How does Hollywood produce, distribute and exhibit films to ensure success?

Hollywood’s high production of films is concentrated around the big six studio company’s, Universal, Warner Bros, Disney, Sony Entertainment, 20th Century Fox, and Paramount. The production, distribution and exhibition stage all contain the use of different subsidiaries within the main six companies to create high concept films. The company’s own numerous subsidiary studio’s which produce or either help the production, distribution an exhibition of many blockbuster films to gain high revenue, but Hollywood do there’s slightly differently to many british film company’s which contributes to the high total gross and the “unique” label given to many of their films. Blockbusters are high budget production, aimed at mass markets and rely on vital merchandising, this is one reason why Hollywood seem to dominate the global box offices.

Hollywood produce over 150 films a year, 150 being known as a “small” amount compared to the highest amount of films produced in the recent decades being well over 200. The blockbusters/high concept films Hollywood produce all consist of a high budget (much more than most english films) which conclude to the new/expensive technology and high production values. High production values are one reason Hollywood create much more “unique” films and how they ensure success in production. The high budget affords new special affects, well known/award winning actors, a fantastic script/well known writers, exotic locations and new technology (directed towards camera work e.g. 3D, 2D, HD) which give Hollywood company’s an advantage to film company’s with small budgets who can’t afford the high production costs. Spider Man 2 was a high concept film produced in Hollywood that had very high production values. The first stages in starting the production of their film was the deals, this included the script development and licensing, this added up to just over $30 million (This shows how great scripts written by well known writers is one essential for success, and companies will pay allot for it). The team of writers and financiers then decided on their above the line costs. Above the line costs are dependent on the director, producers and cast wanted. Spider Man payed around $55 million for their above the line employees and then had to moved onto paying $45 million for their below the lines costs. Below the line costs mainly include the physical production costs. After the shoot the shots and filming is now edited, so any special effects, sound effects are added, in this case Spider Man 2’s special effects cost $65 million plus $5 million for the music. The rest of Spider Man 2’s budget went towards there distribution and marketing ($75million) and they finished with final box office figures of $821 million worldwide. This is an example of how Hollywood produce there films and how there budget is needed to do so. The use of technology in Hollywood is a leading element that makes their films much more successful, with a high budget the best directors, camera men and special effect managers can be employed. King Kong was produced by Universal along side there subsidiary Illumination Entertainment, the original created by Universal in 1933 was a “special effect phenomenon” at this time, and the remake in 2005 was awarded with many special effect awards because of the new technology used such as CGI and scannable Marquette's. With Hollywoods big budget this new technology could be afforded, making the film much more realistic and aesthetically pleasing to the audience than smaller company’s trying to create special affect needed story lines. King Kong’s financiers had the money to work with Weta Workshop who are another integrated company within Hollywood that specialize on special affects. Famous for bringing realization to fictional creatures and creating unknown landscapes, the special affects workshop is another reason in the explanation of how Hollywood make sure there film is successful. The film “Avatar” is one of the most successful films of all time, grossing over $2.6 billion in worldwide box office. It is typically known for its amazing technology in CGI and in the return of 3D. Avatar re-released the film weeks later in 3D (maybe a distribution idea, to gain more revenue) using new technology. Large proportions of the film were shot on a virtual camera on the computer system were the landscape and other completed CGI work was on. They decided to use 2 cameras to create the 3D effects, this is a method used because the camera’s shoot images side by side, much like eyes on a human being, this so depth can be seen on the screen. A new modern wave of 3D films is currently dominated the box office, and this is now a very important detail and decision to be taken in production. The producers and director have to decide wether the film is going to be shot in 3D along with 2D or just 2D. Once again film companies with a large budget are going to be able to create 3D and 2D versions, whereas small companies will struggle. Big companies are trying to push 3D films back into the market because of its benefits in final revenue. The main benefit with 3D is that it can’t be illegally copied, in theatre or downloaded via internet sites, which will end illegal copying of films and will make people have to buy dvd’s or watch the film at cinema’s. Another problem is the 3D phenomenon is causing some companies to go out of business. Small cinema companies can’t afford the new technology needed to show 3D films, therefore loosing out when films only come out in 3D, or when the target audience would prefer to see it in 3D. Kick Ass had a reasonably low budget for a Hollywood blockbuster but also spent a large amount of there budget on special effects (showing its importance in the making of films). Kick Ass had an original budget of $28 million and joined up with the Hollywood company Double Negative to produce the special effects. Double negative did just over 835 visual affects for the movie, using mostly CGI through green screens and other methods. Between $8-9 million was spent on special effects, a large percentage of the budget. Kick Ass concentrated on picking the right writers to edit the script and develop it further, by looking at there previous movies, Stardust a large grossing film worldwide, they decided to employe Mark Miller and Jane Coldman on a added amount of $3 million. Its also very common in Hollywood for the director to come up with the initial idea, Matthew Vaughan invested his own money into the production of his film, therefore taking a large income but also help other financiers to decide on the costs for above the line and below the line. This is another way how Hollywood ensure success, they have to make sure every detail with the high production values is right; writers, director, producers, script, cast, special effects.

