British Film Industry Fact sheets

#132 -

1.

To determine whether a film is British or not, it mainly depends on what you look at to consider it a British film, for example some people would consider a film that is produced by the British as a British film, if the cast is British, if it's set in Britain, if the story-line is based on British aspects etc. 

2.

Most Hollywood films are high budget with a heavy reliance on celebrities in both cast and crew. Although there are some high budget British films, a lot of them consist of a low budget, character rather than spectacle driven stories and a heavier reliance on word of mouth and viral advertising.

3.

The James Bond franchise started in the 1960's. 

4.

1970's saw a rise in British Films of sexual content, both the act of sex and sex linked to violence. 1980's saw the rise of videos and the ‘video nasty’s scare where film making was becoming more accessible and more extreme content was being created and started to become popular in Britain. 

5.

Representation of the youth - Clockwork Orange; violence, anti-establishment and compulsion to act in an anarchic (uncontrolled) way

Attack the Block; more realistic portrayal of the youth.
Challenges stereotypes of women; used to be portrayed as either the virgin, the mother or the whore.

6.

British films have always been full of socially conscious narrative and characters.
Producers include at least a little bit of humour even during serious films that talk about difficulties so that the British audience get more of an enjoyment out of it. 

#100

1.

It is divided into 4 sections; cultural context, cultural contribution, cultural hubs and cultural practitioners. A film must score at least 16 out of 31 points to classified as a British film. 

2.

Sweeney: 

Attack the Block:

The King's Speech:

We need to talk about Kevin:

Skyfall:

3.

British film industry is production led rather than distribution led; means many UK films are made but filmmakers have to sacrifice distribution rights be selling the film to a distribution company in order to get the film exhibited. All revenues from selling the films in various different categories are lost. 

4.

- Outstanding creative skills of practitioners

- Outstanding facilities
- Several important film Studios are British, e.g. Ealing Studios and Pinewood Studios.

5.

-  Rely upon co-productions with American studios

-  Attempt to make low budget films targeted at a niche, British audience

6.

The first option would be best as low budget films have a higher risk of failure so British films could get funding's from co-producers in other Countries to make a high budget film that is massively successful and keep the British Film Industry in the business.