Who holds the most power in terms of influencing what films get made and seen?

There are varied stages in the film production cycle that help a film get made and then seen. The film production cycle contains different groups that contribute towards and influence the film, such as the audience/ consumer, the studio and production cost, the writer, the stars, the director and the producer. In my opinion the audience holds the most power in terms of influencing what films get made and seen.

I think that the audience holds the most power because if there were no audience to watch a film, there would not be a way that it can get feedback and gain more viewers. For example, ‘Les miserable’ was a very successful theatre production that has been also made into a film and without the audience both the theatre shows and film wouldn’t be as successful. This is because of the film reviews and word of mouth from friends and family which has helped make the audience bigger. It took in £5.2 million in its opening weekend, and a extra £1.4m coming from previews, and the majority of that audience had recommended it to other people.

On the other hand, it can be argued that marketing and advertisement can be the power source for influencing what films get made and seen rather than the audience. The more something gets advertised the more likely people will be attracted to it and go and watch it. If the film that is being advertised has a certain actor or celebrity in the film, it is more likely that the audience will view it just to see them. Examples of this are ‘The Notebook’ which has Ryan Gosling in, or like in the film ‘Charlie St Cloud’ where the main actor is Zac Efron. He’s starred in High School Musical 1,2 and 3, Charlie St Cloud, 17 again, The Lucky One, New Year’s Eve and many more. He is adored and loved by millions of girls and boys worldwide, but especially the women.

Another argument against my point of the audience holding the most power is the media conglomerates. A media conglomerate is the media ownership that markets the films. They own the film studio, record labels, books, radio publishing, movies, Internet platforms and TV stations and have a lot of power with what gets seen due to the advertisement methods. The synergy of a film also contributes to the marketing. If the film company has the budget, it can work together with other companies to help promote more things that attract the audience. Such as Disney; has the Disney shop, the kids channel, the films and the Theme Parks which are all well-known and help promote the company to be successful.

 

Another reason why the audience holds the most power in terms of influencing what films get made and seen is because of the amount of people who watch the films on the Internet. It does decrease the viewing figures at the cinema but if they watch the films on ‘Netflix’ or ‘LoveFilm’ it is giving the film company money. Also, with the audience downloading films on them websites, it is increasing the likelihood of them spreading by word of mouth how good the films are, which leads to people paying to watch them. The audience is holding the power with what films get made and seen because it gives the production company a good idea of what audiences like which helps them produce more films that will attract people.

In conclusion I think that the audience holds the most power in terms of influencing what films get made and seen, the main reason being that without the audience, there would not be any feedback from the films and no way for people to know how good it is. This means that no improved films can be made and that the production company would find it hard to create a good film.