British Cinema Development - Essay Example

BRITISH CINEMA INTRODUCTION AND HISTORY The cinema in United Kingdom has produced a great many stars and quality films over the years and they are hardly second to anyone as far as the production, distribution and exhibition of the films are concerned. The British films have been awarded with Academy Awards and Oscars and they are certainly considered important when it comes to the history of films in general. However, the development in British cinema has not been without its shares of ups and downs. There have been times when it has faced rapid development in technology, quality, quantity and screening of films while there have been times, when, despite on-going production, the screening of films have faced hindrances. A little research into the history of British cinema tells us that in the early 1900s, it experienced a boom or a period of development, which was marred by a recession in the next ten years due to increased competition, mainly from the US and due to other commercial practices. To make the film industry recover from the devastating recession, a Cinematograph Films Act 1927 was put into effect which was successful in achieving the desired result as the 1930s saw a production of approximately 200 hundred films. Some of the names that caught attention were of Alfred Hitchcock. Many argue that this over-expansion had an adverse affect on the industry, which reached an all time low point during World War II period. As with any other industry, it recovered in the post-war period and gained stability with increasing American investment. It was in this period that British films also earned Academy Awards, and Charles Dickens's classics were adapted into movies. However, another period of recession struck the industry towards the middle of the 1970s and continued to last till the end of 1980s. As investments started coming, it recovered from the previous setbacks and continued to develop in the 1990s. Even though, it is impossible to say whether the British film industry was at its high or low judging from the quantity of the films made but it still gives an idea of how it was developing. Many people claim, that some of the best British films were churned out before the world when it was undergoing through recession, so it can be argued that even while British cinema was facing recession, it still had its importance and a strong foothold in the film industry. BRITISH FILM PRODUCTION IN 1990s- 2000s In the late 1980s and early 1990s, the British film industry was facing hard times due to tough competition given to them by their American successes, which attracted a large audience from people living in Britain too. They were faltering times for the British films industry, whose films were not even becoming a success in their own country. Their box-office revenues had nose-dived but changed its direction in 1993 and cinema attendances began to go up. Many expensive and high-budget films were also produced. However, they did not become as much a success as the lower budgeted movies became because of their different story line and advanced sound techniques which also received international appreciation, including American audiences. Four Weddings and a Funeral released in 1994 became a huge success and revived interest in British cinema. It was produced by Duncan Kenworthy, Working Title Films and Channel Four Films and was penned by Richard Curtis. The issues faced by British film production in the early 1990s were countless. The British film industry was in constant pressure of releasing huge budgeted successes to compete with the successes achieved in America. Unfortunately, for the British films industry, making huge-budgeted movies did not guarantee success and the audience was somewhat getting bored of stereotypical roles in movies given to actors. Productions costs were rising dramatically what with the search for additional and advanced equipments for film making and newer technology to improve the quality of sound. Computer generated images had begun to be used in movies and the added digital special effects did not lower costs for the industry. On top of it all, there were actor problems and costs, who usually demanded sky-high salaries, often after their first releases, which did become hits too. Apart from their salaries were the expensive perks that the actors availed. The film, Scarlet Letter, released in 1995 had to face bear production costs as only the support staff of Demi Moore, the actress had cost around $900,000. Even more unfortunate was its failure and the movie recovered only a fraction of its cost. Moreover, there was an increased emphasis on advertising and market research because of the competition and it usually absorbed a lot of budget set aside for the production of films. Dearth of good writers was also an issue and most of the storyline in movies that were produced consisted of boring and over-done roles. This scarcity, however, strengthened the power of writers who often threatened the producers with strikes. Due to this, it was often hard for the industry to churn out enjoyable characters with a thought-provoking or a different storyline. Indeed, there was room for more creativity, investments and promotion. In the 1990s, many British films were made despite the issues that the production of films faced. However, fewer