Arthouse film institution research

Production: Independent films studios

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind:

Produced by:
Anonymous Content (Steve Golin) and This is That

Anonymous Content: Babel, The Revenant, The End of the Tour, Rendition, Spotlight, Winter's Bones

This is That: The Door in the Floor, Thumbsucker, The Devil and Daniel Johnston, Friends with Money, 21 Grams, The Savages, Adventureland

Donnie Darko:

Produced by:
Flower Films

Flower Films: Whip It!, Never Been Kissed, Music and Lyrics

Juno:

Produced by:
Mandate Pictures and Mr. Mudd

Mandate Pictures: The Strangers, Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay, Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist, Whip it!, 50/50, A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas, Youn Adult, Seeking a Friend for the End of the World, Hope Springs, This Is the End

Mr. Mudd: Ghost World, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, How to Draw a Bunny, Which Way Home.

It Follows:

Produced by:
Northern Lights Films, Animal Kingdom, and Two Flints

Northen Lights films: The Brass Teapot, High Road, I'll See You in My Dreams

Animal Kingdom: Short Term 12, Louder Than Bombs, Trespass Against Us (Upcoming)

Two Flints: I'll See You in My Dreams

Pan's Labyrinth:

Produced by:
Telecinco Cinema, Esperanto Filmoj, Tequila Gang, and Sententia Entertainment

Esperanto Filmoj: Gravity, Duck Season, Chronicles, Rudo y Cursi, Year of the Nail, The Shock Doctrine

Telecinco Cinema: The Impossible, No Rest for the Wicked, The Orphanage, The King of the Mountain, Cell 211

Tequila Gang: The Devil's Back Bone, Rage, Chronicles, Don't be afraid of the Dark, Insignificant Things, Calle 54

Distribution: Independent film distributors

10 Steps of Film Distribution

1. The making of that film will become a labour of love. The stronger the labour of love to create a film, the greater the desire to ensure it finds exposure, therefore, the better a success it will be and the wider an audience it will attract. The films need to move away from the computer screen and in front of the largest audiences in order to inspire because they can't essentially find the words to. The cinema is the best opportunity to do so. This is the role that film distribution provides.

2. Films have a social and commercial impact, to the extent that they connect with their audience. Distributors identify and deliver the largest possible audience for the film, promoting in the title and competing distributors.

3. Distributor's bring each film to market by identifying it's audience, considering why they'd go and see it; estimating the revenue potential across all the formats of its release; persuading exhibitors (cinema operators) to play the film; developing plans and partnerships to build awareness of and interest in the film and aiming to convert as much interest as possible into cinema visits.

4. The UK has six major distributors, affiliated to Hollywood studios, and many smaller independent distributors, who handle films outside of the major studios.

5. UK distributors acquire the films they released from one of more various sources: a third-party sales agent, acting on behalf of a producer, a continuous flow of new content from a parent studio, a studio or production company with whom the distributor has negotiated an output deal covering a slate of titles, or a single title acquired at any stage before, during or after production. Particularly with big budget blockbusters, a studio will sell off the international rights to another major international distributor. On occasion, however, those rights might be sold off to a number of independent distributors, each handling a specific territory. Independent distributors will more frequently acquire their films from independent producers. When considering acquiring a new film, distributors normally look for distinguishable features in order for the film to sell and become a success. On top of that, they would also need to consider the target audience. They will need to put together a detailed marketing spend and organize film festivals to make a wider audience aware of the film's release.

6. Distributors will then sign a formal contract with the producer, sales agent or studio, specifying the rights they hold in respect of the title, including the right to release it in UK cinemas and promote it in all media platforms before and during its release.

7. Once a deal has been signed. the distribution plan needs to be prepared, in terms of what format it will be released in and which countries will get the film and when. This planning starts as soon as possible.

8. In order to decide how and when they release the film in order to optimise its chances, they need to consider a number of questions regarding what type of film it is, when it should go out, where it should go out, how it is going to be released and the audience. They need prepare a budget to release it once they estimate what the film may earn. They also need to consider the BBFC certification, which they must pay a fee in order to have classified.

9. The job of a distributor is to market the film in the correct way. They create a visibility that will raise awareness and interest in a film, enough to persuade potential audiences to buy tickets. This can be done through film artwork, trailers, interviews, exit polls and digital marketing such as social media. Film Artwork must be creative and eye-catching, the trailers must be engaging and intriguing, exit polls should be taken after screening in order to get feedback on the film and digital marketing needs to include online advertising and websites through the use of social media and user-generated content. Promotions through developing Merchandise such as posters and toys or holding competitions are also considered by the distributor. Premieres, festivals and awards are also great places to promote the film too. Media advertising campaigns are constructed using concepts of paid, owned and earned channels.

10. Everything that is associated with their film needs to be then properly licensed in order to prevent illegal copies being made.

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

Distributor: Focus Features

Budget: $20 million

Box Office: $72.3 million

Donnie Darko

Distributor(s): Pandora Cinema and Newmarket Films

Budget: $3.6 million

Box Office: $7.6 million

Juno

Distributor: Fox Searchlight Pictures

Budget: $6.5 - $7 million

Box Office: $231, 411, 584

It follows

Distributor: Dimension Films and RADiUS-TWC

Budget: $2 million

Box Office: $19.4 million

Pan's Labyrinth

Distributor: Warner Bros. Pictures (Spain) and Picturehouse

Budget: $19 million

Box Office: $83 million

Curzon Artificial Eye

Curzon Artifical Eye is a British film distributor, specialising in independent, foreign-language and art house films for the cinema and home entertainment. It was founded in 1976 by Andi Engel, and his then wife, Pamela Balfry. Since 2006, Curzon Artificial Eye has been part of  Curzon World, a group of companies in the film entertainment industry which also includes the Curzon Chain of 11 cinemas, plus eight joint venture cinemas, video on demand service Curzon Home Cinema, the retail DVD distributor Fusion Media Sales, and horror film distributor Chelsea Films, which launched in 2010. It releases some 20 new theatrical films and 30 DVD and Blu-ray titles in the UK each year, as well as digital releases via several platforms, such as iTunes and in-house Curzon Home Cinema.

