History of the British Film Industry
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Transcript of History of the British Film Industry
BRIEF HISTORY OF THE BRITISH FILM
INDUSTRYBy Bethany Bouchareb
Early history
• Emerged in the late 19th century
• In the first decade of the 20th century more than 30 film studios were established in and around London
• Success with British films faded as America begun creating feature length films which were more expensive and heavily marketed
• In 1925, the British film industry were making fewer than 40 feature length films a year
CINEMATOGRAPH FILMS ACT 1927
• An act that was created by the government
• A quota was set for British made films and this quota had to to be met by the distributors and exhibitors
• The production of British made films doubled by the end of the decade
• This also established new production companies
• However this is also the blamed reason for creating a marker of poor quality, low costing films and quota ‘quickies’
1930’s
• The ‘talkies’ (sound film) had a good effect on the British film industry
• The most successful British film company in this time was founded by a Hungarian: London Film Productions
• In the late 1930’s the British film industry came to a halt again due to being bankrupt from over expanding
• Quality tests were included with quotas to avoid quota quickies.
WORLD WAR 2 AND POST WAR
• Was in recession at the beginning
• Cinema attendance rose
• The British film company tried to compete with America in studio size
• In 1947, America stopped distributing films to the UK
CINEMATOGRAPHIC ACT REVISITED
• The exhibitors quota was raised
• The National Film Finance Corporation (NFFC) was introduced to distribute loans for film production
1950’S-1980s
• The British film industry was at competition with new technologies (radio and TV)
• The British film industry had expertise in special effects (A space odyssey)
• British filmmakers begun to make film versions of TV programs
• The NFFC was abolished
• The quota system was suspended
THE LAST 10 YEARS
• The UK film council was launched
• Bridget Jones Diary was a big hit for the British film industry
• Harry Potter was British made but American funded
• In 2008, Britain was the 11th largest producer of films in the world