FOR MY RESEARCH UNIT I DECIDED TO INVESTIGATE THE FILM INDUSTRY AND

WEATHER HOLLYWOOD FILMS ARE TAKING OVER THE FILM WORLD

Is modern cinema becoming dominated by mainstream American,

formulaic films and if so why?

Topic breakdown into sub-questions

I decided to focus mainly on independent films role in the current cinema climate and weather with the increasing popularity of formulaic mainstream films independent film will be left behind and forgotten. I also wanted to find out the general statistics of cinema attendance and what the publics views on film are. So I created a number of sub-questions to find out these things. The questions were: Is the current film climate, in the UK, encompassing all mainstream and independent of film or a certain genre and style of films and what are the figures?, What are the most common styles and genre of films seen in the cinema and why?, Is this change inevitable?, How does the mass audience of mainstream cinema view independent films?, How do niche audiences behave?, How has the consumption of films changed the type of films that are viewed?, What demographic are the biggest cinema goes and how does this link to popularity?,

Summary of Primary Research

I did three main methods of primary research for this project. They consisted of the following: An experiment, questionnaire and an in-depth interview.The experiment I designed myself was for two people. I gave them a collection of 14 actors that all appeared in films in IMDB’s top 50 independent films. http://www.imdb.com/chart/independent. The participants then had to name as many as they could with no confirming or help. The object of the experiment was to see how aware the general public were of well respected figureheads in the independent industry.The survey was a general assortment of questions that I designed to help me find out about the types of films that the general public go to see and their view. http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/SVZLZZH. The interview that I conducted was with Mark Stewart. An aspiring filmmaker and film fanatic. I wanted the interview to discover what a young person interested in films though about the points I had raised. http://www.tumblr.com/blog/judelovesresearch.

Interview Questions

Why do you think the Hollywood blockbuster is so popular?

What are the rising trends in cinema and why?Do you think the independent cinema is treated fairly in

the movie world and why?What are the main problems with the current cinema

climate, if you think there are none then explain why?Do you think cinema attendee’s priorities have changed?Is there a future for independent cinema?Where do you see films place in the future?Do you think advances in new media technology will

help independent films get more recognition?

Is the current film climate, in the UK, encompassing all mainstream and independent of film or a certain genre and style of films and what are the figures?

For this question I found information that helped me very easily. Source 1, The UK film council was a non-departmental body that promoted and developed the film industry. On there site they keep records of all the cinema takings in different categories. I looked at the weekend of February the 10th-12th. The results that I found really support my theory as you can see that the top nine films are all by big mainstream Hollywooddistribution companies.The data that I am basing this statement onIs very solid reliable Data as it the UK Film Council were one of the Most respectedcompanies about film.

Is the current film climate, in the UK, encompassing all mainstream and independent of film or a certain genre and style of films and what are the figures?

This is only one weekend however and it is not good practice to make theses assumptions however having looked and other weeks the trends are obvious but not unexpected. I also collected some data from a blog, source 4, about family movies are taking over the cinema industry. It states “So it turns out the box office is not a place of hopelessness and despair. It's just a place of hopelessness and despair for those of us who are not young children.” The rest of the article is about how the film market is being saturated by kids films because they are safe money makers. This further confirms my point on the movie industry and the fact that we are

the independent film to the more popular and money safe films.

Is the current film climate, in the UK, encompassing all mainstream and independent of film or a certain genre and style of films and what

are the figures?

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Source 1

What are the most common styles and genre of films seen in the cinema and why? Is this change

inevitable?

Source 11

What are the most common styles and genre of films seen in the cinema and why? Is this change inevitable?

The previous results are collected from my questionnaire, source 11, about the UK cinema atmosphere. It shows that the top three genres that the general public would go to see at the cinema are: Action/adventure, comedy and Sci/fi. In my opinion the first two of these results is true because they are the most easily accessible films. However I think that the results that I got are slightly influenced by the way that I distributed my survey. As it was only on my Facebook it would have only got to my friends who are the same age and share similar interests. If I had more time to conduct my research I would get my survey to a much wider audience rather than just my friends. Also the fact that there are only thirty four responses to my survey it is not a real representation of the population as it is such a small number. However if I had more time I would have been able to get it to a much larger amount of people by sending it through mass emails and sending it directly to peoples houses. Based on these findings I think that the mainstream is always going to be more popular because as I have surveyed the younger generation they seem to have similar attitudes to new films.

