Assignment role of film festivals within film industry.

Mark assignment brief - the role of film festivals within the film industry

Conducting research using various sources such as internet, library, interviews, textbooks and journals I will outline the role that film festivals have in helping finance and distribution within the film industry:

Film festivals are events which usually occur annually for the purpose of promoting or showcasing a variety of motion pictures. The specifications of these motion pictures include independent cinema, experimental, competitive and mainstream cinema. Raindance (page 1, 2012, online) outlines the importance of the film festival to film makers, “festival programmers are vital to film makers and more important than studio heads. The strategy as a film maker is important to understand that the film festival is the portal to developing your film further. Film festivals should not be compared to any form of a league table but the truth is that distributors and agents will select films from film festivals and will showcase these new films.” (Raindance film festival.com - 2012 - online)

The funding sources for film festivals include national and local government sponsorship schemes, independent film networks and local councils. Chris Gore (page 7 -2001) states that “The implementation of this funding helps to organize film festivals independently in the United Kingdom with the Raindance and Sundance film festivals and worldwide festivals such as Cannes and Venice which generate huge revenue from showcasing critically acclaimed films.” The core element of my research into film festivals establishes that the cost of media and film production is ever increasing and the need to attract the audience is also increasing, film festivals are a tool which helps audiences to receive films in the correct way and although this is extra costs for the budget, film festivals help connect with audiences. (Gore, C – 2001 – Film festival Survival Guide)

The origins of the film festival within the film industry began during the Italian neo-realism era of cinema during the 1930’s in Venice. Nigel Watson (page 1, 2012) states the importance of film festivals for securing deals for film. “Film festivals attract a high calibre of artists and the ideal location for film makers to attract attention from a range of companies. Sundance film festival will include agents looking for the next low budget high profit hits as it is a place for nurturing the talents of emerging film makers. The huge influence from Sundance film is the rise in Hollywood stars returning to Sundance to revive their flagging career or to escape from mainstream film into independent cinema. The important thing for organizing a film festival is to gain publicity, attract audiences and give sparkle to proceedings.” (Watson, N – 2012 – Sense and sensationalism of film festivals.)

In a period where the silent films were prominent and films with commentary were being developed, the role of the film festival helped to increase consumer awareness of low budget films and this significantly developed the motion picture industry. Christopher Holland (page 8 - 2009) states the increasing benefits of film festivals for citizens, “film festivals establish that there is a duty to serve the customers with the highest level of customer service and provide the highest standards of customer service. The extra services at film festivals such as the modern cinema complexes and luxury food has helped to increase consumer awareness and has been a pull factor for new producers. (Holland, C – 2009 – Film festival secrets)

The role of the film festival has been pivotal throughout the world, generating revenue for production companies and offering cash prizes to the winner of the film festival which is a huge incentive for independent film makers and also offers many people the opportunity to see films which they would not be able to see at theatres or cinemas.

Within my research I have constructed a questionnaire and survey to establish the quantitative research within film festivals such as the ratio of men to women to attend film festivals and also the largest age range which attend film festivals. This was significantly important to establish the largest audiences which actively seek new films and are engaged with the media.

Film festivals will have a particular code which they adhere to which specifies who is eligible for the film festival entry; this could include only women allowed or only professional film makers. Roger Smith (1984, page 6) expresses the relationship between the audience and the film maker and the impact of film festivals, “the importance of the film festival is to establish the modes and conventions with which the audience relate to. The director has a responsibility to present and package his film in a marketable and commercially viable way and this requires great skill and understanding of audience reception. The models of reception theory include the hypodermic syringe model which states that the viewer is powerless to resist the media as information is administered to us and we are very influenced by the media. The uses and gratifications theory suggests that we utilize the media for which ever parts we feel are beneficial to us, although the media is powerful we have developed our own consciousness to overweigh the media influence. It is important to understand the audience reception models when designing your film as to look as target markets and audience demographics.”(Smith, R - 1984 - Film festivals and audience reception)

The particular time of year of the festival is important as there are sections within the year which denote how well a film will perform, Todd Oldham (page 4 – 2013) for example states how film festivals near Oscar award time will be significant to increase a films prospects of gaining awareness, “Amour directed by Michael Haneke was awarded the Palme d’or and due to the consumer awareness and awareness from the film academy of the united states amour was awarded best foreign language Oscar in 2013. The film was marketed as an independent piece of cinema and was initially shown at the Cannes film festival, the success at Cannes lead to a larger consumer market for amour. The success of amour reinforces the idea that film festivals can prove to be life changing for film makers, equally Buzkashi boys by Sam French and Arel Nazr was originally shown at the rain dance film festival and was nominated at the 2013 Oscars ceremony in the category for best live action short film.” (Oldham, T – 2013 – Sundance film festival) This propelled success is due to the prestige of winning film festivals such as rain dance and Sundance as it gains wider recognition for audiences.