Hollywood lead the way with innovative and sometimes very expensive methods when distributing their films. Distribution is the most essential step in creating a blockbuster film, as Hollywood need to ensure maximum global distribution to make a unique success. Cloverfield is an example of how innovative marketing and distributing created global “buzz” in viral media and TV/radio media. Unlike many high concept films, Cloverfield had a very low budget (in Hollywood terms) of $15 million, but became an instant success in its opening weekend grossing $22 million. This is because of its step by step distribution and marketing campaign. There first step was choosing/having a very specific target audience, Matt Reeves (director) was quoted ‘a monster movie for the youtube generation’. This gave the first indication that the film was going to be a viral marketing campaign. The producers and marketing directors then had to decide on how the first teaser trailer would be broadcast - The First Glimpse. The producers decided to show the trailer before the 2007 summer blockbuster Transformers, which took a large percentage of the budget, but yet still decided not to name the film. It was the start to an innovative idea that would create hype in the media. With the teaser trailer they decided to not name the film, and ended the trailer with a final shocking image, this interests the audience, as they want to know, why this has happened, how?This use of enigma codes left the audience with an element not explained, they were intrigued and now wanted to find out the answers. Part of Cloverfield’s plan was to drip feed information to create curiosity, the teaser provided two pieces of information, which was the director/producer JJ Abrams and the release date. With giving these pieces of information, the audiences interest would conclude to viral research which would lead them to a website www.1-08-08.com which slowly released chronological photo’s, showing the audience what the film could be about. To further build curiosity the producers decided to release a poster geographically identifying Central Park along with a theatrical trailer which introduced the name Cloverfield - further building hype. The website then became the official Cloverfield website, but the producers weren’t finished yet and decided to further progress the viral marketing with creating virtual worlds for characters. With Facebook becoming the most used social networking site, they said it was essential to use this to there advantage to gain the “youtube generation” audience. They created Facebook pages for the individual characters, which would show them living here lives until the eventful night in the teaser and theatrical trailer. There next step was one new in the world of marketing, which could be argued as why Hollywood create much more successful blockbusters than British companies. They decided to create a widget (a product used by the “youtube generation”) that showed the first 5 minutes of the film, this only downloadable content was where Cloverfield created a big hype in the viral audience and this stage lead to the traditional posters, adverts, pictures etc to be released. The final stages saw ARG’s being created for people to play and get to understand the film, these interlinked websites lead people to main website gaining more people viewing the website. The last and final stage in marketing was to create another thread on the website, that let the target audience search through back stories, video blogs and any other special footage. This use of marketing helped distribution, because it was a viral marketing campaign wide release was the practice used. Most Hollywood films are distributed directly by the studio who financed the film, this means there companies don’t have to pay for different country distributing companies, so Hollywood being vertically, horizontally and literally integrated concludes to the blockbuster being distributed by other firms but costing little of the budget, yet making world wide box offices. For example the film Kick Ass used a similar viral marketing campaign but with less complication. They decided to have posters of each character, which suggest a url taking you to the characters website, this instead took you to the Kick Ass official website. This idea generated far more numbers looking at the website, and this made it become much more popular, and therefore pictures, teaser video’s and any other video blogs could be viewed and share viral. From the examples you can see how Hollywood lead the way with innovative methods of distributing, and how there large budgets can afford to do this, unlike many british films. 

