LO1 Task 1 - Ownership of warp films.

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. The films that warp produce are very low budget and look quite cheap. This is because they are independent, this means that the films that they make are produced outside of the major film studio system. Therefore they do not have as much budget to produce the films that they make, resulting in most of their films looking quite ‘gritty’.  Warp films is in joint venture with “film 4”, “UK film council”, “optimum releasing” and “screen Yorkshire”.

A lot of the big companies that are part of a conglomerate are usually vertically or horizontally integrated, this means that they can control the production, distribution and the consumption of the products that they produce. Therefore by using this they can make more profit. However because warp are independent they aren’t vertically or horizontally integrated, therefore they use their distributors to help them. Warp would be able the produce the product but, with the help of their distributors they can distribute the produce ready for consumption.     

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  specialise in music and film, here are some of their films that they have produced:

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

• Donkey punch

And here is some of the artist that are signed to warp records:

·         Aphex Twin

·         Grizzly Bear

·         Jamie Lidell

·         Chris Morris

 

Warp started out as a record shop, if was founded by Steve beckett and the late Rob Mitchell after they decided to put their experiences working in a record shop to good use.  In their early years (1989 – 1995) the first track that they produced (WAP1) was by Forgemasters. This track had set a trend for the early release both in terms of sound and the use of purple sleeves. So from the beginning warp had made a name for its self, they even defined Sheffield’s bleep techno sound by making use of sampled sounds from Yellow Magic Orchestra’s ‘computer game’. Warp went on to release a series of singles and albums form 1992 under the artificial intelligence heading, a couple of experimental electronic music releases by artists such as Aphex twin.

(1996 – 1999)

This is when warp started the blech club night in Sheffield, they also released an accompanying compilation CD under the same name.

(2000 -2009)

In 2000 warp records moved its operation to London along with its merchandise store Warpmart. In 2005 warp had released their first book which was written by Rob young, this book gave the illustrated version of the history of warp.

In 2009 warp celebrated their 20^th anniversary by having several concerts that took place in Paris, New York city, Sheffield, Berlin and London.

(2010 – Present)

In 2013 warp won the independent label of the year award at the AIM awards.

 

Warp films was created by the founding partners Steve Beckett and Rob Mitchell. It was created with financial support from NESTA and it had a remit to produce a number of short films. The first film that warp films produced was Chris morris’  My Wrongs#8245-8249 & 117, which had won the award for the best short film at the 2003 BAFTA film awards. However one of their biggest success came from warp films debut feature film ‘ Dead man’s shoes’ , which had earned a BAFTA nomination and was nominated for a record eight British independent film awards. Some of the other successful films are:

SHOW SLIDESHOW!!!!

The films that warp produce are all mainly in the genre of drama this is down to one main factor, the budget that is available to make the film. The budget that they have available is the main factor because warp cannot afford to have many special effects and they cannot afford to buy an area for the day. So they film in local area’s which tend to be quite undeveloped and anti-social, therefore the films end up being in the genre of drama as it has to match the location of the film. The films that warp make all look at social problems. For example ‘This is England’, this looks at how Margret thatcher time as the prime minister had affected a lot of people’s lives. 

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.

In terms of competitors warp films not only have big companies like 21^st century fox and Warner brothers who have released films like Avatar and the Harry potter series.  They also compete with other UK film production companies like Ealing Studios. Ealing Studio’s have been known for producing Shaun of the dead and also reviving the St Trinians franchise. Ealing Studios is considered to be a competitor of Warp films because they are a British production company, therefore Ealing Studios and Warp films are targeting the same audience. However Warp films stands out from the rest of the competitors because they are extremely successful for a independent company, and some of the films that they have produced are known worldwide.