Type of institution we wish to be

Our company, Peacock Productions, is going to be an independent production company. There are a myriad of reasons as to why we have made this decision, most of which come down to the tight financial budget we have to work on. However, there are also stylistic reasons behind choosing to operate as an independent company, and it will allow us to target a more specific audience. 

As an independent company, we will not be able to use CGI,
especially in the way it was demonstrated in Avatar

First and foremost, we have chosen to be an independent company because we are going to be working on a budget of almost nothing. This means we are unlikely to be able to film in locations which are particularly far away, or invest in any specialist equipment. This is why being an independent company will work well, as the audience will be coming to see our film based on the quality of the story it tells, so will not be disappointed when there are no special effects or uses of CGI. 

Reservoir dogs was an independent film made more
realistic from its largely unknown cast of actors

Another financially motivated reason for deciding to be an independent production company is it means we will not have to find star actors for our film. A mainstream film company would be expected to use big name actors/directors in the production in order to bring in an audience who are fans of the other work of these people. However, an independent company will often use relative unknowns. Additionally to this, using actors who are unheard of means that the audience can focus entirely on their roll within this film, rather than comparing it to their performances in other films which they have featured in. 

As our film is going to be part of the broad drama genre, being an independent company will actually benefit this. Drama movies thrive on having high levels of verisimilitude, which comes about from using realistic settings, realistic actors, and camera work which isn't particularly flashy. A mainstream film company would be looking to put a "Hollywood sheen" over all of these aspects of the film, so being an independent company will allow us to stay true to the roots which our genre which founded in. 

Finally, operating as an independent company will allow us to target a more specific audience, as we will not be looking to recoup a huge budget in the way that a mainstream company would have to. This means that we can target the film towards an age range of between 5-10 years, and at just one psychological mindset, whereas a mainstream film would have to aim to appeal to all psychological mindsets, and a variety of different ages.

Considering the type of production company which we wish to operate as has taught me about the importance of making our film as professional as possible, even on the tight budget which we are going to be operating on.

By George Martin and Jack Jolly