The Rise and Fall of the British Film Industry

The differences between the American and British film industries between 1930 - 2000 grew as time passed but they were originally quite similar, doing primarily thrillers and comedies, as they could be done on the small budgets allotted. The 30's was the early days of cinema in both Britain and the US and so there was much intrigue from the public but little investment from companies, due to its recent nascence. Comedies such as Charlie Chaplain's and thrillers such as Scarface were among the most popular. Britain's film industry was being critically acclaimed for the director Alfred Hitchcock, who was famed for his thrillers, a poplar genre of the time.





In the 40's the film industries began to part when World War II was happening, the British Film Institute began making war propaganda films such as 49th Parallel and The Lamp Still Burns. This was widely considered Britain's golden era of film and was the all-time high for viewing numbers. Thrillers and dramas were still very popular due to their prior success and for making easy viewing experiences but was lacking slightly in quality due to the recent departure of Alfred Hitchcock for America's film industry in Hollywood.





Through the 50's, America had a much easier time competing with Britain's film industry due a great number of the studios in Britain being destroyed by the bombings of London during World War II. This was also the decade where many sic-fi films began to be produced, such as War of the Worlds and Invasion of the Body Snatchers, especially by Hollywood as they generally had a much larger budget than other film industries. While Britain's industry was rebuilding, they were creating social-realist films such as Look Back in Anger and Room at the Top where the focus was on the hardships of the working class. To audiences outside of the UK, these were received poorly as they could not understand the cultural references and so did not sell well.





During the 60's sci-fi was still a nascent genre but potent nonetheless with the greatly successful 2001: A Space Odyssey. Alfred Hitchcock was still an incredibly successful director, creating a great deal of viewership for America with The Crows and especially with Psycho. The UK were still making social-realist films and as a result, began slipping further behind the American film industry even more dramatically. Near the late 60's there was a cultural revolution of sorts that ushered in a more free-spirited cinema that gave much more attention to Britain's film industry but unable to bring it back to the viewing numbers of the 40's.


The decade following, the 60's, was a slow down for both American and British film industries as neither had the financial status to create consistent blockbusters. The British film industry had its funding cut substantially by the Conservative government of the time and the US industry was fairing poorly due to the on going Vietnam War becoming a costly priority. The primary genre of the 70's for Britain was Crime dramas. Films such as A Clockwork Orange and Get Carter topped charts in views as they often gave light to and a serious portrayal of what working class in large cities may have had to deal with, but appropriated into a film. Two notable exceptions to this were the Monty Python films of 79 & 75. Monty Python and the Holy Grail and Monty Python's Life of Brian, respectively, were clear juxtapositions from the grit of Crime dramas and also showed how even low budget films can be wildly successful. America, at the time, was somewhat similarly creating many dramas such as Jaws and Apocalypse Now, the latter being highly relevant to that period as the film portrayed elements of the Vietnam War that America was involved in. The US also found success in certain science fiction films  such as Alien and Star Wars, both being considered classics and sprouting numerous sequels each despite the poor economic state of the Hollywood industry.


In the 80's there was somewhat of a struggle for the British film industry due to the introduction and growth of the home television as well as the government subsidising a percentage of all ticket sales. The 101 million annual admissions to 54 million in 1980 and 1984 respectively.

History of British Film Industry

Slumdog Millionaire

Setting: Mumbai
Lighting: Artificial & blue/ Natural & orange
Costumes: Simple cloth
Genre: Social realist drama
Camera Work: Lots of close ups and low angle shots
Editing: Few special effects, trailer captions amateur looking

1990-1: World Wide Web launched publicly

1999: 'Napster' and rise of free digital content

Hollywood Case Study

Guardians Of The Galaxy -

Production: Marvel Studios

Distribution: Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

Director: James Gunn

Writers: James Gunn, Nicole Perlman, Dan Abnett (comic book), Andy Lanning (comic book)

Cinematographer: Ben Davis

Music Composer: Tyler Bates

Star Actors:

• Chris Pratt
• Zoe Saldana
• Dave Bautista
• Bradley Cooper (voice)
• Vin Diesel (voice)

Budget: $170,000,000

Box Office: $774,176,600

Filming:

