A Field In England concluded

Media Magazine: the appeal of art house cinema

1) Summarise the article in 50 words.

An art film is typically a serious, independent film, aimed at a niche market rather than a mass market audience.character. In other words, they are films that are purposely difficult to understand or ‘read’. Those who think of cinema as being simply entertainment, which is easier to read, are rarely likely to watch an art house film.

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

Some of the suggested audience pleasures for art house film may be the interest of the audience and things which they may be able to relate to. 

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).

Some audiences will struggle with art house film as it may not follow the usual conventions of the films which they have seen and may be difficult to understand.

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

The main audiences are generally the middle class or older generations and this may because they are more intellectual and are therefore able to make a clearer understanding in the films as some of them are deliberately difficult to understand and the older audiences as they have a particular interest in some of the films and may not find what the current generations of film makers would consider to be popular and mainstream and therefore unlikely to create revenue.


5) What type of audience would A Field In England appeal to? What about Chicken?

A field in England would appeal to a niche audience, which is why I think that the release strategy was successful as the audiences which had a particular interest would have gone to cinema to see it anyways for the full experience. I think that both chicken and a field in England would appeal to an older audience as they are bound to have a small audience I think it is likely to be an older generation as they are thought to be wiser and will therefore want to watch it, particularly with a field in England it was set in a battlefield and the older generation are bound to be interested in something which is set from their time and will be able to easily remember the war and maybe even relate to it.

A Field In England: BFI report on the release strategy and commercial success

1) Read this BFI Insight report into the release and reception of the film. What was the purpose of the report? 

The report talks about whether or not the distribution strategy was a success or not so that future films producers and distribution companies can decide whether or not they should use this or similar strategy in the future.

2) What was the budget for A Field In England?

-- 300,000 GBP


3) What were the key numbers in terms of cinema box office takings, TV viewers, VOD and DVD sales? 

-- Box Office takings -  £21,399
-- TV reach - 918,000
-- VOD and DVD - 1462 

4) What was the primary target audience for A Field In England? Does this surprise you? How does it contrast with your answer to question 5 in the tasks above?

The target audience by the distribution company was actually 18-25 year olds which is something I find very surprising and completely contradicts my answer in question 5 for the tasks above, however I may be able to see where they came from, as they may have thought that someone in this age may have been interested in war and drugs which is how it would have been for most mainstream films which focus on these things, however I don't think that people of this age would be able to understand this.

5) What did the report conclude with regards to social media and the marketing campaign? How does this link to our Chicken case study?

Chicken use their social media page for people to respond to people and answer questions so that people will become interested in the film as it generates some attention. The marketing plan for "a field in England" was to build interest across all platforms – Channel 4, Film4, Film4OD, Picture house Cinemas, the related websites and social media channels and through VOD channels.

6) Finally, what was the BFI's conclusion with regards to the unusual release strategy for A Field In England? Was it a success? What evidence is provided to argue this point?

This unusual release strategy brought a large amount of attention to the film and released a lot more views then films which got even more views then some other films which had a much larger budget and had a lot longer to make and release the film. It also received a much larger number of reviews, which would be expected of a much larger film.