British Essay

Institutions and Audiences: British Cinema

Section 1

History of British Cinema

The first moving picture was shot by Louis le Prince in Leeds 1888 and the first moving picture developed on celluloid were made in Hyde Park, London in 1889 by William Friese Greene. Alfred Hitchcock’s “Blackmail” is considered Britain’s first sound feature.The golden age of film is said to have occurred during the 40s when cinema was at its peak.  

Independent UK films are created by different producing companies instead of the mainstream production companies like Warner Bros or 20th Century Fox. These films are funded by the National lottery and other companies that think the film is good enough for cinema but no big companies think so, so the smaller independent companies fund them and then produce the film in order to make it able to be in cinemas.

Submarine

Submarine is an independent film because it is created by UK producers funded by the national lottery. It is a British film because it is set in Britain, directed by a British director and has British actors in it. This film breaks the 4th wall when the main character says that if his life was a film it could only afford an adequate zoom out, the camera zooms out after he says this. This is only a minor form of breaking the 4th wall because it does not have direct audience involvement where as films like “The Wolf of Wall Street” Leonardo Di Caprio speaks directly to the audience as the camera zooms in on him while they are in a huge office and the film has a very high budget.

The budget of the film was not too high because it was an independent film. This restricted what could be used in the film like what effects they can use and also the quality of the actors however for the budget they had to spend on the actors they do an incredible job considering the child actor they used isn't the most experienced actor.

Harry potter 2

Compared to Submarine, Harry Potter has a way bigger budget and you can tell this with the effects that are used in the Harry Potter film. Also Harry Potter have also hired experienced actors such as Alan Rickman and Richard Harris (before he died. R.I.P) who will have cost a lot of money proving that Harry Potter had a big budget. Also they had Warner Brothers producing them and they are a huge company when it comes to the film industry and they produced Harry Potter giving it a huge budget. The budget for Harry Potter and The Chamber Of Secrets was $100 million in the year of 2002 that was a a lot of money for the early 2000's. Compared to Harry Potter, Submarine only had a budget of £1.2 million which is a huge difference in the cost of the film. However Harry Potter made over $700 million dollars and Submarine made £1 million.

Harry Potter was arguably a major success in terms of bringing back money and also they made 5 more films after the second one. Submarine only had one film mad of it and no sequel is or was planned but then Harry Potter is a movie made about the books by J.K Rowling that were a success in themselves. All of the Harry Potter films were a major success and you could argue that submarine may have been as big of a success as Harry Potter and The Chamber Of Secrets if they had the budget and Warner Brothers behind them that could then make the movie able to have more experienced actors and better sets/ props and effects that would enable it to attract a bigger audience as they would be able to promote their film like Harry Potter did. And with the budget the advertisement will have brought in a bigger audience enabling it to make more money for the film. The camera work for submarine on the budget they had was actually very good considering the budget. Obviously it wasnt as good as Harry Potter. But then this once again falls down to the budget that Submarine had and what they did with the budget they had was a very good job however they maybe could have marketed it better. I think that is a shame that the budget highly impacts the film even if they have a very good story, camera work and actors but because you have the money to pay for advertisement people will automatically go and see it just because of the money behind it. Arguably Harry Potter had a massive following behind him with the books and then them fans went on to watch the movies.

Section 2 - Marketing

Teaser poster

This poster is not showing a lot of advanced content because it is more of a kids film at this point and is aimed at the people who are roughly the same age as Harry Potter. This poster is showing Dobby the elf with a message at the top saying ‘Dobby has come to warn you’. That is there to make the audience wonder what is going to happen in the film and make people watch it by creating an enigma within the film. They also use the image of Dobby so the audience questions what is that and also to tease a new character. Like I said earlier the Harry Potter films at this stage are aimed towards kids. This is why it is a simplistic teaser poster. This worked at the time for the audience they wanted and thought was interested in the film.

Teaser poster 2

This poster is from the last Harry Potter film. The contrast between the two is big because the lighting has become darker, the main antagonist is in the poster and Harry looks a lot older. This film is aimed at the audience who grew up with these films because they will know what has happened throughout the series and also they will be a lot older now and from the trailer you can tell that it is going to be a dark film and as it states in the poster 'It all ends'. So they have gone all out to make this film the best they can and this is represented in the teaser poster. You could argue that they have represented what happens in this movie in this poster but the audience wont actually know what happens until they watch the movie so you could argue that Harrys face is dark as he learns if one of them die the other will live and this is because Harry has a part of Voldemort in him and learns that his scar is a horecrux.

