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Although new and exciting ways to produce films have come about, such as the use of CGI and other digital effects, The Inbetweeners Movie did not need any of this to be successful, and it would have seemed very out of place if this had been done.
To make up for this 'wow' factor, the film relied on a comedy element and the Inbetweeners franchise itself, and additionally, with the recent introduction of Blu-ray, more sales of the film were made in this way.
When the film was released as several disc copies, a number of different special features were added, such as
a making-of documentary, various deleted scenes, cast commentaries, an extended cut including an additional scene, and a blooper reel (to give the audience a feel for the production stages), as well as footage from the film's London premiere (to show how the film was also exhibited).
This would have convinced more people to purchase the film, had they watched the film in the cinema and loved it or wanted to but not had the money.
The film became the third fastest-selling British home media release of 2011, after Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Parts 1 & 2, selling approximately 575,000 copies in the first day of its release, 17th August 2011, and became one of the five best-selling DVDs of the year in the UK; this suggests that new technology has had a positive effect on the film industry, as DVD sales tend to increase overall profit of a film by a significant amount, as the public sometimes prefer to watch a film in the comfort of their own home, and prefer to pay less money for a long-term investment, rather than paying more for a one-time showing.
The Inbetweeners Movie was also sold to online distributors such as Netflix and LOVEFiLM, which would have also had a positive effect on the overall profit.
With regards to marketing, YouTube and Twitter played a big part in circling information about the film, and so the introduction of social networking sites is just as important as the internet in general.
Whilst it was important that production went underway in the same fashion as the TV show, so as to please an already existing audience, hence why Young Films and Bwark Productions played such a massive part in the development of The Inbetweeners Movie, it was just as important to have distribution rights sold to companies which had a good name for themselves and could be trusted to do a good job.
Because of this, Entertainment Film Distributors claimed the rights to the film for cinema exhibition, whilst Channel 4 retained the rights for DVD sales, as Film4 Productions had also backed the film.
EFD is the UK's leading independent film distributor, and has released many BAFTA and Oscar winning films over the years, as well as distributing films made by New Line Cinema, which put the company in a good position to distribute The Inbetweeners Movie widely across the UK successfully.
FIlm4 Productions is also notably well known throughout the UK population, and has worked with a number of different successful films, such as Slumdog Millionaire and Shaun of the Dead, which would have given the audience another incentive to watch the film.
The film was not marketed in any outstanding way, as a poster and trailer were made for the film, but nothing else had been given much thought.
The only exception to this was Film4's decision to allow the four main cast members of the movie to take over their Twitter account in the months leading up to the film's release, which created a certain amount of hype which the trailer and poster failed to do.
The film's success was mainly due to the content itself and the already existing fanbase, however, and so the fact that the series' production companies continued to develop the movie, working in sync with each other, with the help of successful distributors was the main reason the film did as well as it did.
As audiences no longer feel an extensive need to view films once they have been released in cinemas, the film industry tends to sell rights to films to online distributors to gain a profit this way, as people nowadays are more than happy to watch films on smaller screens, as the benefits of home media sometimes outweigh the benefits of cinema exhibition, for example home comforts and cheaper prices.
This is good for the film industry, as even though they are sometimes losing audiences in cinemas, the sales they make online balance out this loss.
However, as films are sometimes leaked on illegal sites, this can also have a very negative effect on the film industry.
If audiences do not pay to view films, the companies who have invested in them will obviously not make any profit.
Furthermore, as the usage of web-enabled phones is increasing, the film industry has to go about altering the way trailers, clips and websites etc. can be viewed.
For example, as Twitter can be accessed on any web-enabled phone, the publicity of The Inbetweeners Movie increased in this way, as information could be circulated by the touch of a button and could be accessed from anywhere at all - this would have increased word of mouth as conversations about the film could be enhanced by this source of technology - and so even though more effort was required, this kind of marketing is not money or drastically time consuming and generally benefited the sales of the film.
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The Inbetweeners Movie was directed by Ben Palmer, who also directed the TV show 'The Inbetweeners', which is where the film sprouted from.
Christopher Young produced the film with the help of the series creators, Damon Beesley and Iain Morris, who co-wrote the storyline together.
Both Young Films (Christopher Young) and Bwark Productions (Beesley and Morris) are relatively small companies, and so it's no surprise that The Inbetweeners Movie had such a low budget to work with, which was only an estimated £3,500,000.
