Using your source material together with your own studies
answer the following question, what are some of the issues for UK producers and
Audiences in Hollywood’s domination of the UK film industry?
-
Companies such as NBC dominating the UK
production (they own 67% of working title)
-
British Films suffer because of the lack of
British distribution. (Welcome to the Punch (2013) budget 8mil, grossed 1.4
million because it only had British distribution.
-
Rise of the Prosumer – Gareth Edwards’ Monsters
(2010)
-
Hollywood has spoon fed British audiences with
high concept films such as Furious 7 (grossed over $1billion). This
indoctrination has meant that there has been an Americanisation of culture.
-
Producers- finance- companies are co-production.
-
Synergy, Cross media convergence,
-
Exhaustion of Original ideas with the rise of
trends.
Some of the issues such the domination of the production and
distribution has made it extremely difficult for independent film producers because
of America’s domination of the UK film industry.
Firstly, Hollywood’s dominance of distribution shows how
Hollywood controls the means of exchange over marketing and social media. This can be seen with the example of Despicable Me 2's marketing campaign as they had a susbstancial budget of $76 million, and used a range of marketing techniques in the UK to make it 2013's top grossing film in the UK. They did this through a digital out of home campaign across UK shopping malls in which people were invited to interact with the on screen minions by controlling the minions through the use of a smartphone. From the smartphone the user can act like Gru, the controller of the minions in the movie, by using commands such as making the minions dance,wrestle or boogie with one another. Furthermore, the actions of the user can be shared on social media networks such as Facebook and Twitter therefore the film in being marketing to all of the users mutual friends as well as their followers further promoting the film. It comes to no surprise that the film grossed $15.2million on the opening weekend in the UK.
Furthermore, Hollywood's domination over distribution means that British independent films suffer as a result. For example, Welcome of the Punch (2013, Evan Creevy) was a truly British film as the focus on the film was that ever aspect of production and distribution was going to be British. The film included stars such as James McAvoy (Atonement, 2007) and Mark Strong (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, 2011) and had Ridley Scott as executive director. However, the film proved to be a catasphophe because of the lack of distribution. It was dubbed to have looked like an $80 million and initial reviews highly rated the film. The budget for the film was in fact £8 million however it only grossed £1.2 million in the UK and more shockingly only under £10000 gross in the USA. This is because the distribution team had to heavily pay many American cinemas to exhibit their film however because most of the money was spent on that, there was no money left more marketing and promotion therefore the film could not rise and make a profit because so few American actually knew about the film. This demonstrates that Hollywood's control over domination of distribution.
Another issue to consider for UK audiences is that Hollywood over the period of the rise of the digital age, Hollywood has been able to establish its control all over every aspect of technology ranging from social media to other forms of technology as well as shaping the films that UK audiences consume. The rise of high concept films such as the Fast and Furious set of movies demonstrated that Hollywood can use the same idea repeatedly and can get away with it because Hollywood sheer control over the UK film industry has lowered audiences expectations. This means that audiences have become indoctrinated to accept Hollywood's films regardless of wether the film has any significant narrative or wether the film is visual art. The figures speak for themselves as Furious 7 was top of the DAR (digital audience ratings) in November 2014 after the release of trailer creating a significant buzz and exchange behind the film. Furthermore, Universal's use of synergy as well of releasing the soundtrack of the film also shaped the buzz around the film and only highlighting how Hollywood has such control over media platforms. In April 2015, Furious 7 grossed $1billion in 17 days and in the UK amassing to $200 million therefore it goes to show that Furious 7 controlled the DAR since November 2014 in the UK therefore it was able to control the UK film industry with high numbers of people going to see the film because of its online buzz as well as audiences becoming indoctrinated to these films and passively accepting them rather than challenging them.
In addition, UK production companies have to go into co-production with American companies in order for them to survive and make a profit. Companies such as Working Title, the most successful British film production company, only own 33% of the company with NBC Universal controlling the rest. Therefore the success of films such as Love Actually (2003) which operated on a £45 million budget grossed $60 million in the US, highlights the fact that Working Title need NBC Universal for distribution and funding as the success of this film wouldn't of occurred had it not been for NBC. This proves that Hollywood has altered the playing film and that UK independent production companies are reliant of these US companies in order to produce films, which are ultimately shaped by the American production company because of their financial input.
