Production Contexts

Independent movies are feature films which are created mostly or completely outside of a major studio. The film is considered an independent only when less than a half of its finance comes from a major studio. Independent films might find it hard to get a distributor, this is because unlike the Hollywood and their subsidiaries which already have distributors; independent films mostly are complete before they find a distributer, which mostly happens at different film festivals. When the distributor would want to acquire the film from the owner they would buy it for a set fee, meaning that the producers would not receive any further payments for the money it would make during the sales. Another option is that they might offer them a cut from the film's profits, which means that they will receive a certain percentage from the amount of money that the film earned. This kind of process is called acquisition. Independent films can be funded in anyway the producer wants. They might fund it themselves, get help from different websites like kickstarter which might help fund it. The financial determinants depend on the amount of money the producer has or is able to raise to film its movie. It is best if an Independent movie has at least one star casted into the movie as this might help with securing the distribution because the movie might sell better if the audiences see someone that they can identify.

International co-production movies are created when two or more countries decide to come together to make a film. Many of the films which are made outside the USA are international co-productions. The co-productions are made by official agreement between countries, and they seek to achieve economic, cultural and diplomatic goals. They open new markets for films and TV programmes which might increase the quality of the productions because of the share of investment. International co-productions benefit from the share of financial resources. This means that the financial situation depends on those countries who are filming the movie as they share the costs of the production. So, if big production companies from different countries come together to make a film then they will have much more money to produce it rather than if small production companies were supposed to do the same. The funding bodies for such films would be the production companies which are making the film or organisations from those countries which help with such projects. The amount of money that the productions will receive depends on the production companies and the different organisations that might help. The tax incentives depends on the country where the film is being made. This means that the tax that is being paid for the income from the movie is being calculated by the country in which the filming is taking place. Sometimes production companies prefer to enter an international agreement if the tax is lower in the other country and they would earn more money because of that fact.

Developing countries is a third production context which refers to the films that are made mainly in Africa, Asia and Latin America, this kind of productions can also be called third cinema. These films usually cover political and social issues of those countries which lets the people associate with the films as they understand the problems that are covered in there. In Africa, this cinema is called Nollywood and it covers issues like independence and cultural identity. They can easily identify with this cinema as the films usually show a lot of tribes but also, moved on to upper class life, like businessmen and women. Third cinema is a really poor production context as the countries in which it is aren't that rich. This means that the films are made with really low budgets and have amateur actors. The films are also burnt onto CDs after the post-production to lower the costs even more. But because the these films are made with low budget, then any sponsors that they might get and make the budget higher might have control over the production stage of the movie.