Film Industry: Blinded By The Light case study
Background reading and production research
Read the following interviews and features on Blinded By The Light:
1) What is the story behind the production of the film?
Adapted from a book called Greetings From Bury Park by Sarfraz Manzoor (a play on 'Greetings From Asbury Park' - a Bruce Springsteen album). The memoir outlined his experiences growing up in Luton in the 1980s and discovering the music of Springsteen.
2) What was the audience reaction to the film?
common reactions is that people say they were touched by the depiction of the friendship of Javed and Roops," to the extent that people now tweet me to tell of the friend who was “their Roops” – the one who introduced them to a life-changing musician or band. My mate has become a noun." said Sarfraz Manzoor
3) Why is the Sundance Film Festival such an important part of the film industry - particularly for lower budget films?
The goal of the festival was to showcase American-made films, highlight the potential of independent film, and increase visibility for filmmaking in Utah.
Funding and industry contexts
1) What was the budget for Blinded By The Light and which companies contributed to the production budget?
Blinded By The Light cost around $15m to make. Bend It Films developed the film with support from Levantine Films and Ingenious Media.
2) Research the Bend It Networks website. What other films and projects has the company been involved with?
Bride and prejudice ,Beecham house, Desi rascals , what's cooking? and more
3) Research Warner Bros. Pictures and New Line Cinema on the Warners website here. Summarise the history of New Line Cinema in a short paragraph.
It was founded in 1967 by Robert Shaye as an independent film distribution company then throughout the years it kept developing as it had a successful history. The company established itself as a leader in the American film industry before diversifying into animation, television, and video games
4) Read this Variety interview with director Gurinder Chadha explaining how the project came about - including budget details. What attracted Gurinder Chadha to the project and how did she manage to get the film made?
Chadha is a huge Springsteen fan, who pursued her dream of making a movie about The Boss’ music based on the true-life memoir of co-writer (and fellow diehard) Sarfraz Manzoor. Warner Bros and New Line Cinema, who acquired it for the $15 million it cost to make.
Distribution
Read this Deadline feature on the distribution deal for Blinded By The Light and answer the following questions:
1) Which company won the distribution rights after the all-night auction and for how much?
New Line and Warner Bros won an auction
2) Which other companies were rumoured to be bidding for the distribution rights?
Rumoured to have included Fox Searchlight, Lionsgate and others.
3) According to the article, what was the 'allure' of Blinded By The Light?
Some of the allure of Blinded by the Light had to do with the surprisingly universal appeal of Springsteen’s coming-of-age tunes, which tell honest stories about a hardscrabble upbringing, ambition and the fight to break free of all shackles to do something worthwhile with one’s life.
4) UK distribution was secured by eOne Entertainment. Visit the eOne About Us page on their website - what do they claim to offer under the heading 'Passion meets possibility?'
eOne enables every step in the entertainment value chain from development and production to marketing and distribution. With the reach of a studio and the flexibility of an indie, we share bold stories with audiences around the world.
Marketing, promotion and reception
1) What does the trailer suggest regarding genre and the potential audience pleasures of Blinded By The Light?
In terms of genre it gives a bit of everything like , musical, comedy, coming of age story, romantic and more. It may be giving nostalgia to those who lived in the 1980s and giving them flashbacks of Bruce Springsteen and to those who were his fans and it may be reminding the audience how life was like back then and some may be getting personal identity with Javed and how his family and culture is like and some people may relate and have had a similar family, dad or life that they went through like Javed.
2) What TV shows and websites did interviews with writer, director and stars of Blinded By The Light? Why are interviews a good way to promote a new film release?
The One Show (BBC1) , Bend it networks , these are known tv shows that people regularly watch and are global so its a very good promotion and advertising way to show people the movie and persuade them to watch it.
3) What did film posters for Blinded By The Light feature and where did they appear? You may need to research this on Google Images.
They appeared on billboards, buses everywhere around the world, in new jersey, Luton. London, Paris. Traditional marketing: trailer, film poster with review quotes. Also Premieres occurred in London, Luton and Asbury Park, New Jersey (attended by Bruce Springsteen).
4) What social media accounts did Blinded By The Light use to promote the film? Note: some sites may be blocked if you are working in school - you will need to use your phone or complete your research at home.
Heavy social media presence – Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube.
5) Select three posts from the Blinded By The Light Instagram page and explain how they promote the film.
2nd post the quote illustrates about Javeds character and he is not alone through the racism against Pakistanis and that people should always speak up and stand up for him , just like his teacher.
A picture with his girlfriend this may interest different audiences as the relationship is between a white British girl and a Pakistani kid this shows diversity ad it may be illustrating that the genre of blinded by the light could be a rom-com.
the get tickets now post showing the sign in lutor in the background could be telling the audience and target the people who lived in London in Luton.
6) Go to the Bend It Networks YouTube channel. How does Gurinder Chadha introduce the channel? What other content is on the Bend It Networks YouTube channel?
She introduced it as a channel about the audience and her connecting through comedy, drama cooking, vines, fashion , if its desi and it will interest the audiences.
7) Look at the box office figures for Blinded By The Light from The Numbers website. How much did it make at the box office and why do you think it was largely unsuccessful?
It made 18 million dollars so it lost a lot on money, I think it was unsuccessful because of the date it was released it wasn't a holiday type of movie so it shouldn't have been released in august 14th it should have been released near May or June.
8) Click on the tabs with further information (such as 'News', 'Box Office' and 'Video Sales'). Copy and paste some more statistics or sales figures to add to your understanding of the film's financial performance.
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