Matthew Dalby

Case Studies – Research

Working Title Films:

The Boat that Rocked – This film was classified as a 15 because of the adult humour/nudity and the
sexual nature. It is based on music; it is a drama and is for an older target audience.

Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang – Nanny McPhee had a budget of 35 million dollars and had a 26
million dollar gross in the USA (estimate). The 3D aspect however was an enhancement during the
post production process and so was not as effective as the film Avatar (as the 3D was produced
during the shooting process by using 3D cameras).

Wild Child – Wild Child had a budget of 20 million dollars and had a gross estimate of 22 million
dollars. This film was green lighted because of its distribution by Universal.

Atonement – Atonement was green lighted because it was a popular and successful book; and so
therefore had a confident audience before the film had even been released.

Johnny English – This film had a good marketing strategy because it used the technique of viral
marketing; and this was due to it being developed and produced from an advert (which originally
had Rowan Atkinson in it). This gave the audience something to talk about when the advert idea
became a film and therefore mouth of word was used (e.g. Facebook); which was free advertising for
the film. Also, Rowan Atkinson starred in the film Bean by Working Title and therefore was already
known by the audience as a comedy actor with Working Title.

Green Zone – Green Zone had a different cast to what Working Title usually use and responded to
the different issues in modern society but still followed the Working Title genres. However, this film
had a budget of 100 million dollars, but had a gross of 94 million, creating a LOSS of over 5 million
dollars!

Warp Films:

This is England – The classification of the film became an 18 because of a minor detail and therefore
changed the audience from a 15 to an 18. This was unfortunate for the director (Shane Meadows) as
his intentional audience was teenagers. Stock producers/cinematographers were used as the same
sort of cinematography was used in this film as well as some of the other Warp films.

Four Lions – Four Lions had a 2.5 million dollar budget and made a gross of 2.9 million.

Dead Man’s Shoes – This film was also directed by Shane Meadows and has a classification of 18; the
same as This is England. Dead Man’s Shoes starred the actor Paddy Considine; who has also been in
the Working Title film Hot Fuzz.

Hollywood Films:

2012 – 2012 used the technique of viral marketing and the use of creating a moral panic to advertise
their film as the audience were aware of the ‘world ending in 2012’ and so wanted to see it in order
to find out what would happen. This moral panic was created by having billboards placed around

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 Matthew Dalby

busy places with the message that the world would end in 2012. People did not realise that it was
only a film advert and thought that it was a real message.

Avatar – This film was directed by James Cameron (who also directed the great blockbuster Titanic)
and so Avatar was more successful because the audience knew of Titanic’s success and therefore
went to exhibit it.

Actors now have more power over production because if they do not like what is going on then they
can threaten to leave (which can sabotage the success of the film). This is more common in the
Hollywood films because Hollywood sometimes rely on the cast more than the actual narrative –
especially in action films.

Overall, Merchandise can be a big bonus to the film’s success because if the audience enjoy
watching the film, then they can go out and by associated items to do with the film, adding more
profit. For example, Disney have become very successful because of their animated films also having
merchandise (such as toys, teddy bears and stationary), which also promotes the film by the
audience carrying around their films advertisement through those products.

Mouth of Word – This technique can give the institution either a positive or a negative effect on the
film’s success. A positive effect would be if a person goes to exhibit the film, enjoys it and then tells
all his/her friends about how good it is and then they go to see it and enjoy it etc. Social Networking
sites (such as Facebook) enable this Mouth of Word technique to spread to other audiences because
people make pages and groups supporting the film and promoting it without the institute having to
make another expenditure. This could also have a negative impact if a person doesn’t like the film
and promotes it as a bad film and say that it is not worth seeing.

YouTube – This site is now a disadvantage to the film industry as a whole because people can now
watch films on their computers without paying for exhibition or buying a DVD and so the institution
loses money. It can also be said for the Internet in general because people are now buying illegal
copies of films and selling them themselves to the audience. This has a greater impact on the smaller
institutions such a Warp Films and the internet could bring these production companies down
eventually.

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