1. Question 3) what kind of media institutions might distribute
your product and why?
Film distribution is the act of making a film/s available for viewing by an audience.
There are many film distribution companies worldwide that play a vital part in gaining
audience attention for a film regardless of genre or quality. In America the film industry
is dominated by ‘The Big Six’ as they’re called which are: Warner Bros, Universal, The
Walt Disney Company, Paramount Pictures, 21st Century Fox and Columbia. These
companies will aim to sell at a larger audience and have a much bigger budget than
independent production companies, so are known as major distribution companies. The
UK film industry is a series of independent production companies, these are smaller
companies that have a smaller budget and therefore usually target a smaller audience base
a few examples of these are Working Title Films, Eon Films and Hammer Films.
Paramount Pictures
Using a major distribution company like Paramount or
at least one its subsidiaries would have many benefits,
as they would distribute my film, Last Man Standing, to
a very large audience base while not necessarily
affecting the production cost therefore increasing profit.
Another benefit would be that their successes with
previous films of the same genre like Shutter Island,
which made $294.8 million in box office suggests that
they know how to effectively promote and distribute
films on an individual basis based on the genre and
target audience.
Hammer Films
Hammer films is a much smaller British company that could distribute my film especially
as they mainly distribute horror films which the vast majority of are very successful
making a lot of money in box office alone making them a very successful company.
Being a smaller company they are experienced with distributing films with a small
budget while still getting a relatively large audience and maximizing profits an example
of this is the film Let Me In which made
just over $24 million just in box office
although Hammer have also been
involved in larger films like The Women
in Black which made just over $127.7
million in box office worldwide.
Revolver Entertainment
2. Using a company like Revolver Entertainment could potentially be beneficial as they are
based in the UK but have a sister company in the US this would help reach a wide
audience possibly an international audience like it would if I was to use one of the ‘Big
Six’ as I believe my film would appeal to a lot of people outside of the British market as
it doesn’t revolve around British
culture. I think using an independent
company’s industry connection
could potentially inflate profits while
still keeping the cost to a minimum.
I think my film would be best suited for a major distribution company, as it would
probably need a relatively large budget mostly for special effects/pyrotechnics that would
be needed. It is a little difficult to say really as my film does have qualities that would
make it suitable for both the UK and US market and possibly even further afield,
although I believe that the decision of a major company rather than independent would be
best.
I believe that the best way to distribute my product would be to use the Internet through
online distribution companies like Netflix as this way it is more likely to reach a larger
audience especially those of the younger generations that my film is more targeted
towards. A good example of a film that utilized this method for both marketing and
distribution is Ill Manors by Plan B.
I believe that the best way to distribute my film would be to
implement a similar method to what Plan B used for Ill
Manors, by initially attracting attention through social media
and posters as well as possibly some trailers and then exhibit
it in cinemas around both the UK and US which would help
get the word around about my film. Then shortly after put it
onto legal Internet distribution sites like Netflix as the sheer
amount of people who regularly use Netflix and similar sites
is very high and still increasing. A lot of these sites also have
a ‘recommended films’ section which could be very
beneficial to my film as it has the potential to fit into more
than one category due to the fact that is does not conform to
all the conventions of Horror.