Films in the near past have been able to be viewed in a vast amount of ways due to the push in technology. Hollywood do not just create income through the gross of cinema views but also through Synergy and other exhibition methods. All films are released a few months later on DVD or Blue ray so people can watch the film in the comfort of their own home. They can also control the film, pause, play, rewind, fast forward. This makes it more comfortable for the viewer, for example if they need to go toilet they can pause the film and they can also have what ever food they like, without purchasing it from the cinema for high prices. Hollywood Blockbusters rely on vital merchandising so they release a series of synergy’s to create more income such as Soundtrack albums and video games. Another way for Blockbusters to create money through further merchandising is selling the rights to TV companies for them to show the film on their channel. This Network TV and On Demand television programs offer the sharing of the film to allot of TV customers, making them increasingly interested in buying the DVD. Depending on the on the film, but with most, not only are video games created, but a whole range of different products in toys, and items for the target market. For example Spider Man saw toy characters being made, cuddly toys, school wear and other products (shoes, stationary, bags, lunch boxes, curtains and so on), this creates a large area concentrated around one film, which makes Hollywood have such a massive return in revenue compared to the budget. High concept films also have a large exhibition red carpet event, usually known as a World or Country “premier”. This see’s the cast, the producers the directors and special guests walk the red carpet, in front of fans and the press on the night the film is first shown to an audience, this generates allot of publicity and people pay allot of money to watch the film and the premier gets allot of attention in the news and other media. Companies like the “big six” are battling against the illegal downloading of there films. This is mostly common when some one in the audience has recorded the movie (in cinema) and has shared it on the internet, almost undetectable its very hard for the companies to find out who has copyrighted there film. The pro’s of watching downloaded material are dominantly surrounding the free fee. Downloading these copyrighted films costs nothing and once again the audience can choose to pause, play, rewind and fast forward as they please and watch whenever they want. The filming industry have been trying to combat this with the re-introduction of 3D, stoping people being able to record a normal screen, and only being able to record a blur and fuzzy screen because of the 3D glasses needed to be able to see the film in high definition. 

In my opinion Hollywood have many reasons for their “unique” label that is very concentrated around the distribution of their films, but everything that is outstanding or leaves the audience intrigued is because of the large budget they have to begin with. For this reason i think the term “unique” is wrong. I think Hollywood films should be better than other films around the globe simply because of the large budgets that can afford those high production values. However i believe the term “unique” is correct in the context of distribution and marketing, the producers and marketing directors create very complicated methods, but ones that leave people passionate to watch the film. This may be due to the large budget, but mainly because this large budget can afford the talented producers and directors that can create these complicated and brilliant methods of marketing. The budget also contributes to these Blockbusters having a world wide target audience, whereas English film companies cannot afford global distribution, so therefore their films are very audience specific. For this reason I don’t many other companies in the world can compete with the “big six” studios, apart from Bollywood, who have had consistent large funding to create global high concept films. In terms of the way we watch films, i much prefer waiting to but the DVD unless me and my friends are very excited about a film coming out. This is because of the costs of going to see films. Unless i’m absolutely mesmerized I can quite easily wait until the DVD is out in later months. In my opinion I prefer English films, predominately because the more interesting and non-mainstream story lines. American films seem too repetitive, and I see them relying on special effects to create blockbusters whereas english films create much more interesting scripts and find new talented actors.

