UNIT 2- Learning aim B

For Learning aim B, I have been assigned to chose and analyse a specific job role in a sector of my choice from the media industry, I will be looking at the film industry and the specific role of being a director.

The reason behind choosing the film industry is because I have always had a huge passion for cinema and I admire how one can project their views and creativity onto a screen. I believe films are very influential and can play a huge role in people's lives and it is a dream of mine to have a film that I made be screened in front of an audience and have them glued to their seats and entertained.
Over the years, I believe my interest in film has blossomed into what it is today and that is through the people I have met who share the same love I do. People who showed me what it means to be a filmmaker, this list goes from teachers, lecturers, friends, family and even work-mates, all helping me to strive and to not give up. Since secondary school I have been involved with film making, For my GCSE's I had the task of making an advert for a product of my choosing, and although I was pleased with the grade I received there were many lessons I learnt with the production process and I carried this information through to my terms at college where I put them to good use. In Theses college years I have been tasked with many units which were all related to many different sectors in the media and I had the opportunity to channel my creativity into a wide and open environment where I was able to experiment with different job roles, to come to the decision of what I want to do with my career in media.
I have done this I believe becoming a director is the end goal of my career.

The Film Industry

I am going to analyse and explain the structure and scale of the film industry, also evaluating the impact it has on the world economically and looks into the people that have important roles in making that impact possible.

Here are two of the major players in the film industry:

• Warner Bros 
• Disney  

Warner Bros
Warner Bros was founded in 1923 and has many operations in Film, TV and video games. In the early days of the company, W.B was particularly popular for their productions of the film with synchronised sound, also known as 'talkies'. W.B is extremely popular in modern times for their productions of very successful films such as The Harry Potter films and the Dark Knight trilogy.

Walt Disney Studios
Disney is one of the biggest companies in the world, having been around 1923 Disney has been dominating the global industry. We all know the face of Disney, which is 'Mickey Mouse'  which was originally called 'Mortimer Mouse' in 1928 when the idea for the cartoon was thought of. Disney made the leap in animation when their first sound film came out in the late months of 1928 named 'Steamboat Willie' which was an immediate hit with the world. Disney once more Changed the face of animation once again a few decades later when they made a partnership with Pixar Studios and brought out the first ever computer-animated film released in 1995, 'TOY STORY'. This film made over $300,000,000 worldwide. From then on there Disney and Pixar knew they had an incredible business relationship that was sure to strive and in 2006 Disney bought Pixar Studios and made it a Subsidiary Studio of the Disney company.
Disney is very influential in many sectors of media and many other types of businesses around the world. From Film, TV, Gaming, water park, theme parks and even owning hundreds of stores globally. Safe to say Disney is not going anywhere especially since in recent years they have teamed up with Lucas Film and Marvel Studios.

How is the film industry-financed?

Here are some of the most common ways of how a film is financed;

• Government Grants

A number of governments run programs to subsidise the cost of producing Films. For instance, until it was abolished in March 2011; in the United Kingdom the UK FILM COUNCIL provided National Lottery funding to producers, as long as certain conditions were met. Many of the Council's functions have now been taken over by the British Film Institute. States such as Georgia, Ohio, Lousiana, New York, Connecticut, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Utah and New Mexico, will provide a subsidy or tax credit provided all or part of a film is filmed in that state.

• Tax shelters

A financial arrangement made to avoid or minimize taxes.

In British tax shelters, the same copyright can be sold again to a British company and a further $10 million could be raised, but the UK law insists that part of the film is shot in Britain and that the production employs a fair proportion of British actors and crew. By using British tax shelter methods, many American films like to shoot at Britain's major film studios like Pinewood and Shepperton and why a film such as Basic Instinct 2 relocated its action from New York to London. These are commonly referred to Sale and Leaseback deals; they were discontinued in March 2007, though those initiated prior to December. 31 2006 were grandfathered in.

• Debt financing

Debt financing is when a lender such as a bank, gives the borrower money in exchange for a promise to repay that loan on time. The bank makes a profit by charging interest on the loan. Loans place the risk of failure on the borrower as the lender expects to be repaid regardless of whether the film is successful or not.

