http://www.slideshare.net/cskinner1/film-4-1439921
History and Background of Channel 4
When Channel Four became the fourth channel on TV in
1982 and at the time the only channels you could watch were BB1, BBC 2 & ITV. Channel 4 had a brief for showing a range of cutting edge programs which were very different to what was being shown on other channels. British film included into there individual style and many films that were made which appealed to different types of audiences. Many of these films became some of the best known and most financially successful films in British cinema since 1982. This shows what a powerful influence channel 4 had over the long term as it has know been operating for over 25 years. By 1984 C4 had co-produced over 20 featured films.Channel Four Films and Industrial Context
Channel Four had been established with the aim of getting many programmes either by comissioning or buying in programmes from other companies rather than producing its programmes in house which was what both ITV and the BBC did. By 1987 24% of C4 programming was externally produced and films were a large part of this 24%. C4 had an ambitious target of co-producing 20 films per year which was beyond the resources of any other film making companies in the UK. According to Walker (2004) it had a budget of £6 million to spend on fully or part financing films. It typically invested between £250k - £300k per film in the TV rights. C4 also invested £750k per year in British Screen Finance and another £500k per year in the BFI production Board.
By the end of 1987 C4 was producing 17/28 films per year on a £9.5 million budget. Very few of the films directly recovered their costs and to all intents and out poses C4 remained an 'art-house' producer as the films weren't reaching mass popular audiences they had on the other hand established a good rapport with more specific audiences and can be used as an example of how audiences were beginning to fragment as more media products became available. The breakthrough films for C4 were My Beautiful Laundrette (1985), Letter to Brehznev (1985) Mona Lisa (1986). A useful boost was that these films also found an alternative audience in the United States.
The decisions that Channel 4 makes in bringing its films into production.
To make film there has to be alot of decisons and stages to go through to make the film as successful as it can be. Film Production has five stages:
- The first stage is the Development stage - this stage is when the script is written and drafted into a workable blueprint for a film.
- The secons is the Pre- Production stage - in this stage preparations are made for the shoot, in which cast and crew are hired, locations are selected, and sets are built.
- The fird is the Procution Stage - the raw elements for the finished film are recorded, one of the many procedures this stage consists of is that the call sheets tend to be distributed to the cast and crew to tell them when and where to turn up the next shooting day, one of the reasons they do this is to make things more organised so people are not always treading on each others feet.
- Stage four is the Post-Production stage - This is when the film is edited: production sound (dialogue) is concurrently edited seperatly, music tracks and songs are composed, performed and recorded; sound effects are designed and recorded; and any other computer-graphic effects are digitally added, all sound elements are mixed into stems then mixed to the picture and the film is fully completed.
- And finally stage five the Sales And Distribution stage - The film is screened for potential buyers which are the distributors,then the film is picked up by a distributer and then then film reaches its cinema and once on DVD it reaches the home media audience.
Recent channel 4 film production - How to loose friends & alienate people.
How to Lose Friends & Alienate People is a 2008 comedy film based upon British writer Toby Young's 2001. The film was directed by Robert B. Weide nominated for an Oscar and another 10 nominations,and also won 5 awards. The discription of the film said on the Film 4 website is as followed "British journalist Sidney Young tries to take New York City by storm and spectacularly fails in this romance-tinged comedy."
It was distributed in the US and in the UK by Paramount Pictures and Channel Four Films.
Channel 4(Film 4) was one of the three companies that helped funding the film.
They were:
- Film 4 (funding)
- Aramid Entertainment Fund (funding)
- Lipsync Productions (funding)
The budget for this film was 28 milion dolars and the total worldwide grosses was $17,416,598, so this film didn't gain any profit.
To get more profit than what your budget was the film as to be successful. For it to be successful the film has to attract a big amount of audients to watch it and/or buy it.
When making a film the producers have to think about what actors to use for the film, this is important because if they hire well known actors it is more likely that it will attract more viewers and a diffrent range of viewers than it would if the actors weren't well known. The producers of How To Lose Friends And Alienate People chose to have two very well known and attractive women Megan Fox and Kirsten Dunst, and two well known actors Simon Pegg and Jeff Bridges in the movie because they are well known actors in the film industry and by having them in there film attracted more audience, male, female, young and old. Also when making film the genre is very importante because there the more popular a certain genre is the more people will be attract to watch the movie.
