An Introduction to the film industry

On Friday 19th November, our media class went on a trip to London to the British Film Institute. The day began with a talk from Chris Bruce, followed by a Question and Answer session with Damian Jones (producer of Kidulthood, Adulthood). Chris Bruce began with an introduction to the film industry and provided us with a lot of useful information and comparisons between the UK and USA film industry. He also gave us an insight into funding structures, how to cut costs, production (a brief history), film in the UK and marketing and distribution.
Following the talk from Chris Bruce, Damian Jones answered questions from the audience and answered "what does a producer actually do?", stating they have two roles, firstly being creative in making the film, and secondly, dealing with the financial side of issues and managing budgets. He talked about his past projects and how they were funded, explaining that no one wanted to fund Kidulthood at first, but because it was so successful, as soon as the sequel was set to be released, it was easy to find potential funding.
The third and fourth talks were about Marketing and Distribution (how films are advertised to get publicity) and Exhibition UK (showing films in cinemas - first done in 1910)