The film that we finally see at the cinema is the result of many months, often many years, of planning, financing, hope, disappointment, frustration and sometimes elation. The process from the original idea being found for a film, to its arrival in our local cinema can involve hundreds of people, all of whom need to be committed to the project if it is to succeed.

With a film such as ‘The World Is Not Enough’ the actual production process has to be tightly controlled because, as Michael Apted points out, the release date for the film is set well before the film itself is made. Key to the success of any film is the preparation the work that is carried out in pre-production. These notes will give you additional background to the planning which was required for ‘The World Is Not Enough’.

The Idea

In talking about the processes at work in the life of a film, it is easy to forget that the first step in that journey is the original idea. This can either come from a writer, a director or a producer in the form of a book, a play or an original treatment for a script. The writers of the film, Robert Wade and Neal Purvis, had to come up with an idea which would make the new Bond film relevant to the end of the millennium. They were looking for a background against which they could insert the conventions of the Bond genre.

The Producer

The variety of different credits which appear at the end of a film defining the production personnel can be very confusing producer, co-producer, associate producer etc. What the differences are and how each is involved in a film can vary from production to production. Nowadays, producing almost solely consists of raising the money, and overseeing expenditure.

Producers deal with ideas, money and organisation; three vital ingredients. They commission the script, secure the finances, hire the director and are involved in casting, finding locations and hiring the technical crew.

A producer can either work independently, developing ideas and raising the money for a film, or can work as part of a studio, proposing projects to the studio's finance team.

The best producers must have a nose for a good idea and be able to keep up with public taste. They often take financial risks and are prepared to back their hunches against the criticism of the cautious. They need to have either great personal charisma to win over the doubters, or an extremely good track record. Investing in film is a risky venture and bankers are never over-enthusiastic about putting their money in to what seems to be a risk. In the case of Bond films, the producers, Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli, had to consider the place of the new Bond film within the whole of the Bond franchise the past eighteen films. As producers, they had to come up with a script which would add new elements to the Bond series and thus build new audiences as well as satisfying already existing fans.

This sort of negotiation is all to do with making a film as 'bankable' as possible. For the investors the most important thing is that the film is given the best possible chance in the hope that they will see a good financial return when the film opens in cinemas and if this means pushing to have a particular star, then so be it.

From Idea to Package

If the film is being made by a film studio, they would already have the finance to pay for the film to be produced, and profits would eventually go back to the film studio to finance other films. In the case of independent film production, no such capital is available. The producer and production company must persuade banks, investment companies and wealthy individuals to invest in a film. Initially a 'treatment' will be presented to the investors, consisting of a detailed breakdown of the idea for the film, which will run from between five to twenty five pages. (If the director or producer are very well known this stage may consist of presenting an idea without going to a treatment.) If the investors like the treatment they may pay for the ‘development’ of the treatment into the first draft of the script and/or for a ‘package’ to be put together. Banks and other investors need some assurance that there will be a return on their investments if they are to finance the production of the film and it is the package that fulfils this function. Packages consist of a combination of either a 'treatment' or a draft of the script, a proposed budget, a storyboard of some scenes, and details of the director and any 'stars' who will be in the film. The track record of the director of photography and composer can also be important elements of the package, as can the interest of a distributor at this stage.

The investors will then look at the 'track record' of each, questioning whether:

• the film's story is similar to other films which made money recently;

• it offers easy selling points;

• there are obvious marketing spin-offs which would help give the film added publicity;

• the star is 'bankable' (that is popular);

• the director has made any successful films.

Unlike television, film has to attract people to a cinema or, later, to a video shop. People have to be persuaded to leave the house to get a product that they have heard about. It is this idea of attraction that is important.

Potential Profit

From the outset, the producer should have an idea as to what the potential audience of the film might be so that it might stand a chance of recouping costs and going into profit.

It is generally assumed that to go into profit a film has to make two and a half times its cost at the box office. If a film costs $10,000,000 to make, then it will need to make $25,000,000 at the box office and on other sales (e.g. to television) before it goes into profit. Profit is the money made through box-office takings and other merchandising spin-offs after production and distribution costs have been met.

What type of box-office will the film do? If you are making a film that will have limited audience appeal, to be shown in small independent 'art house' cinemas, there is no point in thinking that you can raise $40 million. This would mean necessary box-office takings of approximately $100 million and very few films make that sort of money at that sort of cinema through that sort of audience.

There are always exceptions to this rule. There are small films such as ‘Four Weddings and a Funeral’, ‘Trainspotting’ and ‘Shallow Grave’, all of which had small budgets yet went on to take millions at the box office.