• Filmed at Millennium Bridge in London (inspiration from places such as Singapore)
• Filming began July 2013

Nationality: US

Source Material Owners: Marvel Studios

Release Pattern: 

• Holywood Premiere ~ (21 July 2014)
• UK ~ (31 July 2014)
• US ~ (1 August 2014)

Examples of Marketing: 

• Trailer first debuted on a popular American talk show
• A two-part comic was released, preluding the films events, by the creators of the original source material for the film
• A fake website was advertised as a travel agency that showcased multiple locations from the film

Formats: 3D &  IMAX 3D

Age Rating: PG-13/12A

British Case Study

What is a British Film?

As critic McDougall (2008) states there are various 'official' ways of categorising British films. The most common is through using the following categories defined by the BFI (British Film Institute):

Category A: Films made with British money, personnel and resources.

Category B: Films co-funded with money from British and from foreign investment, but for which the majority of finance, cultural content and personnel are British.

Category C: Films with mostly foreign money (but non USA) investment and a small British input either financially or creatively.

Category D: Films made in the UK with (usually) British cultural content, but financed fully or partly by US companies.

Category E: US films with some British involvement.

Kingsman: The Secret Service -

Production: 20th Century Fox (US)

Distribution: 20th Century Fox (US)

Director: Mathew Vaughn

Writers: Jane Goldman (screenplay), Mathew Vaughn (screenplay), Mark Millar (comic book), Dave Gibbons

              (comic book)

Cinematographer: George Richmond

Music Composers: Henry Jackson, Matthew Margeson

Star Actors: 

• Colin Firth
• Samuel L Jackson
• Michael Caine
• Mark Strong
• Taron Egerton

Budget: $81,000,000
Box Office: $412.4 million

Filming: 

• Filmed in various places in London
• Filming began 6th October 2013

Nationality: English

Source Material Owners: Mark Millar, Dave Gibbons
Release Pattern:

• London Premiere ~ (14 January 2015)
• UK ~ (29 January 2015)
• US ~ (13 February 2015) The US release date was planned for 14 November 2014 but was pushed back to 6 March 2015, then moved up to 24 October 2014 and finally back to 13 February 2015

Examples of Marketing:

• As the film was based on a comic book, there was a comic made relating to the film in a similar style
• The director teamed up with a luxury retailer, Mr Porter, to create a 60-piece clothing line based on the film

Formats: IMAX
Age Rating: R/15

Ethnicity

Stereotypes

English :

• White - racist, drug users, 
• Black - criminal, violent, 
• Indian - poor, working class, 
• Pakistinian - terrorists, 
• Syrian - refugees, terrorists, troublemakers, 
• Asian - poor drivers, intelligent, bankers, 

American :

• White - racist, homophobic, gun toters, 
• African American - criminal, violent, 
• Mexican - job stealers, manual workers, 
• Asian - poor drivers, intelligent, bankers, 

“The legacy of several hundred years of western expansion and hegemony, manifested in racism and exoticism, continues to be recycled in western culture in the stereotypical images of non-western cultures.”  - Pieterse 1992

Whiteness has been naturalized, as though it is an invisible ‘norm.’ When it is of course an ethnic group like any other. - Sarita Malik 1998

Stuart Hall highlighted in 1981 when he argued; "There is a grammar of race based on a traditional diet for the British Media that is based on the standard image of blackness being the social problem."

"We don't want a balanced view. The whole society is unbalanced against us," - Sivanandan 1983

Regional Identity

Theorist Andrew Higson (1998) writes, "identity is generally understood to be the shared identity of naturalised inhabitants of a particular political-geographical space -  this can be a particular nation or region."

Benedict Anderson (1983) maintains that the media play a vital role in constructing a national/regional identity as in reality the nation is too big for everyone to know each other yet they often have shared values ; "The unification of people in the modern world is achieved not by the military but by cultural means, in particular the media system enables people (of a nation or region) to feel part of a coherent, meaningful, and homogenous community."