As well as this, the film was rated R, which would have limited its audience drastically. However, it wasn't aimed at younger people anyway, as the primary audience were generally those which enjoyed the TV show, mostly 15-25 in age, to signify those approaching sixth form and those who had just left university,
and so this didn't have much effect on the success of the film, as it seemed to do exceedingly well for itself, earning £13,200,000 in its opening weekend alone.
Limited showings in the US eventually brought the gross of the film to £55 million, when converted and added to British sales.
This proves that, although the size of the companies involved did limit the success of the film, it was still possible to achieve a kind of accomplishment.
Obviously, when compared to bigger films made my bigger companies, this little victory is overshadowed in terms of overall profit, and the size of the companies working on the film and the fact that it originated from a British TV show also meant that worldwide promotion and distribution was out of the question; but it did gain the title of most successful British comedy in cinema history (so far), as it set a new record for the most successful all-time opening weekend achieved by a comedy film in the UK, overtaking Bridget Jones: The Edge Of Reason and The Hangover Part II and retaining its number 1 position in the UK film charts for 4 weeks, which is definitely not something to sulk about.
TV can help to promote the film industry, as trailers are frequently shown during adverts between shows, and several channels are also dedicated to solely distributing films, whilst others tend to allocate certain times to play certain films.
As I have previously said, Film4 was involved in the production of The Inbetweeners Movie, and so the film has aired on Channel 4 several times since its release.
This would have encouraged more people to buy the film, increasing overall sales, and more profit would have been made for the Channel Four Television Corporation as well.
Moreover, The Inbetweeners Movie is proof that phone companies can also help the film industry, as Phones4U gave away The Inbetweeners box sets with the Samgsung Galaxy Ace, which not only promoted the show but created hype surrounding the new film.
To add to this, according to Sally Dawson (BIG Group), "Filmology were instrumental in developing the relationship with the film's UK distributors, not only delivering the DVDs and procuring the rights to use the film's images, but providing a holiday competition prize to Crete, too."
A soundtrack to the film was also incorporated into the development of The Inbetweeners Movie, but was released after the film was out, therefore would have only contributed to the overall profit of the film on its own, rather than promoting the DVD or cinema showings.
Personally, if I like the look of a film which has been released in cinemas, I will go to the cinema to see it, as I love the atmosphere and quality which comes with this way of viewing.
If I have enjoyed the film, I will most likely buy the DVD, as I tend to watch films over and over in my spare time.
Occasionally, I watch films on Netflix and LOVEFiLM, as members of my family have recently purchased these online packages and have introduced me to these alternatives, but I do this very rarely and it is something that is new to me.
I am aware that people will skip the two steps I take when watching films and will class my viewing habits as slightly old-fashioned, however, as cinema prices are quite expensive nowadays and DVDs sometimes can be as well.
Online distributors cater for people who like to watch a number of different films, but maybe only once, and so paying a certain price monthly and having a range of films to choose from is better in their eyes than purchasing individual films.
I generally only find out about a film if I have seen the trailer on TV or when I have been browsing the internet on my laptop; I don't specifically search for information, unless it is a film which is part of a series I am already interested in, and I don't use my phone to view any clips.
When people have spoken to me about films, though, they have used their phones to play trailers and search for more information, and I am aware that this is a good way to increase word of mouth.
The Inbetweeners Movie was very well received in terms of cinema exhibition and broke records within this field and also in DVD sales, and so maybe I am no exception when it comes to viewing films in what we would now call traditional ways after all; but the film industry is definitely changing all the time and maybe this will not be the case for much longer.
The Inbetweeners Movie was specifically UK based, as the TV series was only shown on British television, and so the audience for the film was going to be confined to a UK audience as well.
The majority of companies that worked on The Inbetweeners Movie were also British, which would have affected who their target audience was going to be, as distributing across the world would have proven difficult with so little money and experience, as well as the fact that people from other ethnic backgrounds might not have been interested in the film at all, because of its specifically British nature, and an audience might have been harder to gain from people who had never heard of 'The Inbetweeners' before.
Despite this, limited viewings of the film were shown in the US, but it didn't receive very positive reviews, and so it was announced that an American adaptation of the film was to be made instead, with the help of Paramount Pictures.