http://www.bfi.org.uk/sites/bfi.org.uk/files/downloads/bfi-statistical-yearbook-2014.pdf
Overview of the British film industry from the BFI Statistical Yearbook 2014
http://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/jan/06/uk-box-office-fall
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/despicable-me-2-named-the-topgrossing-film-of-2013-at-the-uk-box-office-9047044.html
2013 box office
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/78460/DCMS_film_policy_review_report-2012_update.pdf
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/274265/1316-A_Film_Policy_Doc_ACCESSIBLE.pdf
A government review of the UK film industry.
"The issues raised by media ownership in contemporary media practice"
How are films funded in the UK? (How is the US different?)
How can funding be obtained?
Why is the National Lottery important?
What role did the UK Film Council have? How has the BFI taken over that role?
Why do UK companies make films with US studios and vice versa?
Why do international co-productions take place?
What benefits might there be for a UK production company to be taken over by a major US studio?
What is an independent film?
What is the difference between the distribution of major US films and independent UK distribution?
How might a UK film benefit from a major US distributor?
How can UK films be more attractive to audiences at home or internationally
Use your institutional notes on
The King's Speech (the independent UK production),
Skyfall (the franchise company),
Harry Potter (the co-production with a major U.S. studio) and
Africa United (the international co-production) plus Working Title (the UK production company owned by a major U.S. studio (Universal).
http://ilovethatfilm.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/funding-and-ownership-of-tv-and-film.html
http://stephenfollows.com/are-films-with-public-funding-better-than-those-without/
Media ownership overview
NB At the bottom of this page is an overview of the U.S. studio system. You can use this to compare the UK and U.S. film industries.
"The importance of cross media convergence and synergy in production, distribution and marketing"
What is convergence?
Convergence is when separate units (e.g. companies or technological products) are formed into one unit (e.g. a corporation or iphone) to accomplish an overall goal (e.g. sell more media products or a device that performs many function). See Jenkins for the different types of convergence:
http://phase1.nccr-trade.org/images/stories/jenkins_convergence_optional.pdf
What is synergy?
Synergy means 'working together' and occurs when two or more things work
together to produce a result that would not be possible if they were working
independently of one another.
In the film industry, the marketing people aim to create synergy by
creating a trailer that works with the poster that works with the website that works with the radio advertisement that works with the TV spot that works with the magazine article that works with the merchandise...and so on.
Synergy helps to establish a brand identity that you, the consumer,
immediately recognise. This 'creative' form of synergy might involve a logo (e.g. Batman), a particular typeface (e.g. The Terminator metallic 'font'), certain images or a musical 'motif' (e.g. the James Bond theme). These stylistic 'idents' can be used across a range of marketing forms (cross media) - e.g. trailer, poster, website etc. - to establish a shared 'look' or 'sound'.
All of these synergistic elements help to raise your
awareness of the film and increase the likelihood of you going to see it.
Synergy can also exist between products created by different producers (e.g. film and video game) and between merchandising partners (e.g. James Bond - Sony, Aston Martin, Omega etc.).
What is cross media?
"Transmedia (or cross media) storytelling (also known as transmedia narrative or multiplatform storytelling, cross-media seriality etc.) is the technique of telling a single story or story experience across multiple platforms and formats including, but not limited to, games, books, events, cinema and television."
Film distribution
Film exhibition
"The technologies that have been introduced in recent years at the levels of production, distribution, marketing and exchange"
Digital cinema
Practically since the birth of cinema at the end of the 19th century, films have been produced, circulated and screened on celluloid stock.
More recently, digital soundtracks have enhanced the audio experience, while computer graphics imagery (CGI) is often added in post-production to realise spectacular effects. Today, most films are edited and mastered on digital equipment; a few, such as George Lucas's latest Star Wars episodes, are even shot using high-definition digital cameras, rather than being photographed on film.
Yet across the world, the standard format for presentation remains 35mm celluloid, which delivers superb quality to audiences.
Now the cinema industry stands on the threshold of a great, rolling transition from celluloid to digital, which is expected to gather momentum over the decade ahead. In time, digital technologies are likely to exert as profound an impact on the cinema sector as on the broadcast and other media sectors.
Digital or D-cinema has already been piloted in the UK for ten years. Disney/Pixar's Toy Story was supplied and presented digitally (on a Texas Instruments DLP prototype) at London's Odeon, Leicester Square, in 1995. But only a handful of cinemas have had digital projectors whilst further quality advances were achieved. Now, with D-cinema giving state-of-the-art clarity on screen, audiences may be unaware that they are watching a digital, as opposed to a film, presentation.
