Produced by: Joanna Hogg
Luke Schiller
Written by: Joanna Hogg
Starring: Honor Swinton Byrne
Tom Burke
Tilda Swinton
Cinematography: David Raedeker
Edited by: Helle Le Fevre
Production: Sikelia Production
companies BBC Films
BFI Film Fund
JWH Films
Distributed by: A24 (United States)
Curzon Artificial Eye (United Kingdom)
Release date: January 27, 2019 (Sundance)
May 17, 2019 (United States)
August 30, 2019 (United Kingdom)
Running time: 119 minutes[1]
Countries: United States
United Kingdom
Language: English
Budget: $2 million
Box office: $1.7 million
Plot:
A young film student Julie embarks on her first serious love affair with a charismatic and mysterious man. She tries to disentangle fact from fiction as she surrenders to the relationship, a relationship which comes dangerously close to destroying her dreams
Cast:
Honor Swinton Byrne as Julie
Tom Burke as Anthony
Tilda Swinton as Julie’s Mother
Ariane Labed as Garance
Richard Ayoade as Patrick
Tosin Cole as Phil
Jack McMullen as Jack
Frankie Wilson as Frankie
Jaygann Ayeh as Marland
Fabrizio Matteini as Concierge
The issues raised by Media Ownership and funding in contemporary media practices:
The success of a movie is very much connected with the media ownership. British Films, due to them being funded by the government, have a very enormously low budget compared to the Hollywood Vast capital. In modern day cinema, the industry is dominated by Big Six media giants which are US based, consequently creates high barriers of entry for new production houses to enter, let alone make a steady position in the industry. Production houses like Disney, Warner Brothers or Paramount Picture, etc are multi-million pound companies, this enables them them to not only control the market but release numerous titles followed by sequels of their own, especially profit incentive-based businesses. Ths results in limited choice for the audience with the same titled sequels making it harder for the British film industry to flourish.
The Souvenir was produced by Sikelia Production, BBC Films, BFI Film Fund and JWH Films.
Sikelia Production is located in New York, NY, United States and is part of the Motion Picture Production & Distribution Industry. It is Martin Scorsese's film production company, established in 1989. It has produced over 40 different television shows, documentaries, and films. Some of the most notable are Shutter Island, The Wolf of Wall Street, Silence and The Irishman.
BBC Film is the feature filmmaking arm of the BBC. It is firmly established at the forefront of British independent film, co-producing around 12 films a year. Working in partnership with major international and UK distributors, BBC Film aims to make distinctive British films with range and ambition.
The BFI Production Fund awards money from the National Lottery to support original live action, emerging media and animation feature filmmaking from storytellers demonstrating a bold vision and creative excellence.
The first issue which is presented from media ownership is that of piracy. Piracy is the illegal distribution of media without the permission of its owner/ the company. This could be through downloading or streaming the film online or the filming and sale of pirated DVDs. Piracy has had a huge boost in its popularity in recent years with the film industry and its companies taking a direct hit from it. The film industry last year was recorded to have lost nearly £3 million due to piracy alone. Advances in technology, such as cheaper equipment at a higher quality, whether that be the camera or recording material, has meant that it has become easier and more frequent for piracy to occur directly in the cinema; for it then to be put on the internet to be streamed and downloaded from thousands of different websites. This has a direct link to the media owners and companies as it means that profit and box office numbers would decrease, as well as a having a lack in DVD or BluRay sales, due to the easy and unlimited access to the films online, any time. Therefore the movies would end up failing to meet their budget meaning that less and less films would be made due to no guarantee of profit being made from them. Therefore smaller, more independent films like that of 'The Souvenir' or any film coming out of the British film industry would be less likely to be made, with only the big blockbuster movies such as Jurassic World being put into production. Piracy however can be prevented with measures such as that of digital encryption for the films distribution and 3D cinema being used which is known to be increasingly difficult to pirate. Therefore, stopping the widespread piracy of films in the cinema.
Another issue that is raised is that of the Hollywood conglomerates dominating the films industry. Due to companies like that of MGM, Paramount, Warner Brothers, Sony and Disney etc being multi million pound industries they are able to release lots of titles and have vast amounts of money to market and distribute them. Therefore this results in the continual production of sequels and bad films whose only appeal are the budgets, names and stars. Furthermore, cinema chains like that of ODEAN and VUE shows these films much more than the other smaller independently made ones. This gives cinema goers limited choice in cinemas which would ultimately lead to a lack of audiences and also a loss in profit of the film industry as a whole. Going on from this, the British Film industry is put at a large disadvantage with it also being rumored to be a 'dying' enterprise.
