film: blinded by the light media industry

Question 1

who directed blinded by the light? previous successes?

Answer 1

Gurinda Chadha who has previous successful hits like Bend It Like Beckham - attracted pre sold fans of previous films

Question 2

what was the development company called?

Answer 2

Bend it networks - small independent film company with 2 staff, meaning they had to get financial support

Question 3

what is the film based on?

Answer 3

a successful book called “greetings from bury park” which would bring in pre sold fans of the book

Question 4

who was the narrative based around?

Answer 4

Bruce Springsteen’s music which would bring in more pre sold fans. Chadha pitched the idea to him and his management gave chadha the rights to his songs at a discounted rate

Question 5

the film was planned at a time of what?

Answer 5

a time where there was a huge amount of negative press about minorities and immigrants - film would be appealing to ethnic minority audiences

Question 6

production: where did bend it networks get their funding support from?

Answer 6

Levantine films - small company that develops character-driven, compelling stories that entertain and bring awareness to underrepresented segments of society - they have had successful fims (Hidden Figures) which gives BBTL more recognition

Question 7

production: where else did bend it networks get funding from?

Answer 7

Ingenious media - had had some previous successes e.g Life of Pi

Question 8

production: what was the budget? how much did they make at the box office?

Answer 8

budget - $15 million
box office takings - $18M - only just made money back

Question 9

production: what did the low budget mean for production?

Answer 9

meant they shot mostly on a location around Luton - adds a sense of realism/authenticity

Question 10

production: the British film industry is what?

Answer 10

production led rather than distribution led, so filmmakers have to sacrifice the distribution rights by selling to a distribution company

Question 11

distribution: the production company was not vertically integrated. what did this mean?

Answer 11

they needed to outsource the distribution. bend it networks entered the film into the Sundance film festival - distribution companies bid for the distribution rights and New Line Cinema won for $15M

Question 12

distribution: what is new line cinema?

Answer 12

a subsidiary of Warner brothers group - big company with global power to help distribute

Question 13

distribution: what did new line cinema help secure in terms of distribution?

Answer 13

a cinema release in 2307 cinemas across 85 different countries

Question 14

distribution: what did paramount do in distribution?

Answer 14

distributed the film on DVD and Blu Ray

Question 15

distribution: who did they do a deal with to help distribution?

Answer 15

amazon prime (£4.99 to buy) - allowed them to target modern, online audiences as well as reaching out to new audiences via the suggested films feature

Question 16

distribution: where did Entertainment One distribute?

Answer 16

New Zealand and Australia

Question 17

distribution: what was BBTL released at the same time as?

Answer 17

Yesterday. bend it networks felt it would have done better in terms of box office takings but they felt it confused audiences

Question 18

marketing: what did the trailer focus on?

Answer 18

80s soundtracks and references. also included quotes and reviews “feel good movie of the year” “one of the best films”

Question 19

marketing: use of traditional posters and billboards?

Answer 19

they featured recognisable 80s image signifiers like a walkman to attract people from that era and add a sense of nostalgia. the billboard background was the same colours as one of Springsteen’s well known albums - attracts fans of his

Question 20

marketing: how useful is social media?

Answer 20

social media is a good tool for marketing low budget films due to it being cheap and global

Question 21

marketing: what did social media post?

Answer 21

behind the scenes features, fan polls “are you a wham boy or a bananarama girl?” “what’s your favourite trend of the 80s?”, tagged Springsteen and director of film, countdowns to release date

Question 22

marketing: what did the producers retweet on social media?

Answer 22

positive comments about the film to help word of mouth advertising as well as articles about Black Lives Matter movement to indicate political stance of film and target audience interested in racial equality

Question 23

marketing: premiers?

Answer 23

had premiers in places like London, luton and American. Springsteen’s appearance to these helped to add publicity to film

Question 24

marketing: tv and radio interviews? and film critic?

Answer 24

crew and cast did multiple interviews to promote film and spoke to Mark Kermode (famous film critic) - his positive review would have generated interest

Question 25

theory: 2 things clay shirkey said about social media?

Answer 25

"internet becomes a site of coordination" social media is "global, social, ubiquitous and cheap"

Question 26

theory: hesmondhalgh (minimise risk and maximise profit)

Answer 26

1. integration: wasn't vertically integrated - had to sell film to a distribution company because chadha didn't have the money to market and distribute 2. work across a variety of platforms: chadha used social media to market her film via polls and q&a 3. focus on popular genre/format/stars: she used well known actors e.g Rob Bryden and released after rocket man/bohemian rhapsody - popular genres 4. controlled release schedule - had 1 week between each countries realise 5. detailed marketing campaign - used social media, traitors, billboards and posters

Question 27

theory: curran and seaton

Answer 27

- Media is dominated by a small number of giant conglomerates driven by profit and power. This leads to a lack of diversity, creativity, and innovation. When media is controlled by smaller, independent companies, there is more room for diverse voices and innovation. - Blinded by the Light was not produced by a major Hollywood studio. Instead, it was financed by Bend It Films and Ingenious Media, and distributed by Warner Bros., a major studio — but only after it was completed and picked up at Sundance. This independent production background aligns with Curran and Seaton’s view that independent companies are more likely to support diverse stories and underrepresented voices.