Oscars 2015

This year's Oscars was a platform for some political speeches. Patricia Arquette used her Oscars acceptance speech for Best Supporting Actress to speak up for equal rights and pay for women:

"To every woman who gave birth, to every taxpayer and citizen of this nation, we have fought for everybody else’s equal rights. It’s our time to have wage equality once and for all and equal rights for women in the United States of America."

Earlier best actress nominee Reese Witherspoon had spoken on the red carpet about her #AskHerMore campaign, which encourages reporters to ask women about their creative work and not what dress they are wearing.

The star said: "There are so many amazing, talented nominees this year! Let's hear their stories! Spread the word."

Questions she said she would like to hear included: "What's the biggest risk you've taken that you feel has paid off?" and "What accomplishment are you most proud of?"

Declining UK Box Office

Although it seems that the UK filmmaking industry is booming, box office is slumping according to 'The Day' newspaper. Lots of very good facts and figures you can use in your exam essay here:

http://www.docstoc.com/docs/document-preview.aspx?doc_id=173353746

British Film Industry Success?

It's worth considering in your exam answers the fact that global institutions such as Disney are increasingly turning to the UK to produce films, partly due to tax relief on films mad in the UK, which saves them huge amounts of cash. For example, Disney's Star Wars: Episode VII is being shot at Pinewood this summer (estimated budget $200m) as is the sequel to Marvel Avengers Assemble, Age of Ultron. See the article below.

British Film Industry Round-up - essential revision

03 g322 section b the british film industry 2013 from Alleyn's School Media Studies Department

How the film industry is using digital technology

One of the 13 goals the government has developed for the BFI (British Film Industry) is to "promote and encourage use of digital technology": http://industry.bfi.org.uk/media/pdf/p/r/TASFI.pdf

Check out this really useful website on how digital technology such as Twitter, Facebook and Instagram is being used to promote films:
http://republicproject.com/15-ways-movies-are-using-the-internet-for-promotion/http://republicproject.com/15-ways-movies-are-using-the-internet-for-promotion/

And how relatively low-budget British films have achieved success through digital marketing:
Slumdog Millionaire (2008) - attracted 21 million online viewers:
http://www.utalkmarketing.com/pages/article.aspx?articleid=16147&title=how-‘slumdog-millionaire’-attracted-over-21-million-online-viewers

Essential for your essays!

Essential reading - UK Film Policy review

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/78460/DCMS_film_policy_review_report-2012_update.pdf
Very interesting and wide-ranging thoughts on film audiences and distribution of British film. Although the report is over 100 pages, it's easy to scroll through and select relevant sections. Here are a few snapshots:

Model essay plan for a g322 media studies film response

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