I, Daniel Blake - Media Set Product 5

I, Daniel Blake


Production and distribution

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1e2tLoj8SlawU0NYlYMhZ24rqgxORJ7R7tQzHK5oOnps/edit?usp=sharing

Who produced the film?

• Rebecca O'Brien 
• The production companies were, Why Not Productions, BBC Films, eOne Films, Wild Bunch, Sixteen Films.
• Filmed in Newcastle and London.
• Independent production and was not made or distributed by a major film comany conglomerate.

Who was the distributor?

• Produced by the BFI (British Film Institute) and Le Pact in France.
• BFI was founded in 1933.
• They use lottery funds to encourage film education, production and distribution.
• They are also sponsored by the Department of Digital, culture, media and sport.

What did the marketing campaign involve?

• Social media, to spread information for releases.
• Ambassadored by Jeremy Corbyn.
• Film was first shown in Newcastle.
• Posters, banners, billboards and trailers.

How was the film marketed in a global perspective?

• The film was shown in numerous film festivals such as the Cannes film festival, which it won.

Consider 'star appeal'.

• Starring Dave Johns and Haley Squires.
• Ken Loach wasn't intending to use star appeal to draw the audience by using not very well-known actors.
• In film festivals, they're not expecting big names.

Who is the target audience? Why?

• Adults and mature teens.
• People interested or involved in politics to see the film's ideologies.

Trailer Analysis

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1Y8ltOuD6fSl14mLA9yKoB-aPxXMG7iLnKPnZCvM8QyY/edit?usp=sharing

Does the trailer challenge/ reinforce typical codes and conventions of a film trailer?

• We see a large confrontation from his heartattack, we see the protagonist's struggles and eventually forms a group.
• The trailer features the main characters and main scenes/ settings.

How does the trailer market the film?

• The trailer shows the social issues and struggles, it reinforces personal identity.

How does the film construct the trailer to reach its target audience?

• People who agree with Ken Loach's politics or relate to the scenes that are shown.

Ken Loach

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1M_eXUgFuCkVR7Ltuwz4EqZiRS9rkJhNVX1N1G2iAa3g/edit?usp=sharing

Political ideologies

• Member of the Labour party.
• Endorsed Jeremy Corbyn's Labour leadership campaign.
• Left-wing ideologies.

Filmography

• Ken Loach has 37 films in total.
• His socially critical directing style and socialist ideas, by showing social issues.
• The film is a drama, Daniel Blake is denied employment and support allowance despite his doctor declaring him as being unfit for work. 

Auteur

• It is the way that a director has a distictive style of film and are recognisable to the audience as being one of their work.
• His style is based around social realism, the coming together of politics and real life.

Social and Political context 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1kd73wnSuEgh-qW6mD-tm-IDeei7tnO7s/view?usp=sharing

Ideologies?

• Left-wing perspective, which addresses social issues such as poverty and the welfare state.

How does the film offer comment on current political/ social climate?

• Criticises specific government policies.

How can you link the film to government polices?

• Challenges the government at the time, the director is a member of the Labour party.

Social-realism

• The style of film Ken Loach does, social issues.

Regulation and the BBFC

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1fTea8AK0c7V4sLtZCjBaLBIPBSXUShxOCS_6GDPEjvs/edit?usp=sharing

What is the regulatory framework in the framework in the UK?

• The BBFC regulates and classifies films and other audio/visual content and give appropriate age ratings.

Who are the BBFC and how do they operate?

• The BBFC is the British Board of Film Classification is an independent regulator.
• They check for bad language, dangerous behaviour, discrimination, drugs, horror, nudity, sex, violence and sexual violence. Then give it the appropriate age rating.

How was the film regulated?

• The film was regulated by the BBFC.
• Use of strong language was found and given the age rating.

What certificate was it given and why? 

• Rated a 15.
• Strong language, visual and verbal sexual references, prescription drug use, criminality and unintentional racism.

Reception

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1Z5S3rKcMinSTeYiRJ_7Xn042TJksixzcU9-qxy-CGiY/edit?usp=sharing

What debates did the film provoke?

The debates the film provoked was the benefits system, difficulty of finding jobs and how medical issues can be tied into it. 
It also shows the problems working-class people in Britain face, such as oppression and difficulties like employment and income. 
There are debates from people who criticised the film saying that it wasn't accurate. However, many people in similar situations to the main character, Daniel Blake, said it was accurate, as they walked into the JobCentre and left feeling disgusted by what they said for them to do. And people who work at the JobCentre said they knew and understood the bureaucratic trap, and was there to intentionally catch people out. 

