Essay question

Who holds the most power in terms of influencing what films get made and seen?
There are varied stages in the film production cycle. Production, distribution, exhibition and marketing all have different influences on what films are made to be like with the help of audiences, consumers, studios, production companies, writers, stars, directors and all importantly the producer. It is arguable that all of these hold power in the influence of what films are made and seen and in this essay I will explore the ways in which different people influence what films are made and seen.

One arguement, which I myself think is the strongest, is that the audience holds the most power of what films get made and seen. Arguably, the people who physically make the films (producers/writers/production companies/directors) are majorly influenced in what they make by the audience. If the producers for example see that a film such as Harry Potter is doing well through box office stats, they may try to make their film similar to Harry Potter knowing that there is an interest in the fantasy series. At the end of the day, the audience will only go to see a film if they have some sort of interest in it, for example a film such as Twilight had many people interested due to the books which were written before the film was created, so when they film was created, it caused people to speculate in what the films were going to turn out to be like, which meant that they went to see them due to the interest they had in them.

On the other hand, it could also be argued that the studios also have a lot of the power as they choose where the films will be distributed. For example, if the studio decides to distribute a film to a cinema which isn't popular and easy to get to, it could put potential consumers and audience off seeing it which would decrease the amount of people going to see a film. Studios also have the power of what times a cinema shows a film so they could choose different times at different cinemas in order to get more people to see a film in whichever cinema they are closest to, for example Odeon might show a film at 15.30 but Vue might show it at 15.15 which gives the consumer more choice to go to a more convient cinema.

Another argument is that people who illegally watch films on websites such as Priate Bay also influence what films get made and seen. I think this is a strong arguement because if more and more films keep getting watched illegally, film production companies may not make enough profits meaning they might be unable to make films in the future. It could also mean that in the next film the production makes will have a smaller budget meaning the quality of films get worse and worse which might stop cinemas from showing them due to the quality worsening and people becoming disinterested in the films.

In conclusion, I think that all of these are important factors in what films get made and seen but I think that the audience has the biggest impact on what films get made and seen as they are the initially the beginning of the film production cycle as the majority of film making has to be based around what the audience/consumers want because if you make a film which has interest, it won't get seen which will mean all the money on the production will have been wasted.