- difference in production Idents for Working Title [WT] or Indie
- the importance of company idents
SUMMARY:
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- short audio visual clips played before films
- first thing to see at a film opening
- one of the simplest area of film openings
- showing their brand to the audience
- usually 3 company idents to spread the risks
- usual to be 1 - 5 secondslong per ident
- idents for conglomerate or subsidiaries are longer than indie idents
- a lot of production companies competing
- Big Six are dominant both in distribution and production
What are Idents?
An Ident is the identity production companies. It is one of the simplest area of all in the aspect of film openings. It's usual for the idents to be between 1-5 seconds long per ident. They are very important since there are so many Production Companies competing. However, the Production Companies in the Big Six such as Warner Bros., 20th Century Fox, Paramount Pictures, Universal Studios, Sony Pictures Entertainment, and Walt Disney Studios are the most dominant both in production and distribution, therefore, it's very easy for them to get a theatrical screening. The Ident is also showing their brand to the audience. It is very common to see at least 3 Company Idents this way the risk is spread. Sometimes you only see one Ident which is very unusual. There is often an audio bridge between the Idents. However, you are going to see more signifier, intertextuality, and horror color scheme in company Idents that are focused on horror genre.
Below are some examples of Company Idents.
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Similarly, there are variations for Idents. They change their look to adapt to the genre such as sci-fi, Horror etc. (Below are some examples)
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What's the purpose of an Ident?
The main purpose of an ident is branding. BBC One ident is simple and plain so this way they can save the money and spend the saved money on tv shows. Another purpose is to sell the company to the viewers and production companies.
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Here are some more general information about distribution companies:
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RESEARCH (HARRIET'S):
Idents - what are they
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| The purpose of an ident on slideshare |
Idents are short audio-visual clips which play before films - essentially company logos
- Idents for conglomerates or subsidiaries are longer than indie idents, and as they have more budget are usually made digitally rather than practically.
- from the examples I look at (link to post here)
- idents last 5-20 seconds
- usually 2-4 before a film
- there aren't conventionally less than 2
- some indie films do not have idents before the film starts at all
Here are some examples of idents from the Big Six conglomerates (Warner Bros., 20th Century Fox, Paramount Pictures, Universal Studios, Sony Pictures Entertainment, and Walt Disney Studios)
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Purpose of idents
- Sound effects used are sometimes used to signify film genre, or are unique to the ident
- the Film4 ident for example has its own sound effect
- for horror films the ident is often changed to fit the horror genre, and sometimes comedy, but not for most genres
- For the Big Six, idents are long, use cgi and have grand orchestral music (if there is no audio bridge)
- more expensive
- gold and silver used a lot
- images which show scale (the earth, a mountain, the sky)
- There is a certain level of risk with attaching a company's ident to a film, as if the film is a flop it is then attached to that company (the reverse is also true - if a film is massively successful)
- eg Nightmare Before Christmas - Disney did no believe it would be successful, so on theatrical release it did not have the Disney ident - only after it was a massive success was the ident put at the start of the film on the dvd
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Indie v Conglomerate
In class we compared 2 films: '71 produced by the indie company Warp, and Les Mis by the subsidiary Working Title
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Indie v Conglomerate
In class we compared 2 films: '71 produced by the indie company Warp, and Les Mis by the subsidiary Working Title
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| '71 |
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| Les Mis |
- domestic total gross = total combined revenue from ticket sales
- Box Office does not account for tax, budget/profit sharing
- Typical Warp and WT examples: WT made 100x more than Warp
- Les Mis is not a tentpole ($100m+)
- Budget still too high for Independent uk company
- WT had a Big Six distributor (Universal), Warp had an Indie (Roadside Attractions)
- Les Mis released at Christmas - holiday for blockbusters/family films
- That option not available to Warp (but possible counter-programming...)
- Cinemas will only accept longer running time for films with high Box Office potential (blockbuster movies)
- The longer the runtime the less screenings a cinema can do in 1 day
- Youth/family market are key demographic for cinemas
- WT typical low age rating (MPAA PG-13/BBFC 12) v Warp typically high age rating (MPAA R/BBFC 18)
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| fragment form Les Mis territories |
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| screenshot of all of '71's territories |
- these 2 screenshots show the vast difference between the amount of theatrical distribution an indie and conglomerate/subsidiary can achieve
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