Global Media
• What makes something a 'global media text'?
• Is'global' different to international, multinational, transnational etc.?
Global Media
• Does hegemonic status (one dominant power) mean Hollywood films are automatically global?
• Equally, are foreign language media 'global' when read in the UK?
• 'Global' implies similar use in a variety of diverse media markets.
• Does it also imply no 'national' ownership?
Cinema of India
The cinema of India consists of films produced across India, including:
• Mumbai
• Andhra Pradesh
• Assam
• Karnataka
• Kerala
• Punjab
• Tamil Nadu
• West Bengal
Indian films also came to be followed throughout South Asia and the Middle East (modest dress and subdued sexuality of these films was found to be acceptable to the sensibilities of the audience belonging to these regions)
Indian Cinema Overview
• India is the world's largest producer of films, producing close to a thousand films annually.
• About 600 of the total films produced are in Telugu and Hindi, approximately 300 each, while the remaining are in other languages.
• However, Hindi films account for about half of the total revenue generated by cinema in India.
• The provision of 100% foreign direct investment has made the Indian film market attractive for foreign enterprises such as 20th Century Fox, Sony Pictures, and Warner Bros.
• Prominent Indian enterprises such as Zee, UTV and Adlabs also participate in producing and distributing films.
• Tax incentives to multiplexes have aided the multiplex boom in India. By 2003 as many as 30 film production companies had been listed in the National Stock Exchange of India, making the commercial presence of the medium felt although many Indian films are bankrolled through mysterious means.
• The Indian diaspora (people relocating to other countries) constitutes of millions of Indians overseas for which films are made available both through mediums such as DVDs and by screening of films in their country of residence wherever commercially feasible. These earnings, accounting for some 12% of the revenue generated by a mainstream film, contribute substantially to the overall revenue of Indian cinema, the net worth of which was found to be 1.3 billion US Dollars in 2000.
• Facilities for film production in the country include Ramoji Film City in Hyderabad, the home of Telugu film industry, the largest film studio complex in the world
• Music in Indian cinema is another substantial revenue generator, with the music rights alone accounting for 4-5% of the net revenues generated by a film in India.
Indian Film Categories
• Bollywood – the mainstream Hindi films "formulaic story lines, expertly choreographed fight scenes, spectacular song-and-dance routines, emotion-charged melodrama, and larger-than-life heroes.“
• 'Parallel Cinema' movement, prominent in Bengali cinema, Kannada cinema, Malayalam cinema, Tamil cinema and other regional industries, known for its serious content, realism and naturalism.
Presentation Content
• Overview
• History
• Conventions
• Move/lack of movement towards Global
• Influences
• Distribution
Bollywood
• The Hindi language film industry of Mumbai (formerly Bombay)—also known as Bollywood—is the largest and most popular branch of Indian cinema.
• The term "Bollywood" has origins in the 1970s, when India overtook America as the world's largest film producer.
• The Hindi film industry has preferred films that appeal to all segments of the audience and has resisted making films that target narrow audiences. It was believed that aiming for a broad spectrum would maximise box office receipts. However, filmmakers may be moving towards accepting some box-office segmentation, between films that appeal to rural Indians, and films that appeal to urban and overseas audiences.
History
• Following India's independence, the period from the late 1940s to the 1960s are regarded by film historians as the "Golden Age" of Hindi cinema. While commercial Hindi cinema was thriving, the 1950s also saw the emergence of a new Parallel Cinema in Hindi films
• Hindi films also become prominent in Cannes and with the Indian Diaspora, more international critical acclaim was given to Hindi films. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, romance movies and action films emerged followed by gritty, violent films about gangsters.
• Some Hindi filmmakers such as Shyam Benegal continued to produce realistic Parallel Cinema throughout the 1970s. However, the 'art film' came under criticism for not doing enough to encourage commercial cinema.