• Individual Investors

One of the hardest types of film financing pieces to obtain is private investor funds. These are funds invested by an individual who is looking to possibly add more risk to their investment portfolio or a high net worth individual with a keen interest in films. To present your film forward for investments, most investors want to know they're going to make a profit, so the filmmakers have to have marketplace analytics, audience analytics, a bondable schedule and budget, plus a distribution plan. Most investors will not even entertain anybody unless they have put these things forward first.

Legal and Ethical Consideration within the Film Industry

There are many legal and ethical considerations within the Film Industry. 

I have taken the liberty of breaking them up into categories and presenting them.

RIGHTS OF THE EMPLOYER AND THE EMPLOYEE

• Employers have a responsibility to their workforce to provide Health and Safety for all. In the event that an employee makes a claim against the company, the company must have the current employer's liability insurance policy which has to match the current law system or they will face a fine. This is the result of the 'Employer's liability Act 1969

• Public liability insurance, while not optional is useful, especially if you work in the media industry. You, your crew or equipment could potentially cause damages to the public if you are conducting your work in a public area. This would cost you around £50 a year in the UK  but it would protect you from lawsuits.

• Employers have a general duty under section 2 of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health, safety and welfare of their employees at work. This is the basis of the Health and Safety system that protects the rights and well-being of all people in the workplace. This also covers people who are not employed by a particular employer but have a legitimate reason to be on their property. Without this system, we would be at the mercy of cruel tyrannical bosses who treat people as they pleased like in the 18th century.

Equal opportunities 

Any employer must pass these onto their employees in the workplace and they should all understand their rights in the workplace.

Parliament has a number of acts that deal with discrimination, they are;

• Sex Discrimination Act 1975
• Equal Pay Acts 1970 and 1983
• Disability Discrimination Act of 1995
• Human Rights Act of 1995

These laws are in place to make sure that no one is discriminated against in the workplace for your gender and/ or race and you receive the same payment for your position and the rights to opportunities for advancement as everyone else.

Ownership in copyright, intellectual properties, and trademarks

In film and many other industries if you are employed by a company or studio and you come up with an idea that doesn't mean that idea will always stay yours. A classic example of this would be Walt Disney, who whilst employed by Universal  Pictures, created Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, however when he was fired he lost the rights to Oswald because Universal owned the rights to the character.

At the same time if you create an IP (Intellectual Property, Intangible property that is a result of creativity, such as patents) and sell it to a company you essentially sell the copyright to the company which means from the moment the deal is done they own it and you don't.

Sometimes you may be brought to court on suspicion of plagiarism. Which is the act of taking someone else's work or ideas and passing them off as one's own. Plagiarism itself isn't a crime but it can cause copyright infringement. There are many ways to avoid plagiarism make sure that you do your research that your idea has not yet been thought of and you have a unique idea.

To protect your work from pirates and thieves who may want to make money off your ideas without your consent, the government has a system in place within the law called copyright and intellectual property. 

• IP refers to creations of the mind: inventions, literary and artistic works, symbols, names, images and designs used in commerce. Usually, copyright will belong to the original creator. Bear in mind you will require some evidence that you were the original creator like dates on the original drafts of the script.

• COPYRIGHT- As explained before you require evidence of your ownership of an IP and that's where copyright comes in. Copyright is essentially the proof of ownership, if you create an IP independently you will own the copyright to that IP, however, if you create an IP at the behest of a corporation then they will own the copyright.

Whenever you see a Copyright symbol © it is there to indicate you that somebody legally owns the rights to that piece of work.

Creative Structure of the film industry

There are many ways one can get employed in the industry, one way being they can start their way from the bottom of the chain and work there way up as described in Learning Aim A. The other way is to build a network of contacts of people involved with the industry and you can get in through recommendations.
The BFI have a section on their website 'Jobs and Opportunities' where there are thousands of different jobs to found in film, the BBC, ITV and Sky have programs set up to help people get involved and get working in the industry.