How does Calvin Klein represent females in the above advert? Are they objectified or sexually empowered?

Using Laura Mulvey’s ‘male gaze’ and Trevor Millum’s and Marjorie Ferguson’s analysis of facial expressions i will decide whether Calvin Klein intend to make the woman in the advert objectified or sexually empowered.

Looking at her facial expressions, her eyes are heavy lidded, almost closed, and her lips slightly parted, this is an overly sensual expression which would link with objectified, but she has no eye contact with the audience, also we can only see three quarters of her face, as if she was looking away, this well could be a metaphor for no one is good enough for her, that she is superior. This would link into her having control of the audience, so she is being powerful through sexual nature.

She stands in a stereotypical man ‘pose’, which shows off her hour glass figure whilst also showing that she is strong, independent, powerful and confident, with high heeled shoes to elongate the legs. This fits in with both objectified and sexually empowered, as this shows she’s in control and she is powerful, but things like the high heeled shoes bring up the question of, who are they to impress? Why where them if to elongate legs for someone?

We also see the woman in the process of getting dressed after having a shower, which would seem objective for why should the image include the sensual stereotype of the wax/wet look unless to attract the male audience. Also this could be to attract the female audience the advert is aimed at, for example the clothes advertised look good on her and attract male attention, so the female market may by the product to try and get the same affect, so without realizing this wax/wet look makes the product more appealing.

The underwear is interesting when talking about the woman being objectified or sexually empowered. The suspenders tell us she might be going out, on a date, or to a restaurant, to make her look sophisticated or to look good (appealing to male audience again) but the plain black bra and non complicated pattern could suggest that the woman is nothing but a normal simple woman, which reflects that anyone can wear this product.

The adverts target market can be split up into two groups, males with wives or girlfriends, and females in relationships or trying to look appealing. This advert aimed at men, is intended to make them look and like the image, which is making the female gender seem objectified, therefore men would see this image, and either buy it or tell there wives/girlfriends to get it. Aimed at women on the other hand the sense of sexually empowered person is good for them, this makes them feel like they can have this, they can look this way, and can be themselves, controlling and not just something to look at. I think as an overview to the advert, the woman is still seen objectified, because the advert simply intends to make you look at her, female or male, the image would attract both audiences therefore fitting in with the stereotype that women all want to look the ‘best’ or better than others and they are there to look ‘good’ and to impress.

Making A Film

The Idea

People have to find inspiration, they can gain this from newspapers, conversations, real life situations and existing products. Producers take the idea and make reality, they find and pitch to different directors and writers about the idea and show off original scripts to get the right people to make the movie happen. The director will then look at original script, and see how to interpret it into a film that can be produced. The writer then clarifies all the actors and scenes in the film, they give the storyline to the producer and director to be filmed, they decide what the characters are like. The writer will then write a treatment, which allow readers to see what genre the film is and if there interested. After the treatment is written the producers and such will then pitch there story line and such to financiers who will commission a script, this is so there film can be made, and there will be a budget allocated.

Development Finance

Producers approach film production companies for the finance to develop the script and idea, this is only usually given if the companies think they will make a large enough profit. The producer will then offer rights to different people to gain money, they will offer part of the revenue to sales company if they will finance some of the script development, the offer will also be to broadcasters who can get the film advertised on different television channels, and the distribution company, who will get places for the film to be scene in different cinema's, and to different broadcasters who will also take a percentage of revenue. It could also be pitched to the UK Film council, who could invest in new talented scripts.

Script Development

The producer and writer decide together on what scenes and key events will take place in the film. The writer will then usually use the step outline method to look at how the film will come together. The writer will then produce a first draft, when happy they and the producers will send a copy to the financiers. When everyone is happy, the script will become a final draft and the writer payed. Then a sales treatment will be written to further sell to potential investors.