• Another important film from 1975 was Deewar, directed by Yash Chopra and written by Salim-Javed. A crime film pitting "a policeman against his brother, a gang leader based on real-life smuggler Haji Mastan", portrayed by Amitabh Bachchan, it was described as being “absolutely key to Indian cinema” by Danny Boyle.
History Continued
• The most internationally-acclaimed Hindi film of the 1980s was Mira Nair's Salaam Bombay! (1988).
• During the late 1980s and early 1990s, the pendulum swung back toward family-centric romantic musicals.
• Furthermore, this decade marked the entry of new performers in arthouse and independent films, some of which succeeded commercially, the most influential example being Satya (1998) . The critical and commercial success of Satya led to the emergence of a distinct genre known as Mumbai Noir urban films reflecting social problems in the city of Mumbai. This led to a resurgence of Parallel Cinema by the end of the decade.
• The 2000s saw a growth in Bollywood's popularity in the world. This led the nation's filmmaking to new heights in terms of quality, cinematography and innovative story lines as well as technical advances in areas such as special effects, animation, etc.
• The opening up of the overseas market, more Bollywood releases abroad and the explosion of multiplexes in big cities, led to wider box office successes in India and abroad
Bollywood Finances and Marketing
• In 1995 the Indian economy began showing sustainable annual growth, and Bollywood, as a commercial enterprise, grew at a growth rate of 15% annually – generating CD sales, magazines.
• With growth in commercial appeal the earnings of known Bollywood stars such as Shahrukh Khan reached 30 million rupees per film by the year 2000.
• Female stars such as Madhuri Dixit, too, earned as much as 12.5 million rupees for a film.
• Many actors signed contracts for simultaneous work in 3-4 films.
• Institutions such as the Industrial Development Bank of India also came forward to finance Bollywood films. A number of magazines such as Filmfare,Stardust, Cineblitz etc. became popular.
Bollywood
• Bollywood is more properly referred to as Hindi cinema, though frequent use of poetic Urdu words is fairly common.
• There has been a growing presence of Indian English in dialogue and songs as well.
• It is not uncommon to see films that feature dialogue with English words and phrases, or even whole sentences.
Technical Details
– Songs from Bollywood movies are generally pre-recorded by professional playback singers, with the actors then lip synching the words to the song on-screen, often while dancing.
– Usually sound in Bollywood films is rarely recorded on location. Therefore, the sound is usually created (or recreated) entirely in the studio – although this is changing.
– Dialogues are usually written in an unadorned Hindi or Hindustani that would be understood by the largest possible audience.
– Some movies, however, have used regional dialects to evoke a village setting, or old-fashioned courtly Urdu historical films.
– Contemporary mainstream movies also make great use of English. In fact, many movie scripts are first written in English, and then translated into Hindi.
– Characters may shift from one language to the other to express a certain atmosphere (for example, English in a business setting and Hindi in an informal one).
– Cinematic language, whether in dialogues or lyrics, is often melodramatic and invokes God, family, mother, duty, and self-sacrifice liberally.
Influences
• Musicals –
– Moulin Rouge – Baz Luhrmann’s Bollywood-inlufenced movie fuelled a musical Renaissance
• A. R. Rahman, an Indian film composer, wrote the music for Andrew Lloyd Webber's Bombay Dreams, and a musical version of Hum Aapke Hain Koun has played in London's West End.
• The Bollywood musical Lagaan (2001) was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film
• Danny Boyle's Slumdog Millionaire (2008), which has won four Golden Globes and eight Academy Awards, was also directly inspired by Bollywood films, and is considered to be a "homage to Hindi commercial cinema".
• Several other Hollywood films are also believed to have been inspired by Bollywood films. For example, V. Shantaram’s Do Aankhen Barah Haath (1957) is believed to have inspired the Hollywood film The Dirty Dozen (1967).
• The theme of reincarnation was also popularized in Western popular culture through Bollywood films
• The 1975 film Chhoti Si Baat is believed to have inspired Hitch (2005), which in turn inspired the Bollywood film Partner (2007).
