Lesson 3 Ken Loach on Problems getting Independent Films Made.

• Ken Loach responds to the Government’s call to make more commercial British films.

• http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-16507889

The Digital Revolution helps smaller British Films• It is not all bad news.

• Despite the dominance of Hollywood Blockbusters, the increased use of digital cameras, digital projectors and the internet means it is possible to make films for smaller niche audiences.

“Shifty” and “Dreams of a Life”• Initiatives such as the Microwave scheme enable low budget British

films that tell British stories such as “Shifty” and “Dreams of a Life” to be made and distributed.

Film London’s mission is to stimulate a truly independent and unique approach to creative filmmaking. Through Microwave, Film London is looking for ambitious teams

driven to tell singular and authentic stories, which embrace and make a creative virtue of the challenges of micro-budget filmmaking. Microwave aims to support bold and

surprising cinema that will grow and excite audiences, and contribute positively to an increasingly diverse landscape for British film.

“Shifty” and “Dreams of a Life”• Once made though, there is often a problem getting the film shown.

There are only a few Independent Cinemas which have a middle class audience for films such as “Shifty” and “Dreams of a Life”.

Increasingly, initiatives such as Curzon on Demand, Netflix etc means that an audience can be targeted even if the film is not being shown in a cinema.

Impact of Digital Technology• Before it was axed in 2010, the UK Film Council promised in 2007 to

increase the amount of digital projectors across cinemas in the UK. • Digital film making allows independent film makers to distribute films

at a smaller cost.

• This lower cost eases the path of small independent films into more cinemas and into new areas across the UK.

Questions1. Summarise what Ken Loach’s view point2. Digital technology isn’t all bad news because…..3. What is the microwave sceheme?4. How can you get independent films shown to audiences?5. How do digital technologies help independent film makers?

Within a media area you have studied analyse issues that arise in the targeting of national and local audiences.

• Summary so far:• Hollywood, big six cartel – lots of sequels.• Blockbusters – dangers for industry.• Difficult for British films to be made, shown and to attract an

audience.• Digital - positive (digital / on demand) • Digital - negative ( Piracy + DVD loss of revenue).

Blockbuster Strategy• So sure are film studios of their Blockbuster policy that they are

mapping release schedules for five years ahead.

• Robert Downey Jr has just signed to make two more “Avengers” films with Disney (release May 2015).

• Sony/Columbia has announced it will release “Spider Man” films may ‘14, June ‘16 and May ‘18.

The effects of blockbuster failure?• George Lucas (creator of “Star Wars”) says:

“It’s a mess. It’s total chaos. In future there will be fewer but bigger cinemas and a revolution in pricing. Tickets may cost $50 -$100.

Going to the cinema will become an event / experience. The film will be secondary.

Hard to get serious films made.• Paul Webster (Producer of “Atonement” and “Anna Karenina”) says:

• “It is as hard as it has ever been to get serious stuff of the ground. This is mainly because films have become events and turned into a spectacle. Big blockbusters are like stadium bands playing big arenas. If you are trying to do interesting things you are forced to ever smaller venues.”

• He believes Television is now at the ‘cutting edge’ of innovation.

1. List the pros and cons of Hollywood’s confidence in the blockbuster.

Questions

Production. Film 4.• Katherine Butler is the Head of Film 4’s Low Budget Feature

Department.

Exhibition• Katherine Butler took on her role in 2009. Film 4’s Low Budget

Department has turned out award winning titles including “Tyrannosaur”, “Dreams of a Life”, “Kill List” “The Deep Blue Sea” and “Berberian Sound Studio”.

Exhibition• “The Guardian” said:

• These films stand for a bold new wave of British film making: cinematically confident, generically ‘tricksy’, compelled by disturbing, ambivalent subject matter.

Exhibition• Direct quotes from Katherine Butler 31/12/12 “The Guardian”.

• “You are always going to fail.”

• “With risk comes failure as well as success and if we’re doing the films for the right reasons then you can learn from mistakes and move on.”

Production• Butler said, “In 2009 I saw several micro-budget films that were

already pushing boundaries with strong directorial voices”.

• “Every year since then two or three really strong, self financed pieces come through because technology is enabling that to happen.”

Production – Film 4• Katherine Butler maintains:

• “The job for places like Film 4 and the BFI is to nurture people coming through this route (micro-budget films) and to help enable film makers who have already found their voice to continue to work with the most freedom in an industry that is a business as well as a place of artistic endeavour.”

Production Film 4• “What counts as a low-budget for Film 4 – less than £2million – can

still mark a massive increase for a previously self-financed film maker.

• £2 million will not exert the kind of box office pressure that tends to stifle experimentation.”

Exhibition• Katherine Butler says;

• “Low-budget is a very risk friendly environment. It is an engine room for innovation”.

• “We want to work with directors again and again. Providing a home for new directors is very exciting.”

Production• She maintains:

• “There are always films like “Tyrannosaur” and “Kill List” which don’t do the highest box office but are so acclaimed they become stepping stones for their directors and have a long life.”

Production• Finally she says:• “It is the up and coming directors who get me excited. • These film makers are so confident in the way they take genre on,

whether it’s comedy, thriller, horror or documentary. • They are pushing at boundaries, evolving recognisable forms of

cinema into something their own…….”

Exhibition• “That’s what excites us. The search for a new generation of directors

with the ability to take British cinema to the next stage.”

Production• Katherine Butler stresses:

• “Pushing at boundaries is a key priority – low budget is the only place you can do that so you have to be working with directors who want to take that risk with you.”

British Film Industry in Decline• http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-25977033