The Inbetweeners 2 Production, Budget and Packaging
Bwark: Production Company • Bwark Productions, a low budget British company that make TV programmes like Inbetweeners & Free Agents. Successful at targeting younger audiences through the comedy genre. • Only produced two films: The Inbetweeners Movie 1 & 2
Bwark Films • Established 2004 • Set up by two comedy commissioners from Channel 4 • TV Company • • • •
Inbetweeners (E4) Free Agents (Channel Four) Angelo’s (Five) The Persuasionists (BBC2)
• Produce C4 comedy (Jimmy Carr) • Bought by Zodiak Media in 2011
Zodiak Media is a leading force in the global media marketplace, creating exciting and engaging content in every genre. Operating as an independent studio with over 45 local brands active in 15 territories, we combine local creative flair with international presence, financial strength and a library totalling in-excess of 20,000 hours. Our companies own a wide range of properties including Millennium, Secret Millionaire, The Inbetweeners, Totally Spies, Fort Boyard and Being Human. Headquartered in Paris and with other key offices in London, Los Angeles, Milan, Stockholm and Moscow, we are proud to produce distinctive and prestigious content for television, cinema and digital media around the world
• Why did Zodiak buy Bwark? • Why did Bwark join Zodiak? • How is this reflective of film industry consolidation?
Budget
• Bwark productions paid out £5m pounds to produce this film. • The Inbetweeners 1, had a budget of £3.5m and paid a profit of around £85m so they almost doubled the budget for the second movie because the success of the first movie meant The Inbetweeners 2 was more likely to be successful.
How was the film packaged to appeal to the audience? • Filmed mainly In Australia: The first Inbetweeners Movie was very successful in Australia, and this success influenced the choice of location for the second film. The location is also appealing and aspirational for UK teenagers • Casting: Used the same actors from the TV show and same story line (Character profiles) allows the audience to already have an understanding of them and can relate to them quicker. • Concept: A ‘Lads’ holiday, appeals to men going on holidays similar to the films • Visual Style: Used the same cinematographer from first film (same style of film making). The cinematographer used a visual style that made the landscape look appealing and exotic to appeal to the core audience of UK teenagers. • Institutions: Used same distribution and production companies (appeal to same audience)
Digital Technology and Production • A digital motion picture camera released in 2011 • Creates a crisp picture and can be used with a steadi cam to create a gliding motion
In Inbetweeners 2, digital camera were used. Note the key reasons that this technology was used and consider: How is digital technology affecting film production? Ben Wheeler says : “We knew we were going to shoot digitally, partly because the series had always been shot digitally and it was what everyone was used to working with: being able to see everything live and to play back very quickly – that kind of thing.(…) I just felt the ALEXA would be able to handle that well. We took a camera over to Greece last year and shot lots of tests, and I was astounded by what I saw – the way it was holding highlights as well as lowlights. It just seemed to be miles ahead of anything else I’d worked with. We were also going to be shooting predominately handheld and I found the ALEXA to be very ergonomic and lightweight.(…) That was another reason for choosing the ALEXA: because of its sensitivity.(…).” “For me, the ALEXA looks the closest to film of any digital camera I’ve worked with…”