Homework 1 - Film Industry

Production

• Development is the first stage in which the ideas for the film are created and the screenplay is written.

• Pre-production is the preparations that are made for the shoot, in which cast and the film crew are hired, locations are selected and sets are built.

• Production is the raw elements for the film that are recorded during the film shoot.

• Post-production is when the images, sound and visual effects of the recorded film are edited.

• Distribution is when the finished film is distributed and screened in cinemas or released on DVD.

Distribution

Films get from the edit house to the audience in a number of ways, some of ways being by screening it at cinemas across countries. Also, another way is either just bringing it out straight to DVD or Blu Ray. The distributors decide to go for a release on one weekend as opposed to another because they want to choose a weekend where they believe they’ll make the most money and make sure that no other big blockbuster movie will be the event of attention on that weekend so their film does not get overlooked by the public.

Marketing

There are various ways to promote and advertise a film that is due to be released. Some of these being trailers, bus advertisements, tube advertisements, posters of the film in popular places, if the film is targeted to children then McDonalds would advertise it with a happy meal by creating toys for the film. Films are sold to different audiences through trailers, the trailers show the key parts of the film that they think will grab the audience’s attention and make them think about watching the film. Another way is also the bus and tube advertisements and the posters, on them they have slogans from the film and they also have the critic reviews if the reviews are good which may want someone to watch it because it has got good reviews from the critics.

Exhibition

There are many ways the audience can watch a film now. The audience can go to the cinema or buy the film on Blu-Ray or DVD; the audience can also stream film online through Netflix or LoveFilm. Some methods of watching a film are illegal but are still very popular and used a lot. This includes buying a pirate DVD or downloading the film illegally online.