The importance of cross media convergence and synergy in production, distribution and marketing:
The combining of two or more mediums is called convergence. Different mediums are TV / film / computer graphics / radio/ website etc. Media convergence in the film industry can happen in production, distribution or exhibition. for example when the music industry comes together with the
film industry.
Convergence has brought in a certain amount of unpredictability in the responses that a film would receive. With the audience being exposed to a plethora of media platforms it gets tough to understand what has had what kind of effect on the consumer. Media Convergence has brought about a shift in the control that the content creator had over it’s property. With the advent of blogs, mobiles and emails the consumers are exposed to large amount of unbranded content. This has led to an increase in the competition for consumer’s time and attention that the content creators face.
The Souvenir received critical acclaim upon its premiere. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 89%, based on 171 reviews, with an average rating of 8.12/10. The website's critics consensus reads "Made by a filmmaker in command of her craft and a star perfectly matched with the material, The Souvenir is a uniquely impactful coming of age drama. On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 91 out of 100, based on 45 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".
Guy Lodge of Variety wrote: "Achingly well-observed in its study of a young artist inspired, derailed and finally strengthened by a toxic relationship, it is at once the coming-of-age story of many women and a specific creative manifesto for one of modern British cinema’s most singular writer-directors."
Sight & Sound named The Souvenir the best film of 2019 after polling an international group of 100 film critics from around the world.
The film promotion included its trailer and other then that the film also has its own website
https://a24films.com/films/the-souvenir
The British independent film did not receive nearly as much marketing or publicity as the hollywood film did. This was because they did not have a big marketing budget which is a big problem for the british films industry as good content goes unnoticed by the audience due to lack of publicity and awareness.
The technologies that have been introduced in recent years at the level of production marketing distribution and at the end point of consumption
To evoke the tumult of film, Hogg worked with cinematographer David Raedeker, bringing about a dramatic change in aesthetic when compared with her preceding three films. This collaboration between writer-director and cinematographer makes for a singular film, not only in the careers of each artist, but in British film. David Raedeker, combined 16mm-Bolex and S16mm film footage with S16mm and 35mm digital formats.
The Souvenir shot over a five-week period during the autumn of 2017, chiefly in a former RAF hangar at West Raynham Business Park, near King's Lynn, Norfolk, where the interior sets of Julie's apartment and the film school were constructed. Second unit photography included exteriors shot around Harrods and Knightsbridge streets, where Hogg lived in the 1980s, and locations in Venice, Italy.
To visualise the various moods of the film, Hogg accepted Raedeker's suggestion of mixing different analogue and digital formats. As he explains: "The film opens with handheld 16mm film camerawork, in order to convey Julie's creative fluidity and freedom as a student. We then used the Alexa Mini's 16mm digital setting, combined with more static and rigid camera moves, to develop a slightly more sober and stale aesthetic that would underscore the unhealthy, stagnant relationship between Julie and Anthony.
The scenes in Venice, were shot with the Alexa Mini in 35mm digital mode, to give the picture a certain dream-like quality,16mm Bolex film footage and B&W film was also used to recreate Julie's student films. Every format fulfilled a different emotional function and brought a variety of textures to the look.
The cameras and high-speed 16mm/35mm Zeiss lenses were supplied by Take 2, with film processing of Kodak Vision 3 500T (7219) done at Cinelab. Raedeker's crew included: Nick Gordon Smith as B-camera operator and second unit DP, Leighton Spence as A-camera focus puller; Luke Cairns as B-camera focus puller; and Basil Johnson as main loader and dailies focus fuller.
However The Souvenir did not have as much technology involved in it when compared to the Black Panther. while Black Panther used CGI and VFX The Souvenir did not. Although black panther did need to have the VFX in order to convey the message this was not the case with the British independent film as it had a much simpler plot.
The significance of the spread of such technologies for institution and audiences:
Until recently, the conventional rules for distributing feature films were largely set around analog technologies with business models based on rigid window systems and exclusivity. However, recent advances in digital technologies are changing the way audiences consume media, putting pressure on traditional models for releasing films.
Digital technology has revolutionized the modern world. Films are now cheaper and easier to make, cheaper to distribute and 3D/IMAX Cinemas are enhancing the viewing experience. This makes it much easier for British Indie Production houses to produce films.
The dominant Hollywood system has found its success by establishing its business approach around an integrated value chain model where it can develop, produce, and globally market and distribute, all in house.