A great deal of work has been undertaken around the world, but especially by the studios' Digital Cinema Initiative, to develop global standards for D-cinema. The general aim is to ensure that digital content can be distributed and played anywhere in the world - as is the case, of course, with a 35mm print. The new technologies and components should be based on open, as well as compatible, standards that foster competition among equipment and service providers. The hardware should be capable of easy upgrades as further advances occur.
Who gains from D-cinema
Potentially, there are real benefits both for the industry and, most importantly, for audiences.
Film distributors - the companies that release movies and market them to the public - will benefit if there are substantial reductions in the costs of duplicating film prints and transporting them to cinemas. The UK is one of the most expensive markets in the world in which to release a film. FDA members spend approximately £125m a year on prints, duplicated in high-tech laboratories. A digitally produced or converted film could be delivered quickly and reliably via disc (a much smaller, cheaper physical medium than a 35mm print), fibre optic cable or satellite - triggering a huge systems change for the whole industry.
Cinemas that book and receive a digital copy would store it on a computer/server in the projection box, which would serve it to a particular digital projector for each screening. Importantly, distributors should be able to encode and encrypt their digital files, to ensure that each film is as secure as possible and that access to them throughout the theatrical lifecycle is controlled and traceable. In the digital era, new asset management models will emerge but for the foreseeable future, piracy is expected to continue as a key business issue, undermining the industry's further development.
In due course, it may be possible for distributors to deliver newly cut digital trailers to cinemas at very short notice, capitalising on topical developments such as awards nominations or wins, favourable reviews and box-office success, much as other forms of film advertising already do.
Film archiving could also be transformed by digital progress. Professional storage of 35mm reels can demand considerable space, care and funding.
For cinemas themselves, digital equipment may present diverse programming opportunities, such as concerts, sports events or short films of local interest, and it may help them as venues to attract business conferences. Depending on the catchment area population, perhaps a choice of classic films could be screened at selected times, if and when digital copies are available at low cost.
For cinema audiences, all these opportunities may result in wider choice. In addition, the digital images on screen will be picture-perfect every time. By contrast, the more often celluloid is run through a projector, the more prone it becomes to scratches and fading, wear and tear.
UK digital screen network
FDA welcomes and supports an initiative by the UK Film Council, to invest up to £13 million of National Lottery funds in what will become the world's first digital screen network, placing the UK at the forefront of D-cinema.
It is planned that up to 200 screens in 150 cinemas across the UK - a quarter of the total - will be equipped with digital projectors. In return, cinemas will be asked by the Film Council to show a broader range of specialised (non-blockbuster) films such as documentaries or foreign language titles on a regular basis.
Hopefully, such a substantial investment will help the hardware costs to fall, which in turn could facilitate extra installations. Initially at least, the network will comprise 2K digital projectors (2,048 x 1,080 pixels resolution).
Fast-changing area
D-cinema presents opportunities for the cinema industry to try new ways of working, and of course there is much to learn from experience.
Given lower print/shipping costs, distributors may be able to consider increasing the number of (digital) copies or increasing their advertising investment to promote the film. If they take this risk, it may in turn help to draw a larger audience to 'specialised' films which tend inevitably to have smaller releases than commercial blockbusters. Of course, simply making more copies of a film does not automatically lead to more tickets being sold.
Ultimately, audiences will decide what content they want to pay to view, and accordingly what gets shown, in cinemas; technology itself does not drive admissions. Whatever happens from now on, potentially very exciting changes are coming. The future isn't what it used to be.
Further information
IMAX
"The significance of proliferation in hardware and content for institutions and audiences"
"The importance of technological convergence for institutions and audiences"
Home cinema (also think about Blu-ray and domestic 3D TVs)
Netflix and Amazon Prime are great examples of the the proliferation of content for consumers (the sheer number of films on offer). They are also examples of technological convergence, because huge numbers of films have been digitised and offered in one place (convergence in distribution - you can get all your films from the same source). Also there is convergence in exhibition because the idea is that you will watch most of your films on the same device, or a small number of devices. These will often be mobile and use smaller screens than films were traditionally watched on. In the case of Amazon, they want you to use their service to watch most of your films on one of their electronic tablets (Kindle Fire).
"The issues raised in the targeting of national and local audiences (specifically, British) by international or global institutions"
Target audience
"The ways in which the candidates’ own experiences of media consumption illustrate wider patterns and trends of audience behaviour"
http://www.bfi.org.uk/news-opinion/news-bfi/announcements/bfi-stats-yearbook-shows-uk-film-excelled-2012
Look at the trends in media consumption (use) identified by the BFI and consider your own consumption and that of your friends.
