MEST1 Section B: The British film industry

MEST1 Section B: The British film industry

1. A film qualifies as being British once there is a sense of 'British involvement' in it, whether that be from it being funded from Britain, it being filmed in Britain or there being British actors in it to name a few possible things it may contain that go on to make it British.
2. The difference between a British production context and a Hollywood production context is that British productions often rely on a much lower budget, character-driven plot and also the word of mouth for the film to reach people. Hollywood is the exact opposite of this, with the films often being quite high-budget and a reliance on celebrity presence to help spread the film to others.
3. The James Bond franchise began in the 1960s at a time when cultural norms were beginning to shift increasingly.
4. From a censorship and graphic content standpoint, in the 1970s what was changing was the portrayal of sexual content in which elements of it like sexual violence began to be displayed at an increasing rate. In terms of the 80s, what became more prevalent were what are referred to as 'video nasties' with productions becoming increasingly violent and gratuitously pornographic. This affected censorship in the sense that the BBFC came about in '85 which ensured all films released in the UK be rated corresponding to a certain age.
5. Groups that often feature in British films are the youth and women. Youth for example, often feature in films to do with things like opposition to establishment and violence such as 'A Clockwork Orange' and also 'Attack The Block.' In the case of women, there's frequent stereotyping such as with the presentation of them having to be at either one-end of the spectrum - whore or virgin. Examples of these are in 'Nanny McPhee' and also 'Confessions of a Window Cleaner.'  
6. The factsheet suggests that the audience appeal of British film comes from there being actual identifiable British elements in the film whether that come from actors or locations, but also and perhaps more primarily, when it focuses on classification with things like social strife and education.