In contrast, the independent film industry rarely produces and delivers a film through a single company. Operating within a disintegrated value chain model, numerous companies must contribute throughout the process to successfully produce and distribute a film. For independent distributors, competition exists not only from Hollywood dominance, but also from an overcrowded market including the recent
proliferation of high-end TV drama and alternative content online. The U.K. government has recognized these challenges, constructing film policy in 2012 (DCMS: A Future for British Film: It Begins With The Audience, 2012) that aims to increase demand and market share for independent films. With the help of recent technologies the british production houses can have a wider audience and can target multiple groups of people. For example by distributing the film on DVD and Blu Ray they can enable a wider range of audience to watch the film.
Now if we talk about The Souvenir, it was distributed in many ways, for example, by web, radio, magazines and Television, it was also available on DVD. These Convergence communication technologies and processes enhance the image of the film and therefore makes it more popular among the youth. When digital process are used the quality of transmission increases and recording becomes easier. It's editing becomes easier by using digital technology.
The importance of technological convergence for institution and audiences:
Technological convergence has become a very crucial component in the changes to the film industry. Technology has allowed us to develop and improve the quality of films, make them more complex and dynamic, whilst also helping making them easier to make and also access. Convergence is an inevitable result of our modernizing world and so the film industry relies on keeping up and competing with varying array of formats.
Technological convergence has made it easier for filmmakers to produce better content. Cameras (arri alexa) have capacity to do more and are smaller and more compact as well (making it easier and faster to film stuff). The quality has also become better and films are available in HD and excellent picture quality for audience. Indie production houses can shoot, edit, distribute all on cheap equipment.
It has also helped in marketing as well as distribution; the audience can watch trailers & adverts on the web 2.0 on websites such as Youtube. The production companies send encrypted software to cinemas (not sending separate prints) in one digital files with code to de-lock at cinema so that piracy can be avoided. Technological convergence has made it simpler for independent filmmakers such as Jake Wynne to expose themselves on websites such as Vimeo and gain professional feedback from real filmmakers whilst making their name. The technology available now allows amateurs to access quality equipment and programs that don’t cost a lot and produce professional quality features. The use of the digital format allows these short films to be easily attached to the beginnings of full length features
in independent cinemas such as The Phoenix cinema in Leicester. And then in turn, cinemas like the Phoenix, advertise themselves online to attract a more substantial audience.
Hence, technological convergence makes the competition of the British industry with Hollywood a little less making it a little easier for the British production houses to produce, market and distribute their films.
The issues raised in the targeting of national and local audiences by international or global institution.
Target Audience is a particular group of consumers within the predetermined target market, identified as the targets or recipients for a particular advertisement or message.
Statistics show that the targeted audience of the film The Souvenir in the United States in 2019, were people above 15 years. According to the source most of the audience were of age 17 to 34.
Many issues are faced by the British film industry regrading targeting their audience. Many of the small production houses can’t afford above the line marketing due to low budgets therefore synergy isn’t created and the film misses out on potential audiences. They also target only a type certain audience due to a small advertising campaign and a low budget losing out on a wider audience.
They’re also restricted to certain genres e.g. social realist due to low budget and lack of special effects making most of the films created by independent institutions similar.
However the conglomerate institutions face no such issues as they have no problems with targeting audiences because they are vertically and horizontally integrated and therefore they can afford above the line advertising that create synergy. Such as The Dark Knight (2008) who were able to engage with cross media convergence and build two roller coasters as well as linking the film to the Silverstone Grand Prix. This also allows them to engage with technological convergence and show their film in different formats such as 3D & IMAX.
The ways in which the candidates own experiences of media consumption illustrate wider patterns and trends in audience behavior
Media consumption or media diet is the sum of information and entertainment media taken in by an individual or group. It includes activities such as interacting with new media, reading books and magazines, watching television and film, and listening to radio.
Independent and foreign language films are released annually but invariably they earn much less than big budget Hollywood films at the box office. These films appeal more to 30+ year olds and can prove to be very popular with particular audiences in individual cinemas. However, movies such as The Souvenir also attract a younger audience as it revolves around a topic that is considered taboo and as the younger generation is becoming more socially aware, they are more likely to watch such movies.
In recent years the 45+ age group has become one of the largest growth markets in UK cinemas with films such as The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel with more mature characters and strong storylines aimed at a multi-generational market. Young people, although still the multiplexes mainstay audience, are increasingly consuming film online through downloading or streaming services.
Furthermore, The Souvenir was only available to watch on DVD while on the other hand the big budget Hollywood movie Black Panther was available to stream on many platforms thus increasing its availability leading to further profit.
I myself watched the movie on DVD as there aren’t many options available to watch this film on.
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