'Chicken' case study

Funding

1) What was the budget for Chicken?

    £110,000

2) How did Joe Stephenson end up raising the money to make the film?

   He made the money for the film by using his connections to wealthy people and people already in the industry.

3) How does the Chicken budget compare to a Hollywood-funded British blockbuster such as Spectre or Paddington 2?

Spectre had a budget of £192,375,000.
Paddington 2 had a budget of £30,780,800.00.
chicken's budget is substantially smaller than both of these films.

4) Joe Stephenson tried to secure funding from organisations that help low-budget filmmakers. What is the BFI Film Fund and how does it contribute to the British film industry?

The BFI uses National Lottery funds to develop and support original UK filmmakers and films, and to increase the audiences who can enjoy them.

5) Why do you think Chicken failed to secure funding from the BFI Film Fund?

It's subject matter was too niche, the ending may have been too much of a touchy subject for a seemingly happy-film

Production

1) What difficulties did the film run into during production?

Filmed in 19 days, almost all external locations so victim to rain, issues with lighting etc.

2) How many days did the film take to shoot?

19

Distribution

1) Why did the film fail to secure a distribution deal when first made in 2014?

2) What film festivals did Chicken feature at between 2014-2016?

3) Why are film festivals an effective way for a low-budget film to secure a distribution deal?

4) When was Chicken released in cinemas in the UK?

may 2016

5) Why do you think film subscription service MUBI chose the film to feature on the service?

6) Why was Film4 a good choice to give the film its UK television premiere?

7) When will the film be released on iTunes and other video-on-demand services in the USA and Canada?


Promotion

Note: some of these pages will be blocked in school - you will need to complete those particular questions at home.

1) What does the trailer suggest regarding genre and the potential audience pleasures of Chicken?

2) What synergy can you find between the trailer and other traditional marketing methods such as the film poster?

3) Why are reviews from industry figures such as Mark Kermode so important to a film's success?

4) How does the Chicken Twitter account create and maintain interest in the film?

5) Who does the Twitter account re-tweet? How does this help to promote the film?

6) How does the Chicken Facebook page use images and video content to promote the film?

7) What pages are liked by the Chicken Facebook page? What does this tell you about the film and potential target audience?

8) Go to the website of the B Good Picture Company. What does the homepage say and what other films have they produced or are in production currently?

9) Now go to the B Good Picture Company's website page for Chicken. How does this page promote Chicken specifically?

10) Go to the B Good Picture Company YouTube channel. What videos feature on the channel? How do they help to promote Chicken?


Final reading: Media Magazine - the appeal of arthouse cinema

Complete the following tasks to improve your understanding of arthouse film and the possible audience pleasures that the genre offers:

Read Beyond Hollywood: Reading Arthouse Cinema. This is in MM45 on page 24 - go to our Media Magazine archive to find the article. 

1) Summarise the article in 50 words.

Arthouse films are artistic rather than commercial. They are films that are difficult to understand. An example of this is ‘Lore’ which considers what might have happened to the children of the SS after World War 2. This could be successful in Hollywood  but too downbeat in LA.

2) What are some of the suggested audience pleasures for arthouse film?

3) Why do some audiences struggle with arthouse film? Refer to some media theory here (there are some important media theories discussed in the article itself).

4) To what extent is arthouse film only for the middle classes and older audiences? Why might this be the case?

5) What type of audience would be interested in Chicken?