and actors.

17. Below the Line - a term derived from the top sheet of a budget (Motion Picture, Television, Commercial, Industrial, Student Film, Documentary).

18. Technological Convergence/Cross media convergence - companies coming together vertically or horizontally. When new technologies are created which take over from the past technologies and perform the same task but in a more advanced manner.

19. Consumption - how much of what people buy (cinema ticket, food etc).

20. Exhibition - the retail branch of film industry. To some extent control how films are programmed, promoted and presented to the public.

21. Piracy - the unauthorised use or reproduction of someone else's work (filming a film at the cinema)

22. Hollywood Franchise 4S Model – synergy, spectacle, sequelisation, story

23. Tie-In - work of fiction or other product based on a media property such as a film, video game, television series,board game, web site, role-playing game or literary property.

24. Globalisation - where films are distributed around the work through elaborate cross media networks

Task 8

Task 7

From the survey I conducted I found that the most popular days to go to the cinema is Friday, Saturday and Sunday due to it being the weekend therefore most people have more free time. The most popular genre of film is comedy and the second is action films. The top grossing comedy film 2015 is Inside Out closely followed by Minions. The top grossing action film of 2015 is Star Wars (The Force Awakens) closely followed by Jurassic World. According to the survey most people hear about films through trailers and social media. Most of them prefer US films as more of the blockbuster films are made in the US. Most people prefer 2D films as they are cheaper and more comfortable to watch. In the survey there were very few people who had seen more than 5 3D films. If they do not watch films in the cinema they watch them illegally or pay for them on box office or Netflix. Most audiences visit the cinema with friends as they share the same interest in films as they do. Most audiences visit the cinema in town so Odeon and they go on the weekend.

Class and Status Essay

Discuss the ways in which this extract constructs the representation of class and status using the following:

Camera

Mise En Scene

Editing

Sound

At the beginning of the extract the director chose to use a long establishing shot of the inside of the castle. This shot shows the grand lifestyle of the upper-class people who live there. The shot could have also been used first to represent how, in society, people who are upper-class come before those who are of a lower class. Also near the beginning of the clip there is a close-up shot of the princess’s table which has lots of nice things on it such as Jewellery and a nice looking mirror. This close up was used to display that being upper class means that a person can afford nicer things than the poor, this is also suggested by the use of costume. When Merlin (the main character) is leaving the castle there is a high angle shot of him walking down a set of steps. The high angle shot represents how Merlin, who is lower class, is looked down on by society. Despite the extract being from a lower-class person’s perspective and the target audience being sided with Merlin this is a very poignant shot in displaying the divide in society. When the princess enters the room with Merlin there is a close up of her in the mirror which reveals that she is an ugly looking elderly woman instead of a beautiful princess. A close up shot is used here because this is a key shot which plays on the stereotype that all upper class people are beautiful on the exterior but wicked on the interior. This shot could have also been used to show that life isn’t as easy as people might think for upper class people and they do have some hidden problems.

This extract is set in a castle, this was most probable selected as the setting in the production stages by the director as there are a variety of classes which live and which work within castles to make them run efficiently. The castle has rooms for the lower class and rooms for the upper class which are very different. At the beginning of the extract the princess’ room is displayed which is extremely well decelerated and glamorous however at the end of the clip the lower class room is shown, which is probably shared by two people, it is very dark, damp and gloomy. The director chose to use these different rooms for this clip to show how vast these differences are between upper and lower classes. It enforces the representation that poor people live is bad conditions and that rich people live in beautiful conditions. After Merlin leaves the castle is begins talking to a man who is upper class, possibly a prince, who is wearing pieces of shining metal armour. The director chose the prince to be wearing armour as a metaphor to construct the representation that people who are upper-class are protected by there status. Also, because the man’s armour is shiny this displays the man is extremely high class. At the end of the fight scene the upper class man in the armour uses a broom stick to hit Merlin over ending the fight. The use of the prop which was a broomstick is used to give the representation that people who are lower class get let down by there own jobs because it’s the upper class people who control them. This upper class man hitting the lower class represents the control the upper class has.

