Kings Speech case study

The King's Speech is a British film about King George VI who has a stammer. He ends up becoming King after his brother abdicated from the throne. He is considered to be unfit to be King but with the help of a very strange speech therapist, Lionel Logue, George ends up finding his voice and leads Britain through the World War 2.

Britishness

What makes a film British?

From the government: “Most people would define a ‘British’ film with reference to obvious cultural elements such as: a setting in the UK or a focus on British people abroad; a predominantly British cast; a storyline about some aspect of British life — past, present or future — or notably by, or based on a work by, a British author.”

But recently less British films are made in Britain or have British actors in it such as Slumdog Millionaire which is classed as a British film. But what classes this film as a British film is that the director and writer of the film are both British, so the film was created by British people, which can class films as British weather they are filmed in Britain and have British actors or not.

Box Office in the UK

The film it’s self on the opening weekend made a huge £3,523,102 in the UK on 7th January 2011 which made double the amount Slum dog Millionaire made on its opening weekend, £1.83m. The Kings Speech over all made a huge gross of $138,795,342, which is brilliant being as the film started with a small budget of $15,000,00.

Films Reception

IMDb give the Kings speech a rating of 8.1/10 and it got a mega score of 88/100 while Rotten Tomatoes gave the film an advert rating of 8.6/10 and 94% of the audience liked the film. With good reviews such as ‘The King's Speech features a fantastic, awards courting performance by Firth and is also brilliantly written, resulting in a surprisingly tense and very entertaining watch.’ (Rotten tomatoes) and ‘It's refreshing to see a historical drama avoid grand gestures and sweeping melodrama in favor of smaller more intimate stories.’ (Rotten tomatoes). ‘There was abundant humor without the film ever becoming a comedy, drama without dreariness, and many deeply moving moments. I can't praise this film enough. It boosted my appreciation of the human capacity to become our best selves, and rise to meet even the most daunting challenges’ (IMDb) and ‘The story line is all about his stuttering, but underneath all that are suppressed memories from childhood, growing up in the shadow of an elder brother, perpetual negative reinforcement from a domineering father, etc. It's a psychoanalytical look at a well-known royal family, and while I can't vouch for its absolute veracity, it gives a rare glimpse into the lives of people we wouldn't otherwise observe at this level of intimacy’ (IMDb).

Phillip French from the guardian who praises the film says that ‘the film is a major achievement, with Firth presenting us with a great profile in courage, a portrait of that recurrent figure, the stammerer as hero’ and that ‘It is the work of a highly talented group of artists who might be regarded as British realists’. But he also criticizes that ‘the film is not without its odd faults, the truly annoying one being the representation of Winston Churchill (Timothy Spall) as a supporter of George during the abdication’.

The film cant come without criticism, some reviews mention that the film contains a number of errors about the historical accuracy. The font used in the text in the BBC broadcasting room not being a font that was even available till the 50’s and also that some women were spotted wearing seamless stockings which were not available until later in life. Overall the film was criticized but the positives out way the negatives.

Web 2.0 and Exchange

The film itself had its own Facebook that advertised the film, posting posters and trailers as well as director comments and actors comments to attract a wider audience that are available on social networking sites. The film had a number of YouTube clips posted about it like people giving reviews and expectations of the film, for example a Youtube clip by beyond the trailer got 70,102 views. There were reviews and comments on the film in newspapers such as in the guardian by Phillip French and in the telegraph by Sukhdev Sandhu.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1GBS1QUOMMU&feature=related

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/filmreviews/8244121/The-Kings-Speech-review.html

The film has an appeal, not only to a British audience because it shows a story where the royal family are seen in private and show personal troubles, but also to an international audience - members of the old British colonies in particular - because it shows a story where a "commoner" from the colonies develops a friendship with the King. This draws in a large audience from American who love their connection to the British monarchy and the idea that someone like them from a colony country could develop a friendship with a member of the royal family. Also gives Americans more information on the royals and that they are more normal and easy to connect with then you think, shows them in a different more common light.

The film’s origins

David Seidler the writer read about George VI's life after overcoming a stuttering condition he endured during his youth. He started writing about the relationship between the monarch and his therapist as early as the 1980s, but at the request of the King's widow, Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, postponed work until her death in 2002. He later rewrote his screenplay for the stage to focus on the essential relationship between the two protagonists. Nine weeks before filming began, Logue's notebooks were discovered and quotations from them were incorporated into the script. Therefore this film originated from a true, real life story about an event that happened within the royal family.

The Finance

The UK Film council contributed towards the financial backing for the film alongside Prescience films and UK Film finance company that showed an immediate interest in the films making. Harvey Weinstein in the USA also became a huge investor of the film and together these companies have made $12 million of the budget.

