The British film industry
Factsheet #132: British Film
Use our brilliant Media Factsheet archive on the M: drive Media Shared (M:\Resources\A Level\Media Factsheets) to find Media Factsheet #132 on British Film. You can find it online here - you'll need to log in using your Greenford Google login. Read the whole of Factsheet and answer the following questions:
1) Write a one-sentence definition of what makes a film British.
People making the film are British, is it funded from within Britain, are the cast British, is the film’s subject matter about Britain or British culture.
2) What is the difference between a Hollywood production context and production context of a British film?
Most Hollywood films made by Hollywood studios have high budgets, a heavy reliance on celebrities both in the cast and crew and spectacle driven stories. Most British films made by Hollywood studios have high budgets, a heavy reliance on celebrities both in the cast and crew and spectacle driven stories.
3) When did the James Bond franchise start?
The 1960s brought about the start of the James Bond franchise as well as a greater involvement of American
money and talent.
4) In terms of film censorship and graphic content, what began to change in British film in the 1970s and 1980s?
The British film industry in the 1970s was dominated by the subject of censorship that continued into the video nasties banning of the 1980s. The BBFC in the last few decades has tried to engage more with British audiences, making its guidelines not only accessible to all but also engaging with the public when reviewing these guidelines.
5) What groups are often represented in British film? Give examples of films these groups feature in.
We has seen an evolution in some parts of the representation as well as a persistent consistency in the way some films portray young people, especially in the British Horror Film. For example if we look at the way youth is portrayed in a very singular way in Stanley Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange (Warner Bros., 1971), the focus is on violence, anti-establishment and a compulsion to act in an anarchic way. This is echoed through British Cinema and into current films such as Eden Lake (Rollercoaster Films, 2008), where we see a similar, (if not less fantastical) set of values being given to the youthful antagonists of the film. Both play into the stereotype that youth are rule breaking rebels that tend towards the violent,
6) What does the Factsheet suggest might be the audience appeal of British film?
This is the first step towards targeting and appealing to a British audience as with any film made by a country
for its own populace. The main characteristics that can be identified as appealing to a native British audience would include; the actors, British actors tend to be clearly identifiable as British and will often be associated
with a particular genre of British film, for example Hugh Grant having an association with British romantic comedies.
Factsheet #100: British film industry
To complete our introduction to the British film industry, we need a little more background to the industries context.Find Media Factsheet #100 on the British film industry. You can find it on the same link as above. Read the whole of the Factsheet and answer the following questions:
1) What is the 'cultural test' to see if a film counts as British?
The Cultural Test is divided into four sections and a film must score at least 16 out of a possible 31 points to be classified as British. A - Cultural Context, B - Cultural Contribution, C - Cultural Hubs, D - Cultural Practitioners.
2) Complete the task on the Factsheet - choose three of the films listed and research them to work out what they score on the cultural test: The Sweeney (2012), Attack The Block, The King's Speech, We Need To Talk About Kevin and Skyfall.
The Sweeney (dir. Love, 2012) 4 4 4 4 2 1 1 1 1 1 1=24
Attack the Block (dir. Cornish, 2011) 4 4 4 4 2 1 1 1 1 1 1=24
The King’s Speech (dir. Hooper, 2012) 4 4 4 4 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1=25
All three of them have scores more than 16/31.
3) What is the main problem for the British film industry?
The problem is that in order to get the film exhibited, the filmmakers have to sacrifice the distribution rights by selling the film to a distribution company. Once sold, all revenue from cinema screenings, DVD and Blu-ray
sales, plus sales to television companies, are lost.
4) What are three of the strengths of the British film industry?
The strengths are an outstanding creative skills of practitioners and outstanding facilities
5) What are the two options for the future of the British film industry?
They could choose to rely upon co-productions with American studios to keep the industry afloat. However, the drawback would be that much of what makes the film British may be lost, such as regional accents and dialects or cultural and political
references. Since these features would make no sense to an audience outside of Britain, it is unlikely that an American company involved in a co-production would approve of them. The second option is to attempt to make low budget films targeted at a niche, British audience. Though the production costs will have to be lower and box-office taking and profits will necessarily be lower too, the filmmakers will be able to retain what it is that makes British films so distinctive without compromise. Careful sale of distribution rights could also mean that profits are channelled back into the UK film industry.
I believe the first option would be the best approach for the future in order to keep the British film industry alive and ongoing. However, i would have prefer the second one even through there is not much safety to it. The British film industry would target a niche audience making them less known but sometimes, as proven in the past, these niche films would sometimes become quite popular and earn a lot of money as the focus is towards the narrative instead of the actual production cost.
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