Emerging filmmakers can enrol in the Kahbang festival which provides the opportunity to showcase documentaries, comedies, animated films and this film festival is dedicated to developing emerging talent both to help generate money within the industry and to provide a future for artists.

Film festivals can be categorized into multiple branches from competitive specialized, competitive, non-competitive and documentary short films.

With advancements of technology, films can be edited simply with online tools rather than celluloid formats and the ease of online editing ensures that uploading to film festivals is simple. Richard Porton (page 4 – 2009) states that the process of entering films has become much more simplified, “Submitting film has become simpler due to the low cost and wide range of formats that films can be uploaded from including super 8, 16mm, 32mm, VHS, Beta or DVD.” (Porton, R – 2009 – on film festivals)

Throughout the history of film, film festivals have acted as successful tools for boosting sales figures and consumer awareness for films, the list of films which were shown at film festivals and then later went on to become widely acclaimed include pulp fiction, taxi driver and apocalypse now.

Film makers have the ability to apply their craft with various digital or celluloid film formats and the exposure from film festivals to media moguls and academies increases global awareness. Dina Iordanova (page 17 -2010) outlines the role of film festivals and their importance, “The huge role that the film festival plays is acting as a developing tool for an emerging director or artist, for example Steven Soderbergh who has become famous for Erin Brockovich and out of sight, created a film called sex, lies and videotapes which benefit from the success of being shown around the film festival circuit. The successes of artists like Soderbergh provide inspiration for student film makers who can often enter their films into film festivals as part of a student competition.” (Iordanova, D – 2010 – film festival yearbook)

The production and distribution of a film:

The director crates the concept for his film and crafts a screenplay for a motion picture film, the huge benefits of promoting this screenplay to film festivals increases the chances of the production getting purchased by an agency. When the distributor finalize the production and send it to the studio, the best form of distribution would be to travel with the cast or your agent to promote the film. The distribution company will determine the amount of copies of the film to be produced, the final process is at the theatre where a contract is exchanged between the director, Production Company and theatre who decide how long the film should be shown for and the financial plan.

Within this process the film festival acts as the promotional function tool and helps to act as the connection between director and studio, without the film festival there would be no real marketing for the film other than online viral media which is only successful on sleeper films or summer blockbusters such as the dark knight due to the huge awareness that it was Christopher Nolan’s last Batman.

The limitations and stipulations surrounding film festivals is noted by Nigel Watson (page 3 - 2012 - online) “film festivals despite their ability to attract large audiences and crowd members have lost numbers due to the increase in many people using streaming services, DVD’s and television broadcasts to see film premieres as this is a much cheaper alternative method as opposed to travelling or paying fees.  The significance of the film festival is that it will continue to be the link between the artist and the industry and will continue to raise awareness of film makers with low funds but gifted film concepts.” (Film festivals.com - 2012 - online)

The national media museum website explored the differences in distribution between films, (page 1 - 2013 - online) “with regards to mainstream releases companies such as universal, 20th century fox or Disney will provide financial support for films which are due to have worldwide releases. On the other hand speciality films which are outside the dominant studio system are known as speciality releases, they are distributed throughout a smaller number of theatres and gaining recognition rely on art film fans attending these films.” (National media museum.com - 2013- online)

The national media museum blog also states the ever increasing usage of themes and techniques which are being borrowed from speciality films and introduced into Hollywood films, (page 1 - 2013 - online), “the parallels between Hollywood films such as Hitchcock and speciality films such as Jiro dreams of sushi consider the relationship between film genre and the ever increasing need that film festivals have for a range for film styles.” (National media museum.com - 2013 - online)

The Cannes film festival guide which is an academic text books for film scholars explores the need for film festivals for professional and beginner film makers, (Benjamin Craig - Cannes a festival virgin’s guide - 2006 - page 7), “film festivals are integral to the process of film distribution and film promotion and help to act as the spinning cog for the film industry. The large revenue generated from film festivals is beneficial to the artist, the production and the film councils which operate.” (Craig, B - 2006 - Cannes a festival film guide)

Within this portfolio outline I have investigated the quantitative element of film festivals and the audience demographic, I have provided opinions from film critics and established film festival moguls and I have analysed the connection between independent and mainstream film distribution, I will now collate this information and produce an 800 word report on the strengths, weaknesses of my research methods, validity, reliability, logistics and recommendations for future research methods. I will also assess the outcome of my results and analyse accuracy, fitness for purpose, ethical issues and recommendations for future changes of modifications.