Film Industry: Chicken case study research

Our first close-study product is micro-budget British film Chicken. We need to know how the film was funded, produced, distributed and promoted.

The key notes from the lesson are here:

Funding
In order to make Chicken, director Joe Stephenson raised £110,000. Key points:

• Raised entirely through investment by individuals (e.g. rich friends/contacts)
• No funding body (e.g. BFI Film Fund) was willing to fund Chicken
• Raises questions about whether film industry is accessible to lower-income filmmakers

Production
Key points for making Chicken:

• Adapted from a play by Freddie Machin that originally ran at Southwark Playhouse.
• Filmed in 19 days, almost all external locations so victim to rain, issues with lighting etc.
• Film produced and distributed by a new company set up by director Stephenson: B Good Picture Company.

Distribution

Chicken’s distribution has been very difficult:

• No distribution deal secured in 2014
• Two-year festival circuit won awards and generated interest and critical acclaim for film
• UK cinema release followed in May 2016. Selected for film subscription service MUBI and acquired by Film4 for TV premiere in April 2017.
• UK DVD release distributed by Network Releasing. Digital distribution in USA/Canada – January 2018.
• Deal with Amazon Prime secured in June 2018.

Promotion

Alongside film festivals, new technology was vital to promoting Chicken to a wider audience: 

• Some traditional marketing: trailer, film poster with review quotes etc.
• Social media very important to market film – Facebook, Twitter, YouTube.
• Reviews from influential figures in British film industry important for promotion – actor Ian McKellen, director Stephen Frears, BBC film reviewer Mark Kermode.

Chicken: case study blog tasks

Work through the following tasks to build a detailed case study for Chicken. This will give you plenty of background information to use in an exam question on the film industry.

Read the following interviews and features on Chicken:

Film News interview with director Joe Stephenson
Hey Guys interview with Stephenson
Flavourmag interview with Scott Chambers and Joe Stephenson

Watch the trailer for Chicken:



Watch this Into Film feature on Chicken:




Watch important film critic Mark Kermode's review of Chicken on the BBC:



Funding

1) What was the budget for Chicken?

2) How did Joe Stephenson end up raising the money to make the film?

3) How does the Chicken budget compare to a Hollywood-funded British blockbuster such as Spectre or Paddington 2?

4) Joe Stephenson tried to secure funding from organisations that help low-budget filmmakers. What is the BFI Film Fund and how does it contribute to the British film industry?

5) Why do you think Chicken failed to secure funding from the BFI Film Fund?


Production

1) What difficulties did the film run into during production?

2) How many days did the film take to shoot?

3) What scenes were particularly difficult for Joe Stephenson to film?


Distribution

1) Why did the film fail to secure a distribution deal when first made in 2014?

2) What film festivals did Chicken feature at between 2014-2016?

3) Why are film festivals an effective way for a low-budget film to secure a distribution deal?

4) When was Chicken released in cinemas in the UK?

5) Why do you think film subscription service MUBI chose the film to feature on the service?

6) Why was Film4 a good choice to give the film its UK television premiere?

7) When will the film be released on iTunes and other video-on-demand services in the USA and Canada?


Promotion

Note: some of these pages will be blocked in school - you will need to complete those particular questions at home.

1) What does the trailer suggest regarding genre and the potential audience pleasures of Chicken?

2) What synergy can you find between the trailer and other traditional marketing methods such as the film poster?

3) Why are reviews from industry figures such as Mark Kermode so important to a film's success?

4) How does the Chicken Twitter account create and maintain interest in the film?

5) Who does the Twitter account re-tweet? How does this help to promote the film?

6) How does the Chicken Facebook page use images and video content to promote the film?

7) What pages are liked by the Chicken Facebook page? What does this tell you about the film and potential target audience?

8) Go to the website of the B Good Picture Company. What does the homepage say and what other films have they produced or are in production currently?

9) Now go to the B Good Picture Company's website page for Chicken. How does this page promote Chicken specifically?

10) Go to the B Good Picture Company YouTube channel. What videos feature on the channel? How do they help to promote Chicken?


Final reading: Media Magazine - the appeal of arthouse cinema

Complete the following tasks to improve your understanding of arthouse film and the possible audience pleasures that the genre offers:

Read Beyond Hollywood: Reading Arthouse Cinema. This is in MM45 on page 24 - go to our Media Magazine archive to find the article. 

1) Summarise the article in 50 words.

2) What are some of the suggested audience pleasures for arthouse film?

3) Why do some audiences struggle with arthouse film? Refer to some media theory here (there are some important media theories discussed in the article itself).

4) To what extent is arthouse film only for the middle classes and older audiences? Why might this be the case?

5) What type of audience would be interested in Chicken?

You will be given lesson time to continue this but will need to complete for homework - due Friday 24 January.