Production companies

The production companies of the film were Weinstein Company, The UK Film Council, Momentum Pictures, See-Saw Films as well as other companies. See-Saw, a British/Australian company, financed and produced the film but by getting deals with key distribution partners such as The Weinstein Company (USA) Momentum Pictures (UK) Transmission (Australia) and Alliance Film (Canada). This is a good example of a film that can receive a huge global success and without the help of huge Hollywood studios.

Distribution and marketing issues

The trailers used for the UK and US differ, as the UK trailer shows more of Colin Firths character and his personal journey, overcoming his stammer and becoming King. But the US trailer shows more of Geoffrey Rush’s character and how he plays a huge part in helping George overcome his struggle with speech. In the US trailer Helen Bonham Carter’s character refers to her husband as the King rather than the Duke of York which is what she calls him in the UK trailer, which makes the US trailer want to seem more British to attract the American audience that love the British Royals so much. The UK trailer as well uses a well-known British quote from Shakespeare "some men are born great, others have greatness thrust upon them" this adds to the sense of Britishness in the UK trailer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dq2IT299EKo UK Trailer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzI4D6dyp_o US Trailer

The various posters and trailers all play an important part in the marketing of the film. The posters were placed everywhere, on the sides of buses, billboards, bus stops etc. The idea of the posters is to grab people's attention, having them everywhere means people can't avoid them, which makes them want to watch the trailer and find out more about the film. The trailer then aims draw the audience in completely and to get them to see it.

Major issues facing British film makers

“It's clear that British cinema has been weathering the global recession well” said UK Film Council chief executive John Woodward. He said the sectors of production, distribution and exhibition were "firing on all cylinders". But he said the marketplace for financing smaller, independently-produced British films has become more difficult. This was partly as a result of the overall economic slowdown and partly down to "the increasingly tough transition from the analogue to the digital age". However, it has been a record of couple of years at the UK box office overall from 2009-2012, with takings of £944m and the highest admissions since 2002 (173.5 million) thanks to films like Kings Speech, Slum dog millionaire and Avatar.

Tom Hooper mentions that the use of big name stars is a large part of the appeal to films and that also is very expensive. So although the digital revolution has change and given the British film industry opportunities film makers are still restricted by costs of marketing and distribution, and also the ability to make a film with wide appeal with blockbuster stars.

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Film Production Process

The idea:

To have an idea of a film you need a source of inspiration, like a remake of a film, creating a film from a brand of toys or even an original idea that no one has thought of before. Then the producer is that decides whether the idea is good or not to produce and makes the investment to make it a film. Then the director will work with the producer to make the idea file-worthy and direct everything in the film. The written is informed of the film idea and defines the idea, the plot and the characters. The writer will then write a treatment which is a one page description of the main story and the characters of the film. Then from this a pitch is created which contains all the information that the producer needs to sell the idea to financiers to commission a script.

Development Finance:

The producer pitches the project by using the treatment and pitch with their powers of persuasion to get the money needed to develop a script. Once the project has been given the money needed to make idea into a film the producer can approach film company's for development in money but sometimes film company's have films to develop them self's. The producer can also offer future sales and broadcast in return for money to develop the script as well as apple to a public funding body like the UK Film Council for a development grant or even pitch the film to private investors in hope they will support or pay for the project to happen. Then with the money developed the producer can die the writer down to commit to delivering a number of drafts of the script in return for financial benefits.

Script Development:
The writer produces a synopsis which is a brief of the film and with the producer agree or not agree on key scenes and events in the film. The writer then creates a step outline to plan the script which once happy the draft is sent to the financiers which will have their own ideas to the draft. When all agree with the script it is locked off and becomes a finial draft which is when writer is paid. Final stage of script development is the creation of a sales treatment.

Packaging:
This is when the producer and director must package the script into a full commercial proposition, ready for financing. To make the project more commercial is by attaching well known starts to the script. Then well known commercially successful heads of department such as the editor, production design and director of photography carry considerable clout with knowledgeable financiers. Then the producer must know how much it will all really cost to make the film to know the proper business proposition. The producer will then need to show a plan to the potential investors to how they plan to raise the money and how they will pay them back. Once the package is then complete the film is a viable commercial proposition its them shown to the people.

Financing:
The producer must travel to find a financier to make the market. The producers lawyer draws up contracts to the deals with production companies, public bodies and private individuals. The producer can also raise money from the pre-sales, selling the right to the film before it has even been made. The producer can get investments or even loans from certain departments of banks that specialise in film finance but most financiers insist that a completion bond is in place before they agree to invest, which is insurance for the production. Once all the essential funding and insurance is secured, the film gets the 'green light' and the film can be made.

