SECTION A CASE STUDY - UK INDEPENDENT FILM

The Kings speech

The King's Speech is a 2010 British historical drama film. The British mid budget independent film produced at a cost of approximately $13m and grossing over $400m. It proved very popular in America. It's narrative is one that stereotypically appeals to American audiences fascination with 'heritage' Britain ( that is based on a true story only adds to its appeal) the emotionally turbulent journey of the ultimately successful but flawed hero who, along with many of the films characters, is aristocratic ( four wedding and a funeral is similar in both these respects - Charles has to overcome his British reserve in order to capture Carrie and is upper- middle class)

Budget: £8 million  Box office: £414,211,549 millio
Directed by: Tom Hooper
Produced by: Iain Canning
                       Emile Sherman
                       Gareth Unwin                           

Studio: Uk film council
             See-Saw Films
             Bedlam Productions
Distributed by: Momentum Pictures (UK)
                           The Weinstein Company (US)
Release Dates: 7 January 2011 (UK)
Running time: 118 minutes
Awards: It gained a number of awards, among them 4 Oscars for best picture, Director, actor and Screenplay. These will help post-cinemas sales. (E.g DVD, downloads).

Starring
 
Colin Firth
 
Colin Firth is an English film, television, and theatre actor. His films have earned more than $3 billion from 42 releases worldwide. He has received an Academy Award, a Golden Globe, a BAFTA and the Screen Actors Guild Award, as well as the Volpi Cup. His most notable and acclaimed role to date has been his 2010 portrayal of King George VI in The King's Speech, a performance that gained him an Oscar and many other worldwide best actor awards

Other films Colin Firth has been in: Bridget Jones Diary, A single man, The Railway man, Love Actually, Mama Mia, Arthur Newman, Nanny McPhee, St Trinnians, Then she found me, Gambit, A Christmas Carol, What a girl wants, Hope springs, Fever Pitch, Lost Empires, The Secret Garden and many more.

Geoffrey Rush

Geoffrey Rush is an Australian actor and film producer. He is one of the few people who have won the "Triple Crown of Acting": an Academy Award, a Tony Award and an Emmy Award. He has won one Academy Award for acting (from four nominations), three British Academy Film Awards (from five nominations), two Golden Globe Awards and four Screen Actors Guild Awards. He is the founding President of the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts and was named the 2012 Australian of the Year.

Other films he has starred in: Pirates of the Caribbean, The book thief, The best offer, Finding Nemo, Les Miserables ( 1998), Candy, Ned Kelly, Hoodwink, Twelfth night, Elizabeth and many more.

Helena Bonham Carter

Helena Bonham Carter is an English actress. She made her acting debut in a television adaptation of K. M. Peyton's A Pattern of Roses before her debut film role as the titular character in Lady Jane.She is known for her roles in films, such as: A Room with a View, Fight Club, The King's Speech, and playing Bellatrix Lestrange in the Harry Potter series.A two-time Academy Award nominee for her performances in The Wings of the Dove and The King's Speech, Bonham Carter's acting has been further recognised with seven Golden Globe nominations, an International Emmy Award for best actress, a BAFTA Award, and a Screen Actors Guild Award.

Other films Carter has starred in: Alice in Wonderland, Sweeney Todd, Fight club, Dark Shadows, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Dark Shadows, Planet of the Apes, The Lone Ranger, Les Mis, Great Expectations, Lady Jane, Cinderella, Merlin, Sweet Revenge, Enid and many more.

How was the film made possible?

It could be made because of £1m of funding from the now defunct UK Film Council, having been rejected by both the BBC and Channel 4.

Marketing

• It was the archetypal sleeper/cross-over hit (other notable British examples include Four Weddings, Slumdog Millionaire and Billy Elliot), growing enormously in popularity after its first week of Cinema screenings, in part because of word-of-mouth recommendations and a great deal of critical acclaim.

• It appealed to a diverse audience, including an older (i.e. 50+) demographic, who will perhaps only visit the cinema once or twice a year.h historical drama film.

 

Tom Hooper ( Director)

 

Tom Hooper is a British film and television director of English and Australian background. Hooper began making short films at the age of 13, and had his first professional short, Painted Faces, broadcast on Channel 4 in 1992. At Oxford University Hooper directed plays and television commercials. After graduating, he directed episodes of Quayside, Byker Grove, EastEnders and Cold Feet.

Years Active- 1990 - present.

 

Hooper's work was nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for Prime Suspect and John Adams, won one for Elizabeth I, and was nominated for the British Academy (BAFTA) TV Craft Award for Best Director for Longford. The King's Speech won multiple awards, including Best Director wins for Hooper from the Directors Guild of America and the Academy Awards, and a Best Director nomination from BAFTA.

 

Tom Hooper's other films: Les Miserables, The Kings Speech, The damned united, Red dust, Elizabeth 1, Longford and a few others.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Marketing