Task 3
- 1. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why? Poppy & Caitlin
- 2. What is distribution ? • Film distribution is the process of which a film is made available to watch by an audience. A film is made when someone has an idea for a film, people are put together to make the film (director, cast etc.) and the film is completed and sent to a studio. The studio makes a licensing agreement with a distribution company. The distributor does a lot of the marketing, they tend to know more about the audience than the production company do. The size of the campaign depends on the budget of the film. • The role of the distribution company is to establish how many copies of the film to make. They screen the movie to potential buyers representing cinemas. The buyers negotiate with the distribution company on which films they wish to lease and the terms of the lease agreement. The prints are sent to the cinemas a few days before the opening day. • The cinema shows the film for a specified number of weeks. At the end of the engagement, the cinema send the print back to the distribution company and makes payment on the lease agreement.
- 3. Distribution Windows • Films can be distributed in many ways, including: • DVD • Blu-Ray • Film Channels • Online • ITunes
- 4. Think about the sort of film you have produced , and the type of films this company have released before • ‘Screen Gems’ distributed ‘When a Stranger Calls’ (2006). • ‘New Line Cinema’ distributed ‘Se7en’ (1995). • ‘Screen Gems’ distributed ‘Arlington Road’ (1990). • ‘Paramount Pictures’ distributed ‘Fatal Attraction (1987). We feel feel that ‘Screen Gems’ would distribute our film as it deals with similar sub-genres so there would be less risk in their investment. We also think this as our sub-genre is a popular one so it is likely to be watch by a lot of people.
- 5. Is your film going to appeal to UK audiences only ? Or does it have a wider appeal ? • I think our film would appeal to a wider audience then just the UK as its genre is very popular all over the world. For example ‘When a Stranger calls’, beat its budget in the US on its opening weekend and did reasonably well in the UK too. Another example is ‘Phone Booth’ which did exceptionally well in both the US and the UK.
- 6. Marketing strategies • Poster campaign, trailer and viral campaign. • Know your budget. • Know your audience and how you can contact them. • Target audiences that have seen films of similar genre and sub-genre.
- 7. Release Strategy • We will release our film around Halloween time as it fits in with the time of year, so we would release it in the middle of October. • We will do a • We screen in UK cinemas for 5 weeks. • We will wait 3-4 months before we put out on DVD and Blu-Ray
- 8. Self-Distribution • There are lots of advantages of self-distribution for example, you have control on cinema bookings and your film can stay on your distributor’s shelf for a long time. Also you will have control over the money from the box office sales. • But it might be better for us to hire a distributor as they have lots of experience and could enhance our film’s chances at the box office.