Now that some of the stardust has settled, I am sure you would have noticed that it is awards season at this time of year. From the Golden Globes, The BAFTAs to the recent Academy Awards…film awards are in full swing. The music awards were also in close succession with the Grammy and the Brit Awards being only a few weeks apart. My interest is personal as I am no expert in the filmmaking industry, but I do like looking at film when I can. Since a child, I have had a keen interest is the US-based awards shows, including the Emmys Awards, as they were usually screened lived to Trinidad and Tobago in the evening. Without a doubt, the various awards have been on the news a lot in the last few years for the outdated stances in the industry on gender equality, diversity, inclusion, sexual harassment, showcasing professional technical roles (e.g. editing), recognition withheld when it is due, and other contentious topics. The availability of good content in scripts for a diverse representation, role models and storytelling have all been issues which needs to be addressed to propel the changes required in the global industry. These are not just hot topics – they are scorchers! I will come back to this at the end of this post, but there is much to celebrate in the international development of this art form and entertainment industry.
True to the style and name of this blog ‘Connecting the Dots’, I wanted to look back at the global innovations in film making, observe the new digital streaming, and resulting industry shifts and adoption by consumers and fans. The history of filmmaking has been a long process with many observations, testing and developments through the century. Precusors to filmmaking are items such as the camera obscura, which has been around since antiquity. I was able to see this fascinating progress on a visit at the now closed Museum of the Moving Image (MOMI) as one of my modules at university. It is in the same spot as the British Film Institute (BFI) now. Eventually modern filmmaking and cinematography developed with many innovations, whereby in 1895 the Lumiere Brothers are credited for inventing the Cinématograph, a combination camera and projector projecting film to a large audience. They have been widely credited for giving film the international recognition it deserves in establishing the mass entertainment industry. There is too much iteration to mention here, but some of the significant ones are mentioned on this film history timeline. Some of the obvious milestones are the silent film ‘Talkies’, the introduction of colour film, first horror film, westerns, musicals, various genres, sub-genres and sub-cultures.
Obviously the industry is now digitally accessible across the globe, whereby Hollywood in the USA is the top largest producer of film, followed by Bollywood in India and then Nollywood in Nigeria. The industry is massive if you look at the film giants such as Disney, Warner and various studios. There is also a complex process to get these audio visual items distributed into our homes…and now in our palms on smart devices. Most countries also have their own local film creatives, cultural identity and unique industry traits. For example, it is interesting reading about the ‘African Film Revival’ in a brief by Euromonitor as it mentions the benefit for the local economy, the regions and the fact that a lot of film are shot and produced in Africa, which in turn promotes tourism. In the UK, the revenue generates £3.1Billion and IBIS World reports in ‘Motion Picture Production‘ that: “the UK industry attracts a vast amount of inward investment as a result of government incentives, predominantly UK Film Tax Relief. This makes the United Kingdom an attractive location to international film producers. The top four films in the box office for 2016 were US-backed UK films, and according the British Film Institute, the United Kingdom benefited from its highest ever recorded inward investment spend, amounting to £1.35 billion”.
As a 70’s baby, I grew up initially with black and white television programming showing English-speaking ‘movies’ (as we still call them), and also going to the cinema or theatre (as they still call them in the USA). We also had a few drive-in cinemas in Trinidad and that was a special treat – I used to like looking at the large outdoor screens from the highway even if we were not going.
At home, we saw film programmes at the weekend, in particular ‘Family Theatre’ with a different or series of dedicated family-friendly film, including Hollywood classics such as ‘Laurel and Hardy’. We also had a three-hour slot for an Indian movie on Sunday afternoons. This not only exposed us to the whole Bollywood genre and industry…but also connected us to our very important cultural heritage and identity. My mother frequently took me to the local cinema to see an Indian movie on a Tuesday afternoon. I still see some of my contacts share clips of old Indian movies on social media, just like other English-speaking movies. My relatives have been encouraging me to look at Bollywood film as they are apparently not as melodramatic as they used to be. They are still brilliant for dance choreography, song, Indian fashion and culture. It has a lot of cultural references that an Indo-Trinidadian can relate to, although I am not fluent in the Hindi language. Some of my Black-British friends also said that they look at Bollywood movies, and love the singing and dancing! I obviously went to see other popular films in different genres throughout my childhood with family, friends and my school. We were in the hayday of other popular genres such as Westerns and ‘Kung Fu’ Chinese film.
I like looking a European film in their native language and have no problem with subtitles, especially with my Indian movies exposure. In the 1990s, we used to frequently go to the cinema to see European film but these were hi-jacked by family-friendly film outings for a while when my children were younger. I have been trying to change this recently by going to see the beautifully produced international Polish-French award winning film ‘Cold War’ at the cinema.
