Studying the film industry in BRICS countries

1
Studying the film industry in BRICS countries

• Issues for consideration

2
Overview

• Stylized facts about how films are made
• Delimiting the scope of study in terms of the
  empirical phenomenon
• Choosing a theoretical focus point
• Methodological considerations

3
Stylized overview of how films are made

• Five phases
• Funding
• Preproduction
• Production
• Postproduction
• Distribution

4
Early phases

• Funding
• Sources of funding
• Legal structuring
• Initial tie-in with marketing campaign
• Preproduction
• Develop a screenplay
• Choose key people (director, production manager
  etc.)
• Develop shooting schedule and continuity
  breakdown
• Obtain equipment and facilities
• Cast characters

5
Creating the film

• Production
• Call sheet
• Camera and sound work
• Script changes
• Production report
• Postproduction
• Editing
• Sound
• Final dub (sound mixing)
• First print

6
Distribution

• Domestic distribution
• Foreign distribution
• Other distribution channels (DVD, cable etc)
• Marketing

7
Film versus TV

• The process of CREATING a film versus TV is
  similar
• Preproduction, production and postproduction for
  film vs. TV and even advertising are all similar
• Relatively easy mobility between film and TV with
  possible transfer of skills
• Two key differences
• Funding in TV the network assumes the risk
• Distribution in film, finding a distributor is
  a key competence
• I.e. the first and last phases of successful
  movie making are different to TV

8
What to study?

• Which one or ones of the five phases should the
  focus be on?
• Funding
• Preproduction
• Production
• Postproduction
• Distribution
• Depending on the phase(s) chosen, which key
  people and institutions need to be studied?
• Only filmmakers or also adjacent industries, like
  TV production companies and advertising agencies?

9
Theoretical focus points

• Overall goal of BRICS is to study innovation and
  learning
• A narrower theoretical focus may enable a more
  focused and precise study
• Three suggestions
• Linkages
• The processes of inclusion and exclusion
• The role of demand effects

10
Linkages

• Capabilities are transferred through linkages
• A better understanding of linkages should yield
  insights about capability transfer
• How are linkages forged?
• What are the prevalent types of linkages?
• Domestic vs. foreign
• Individual vs. institutional
• Formalized vs. informal connections
• What types of capabilities are developed through
  what types of linkages?
• This approach may be generic enough to also be
  useful for studies of other sectors

11
Processes of inclusion and exclusion

• Assumption that developing countries can join the
  club of developed countries by simply advancing
  their skills
• Social processes of inclusion and exclusion also
  matter
• How do films (or other industries) get access to
  the network of knowledge creators?
• How are connections forged?
• What are the barriers to membership of those
  communities?
• Membership imply both benefits and obligations
  what are the obligations of developing countries?
  I.e. what are they offering in exchange for
  membership?

12
The role of demand effects

• The key differentiating capability of successful
  filmmakers is the ability to secure distribution
  of their films
• This depends crucially on the ability to analyze
  and respond to anticipated demand
• Bollywood relies on a domestic market, with
  expectations in terms of plot and imagery rather
  than production values
• Where film relies on foreign distribution,
  expectations of production values are higher
• Foreign markets may have expectations about
  appropriate stories e.g. Tsotsi and Yesterday
  vs. Purpose
• What are relevant the market / demand pressures?
• How do those pressures shape each industry?

13
Methodological considerations

• Difficulty of obtaining survey-based data on film
  producers
• Small populations
• Hard to obtain response rates
• Obtaining qualitative data also problematic
• Industry used to (self-)representation
• Possible reluctance to disclose non-successes
• Need for a mixed-method design
• Determine the intended insights to be derived
  from each data source
• Determine how to interrelate and integrate
  different data sources

14
Potential data sources

• Usefulness of hard data on aspects like
• Number of films made in each country
• Average cost per film
• Amount grossed by films (nationally and
  internationally)
• Employment in the film industry
• Potential use of (within-country) contrasting
  cases along certain dimensions, e.g.
• Successes and failures
• Domestic vs. foreign
• Potential gathering of data from feeder
  institutions
• E.g. actors agencies, camera people,
  screenwriters guilds
• Cases, surveys, career mapping