Independent Vs. Major Production Company

For my comparison I have chosen Attack The Block which is a Film4 Production, with a budget of nine Million pound. Film 4 is an independent company which ultimately means they are not part of the big six Hollywood companies. For the other half of my comparison I have chosen the all time famous Harry Potter - Deathly Hallows, Pt 2 which had a whopping budget of a 250 million pound. That is nearly 28 times more than Film 4 spent of 'This is England' and there is plenty of evidence to show that. Harry Potter was produced and distributed by Warner Bros who are part of the Big six Hollywood Majors who have befitted massivley from the distribution of this film now collecting a massive 18% of the market.

Actors/Characters
The main character of Harry Potter is quite evidently, Harry Potter. As an Actor Daniel Radcliffe has had a wonderful start to a career in acting. The world wide promotion of this film has enabled the world to recognize Harry Potter all over the globe. As the Harry Potter collection of films started of small, Daniel started of unknown, which meant Warner Bros took a huge risk in agreeing to distribute the film. However the world wide promotion of the film has now produced one of the most well known actors the world has ever seen. How? Warner Bros have the money, the knowledge and untimely, the power to do so. This has resulted in a huge fan base being build over the years not only of the films but of Harry Potter himself. Day by day the scale of variety in this target audience grows, varying from young British children aspiring to be magicians like Harry, to American Mothers loving the looks of the magician himself.

Sound
The Harry Potter film collection has create yet another world wide recognized icon. This time, i speak of the theme tune which I'm sure we are all familiar with. Considering an entire orchestra was needed to produce this, we can assume that the production companies money has allowed such a successful soundtrack to come so far.

Technology/Sophistication
With a budget of 250 million pound for one film, we can automatically recognize the scale of technical ability that has been put into this film. at 0:38 in the trailer we can see a shot in mid air tracking some sort of transport that we do not commonly see in normal films. Only through the creative, rich and talented production company. The camera work alone must of come to a sum that we can only imagine.

The editing of the film is fast, exciting, modern and sophisticated. This is pure evidence of a major production company as it shows us they have put time, effort and money into the creation of the film via the editing. This shows us the film is based around excitement and fast paced action as much as it is about narrative, again being evidence to prove this is the product of a very rich production company.

Mise-en-sceneThe props used in this film go beyond our imagination, from having to produce literally thousands of wands to having to provide 100's of make up artists for each scene. In fact I would guess that the Mise-en-scene of this film cost more than many independent companies spend of the entire production of there films today. It is quite evident that the production companies influence on the detail of costumes and make-up etc was vital in creating such a successful film.

Target Audience
The Target Audience varies through quite a lot of us. The fundamental fan base would be for anyone who enjoys the themes of Magic, Action, Love and Fighting. Which brings us to the point that the target audience, should not really be any where near childeren. But actually, a fair share of audience is based around family viewings, groups of teenagers, couples and well, the list goes on. In conclusion we can finish by saying that the  distributor (Warner Bros) plays a massive part in building the target audience and have done very well.


Attack The Block




Cast/ActorsWith actors such as John Boyega and Nick Frost, Attack the Blocks cast isn't so spectacular. They are not amazingly well known but still managed to create a good atmosphere in some scenes in the film. They would attract a fan base of young black males and females in urban areas which is untimely who the film was aimed at. Nick Frost added the element of comedy to the film and also spices the target audience variation up, potentially drawing in audiences from films such as Shaun of the Dead. Because of the independent film label, the actors are all standard and create a tension that the film is not going to be anywhere near the scale of Harry Potter.

SoundThe music in the film is fairly well presented, including peices from artists such as Basement Jaxx which, in favour of the old independent film company, Optimum Releasing, is a decent attempt in adding famous elements to the film. 

The dialogue is urban, cockney, south London accents. This shows us who the film is directed at and also shows us the film is not for world wide distribution as not everyone can relate to the film. Words such as 'Mandem' and 'Blud' are commonly used giving the film a very modern and urban style. The production company gives the characters stereotypes of what you'd expect to come across in south London. This is cheap but effective in gaining the right audience, providing us with evidence that they are an independent label.

Technology and sophistication 
The Camera work is similarly fast paced and invites us to enjoy the action provided through out the film. However it is quite evident that the scale of the project in terms of editing and recording the film is no where near the scale that Harry Potter is on. This is evidence of a independent film production company as it shows that not as much money has been invested in the complex elements of the editing.

Mise-en-sceneThe costumes used are fairly simple including urban street wear such as Nike tracksuits, hoodys and other various urban accessories that you would see many teenagers around London wearing today. Not the most expensive form of costuming which shows us that not a lot of money was spent on this. Other elements such as make up artists are not particularly vital all though they were most probably used. Because the film is produced by an independent film label it is evident that the mise-en-scene was not low budget but not particularly expensive in terms of money.
Target AudienceThe target audience of this film would be based around youths living in urban and somewhat deprived areas such as south London where the film is set, Birmingham, Manchester etc. The producers done a good job of building the target audience as they produced an effective trailer that showed all of the evident themes that the target audience would want as viewers to go and watch this film such as being set in London, including aliens, violence, police and another vital convention of the film which is humor. In my opinion the fact that the target audience is not anywhere near audiences such as Family's shows us that the film is not produced by any of the big 6 Hollywood majors and consequently, an independent label.