Institutions - Nicole Davidson

Institutions

When making our horror movie we have to take into consideration the types of institutions that deal with the ‘horror’ genre.
Institutions that deal with this genre include Dream works SKG, Dimensions Film, Crystal Lake Entertainment, Craven-Magdalena Films, Evolution Entertainment, and Studio Canal etc.

Dream Works SKG is an institution mostly familiar with films for a young audience, creating popular and successful films such as Shrek that won many awards after it was produced by DreamWorks SKG. DreamWorks is also involved with DreamWorks SKG but is popular when creating films such as Ghost Town as a comedy, the action film Eagle Eye and The Uninvited, which follows the same genre as we have decided to create, horror/thriller.

Craven-Maddalena Films (founded in 1996) is a popular institution for creating horror/thriller movies such as the Scream Films, The Hills Have Eyes, Cursed, Red Eye etc.

Studio Canal is a French based institution founded in 1996 by Pierre Lescure. It doesn’t concentrate on a certain genre, producing films such as Bridget Jones’ Diary a comedy, Mulholland Drive a horror and Intimate Strangers a French romance.

In conclusion if we were to choose an institution for our film Craven- Maddalena film is the type of institution that we would focus on, this is due to the fact that it specifies in the horror genre and that is the type of move that we will be focusing our opening sequence on.

Budgets

When thinking about making a film it is essential that the film maker keeps to their budget and has a target for the budget in which they are able to use.
When dealing with filming and budgets the UK Film Council (UKFC) was set up in 2000 by the labour party to develop and advertise the film industry present in the UK. It is funded by the national lottery and has a board of 15 directors. They put a lot of help into low budget and micro-budget films.

In the UK there are different budgets and institutions that deal with the production of film and the budgets that are given to each film. There are many small film producers evident in the UK that makes low budget and Micro-budget films. Micro-budget films have found a niche in a UK arena dominated by big Hollywood studio releases. Although micro- budget films are in fierce competition with independent US titles and bigger budget UK releases, the dramatic increase in micro budget movie production points to a sector on the up. The UK currently produces around 100 low and micro-budget feature films per year and around £18.5 million is spent on making them. There is evidence that somewhere in the region of 15% of low and micro-budget films fail to achieve their full potential in distribution or exhibition.

When making a film all producers want to create professional products, even if they have a low budget to spend. Some of the criticisms of cheap production are that producers need to take more time and effort to prepare, plan and create a finished and presentable product. This is what we will be focusing on when making our opening sequence. As a first time movie release there are low budgets available compared to that of established movie producers therefore many things must be taken into consideration such as location and the use of as little money as possible? However, although there are low budgets for these types of movie makers they have much more work to do in order to produce a film that is appealing to an audience, and this is where an opening sequence is essential in order to draw the audience in.