The Trailer

Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets Trailer

The trailer shows a quick recap of what happens in the first movie and then it shows a lot of action as they are trying to show that their is a lot more action than in the first one as in the first one they were establishing the characters and in this one they are developing it more and stressing that they are slowly growing up and as they do they are faced with moral and physical challenges. The fantasy genre is shown through the use of magic and wands and the outfits they wear. There are scenes warning Harry not to go to Hogwarts this year making it seem exciting and dangerous. The narration gives the key information of what happens without giving too much away while the trailer shows the famous characters audiences will immediately recognise making them want to see this one also. The trailer shows the release date, Production Company as audiences may be more likely to see a movie produced by a famous company as they know it won’t be terrible.

The Website

http://www.harrypotterwizardscollection.com/?country=uk

Harry Potter and The Chamber Of Secrets has recently been integrated into one site with the remainder of the films to make a site that the audience can interact with as they get a wand to click on things and also they can perform spells by moving the mouse and this then allows access to behind the scenes of the films as well as each film individually which shows the trailer and also clips from the movie.

The TV spot

A brief version of the trailer which is shown on TV showing snapshots of scenes and key information which would attract large amounts of attention from all different people across the nation. It is kept very brief but gives audiences all the important information while still being entertaining.

Film review

82% of film critics gave it a positive review while 79% of audience members enjoyed the movie on the famous critic’s website rottentomatoes.com. Many people will read critics’ views in the paper or on the internet before seeing the movie to judge whether it will be worth it. However, people who have viewed the first movie are more likely to watch the movie regardless of others views.

DVD

Audiences can purchase the DVD in Blu-ray and DVD. Interviews with cast members were created to promote the release of Blu-ray DVD’s. Audiences can also view deleted scenes and extras from behind the scenes.

Multiplexes

Viewers had to view the movie throughout cinemas and also their were midnight showings. The movie was the fifth biggest generator of advance tickets in history after selling out 1000 cinemas in United States.

Internet

Downloading from unofficial sites such as YouTube, Pirate Bay and also file sharing and piracy from recording the movie from the cinema. This made it easily accessible to most audiences.

Synergy Premiere

The Harry Potter Universe:

Through the success of Harry potter there is now a theme park in Disney land Florida giving extra publicity for the movies. The park gives extra interest in the movie and allowing existing fans to experience the wizarding world. The extra publicity through newspapers and TV help the word spread further. There is also lots of merchandising in the shops such as Honeydukes sweet shop, Ollivander’s wand shop, Zonko’s joke shop, Dervish and Bange’s uniform shop, the three broomsticks restaurant, and the hogs head pub which are featured in the movie and now fans get to experience and own items like those used in the movie. These authentic experiences allow fans to engage with the Harry Potter world and new fans to be gained.

Convergence

Convergence was done through advertising through trailers, YouTube videos, websites, magazine and newspaper advertisements, interviews and over the radio. They made a video game of Harry potter and the Chamber of Secrets and it came out across many different platforms. It is the first game to take place outside the Hogwarts School and was released in November to help with the hype with the release of the movie.

Genre

Harry Potter and the Chamber Of Secrets is a fantasy film, the second of eight movies. The story follows Harry potter as he starts his second year at Hogwarts only to learn that he is in grave danger as their is a monster on the loose trying to kill muggle born students and Harry has to defeat it. This movies target audience is mainly young people aged 8-16 due to its fantasy genre. However it appeals to people of all ages and genres as it is an enjoyable film as it is setting up something much bigger and this is a stepping stone into the future where Harry will once again have to kill Voldemort. Many fans of this movie are existing fans of the harry potter series and books.

Stars

Harry potter is played by Daniel Radcliffe who is known for this role from the first film. He has gained many fans who are very interested in his life as they watch him grow up on screen and then feel more important in his life. Other up and coming actors in this movie are Emma Watson and Rupert Grint who also have a small but loyal fan base in this movie. They attract the audience as recognisable and much liked characters of the harry potter series and fans would be interested to see what may happen to them as they return to Hogwarts for a second year. Famous actors also include Alan Rickman, Richard Harris and also academy award winning Kenneth Branagh who appeal to the adult audience due to the roles they have played in the past and also they are well known good actors. Stars are used in mainstream cinema to attract the audience as the stars will have their own fan base who will follow them and then follow whatever film they are in. Independent cinema uses unknown or low key actors who are recognised for independent productions. Channel 4 have a reputation for re-using their stars and so does Warner Brothers, however interestingly Daniel Radcliffe starred in the woman in black, which is produced by Cross Creek Pictures, Hammer Film Productions, Alliance Films, UK Film Council and  Talisman Productions in association with Exclusive Media Group in co-production with Film i Väst and Filmgate Films. Compared to Warner Brothers Linear Integration, Independent films clearly have a horizontal integration.

Conclusion

To conclude I think that there marketing paid of well as they made a huge profit and also they developed not only their characters but their fan base as well as the amount of actors who want to star in their movies which will then increase profit and interest from the world in the movie series that will make it more successful.