Packaging

The producer and director then get the sales treatment and script and a rough budget idea ready to be financed. Then to also commercialise the film, stars can be added to the script, they may demand allot of money to act in the film, but could also bring in bigger revenue because the audience will know the stars. Then HOD's will decide the budget, and how the film will look, they will agree with the financiers with the final script. The producer will now work out the exact amount of money the film will cost, and how it will be spent. The producer will then see how they can raise money, and what the estimate revenue will be, so they can pay the investors back. The complete package is now done, and has the final draft in, along with the HOD's, stars, budgets, and estimated revenues.

Financing

The producer will now have to find investors, she may have to travel with the package to find them, directors may also help, as if there famous, or the stars in the film are big, this will attract more investors. Once an investor is landed, a lawyer has contracts ready for the deal to go through. The producer will also raise money be "pre-sales" before the film has been made. Also loans or investment can be made through banks that can specialise in film making. A completion bond is then usually put in place, so that if the film goes over its budget, there are funds that can support it, but this may take a larger amount of revenue in the ending profit.

Pre-Production

All the HOD's are hired and have a meeting, looking at the scripts they all decide on there plans to make the film successful. The casting director, decide's how many people will be cast, and which actors are right for different roles, this will then decided all together by the director producer and casting director. A paper edit will then be created, much like a storyboard, the director, editor and sketching artist will create a strip showing the films main events in various pictures and small descriptions. The production designer then designs all the sets, and how they will be made. Different art directors and producers will make the sets, decide what colours there will be, and what props, the construction manager will be see  how the sets will be put together. Special effects will then be planned by the the visual effects supervisor, CGI will be used but also physical effects. The first AD, line producer and production manager then sort out the key elements of the production e.g. finance, workers, cast, equipment, budget.

The Shoot

The shooting begins with numerous people on set. The director watches different screens, and decides how the film will be best shown, you also have the stills photographer, who takes photo's that would be used on posters and in newspapers ect.  There is also, the camera team, the insures, the producer, the sound team, the 3rd AD, property manager, health and safety, the 2nd AD, the caterers, the gaffer, and the stars. The shoot is also run military like, so if they run behind schecdule finances may step in.

Post Production

As the footage come in, the editor assembles it into a narritive sequence, then the sound producers work on the music and prop noises that fit in with the sequence. The special effects are added and so are the title sequences and credits, along with colour and contrast additional effects. It is then made the final cut, and ready to be duplicated.

The Sale

The company get a sales agent who helps sell the final cut, a trailer is made, or other sneak prevue traliers and then the4y hand over everything they have created, e.g. posters, bilboard designs and such to distrubuters.

Marketing

Distrubuters then make deals with the cinema owners to show the film.

Summer BlockBuster How It Was Made (Marketing)

Roland Barthes Narrative Theory: MAC vs PC

In this advert the main code used is the Cultural Code. Using the cultural code to make Mac look better was mostly identified in the appearance of both men, for example; the PC man wore glasses, which we associate with being clever, he was middle aged and wore an old dark suit, with trousers high up. This stereotypical style of person would be referred to as "geeky" compared to the other man known as Mac. He wore casual clothes, his shirt hung out and his jeans reasonably low, also he was wearing latest fashion which would look better in the eye's of teenagers and young adults. This would make Mac look better to the target market as he is known to be "cooler, younger, attractive". These men are also used as a metaphor to the product, therefore Mac being newer, cooler, fashionable. This use of men also fits in with Levi Straus belief of Binary Opposites, were to be one thing, there has to be an opposite, so in this case, to be cool and young, there has to be an old and uncool person.

An Enigma is used when the audience do not know what to expect when "PC" present there movie (represented by a person), this creates a moment were an element is not explained. The to people are revealed, neither of them are explained to be "wrong" or "better" but because of the cultural code, the blonde, skinny, attractive female is seen as better than the drag, hairy man.

The personalities of both characters is also used to control the audiences feelings, e.g. the character PC says "it wont be better than mine, but you can show" which would give the impression of arrogance, drawing us away from liking that character and preffering the Mac.