So, what impact did Film 4 (F4) have on our production?
Pre-Production
One of the first things we did as research is discover what F4 actually is and what makes them different to a major studio:Pre-Production
They are a British film studio contributing to the production of independent films, many being the genre of British Social Realism which is the genre of our opening sequence. You can find parts our research such as the BSR timeline and representations of BSR here. Their budgets are never sky high and their audience is niche as opposed to targeting the mass market which major studios would do.
We studied the sound in films such as Trainspotting, not directly made by F4, but also an 'indie' film of the BSR genre. We noticed how the voiceover in the opening sequence tied down the basis of the films narrative with its themes and ideas. The tone was serious but confusingly humorous creating a sense of humour in the fact that these people are completely wasting their lives. The content of the voiceover mocked normal everyday life and supports the way drug addicts live. We studied this content and transferred this idea to our own plans with our own unique twist by changing the context around the drug abusing in our story. This would appeal to our audience as the age is relevant and the context around our characters such as school environment’s, are familiar to them.
The primary research Vox Pop's were influenced by F4. By finding students within the school who represented the independent side of film rather than the mainstream this meant we purposely targeted those who we thought would have more of an insight into the BSR genre, allowing our research to having a more specific influence over our work.
We also examined the representations in Snatch and concluded that our characters must be able to relate to our audience to create that realistic effect that BSR consists of. We tried to make our audience relate to the core of the character's personality's and see the typical controversies the Urban British audience of young men.
Production
In the Production of our work, by working towards the basis of a film created by F4 there were significant impacts on equipment, locations and cast. F4 would use low budgets real locations and young unfound talent for actors. We related this to our production by ultimately having a budget of zero.
The equipment was to be provided by our school whether we were going by an independent studio or not. However it meant we were limited to using the basics such as a HD camera, tripod and microphone, even if the more expensive stuff that major labels use were available. Other indie films work similarly such as 'Fish Tank' which had a low budget of around 2 million pounds meaning the equipment would not have been state-of-the-art.
The locations we used were scouted previously by ourselves which is shown through our 'Recci shots' which is similar to how F4 would find their locations. We know this through gathering that our budget was low - also from analysis 'Fish Tank' which is also an 'indie' BSR film, we recognised that some locations are local to where we live. We used our local neighbourhood and rave scenes that we had attended. This impacted our work giving it a realistic approach with real gritty locations, similar to how F4 would do so.
Our cast consisted of our friends who took part for free, showing our lack of a budget. The main character, Rob, is a young actor - including him shows our use of new and young British talent which is effectively finding new talent for an extremely cheap price. Other BSR films that show an example of this include the hit 'This Is England'. Thomas Turgoose, the main character was found in a youth club where he lives and asked to perform in the film - he then responded saying "I’ll do it for a fiver," highlighting the fact that the process was done as cost-efficiently as possible.
Post-Production
F4 films are most commonly shown through their online website. Also their TV channels such as Channel 4 and Film4, as well as film festivals across the world. They most commonly use other independent distributors from Britain, for example 'Four Lions' which was distributed by Optimum Releasing's. The equipment was to be provided by our school whether we were going by an independent studio or not. However it meant we were limited to using the basics such as a HD camera, tripod and microphone, even if the more expensive stuff that major labels use were available. Other indie films work similarly such as 'Fish Tank' which had a low budget of around 2 million pounds meaning the equipment would not have been state-of-the-art.
The locations we used were scouted previously by ourselves which is shown through our 'Recci shots' which is similar to how F4 would find their locations. We know this through gathering that our budget was low - also from analysis 'Fish Tank' which is also an 'indie' BSR film, we recognised that some locations are local to where we live. We used our local neighbourhood and rave scenes that we had attended. This impacted our work giving it a realistic approach with real gritty locations, similar to how F4 would do so.
Our cast consisted of our friends who took part for free, showing our lack of a budget. The main character, Rob, is a young actor - including him shows our use of new and young British talent which is effectively finding new talent for an extremely cheap price. Other BSR films that show an example of this include the hit 'This Is England'. Thomas Turgoose, the main character was found in a youth club where he lives and asked to perform in the film - he then responded saying "I’ll do it for a fiver," highlighting the fact that the process was done as cost-efficiently as possible.
Post-Production
We decided the film would be distributed via the F4 website after its first showing of the F4 TV channel across Britain. This means it would be cheap to view and largely accessible to our niche market with in Britain. This would be cost effective as there is no charge for materials to make DVD's and other various distribution costs which are highlighted in my study of the film industry.
As a film in under the F4 institution we would also use Optimum as distributors. F4's contributions with them are usually successful as they are one of the most recognised studios in the UK 'indie' film business. They distribute similar films to ours as they are mostly 'indie' films of the BSR genre such as 'Four Lions'. Using 'Optimum' has its advantages as it means we have a loyal audience of the studio who would be willing to watch the film because of the studio the film is linked with. Critics would also watch our film as Optimum is a well-recognised company throughout the industry.
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