http://www.southendfilmfestival.com/film_schedule.php
Wednesday 23 March 2011
Tuesday 22 March 2011
Monday 21 March 2011
Digital Screen network
Digital Screen Network
The average Hollywood blockbuster opens on 300-plus screens across the UK; most independent films, restored classics, documentaries and foreign language films still struggle to reach over ten per cent of those screens.
Digital screening cuts the cost of releasing films (a digital copy costs around one tenth of a 35mm print). That's why UK Film Council and the Arts Council England have created the Digital Screen Network – a £12 million investment to equip 240 screens in 210 cinemas across the UK with digital projection technology to give UK audiences much greater choice.Cinemas in the network have already screened non-mainstream films including Control, This is England, Good Night and Good Luck and the Oscar®-winning The Lives of Others, as well as classics like Meet me in St Loius, The Wizard of Oz andCasablanca.
Digital Screen Network cinemas hosted the UK Film Council and BBC Two's Summer of British Films season - a sell out tour running from July to September 2007 featuring British classics such as Goldfinger, Brief Encounter, Billy Liar, Henry V, The Wicker Man, The Dam Busters andWithnail and I.
Digital Innovation in Distribution
Pilot scheme for innovative digital campaigns
In August 2009, the UK Film Council launched a pilot application process as part of the P&A Fund that allowed rights holders the opportunity to apply earlier for funding towards innovative, long-lead digital campaigns. The objectives of the scheme were to
a) help independent rights holders better utilise new online tools and services to reach their audience and;
b) share data and learnings from the supported projects with the wider industry so that the scheme had the largest possible impact.
The scheme was initially launched for five awards of up to £30,000. Following a successful uptake of these a further seven awards were made available, making a total of 12 awards across the scheme.
Projects were selected based on the criteria laid out in the fund guidelines which are available here: http://www.ukfilmcouncil.org.uk/printsguidelines
Case studies for the first six awards are presented here. These aim to provide an objective overview of the campaign and its relative success or otherwise. Each case study includes details of what worked, what didn't, relevant data and key performance indicators as well as the full campaign budget.
Key Learnings and Observations
The case study format was chosen because of the inherent difficulties in judging the success or failure of innovation relating to specific titles. Since there are many factors that affect the performance of a film, not least the film itself, but also the execution of the strategy – an account of the entire project is likely to be more useful that simply looking at the resulting statistics.
Despite the varying nature of each project, a number of recurring themes emerged, including:
1. It is never too early to start planning your digital campaign
The Fund's guidelines were for applications to be received 16 weeks before release at the latest but several of the case studies report issues arising due to underestimating the necessary lead time. Equally, it is important to have built in the flexibility to adjust a campaign post-launch.
2. Simplicity of concept and design
A user experience that is clear, uncomplicated and doesn't require too much time or effort from users appears to be an important quality.
3. Identify a clear target audience
Projects reported particular success when they identified a very specific target audience. Careful targeting and a clearer focus on a target audience generally lead to more efficient and effective campaigns.
4. Creating traction and driving awareness
A recurring issue with many of the campaigns was the challenge of creating awareness of the campaigns in the first place. Those which relied exclusively on online PR and seeding to do this struggled to bring in the numbers to make the campaigns effective. Conversely, the inclusion of an offline hook was an effective way of translating online awareness into something wider.
5. Integrating social media
Without exception all campaigns employed Facebook as a core part of their strategy. However, there were different approaches to this, ranging from applications built directly on the Facebook platform to those simply using it as a communication channel. The platform's constantly changing Application Programming Interface (API) means that the question of how best to integrate Facebook and other social media platforms into a campaign is one of the key strategic decisions to be taken at the outset.
6. Conversions and measuring success
It was apparent that exposure to a campaign doesn't necessarily translate into audience. The ultimate challenge, therefore, is one of conversion which means that the measurement of conversion is extremely important.
Next Steps
Case studies will be added to this page on an ongoing basis as and when the projects have been completed and reviewed.
Anglia Ruskin University Research Project
Anglia Ruskin University has also reviewed the UK Film Council's Digital Innovation award scheme as part of a wider research project on the Culture of Digital Economy and new business models within the Creative Industries. The findings are presented in a short film which features clips from the films and campaigns, and interviews with those people involved. The film runs for approximately fifteen minutes and can be viewed below:
Tuesday 15 March 2011
Monday 7 March 2011
Task
Find out 5 interesting facts about an element of the production, marketing, distribution and exhibition of The Kings Speech.
Present at the beginning of next lesson.
Present at the beginning of next lesson.
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