What are the most common styles and genre of films seen in the cinema and why? Is this change inevitable?

The results from my experiment, source 12, support my theory of the most popular style of films being the mainstream and the fact that these would be unchanging. From the fourteen actors that I showed Andrew could only name four and holly could only name five. This surprised me as both have a good knowledge of movies both independent and mainstream. The actors that both of them got were the actors that had gone on from those films to do more mainstream films like Brad Pitt and Uma Thurman. From these results I came to the conclusion that independent film just like its nature is very underground and does not really have much awareness especially with the younger generation. However as with all my methods of primary research there are some problems with the results.

Andrew Holly

ParticipantsIf I had more time I would have been able to conduct the experiment with more people and then get much fairer results instead of having to generalise. However I would need to conduct it on mass as it took at least twenty minutes to conduct one experiment.

How does the mass audience of mainstream cinema view independent films? How do niche audiences behave?

These are the results for the 2011 Cannes Film Festival, source 5. Every year Cannes showcases the best of independent film and awards the best with its distinguished awards. This is one of the main ways that independent films gain prestige and acclaim in the movie world as it is a major festival in the film calendar. So in theory independent films should be widely acclaimed throughout the movie world. However it is still very obvious that this is not the case at all. I found a blog called What Makes a Blockbuster, source 10. In this is states the best things that make a sure hit at the box office. It also tells us the most unlikely things to be a success at the box office. The number one of these is either foreign or independent films. It says that 3.6% of blockbusters are indie and this shows that the masses don't want to see these types of movie.

How does the mass audience of mainstream cinema view independent films? How do niche audiences behave?

I found two sources that closely link to the way niche audiences behave towards their favourite movies. The first of these is an article by the guardian called: Dudeism, the faith that abides in The Big Lebowski. It is about the religion built around fans of the cult movie. The second is a case study by the UK Film Council called: A Qualitative Study of Avid Cinema-goers. It is a series of experiments about avid fans of movies and how they behave. Both of them make lots of reference to the fact that independent films are the ones that get this kind of cult following even though they do not succeed in making huge box office killings like its mainstream counterparts.

How does the mass audience of mainstream cinema view independent films? How do niche audiences behave?

Source 11

How does the mass audience of mainstream cinema view independent films? How do niche audiences behave?

Source 11

How does the mass audience of mainstream cinema view independent films? How do niche audiences behave?

As part of source 11 I created a section of questions on independent film. I tried to get people opinion on a film called The Sound Of My Voice. From the results of this you can see that the majority are interested in a film like this. I think that this is a positive and shows that if independent films got the same kind of advertising as mainstream films then people would be much likely to see them. Although the next question in my questionnaire did not give such positive results. It shows most people surveyed do not go to see independent films very often if at all. However these results are hindered by the same things as before.

How has the consumption of films changed the type of films that are viewed?

This graph below is from a group of surveys that Nielson, source 9, has done into huge surge of interest in 3D movies. It shows a selection of demographics and age groups that have show interest in 3D. Although it is an American statistic which affects the relevance of these statistics, we can assume that Britain's responses would be similar to these as we share lots of similarities in film preference and popularity among audience. There are only certain types of films that get put into 3D and these are the ones believed to make a big box office gross. This enforces the idea that new gimmicks will make the mainstream audience more likely to go and see the films that Hollywood deem to be worth the money risk.

How has the consumption of films changed the type of films that are viewed?

I conducted an interview with Mark Stewart, source 13 as mentioned at the beginning of the presentation and he thinks that this is not true and that independent films are becoming more popular through the publics eyes. He says that through mediums like the internet, independent films are becoming more able to spread their influence and get themselves to a much wider audience. He also states the 3D is not a selling point for films as he doesn't like it and knows many others who don't. This is coupled by Mark Kermode in his book: The Good, The Bad and The Multiplex, source 3. He is a film critic with huge critical acclaim and is very respected in the film world. In his book he has a whole chapter dedicated to why 3D is bad called: The Inevitable Decline of 3D. He talks in depth about how it is a useless medium that has been tried before and failed. This shows that even though film consumption is changing audiences are still able to judge for themselves what they want to see.

