The Film Industry

The film industry consists of the technological and commercial institutions of film making: i.e. film production companies, film studios, cinematography, film production, screenwriting, pre-production, post production, film festivals, distribution; and actors, film directors and other films crew.

Though the expense involved in making movies almost immediately led film production to concentrate under the support of standing production companies, advances in affordable film making equipment, and expansion of opportunities to acquire investment capital from outside the film industry itself, have allowed independent film production to evolve. The major business centres of film making are in the United States, Hong Kong and India. In Europe, France, Germany and United Kingdom are the countries that lead movie production.

Separate from the centres are the locations where movies are filmed. Because of labour and infrastructure costs, many films are produced in countries other than the one in which the company which pays for the film is located. For example, many U.S. and Indian movies are filmed in Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand or in Eastern European countries.

Film production in the UK has experienced a number of booms and recessions. Although many factors can be used to measure the success of the industry, the number of British films produced each year gives an overview of its development: the industry experienced a boom as it first developed in the 1910s, but during the 1920s it experienced a recession caused by US competition and commercial practices. The Cinematography Films Act 1927 introduced protective measures, leading to recovery and an all-time production high of 192 films in 1936. Although production levels give an overview, the history of British cinema is complex, with various cultural movements developing independently. Some of the most successful films were made during 'recessions', such as Chariots of Fire (1981). The film industry remains an important earner for the British economy. According to a UK Film Council press release of 20 January 2011, £1.115 billion was spent on UK film production during 2010.

Institutional Research

Film: Taken

The film Taken is distributed by 20^th Century Fox. They are originally owned by William Fox (who formed Fox Film Corporation) in 1915 but in 1978 control passed to the investors Marc Rich and Marvin Davis.  Davis sold this interest to Rupert Murdoch for $250 million in March 1984, but later backed out of a deal with Murdoch to purchase John Kluge's Metromedia television stations. Murdoch went alone and bought the studios, and later bought out Davis' remaining stake in Fox for $325 million. 20^th Century Fox is a subsidiary of Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation and they have subsidiaries such as DreamWorks Animations and Fox STAR Studios. The Company are a part of some of the most popular film and TV franchises such as Star Wars, Ice Age, X-Men, The X-Files, Cops and The Simpsons. They are also known to be one of the six major American Film Studios so there company is extremely big worldwide (http://www.fox.co.uk/).

TV Programme: The X Factor

The TV Programme The X Factor is owned by ITV, ITV is a major commercial public service TV network in the UK. Launched in 1955 under the support of the Independent Television Authority (ITA) to provide competition to the BBC. In recent years, several of these companies have merged so that currently, the fifteen franchises are currently in the hands of three companies. By 2004, ITV was owned by five companies of which two, Carlton and Granada had become major players by owning between the two all the franchises in England, Wales, the Scottish borders and the Isle of Man (http://www.itv.com/). Increasingly ITV's primetime schedules are dominated by its soap operas, such as Coronation Street and Emmerdale. At the start of the 21st century, Independent Television faced criticism for including a large amount of "reality TV" programmes in the schedule, in its defence, ITV does continue to show its major strengths in the fields of sports coverage and drama productions, and it continues to schedule national news in primetime.

Magazine: Glamour

The Magazine Glamour is published by Condé Nast Publications it produces 18 consumer magazines, including Architectural Digest, Bon Appétit, GQ, The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, Glamour and Vogue, as well as four business-to-business publications, 27 websites, and more than 50 apps for mobile and tablet devices. The company, headquartered in New York City, was founded in 1909. (http://www.condenast.com/)Condé Nast is largely considered to be the originator of the “lifestyle magazines”, a type of magazines focused on a particular class or interest instead of targeting the largest possible readership. Its magazines focus on a wide range of subjects, including travel, food, home, culture, and other interests, with fashion the larger portion of the company's focus. 

Boogie Night Questions

How does the narrative engage the audience?

The narrative engages the audience through theories such as Todorovs, which plays with the audiences expectations of equilibrium and disequilibrium, in the opening scene we are shown a relaxed and fun club and from the basic outline of the film we know that something big is going to happen due to the nature of the film plot. The use of the enigma code is shown through the opening scene when the “roller girl” speaks to another women about “whether she rang that women” and that soon “she’ll never be able to see her”, this gives the audience a teaser into some of the situations that may arise. According to Propp’s theory we can see that the woman out with her partner appears to be a bit of a villain, her nature is quite strong and she holds a lot of power, whether this is good or bad we don’t know yet, the princess has not been shown explicitly yet and the Hero is most likely going to be the young boy shown at the end who has a friendly and underappreciated quality. Also the music tells us that it’s a 70s movie mainly because it’s used in the clubs at that time and the camera angles are going to engage the audience because the opening scene has been filmed in one take with the camera moving fluidly around the people so this may indicate the level of skill to the film but also that is a different approach to a lot of other films so people will believe this is going to be unusual.

How are women represented in the opening of Boogie Nights?

Women who are of a higher class and are married to rich or successful men are represented to be able to have slightly more independence and be able to go out with them to clubs and parties, however a higher percentage of women in middle or working class are represented to not have this ability and are working at such clubs. Most women at this time did not have equality to men because of this they were often seen as possessions and associated with sex, men are shown to touch the women who work in the club and many of them do not have a problem with this as it was the norm at this time. Also many women in the lower classes were still inferior to women in the higher classes despite equality between men and women, women are represented to take advantage of any influence and power that they may have over men or women, this is shown by the woman at the start when a man gives her a compliment she appears to not feel affected by this, almost as if she’s too good for needing the compliment, she understands where she stands in society and uses it to her advantage.