What impact did the media

institution Film4 have on each

production stage and why?
 Pre-production
Planning and research
We researched heavily into film4 to develop our product.
Looking into film4 we found they wanted to “develop (new) British Talent and be a
leader of innovation in the British Film industry”.
Which meant the storyline and themes we presented, had to be different and
original.
To understand the art of British cinema, we watched numerous film4 films and then
compared them to Hollywood films. I saw that British films tend to end with closed
endings where as Hollywood ended with open endings; The narratives and filming
styles were complete different.
 Production
To create the right kind of mise-en-scene, we wanted the main character Zara to be from a low,
middle class family. Most film4 films present the audience with working class characters, or
characters who were once wealthy (i.e. Hallam foe leaves his wealthy father and roughs it out on
the street and where ever he can find)

We kept everything simple, and did not overuse any particular element like characters or over the
top clothes. However, regardless of the simplicity- we introduced controversy straight away with
an interracial relationship and a Muslim girl who goes against what she is expected of.

The technology we used to film our production was fairly basic and simple as we had no budget,
which is the same type of situation film4 face. They have a very low budget of almost nothing to
£50,000 which is a standard amount to create a film.
 Distribution

After doing some research we found that Optimum Releasing distributed Four Lions, this is similar
to our production because of the centralisation around Islam.
Through doing our research we saw that Buena Vista International also distributed Hallam Foe
which was a highly controversial film due to its sexuality.

Being an independent company, the distribution companies above would present our work in Art
House cinemas instead of Multiplex cinemas because of the budget and how controversial the
film is. Cinemas may not think our film is appropriate. The benefit of creating for film4 would that
they guarantee they will show our final piece on Film4 /Channel 4 within two years. It would also
be successful for home distribution on DVD.