Case study

     A big part of creating a film is looking at the process of others. As some may say, "Don't reinvent the wheel". With this being said, a part of our blog post requirements for this week is to conduct a case study on a movie in a genre. I find this essential in really grasping the process on how the movie process is done. This is also great for me personally as the movie I will be doing was done by a large studio which I was considering choosing in the imaginative thought that we were seriously creating a full film at a high level.

                      Godzilla vs. Kong

History/Target audience

The history of this concept of these two iconic Kaiju's battling it out is not one of recent. In fact, we have seen this before in the 1962 film "King Kong vs. Godzilla". This film is not as commonly known as other films in the franchise as this was originally released in Japan by Toho Co. This movie also appeared in the U.S in New York City in 1963. Overall, this film is largely unknown in the mainstream world today when someone brings up Godzilla vs kong they are not talking about the old "King Kong vs. Godzilla" of the '60s. Though this idea has been done before, the target audience for this film was not exactly for the die-hards of the franchise wanting to see the battle redone with today's technology in fact, this film gained centered its hype around the move of "Kong: Skull Island" from universal studios to the Warner Bro's studio worked as a catalyst for fans all around the world to speculate we might see these two large beasts duke it out. Once Legendary confirmed the film to be true, they set out a release date of late May 2020.

Production

The production of this film was very long and complex as most major films are today. Before we get into production it is important to note who called the shots in this ordeal. Adam Wingard who is well-known in the film direction and production industry was named announced as the director of the film in May of 2017. As stated in interviews, Adam jumped at the idea almost instantly as he felt it would be amazing to be the filmmaker that would answer the half-century question of "who would win". Beyond this, when creating a film you need it to be financed and g' did this film have a lot of it. Legendary financed the film with about 120 million dollars which were also supported with 40 billion dollars from Warner Bros. Studio.

Writing

Just like the director of the film,  the writing team was also assembled in March of 2017. The writing process was different from most as there was a lot of fun transpiring inside the studio. All the writers it seemed are long-time fans of the franchise and have done work in the past with these monsters so it was refreshing to take a stance. Interviews of different writers and other people in the production process all allude to the fact that they want there to be a definitive winner of the battle between these two. Moving past this, the first greenlit idea was the overall idea and framework for the film (this comes before the script itself) done by Terry Rossio (Co-writer of a previous Godzilla film). Members of the writing team all found it important to include elements from many films in the franchise to keep it consistent with the story we are all used to. In fact, the script was redone a few times by Michael Dougherty (director of Godzilla King of the monsters) to make sure that the film still carried themes established in previous movies. An example of this in fact would be Kong's relationship with people, as in previous movies he was never depicted as a monster who just attacks everything he sees; they wanted to keep this idea alive.

Casting

The overall casting was rather normal, starting off in the middle of 2017 announcing that Zhang Ziyi is joining the film. As for the rest of the actors, it appears that they went after experienced actors (though not all).  FUN FACT: The popular youtube personality, James Rolfe was actually offered a spot in the film however could not attend due to personal issues.

Filming and Post-production

Filming overall took place in early November 2018. The film took place in Australia, Hong Kong, and Hawaii in numerous locations for each. Filming was done in these real locations largely because Wingward wanted to show scale as best as he could. There was a vast abundance of footage that was filmed so much in fact, Adam Wingard revealed that there is actually 5 hours worth of footage (of course a majority of this was cut in the final leaving the film at an hour and 53 minutes). The Post-production was very interesting as Godzilla vs. Kong contained a lot of CGI. So much work had to be done in post-production in fact, three companies were hired to work on the effects (Moving Picture Company, Weta Digital, and Scanline). 

Distribution

The overall release of this film was internationally (March 24th, 2021). The United States released the film shortly after this on March 31st, in theaters and also on streaming services like HBO Max. Unfortunately, the film's release in Japan was delayed due to covid and didn't hit the theaters there until July 2nd, 2021. Because of the effects of Covid on movie theaters, the release of this movie was rather hard so the company had to find alternatives in the form of streaming services, however, they didn't want to fo allow this route and it is rumored by many that Netflix offered hundreds of millions to have the movie on their platform. To add to this, the release on HBO Max only granted one month of access to the film from the streaming service. Fun fact: There was internal term-oil due to Lengendary entertainment feeling as if Warner Bro's was not transparent with their plans on release and even legal actions were largely considered.

