Blinded By The Light Case Study

 Funding and industry contexts

1) What was the budget for Blinded By The Light and which companies contributed to the production budget?

The budget for Blinded By The Light was $15 million, Bend It films developed the film and companies Levantine Films and Ingenious Media contributed to the production budget. 

2) Research the Bend It Networks website. What other films and projects has the company been involved with?

Bend It Networks has been involved in producing films such as "Bend It Like Beckham", "Bride and Prejudice", "What's Cooking", "Viceroy's House", "Wonderful Afterlife", "Mistress of spices", "Beecham House" and more. 

3) Research Warner Bros. Pictures and New Line Cinema on the Warners website here. Summarise the history of New Line Cinema in a short paragraph.

New Line Cinema was founded in 1967 and produces critically acclaimed films that target both mainstream and niche audiences around the world. New Line Cinema is a pioneer in the horror genre, known widely for iconic films such as "A Nightmare On Elm Street", "Final Destination", "Blade" franchise, "The Conjuring" and hit franchise "IT". The studio also is credited for their R rated comedies such as "Friday", "Elf", "We're the Millers". 

4) Read this Variety interview with director Gurinder Chadha explaining how the project came about - including budget details. How did she manage to get the film made? 

Gurinder Chadha managed to get the film made by speaking to Springsteen's managing team and Springsteen himself in order to agree on using Springsteen's music in the film and on the film's production. 

5) What attracted Gurinder Chadha to the project?

The success of Gurinder Chadha's other project "Bend It Like Beckham" as it made over $100 million at the worldwide box office and Chadha was inspired and hopes that Blinded By The Light would have the same success as Bend It Like Beckham. 

Production and distribution

1) Which company won the distribution rights after the all-night auction and for how much?

New Line Cinema and Warner Bros acquired the film for $15 million for worldwide rights excluding certain international markets pre-sold to eOne Entertainment who own the rights for UK distribution. 

2) Which other companies were rumoured to be bidding for the distribution rights?

The other companies rumoured to be bidding for distribution rights were Fox Searchlight, Lionsgate and others. 

3) According to the article, what was the 'allure' of Blinded By The Light?

According to the article, the allure of Blinded By The Light was the universal appeal of Springsteen's coming of age tunes, which tell honest stories about a hardscrabble upbringing, ambition and the fight to break free of all shackles to do something worthwhile with one's life. 

4) What does the article suggest about the significance of Bruce Springsteen's role in the production and promotion of the film?

The article mentioned that landing that rights to use that many songs from an artist as major as Springsteen is a blockbuster proposition. The article also mentions that Springsteen's support will certainly help New Line Cinema and Warner Bros roll it out in that wide release this year. 

5) UK distribution was secured by eOne Entertainment. Visit the eOne About Us page on their website - what do they claim to offer under the heading 'Passion meets possibility?'

eOne enables every step in the entertainment value chain from development and production to marketing and distribution. With the reach of a studio and the flexibility of an indie, we share bold stories with audiences around the world.

Promotion and reception

1) What does the trailer suggest regarding genre and the potential audience pleasures of Blinded By The Light?

In the trailer we see historical context and that the film is a period drama as it features scenes of the Cold War, which creates a sense of nostalgia for Generation X, this is shown by the use of the iconic elements of the 1980s such as the cassette tapes, cars, 80s music. Furthermore, in the trailer we can also see that this film is a coming of age film with a broad, universal appeal. The trailer features quotes of "it's good not to fit in", "For everyone who's wanted to...run...speak out....sing etc. which clearly targets that teen/youth audience who want to find their true identity. The trailer also portrays that the film features elements of social realism of racism and discrimination. 

2) What did film posters for Blinded By The Light feature and where did they appear?

The film posters for Blinded By The Light feature the protagonist Javed and the name of the director Gurinder Chadha, the release date, Bruce Springsteen as they use his music in the film and use this as a way to bring more attention to their film. In addition the film posters feature quotes such as "The feel-good movie of the year", "Irresistible... you won't stop smiling" The film posters appeared on billboards, box offices and many more in order to reach a wider audience and promote their film. 

3) What TV shows and websites did interviews with writer, director and stars of Blinded By The Light? Why are interviews a good way to promote a new film release?

HeyUGuys, Bend It Networks, Variety, Fandango, BBC One. Interviews are a good way to promote a new film release as audience members get to find out more about the film and cast which they may develop personal relationships with their characters etc. 

4) How does the Blinded By The Light Twitter account create and maintain interest in the film?

The Blinded By The Light Twitter account helps create and maintain interest as Twitter is a very popular platform which will allow Blinded By The Light to increase their social media presence and may be purposefully using social media as a way to target the younger audience this film is directed to.  

5) How does the Blinded By The Light Facebook page use images and video content to promote the film?

The Blinded By The Light Facebook page uses images and video content to promote the film by showing snippets of the film, encouraging the audience where to watch the film (Theatres, BluRay DVD, HBO) This allows the audience to get an insight of what the film is about and attracts their audience to watch it. 

6) Select three posts from the Blinded By The Light Instagram page and explain how they promote the film.

This poster helps to promote the film as it shows that the film is a coming of age film as it features teenage characters who are in love. The poster also presents an inter racial couple which subverts the stereotype of usually couples in films being of the same race and cultural background which may promote the film even more due to the fact that this is subverting stereotypes so it may attract an audience more. 

This poster helps promote the film as it presents that the film again is a coming of age film as you have the 3 teenage characters (the friend, girlfriend and protagonist) who look like are in the middle of running away so it may indicate they are rebelling against something and running away from school. In addition since this poster is a full body shot of the characters we can see the 1980's fashion which may attract more of an audience as it may give generation X audiences a feeling of nostalgia. 

This poster helps promote the film as it features the protagonist who is wearing 1980s clothing such as the denim jacket, the bandana, we also see him wearing a Walkman which was quite popular in the 1980s. This reflects that the film is a period drama which may attract more of an audience due to the fact that it's not only targeting a young audience but also an older one with a sense of nostalgia. In addition the film poster features Bruce Springsteen to help promote the film as he is a famous singer which may bring Springsteen fans to watch the film as well as the name of the director, Gurinder Chadha, is also on the film poster in order to possibly attract an audience of individuals that enjoyed Chadha's previous films. 

7) Go to the Bend It Networks YouTube channel. How does Gurinder Chadha introduce the channel?  What other content is on the Bend It Networks YouTube channel?

Gurinder Chadha introduces the channel by talking about her aim of bringing the community together. She talks about inspiring others by talking about her aims and the purpose of the channel. On the Bend It Networks we see interviews with Gurinder Chadha, Behind the scenes for her films, film releases/trailers. 

8) Look at the box office figures for Blinded By The Light from The Numbers website. How much did it make at the box office and why do you think it was largely unsuccessful?

Blinded By The Light made $18,136,756 at the worldwide box office. Overall I believe it was largely unsuccessful due to that fact that it was a $15 million dollar budget film and it only made a couple more than the budget which is not really successful. In addition BBTL clearly did not receive as much recognition like her previous films such as 'Bend It Like Beckham.'