BBC Films and Film Four

BBC Films is the feature film-making arm of the BBC. From its first production in 1994 up until 2007, it was run and funded privately whilst still under full control of BBC but it has now been integrated into the BBC Fiction department. They produce approximately 8 films per year.
The most recent productions from them on the big screen were Made In Dagenham and Tamara Drew. A list of their previous releases can be found here.
Many of their productions get co-produced with bigger companies which means a lot of them get far bigger exposure, for example Revolutionary Road (co-production with Dreamworks) and Edge of Darkness (co-production with Warner and Icon).



Film4 Productions is a British film production company owned by Channel 4. The company has been responsible for backing a large number of films made in the United Kingdom. The company's first production was Walter, directed by Stephen Frears, which was released in 1982. The company was originally called Channel 4 Films but was re-branded in 2002 in conjunction with the launch of the digital TV channel Film4.

A list of their productions along with short clips can be found here.

UK Television Production Companies

TalkBack Thames

Talkback Thames  is one of the UK's largest production companies who in the last year have created over 500 hours of television for a range of channels. They were founded in February 2003 and are owned by Fremantle Media (a division of RTL Media). The current CEO (as of 28th October 2010) is Sara Geater who replaces Lorraine Heggessey.

Productions Include: The Apprentice (BBC1), Family Fortunes (ITV), Green Wing (C4), Never Mind the Buzzcocks (BBC2).




Endemol
EndemolUK  is the UK branch of Endemol (which covers 26 countries) that were founded in 1994 and annually produce over 2000 hours of output. They encorporate a number of production companies including Remarkable Television, Initial and Zeppotron. They have offices in London and Bristol and employ up to 1000 people at any one time.
Productions include: Big Brother (C4), Charlie Brookers Newswipe (BBC2&BBC4), Deal or No Deal (C4), Secret Diary of a Call Girl (ITV2), Total Wipeout (BBC1).



Hat Trick Productions
Hat Trick productions were founded in 1986 by Rory McGrath, Jimmy Mulville and Denise O'Donohue. In the history of British Broadcasting (with the exception of the BBC) their entertainment and comedy programming has won the most awards.
Productions include: Fonejacker&Facejacker (C4), Outnumbered (BBC), Bodies (BBC), Whose Line Is It Anyway






 

Behind The Scenes Video Research

Just as a bit of research linking to our Friday morning 5001 session I have decided to take a look at and compare a couple of 'behing the scenes' videos that I have come across on Youtube and another website.




This first video is for a music video. I like how the director explains the concept behind the video (particularly useful when it comes to an obscure character like Lady Gaga!) which you would not learn from just watching the video alone. The story is the main focus of the video and you also learn things about it such as the location where it was filmed which again is something you cannot learn from watching the music video by itself. There is very little focus on the stars, just a brief bit of talk from Beyonce at the end.

ROBIN HOOD: Behind-the-Scenes Featurette. Watch more top selected videos about: Mark Strong, Cate Blanchett

This seconds video (found on Metacafe) focuses on the stars of the film telling us about the story. All the footage is from the movie itself and there is little extra to be learnt about locations etc. It gives very little about the story away which makes you want to go watch the film so it seems like this film was made assuming it would be used before/upon the films release as use as advertisement.

South West Screen

South West Screen is a company based within the South West of England whose main role is the fund, support and campaign for the creative industries in the region. They in turn are funded from larger partners UK Film Council (which has been going for 10 years), Skillset and South West of England Regional Development Agency.

They are linked with film festivals such as Encounters in Bristol andin the last year have achieved the following things:

• helped 4,639 companies directly
• registered £66 million in inward investment through filming in the region
• created / safeguarded 482 jobs
• registered 1,912 filming days
• leveraged £7,152,852 in total funds
• made awards worth £685,558 and direct investments of £789,245
• kept 3,300 people informed of the latest relevant news and opportunities through our e-bulletin
• reached 75,000 people through our website

So, in reality if it werent for organisations like these nationwide a lot of the smaller companies/individuals wouldn't get the opportunity to out let their creativity.

Graphic Designers

Saul Bass
Saul Bass had a 40 year career mainly working on posters and movie titles with directors such as Hitchcock, Preminger and Kubrick. What has been argued as his most notable work is what he did for The Man with the Golden Arm.
"Design is thinking made visual."






David Carson
David Carson is best known for his experimental typography and is said to be the most influential man in his area of work in the 1990's. His work is primarily used in magazines and also in adverts for global companies.




Neville Brody
Neville Brody is a British graphic designer, typographer and art director. He initially worked in record cover designs and went on to work with magazines and newspapers as as well as being one of the founding members of FontWorks.

Looking Forward...

All through summer I have been putting thought into what sort of projects I would like to do next year.
For starters, I would like to try to not do anything similar to what I have done in first year, though I have enjoyed the projects and would be happy to do any of them again I feel the whole point of progressing to second year is development and variety.

Modern Day Silent Movie
This is the idea I have been putting most thought to and am most curious about making.
What I have been thinking about here would be a project that would test/improve my Final Cut skills as the way it is edited is essentially. I have not got as far as producing a clear cut story but what would be basically involved would be a silent movie, edited to be black and white and the "grainyness" associated with the original silent films. It would also include the caption screens and a piano soundtrack. However, the twist is that the story would be set in modern day and this would be made obvious by costume, setting and storyline (which would involve use of mobile phones/cars etc).

I would also like to make a music video (for a song, not live footage/documentary) as music is something I am very interested in and I would love to be able to provide something that an artist/band can use that is different from the performance footage that myself and others worked on last year.


There is also a script written by a friend of mine on Creative Writing course last year that I think would make a good film. So far I have got as far as storyboarding it. The story involves the appearing and disappearing of a genie who grants wishes. This would be a good test of editing, continuity and looking into special effects.

Spartacus Festival: The Edit

It's been a while since posting on here because of term ending, but there is one more thing to update! As mentioned before Mike and myself helped out Nathan in the 2nd year doing some filming at Komedia.

Mike has been working on the edit for a few weeks now and this is what he has come up with:



It feels really good to have my name on something that involves a professional musician and is also a credit to the musical talent at the uni!