Kiss of the Spider Woman

The trailer is bold and uses stylistic characteristics of film noir, which would be quite interesting to use in our production. In the trailer, the stereotypical femme fatale is portrayed and is iconic imagery in the genre and narrative. The low-key lighting would be something we could achieve in our production to attain this. Another aspect from the trailer that I noticed was the gradual change from the monochromic colour scheme to vibrant colour. I've hardly ever see this in films, and I think it would be interesting to use and play around with.

45 Years

A tender and serene atmosphere has been beautifully created in this trailer, which I would love to achieve in our production. This can be achieved through non-diegetic music, like in the trailer, which is parallel to the clips in it. What attracted me to this trailer was the use of cinematography, which is quite beautiful. The long shots are particularly stunning, which is why I will use a variety. The manipulation of focus is also very beautiful, which I would love to apply to our production.

Blue Is the Warmest Colour

What I found most intriguing was how it was shot in a naturalistic style, which is quite beautiful and I would love to include that in our production. The use of cinematography is extremely lovely and create different atmospheres throughout the trailer, particularly the past paced close-ups at the beginning of the trailer, which add a sense of confusion. 

Exhibitions: Art-house Cinemas

Electric Cinema

The Electric Cinema is located at 191 Portobello Rd, London W11 2ED. After the renovation of the cinema, they have started to show more major production films as well as some independent arthouse films, which will most likely have been done to attract a wider audience. This weekend, the cinema will be showing: 

• Bridge of Spies
• The Dress Maker
• Peggy Guggenheim: Art Addict
• Big Hero 6
• The Hunger Games: MockingJay part 2
• The Wolfpack
• Carol
• Black Mass
• Sleeping with Other People
• Brooklyn
• Sunset

Since the renovation, a wider range of audiences have attended the arthouse cinema. Through the showings of Big Hero 6 and The Hunger Games: MockingJay part 2, it has attracted a much younger audience, as they would attend these films. Most of the films on show this weekend are 15, or 12A, suggesting that the cinema is targeting younger audiences in order to broaden their target audience, meaning that much younger audiences are attending these cinemas, but not to mentioned families. Their wider audience range is emphasised through all the events that go on at the cinema. For example, there is an Electric Scream! event for avid horror fans, typically for the older target audience whilst there is also a Kids club, for parents and children. The renovation of the cinema also indicates at the type of audience they are trying to attract, which are young upbeat urban and modern audiences. But the seating being in pairs, indicates that they are also trying to attract couples, specifically young couples as they have beds right in front of the screen. However, most of the individuals that attend will most likely be middle class, as suggested by the more expensive prices of tickets and savoury goods.

Case Study

Film London is London's film and media agency. It exists to sustain, promote and develop London as a major international film-making and film cultural Capital. This includes all screen industries based in London - film, television, video, commercials and new interactive media. It is one of nine regional screen agencies throughout the United Kingdom. The non-profit organisation is supported by the BFI and the Mayor of London.

The purpose of Film London Microwave is, a micro-budget feature film fund, launched in 2006. The scheme's purpose is to challenge film-makers to shoot a full length film for up to £100,000 with cash and in-kind support. It does more than fund films; it gives development and mentoring support to all of the short-listed projects, as well as production finance and distribution support to the final commissioned films.

The London calling project is a scheme that delivers a comprehensive programme of training and expert mentoring, helping nurture and champion the capital's most exciting new breakthrough talent. It is a continuation and expansion of the London Borough Film Fund Challenge, open to all new and emerging film-making teams resident in the capital. Run across nine months, the highlights of the scheme include: 15 short films are awarded a maximum of £4, training and mentoring is provided to all film-making teams and match funding can be sought for any film being produced by London Calling.

Lilting 

This is a British drama, but the use of foreign language indicates that it is an arthouse film. The narrative heavily relies on the homosexual relationship between the lady's son and the main character, therefore wouldn't be targeted at elderly people, who are more traditional, conservative and religious making them quite close-minded. This means that the film would be targeted at younger people, perhaps, between the ages of 16 - 35, due to the fact the younger generation is more open to and accepting. 

Borrowed Time

Borrowed time is a unique comedy, with a narrative that has never been done before, highlighting that the film is independent. The target audience of the film would be predominantly 15 - 25-year-olds, but it is possible for older demographics to enjoy it due to the character identifications such as youth and the elderly, which is why both young people and older people may enjoy it.

iLL Manors

iLL manors is an urban British crime drama set in Forest Gate, east London. The harsh reality the trailer depicts shows it to be educational in a way and hinting that the film is an arthouse film. However, the creative shots in the trailer also depict it to be an arthouse film. The target audience of the film would be between the ages of 15 - 25, and predominantly male, as they will probably be more sympathetic towards the characters whilst older people might find that they are just hooligans with no thought processes.

• I need to make sure there is a clear narrative that my target audience can identify and relate to or, at least, relate to the characters the narrative focuses on and feel sympathy for them.
• I need to know exactly who my target audience is and need to remind myself of this whilst making it, in order to make sure the film will appeal to them and fulfil their requirements.
• I need to have an interesting plot, that doesn't dawdle or isn't too fast, in order to keep the audience intrigued and engage with them. I can do this through enigma codes, which keep the audience intrigued and guessing at the narrative, and want to know what is going to happen next. If it is too boring, then the audience will immediately turn off and lose interest.