Existing Film production companies- Inspiration for our own!

When coming to research into names for our production name, I decided to do some background research into what film production companies already exist so we can take inspiration from what already exists, but also to make sure we don't use exactly the same ones.

We will be having discussions over the next few days to decide a good name!

Glossary of media termsAs i was a bit unsure of some media terminology, i found several meanings and definitions on the internet and brought them all together. They will be useful for the Media exam, but also for my foundation portfolio to refer back to.

The life of a film task

Our brief was to choose a film 4 film and do in depth research on every stage of its production and distribution. I have chosen Slumdog Millionaire to do this task because i really enjoyed the film because i thought it was very well made and thought of, and I think the film was very well marketed.

Slumdog Millionnaire

The Film                                           

Synopsis

Slumdog Millionaire is the story of Jamal Malik (Patel), an 18 year-old orphan from the slums of Mumbai, who is about to experience the biggest day of his life. With the whole nation watching, he is just one question away from winning a staggering 20 million rupees on India¹s "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?"

But when the show breaks for the night, police arrest him on suspicion of cheating; how could a street kid know so much? Desperate to prove his innocence, Jamal tells the story of his life in the slum where he and his brother grew up, of their adventures together on the road, of vicious encounters with local gangs, and of Latika (Pinto), the girl he loved and lost. Each chapter of his story reveals the key to the answer to one of the game show¹s questions.

Each chapter of Jamal¹s increasingly layered story reveals where he learned the answers to the show¹s seemingly impossible quizzes. But one question remains a mystery: what is this young man with no apparent desire for riches really doing on the game show?

When the new day dawns and Jamal returns to answer the final question, the Inspector and sixty million viewers are about to find out.

Marketing materials

Official Trailer:



Interview with the stars:

Album Cover:

Posters:




Bus advert:

Website:

Production

What was your film’s production budget?
Slumdog millionnaire, directed by Danny Boyle and made for a budget of only $15 million.

Which Production Company (s) provided the finance? What other films have the company (s) produced?

 A company called Celador financed the movie. Celador have also financed films such as:

• Separate Lives
• The Descent (2005)
• Dirty Pretty Things
• Slumdog Millionaire (with Fox Searchlight Pictures, Warner Bros., Pathé and Film4)
• The Illusionist (with Sony Pictures Classics, Pathé, Tiger Aspect Productions BBC, France 3 Cinéma and Django Films)

Distribution

Who are your films theatrical distributors? How many countries has it been distributed in and what are they?

Fox Searchlight Pictures made an initial offer that was reportedly in the $2 million range, but Warner Independent Pictures made a $5 million offer to win rights to the picture. The director was suddenly informed that Warner Independent was being closed down and that Slumdog, to which he’d devoted a year of his life, would be condemned to the obscurity of a straight-to-DVD release. Then Fox Searchlight took on the film which saved the film from going straight to DVD.

 

Who are your films home distributors? what countries has it been distributed in?

• Fox Searchlight Pictures (USA)
• Warner Bros. Pictures (USA)
• Serenity Entertainment International (Taiwan)
• 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment (Canada)
• 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment (USA)
• Ablo (Romania)
• Argentina Video Home (Argentina)
• Audio Visual Enterprises (Greece)
• Bazuca Films (Chile)
• Bontonfilm (Czech Republic)
• Castello Lopes Multimedia (Portugal)
• Channel 4 Television Corporation (UK)
• Cinéart (Belgium)
• Cinéart (Netherlands)
• Distribution Company (Argentina)
• EDKO Film (Hong Kong)
• Europa Filmes (Brazil)
• FS Film Oy (Finland)
• Filmax (Spain)
• Fox STAR Studios (India)
• GAGA (Japan)
• Golden Village Pictures (Singapore)
• IPA Asia Pacific (Thailand)
• Icon Film Distribution (Australia)
• Lev Films (Israel)
• Lucky Red (Italy)
• Mediasoft Films (South Korea)
• Monolith Plus (Poland)
• Monopole-Pathé (Switzerland)
• Myndform (Iceland)
• Pathé Distribution (UK)
• Pathé (France)
• Phars Film (Middle East)
• Pinema (Turkey)
• Prokino Filmverleih (Germany)
• Svensk Filmindustri (SF) (Scandinavia)
• Twin Pics (Netherlands)
• Viva International Pictures (Philippines)
• Vizio (Hungary)
• Volga Film (Russia)

Exhibition

What was your film’s box office takings? Would you expect it to be shown in Romford VUE? Why?
The box office takings in the UK was £31,283,374

The box office takings in the USA was $140,751,191 (In GBP =£87,128,505)

What formats is your film available on for home exhibition?
 You can buy Slumdog Millionnaire on DVD and Blu-ray, but not in all countries, most have DVD, and a lot of them have Blu-ray.

Horizontal & Vertical Integration

Is your film’s production company a subsidiary of a larger company (Horizontally Integrated)?
The film Slumdog Millionnaire is definitely vertically integrated because they have used different companies to produce and distribute the film.

Are there any signs of horizontal integration between your film’s production company (s) and distributor(s)?

No signs of horizontal integration are obvious to find, but there could be.

A log of media exposure during 24 hours

Hello everyone!

This is my Foundation portfolio for my AS level Media studies. I am really enjoying Media studies at Ringwood so far, and i can't wait to get into it more. On this blog, I will be posting updates from my pre-production to post-production and how everything is going.

My First Assignment was to write a log of what and how much media I am exposed to on a typical day. I Chose to do a school day because it is the most common type of day for me. This Particular day was a Tuesday.

7.00am- Alarm clock went off, and played the local radio station.

7.30am- Had the local radio station on whilst i ate my breakfast.

8.00am- Left to go to school with my ipod on.

9.00am- Checked my Email in registration at school.

1.00am- Went into town at lunch time and saw a few posters and adverts on Buses and on walls.

1.30pm- Did some research on 'wikipedia' for famous photographers for Photography lesson.

3.30pm- Waited for the bus and saw lots of film adverts on the sides of buses and on the bus shelters.

3.50pm- Got on the bus and looked out the window at all the posters on lamp posts, and shop windows.

4.10pm- Got home and turned on the music channel on the TV.

4.30pm- Checked my Facebook, Emails, Films on in the cinema, Twitter, watched YouTube videos and checked prices for 'The last song' DVD on Play.com, Amazon and HMV.

5.00pm- Completed my homework and this involved research on the Internet.

6.30pm- Ate my dinner with the news on in the background.

7.00pm- Flicked through the 'Whats on TV' Magazine and had 'Emmerdale' in the background on.

7.30pm- Watched 'Eastenders', then watched a pre-recorded episode of 'Grand designs'.

9.00pm- Watched a  'Friends' episode, whilst talking on the phone for 10 Minutes to my Nan.

10.00pm- Read my book for half an hour and texted a few friends.

After writing down every single piece of media i came into contact with, it really shocked me how much media really is in our lives!