The impact of Film

Four

Pre-production Production Distribution

Pre-production (planning and research)

During this stage film four impacted me

greatly. I watched their films for

inspirational reasons because I needed to

see how themes and issues are presented.

By doing this, I realised that film four

often challenge controversial issues. For

example, the film four film, Attack the

Block, starts with a woman getting mugged

by a group of teenage boys. Through the

theme of age and gender it challenges

teenage gang issues. It explores the

affects of the woman being mugged as she

becomes emotionally distressed. This

influenced me that their films are very

realistic and serious. It showed me that

these type of films help to tackle issues

within society today.

This is not the only aspect I learnt

from the institution film 4. I researched

generic conventions within the film four

film, Happy Go Lucky. It shows the life of

an ordinary girl. These type of film four

films helped me to understand how they use

techniques for the sound,

camera(movement), mise-en-scene and

editing to create representations. I In

Happy Go Lucky, the use of a voiceover

gives us an insight into the life of the

character.

This film that I researched represents the

film four ethos and budget. In this film

like their others, it has a low budget.

This affects the aesthetics of the film. It

gives it a documentary style which helps to

attract the audience. This creates

verisimilitude as it seems genuine and raw.

The film institution Film four are well known for

conforming to the British social realism genre. In

some ways this has affected how the film is produced.

One practical aspect is the funding that each film

gets. They tend to use a small budget. It reflects the

fact that they are a small film company. However, this

also adds an amateur feel to their style of films. It

makes it seem very simplistic which gives it a

documentary style. An example of a film that I watched

which demonstrates this is Four Lions. It gets across

important issues such as terrorism in such a basic way

(production wise). It therefore, makes the film more

enjoyable from for aesthetic purposes.

In my own production, I adapted to this concept

which film four use and made sure my budget was very

cheap. For example, I used minimal equipment to convey

this. The use of my school’s HD camera and tripod

meant that it didn’t seem over-produced. I kept it

very simple in terms of production. For example, at

one point of filming, I placed the camera on the

floor. It did not require advanced equipment. This

gave basic shots which is common within film four

conventions.

Production

Screenshots of my opening sequence

Production

Another similar way in which we abided by

film four’s ethos was by setting our scenes

in working class locations. The film I

researched entitled This Is England is a

prime example. The film sequence has one

scene where we can denote a deprived

school. They use this in order to make it

very representative of everyday life. It

strongly conveys the raw aspect of life.

Similarly, in my sequence I shot my scenes

in deprived locations within East London.

For example, some shots were filmed in a

public, working class park. This outlines

the gritty nature of our film. It is a

typical element that Film Four demonstrate.

Lastly, the way the choice of my actor

was very specific yet easy. I wanted

someone who doesn’t have a professional

acting experience. Therefore, I asked a

regular girl who attends my school to play

the lead character role. Similarly, in Film

Four’s film, This Is England, they use an

amateur actor to heighten the realism. I

used this ideology of introducing raw

talent to make the narrative more

believable.

Thomas Turgoose Played a lead role in This Is England

with limited acting ability.

Played our key character in the sequence. She

had no acting experience for films.

This is an example from our film

which demonstrates the type of area

we filmed at.

They will be released in Art House cinemas who are established

for independent films releases. This would mean releasing a

trailer online such as social networking platforms such as

YouTube and Facebook or twitter can create word of mouth

promotion. There are millions of young people who use these

media sites everyday. Therefore, this platform is easily

accessible for them. It is essential to raise awareness as my

film uses a small budget. The incentive is to publish this

trailer online by use of the internet. This will hopefully

create a viral marketing effect and lead to word of mouth

promotion. I can also develop my marketing technique by

distributing it at special film events such as, festivals. This

would allow me to directly interact with my market segment. I

would also distribute my film on DVD and Blu-ray. This will

allow them to be able to view the film when it suits their time.

Lastly, I will use film four’s parent company channel four to

promote the film. I can have trailers during breaks when young

people are likely to be tuned in. An example would be when the

TV drama Hollyoaks is on as it is popular with younger people.

I have also constructed my own distribution company. I did

this as I wanted to form an institution which ties in strongly

with British social realism films for 16-24 year olds.

Therefore, I will use this independent film company I created to

directly connect with this type of audience. The ethos will be

very similar to film four’s in terms of making it representative

of their lives and realistic. However, the unique selling point

of this company would be that it targets only young people for

their market segment. Therefore, they will be known for making

these type of films which will mean it is promoted effectively

to our target audience.

Distribution