However, the rise of Hollywood has given way to the rise of the prosumer which has impacted heavily on audiences and producers alike. Firstly a prosumer is a producer and consumer of film an an example of the rise of the prosumer is evident with the release of Gareth Edwards' Monsters (2010). This film was made on a budget of $500,000 with Gareth Edwards providing all the technology required to shoot the film as well as many volunteers were used as actors to help lower the cost of shooting the film. Furthermore, Monsters in the UK grossed £348,577 on the opening weekend with a total gross of around $235000 in the US. This highlights the same problem that independent British suffer at the lack of distribution in the US due to the competitive and expensive cost of distribution however the gross on the opening weekend in the UK suggests that UK audiences are perhaps fed up of the high concept films of Hollywood therefore potentially with more British distribution, then in hand with the rise of the prosumer, the UK film producers and audiences can break the shackles of Hollywood and end its domination once and for all.
Furthermore, Hollywood's domination over distribution means that British independent films suffer as a result. For example, Welcome of the Punch (2013, Evan Creevy) was a truly British film as the focus on the film was that ever aspect of production and distribution was going to be British. The film included stars such as James McAvoy (Atonement, 2007) and Mark Strong (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, 2011) and had Ridley Scott as executive director. However, the film proved to be a catasphophe because of the lack of distribution. It was dubbed to have looked like an $80 million and initial reviews highly rated the film. The budget for the film was in fact £8 million however it only grossed £1.2 million in the UK and more shockingly only under £10000 gross in the USA. This is because the distribution team had to heavily pay many American cinemas to exhibit their film however because most of the money was spent on that, there was no money left more marketing and promotion therefore the film could not rise and make a profit because so few American actually knew about the film. This demonstrates that Hollywood's control over domination of distribution.
Another issue to consider for UK audiences is that Hollywood over the period of the rise of the digital age, Hollywood has been able to establish its control all over every aspect of technology ranging from social media to other forms of technology as well as shaping the films that UK audiences consume. The rise of high concept films such as the Fast and Furious set of movies demonstrated that Hollywood can use the same idea repeatedly and can get away with it because Hollywood sheer control over the UK film industry has lowered audiences expectations. This means that audiences have become indoctrinated to accept Hollywood's films regardless of wether the film has any significant narrative or wether the film is visual art. The figures speak for themselves as Furious 7 was top of the DAR (digital audience ratings) in November 2014 after the release of trailer creating a significant buzz and exchange behind the film. Furthermore, Universal's use of synergy as well of releasing the soundtrack of the film also shaped the buzz around the film and only highlighting how Hollywood has such control over media platforms. In April 2015, Furious 7 grossed $1billion in 17 days and in the UK amassing to $200 million therefore it goes to show that Furious 7 controlled the DAR since November 2014 in the UK therefore it was able to control the UK film industry with high numbers of people going to see the film because of its online buzz as well as audiences becoming indoctrinated to these films and passively accepting them rather than challenging them.
In addition, UK production companies have to go into co-production with American companies in order for them to survive and make a profit. Companies such as Working Title, the most successful British film production company, only own 33% of the company with NBC Universal controlling the rest. Therefore the success of films such as Love Actually (2003) which operated on a £45 million budget grossed $60 million in the US, highlights the fact that Working Title need NBC Universal for distribution and funding as the success of this film wouldn't of occurred had it not been for NBC. This proves that Hollywood has altered the playing film and that UK independent production companies are reliant of these US companies in order to produce films, which are ultimately shaped by the American production company because of their financial input.
However, the rise of Hollywood has given way to the rise of the prosumer which has impacted heavily on audiences and producers alike. Firstly a prosumer is a producer and consumer of film an an example of the rise of the prosumer is evident with the release of Gareth Edwards' Monsters (2010). This film was made on a budget of $500,000 with Gareth Edwards providing all the technology required to shoot the film as well as many volunteers were used as actors to help lower the cost of shooting the film. Furthermore, Monsters in the UK grossed £348,577 on the opening weekend with a total gross of around $235000 in the US. This highlights the same problem that independent British suffer at the lack of distribution in the US due to the competitive and expensive cost of distribution however the gross on the opening weekend in the UK suggests that UK audiences are perhaps fed up of the high concept films of Hollywood therefore potentially with more British distribution, then in hand with the rise of the prosumer, the UK film producers and audiences can break the shackles of Hollywood and end its domination once and for all.
Ultimately, issues such as America’s unbreakable dominance
of production and distribution of UK films has affected UK producers an
audiences because it has shaped the UK film industry into a way that Hollywood
can use the film industry as a means of making money. Furthermore, because of
control of domination, they have indoctrinated audiences to only respond and
consuming these Hollywood high concept films and UK producers only can produce
these types of films otherwise the production company would not survive (this
can be seen by working title prior to their Polygram agreement in 1994, they
operated on a ‘hands to mouth
existence’.) This is one of the many issues in which Hollywood acts as an
all-powerful corporation over the UK film industry by starving the film industry
of choice for audiences and independence of UK film producers.
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