- 2015 British drama film directed by Joe Stephenson. It is based on the play of the same name by Freddie Machin.
- Production by Joe Stephenson, Tina Galovic
- written by christ new
- starring: Scott Chambers Morgan Watkins and Yasmin Paige
- production company: B good Picture company
- release date 27th june 2015
- running time: 86 minutes
- Chicken had its world premiere on 27 June 2015 Edinburgh International Film Festival. The film had its international premiere in competition at the 2015 Busan International Film Festival
- It eventually received a limited theatrical release in the UK on 20 May 2016.
- It was then acquired by MUBI UK, and had its British TV premiere on FilmFour April 2017. It received its DVD and Blu-ray release by Network on 18 September 2017.
- Funding
In order to make Chicken, director Joe Stephenson raised £110,000. Key points:
- Filmed in 19 days, almost all external locations so victim to rain, issues with lighting etc.
- No distribution deal secured in 2014
- Alongside film festivals, new technology was vital to promoting Chicken to a wider audience:
- Some traditional marketing: trailer, film poster with review quotes etc.
- Social media very important to market film – Facebook, Twitter, YouTube.
- Film available on-demand now; Stephenson hoping for deal with Netflix or Amazon Prime to bring in revenue and find wider audience.
essay plan
- talk about distribution companies involved
- Livingston and lunt learnt about the 2003 communications act – law about small production companies having a chance to show their films, rather than Hollywood films
- curran and seaton – we are seeing more diverse media – main character who has learning difficulties and lives in an urban environment (caravan)
- Start your essay with a short introductory paragraph that outlines your intention for this essay. So think – what is it you want to argue / discuss / present in this essay?
- Show knowledge of the film industry, specifically the key stages of: production, distribution, consumption
- position contemporary film production within a couple of key theoretical positions for example:
- Hesmondhalgh’s ideas that mitigate the ‘risky business’ of cultural production. – even though he didn’t make money from the film, he was able to show society about the urban and poor environment of the world through the and the understanding (didnt make money, wanted to educate soiety
- Curran and Seaton’s arguments for a more diverse media landscape.
- Livingstone and Lunt’s suggestion that cultural production exists in a loosely regulated framework, biased towards a consumers rather than citizen model.
- The impact of new media technologies for cultural production.
- Present details of the CSP (Chicken) but make sure you focus on production, distribution and consumption and NOT on a textual analysis of the film – remember the examiner / assessor is assuming that you may not have seen the film.
- Feel free to add in some audience theory.
- Conclude your essay with a summative paragraph.