This, of course, also works the other way round. There are supposed blockbuster movies which cost up to $100,000,000 to make and yet which fail to perform at the box office, despite the fact that on paper they look as if they could not fail.

Because the two previous Bond movies had both made over $340,000 000 at the box office, there is a fair chance that Bond 19 will do as well if not better.

Once the finance has been the raised, the producer starts planning the project, working out where the money will be spent, and when shooting will take place.

Pre-Productions

Planning

Once the money has been secured, the producer's next task is to ensure that all the necessary planning is complete. This involves editing and preparing the script, casting, planning locations, booking technicians and camera people, organising insurance, designers, accommodation, travel, equipment and finalising the budget.

Budgeting

As filming approaches and the true cost of production becomes apparent, the budget breakdown becomes more precise.

The budget is divided into 'above the line' and 'below the line' costs.

Above-the-line wages for director, performers and technicians known before the shooting begins.

Below-the-line any other expenditure, including film stock, equipment hire, hotel costs, food, scenery, costumes, properties etc.

Above the line costs are fixed and will not change during the production process. Actors, directors and producers will all agree their fees before a filming begins.

Below the line costs are changeable things can happen on a film which might require more money to be spent on that particular area of the budget. This money will then have to be found from another part of the budget.

Scheduling

Once a film has been budgeted and the producer has contracted the stars and some of the technical personnel, then the film will have to be ‘scheduled’. A schedule is basically a timetable for the shooting of a film.

A film is never shot in the order that we finally see it. Restrictions on when people and locations are available mean that the film's shooting has to be carried out around these availabilities. Only so many scenes can be shot in one day. On a good day's shooting, possibly five minutes of usable film will be shot. So, a full length feature could take anything up to six or seven weeks to shoot with just one film unit.

Popularity and Genre

One way that we understand movies is through their type or their genre. If we know that we are going to see, say, a western, then there will be certain plot devices, certain settings that we might expect to find in the film.

But what genre, what type of film is a Bond movie? Is it a thriller, an adventure story or a love story?

Activity

Think about these three types of film. What would you expect to find in each, from the point of view of character types, settings, plot devices typical scenes? Write down your expectations. You could also write down what your expectations are of a Bond film.

‘Dr. No’ was the first James Bond film, directed by Terence Young in 1962. It was one of the first films to use non-stop action and fast cutting it was highly visual and very fast moving and combined elements of unreality with a comic book tone. It achieved an international appeal and established James Bond’s popularity as a hero of great cultural, social and political significance and now, at the end of the millennium, thirty seven years later, we are eagerly awaiting the appearance of the nineteenth Bond film — ‘The World Is Not Enough’.

As a mythic hero this popular acceptance of Bond has made him part of our screen heritage, in a genre that will always be exciting for audiences. The stories seem to belong to the spy genre but in some ways they are closer to the tough guy American private eye but with additional involvement in matters of world-wide significance saving the free world from a range of madmen.

Activity

Identify the different generic elements in any Bond film that you know. Make a list of all the elements and conventions that you think make the film one genre or another. If you think Bond films cross genres, then make a list of all the elements and conventions that belong to each genre.

How does a film-maker approaching a Bond film, make a film within the genre conventions and yet offer a new appeal?

What are Bond’s qualities which appeal to a 90s audience?

What are the qualities of the heroine that appeal to a 90s audience?

Is she tougher than before?

If we say that we enjoy one particular type of film then where does the pleasure that we get come from? We have already seen the ways in which genre films repeat similar plots and contain similar characters. What is it that makes you want to go on seeing the same type of film over and over again when you know what might happen and appear on the screen?

In a sense the concept of genre supplies the audience and the film-maker with a framework. In making a gangster film, a director and scriptwriter have certain ideas that they can 'play' with. It is unlikely that any one genre film will use all of the conventions that you noted earlier. Twists and turns take place within the sense of the familiar. Each director will put into a genre film something different it might be the motives of a character or the settings could be slightly different. What we are talking about is the skeleton of a text the structure which always has similarities with others of the same genre.

Within that structure, with which we, the audience, are familiar, lies the opportunity for change, into an area of originality. The important question here is why an audience likes this sense of the familiar. Can you think of any reasons why we go back and see the same types of films again and again?

Story Structure

Michael G. Wilson, the producer of ‘The World Is Not Enough’ talks about the structure of the Bond stories, and says that Bond must set out on a quest and overcome difficulties in order to win at the end.

