From Script to Screen Essay

There are many differences between mainstream films and independent films in production, marketing, distribution and exhibition.


When a film goes into production, mainstream or independent, there are many elements that have to be considered. The first thing that has to be thought about is who will direct the film. The type of director used can make or break a film. Independent films normally use unknown directors as they are inexpensive and are used to working with a small budget but in a mainstream production only the best will do and they use award-winning directors who work with multi-million pound budgets. The next thing you need to produce a film is actors. They are also another obvious key element to making a film. Generally, A-list actors are used for mainstream films and the actors in independent films are relatively unknown. This is because independent films can’t afford to pay for well known actors. Mainstream films are often adaptations of bestselling books or novels where as independent films are based on more complex plots and different storylines. They are more reflective of the mood of the moment than mainstream films too. The soundtrack is one part of the film that can sometimes be most effective, if the wrong music is used the wrong tone is set for the film. Music is especially composed for mainstream films but known music is used in independent films as it’s less expensive than having music composed. Another indicator of whether a film is mainstream of independent is location; where the film has been shot. In an independent film there are no special effects used, it is very natural and the shot is made up of what is in the mise-en-scene rather than adding anything afterwards with lots of editing software. All of these contribute to the overall appearance of the film and define them from independent films of mainstream films.


Marketing of a film is also very important in how a film goes from the script on to the screen. There are many different strategies used, all with different effects on the audience. Mainstream films are marketed in such a way that everyone hears about them. They use strategies such as TV trailers, adverts and interviews; magazine adverts and interviews; and radio adverts and interviews. These are all very direct types of marketing and are greatly effective on what people see when they go to the cinema. They are also very much aimed at a certain audience, only films in certain genres will be marketed on certain TV channels or in magazines. For example, you wouldn’t see an advert for The Boat That Rocked in a children’s magazine or you wouldn’t see an advert for The Dark Knight on a beauty channel on television. There is a long amount of time between when a film is released in the cinema, then on DVD or video and then on TV. This is to keep enough interest in the film over a longer period of time. Where as if they released the DVD or video two weeks after the film has been shown in the cinema it would receive no where near as much interest as people would wait to buy the DVD or video than go and see it in the cinema. Compared to mainstream films, independent films are marketed less crudely, people normally here about them by word of mouth as the budget of the film isn’t big enough for a marketing campaign. This is why independent films rely on cinemas like CinemaCity who show independent films.


Once the film has been made and marketed, it has to be distributed. The main distributors of films are 20th Century Fox, Warner Bros., Paramount, Universal and Columbia. They work internationally and make sure countries see the films they want. Although, independent films are distributed much more simply, PictureHouse is a UK distributor that distributes films to a range of independent cinemas across the UK. The cinemas pick the films they want to show and then the film is sent round the cinemas that wish to show that film. This is how they afford to also show some mainstream films.


The last part of the process is exhibition; where the films are shown. The listing at Vue or Odeon is very different to the listings at CinemaCity. Over the summer in 2010 the films shown at Vue/Odeon were all mainstream (Inception, Knight and Day, Step Up 3D, etc.), they featured A-list actors and were all part of popular genres. Where as at CinemaCity the listing were made up of older much more diverse films (Bhutto, Children of God, The Human Centipede, etc.), this is because they specialise in alternative or special films. Because of this difference, there is also going to be an inevitable difference in box office takings. CinemaCity use other parts of the cinema visiting experience to make their money, (having a bar and restaurant, high quality snacks, etc.) Vue/Odeon, on the other hand, rely on mass visits, so they food and drink they sell is cheaper but of a lower quality and there isn’t quite as much atmosphere or excitement about the visit.