One of the local heroes in my neighbourhood in London is the world famous Alfred Hitchcock who was born in Leytonstone. He is regarded as one of the most influential filmmakers in the history of cinema and is well known as “the Master of Suspense”. His film repertoire is worldclass and classic, and one tip is that you can also spot him in some of the cameo parts he played in his own film. This year, there is apparently going to be an Alfred Hitchcock Festival in my borough. There are some local film groups who have been hosting film festivals for a number of years and I am sure they have already celebrated this giant of a local hero!
Thankfully, we also have had developments in home entertainment with the introduction of film in cinefilm, video, cable, DVD and now in film subscription streaming with the likes of Netflix, Amazon Prime and Hulu. Netflix has been pioneering, and is a dominant figure in the global industry by providing streaming direct to customers. They are breaking into the mainstream cinema-going clientele with their own production of the popular film ‘Roma’ – which is in a foreign language, caste and black and white. There is a new impetus for Netflix according to Statista for: …“Netflix’s ability to adapt to changing technologies and consumer demands which made it so successful. This ability to adjust has continued in recent years with the success of the company’s original content and increased focus on providing content around the world. As long as Netflix can continue this trend of innovation, the company will remain an important voice in the entertainment industry”.
I was recently reminded about use of film entertainment in air travelling too. I saw ‘Gone with the Wind’ and some recent releases on my trip to the USA. In-flight entertainment is so popular, that airline Emirates are top at seemingly providing their diverse customers with the latest selection of in-flight movies with its expansive film library. I noticed that there were Bollywood movies in my British Airways flight from Houston – I had never seen that before.
I recently saw at my local cinema the brilliant ‘BlacKkKlansman’ directed by Spike Lee, and also ‘The Green Book’ directed by Peter Farelly. It was super to see these two film with mixed representation but they both received negative press for one reason or another. ‘Black Panther’ was praised and awarded for a number for reasons, and seems to be a remarkable film released recently, but I haven’t seen it as yet.
Unfortunately the film industry has been in the news for negative and discriminatory practices. The gender pay for women has been highlighted for women actors compared to their male counterparts. Only last week there was a piece about women having less roles and opportunities. The industry seems to be structured to benefit those in a privilege position in societies, whereby it does not reflect or take into consideration the demographics of the countries they represent. We may remember the hashtag #OscarssoWhite. Andrew Dickson writes in 2016 ‘New Statesman’ that the British addition to period drama is driving away some of Britain’s best actors: …“a major issue… is the apparently unshakeable addition of British TV and film to corsets-and-cleavage period drama, which has left many BAME actors locked out of the audition room. The BBC is in the middle of a run of literary spin-offs, from War and Peace to The Moonstone. Over on ITV, we have had Victoria and the invincible Downton Abbey”. Dickson also pointed that US cable and online subscription are even more courageous with ‘Orange is the New Black’ which…”has an ethnically kaleidoscopic cast and plotlines that vaults across almost every conceivable question of gender, sexuality, body image and politics”.
In the UK in 2017, another piece in the Hollywood Report entitled ‘BAFTA so White (Again)? Insiders say diversity at the U.K.’s biggest film event still isn’t where it should be’, Alex Ritman writes that “BAFTA didn’t get the diversity memo”. Shame. Two years on, there seems to have been some progress at the 2019 BAFTA awards I looked at LIVE on TV, and as reported by the news at the Academy Awards. Of course the industry is not going to change overnight but industry talent and tired audiences like me are restless – there needs to be change. We will have to rely on adventurous industry leaders and creatives for brave and fresh content, script writing and casting. This will enable filmmaking professionals and actors opportunities for a true reality in film roles to ensure that there is a visible balance of everyone’s ability, talent and stories. However, at all costs we should avoid these changes to be just as a token ‘tickbox’ diverse person or statement. Changes should be inclusive and fair by default for a world and audience that are both colourful and diverse. It seems there is a powerful voice calling out for these changes in the press, social media and the public, and rightly so.
“What we need now is for a change to come, I think the talk is done”.
Actor – David Oyelowo.
It is a very hard discussion to have on all of these issues and it requires a lot of banging on doors, breaking barriers and hard work to create and seek out new, relevant materials and best practices. Hopefully not much more time will be wasted with this knowledge and conscious awareness in the industry. And so, there will be a change in the right direction.
As ever, we will all continue to enjoy the film entertainment industry in one form or another with all the rich cultural, artistic and social benefits it brings to everyone in the near and far corners of the world. I am so looking forward to seeing some of the film that won…and lost awards at the various awards ceremony this year. We have a world of choice cinema available to us on various mediums, and a true reflection of the stories around us certainly makes it all very magical.
Connecting the Dots 