RESEARCH: BFI STUDY DAY

On the 9th of February 2016, I attended a study day at the British Film Institute (BFI) located on the Southbank. I did this as a part of my research into distribution and how distributors attract their audiences. The presenter at the institute was Matthew Hall.

At first, we looked at 3 definitions of types of films debuting in a cinema, which were 'Multiplex', 'Arthouse' and 'Crossover/Prestige'. All the examples we looked at on the study were British films, since we were specifically looking at how British films attract a national audience, within the UK and a international audience, such as the USA.

A 'Multiplex' audience are films which would target a large audience. These films most likely have a big budget and A-list stars in the film. An American example of a 'Multiplex' film would be The Avengers or Jurassic World, which have budgets over $100 million and contain actors like Chris Pratt and Chris Hemsworth. The example we looked at the BFI was Kingsman: The Secret Service, which had a budget of $81 million, which is relatively large for a British film and have famous British actors, like Colin Firth.

An 'Arthouse' audience are films which are independent and have a low budget. These films usually have small audiences like Short Term 12, which either get debuted on online distributing services like Netflix, Vimeo etc. or at film festivals, which Short Term 12 did at the SXSW festival. However, some independent films which have low budgets do get released into cinemas, such as the films we looked at on the study day, which were The Woman in Black and A Royal Night Out. These films had low budgets and an equally low box office, however, The Woman In Black had a high box office, since it contained an A-list star, which was Daniel Radcliffe, which would have attracted a lot of audiences. This usually happens in 'Arthouse' films to attract a bigger audience to see the film, such as The Imitation Game, which contains the famous British actor, Benedict Cumberbatch.


A 'Crossover/Prestige' audience are films which get recognised by award organizations, such as Academy Awards, BAFTAs and the Golden Globes. These films may either be independent and low-budget, like Room and Brooklyn or these films can contain a large audience appeal, A-list actors and a big budget like The Revenant and The Martian. The film we looked at on the study day was The Selfish Giant, which had debuted at a film festival and had received critical acclaim.

From looking at these 3 types of films, I have learned how films are categorised in the industry and how various films are targeted towards specific audiences. This gives me a further understanding of what I will categorise my film (Focus) in.

On the study day, we also looked at how films are advertised and distributed. The release date is an important aspect of how the film will do in commercial grossing, since they may have some competition. Such as Jurassic World debuted in Summer 2015, and had competition with Ant Man and Terminator Genisys, which have a similar action genre. As well, some films are targeted to specific times of the year, such as horror films being released close to Halloween and prestige films which are expected to get nominated and win awards are usually released between September and December, so that they can get recognition from the Academy Awards, BAFTAs and Golden Globes.

Cross-media synergy is a multiplatform technique and is institutional collaboration. This is when a form of media works together with a company to promote both their products. This benefits both of the products since they are both being advertised. Matthew Hall further explained into how the marketing campaign will effect the success of the film, like it's P&A and social media advertising.

We were shown an independent film funded by the BFI named '71. The film is about English soldier Gary Hook, a new recruit to the British Army, takes leave of his much younger brother Darren. Hook's platoon of British soldiers is sent to Belfast in 1971 in the early years of the Troubles. After the film, one of the producers came and had an interview among the people at the study day about how the film was produced and the various steps taken for it to be fully developed and advertised.

The film '71 was nominated for 8 British Independent Film Awards and won for Best Director, which is a grand achievement. This is the sort of film, Focus would become if it were to be developed into a full-length feature film.