Using Slumdog millionaire as an example, describe how films are produced, distributed and exhibited

For a film to begin its long journey through production, distribution and exhibition, there first needs to be an idea and a script. In the case of Slumdog Millionaire, this was Vikas Swarup’s Q&A, which was picked up by the Producer Christian Colson as he owned the rights to Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? and naturally thought it would be a perfect fit, considering Celador is behind him. It then needs to be made into a script, which in this case was written and of course re-written many times by Simon Beaufoy. The Producer/Film Company (Celador Films & Film4) then needs to acquire a Director who he can work closely with and see the end result in a similar fashion. They do this by using the script as a sort of blueprint for the film – For Slumdog millionaire; this was Danny Boyle who accepted the request to be Director upon hearing Beaufoy was the screenwriter.

Naturally, casting is included in the production stage so that the script can become a meaningful performance. The film-makers travelled to Mumbai and began casting local cast and crew for production in Karjat, even hiring a few slum actors. In amongst this is of course the budgeting. The Producer may reach out to a group of potential financiers, either people or companies, and discuss which to share costs with if needed. In Celador’s case, they sought a U.S. distributor to do this after predicting a $15 million cost. Warner Independent Pictures made a $5 million offer and won the rights to the picture. Of course, once you have your finance plan (which includes budget vs. audience income vs. marketing costs), cast, direct, producer and film crew organised, you can start filming. In Slumdog millionaire, digital cameras were used to enable movement through busy streets of Mumbai to be easier and filming to be done quickly and efficiently.

Post-production can take place after you have your raw footage, which depending on the type of film, can either cost a lot or very little. Films like James Cameron’s Avatar would cost millions of dollars to post-process, yet a film like Slumdog millionaire with very few special effects would have very little post-processing in comparison, with most of the funds likely being used on location. Soundtracks are added and audio edited as well as visual adjustments are finished up in this stage. The soundtrack for Slumdog Millionaire was composed by A.R. Rahman, who planned the score for over two months and finished recording in two weeks. The most famous of the soundtrack was “Jai Ho” which won the Oscar for Best Original Song. Danny Boyle claimed 70% of the impact of the film was down to the sound used in Slumdog Millionaire, using a fusion of western and eastern music styles as well as allowing the diagetic streets of Mumbai to remain in, unlike the norm in Bollywood films.

Next up is distribution. In this stage, it is all about publicity, marketing, film sales and the printing of film reels and making copies of them. When targeting a market, you have to think about the audience and how to target them with your Unique Selling

Point. In the print department, as many copies as can be afforded need to be made and booked into cinemas that can attract a suitable audience to generate revenue for your film. Of course, posters, adverts, trailers, interviews, merchandise, market research etc all helps this process through. Normally this would go fairly smoothly, but this was not the case with Slumdog Millionaire. In May 2008, Warner Independent Pictures, their distributer, was shut down. The rights were transferred to Warner Bros., but they suggested going straight to DVD (of course, not all films have to go to a cinema first, they can be distributed as other forms of media, mainly DVDs or BluRay) as they did not see it being overly successful. Luckily, fox Searchlight Pictures shared 50% of the distribution and handled US distribution into cinemas.

In North America, it expanded into 2,943 cinemas and grossed over $140 at the North American box office after word of mouth increased viewership by 43%, the most for any film since Titanic. After the box office run, the film was released on DVD and BluRay in the United States on 31st March 2009 opening at number 2 on the DVD sales chart, making $14.6 million off 842,000 DVD units. This doubled over the next few months.

In the United Kingdom, the film was released on the 9th January 2009, opening at number 2 at the box office. Word of mouth again attributed to a huge 47% increase in viewings for the second week, rising to the top of the box office, grossing oaround £10million in its first two weeks. As seen in Slumdog Millionaire’s distribution and exhibition, whether or not you reach an audience and make your money back can be a bit of a gamble; if the film had gone straight to DVD, it is unlikely it would have generated nearly as much revenue as it did ($377million+) and in the first weeks it did not necessarily look as successful as it would eventually turn out to be.

After exhibition into the cinemas, the all the people who stand to make or lose money from the film essentially wait and see how well the film does or doesn’t do. In Slumdog Millionaire’s case, it did very well, eventually winning 8 academy awards, 7 BAFTAs and 4 Golden Globes.