Marketing

The marketing for this film was majorly done online via interviews and such, however, beyond that clips were previewed at 2020's Comic-Con. Furthermore, we saw different marketing in January in the form of a Twitter post by the account "GodzillaVsKong" (this was also the marketing agency known as BOND). Essentially, many online posters were teased and shown throughout the months up until release. I.E 

Finally, we got the first trailer at the end of January.

Cross-media coverage and synergy

As far as this goes, different deals were signed by Warner Bros. to further push the popularity of this movie, an example of this being the signing with an exhibition company "Cineworld" that would the film the first thing to be showing in its reopening. The film also saw a few sponsorships: Snickers, Youtube, Roblox. With snickers, we saw a platform for fan voting, and with Youtube, we saw a plethora of teasers as well as previous films being released for purchase on Youtube finally, Rbolox hosted an event where players could unlock rewards exclusive to the event. Warner Bros. also sponsored a challenge on the popular teenage app "TikTok" that included an abundance of its most popular influencers on the site.

Reflection

Overall, reviewing this whole process has really opened my eye to how long and troublesome the film creaiton process can be. This has given me a new found of respect for all those involved in film creation. Furthermore, this also makes me re-think my prrevious words in my earlier blog posts where I said I would choose a large film company. Upon seeing all the work that needs to be done as well as the connections needed I think it may be time to rethink my decision (joking).

Sources

Chris. “Adam Wingard Filmed 5 Hours Worth of Godzilla vs. Kong Footage!” Scified, Scified, 4 Apr. 2021, https://www.godzilla-movies.com/news/adam-wingard-filmed-5-hours-worth-godzilla-vs-kong-footage#:~:text=Add%20A%20Comment-,Godzilla%20vs.,the%20film%20finally%20came%20out.

Thilk, Author Chris. “Godzilla vs. Kong – Marketing Recap.” Cinematic Slant, 31 Mar. 2021, https://cinematicslant.com/2021/03/31/godzilla-vs-kong-marketing-recap/.

“Godzilla vs. Kong.” IMDb, IMDb.com, 31 Mar. 2021, https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5034838/.

Owen, Phil. “The Plot of 'Godzilla vs Kong' Explained.” TheWrap, 4 Apr. 2021, https://www.thewrap.com/the-plot-of-godzilla-vs-kong-explained-hollow-earth/.

Mendelson, Scott. “'Godzilla vs. Kong' Is a Rare Blockbuster Sequel to a Box Office Disaster.” Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 13 Apr. 2021, https://www.forbes.com/sites/scottmendelson/2021/04/13/how-godzilla-vs-kong-made-box-office-history/?sh=767054c9314e.

DaVETTE SEE March 25th 2021. “Godzilla vs. Kong: 12 Fun Facts from the Set.” Fandango, 25 Mar. 2021, https://www.fandango.com/movie-news/godzilla-vs-kong-12-fun-facts-from-the-set-754269.

Funding, production, and distribution

 Today in media studies we were tasked to study the funding, production and distributions of films. This is important because of our portfolio project. While we may not be making an actual film, we are still following the film progression from start to finish. We are not using a budget for our film and finding publishing companies, distribution companies, and so on however, it is important to know the steps.

Production

The production of a film is the most important. This IS the making of the film from editing, hiring a cast, acting, using equipment etc. This is all (typically) done through a production company.

Larger companies

As it stands, there are 6 major companies that control and own  90% of media. These companies are very popular names and you've more than likely heard of them: Paramount pictures, Universal, 20th-century fox, Warner Bros. Pictures, Walt Disney, Columbia pictures. These simple companies are actually in control of 90% of the media.

Smaller companies/Indie

Indie companies are companies that work outside of the larger companies or the "Big 6" these often small companies are often known as independents. Not all Indie companies are unknown however, there are some names becoming rather large such as Summit Entertainment, Film 4 productions, and Icon productions.

Indie vs Large companies

When filmmakers choose their producing studio (Even if it wasn't their first option) it affects their film in multiple ways. When you choose a smaller company, you lose out on a lot of extra funding so it is hard to pay for large amounts of advertisement, this alone may lower your potential viewership as just not enough people know about the film. Furthermore, these indie companies often don't have much of a name for themselves so people may look at your film and not take it as seriously as they would take a film by Universal studies for example.

In

What this means for films

Commonly known, movies are expensive. So it is very unlikely for a small company or even solo-artists to publish their own movie. More often than not, these people have to pitch their idea to one of these studios if they wanna go big. The large size of these 6 companies makes it very hard for filmmakers to get them on board with their idea as they always have a constant flow of pitches coming toward them so more often than not filmmakers have to settle with indie companies to produce their film through. 