All Bond stories share this similarity. Bond is called to duty, he becomes personally involved and committed to the task, he encounters the adversary whose particular evil is very clearly demonstrated. Bond is carried through an ordeal through which only his sheer will to live and physical endurance carry him successfully through and the final result is the complete destruction of the adversary.

If we look at the story structure of the very first Bond film, ‘Dr. No’, we can see how this ‘quest’ can be broken down into various elements. We can see nine particular moments in the film.

1. M gives a task to Bond;
2. The villain or a representative of the villain appears to Bond;
3. Bond gives a first check to the villain/the villain gives a first check to Bond;
4. The girl shows herself to Bond;
5. Bond begins her seduction;
6. The villain catches Bond and the girl (either together or at different moments);
7. The villain tortures Bond (and sometimes the girl);
8. Bond defeats the villain;
9. Bond possesses the girl who either leaves or is killed by the villain.

This is not necessarily the order that these moves occur in, but the theory is that this is how the narrative develops.

Activity

Do these moves happen in other Bond stories? Are they as similar in plot as stated here? Outline a couple of the plots that you know, or find out the plots from two other Bond stories and see if you can match these moves to their plot development. Write in the characters’ names and the ways in which each of the plot points are developed in each film.

When you see ‘The World Is Not Enough’, you should see if this structure still holds true now.

Elements of Bond

Good and evil are easy to identify in Bond films the appearance of the Bond villains make them easily recognisable and we know that Bond is always on the side of right. He is the ‘contemporary hero’, solving all problems which can be seen as fairy tales or supernatural fantasies. The Bond villain is more than just a gangster he is a mysterious mastermind with a touch of the inhuman about him.

James Bond ‘represents’ what we all long for in our more courageous moments a direct and personal confrontation with evil in which heroic efforts are rewarded by genuine success. There is a ‘universal appeal’ about the tales in the Bond books and films. The stories are very basic with the hero and villain adapted to our technological age and the demons of machinery and atomic power more frightening than the power of Satan.

Activity

Can you think of any other stories with a ‘universal appeal’ where evil is confronted and defeated, or where a lone character takes on the task of overcoming the ‘baddie’ on behalf of a group or community?

Although the conflicts in the Bond stories were between East and West, this can be interpreted loosely as the conflict between good and evil. East and West are not given sufficient identity to compel the viewer to take sides and the comic overtones and description of the villains do not make the Cold War connotations particularly significant. Also, the producers, Albert Broccoli and Harry Saltzman, decided to change Bond’s arch enemy from the Soviet SMERSH to SPECTRE, an international organisation.

Activity

Can you identify any of the organisations in more recent Bond films?

Another development was the changing of James Bond into what the film producers wanted him to be. Bond changed from the cold-hearted, amoral character of Ian Fleming’s novels to a lighter, more sardonic hero. Sean Connery, the first James Bond, influenced this change he had found Bond rather humourless and wanted to make him more so.

Activity

Can you name three actors that played James Bond and describe their particular contribution to the character’s development over the years? Do all the actors cast as Bond bring humour to the part?

In spite of the changes Bond is still a hero who reflects the values of the so called free world and, in particular, England. As the books and films progressed, Bond evolved as a hero representing modernisation, detente with the Communist world and even superficially engaging with feminism. He works for an organisation that is committed to maintaining the power relations that already exist, that is, domination by the British and their allies.

The highly visual quality of the films with their special effects and exotic locations is also very appealing to an audience.

Activity

Name any special effects or locations that you associate with James Bond.

In the sixties he was labelled the ‘cultural hero’ he was the opponent of the ‘system’, shunned the aims of the nine to five schedule and made his own rules.

Activity

What do you think his appeal is in the 90s?

Bond’s lifestyle is appealing. He is apparently extremely sophisticated to people who do not know much about that sort of thing he is fastidious about the brands of liquor and wine he drinks and he presents an image of refined taste.

Activity

What kind of lifestyle appeals to you? Is it anything like Bond’s?

Bond’s relationship with women is an important element in the films. Bond nearly always gets involved with girls who need to be rescued one theory is that through his seduction of the girl Bond ‘repositions’ her ideologically. In other words, he takes her out of the area of domination by the villain, away from an unhappy past and onto his side. The girl often represents a problem or an enigma that Bond must resolve. He does this and puts the girl back into place (which is inferior to his).

Activity

What do you think characterises the heroines in Bond films?

In the new cycle of Bond films starring Pierce Brosnan, M is a woman. Is this significant?