A Visit To The British Film Institution...

On the 2nd March, we visited the BFI centre at Southbank. We spent the morning in lectures and talking about the history of British Film and in the afternoon, we spoke to a producer of a successful British Film. On the whole the day was very interesting and insightful.


The end of the UK Film Council...
The UK Film Council used to support new, daring film makers with innovative ideas. There was £180 million invested and £700 million made at worldwide box office. They were successful in terms of money, however some criticised them for being too concerned about this and not enough care for showing cultural Britain.


Cinema in crisis...
1930s - American accents were introduced on to screen. This lead to more 'foreign' accents being on screen than our own in Britain.
1940s - The quota system was introduced. This system meant that certain amounts of films in cinema had to be British. However because there was such a rush to meet the dates set by the quota system, this lead to poor quality British films being made.
1970s - The nitty-gritty nature of British films had to constantly fight up against the glamourous American blockbusters; and the blockbusters were winning.
1980s - The film group Goldcrest collapsed.
1990s - Demise in Film Four.


Good for cinema...
1930s - British accents were being introduced on to other countries screens.
1940/50s - Audiences would typically go to the cinema three times a week - increasing profits and popularity of cinema.
1960/70s - Britain became a crucial centre for special effects.
1980s - There was a tax break and investments from television.
1990s - The return of public funding.


What is a British film
People have many ideas about what constitutes a British film, however it can be a lot of things. For example 'The Dark Knight' could be classed as a British film because it had a British director and 'The Bourne Ultimatum" because it had a mainly British cast and crew. Many things can clarify something as British, such as using British stereotypes/issues, being set in Britain, having a British cast/crew, being made in Britain or having British funding.




In the afternoon we watched 'Shifty' - a film about a drug dealer in London who's life is spiralling out of control when his friend visits him from Manchester.

We spoke to the producer of 'Shifty' about the industry and the film itself. We asked questions about how difficult it was to get into the industry and other films he had experience of. This was a really good experience to talk to him because it gave us a true story of what it's life in the British Film Industry.