LO1 Task 1 draft script.

Hi my name is Andre Brown aka “brownsauce” and I will be looking at the independent film company warp films. We will be looking at the media ownership, operating model, products, the market position and the competitors of warp films.

Firstly we will need to know the key terms so you will have an idea of what I will be taking about.

• ·        Conglomerate, these are made up of companies and those companies are called subsidiaries.
• ·        Independent, this means that the company is not owned by another company; it operates and produces by itself.
• ·        Cross media ownership – this is when a company makes more than one type of media product by owning companies that makes different media.
• ·        Commercial – this means to make a profit.
• ·        Public service broadcaster – this is funded by public money, like the money you pay for your TV license.

Know you these terms it is time to get to know about warp films.

Warp films is an independent UK film company that specialise in feature films. Warp was founded by Steve becket and the late Rob Mitchell, they decided to create warp after they had gained experience from working at FON record shop. Warp films operates as a cross Media Company, because of their independence warp uses the companies that they are in joint venture with to cross promote their products.  Warp films is in joint venture with “film 4”, “UK film council”, “optimum releasing” and “screen Yorkshire”.   

Most companies have an operating model which they use to produce and promote the products they make. The big companies that are part of a conglomerate would use vertical integration and horizontal integration , where they control the production, all the sectors that are within distribution and the consumption of their product. This is a big advantage for those companies because it allows them to make the more profit. However when it comes to warp films, because they are independent they are unable to use vertical and horizontal integration, so they have to work with other companies that are in other operating levels within their industry. Warp films would be able to produce their product however they would need help in the distribution sector. When it comes to distribution the big companies would use these devices to help them:

• ·        TV
• ·        Radio
• ·        Internet
• ·        Billboards
• ·        Magazines

However the big companies would have subsidiaries in each of these industries. But because warp films is independent they don’t have any subsidiaries so they cross promote between the companies that they are in joint venture with. For example, warp films produce another one of their films, which then needs to be distributed to their audience. Therefore they use film 4 and screen optimum to advertise their film on TV since they work in that field.

Warp itself has two subsidiaries, warp film and warp records. Warp film is an independent UK film production company and warp records is a record label, therefore warp produces music and film. Warp is known to only specialise in music and film however, they are mainly known for the films that they produce as some of them have won numerous awards and have been nominated for BAFTA’s. Here some of the well-known films that warp have produced are:

• ·        Dead man’s shoes.
• ·        Submarine.
• ·        This is England
• ·        Four lions.

The films that warp films tend to produce are all in the genre of drama and due to the nature of the media products that warp have produced they mainly target a niche audience. The films that warp make are generally associated with social problems of the past and the present, for example This is England. This is England is target towards the people who were affected by the aftermath of Margret thatcher closing the coal mines. It tends to be that the target audience will correspond with the theme of the film.

For the type of company that warp films are they are very successful. When it comes to profits, compared with of big companies warp films may not seem as a successful company. However, with warp films being independent there turnover is quiet big. In its early days warp was a very small record label company however, over the years warp has been able to expand because of their success and then was able to create warp films. Although warp films is marginally smaller than the big production companies they are well known nationally, with a few of the directors that have come from warp becoming acknowledged worldwide. This includes:

• ·        Chris Morris
• ·        Shane Meadows
• ·        Paddy Considine

Because of warp’s success they are known nationally, however some of the films that warp films have produced have been known internationally for example four lions and This is England. Four lions made $4,658,570 worldwide and This is England had made several appearances on US critics top ten list of 2007 and made £5,058,600 worldwide.