Audiences and Institutions

1. SUBMARINE
RELEASED: 12th September 2010
BUDGET: £1.2 million
BOX OFFICE: £2.03 million

2. SUBMARINE
• Directed by
• Produced by
Richard Ayoade
Ben Stiller
Executive Producer
Mark Herbert
Also on board…
Mary Burke Andy Stebbings

3. SUBMARINE
“Submarine is a book by Joe Dunthorne. Ally Gipps, who
works at Warp Films, has known Joe for years, and Warp
optioned the book before it came out. I’d done a music
video for Warp, an Arctic Monkeys video, and they gave me
the book to read and I really liked it. Warp then asked me to
write a script with a view to directing it. Joe and I met
several times and talked about what might translate well
from the novel to a film.” Richard Adeoye
"When I first read the book in 2006, I fell in love with the
originality of voice and unyielding wit in Joe's novel. It's
not a familiar British coming of age story, so I thought it
would be refreshing to see the work rendered as a film.
The encyclopaedic nature of Oliver's character unveiled
through his internal monologues, I felt would be a good
match for Richard's wonderful and detailed knowledge of
film. There was something beautifully timeless about the
book, and thought Richard's nostalgic directing style
would bring that out. And of course, we all knew he could
execute the comedy because he is one of the funniest
people working in the UK today.“ Mary Burke

4. Issues raised by media ownership in
contemporary media practice
• The film was made by Warp Films (Production)
an independent British film company who
have a reputation for involvement in
innovative films like This is England (2006) and
Four Lions (2010).

5. Issues raised by media ownership in
contemporary media practice
• Warp Film are part of a company whose
media and creative interests extend into
film with the respected independent
record label part of their niche, business
interests. This is also an example of
horizontal integration as the Artic
Monkeys signed to Warps record label also
wrote the soundtrack for the film.

6. Issues raised by media ownership in
contemporary media practice
• Ayoade is friends with Turner and had
already, through Warp directed Artic
Monkey music videos. The music has all
been composed specifically for the film,
which adds to the difficulty in placing it
in a particular time period.

7. Issues raised by media ownership in
contemporary media practice
Film4 is a founding partner of the Warp X digital
studio, the company develops and co-finances film
productions and is known for working with the most
innovative talent in the U.K. in this case being Warp
Films and also the director Richard Ayoade.
Film4 invested development money in the film while
the film is one of last projects invested in by the UK
Film Council who devoted New Cinema Fund money
to Submarine. Additional funding reflecting the
regional aspect of Submarine came from The Wales
Creative IP Fund and the Film Agency for Wales
The UK Film Council (UKFC)
was a non-departmental
public body set up in 2000
by the Labour Government
to develop and promote
the film industry in the UK.
The New Cinema Fund supported emerging talent and established filmmakers working outside
the mainstream, focusing on the most innovative writing and the most gifted directors. The
fund had £15 million of Lottery money to invest over three years and funded eight to ten
feature films each year. It had a strong commitment to supporting work from the nations and
regions, from black, Asian and other minority ethnic filmmakers and encouraged the use of
digital technology in the production, distribution and exhibition of films.

8. Issues raised by media ownership in
contemporary media practice
"I think it’s probably hard for people to become aware of things unless there are famous people talking about a
film, unless it’s a genre film I suppose, but for smaller independent films, it seems like the only route for people to
find out about it."
Richard Ayoade

9. The importance of cross media
convergence and synergy in production,
distribution and marketing
Film4 Productions, Film Agency for Wales, Wales
Creative IP Fund, Red Hour Films and Warp Films.
All of these smaller companies coming together to
produce Submarine helped make the film successful
by sharing experience and increasing the budget.

10. The importance of cross media convergence and
synergy in production, distribution and marketing
Much of the success of the film came from below
the line advertising, attracting audience through
critical acclaim via its success at the Toronto Film
festival, meaning that its success mainly came from
word of mouth, rather than a huge marketing
budget.
Synergy can be said to be a contributing factor
when it comes to the distribution of Submarine,
although it was mainly it’s film festival success
that attracted distributors The Weinstein
Company, it also attracted distribution cynically
on the strength of the unusual involvement as
Executive Producer of Hollywood actor, Ben
Stiller (Red Hour Films). The collaboration and
investment of aforementioned companies gave
the film some pedigree.