Pre-production:
The kick-off meeting begins and all the heads of department are hired and the shooting script is circulated and preproduction begins in earnest. Then the casting director with the director and producer begins the process of identifying and casting the actors. The storyboards are the blueprints of the film created by the directer, storyboard artist and the director of photography where every shot is planned in advanced. The production designer plans every aspect of how the film will look and hires people such as a art director, location manager and construction manager to design and build each part. Effects shots are planned in much more detail to normal shots and take a while to design and build by visual effects supervisor and special physical effects people. The first assistant director, line producer and production manager make up the key logistic triangle of the production.

The shoot:
The first day of principal photography is where the shooting begins, funding is released. The camera department is responsible for getting all the footage that the director and editor need to tell the story. Then once the lighting and sound are set up and hair and makeup have been check the shooting can begin. The acting can begin but the actors must create an emotional world and draw the audience into it. Every special effect is carefully constructed and must be filmed with minimum risk of injury to cast and crew. The chain of command are the assistant directors, runners and the line producer make sure film productions are run with military precision, if they fall behind schedule the financiers and insurers may step in.

Post Production:
As the processed footage comes in the editor assembles it into scenes and creates a narrative sequence of the film called a rough cut. Once the picture is locked, the sound department works on the audio track laying, creating and editing every sound. Digital effects are added by specialist effects compositors and titles and credits are added in a compositing suite. The final stage of the picture edit is to adjust the colour and establish the fine aesthetic of the film. After picture lock, the rough sound mix goes to a dubbing theatre where the sound mixer sets the finial levels. After the finial cut the film reachers full lock, it is now finished and ready for duplication.

Sales:
When selling the product to distributors the producer secures the services of a sales agent, a specialist in film sales. To help sell the film, a trailer is made to show busy film buyers the most marketable aspects of the film. The producer and the sales agent collect everything they will need to sell the film such as the trailer, sales pack and sales report. The market is a saturated with films, so the producer must go to great lengths to attract attention for the film. A high profile screening at one of the top film festivals can be great for creating the heat around  the film. The producer now has a hot product and can negotiate good deals with distributors around the world.

Marketing:
Then the film goes to a marketing team who specialist in marketing the film to the public. Knowing the audience is essential; and the marketing team runs test screenings to see how the film is received. The potential audience for the film is targeted with posters, cinema trailers, TV spots and other marketing materials. Television, radio, newspapers and magazines can all help create positive word of mouth about the film. The internet can also help promote the film as it floods the world with information and also makes niche marketing possible. In order to get the film to audiences the distributor must negotiate a deal with the cinemas to screen it.

Exhibition:
A high profile, star studded premiere is used to launch the film to the public with and explosion of media coverage. The UK has more than 3,500 cinema screens and some are not british owned or show british films. Distributors supple the exhibitors with prints of the film, the more screens the film is shown on the more prints are needed. The box office performance is when the data of the film attendance is collected and then form that data they decide weather the film gets canceled or prolonged. The exhibitors take their share of the box office receipts, after which the distributors recoup their marketing costs. Once the distributors have been paid the financiers can recover their investments as laid out in the recoupment schedule.

Other Windows:
Hospitality sales for hotel channels and in flight entertainment can bring millions in additional revenue. UK audiences spend more on DVDS than on cinema tickets so success on DVD can compensate for box office failure. Television is the final source of revenue, rights are sold separately for pay-tv showings and terrestrial broadcasts. Rights for computer games and other reproduces licenses can be extremely lucrative sources of additional revenue. Once the film has made a profit, the producer and key creative people can reap their rewards. The finial income from a film is never known. Distributors continue in perpetuity, and the film may even be re-released in the future.

Film Production

Development - This is simply the process of 'finding' a story. Ideas for films come from a variety of sources, they can range from novels, real life events to computer game adaptations. Once you've got an idea you'll need someone to write a pitch for you which you take to a film producer in an attempt to get some funding to make your film. Even at this very early stage you need a very clear idea of who you're aiming you film at so you can include elements that will appeal to them.
Pre-production - Once you've got funding you establish your budget and can begin to get a film crew together, you can storyboard the script. You also need break the script down into individual scenes and identify all the locations, props, cast members, costumes, special effects and visual effects needed.
Production - This is simply the process of 'making' the film. Provided you've done your job properly in the pre-production stage making the film should be straight forward. 'Film' is very expensive and difficult to store so an increasing number of film makers are using digital cameras to save money.
Post-production - During this stage you take all the 'film' you've shot and give it to a film editor. They will then begin putting it together. Special effects will be added, a soundtrack will be added, any missing dialogue will be re-recorded and added resulting in a 'rough cut'. This will be shown to the director and a test audience who will offer feedback. Often this causes scenes to be filmed and added or removed.