Research Into Film Business

 

The film industry is one of the biggest and most successful industries. Many years ago, America wasn't so popular and well known for its film companies. Europe at that time was the main film industry and has produced the greatest films of all time, as people believed. However, when WWI came, the switch was flipped, and America's film industry started to flourish. Soon enough, Hollywood took the place of the oldest film industry with the production of various film genres- drama, comedy, action and even musical romance. Along, with its main distributors, Disney studios, Comcast, Sony...

How does the process of making a movie work?

First of all, the film has to be produced and the production company takes the credit for making a movie. The main role in the movie production is played by producers, who have to turn story ideas into cinematic entertainment and target the main audience to make a profit out of their idea. There are 3 main production processes, preproduction, production and postproduction, and the film producer plays the key role in all 3 of them.

 Preproduction(planning) is an early stage of any project, so for example- going location scouting, creating a budget and solidified storyline would count as the preproduction phase, which is crucial. Preproduction in simple words is just detailed research based on your initial idea, and it begins when your script is finished. This includes- cinematographers, directors, cameramen, producers, first assistant director and all cast gathered together, along with actors that you've chosen. 

The 2nd stage is production, which is also known as principal photography, where after the script has been written, your cast chosen and everything has been set up, the shooting phase can finally begin. During shooting, the script supervisor is going to check the script multiple times to make sure everything is correctly written and more additional staff is going to be hired if any extra help is needed during the shooting phase.

The production phase is the 'no turning back' phase because after the shooting of your initial idea has begun and locations have already been chosen and invested in, it is hard to give up on your main idea, because money is spent and if the idea is cancelled it would create a way worse situation than it is. This is one of the reasons why investing money in production is critical and risky.

The final stage of production is called postproduction and it is when all of the pieces of your film come together. It involves all sorts of media techniques- editing, visual and sound effects, filter and colour grading... 

The most interesting part of the postproduction phase is adding special effects, along with animation and stimulation objects; which has been one of the most well-known editing techniques. For a better understanding of what am I talking about, the picture on the right shows how it looked during the production phase and how later on the object has been simulated into the dragon.

                                                                                                                                                                                     

What is next after all of the phases above have been finished?      

                                                                               The next phase is marketing and promotion of the movie, which is crucial for the film to reach audiences and generate profit. In the modern film industry, producers sell their films to agents and distributors (responsible for film marketing) who are then responsible for targeting the audience and generating publicity for the film they've purchased. All of this has to be done because, without ads, no one will know that the film exists. Film marketing includes trailers, advertisements, prints and most importantly the calculation of the overall budget.

Now, you may think that this business works so well in everyday life and everyone earns a profit. This is, however, far from the truth. Only a small percentage of Hollywood films are profitable. Some movies never make it to the public and fail miserably, and that's why every big film studio has to have its own promotion department. This includes promotion through magazines, newspapers, television, social media and radio. 

What are film production strategies?

• Marketing techniques- It is important to start marketing your film during the preproduction phase. It's a strong start and also very effective! Reproducing 'word of mouth' online or in a publicity campaign will keep you afloat. Also, concentrating on ads will make your movie worth watching ( e.g. teaser trailers)
• Targeting the audience-knowing the audience is an important aspect of the film, and to keep the audience intrigued you have to advertise and promote your movie from day one of the preproduction. Segmentation is important, and it is to group your audience into groups, depending on their interests. So, when looking at your script, try to ask yourself questions like, 'what is my target audience? Is it male or female? How does this affect this part of the audience?' The important thing is to be smart about it.
• Promoting the film- finally, the best way to promote is online. Over social networks, by trailers, interviews with the cast, director, screenwriter even before the release of the film. Even the YouTube parody videos after your movie have been released are a good idea for promoting it.