Media Ownership - The Major U.S. Studios
A major film studio is a
production and
distribution company that releases a substantial number of
films annually and consistently commands a significant share of
box office revenue in a given market. In the North American, Western, and global markets, the major film studios, often simply known as the majors (Warner Brothers Pictures, Walt Disney Pictures, Universal Pictures, Columbia Pictures, 20th Century Fox, Paramount Pictures) are commonly regarded as the six diversified
media conglomerates whose various film production and distribution subsidiaries command approximately 90 percent of U.S. and Canadian box office revenue. The term may also be applied more specifically to the primary motion picture business subsidiary of each respective conglomerate.
Today, Disney is the only member of the Big Six whose parent entity is still located near Los Angeles (actually, on Disney's studio lot). The five others report to conglomerates headquartered in
New York City,
Philadelphia, and
Tokyo. Of the Big Six, Paramount is the only one still based in Hollywood, and Paramount and Fox are the only ones still located within the Los Angeles
city limits.
Most of today's Big Six control subsidiaries with their own distribution networks that concentrate on
arthouse pictures (e.g.
Fox Searchlight) or
genre films (e.g.
Sony's
Screen Gems); several of these specialty units were shut down or sold off between 2008 and 2010. The six major studios are contrasted with smaller production and/or distribution companies, which are known as independents or "indies". The leading independent producer/distributors—
Lionsgate Films,
The Weinstein Company, and former major studio
MGM—are sometimes referred to as "mini-majors". From 1998 through 2005,
DreamWorks SKG commanded a large enough market share to arguably qualify it as a seventh major, despite its relatively small output. In 2006, DreamWorks was acquired by
Viacom, Paramount's corporate parent. In late 2008, DreamWorks once again became an independent production company; its films are distributed by Disney's
Touchstone Pictures.
The Big Six major studios are today primarily backers and distributors of films whose actual production is largely handled by independent companies—either long-running entities or ones created for and dedicated to the making of a specific film. The specialty divisions often simply acquire distribution rights to pictures in which the studio has had no prior involvement. While the majors still do a modicum of true production, their activities are focused more in the areas of development, financing, marketing, and merchandising. Those business functions are still usually performed in or near Los Angeles, even though the
runaway production phenomenon means that most films are now mostly or completely shot
on location at places outside Los Angeles. (From Wikipedia)
How is the UK different?
- No major studios. All of the UK production companies are small and cannot fund their own films. If they are successful, they can be bought by an American major; Working Title was bought by Universal.
- Normally though, companies like Heyday Films are not part of big corporations. However, they may benefit from U.S. funding and distribution deals, e.g. Heyday Films made the Harry Potter films with backing from Warner Brothers and their distribution arm.
- U.K. films are often co-productions. These co-productions may be with foreign companies.
- U.K. films often depend on lottery funding.
- There are no British 'high concept' films e.g. 'Avatar'. However, there are successful franchises such as James Bond and Harry Potter that are UK backed.
- British films may be more character and narrative driven and rely less on special effects (which are expensive).
- UK distributors are independent and have less marketing power than the big U.S. distributors.
UK Exhibition
See the link above for the article that follows with videos.
About cinema exhibition
The core objective of the industry has remained unchanged for almost a century - to provide audiences with a consistently excellent ‘big screen’ experience. That said, the cinema business has had to constantly reinvent itself to ensure it has continued to offer the best possible experience to customers at an affordable price. In addition to bringing a diverse range of content to screens, cinemas have to consider their food and drink offers as well as the comfort of their cinemas, ticket prices and promotions and providing for a range of customer needs. All this falls within the overall aim of making a trip to the cinema an enjoyable outing that will make customers want to return again and again.
The most recent change to the industry - the transition to digital cinema technology - is one of the most fundamental shifts seen in all that time, with the traditional cinema offer now expanding to give audiences much greater choice in what they see.
The following sections explain some of the core functions of cinema exhibition, including interviews with key colleagues who give their individual perspectives on working in the industry and how they see the cinema business changing. (The interviews here were recorded in late Spring 2012 so some of the detail of what is said may have moved on since then).
circuits, multiplexes and smaller sites
The UK cinema sector is made up of a wide range of multiplex and smaller cinema sites. These are operated either by key ‘circuit’ companies, who own a large number of sites across the country, or by smaller operators who may have a handful of sites, or sometimes just one. The three largest cinema circuits cover around 70 per cent of total UK screens, with the largest six circuits collectively accounting for 85 per cent.
