Case Study: The King's Speech

CASE STUDY PREPARATION
REMEMBER TO LINK ALL THESE POINTS TO THE FILM’S INSTITUTIONS
1. Choose a British institution that makes films, i.e. BBC Films, Film 4, Working Title Films or Vertigo Films, and research the production cycle of a recent film that they made. This is so you can trace the issues and patterns of how your chosen institution goes about making films and their state as a player in the British marketplace.
2. For each point consider how and why the film-makers (the institutions) targeted the audience for each film.
3. Trace how your institution’s film progressed from the initial idea to its box-office success (or failure). Use the internet / film magazines / books to help you with your research. But be practical about the choice of your other film; make sure that relevant information will be available before you make your choice. Choose a film that you have with a good DVD that includes plenty of extras!
4. The one limitation on your choice is that the film must have been targeted at British audience.
Ensure you have visited all of these sites in relation to your studies.

Links | Starting Point

IMDB (reference Tron: Legacy 2010)
The Bigger Picture
TCM
Film Detail

Box Office

UK Film Council
The Numbers

Studio and Production (Comparison)

Compare USA Giant
Warner Bros
UK Smaller Production
Warp Films - with Film 4

Case Study Links for "The Kings Speech"

The King's Speech as a British Film aimed primarily at UK and US audiences. Several KEY areas for case studies are in capitals and in bold. (Even though this post is an example of exchange using Web 2.0, other examples of Exchange will be added later.)


What makes a film British?
The UK Parliament's view from 2003 on what is a British fllm - see page 6 of the report for definitions Have things changed somewhat since then?


EXHIBITION ISSUES- Box Office in the UK
http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/filmblog/2011/jan/11/kings-speech-127-hours-box-office


EXHIBITION ISSUES and reviews: the film's reception
http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2011/jan/09/kings-speech-philip-french-review
http://www.guardian.co.uk/theguardian/2011/jan/18/pass-notes-the-kings-speech
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/filmreviews/8244121/The-Kings-Speech-review.html
http://www.timeout.com/film/reviews/89059/the-kings-speech.html
http://www.filmjunk.com/2011/01/06/the-kings-speech-review/
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_kings_speech/


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/film-news/8285855/Oscar-nominated-film-The-Kings-Speech-littered-with-errors.html (Awards - The Oscars. It is nominated for 12!)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2011/jan/18/bafta-nominations-kings-speech-2011 (Nominated for 14 Baftas!)
Colin Firth on CBS talks about his role as King George VI with original footage of The King Stammering over his words


Critical Reviews of the Film
http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2011/jan/31/the-kings-speech-gross-falsification (Christopher Hitchens is critical about some aspects of the film's historical accuracy and how this may wrongly influence the movie-going audiences.)


You Tube Reviews (Web 2.0 and EXCHANGE) ( The Americans seem somewhat ahead of us here. Audiences include your friends, too! We should really be aiming at UK audiences but these reviews also help out with the film's reception here and in the US.)




http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1GBS1QUOMMU&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1GBS1QUOMMU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gGJqRxU7Aho
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ALIHyRpZ0lQ ( check out posters comments, too, as these review are interractive. Some newspaper reviews also allow Web 2.0 comments too.)
How about making your own review and publishing it on YouTube? You could canvass your friends' opinions about the film first before you produce it!


The Film's facebook page
http://www.facebook.com/TheKingsSpeech


The Film's PRODUCTION ISSUES
The film's PRODUCTION notes
http://www.firth.com/king.html


The Film's origins and how it became a co-production
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/the-kings-speech-if-all-else-should-fail-try-junk-mail-2174647.html ( The producers had to post the script through Geoffrey Rush's letter box - and received an angry reply from his agent!)
http://www.screendaily.com/home/awards/the-kings-speech/5022661.article (A key article)
http://wtproductions.co.uk/the-kings-speech.html ( the film began as a play!)


The Finance
The UK Film council contributed towards the financial backing for the film alongside Prescience films, a UK Film finance company. Harvey Weinstein in the USA also had a share.
http://www.deadline.com/2011/01/the-uk-financier-behind-the-kings-speech/


The King's Speech is a joint production so synergies would have arisen out of the two companies working together.

The PRODUCTION Companies ( the institutions which made the film)

Listen to Annabelle's March 2012 interview with Simon Egan, director of Bedlam Productions, here.

http://www.bedlamproductions.co.uk/news.asp
http://see-saw-films.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/See-Saw_Films
http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2011/jan/02/the-kings-speech-period-sets (Helpful for understanding several production issues.)

DISTRIBUTION, Marketing and The Value Chain
Momentum Pictures , the film's British DISTRIBUTOR (This institution created the film's marketing plan and marketed the film to UK audiences)
http://www.filmeducation.org/pdf/resources/secondary/KingsSpeech.pdf (Useful for the film's posters)


http://www.momentumpictures.co.uk/