11. The importance of cross media convergence and
synergy in production, distribution and marketing

12. The importance of cross media convergence and
synergy in production, distribution and marketing
The Weinstein Company
distributed the film in the US
and Optimum Releasing took
care of the UK, but
considering Bob and Harvey
Weinstein’s company in
essence can be described as a
‘Mini Major’ film distributor,
this can explain the overall
success of the film in the US
even with a limited release.
28
Optimum is a smaller
company, mostly releasing
independent British films such
as Attack the Block. They have
released many independent
films meaning that the
company has plenty of
experience to reach a wider
audience.
60 cinemas in the UK, then 100
Submarine was only distributed to 28 screens in the US
confirming the reluctance of The Weinstein Company to
invest too heavily in this British, low production value
project, however it made an impressive $467,000 in the US.
The Weinstein Company is large enough to cope with the
distribution of academy award winning The Artist (2012)
and The Iron Lady (2012) but not competition for the
oligopoly of Hollywood distributors including 20th Century
Fox, Universal Studios and Paramount
Both these Distributors working together to release Submarine in the UK and US
helped greatly to generate interest in the film and increase the overall audience of
Submarine. Without Weinstien's involvement Submarine's audience wouldn't have
grown over in the US which means that Submarine may have missed out on a
potentially bigger audience.

13. The importance of cross media convergence and
synergy in production, distribution and marketing
Submarine’s distinctive marketing campaign backed by
strong critical reviews and a soundtrack by Alex Turner of
Arctic Monkey’s fame has certainly helped this quirky
coming of age tale find an audience in the UK. Submarine
like Four Lions offers hope that British cinema does
produce a healthy slate of films each year which can
remain successful given the continuing dominance
enjoyed by Hollywood films. Optimum releasing
expanded the release of Submarine from 60 screens to
100 and it is likely to help with the final box office take.

14. The technologies that have been introduced in
recent years at the levels of production,
distribution, marketing and exchange
• Unlike a film like The Dark Knight, Submarine
had a small production budget of £1.2 million
and an even smaller marketing budget.
Therefore there were no expensive cross
media platform promotions and it wasn’t
filmed on IMAX. Due to it being a Warp
production it was filmed digitally which fit
within the budget. Click here for more on
filming on digital

15. The technologies that have been introduced in
recent years at the levels of production,
distribution, marketing and exchange
• Digital copies of films are ten times
cheaper than 35mm, so with the Arts
Council England The UK Film Council
created the Digital Screen Network:
a £12 million investment in 240
digital screens at 210 cinemas across
the UK.
Digital screening cuts the cost of releasing films (a digital copy costs around one
tenth of a 35mm print). That’s why UK Film Council and the Arts Council England
created the Digital Screen Network – a £12 million investment to equip 240
screens in 210 cinemas across the UK with digital projection technology to give
UK audiences much greater choice.
Cinemas in the network screened non-mainstream films including Submarine,
allowing the film to reach a wider audience. The DSN scheme no longer exists

16. The significance of proliferation in hardware
and content for institutions and audiences
• Now that most films are available to stream
online on websites such as Amazon Prime and
Netflix, this helps the make it available to
anyone anywhere on Phones, Laptops and
TV's. Also, Submarine is available to download
from Itunes.

17. The importance of technological
convergence for institutions and audiences
Submarine had no website of it's own, it only
had pages through Weinstien and Optimum. On
the Weinstien website there is an interactive
slide show of 'Oliver Tates Guide to Avoid
Bullying'.
the film did have a Facebook page which
helped fans to keep up to date with the
production of the film, trailers and
releasing of the film.

18. The issues raised in the targeting of national and
local audiences (specifically British) by
international or global institutions
The posters for
Submarine did not
alter that much
between the UK and
US marketing. But on
the US poster the
phrase 'Ben Stiller
Presents...' is shown
in bold and stands
out much more than
the UK poster.
'Oliver Tate's Guide
to Avoid Bullying'
interactive
animation, was
used to promote
the film but also for
an anti-bullying
campaign.

19. The issues raised in the targeting of national and
local audiences (specifically British) by
international or global institutions
Submarine’s distinctive marketing campaign backed by
strong critical reviews and a soundtrack by Alex Turner of
Arctic Monkey’s fame helped this quirky coming of age tale
find an audience in the UK. Submarine like Four Lions offers
hope that British cinema does produce a healthy slate of
films each year which can remain successful given the
continuing dominance enjoyed by Hollywood

20. The issues raised in the targeting of national and local
audiences (specifically British) by international or
global institutions
Submarine's soundtrack features Alex Turner the lead
singer/guitarist of The Arctic Monkeys. This may have
encouraged people to want to go and watch the films because
they are fans of The Artic Monkey, this would be more
appealing to a British audience as they are a British band.