British Film Industry

 1) Write a one-sentence definition of what makes a film British.

A film that is produced according to one of the UK's official bilateral co-production treaty.

2) What is the difference between a Hollywood production context and production context of a British film?

Hollywood films are high budget whereas British films usually have a lower budget.

3) When did the James Bond franchise start?

1960

4) In terms of film censorship and graphic content, what began to change in British film in the 1970s and 1980s?

Censorship was prominent and more films were restricted to the public. the British film industry was dominated by the subject of censorship that continued into the video banning of the 1980s. There was also a reduction in budget for British films due to a great decline in money in America.

5) What groups are often represented in British film? Give examples of films these groups feature in.

Nowadays, British films usually represent people of lower class and different political backgrounds. They also tend to represent ethnic minorities and marginalised groups. But in the past, it was very white dominated.

6) What does the Factsheet suggest might be the audience appeal of British film?

The actors, British actors tend to clearly be British and will often be associated with a particular genre or concept of a British film. For location they tend to be a heavily used feature of the film, with London being the most popular. The characteristics that will most appeal to a British audience is the social theme that provides the through line for many British film narratives. 

Factsheet #100: British film industry

To complete our introduction to the British film industry, we need a little more background to the industries context.

Find Media Factsheet #100 on the British film industry. You can find it on the same link as above. Read the whole of the Factsheet and answer the following questions

1) What is the 'cultural test' to see if a film counts as British?

The Cultural Test is divided into four sections and a film must score at least 16 out of a possible 31 points to be classified as British. The four sections are; Cultural Context, Cultural Contribution, Cultural Hubs, and Cultural Practitioners.

2) Complete the task on the Factsheet - choose three of the films listed and research them to work out what they score on the cultural test: The Sweeney (2012), Attack The Block, The King's Speech, We Need To Talk About Kevin and Skyfall.

3) What is the main problem for the British film industry?

That even though a film is UK mads, filmmakers have to give the distribution rights by selling the film to a distribution company, therefore they lose all profits that could be made.

4) What are three of the strengths of the British film industry?
5% of the worlds box office, good facilities, great creative skills
5) What are the two options for the future of the British film industry?

6) In your opinion, which of these two options would best safeguard the future of the British film industry?

They could choose to rely on co-production with American producers in order to create a high budget film which will make them more profit.