What were the criticisms of the film? 

The criticisms of the film was from a JobCentre Manager in Newcastle, in which the film was portrayed negatively by the director, Ken Loach. The film is said to be a 'story that doesn't represent the reality we work in'. The employer relationship manager, Steve McCall, further said that the depiction was dramatic to the everyday services for employment, and that the JobCentre is never this wrong as this film portrays them to be.
There have been criticisms from some media commentators from the Daily Mail and the Sunday Times who said that the film didn't appear very true as it says it does.

How was the film received critically?

• Ken Loach's biggest success at the UK box office.
• Rotten Tomatoes, it received an impressive approval rating of 92%.
• The Guardian gave the film five stars out of five, calling it a "celebration of the decency and kinship of (extra) ordinary people who look out for each other when the state abandons its duty of care".
• New York Times say it "builds up an oppressively claustrophobic atmosphere of mounting dread", however they say "the movie eventually goes a little too far".
• The Telegraph says "Loach is still calling things as he sees them" and that "the film treads fearsomely complex, splintery terrain - and the more complex it acknowledges it to be, the better".
• Review concluded that "escapist cinema it is not. But ... Loach is using the medium ... to shine a light on injustices he sees all around him".

Awards

• Best British Film at the British Academy Film Awards
• Best Actor for Dave Johns at the British Independent Film Awards
• Most Promising Newcomer for Hayley Squires at the British Independent Film Awards
• Palme D'Or for director Ken Loach at the iconic annual Cannes Film Festival
• Best Foreign Film at the Cesar Awards
• Best British Film at the Empire Awards
• Best Male Newcomer for Dave Johns at the Empire Awards
• Best Film at the Evening Standard Awards
• Best Supporting Actress for Hayley Squires at the Evening Standard Awards
• Most Powerful Scene Award at the Evening Standard Awards
• British/Irish Film Of The Year at the London Film Critics' Circle
• No. 1 in the Top 12 Films at New York Film Critics Online
• Audience Award for Best Film at the San Sebastian International Film Festival
• Audience Award for Best Film at the Stockholm International Film Festival
• Most Popular International Feature at the Vancouver International Film Festival

The welfare state

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1sgLDzndi1KuZSPy6qZQlvWnEStuWwpW6/view?usp=sharing

What is the welfare system?

• It comprises expenditures by the UK government intended to improve health, education, employment and social security.

Why is this a prominent topic of discussion at the moment?

• The welfare system and the government.

Who is Jeremy Corbyn and what are his main ideologies?

• Leader of the labour party.
• Corbyn self-identifies as a democratic socialist.

How does this link to 'I, Daniel Blake'?

• The film questions and challenges the welfare state.
• The film is from a left-wing perspective and challenges the conservative government at the time it was released.

Funding and commercial implications

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1pWu1KUm_CTIuANDS5ycfESuT-9kD6ZlI/view?usp=sharing

How was the film funded?

• The film was funded publically, recieved £1,015,000 from the BFI and additional funding from the BBC.
• Rough budget of £3.5 million.

How does this differ from other more mainstream?

• Mainstream films don't need to rely of public funding and have a much larger budget.
• I, Daniel Blake could now be considered mainstream as the director has worked in other large films, howvere the commercial nature and vast profit is less important because it's there to educate people.

Textual analysis

 https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1dxLNKZc1wM3HsDiL-diJmj0LhD2VoFFuQlQrj192stk/edit?usp=sharing

• The film title is spray painted, it is handwritten which makes it personalised and also connotations of activism against the government.
• The man on the poster is assumed to be the main protagonist or in this case, Daniel.
• The red text stands out with the name of director, writer and a small synopsis of what the film is about. The conotations of red is passion and danger.
• A z-line of reading the text on the top, to the man and then to the film title and text.

• There is a stamp award for a famous film festival, makes the audience know that it is a good film to watch.
• The dull colours may suggest the film might be serious.
• The way the man dresses makes him appear to be a relatable character.
• Rhetorical question, making the audience want to find out.

• The title uses a handwritten font, direct address it makes it seem like the director wrote it. 
• The red in the title and fences connotes passion and danger.
• We believe that the man is Daniel and the other characters on the poster are also main characters.
• It is in a rural alleyway and Daniel is carrying shopping, it looks like a normal setting of coming home from the shops, creates reliability with the audience.
• The stamp award on the top centre is large, makes the audience know that it has a good reputation.
• The names below the title is the writer and director which is larger than the other names, it is more important.
• The clothes they are wearing are regular and relatable to the audience.