Higson goes on to day, " Stereotyping is a form of shorthand ... a way of establishing character ... that often reducing the character to the most basic form so that the stereotype often becomes comic," (Higson 1998)

Higson, "No wonder then that a particular characteristics may be criticised for being stereotypical meaning it lacks a realistic dimension, it fails to match up to the reality of identity," (Higson 1998)

Medhurst, "They're awful because they're not like us,"


'Colloquial dialect'

• Oggy - Pasty
• Call Me Dreckly - Call me later
• Proper Job - Nice work
• Wasson? - What's going on?

Social Class

Medhurst's 1998 theory; "They are awful because they are not like us,"

Richard Butsch (1992) who says working class males in the media are presented as; "Incompetent and ineffectual, often a buffoon, well-intentioned but dumb. In almost all working-class series, the male is flawed"

Keith Gandal's, in 2007 he said that target audiences are drawn in by the; "Sentimental rags-to-riches story,"

Classes B/C1 are represented as the; "Social norm" (Gandal, 2007)

Downton Abbey is set in the 19th century where there were clear divides between social classes, especially when considering attire. Those in this image would be of a higher class as they are all dressed in dull, 'sensible' coloured suits and dresses with few exceptions. The fact that most of those in this image are of considerable age means that each of these potentially wealthy people would have become that in their own lifetime rather than having inherited it which would imply a sense of responsibility and self-achievement from many of these characters. Their posture also connotes wealth and importance due to their correct posture, as well as their facial expressions being similar, which shows that the group is more conscious of their image and what they look like to others.

 

Shameless is a modern-day drama. The people in this image are clearly representative of a lower class. This is apparent through both their body language and their apparel. Their bright, mis-matched clothing shows a lack of care for what looks 'smartest'. Many of the characters in this image also have  disheveled hair which further connotes a lower social class. Each of the characters appears to have vary varied facial expressions which shows that this group is uncoordinated and unruly.


     In this extract of Shameless there are clear representations of Butsch and Medhursts theories. These theories are further supported by camera work, miss-en-scene, sound, and editing.

     The opening scene shows a low angle medium shot with a teenage male walking down a city road with rows of houses behind him. The mise-en-scene in this scene implies that he is of a lower class, through his attire of a hoodie and trainers, and that he lives in some kind of estate, as suggested by the cheap looking housing. As the camera pans 180 degrees to show the viewer what the young male character is looking at it shows a semi-detached house that appears to be owned by someone of a higher class than what is implied of the teenage male. This disrupts Gandals 2007 theory somewhat as the 'norm' in this area is definitely of a lower class than C1 -B, which he claimed to be a "Social norm". By having the camera pan behind itself this breaks the 180 degree rule in filming, which helps keep clarity for the viewer. As they broke it, this could be to make the viewer feel uncomfortable due to the clear change in class, perhaps similar to how the teenage character is meant to feel from that transition.

     The next scene shows a cut in of the teenagers hand knocking on a door and pans up and back to show his face over his shoulder. The camera in this scene is handheld and shakes visibly, this relates to how he would feel approaching the house of a higher class as they do not relate to him and he would feel somewhat alienated. His alienation supports Medhursts theory of "they're awful because they're not like us" in relation to media portrayals of most stereotypes and how 'us' refers to middle aged straight white males that 'control' the media. During this scene there is a short non-diegetic music cue. The music is used for only a few seconds after the teenage character is met at the door by a middle aged woman. As the music is non-diegetic and cheerful it could be representative of the teenage characters relief after confronting what was made out to be an unfavourable situation of meeting those of an apparent higher class.

     Near the centre of the extract there is a scene with the same teenage character and a second middle aged female in what appears to be a teenagers bedroom. This is implied through mise-en-scene where the wall is littered in bright posters of different subjects, there are also objects present in the scene that giveaway that it is clearly a bedroom such as a dresser and wardrobe as well as an actual bed. the mise-en-scene also implies it is from the families in the lower class as there are many conventions present that link to those in a working class society such as the fact that there are so many posters on the wall connoting having things to look up to and generally being a stereotypical 'consumer', which is someone in the working class. Other factors such as the teenagers clothing dictate that he is within a specifically lower class as he is dressed in a hoodie and jeans, typical to his youth, and indicative that he is not of a high class background or family as they stereotypically dress much more 'intelligently' and resent using bright colours, such as the ones found on the posters in his room.