British movies made it to big screens. The reason for this was the wide availability of VCRs and other such appliances which almost every household seemed to have. It was not for nothing that the era of 1990s was known as the Digital Age in Britain. The cinema attendances had gone down and the sale of movie theatres tickets also suffered a drop as an escalating number of people preferred to watch the movies on videotape. It is reported that almost half of the quantities of the films produced managed to get viewed directly from home on videotape and never made it to cinema for screening. These advancements brought about a revolution and gave way to more invention and production of newer and more advanced digital devices such as the emergence of DVDs. Movies such as Forrest Grump and Braveheart, made in mid 1990s were appreciated for their advanced picture quality while Bamboozled produced in 2000s used digital video techniques. DISTRIBUTION AND EXHIBITION The 1980s saw the British film industry in a recession but the tradition of attending British cinemas was kept alive by the screening of some high budgeted movies. As the industry recovered and improved the production rate of films, it was considered that it will be all the more better for British cinemas as people's reaction towards screening films in cinemas had been quite favorable in the past. However, in 1990s, when the British film industry was successful in producing many movies that caught attention and appreciation, the cinema attendances underwent a dramatic decline. It was, of course, the advancement in the digital technology that was responsible for the decline. People preferred to stay at home and watch their favourite movies on VCD or DVD in the later years. However, cinemas did not completely disappear and still retained some of its own popularity. Even if they lost some of their "elite" audiences, they were still important, as the success of a film screened in a cinema bespoke for other markets as well. The distribution market of theatres in United Kingdom in the early 1990s was valued at more than 100 million. Columbia, Fox, Warner Distributors, Buena Vista and UIP were among the leading distributors of the time and were affiliated with studios in Hollywood. Independent distributors included Entertainment, First Independent, Guild and Rank Film Distributors. They sold exhibition rights to cinema operators or exhibitors. One of the successful movies in the early 1990s, Four Weddings and a Funeral, starring Hugh Grant, was distributed by Rank Film Distributors in the UK and Gramercy Pictures in US. The exhibition market had big names too, of which MGM Cinemas and Odeon were the main circuit exhibitors and US companies owned Natl Amusements, UCI and Warner Theatres, the other three leading exhibitors. The leading distributors and exhibitors had obviously created a monopoly scenario for themselves and the existence of uncompetitive doings in the industry supported it. Some of the issues affecting the distribution and exhibition of films were against public interest. A distributor of film generally chose its aligned circuit and released films only to the aligned cinema which discouraged competition between the distributors and circuits and less importance was given to consumer's preferences. Moreover, distributors mostly insisted the exhibitors to screen the films for a much longer time in return for their supplying them with popular films. Exhibitors were also troubled with their own concerns. They found it hard to attract new audiences because of the stereotypical movies that were being made targeted only a part of the general audience at large. There was a dearth of art and classic movies. They were also bothered about the quality of films, as the revenue the films generated depended on how much the audience was attracted by a particular film. Even more so, in the 1990s the increasing trend in renting and selling of videotapes had also decreased the revenues of cinema exhibitors. Vertical integration had been another issue, which according to people destroyed the market and created barriers to entry for British films. As the leading distributors were affiliated with Hollywood studios, the later relied on them for the distribution of their films and even had some ownership right in UK exhibitors. This results in some preference given to vertically linked parties. Due to a high level of competition between the industries of UK and US, this meant trouble for the UK filmmaker. Hollywood studios were more experienced in producing films and attracting big names as they could have taken advantage from economies of scale and borne high production cost which the UK studios found difficult. Despite its problems, British cinema has managed to flourish and survive and still continues to grow thanks to the interest of the public. GENRES In the 1990s, when the British cinema was recovering from a recession, there was a dearth of good stories and therefore, and thus the British movies did not dwell upon different genres. In the early 1990s, production of film many concentrated on dramas and documentaries, which usually centered on the world wars. Social realism is said to be the most typical of all British film genres. It was through realism that British films made a mark internationally. Rescued by Rover (made in 1995) and James Williamson's A