Independant Film

 An independant film is one made outside of the Hollywood studio system.

The major Hollywood film studios are often reffered to as 'The Big Six'. These command a significant market share, and the budgets tend to be much bigger than those of an idepenedant film. The Big Six are:

- Paramount

- Warner Brothers

- 20th Century Fox

- Universal

- Colombia 

- Walt Disney

Bait

An independant UK film, released in August 2019.

Described as a 'no-budget' film (no exact budget has been given), it was directed by Mark Jenkin and intially recorded without sound - sound was added post production. Jenkin also wrote and recorded the score. 

Joint Ventures

Not all films have this luxury, though, so independant comapnies (i.e. those free from the control of a conglomerate) may undertake a joint venure - this is when one media company works with another on a project mutually beneficial for both parties. 

Get Out is an example of a joint venture. It was produced by independant companies, whilst Universal acquired the rights to distrubute the film. 

Get Out

(2017)

Director: Jordan Peele

Stars: Daniel Kaluuya, Allison Williams

Production companies: Blumhouse, QC, Monkeypaw

Distrubuted by Universal 

Budget: $4.5 million

Box Office: $255.4 million 

Blumhouse productions (founded by Jason Blum in 2000) + QC entertainment (producer Scott Mckittrick + Monkeypaw productions (founded in 2012 by Jordan Peele, initially for the comedy series, Key and Peele) = Get Out

advantages of a joint venture :

- sharing of risks and costs with a partner

- access to new knowledge

- other companies can have better resources

disadvantage of a joint venture :

- communications with a partner can be bad

- work and resources may not be distributed well

- could be profit arguments

- more people have to be paid - conflict

Sector - Film

Job Role - Director 

A director oversees all creative decisions and gives explicit intructions for the actors etc to complete the work effectively. 

Sector - TV

Job Role - Camera operator

A camera operator will effectively make sure the camera is working well, e.g. making sure it's in focus and zoomed appropriately. 

Explain why an independent company often works with other companies as part of a joint venture. Use examples to support your answer. (4)

An independent comapny may work with another company in a joint venture to crerate a better product than they would have been able to alone. For example, Blumhouse productions, QC productions and Monkeypaw productions all came together to create Get Out. This synergy of the comapnies allowed them to save time and money and overall take advantage of different opportunities and strenghts that the other companies may have over one another. 

Explain two disadvantages of being an independent company. Use examples to support your answer. (6)

One possible disadvantage coud be that they do not have easy access to better suited subsidiaries to specific tasks. For example, Bait, a film by earlyday films, did not have good sound technology access and had to voice over the whole film. This means that the process would have taken a very long time to complete and delayed release.

Another disadvantage could be a lack of marketing exposure. For example, Get Out (before it was picked up by universal), produced by Monkeypaw, Blumhouse and QC productions, had little to no advertising and was too expensive to promote to a mass audience. This means that the film can not gain much exposure to the public and is less likely to make a larger profit from release.

Digital media institutions recruit personnel for the development of specific products because they have expertise that they require.
For two digital media sectors, identify one specialist job role in each. Explain why each sector would specifically require expertise, based on the content they produce. (6)