Independent Film - I, Daniel Blake


Independent films are more artistic and more about cultural expression than mainstream films are. Independent films usually have a smaller budget and less people involved. Independent films make you think and ask questions more. Since less money is put into independent films profit isn't a main goal.

Ken Loach directed I Daniel Blake, he works for sixteen films, a small independent production company he started.

Sixteen films partnered with a French company called why not productions, who are a fan of loach, they helped make the film.

Eone productions distributed and marketed the film and neither sixteen films or why not productions are not vertically integrated so they can't distribute.

they still needed more funding so they got that form the bbc and bfi.

Ken Loach focuses on the niche genre of social realism and this is the genre of his movies. It isn't a hugely popular genre and doesn't do that well in cinema compared to mainstream genres. He has won a lot of awards and oscars though. It is seen as a gritty genre and he is well known across the world. Ken attracted a lot of people and companies to work on the film e.g why not productions. Ken Loach is all over the marketing e.g poster and trailer  as he is the unique selling point as the cast isn't know so his name will bring people into the cinema.

The film had to do certain things to gain funding from bbc, the bbc and bfs like to fund products which are: British, niche, culturally significant and educational.

Since the film had a low budget production was specific and filmed on real locations not sets and no famous actors could be afforded. Extras also weren't hired and real people were in the background of shots. A lot of the film was also improvisation.

The bbc, which funded the movie, is a public service broadcaster. This means they get there money from public license fees and there remit means they have to give the public products which: are informative/ educational, entertaining, showcase diversity, showcase new talent. This most likely had a effect on the production of the film as there is a very diverse range of characters. The film is also  educational about the gritty reality people go through with the benefit system.

Ken is known for being left wing, pro labour and anti conservative and his political views are clearly reflected in the film and his marketing.

The film can be seen as more mainstream because ken is the director and he is known of and won many awards but other then that it is very niche as it is set in a regional part are Britain which are often hard to sell to a global audience as many people are only familiar with London. People may find this hard to understand because of the strong accents like Americans. People in countries like France received the film better as they weren't expected to be able to understand the film in english and could read subtitles.

Marketing for the film was a lot of traditional media such as posters, trailers and newspapers this is because the target audience for the film is older 40+ as they are more familiar with traditional marketing and use online less then older people.

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