British Cinema

Production Contexts
What is British cinema?
How can we define British cinema? Make notes around the circles...
A film funded/made by an independent British company, be centred
around British Culture. They may also be produced with countries signed
up to the European Convention on Cinematographic Co-Production.

Drawbacks to these approaches

No global appeal, if the culture in the film entirely revolves around Britain.

SUBMARINE
UK: 2010

Director: Richard Ayode

Production: Film4, Film Agency for Wales, Red Hour Film, Warp Films

Distribution:

UK Optimum Releasing

USA The Weinstein Company

Exhibition: UK: 244,476 60 Screens

USA: $466,702
Film Festivals:
Toronto International Film Festival
London Film Festival
Sundance Film Festival

Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6CAntLzaQ74

Warp Films
Warp is one of the foremost and most respected creative independent
companies, now comprised of Warp records, Warp Films and Warp Music
Video & Commercials. Since its inception as a shop and record label in
1989, it has been a platform for innovative and boundary breaking talent.
Warp Films, launched in 2001, leads the way in exciting and original
British filmmaking. The company has been behind an array of critically

acclaimed and award winning films, including several BAFTAs. Warp Films
Productions include: Rubber Johnny, Dead Mans Shoes, This is England,
Donkey Punch, A Complete History of My Sexual Failures and Four Lions.
Warp Films development slate currently includes projects with Shane
Meadows, Chris Morris, David Slade, Frank Cottrell Boyce and Lynne
Ramsay.
Warp have also been behind the multi award winning This is England
television series and frequently work alongside Channel 4 and the BBC.
Film4
Film4, headed by Tessa Ross, is Channel 4 Televisions feature film
division. The company develops and co finances film productions and is
known for working with some of the most innovative Uk talent. Film4
developed and produced films such as Slum dog Millionaire and In Bruges
which have gone on to win Academy Awards and Golden Globes.
Alongside this it has backed Steve McQueens Hunger which went on to
win the Camera dOr at the Cannes International Film Festival.
Film Agency for Wales
Established in July 2006, the film agency for Wales is the sole strategic
Agency for film in Wales, working across the economic, cultural and
educational aspects of film. In addition to its policy and advocacy work,
the Film Agency offers a range of funding and support for cinemas, film
festivals, education providers and for the development and production of
feature films that support key Welsh talent, particularly writers, directors
and producers. Productions includes Sleep Furiously, Separdo and
Submarine.
Red Hour Films
Led by partners Ben Stiller and Stuart Cornfield, Red Hour Films develops
creative, comedic and imaginative film with a mainstream sensibility. The
company serves as a hub for new voices and fosters the works of new
writers, directors and producers. The first film produced by Red Hour was
the 2001 comedy Zoolander.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Parts

1&2
2010 & 2011
Director: David Yates

Production: Budget 150 million (estimated)

Warner Bros USA Film Production Company
Heyday Films British Film Production Company

Exhibition:
Part 1:

USA: $125m (4125 screens)

Uk: 18.3m (579 screens)

Part 2:

USA: 169m
UK: 23m

Distribution: Warner Bros

Article: The Independent

Friday 26th November 2010

Harry Potter and the Death of an Industry

The wizard had cast a spell on British Film. But he vanishes soon.
To audiences, Harry Potter films are rip-roaring fantasy adventures that come along
every one or two years. Kids and adults alike are always keen to climb aboard the
Hogwarts express. Even critics are generally fairly well-disposed to the films, which

combine cracking storylines, highly inventive special effects and vivid character
performances.
To the British film industry, Harry Potter movies have a rather more serious meaning.
The franchise may be in the hands of a US studio but its transformative effect on the
British film landscape cant be underestimated. Predictably the latest film has gone to
the top of the box office charts. Since the first Harry Potter adventure starts shooting
at Leavesden Studios almost exactly 10 years ago, the fast-growing boy in the specs
has provided British actors, technicians, visual effects houses, publicists and
exhibitors with a veritable and long lasting bonanza.
The statistics are startling. The most recent Harry Potter grossed more than $900m
at the international box office in 2009. Its predecessors posted similar numbers. The
first six films are calculated to have grossed more than $5.4 bn in international box
office and these are all movies made in Watford.
Some analysts are infuriated with the habit of claiming films like Harry Potter,
Inception and The Dark Knight as British when the company that makes then (and
reaps most of the dividends) is based in Burbank, California. However, many of the
key creative forces behind these films have been British, and they have all generated
huge amounts of inward investment in the UK.
Thanks to Harry Potter, Britain has two bona fide new international movie stars.
Radcliffe is a big enough name to headline new non Potter film like the forthcoming
Women in Black. Watson is a paparazzi favourite who told Vogue magazine recently
that she almost sick with nerves when she had a money conversation with her father
and realises her own slice of the Hogwarts pie could be 20m.
British effects houses have, likewise, reaped dividends from the screen versions of
JK Rowlings novels. Soho based Double Negative, which provides visual effects for
the films, has prospered. It is behind such scenes as Voldemorts Death Eater attack
on the Millennium Bridge which feature in the half-blood prince.
The Harry Potter franchise and Warner Brothers support has been one of the
cornerstones for building the UK FX industry!, says Double Negative managing
director Alex Hope. Over the ten years that British companies have been working on
the franchise, the UK has been transformed into a world leader in the VFX field.

Harry Potter Questions...

1. What are the advantages and disadvantages of a film like
Harry Potter having American backing?
The advantages are a bigger budget to incorporate more special effects
include grand soundtracks and stunning locations.

Therefore increasing the likelihood of fans of the book having their

expectations (e.g.dragons and other creatures) expected to a more epic
and captivating scale.
It also allows for divisions in the U.K (e.g. special effects) to given chances
to apply for positions in production, with producers being reassured of the
American backing allowing for coverage.
However, it still does not allow for Britain to be fully independent of their
own films, as they are reliant on huge budgets, which unfortunately they
cannot posses.
In addition, producers hands on what they can invest maybe tied from an
U.S conglomerates budget regulations, not allowing for as much freedom
possibly in what they could invest in.

2. Why do you think Harry potter needed American Backing?

So that more audiences could be informed of the film, whereas if
England backed Harry Potter, the marketing likely would not have
reached many people, such as in the U.S.A, which is more larger,
thus more people to want to view the film and more profit, which
would have been far less if only People in Britain were made aware
of the film.

3. Do you think being a British film contributed to the success of

the Harry Potter franchise? Did it increase its international appeal?

Harry Potter being a British film, allowed for it to remain more true to the
book, appealing to fans. However there was quite a culturally diverse cast,
from British, Irish, Scottish, Wiltshire and American.
Additionally, the British culture in the franchise would likely appeal to
more audiences, in intriguing U.S audiences into Britain's culture.
At the same time though, it was not focused on an entirely fixed section of
Britain, as many characters possessed different accents around the U.K
(e.g. Wiltshire, London and Irish).