Films have several key stages from script to screen; these are pre-production, production, distribution and exhibition.

Preproduction is the first stage of making a film, this is where the producer decides on a story, if its unwritten he or she might hire a script writer, however is it is already an existing idea than  the producer will have to acquire the rights. Once the screenplay is written the producer must start looking at the cost, above the line this includes things like big name cast, there support usually important characters just not a well-known name, day performers people that play a small role and stunt performers , below the line would include things like wardrobe , food, accommodation. Once a financial plan is written up the producer must find a financer. For this the producer must portray his idea to a board, in the financing stage of Avatar James Cameron was nearly turned down by Fox, it was only when he took his idea to Disney that Fox exercised its right to first refusal but even then they were weary and requested two other financers to help. Next is the task of hiring the main cast, the filming crew, location scouts, casting director, costume designers, and the director et cetera. In the case of James Cameron’s Avatar there was no need to hire a scriptwriter, director or buy any rights to content as he wrote the script himself, he also asked a man called Jon landau to co-produce, he knew this man was a good producer after they both worked on Titanic and made $2.2 billion at the box-office. In avatar james Cameron was very personal with his his designers sometimes inviting them back to his California home to help create the Na’Vi. The digital designers in avatar took inspiration for the “Halleluiah Mountains” from some mountains that a location scout found in china.  

Now that the finance, crew, cast and locations have been scouted it’s time to film. In the production phase the raw footage is gathered, the most time efficient way of filming is to have the set builders, wardrobe and makeup a step in front of the camera, that way the cast can show up get there outfits and makeup then start filming. Throughout the production process there will be still photographers. Their photograph will be used later on in the distribution and exhibition phase. In my case study avatar there was more time spent on post-production than there was in production, this is due to most of the film being CGI however James Cameron did use people to act out the movements of the Na’Vi. Due to the nature of Avatar the film was relatively cheap when it comes to locations this is because most of the film being filmed in studios then the backgrounds being computer generated and added in. Post-production however wasn’t so cheap, due to the nature of this film most of the finance was spent on CGI, a digital effects studio called Weta digital took on the task of making Pandora. Once rendered the film was 17GB per minute.

With the final film rendered it’s now time to look at marketing and distribution of the film. Distribution companies usually like to buy the rights to a film, that way they have total control and access to all of the profits. The distribution company will view the film and decide the target audience. Once a target audience profile is made the film will be sent to editors for a trailer to be made. There is usually around 3 types of trailers made. One will be shown on Tv this is will be very limited in length due to time slots, an online trailer this doesn’t really have a time limit due to hosting being free eg youtube. Trailers can also be shown in the cinema before films these are also limited to around one minute. The still photographs that were taken in the production phase may now be used to produce other marketing material, depending on the audience profile and audience size it could involve strategically placing posters in bus shelter or posters on busses that may pass or travel in a area associated with a specific audience.  Avatar was distributed by Fox, due to it being such a large and prolific distributor worldwide it used all its assets, I believe this is one of the reasons avatar was so successful due to the market campaign being of biblical proportion. The website is presented in around 17 different languages, there was a huge amount of merchandise that could be bought McDonalds did a worldwide toy making campaign helping spread the word. Most film shown ~2months before its release had the trailer played before it. But one of the most important things is that it also targeted social media, when you think of a sci-fi film you think of teenagers and kids. Targeting social media sites like facebook was very important due to the target audience.

So the film has now been advertised and the interest is out there, all that needs to be done is a release date to be decided. This is extremely important, Fox wanted to be extra careful with this release as they were already wary at the start. The date has to be selected by following a few principles, time that is relevant to the target audience eg school holidays for teenagers, holidays or time of the year depending on the genre of the film eg Halloween or valentine’s day, the state of the economic climate as there is no point in releasing a film when the economy doesn’t let people afford to go to the cinema and finally one of the most important. Competitor films there is no point in releasing a film that is the same genre or has a similar plot if one is going to be released and shown around the date you have planned the release. Once a date is decided the cinemas will buy right to show it from then on it is up to the cinema company as to which cinemas will show it. Avatar was released between the 16^th and 18^th of December 2009 it was shown internally on 14,604 screen with 3671 utilising the 3D technology that James Cameron was so head locked on using.  In the UK the first week it was shown in 503 cinemas and the second week it was shown in 485, this is surprising that it was sustained another week in so many cinema, a true sign that the film was a huge success.