What production company I would choose

While our portfolio project doesn't have a budget requiring us to pitch our idea to a major company, it is still important to choose the right company. For me personally, I would choose Warner Bros studio. The reason why I would choose this studio is that our film is Sci-Fi. This is important because not only does Warner Bro's have a lot of money and new technology to bring these films to life, they are known for very popular Sci-Fi films: The MEG, the Terminator franchise, the King Kong movies, the Godzilla movies, and many more. I feel like if we had them on our side we can make our film top tier. Furthermore, Warner Bro's is an extremely large company. This means that this alone can cause a lot of attention to our film that we would not get from a smaller indie company, however, it is important to note that the size of the company would also make it extremely hard for us to pitch our idea to them and actually get it passed, though it would be worth it.

Funding

How to get your movie funded

The funding process is done at the beginning of the film, this is often granted by investors, grants and a plethora of other sources that provide the one making the movie with a large sum of money to continue production. The funding side is often secured by the producers as well as sales agents.

When pitching your idea to these investors get your movie funded it is important to give them some sort of security, there is no guarantee that your movie is gonna sell well or do well at the box office so it can be hard for investors to just give up money for it to be financed. Investors are always gonna ask questions like "Has this director had previous success" "Does it have easy selling points" "Is this a new idea" "Has this idea been successful before" considering questions like these are important because when we talk about finances we have to strictly look at the business side of it and ensure to get make everyone's money back and then some.

How funding helps our group

For our portfolio project, there is no budget so likewise there is no funding. However, it is important to research other films similar to ours and how they got their funding.

Godzilla Vs. Kong: This movie was budgeted at a whopping 160 million. A large number like this makes our head spinning wrapping around the question of where could they have possibly gotten that money from. Well, this is all thanks to funding where I've previously written about with their production company that financed the film being Legendary Pictures. 

When we look at funding typically, the money comes from a large production company if they think the idea is good enough to make the company profit (money).

Distribution 

Distribution is very important for the films as everything else is. The distribution is responsible for marketing the film, this company is often the same as the production company. This is why we see can commonly see the production companies also handling the marketing and advertising. This step is what gets the movie from the studio to the theaters however, the actual viewing of the audience in theaters and other technologies is done by something else known as exhibition.

What distribution company I would choose

I would choose a popular distribution company that has some work with Sci-Fi films in particular. These would include companies such as Universal Pictures, Warner Bros, and Walt Disney Pictures.

While these companies do not generally focus on Sci-Fi they have some very popular films in the Sci-Fi genre. Furthermore, I could use their popularity to my advantage getting a lot of deals and agreements where I could have my film playing on a plethora of systems. Overall though, I would choose Warner Bro's Pictures. This is because this company is also my ideal production company due to its popularity and work with the most well-known sci-fi films.

Exhibition

As stated before, exhibition is part of the filmmaking process where you choose how your film is gonna be seen and WHERE it's gonna be seen. This process starts off as distribution where you get done with the legal side and the agreements that follow that. Your film can be exhibited in many wars, whether you want it to be shown in the theaters or maybe you want it out of the theaters on things such as DVD 

It is important to choose your mode of exhibition carefully as this is the experience of your film and the environment of it that it's gonna be viewed in.

How I would go about exhibition

Personally, I would go with the new era of exhibition. Essentially, I choose modes of exhibition such as Television, the internet, streaming services, etc. I would go with things such as nontheatrical exhibition where streaming services would stream my movies (companies like Netflix). I would do this because I feel this is the best way to get your movie out in 2022 as a big part of the world is on the internet. I feel like theatrical modes like the theaters itself would not do well as personally, I don't see any of my peers or even those older than me go to the movies often anymore especially because the grasp that covid has on our social lives currently.

Sources:

Cohen, Jeff B. The Money of Movies, 5 Nov. 2019.

“Exhibition.” Film Reference, http://www.filmreference.com/encyclopedia/Criticism-Ideology/Exhibition.html.

“Film Distributor.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 31 Aug. 2021, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Film_distributor.

“List of Film Distributors: Film Distribution Companies: Exhibitor List.” Screendollars, 17 Jan. 2022, https://www.screendollars.com/directory/distributors/.

robertclackmedia Follow. “Production,Distribution,Exhibition an Intro Final for Media.” SlideShare, https://www.slideshare.net/robertclackmedia/productiondistributionexhibition-an-intro-final-for-media.