CASE STUDY- MEDIA INDUSTRIES

Product Context- Ken Loach

• Ken Loach is a English director for television and independent films.
• He was born 17th June 1936.
• He is known for his socially critical directing style and for his
socialist ideals.
• Some films he has directed:
• ‘Kes’- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HRYvUpsrqmg
• ‘Looking for Eric’-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GgmTRuWMyeI
• ‘The Wind that Shakes the Barley’-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6yvHe_ksnDA
• ‘I, Daniel Blake’ became his highest grossing film in the box office
taking over $8 million.
 Product Context- Acceptance?
• On the website Rotten Tomatoes the film received a 93% approval rating based on 166
reviews and a average rating of 8/10.
• https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/i_daniel_blake/
• The film won the Palme d’Or at the 2016 Cannes film festival, the Prix du public at the
2016 Locarno International Film Festival and the 2017 BAFTA for Outstanding British
Film.
• The film became Ken Loach’s biggest success in the box office, taking over $8 million.
• However, the film recieved a mix of praise and critisim from Politicians. Former Work
and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith referred to the film as unfair, aiming
particular criticism at its portrayal of Jobcentre staff, saying: ‘This idea that everybody is
out to crunch you, I think it has really hurt Jobcentre staff who don’t see themselves as
that.’
• On a panel that Ken Loach attended his film was described as a ‘fictional film’ by Business
Secretary Greg Clark. He went on further to say that ‘It’s a difficult job administering a
benefits system...Department of Work and Pensions staff have to make incredibly difficult
decisions and I think they should have our support in making those decisions.’ Loach
responded to this by criticising the pressure that the Department of Work and Pensions
are placed under.
 Product context- Advertisement
• The trailer- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahWgxw9E_h4
• The trailer for ‘I, Daniel Blake’ was released October 18th 2016- the
film came out the 21st October 2016.
• The hashtag #idanielblake was also promoted during the trailer and
encouraged people to tweet about it. This would have spread
awareness of the film to the younger audience who use social media.
• There was also a poster campaign to spread awareness of the film, this
is more likely to reach a older audience compared to the twitter
hashtag.
 Historical Context
• The Jobcentre was an executive agency of the Department for Work and Pensions
of the government of the United Kingdom between 2002 and 2011. According to
the Work and Pensions Committee the system helped directly or indirectly
700,000 people to return to work between the months of April 2005 and January
2006.
• The Jobseekers allowance in a unemployment benefit offered by the Government
for those who are looking for work. It is intended to cover living expenses while
the person is actively seeking a job. To be liable for the allowance applicants must
be between 18 and State Pension age. The first unemployment benefits were paid
in 1911 under the National Insurance Act 1911 to job seekers who had paid
National Insurance contributions ("the stamp"). The Unemployment Insurance
Act of March 1921 introduced a 'seeking work' test which required clients to be
actively seeking work and willing to accept employment paying a fair wage. In
February 1922 a means test was introduced which excluded some, such as single
adults who lived with relatives, from receiving benefit payments. Roughly 2% of
welfare expenditure in the UK is spent on Jobseeker's Allowance; the bulk is spent
in other areas.
 Cultural context
• ‘I, Daniel Blake’ won the Palme d’Or at the Cannes film festival in 2016.
The award was introduced in 1955 and the Palme d’Or is known to be one
of the most prestigious awards in the film industry whilst also being the
highest award you can win at the festival. The festival itself began in 1932.
• Some other examples of winners include:
• ‘Rome Open City’- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1P1JRSJT6Q
• ‘ ‘4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days’-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZisE16JBUMA
• The Third Man’- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9yyDEDGlr0
• ‘Apocalypse Now’- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=snDR7XsSkB4
• Ken Loach’s film ‘The Wind that Shakes the Barley’ has also previously
won the Palme d’Or suggesting his genre of film is typical for the award.
Economic and political context
• The film ‘I, Daniel Blake’ focuses on issues such as poverty, the
welfare system and the Work Capability Assessment.
• The film portrays a clear left wing political message and criticises
specific government policies.
• Ken Loach’s work has also addressed similar issues for example in
his films ‘Cathy come home’ and ‘Raining stones’. He is known for his
socialist political views and as a social campaigner.
• The film received a varied response from politicians. One former
Work and Pensions secretary referred to the film as unfair. He aimed
particular criticism at the portrayal of the Job Centre staff.
• Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn appeared at the film’s premiere with
Ken Loach. He then went on to praise the film on his Facebook page.
 Media ownership
• The film was funded by the BBC which is funded by people paying
their television licence. The BBC is a government funded public
service broadcaster which includes news channels, radio and more.
The news is known to be unbiased due to it being funded by the
government. It was originally funded in 1922.
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BBC
• https://www.bbc.co.uk/
• Another group that helped fund the film were the BFI. The BFI
stands for the British Film Institute and was founded in 1933.
• http://www.bfi.org.uk/
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Film_Institute
 Audience
• The film addresses social issues such as poverty, the welfare system and the Work
Capability Assessment. It also conveys a clear left wing policy. Due to this we can assume
the audience for the film will be people who are also left wing and agree with the film’s
views.
• The film was advertised in two main ways:
• The trailer which would have most likely been seen by older people who were watching
films at the cinema. The film trailer would have been likely shown at independent
cinemas before films of the similar genre and age rating.
• The other main way of advertising was the hashtag used on twitter. This would have been
seen mostly by younger people who are more likely to use twitter and other social medias.
• Due to the issues in the film we can imply the audience wouldn’t have consisted of many
children due to them not understanding/ being affected by these issues. The film was also
rated a 15.
• Ken Loach is also a well known British director. Any previous fans of his work would be
likely to watch the film.
 Regulatory framework
• ‘I, Daniel Blake’ was rated a 15 by the BBFC.
• The BBFC (British Board of Film Classification) began in
1912.
• The BBFC have the job of rating films, their boundaries
and decisions are linked to what the public believe.
• Film ratings are very important as they help frame the
target audience and can decrease/ increase the amount of
watchers. For example if a film was mostly targeted for 15
year olds and was rated a 18 the majority of the audience
are unable to watch the film decreasing how successful it
is.
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Board_of_Film_Cl
assification
• http://www.bbfc.co.uk/
 Production, distribution and
circulation
• ‘I, Daniel Blake’ had a low budget and most of the scenes were filmed on location (hospitals, job centres, etc). It also featured lesser known actors and did not rely
on special effects.
• One way the product was distributed was through the hashtag #idanielblake which was frequently used on Twitter. This would have most likely reached a
younger audience.
• Another way the film was distributed and advertised was through the trailer which would have been shown in independent cinemas. The audience for this would
have depended on what film was playing at the cinema. The trailer was most likely played before films as a similar genre to collect as big of a audience as possible.
• The trailer was also uploaded to YouTube which would have been available to most, it
was also a free way to view the trailer. However, for someone to search for the trailer
they would have had to heard about the film, which links to the previous two ways of
distributing the film.
• The film won awards as several film festivals from multiple countries. For example
the Stockholm International film festival where it won Audience award: Best Film in
2016 and the Vancouver International film festival where it won the Most Popular
International Feature in 2016.
• The film received a theatrical release in Britain and a few other countries for example
France, Spain, Brazil and Japan. It was not released in the USA.
• It was later released on digital download and DVD.