How important are high production values in your three main texts?

The importance of high production values will differ depending on the genre, audience and purpose for a particular film, as some films use expensive special effects and marketing as a means of attracting their audiences. In industry especially the high production value with vary due to the profile of the film and it's journey through production onto the screen. Evidence of a film that is reliant on its high production values would by Skyfall, Sam Mendes (2012) which is estimated to have cost $200 million dollars to make due to the use of exotic locations and high budget special effects. As the James Bond films are a popular global franchise, with Skyfall being the highest grossing Bond film retrieving $980 million worldwide, the audience has come to expect a level of action and expenditure as part of the 007 series. Despite this providing an arguably assured audience for each new release, it does provide the pressure for MGM, the production company behind the films, to produce an even more extravagant viewing experience for the next production. Marketing and advertising are also important in terms of production values,  an estimated £29 million was made through commercial deals, including product placements. The placement of products is particularly significant to maintain these high production values, as the success of previous films in the franchise will cause high-end companies that wish to align their brand with the views and themes represented in the film, to pay to have their products either used in the film or support a campaign featuring Bond. This allows the franchise to continue making more higher production value films than before to assure a sufficient audience.

In contrast to this, other films simply do not have the high profile endorsement to prioritise high production values and have to promote their film through film festivals in order to attract audiences and gain momentum in the industry. An example of such a film would be Weekend, Andrew Haigh (2011)  The main actors, Tom Cullen and Chris New were unknown to mainstream audiences so subsequently, audiences would not be drawn into watch the film through star power as they may be in other more high budget films such as Colin Firth from Kingsman, Matthew Vaughn (2014) or Bill Nighy in Pride, M, Warchus (2014), however it could be argued that the anonymity of the actors only enhanced their role due to the intrusive nature of the film. Weekend grossed, an unimpressive in comparison, $480,000 as a global box office total. However the overall budget for the film was only £120,000 which would have limited the locations, costume and editing for the overall production. Despite this, Weekend has won over 20 awards across different film festivals such as SXSW 'Audience Award' in 2011 as well as 18 other nominations, which could suggest that high production values were not primarily important in determining the success of the film, and those who contributed to it.

Social media is an increasingly significant factor in the success of a film as it provides a platform for audiences to engage with a film before, during and after its release, and with reference to the uses and gratification theory, provides audiences with an environment to discuss and communicate about the film. A film that has successfully used this open space on the internet to promote their film would be Kingsman: The Secret Service, Matthew Vaughn, (2014). As well as having it's own website, the film has also branched into Twitter and Instagram to have an official accounts, with thousands of followers, both under the username, @KingmanMovie . This use of social media broadens the extent of the audience that the film can reach, however it also demonstrates that despite having the funding for high production values with a budget of $94 million, the post production of the movie has used the free service of social media in order to boost their films success. This is a major difference from the aforementioned Weekend, which has no social media presence, ultimately limiting it's audience to those who frequent film festivals and award ceremonies. Kingsman also differs from Skyfall, as it does not have the assured audience provided by a widely successful franchise, yet as a film of a similar action/thriller genre has to follow the conventions with the over extravagant special effects and multiple exclusive locations. By having such a large social media presence, Kingsman can advertise the high production values it has used in the film via their social media accounts to build suspense and interest prior to the films release through constant updates, without having to rely on previous works. This suggests that although high production values are important in terms of the genre of the film, that it is the manner in which these production values are communicated to their audience which determines it's success.

In conclusion, to some extent high production values are important in determining the success of a film, however the genre and context of the film are also very significant. As films of an action genre, Kingsman and Skyfall use high production values to fit with the genre conventions and provide their audiences some assurance on what to expect, in this case the importance of high production values is substantial. However in contrast a low budget film such as Weekend, which premieres through film festivals, the priority would not be to bring in large widespread audiences but instead to increase and improve the profiles of those involved such as the director and writer Andrew Haigh, or the main cast such as Tom Cullen and Chris New, so in comparison high production values would be an un-achievable ideal based on the circumstances of it's production and release.