MEST1 Section B: The British film industry

Write a one-sentence definition of what makes a film British.
Whether or not a film is British could depend on many different factors, it could depend on if the film was made in Britain or if it was funded from within Britain, if the cast is British or if the general subject matter is about Britain or general British culture.

What is the difference between a Hollywood production context and production context of a British film?
The difference between Hollywood productions and British productions is that Hollywood's productions tend to generally have a very high budget, rely on the celebrity casts/cameos and generally stories based on "wowing" their audiences in order to anchor them in. However, in comparison, British productions tend to focus much more on character driven stories, have much more of a smaller budget and they rely heavily on their advertisement being word of mouth or through production companies and even film festivals.

When did the James Bond franchise start?
The James Bond franchise started in the 1960s

In terms of film censorship and graphic content, what began to change in British film in the 1970s and 1980s?
During the 1970s and 1980s there was a huge continual evolution of the censorship system for films. This was due to the fact that there was a massive rise in British films that had overtly sexual content and other extremely "taboo" topics such as violence on screen. This meant that many films were under scrutiny for their ratings and eventually had to be filtered down. For example, A Clockwork Orange was actually banned for it's use of high amounts of violence and sexual scenes.

What groups are often represented in British film? Give examples of films these groups feature in.
The groups that are very often represented in British film are the British youth, for example in films such as A Clockwork Orange and Attack the Block. Combined with this representation of the youthful group, the British films tend to focus a lot more on issues of class, politics, education and social hierarchies which are issues that generally what concern the British culture.

What does the Factsheet suggest might be the audience appeal of British film?
The fact sheet suggest that one of the biggest thing to appeal to the British film audience are the actors. The British actors are a lot more easily identified as British and are generally associated with specific genres of British Films. For example, Hugh Grant is considered and almost always associated with British romantic comedies.