• The influence of Bollywood filmi music can also be seen in popular music elsewhere in the world.
– The Black Eyed Peas' Grammy Award winning 2005 song "Don't Phunk with My Heart" was inspired by two 1970s Bollywood songs: "Ye Mera Dil Yaar Ka Diwana" from Don (1978) and "Ae Nujawan Hai Sub" from Apradh (1972).
– Also in 2005, the Kronos Quartet re-recorded several R. D. Burman compositions, with Asha Bhosle as the singer, into an album You've stolen my heart - Songs From R D Burman's Bollywood, which was nominated for "Best Contemporary World Music Album" at the 2006 Grammy Awards.
– A.R. Rahman’s Jai Ho song from the end of Slumdog Millionaire was remixed by the Pussycat Dolls into English.
– Filmi music composed by A. R. Rahman has frequently been sampled by musicians elsewhere.
Commercial Conventions
• Bollywood films are mostly musicals, and are expected to contain catchy music in the form of song-and-dance numbers woven into the script.
• A film's success often depends on the quality of such musical numbers and the music is often released beforehand.
• Indian audiences expect full value for their money, with a good entertainer generally referred to as paisa vasool, (literally, "money's worth").
• Songs and dances, love triangles, comedy and dare-devil thrills are all mixed up in a three-hour-long extravaganza with an intermission. Such movies are called masala films. These movies are a mixture of many things such as action, comedy, romance etc.
• Most films have heroes who are able to fight off villains all by themselves.
• Melodrama and romance are common ingredients to Bollywood films.
• There are also formulaic features such as : star-crossed lovers and angry parents, love triangles, family ties, sacrifice, corrupt politicians, kidnappers, conniving villains, courtesans with hearts of gold, long-lost relatives and siblings separated by fate, dramatic reversals of fortune, and convenient coincidences.
Other Conventions
• Bollywood conventions are changing.
• A large Indian diaspora in English speaking countries, and increased Western influence at home, have nudged Bollywood films closer to Hollywood models
• Or including topics such as Indians living elsewhere (e.g. Britain).
• Film critic Lata Khubchandani writes,"..our earliest films...had liberal doses of sex and kissing scenes in them. Strangely, it was after Independence the censor board came into being and so did all the strictures."
• Plots now tend to feature Westernised urbanites dating and dancing in clubs rather than centering on pre-arranged marriages.
• Though these changes can widely be seen in contemporary Bollywood, traditional conservative ways of Indian culture continue to exist in India outside the industry and an element of resistance by some to western-based influences.
• Despite this, Bollywood continues to play a major role in fashion in India.
Conventions and Global
• Bollywood initially explored issues of caste and culture in films such as Achhut Kanya (1936) and Sujata (1959).
• Bollywood grew during the 1990s with the release of as many as 215 films in 1991.
• With Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge, Bollywood registered its commercial presence in the Western world – dubbed into Punjabi and English
– A romantic anecdote of second-generation Indians living in Britain who are strongly attached to the traditional values of Indian culture. The frolicking of the lovers in Europe is followed by Raj's struggle to win over the hearts of every member of Simran's family so that they allow him to marry her – was extremely successful in Britain
Overview
• The Hindi film industry has preferred films that appeal to all segments of the audience and has resisted making films that target narrow audiences.
• It was believed that aiming for a broad spectrum would maximise box office receipts.
• However, filmmakers may be moving towards accepting some box-office segmentation, between films that appeal to rural Indians, and films that appeal to urban and overseas audiences.
History of Indian Film
Current Indian Film
• In the 21st century, Indian cinema became a global enterprise.
• Enhanced technology upgraded established cinematic norms of delivering product, radically altering the manner in which content reached the target audience.
• Indian cinema has markets in over 90 countries where films from India are screened.
• The country also participates in international film festivals.
• Indian filmmakers such as Shekhar Kapur, Mira Nair (Monsoon Wedding), Deepa Mehta etc. found success overseas.