Reservist before the War and After the War, made in 1902 are some popular examples of the movies that come under this genre. After the wars, this genre had gained popularity; however, some of the working class preferred Hollywood genres. Documentaries dominated the early 1990s era but declined in the later years. Memphis Belle, made in 1990 was a drama which centered on World War 11 while the documentary, American Dream won the Academy Award for Documentary Feature. The years of 1991-92 were dominated by lot of movies made on drama and the genre of comedy had also entered the scene and was very popular among the audiences. Some of the comedy movies were American Friends and the Pope Must Die. Adventure, horror and family films were not given much attention and were scarcely produced. In 1993-94, the trend of comedy and drama genres continued, however, animated and science fiction movies had begun to sink in, but were few. They year 1995 saw a lot of dramas being made again but with the combination of the genres of romance, thriller, action and crime. Persuasion, a literary drama directed by Roger Michell was also released theatrically in the US along with other countries. The late 1990s again saw a lot of dramas and documentaries being made but some other genres also got notices, of which comedy and romance were some of the popular ones. Notting hill made in 1999, starring Julia Roberts and Hugh Grant was well received. Towards 2000, British cinema welcomed Asian influences and the trend continued. Therefore, the issues affecting the genres of the film included problems related to typical storyline which did not give much diversity to the genres and attracted a selected type of audience. At large, Hollywood genres were given preference. FILM MAKERS British filmmakers who were responsible for the directing of the film also had their share of concerns in 1990s. As the era of 1990s was known as the Digital Age, the directors of the movies had to incorporate animation and digital techniques into their movies to attract newer audiences and to improve their quality of films. That was no easy task however and it did increase their costs. Scriptwriting was another problem they had to deal with, as the success of their movies depended upon the story line and it had to be something different and worth watching to take the audiences away from Hollywood cinema. This, in itself, was a huge task as writer strikes were common in the year, due to their being underpaid and unmotivated. Storylines were copied which irritated the actors who did not want to act in similar roles. All of this meant trouble for the British filmmakers at the time. Filmmakers also had to deal with musicians and composers too. The advancement in sound technology had created an audience demand for good quality music in films too. Filmmakers had to obtain clearance for the particular use of a song and if they did not, protests often surfaced about how the rights have been stolen. Filmmakers had to deal with the media law and legal obligations. Deciding upon location facilities was also their responsibility and they often sought development money. Directors had their share of issues and troubles but many British filmmakers became well known and gave many starts their breakthroughs. Bean, a comedy film that became very popular was directed by Mel Smith who casted Rowan Atkinson as the main hero. Both the actor and the movie are greatly appreciated even today. An ideal Husband, which was based on an Oscar Wilde play, was directed by Oliver Parker. AUDIENCES Audience viewing for British films changed considerable over the years from 1990 to 2000. In the early years, audience was more partial to viewing Hollywood cinema as it portrayed a lot of variety and different genres. They were more experienced than the British filmmakers and had the proper market research. The dramas and documentaries made in Britain at the time only attracted a few number of audiences. Some of the films did become successes but were not well received internationally and there was more room for creativity and improvement. Audiences then liked to go to cinema when movies were being screened. However, over the years that changed. The advent of VCD and DVD kept the audiences at their homes and facilitated their viewing at any time they wanted. Even if the films did not reach the cinema, audiences were able to view the film from the comfort of their home. This also increased video piracy. Over the later years, British films attracted global audiences. East is East was one such film that got appreciation from America and other countries. In the later years, British films developed global audiences. These were the issues that affected the British film production, distribution, exhibition, filmmakers, genres and audiences. However, the British film industry is experiencing a growing trend with some of the most popular movies, like Harry Potter and the Pirates of the Caribbean being made by Britain filmmakers. References: Ashby J, Higson A (2000). British Cinema, Past and Present Ford B (1992). The Cambridge Cultural History of Britain Macnab Geoffrey (1993). J.Arthur Rank and the British Film industry Nelmes J (2003).An Introduction to Film Studies Richards J (1997). Films and British National Identity: from Dickens to Dad's Army Susan (2000). Cinema Studies: The Key Concepts Read More