Cinema companies operate very differently depending on how many sites they have. One of the largest cinema chains might typically have over 750 screens, employing several thousand staff, over 90 per cent of those at individual cinemas sites. These companies might have whole departments which deal with film booking, customer services, retail services, operations, marketing and HR for example. In contrast, a smaller operator with just one site may have just one manager who would deal with all of the above as well as a general site manager and maybe a dozen or so box office/concessions staff.
distribution and exhibition
It is important to explain how a film reaches the big screen and the relationship between film distributors and exhibitors. A film distribution company has the job of getting a film in front of audiences in whichever countries they have been given the ‘rights’ to sell it. Distributors not only manage the ‘theatrical’ release of their films to cinemas, but often also distribute films on other platforms including DVD, Blu-Ray, Video on Demand, Online, Pay and Free TV, amongst others. For more information on how film distribution works see the website of the Film Distributors' Association.
Exhibitors and distributors work together to encourage audiences to see films at the cinema. As explained below, both parties wants to maximise their income, distributors on the films they sell, and exhibitors across all the films they show at their cinema. So getting the right programme of film screenings on at every cinema often involved a complex process of analysis and negotiation.
Exhibitors and distributors also negotiate how much each cinema will pay the distributor in ‘rental’ for the films it shows. This is usually a percentage of the box office takings on the film. The percentage paid to distributors will depend on a number of factors, including the size of the film and whether the cinema is showing it on the release date, as well as the location of the cinema and its penetration with audiences. While most large cinemas will receive major films as soon as they are released, a number of smaller cinema sites may not receive these films until a few weeks later.
The share of income from cinema tickets which goes to the film distributor ensures that money can be returned to film-makers to repay the costs of making and marketing the film and to invest in producing new work. While vital to the future of the wider film industry, this does mean that there is less money than one might think available to the exhibitor to cover all of the other costs associated with running a cinema operation.
A further explanation on the economics of cinema follows below.
the economics of cinema
As well as the core purpose of showing films to audiences, each cinema is also a significant hospitality and retail business. Customer service is therefore of paramount importance, as is getting the food and drink offer right. Cinemas work hard to ensure they offer a quality experience to customers, this need extended much further than just what's seen on the big screen.
Cinemas need to earn enough to cover staff costs and other overheads such as energy, water and waste bills as well as to pay for the cleaning and maintenance of the cinema. There are also other business costs such as local rates and music licenses to be taken care of. This is all in addition to the huge sums involved in upgrades to seating and technologies to ensure that customers are getting the best experience possible.
In the last five years alone, the six largest UK cinema operators – representing some 85 per cent of UK market share by screens - estimate that they have invested over £400 million in sustaining and growing the country’s cinema infrastructure. This same period has seen over 40 new cinemas open across the country. Cinemas need to anticipate and keep up with public expectation of their services, constantly improving their offer to ensure happy customers.
As explained above, the cinema operator only retains a proportion of the cinema ticket price. For that reason, cinemas rely significantly on other sources of income, including on screen advertising and concessions (popcorn, sweets etc), in order to cover their costs and, hopefully, make a profit.
The cinema sector is occasionally challenged on the price of its food and drink offer. The reality is that this is an incredibly important income stream for cinemas. Cinemas, in a similar way to other catering businesses such as cafes and public houses, have to factor into their prices the cost of using the building and paying for staff and energy to make, serve and clear away the food and drinks. Of course, buying cinema food is optional, but it is available for those who want it and research suggests that many see it as a key part of the cinema-going tradition.
Some cinemas - in particular smaller sites - make very marginal profits, and income from concessions and advertising etc can mean the difference between financial viability and closure. Profit also enables investment into providing a ‘gold standard’ cinema experience for customers and allows operators to invest in the latest technology.
Cinema companies carefully analyse concession prices, ticket price and ticket promotions to make sure that the business has the right balance between earning enough income to provide a top quality experience whilst also providing customers with a good value night out. Compared to other leisure activities, the sector continues to provide a very good value night out, as evidenced by the stable level of cinema admissions in recent years in spite of the economic downturn.
The summaries below give a broad indication of the different functions that exist in many cinema companies.
film programming
Film programming in simple terms is the process by which decisions are made on which films to show in the cinema each week. Programmers also often negotiate the agreement of ‘rental’ with the distributor of each film. Film programmers might book films for just one cinema or several or across an entire circuit if they work for a major operator.
A film programmer needs to know and understand each cinema's audience in order to be confident that they will book films that people want to see. At the same time, they may need to try to book as wide a range of films as possible to attract a broad audience and encourage people to watch films they might not ordinarily choose. Programming also needs to take account of what audiences respond to at different times of day, days of the week and even times of the year, with school holidays for example being particularly popular periods for younger and family audiences. The fewer screens there are to programme at a particular site, the more challenging all of this can be.