In the beginning half of the clip during the conversation between the princess and Merlin, the princess gets a lot more screen time. The lack of screen time for Merlin represents that lower-class people are less privileged than upper-class people. The fact the princess gets more screen time could also represent that the people who are upper-class get more attention, this is evident in terms of media with celebrities and wealthy people being in the limelight most of the time. The shot reverse shot between the man and the woman is used the highlight the differences between the as characters. The main acts to be awkward and quirky whereas the princess is more normal than anything else despite being beautiful and having nice things. This constructs the representation that lower class people are unusual compared the upper-class people. The fast cuts which are used in the fight scene the add tension as the fight escalated, is used to display how people who are lower class live in a fight for survival and have a hard time. The clip is displayed from Merlin’s point of view which shows that the audience is allied with his. This technique could be used because the audience of this programme would probably be middle or upper class people and therefore the director wanted the audience to have a life in a poor person’s shoes. This is why the extracts show the stereotypes of lower classes.

The quotation “I didn’t realise you were deaf as well as daft” is said to merlin after he leaves the castle by the prince in Armour. This quote constructs the representation that people who are upper-class are ignorant and rude by playing on the stereotype that rich people are mean and snobby. During the fight scene Merlin uses magic to move objects, before the objects move there is a twinkling diegetic sound which suggests the magic is moving over to the objects and is moving them. The use of this sound matches the odds things which occur visually as Merlin uses magic and is used to construct the representation that people who are lower class are abnormal playing on the stereotype that poor people are ‘weird’. During the fight scene the diegetic music is contrapuntal as there is what appears to be a serious fight going on however the music is cheerful and jolly. This also plays on the representation that poor people are weird as the poor person is in control for this part of the scene where in the other parts he has no control or power. The quotation from Merlin to the prince states “what are you going to do, set daddies men in me?” constructs the implication that people who are upper-class don’t earn their status but are instrumented with it. This is stereotypical as it is how a lot of people have their power in the world today.

Ethnicity Analysis

What?	When?	Why?
Camera
Close up of white man’s face.	At the beginning.	To show white man, with facial expressions being menacing, this coincides with his dull voice, showing he is the villain. Calm.
Tracking shot showing all of the tables.	Towards the end of the clip after the Blackman is taken.	To show all of the different rituals of the different ethnicities. The third and final.
Close up of emptying the locker.	After the black man is taken away.	Representation of the black mans rights being taken away from him. He doesn’t have any property anymore.
Close up, zoom into woman’s face	Whilst they are in the cupboard hiding and realise that the other man is missing.	It zooms in to the ladies face to show she is aisian this highlights that she is an immigrant. Her facial expressions show the audience that she is in desperate need and panic which is typical of an immigrant who is struggling in a new country.
Shot reverse shot	As the white man walks into the reception of the hotel.	The shot reverse shot of the man walking in and the woman behind the desk is significant because it shows that they are both white. The woman is the representative and highest figure of the hotel (It isn’t an immigrant) and the man is also of a high status.
Mise En Scene
The man tripping over the hoover	Whilst the white people from the agency were chasing the man.	The hoover is made a British tool and represents who it is Britain who are attacking these immigrants. The hoover also represents the man’s role at the hotel and how it requires no qualifications which shows the man could have low intelligent. This stereotype is broken earlier.
Set in a hotel	--------- -------- -------- ------ -------- -------- -------- ------- ------- -------- -------- -------- -------- -------- -------- ---	This is a place where people go to stay to get away from there homes for business and personal reasons. This is a metaphor for the immigrants who are coming into the country who are trying to get away from home.
Low light	In the Cupboard where the people are hiding.	This represents the dark times immigrants go through.
The white woman at the front desk wearing white	Throughout the clip where the woman is in the scene.	This shows this woman is pure because she is white and she isn’t at risk. The representation is of White power.
Cleaners wearing cleaners clothing	Throughout the scene.	The cleaners clothing represents there status which is of small intelligents and they are at the bottom of the food chain.
Editing
Fast paced cuts to add to tension	When running to the hiding place.	This represents the corrupt lives these immigrants constantly live in.
Sound
Diegetic dark droning sound.	When the woman faints in the cupboard.	Represents the fear of the immigrants. The quite loud and frightening and represents the fear of the immigrants.
“I wasn’t always a cleaner” quote from black illegal immigrant.	Whilst they are in the cupboard.	The quote breaks stereotypes of immigrants being uneducated and shows immigrants in a different light which isn’t often displayed by the media.
Percussive music adds to the suspense of the hiding scene	When they’re running to the cupboard.
The white characters are the only real ones to speak with Received Pronunciation.	At the beginning and end of the scene with the white woman and white man.	This shows they are educated and has the representation that white people are more powerful.
The black man speaks using RP to a customer but then speaks in a normal African accent when he goes downstairs.	When the lady asks the Black man to go and do something.	This gives the representation that immigrants can’t be who they want to be in society and have to pretend to be something they’re not to be accepted.