What demographic are the biggest cinema goes and how does this link to popularity?

What demographic are the biggest cinema goes and how does this link to popularity?

Getting specific information on actual cinema attendance figures are difficult. So these statistics below are of the audience figures of the cinema companies website, source 8. I looked at two big cinemas, Odeon and the Vue, and the independent contender, PictureHouse. They show that the main audience for all of these site are eighteen two twenty four. This would follow that the people who attend theses cinemas most regularly are 18-24 years of age. This shows us that the main demographics for these cinemas are of that age. However these are just the cinemas and not the whole of UK cinema as a whole.

Odeon Vue PictureHouse

What demographic are the biggest cinema goes and how does this link to popularity?

I found an article on the Independent Cinema Office’s website, source 6, that talked about the specific demographics of independent films. The article stated that older audiences were more likely to go and see independent films and people in the fourteen to twenty age bracket were very unlikely to attend these types of film. This backs up the information that I found in source 8 because they show mainstream films and are highly unlikely to show independent films. However it contradicts that of PictureHouse’s results. This is confusing as PictureHouse are an independent cinema company and show lots of independent films. This clash suggest my theory of it being very hard to find exact demographical results as the cinemas and companies all keep them private or are only accessible by paying money for them.

Conclusion

So in conclusion after collecting all of my data and research I feel that modern cinema is becoming dominated my mainstream American films. However even though this is true I do not feel that this will hugely effect the workings of independent films as it still has a strongly devoted and wide audience. I feel that the reason as to why the mainstream is taking or has already taken over the cinema world is the fact that it is hugely pushed by the Hollywood companies to make money and has millions spent on the advertising and making sure people will go and see it. I think that if independent film had funding like this it would be able to be as popular. However as this will never happen I also think that with the rise of the internet and new media, independent films are going to be able to get themselves know for much less than the big Hollywood blockbusters. So independent films will live on, ever the underdog, but still loved by its fans.

Bibliography/Webography

Source 1 – UK Film council, 2012, UK Box Office: 10 - 12 February 2012, online, http://industry.bfi.org.uk/article/17803/UK-Box-Office-10---12-February-2012, accessed on 24/4/2012.

Source 2 – British Film Institute, 2007, A Qualitative Study of Avid Cinema-goers, online, http://industry.bfi.org.uk/media/pdf/7/j/Avids_report.pdf, accessed on 24/4/2012.

Source 3 – Kermode M, 1st September 2011, The Good, The Bad and The Multiplex, Random House.

Source 4 - Steven Zeitchik, June 21 2010, Is a multiplex full of family films the future of moviegoing?, online, http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/movies/2010/06/toy-story-karate-kid-family-films.html, accessed 25/4/2012.

Source 5 -  Cannes film festival, May 22 2011, Awards 2011, online, http://www.festival-cannes.fr/en/archives/2011/allAward.html, accessed 31/4/2012.

Source 6 - Independent Cinema Office, no date specified, Demographic and lifestyle data, online, http://www.independentcinemaoffice.org.uk/resources/how-to-start-a-local-cinema/understanding-audiences/demographic, accessed 31/4/2012.

Source 7 -  Ben Walters: Wednesday 20 January 2010, Dudeism, the faith that abides in The Big Lebowski, online, http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2010/jan/20/dudeism-the-big-lebowski, accessed 32/4/2012.

Bibliography/Webography

Source 8 - Alexa.com (unable to find direct author + date), Alexa web searches on Odeon,Vue and Picturehouse, online, http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/odeon.co.uk, http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/myvue.com, http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/picturehouses.co.uk, accessed on 32/4/2012.

Source 9 - Film Journal International July 15, 2009, Moviegoer Quick Facts: Nielsen PreView reveals audience preferences, online, http://www.filmjournal.com/filmjournal/content_display/news-and-features/features/cinemas/e3ie3cb96740c26f800a294d7506ba771da, accessed 32/4/2012.

Source 10 – jinni blog(no specific author), 26/5/2010, What Makes a Blockbuster?, online, http://blog.jinni.com/2010/05/what-makes-a-blockbuster/, accessed 33/4/2012.

Source 11 – My own questionnaire, http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/SVZLZZH.

Source 12 – My experiment, based on http://www.imdb.com/chart/independent.

Source 13 – My interview.