A blockbuster is a large budget movie with famous actors performing in it. The place of a blockbuster in the Hollywood production system is to bring in money as it is a large film made by a Hollywood production company.
A blockbuster normally pulls in quite a lot of money when it is released. Blockbuster films are usually backed up by well know studio companies like Paramount and Universal. A blockbuster film is going to use high-end equipment because they want their film to be shot in the best quality than other films. They will publicize it to a much wider audience to earn more profit for the film. A blockbuster is going to have more of a marketing strategy because they have the money to afford posters, adverts and trailers to increase the amount of people to see their film. A blockbuster’s main genre would be action, adventure and sc-fi because they make the most money at the box office.
An independent film is a small budget movie with some or zero famous actors performing in it. An independent film is normally not produced by a major Hollywood production company. They are usually are small production companies that produce them. Sometimes there is no production in independent film and there is a freelance director that makes the film. An independent film would only bring out a trailer to advertise their film because they wouldn’t have the money to spend on advertising. An independent film’s main genre would be a drama because they are cheap and easy to make and also produce the most money at the box office.
The two films I am comparing are Back To The Future for a blockbuster film and Trainspotting for an independent film.
The two budgets for the two films I have chosen are very different. Back To The Future’s budget was $19 million compared to Trainspotting at £3.5 million. The profit in Back To The Future was $381.1 million and the profit for Trainspotting was £48 million.
Why Back To The Future’s budget was so high was because the film had a major Hollywood studio company backing it which was Universal. Universal could afford to have the best actors, equipment and marketing strategy to make the film a success. Which helps attract a much bigger audience than the independent film. The audience want the best quality from the cameras and sounds for example from a blockbuster film. Compared to an independent film where the equipment is good but not as good as a blockbuster film because of a lack of money an independent film has.
A blockbuster can afford to have the best actors in their films like in Back To The Future. Where the studio company has enough money to get the actors the director and the studio wants in the film. On the other hand where an independent film gets its director to choose who they want in the film. Which give the director more control over the film than a blockbuster. The equipment in a blockbuster film is much better than an independent because the studio company gives the film a large budget where they can get the best equipment for the film. The equipment in a blockbuster film like Back To The Future used the best quality so the audience wouldn’t be disappointed in the film. As well as that, Back To The Future is a Sc-Fi film which requires a lot of special effects in the film. So the studio company would have had to pay out million to get the best special effects of its time in the film. Where as an independent like Trainspotting can’t afford lots of special effects because they don’t have as much money behind them as a blockbuster film. However though, if the independent film spends the budget wisely they may have enough money to spend on at least some good special effects. An independent focuses more on the narrative of the film unlike a blockbuster. This is good from an independent like Trainspotting because the audience can discover more about the themes, characters and subjects about the film. However, in Back To The Future the audience do discover all of themes, characters and subjects about the film but not as in much detail compared to Trainspotting.
A blockbuster film would stereo-typically get better recognition than an independent film. This is because a blockbuster film would have more publicity put into the film than an independent film. The publicity from a blockbuster film like Back To The Future would have posters on buses and in the city centre because that’s where there would be a lot of people taking interest in the film’s posters. Which then starts to appeal to a wider audience through publicity like posters. This is unlike an independent film like Trainspotting where the publicity is small and they can’t afford to pay for posters for example. However, both blockbuster and independent films do advertise their films through trailers. A blockbuster’s trailer would be advertised in major cinemas and on the internet. This is unlike an independent film where there trailers would be advertised in independent cinema’s because they don’t have the money to pay major cinema’s to advertise their films. They would also advertise their films on the internet but not on major websites. They would make their own website to help advertise their films because they don’t have the money to pay major websites to advertise their film trailers on them. However though, the more money the studio company incorporates into the blockbuster film through advertising, well know actors and high-tech equipment for example the risk of failing to make a large profit. Which could hurt the film and the studio company financially bad. This is unlike an independent film where the money invested into it is small but if the film makes a profit the independent film would make a large profit due to the fact of the amount of money invested in the film.
How the films deal with social issues are quite different. In Back To The Future there is not much of a social issue related to the film. However, in Trainspotting there is quite a few more social issues in it. One of them is that the protagonist in the film is trying to give up a heroin habit. Which suggests that the story line in the film is quite realistic as some people in reality are trying to give up a heroin habit.
This means the protagonist “Renton” is a heroin addict and also want to try to stop taking heroin. As well as that, other characters like “Diane and Begbie” think this is socially wrong and want him to try to stop taking heroin as they fear that it would kill him further down the line.They also fear that it could take over his lifestyle which happened to Tommy over the grief of his girlfriend Lizzy. Which eventually stuck to his head that taking drugs was the ultimate hit which resulted to him contracting HIV then to his sad death.
This is compared to Back To The Future where there is a time traveling car going back to 1955. The story line in this is not realistic compared to Trainspotting. Another point is that in Trainspotting they talk about delicate subjects like heroin and violence. Which shows that Trainspotting supports realistic events that can happen to anybody unlike Back To The Future where the events are very unrealistic. However though, in Back To The Future it does look at “Marty” the protagonist looking to go back to 1985, when he is in 1955. This shows a sense of loss because he is unfamiliar with 1955 and wants to go back to 1985 where he is much familiar of his surroundings.
In Trainspotting the director “Danny Boyle” was an upcoming director unlike in Back To The Future where the director “Robert Zemeckis” had made more films than Boyle which gave Zemeckis better recognition at the time. However, both directors have got the same recognition in the films they have done. The actors in both films like “Michael J Fox” from Back To The Future and “Ewan McGregor” from Trainspotting were both upcoming actors. The times of the films release made an impact in that when Back To The Future came out the audience at the time was into the sc-fi genre. However, when Trainspotting came out it was more focused at a British audience than a worldwide audience due to the types of British cult films that came out which appealed to that type of audience. Than when Back To The Future came out it was appealed to a worldwide audience because at the time a lot of people worldwide was interested in sc-fi films which appeals to that type of audience.
This is the trailer for “Trainspotting”
This is the trailer for “Back To The Future”
Robbie Brown Tv and Film Level 3 
Leave a comment