• The Indian government extended film delegations to foreign countries such as the United States of America and Japan while the country's Film Producers Guild sent similar missions through Europe.
Spread of Indian Film
• As cinema as a medium gained popularity in the country as many as 1,000 films in various languages of India were produced annually.
• Expatriates in countries such as the United Kingdom and the United States continued to give rise to international audiences for Hindi-language films
• continued to carry "formulaic story lines, expertly choreographed fight scenes, spectacular song-and-dance routines, emotion-charged melodrama, and larger-than-life heroes.“
• This is contrasted by the 'Parallel Cinema' movement, prominent in Bengali cinema, Kannada cinema, Malayalam cinema, Tamil cinema and other regional industries, known for its serious content, realism and naturalism.
Global India
• Indians during the colonial rule bought film equipment from Europe. The British funded wartime propaganda films during the second world war, some of which showed the Indian army pitted against the axis powers, specifically the Empire of Japan, which had managed to infiltrate into India.
• Indian cinema's early contacts with other regions became visible with its films making early inroads into Russia, Middle East, Southeast Asia, and China. Mainstream Hindi film stars like Raj Kapoor gained international fame across Asia and Eastern Europe.
• Indian films also appeared in international fora and film festivals. This allowed 'Parallel' Bengali filmmakers such as Satyajit Ray to achieve worldwide fame, with his films gaining success among European, American and Asian audiences. Ray's work subsequently had a worldwide impact, with filmmakers such as Martin Scorsese, James Ivory, Abbas Kiarostami, Elia Kazan, François Truffaut, Steven Spielberg, Carlos Saura, Jean-Luc Godard, Isao Takahata, Gregory Nava, Ira Sachs and Wes Anderson being influenced by his cinematic style
• Many Asian and 'Third World' countries increasingly came to find Indian cinema as more suited to their sensibilities than Western cinema. Jigna Desai holds that by the 21st century Indian cinema had managed to become 'deterritorialized', spreading over to the many parts of the world where Indian diaspora was present in significant numbers, and becoming an alternative to other international cinema.
• Indian cinema has more recently begun influencing Western musical films, and played a particularly instrumental role in the revival of the genre in the Western world.
Slumdog Millionaire Videos
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIzbwV7on6Q – US Trailer
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c0DKHKVWwkg – UK Trailer
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jph31ziJ_Lw – Spanish Trailer
• http://www.indiaglitz.com/channels/hindi/trailer/10776.html - Indian Trailer
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rV-kBufZgug&feature=related
• http://www.revver.com/video/1299138/slumdog-millionaire-all-access-interview-desihitscom/ - Interviews
Independent Film Key Players
• Pathé – Involved with cinema production, distribution, the international management of a catalogue of more than 500 films, running cinemas (EuroPalaces network which federates the Pathé theatres and Gaumont)
• Film4 – Film company run by Channel Four
• Fox Searchlight - is a film division of 20th Century Fox, established in 1994. It specialises in indie and British films, alongside dramedy and horror, and is variously involved with the production and/or distribution of these films.
Hollywood Movies
Blockbusters
• Blockbusters emphasize spectacle, star power, and high production value, all of which entail an enormous budget. Blockbusters typically rely upon star power and massive advertising to attract a huge audience. A successful blockbuster will attract an audience large enough to offset production costs and reap considerable profits. Such productions carry a substantial risk of failure, and most studios release blockbusters that both over- and underperform in a year.
Independent film
• Studios supplement these movies with independent productions, made with small budgets and often independently of the studio corporation. Movies made in this manner typically emphasize high professional quality in terms of acting, directing, screenwriting, and other elements associated with production, and also upon creativity and innovation. These movies usually rely upon critical praise or niche marketing to garner an audience. Because of an independent film's low budgets, a successful independent film can have a high profit-to-cost ratio, while a failure will incur minimal losses, allowing for studios to sponsor dozens of such productions in addition to their high-stakes releases.
No comments:
Post a Comment