Major film production companies consider many factors when deciding which films to produce such as marketing costs, target demographics, box office trends, and franchising opportunities. They aim to capitalize on previous successes with similar films. Independent films focus more on quality storytelling and original ideas, though they have less marketing budgets and must appeal to niche audiences. Examples show independent films can still find audiences and acclaim through film festivals, short films, and fan support even with smaller budgets. Both types of producers must balance artistic vision with commercial viability.

1. Saxon-leeBushell
What are some of the main factors that influence differentkindsoffilmproduction today?
Within today’s filmindustry,there are many different kinds of films being created. A production company
wants to create the best possibleproductfor consumers,yet also wantto create things that will reach are
demographic which will allowthe production company to gain profit.A production company has to access
many different factors before greenlighting a movie. These includesuch things as marketing, distribution and
financingcosts.Aproduction company also wants to create a filmthat will havea target audience, that will
bringin viewers yet not allowthe filmto be predictableThe studios wantto look at the trends within the box
office system to allowthem to gather profitwhilstalso creatinga productthat the studio knows the audience
will enjoy and will spend money on. I will bediscussinghowdifferent production companies work and how
independent and major production companies create a filmto be made accessibleto the general audience.
The Hollywood system is alwaystryingto benefit off of what audiences want. They arealways tryingto create
the next franchiseor the next tent pole filmwhich will gain the company maximum profits.The studio will
trust in films thatare similar to successful ones by other production companies as they know that they sell
well, areeasy to market and will gain the consumers that went to watch the similar film.Production
companies aretrying to latch onto the latesttrend first,as they will earn the most profit, yet other production
companies will followwith the same formula. This is shown through the young adultfilms currently being
made, as they are shown to be successful within box officeand are shown to have a followingdue to them
being adapted from a previous product. Hunger games gained 408 million worldwideon a 78 million budget,
creatingan income 330 million for lionsgate.This meant that other major production companies would try to
copy it, meaning films likemaze runner was made by fox for 34 million whilstgaining348 million worldwide.
Yet the biggest caseis shown item 1, which details production studios tryingto capitaliseon what marvel have
achieved. The box officeresults shown by marvel films haveintrigued other production companies,as iron
man 3, the avengers and avengers: age of Ultron are three of the top 10 highestgrossingfilms of all time.Sony
and warner bros have noticed the profits availableto them due to the comic properties that they own. The
success of the gathering of these iconic characters has intrigued them; as they are ablecreate the same type of
filmuniverses usingthe same formula of indivual movies leadingto a movie with characters joiningtogether.
These production companies arealso ableto notice that these characters arewell established to the
mainstream,meaning the films will havea broader target audience and less money will ha veto be used to
market the film.They are also ableto see profits areavailableoutsideof the films themselves. They will be
also ableto gather profits through things DVD sales,merchandising,streamingservicesales aswell as an
increasein comic sales.Furthermore, warner bros have shown their interest in making more extended
universes through the harry potter and Lego services,as harry potter has an already beloved fan base and Lego
is a universally well-known whilstalso havinguniversal fan bases,meaningmore profit can be made by
stretchingout these universes.
However, with independent filmproduction itseems to more about the quality of the filmbeing produced for
the consumer to enjoy, whilstalso wantingthe filmto be original unlikemost Hollywood studios.Independent
films arealso shown to caremore about the narrativestructureand the themes that revolve around the film
and its central characters whereas films made by major production studios aremore of a spectaclefor the
viewer, focusingon cinematography and visual effects whilstindependent films revolve around the dialogue,
the characters and the arc of the story. However, the filmwill havea nichemarket and will notbe accessibleto
the average movie goer. Therefore, in order to make the filmit will haveto rely on a smaller budget, and will
not have the marketing that major films have. This shows that independent films arerelyingon the filmitself

2. to be good in order for the filmto Independent films arealso morelikely to take more risks,and allowthe
director to be as creativeas possibleand allowthe filmto be made how the director intended it. This is shown
by the companies as they want to releasefilms thataudiences enjoy, tacklesocio-economic or socio-political
issues,and talk aboutsubjectmatters that would be considered too risky for a mainstream film. Independent
films arealso usually shown to tacklereal lifestories dueto the realisticapproach of the micro elements that
indiefilms usually take.
This is shown through item 2, as it shows how Dallasbuyer club had a 20 year period and had been rejected
137 times due its subjectmatter of h.i.v. This therefore would not have been made by a major production
company as itis not a subjectthat audiences are comfortable with when compared to blockbuster films.The
four million dollar budgetalso suggests the lack of financing the filmwas ableto get, whilethe acting
attachments of Matthew mcconaughey and Jared Leto would have made investors more interested as the film
would need star-power in order to make profit. The success landed the filmsix Oscarnominations,with both
mcconaughey and Leto winningin actingroles.This suggestthat the quality and the story of the filmwas able
to resonate with audiences,showingthat a filmdoesn’t have to have a huge budget in order for it to be a
success.This is further shown by the filmgrossing 55.2 million worldwide,showinghowan original filmis able
to entice audiences to watch it in the cinema if they believe the filmis creatingviewingpleasurefor the
consumer. One way in which films arecreature is by initially makinga shortfilmthat is sent to filmfestivals in
order for the filmto get financingdueto critical acclaim.This can also beseen through whiplash,as itinitially
had to be turned in to a short filmdue to a lack of investment, so the short was taken to filmfestivals to
persuade people to create itinto a feature length film.The acclaimlead and awards the shortgained allowed
the investment companies to see a product that people enjoy. The filmlater earned 49 million on a 3.3 million
budget and received two Oscar nominations. Another influenceI fans donatingmoney on things like
Kickstarter.The TV show was cancelled and a movie was wanted by fans.So the producers setup a Kickstarter
page in order for the filmto get made. The filmwas ableto gather 6 million so the filmwas ableto be made.
Marketing of the filmis vital if the companies want the target audiences to see the films and so that the
production company can get money. What stops many major production companies from making
independent films bases on serious subjectmatter is that they do not believe the filmis ableto gain money
due to what the consumer wants and how the production company. Meanwhile, independent films need
things likesocial media,filmfestivalsand news articles to persuade people to watch as they do not have the
budget the conglomerates have. However, companies likefox have franchises thatareableto sell tickets
based on the brand name alone. This is shown through Prometheus, and its association with the alien
franchise.The filmis ableto gather buzz and money alonedue to people’s knowledge of the previous films,
especially if they are franchises thatarebeloved and arestill relevantwithin modern film.However, an
independent filmlikekings speech had to have the big names likeColin firth,Helena Bonham Carter and
Geoffrey rush in order for the filmto be recognised.As well as this,due to the major companies knowing how
to market their films itmeans that the subjectmatter used for the films will suffer as they will prefer broader
topics likesciencefiction,thriller or horror rather than havinga filmthat focuses on a particular issue.This is
because a singular issuewill restrictthetype of people that will cometo watch the film,as teenagers and
families aregoing to go watch a filmbased on sci-fi rather than a filmbased on disease.