The role of film programming often requires the understanding of a good deal of data and statistics. Programmers look at the admissions numbers from the previous week to see which films they want to ‘hold over’, and which films to take off their screens in order to make room for new releases. They might also decide on the times of the film screenings, which screens they are shown in and which screenings will be subtitled or included in ‘family friendly’ shows for example.
Film schedules are typically confirmed on a Monday, so over the weekend or very soon afterwards, film programmers will look at the weekend box office figures to judge which films are proving popular with audiences, and then decide on their schedule for the forthcoming week (starting on Friday). Once a plan is in place, then calls and emails will begin with film distributors to negotiate the booking of their films.
Understandably, each film distributor wants their film(s) to be kept on as many screens as possible to maximise their box office takings. Given these differing needs, film progamming is often a complex process of negotiation which includes not just agreeing which films to book but also the ‘terms’ – which includes the split of box office revenues between exhibition and distribution.
operations
The person in charge of the operations function in a cinema is normally responsible for almost everything concerned with keeping the cinema up and running, from staff, opening times, health and safety, on-site customer service, heating and lighting to cleaning and maintenance.
Operations teams must be aware of everything going on across their organisation to ensure that new procedures and promotions etc are implemented on site. A larger multiplex chain would normally have a national operations manager and regional, or area, operations managers who work together with the general managers on site to oversee the running of their cinemas, cascade information from Head Office and feed back information from individual sites about their performance and any specific issues.
In a smaller company, these functions might be shared between a general manager and the owner. In all cases, whoever is in charge of operations will need to ensure that each cinema is ready for business, that the environment is comfortable and safe, that the building is clean and well-maintained, that there is enough concessions stock, that ticket machines are working and that there are well trained staff to keep the cinema running.
The operations function will also normally be closely involved in the development of new sites and ensuring that issues such as accessibility and relevant health and safety and fire regulations are met. Operations managers are normally responsible for acquiring the entertainments licences required by cinemas to operate. These specify a number of matters, including opening hours and permit the sale of alcohol and late night refreshments.
marketing and promotions
Marketing and promotion involves ensuring that each cinema engages with the widest possible range of customers. Cinemas need to understand what customers want now, and what they might want in the future, and respond to that. Marketing teams have a fundamental role in communicating clear messages about why people should choose to spend their time and money at the cinema and why the big screen experience remains the best place to watch a film.
Marketing in cinemas will include film, brand and retail marketing. As well as internal communications there is also a wide range of external communication which needs to be managed via consumer and trade PR, local area marketing – particularly for site openings, and directly to customers through a variety of channels including social networking and mobile technology. There are lots of reasons why someone may go to a particular cinema, from convenience factors such as transport links and parking, accessibility, safety of a locality to more subjective reasons such as pricing, offers, customer service, comfort and quality of the facilities. Marketing teams work hard to ensure their overall offer is clear to customers and the best it can be.
Cinema as a business is changing. Digital technology brings huge opportunities for cinemas to broaden their offer to customers, making it much easier to show a wider range of films and, with the ease of moving films around screens, making it easier to respond to audience demand.
Delivery of content via satellite has also enabled cinemas to show a range of so-called ‘alternative content’ such as opera, ballet, theatre, music and sporting events. These can be broadcast live to cinema screens, making national events much more accessible to audiences across the UK.
An increasing number of cinemas are now also offering VIP or ‘gold class’ tickets in an attempt to attract customers willing to pay more for arm-chair style seating or recliners, with more leg room and space for wine and nibbles, providing an altogether more premium experience. At the other end of the spectrum, customers seeking value for money can still avail themselves of the long-running Orange Wednesdays 2 for 1 ticket promotion, or a range of company-specific loyalty card or discount schemes.
Many cinemas also run special screenings for the elderly, mothers and babies, and for schools or disabled groups, for example through autism-friendly screenings. Cinemas will adapt their traditional screening experience to cater for these groups. Some sites also work with local partners to promote film festivals or events with the surrounding community.
It is the role of cinema marketers to ensure that customers know about the increasing range of benefits that cinema has to offer. Cinemas companies need to stay in touch with all their existing customers whilst constantly reaching out to potential new audiences. With the huge range of communication channels available in a digital world, cinemas need to have an understanding not only of what audiences want, but also how they access information. The aim is to equip people with all the knowledge they need to make an informed choice about going to the cinema.
Copyright © 2015 The Cinema Exhibitors' Association
See here for a list of the cinemas operating in the UK: http://www.ukcinemas.org.uk/
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