BritUS Film Essay

Media production is dominated by global institutions, which promote their products and services to national audiences." To what extent do you agree with this statement?

I have studied two films, which were both successful, but one is a British film and one is an American film. The British film, which I have studied, is The Woman in Black, which is a British made film released in 2012. My second film was also released in 2012 but is an American film, which is called The Avengers. Both these film were made by two different production companies, one of which is British and one of which is American. I am going to try and relate this to how media production is dominated by global institutions, which promote their products and services to national audiences.

 Cross Creek Pictures and The Exclusive Media Group own The Woman in Black film. The film had an overall budget of $15 million to make. The Woman in Black was made in Britain and was mainly filmed on Osea Island in Essex. The film was filmed using Arricam LT camera, Zeiss Master Prime Lenses and Arricam ST cameras. The main actor in The Woman in Black was Daniel Radcliff.  The director of the film was James Watkins who also directed Eden Lake. Jane Goldman wrote the Woman in Black film, as she is an extremely talented and famous screenplay writer. The production designer was Kave Quinn. There were 9 trailers for the Woman in Black. The distributors of the film include Momentum Pictures, Alliance Films, Ascot Elite Entertainment Group, Audio Visual Enterprises and Diamond Films. The film made around $130 million in cinemas and made around $10.5 millon from DVD sales. The Woman in Black film was rated at a 12A.

The package of this film set the film out to be successful as they had a major actor in Daniel Radcliff the lead actor in one of the most famous film series, Harry Potter. They also had a very famous writer who has had many successes in childrens films such as Kickass and Stardust. Also they had a successful director in the field of low budget horror films, James Watkins who directed the film Eden Lake.

The Avengers was arguably the best film of 2012 and did very well in the box office charts. It is a film where a lot of superheroes are bought together in one film which may be a reason why it was so successful.

The Avengers comics were created by Jack Kirby and Stan Lee and their publishers were Marvel Comics. Marvel studios bought the idea of the Avengers from Marvel Comics and Kevin Feige was put in charge of spending the money on the film.

The Avengers cost $220 million to make and was made using Arri Alexa, Panavision Primo, PCZ and Frazier lenses, Arriflex Panavision Primo lenses, Canon EOS 5D Mark II, Canon lenses, and Canon EOS 7D. The Avengers was mainly filmed in America in places such as Ohio, New Mexico, California and New York.

The main actors in The Avengers are Robert Downey JR, Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansen and Samuel L Jackson. Joss Whedon directed The Avengers and he also directed films such as Buffy the vampire Slayer and The Cabin in the woods. The Avengers story was written by Zak Penn and Joss Whedon and the screenplay was written by Joss Whedon which may also suggest why the film was such a success as the director had a clear image of what he wanted the film to look like. The production designer for The Avengers was James Chinlund.

Both films were promoted and marketed very heavily through the traditional media methods. There were 34 trailers for The Avengers and was marketed by using billboards, having TV interviews, radio interviews, TV adverts, a website, a premier and by getting critics to review their films. The Woman in Black was marketed by using a website, producing merchandise, having TV interviews with the lead actors, radio interviews, having a premier and by getting critics to review their film. Both films were marketed in a very sensible way.  Both films also used celebrities to promote their films.