3: Distribution

FDA Research 


I have created a short film 


The first thing on this page which I look at is the distribution techniques of large blockbuster Jurassic World compared to the small budget, arthouse film, Tortoise In Love

The second thing we look at is the role of the distributor in the process of making and producing a film.

And the final thing which I looked at was the different options for indie films when distributing, particularly online. 

We have looked at two different films with contrasting distribution techniques.

The first film we looked at was Tortoise In Love. This was a low budget film which got the majority of its funding from the local villagers. I looked at the BFI website where looked at a leaflet regarding the distribution technique of the film. The distribution of this film would not have been possible without the support of the BFI P&A fund. The film got access to this fund as it is a heavily British influenced film and captures what life is like to live in a rural area of Britain. The film managed to get a mainstream release at Leicester but was also released to many village halls across the country. This simultaneous release isn't very popular, and on opening night the village halls grossed more than the mainstream premiere.  

Our film will be distributed by a film distributor. I researched film distribution on www.launchingfilms.com/ . On the webpage I then went onto film distribution guid tab and then selected further discussions. I watched a presentation on the role of the distributor. In this film it says 'The task of the film distributor is to bring the film into the movie marketplace.' Its part of the distributors role to find a target audience. They could choose between an arthouse, multiplex or prestige audience. Equally some films are destined for the international or global marketplace. This will  make the distributor target different techniques for different areas. For Mark Batey, 'Its a whole business process which is fast moving, highly competitive and each film is difference'. If you work at Warner Bros or Universal, you will have your distributors licensed to your company. If its an Indie film they're more likely to buy the rights to a film after seeing it at a film festival or they may buy the script early on in the process. Our film is a small low budget Indie film which is unlikely to have national distribution never mind worldwide. 

The distributor has to decide where to position the film in the market place, that is what are its selling points, what is its appeal. This doesn't just regard genre, it is also to do with which stars are in the film, is it a sequel and is the director well know for previous work.

Mark Batey states that a key consideration is defining the audience. One of the factors is of course the age remembering that younger audiences tend to go more often than older audiences. There is a strong middle aged audience and a strong youth audience. At my A-Level study day, presented by Matt Hall at the BFI, presented on the 9th February 2016, we were offered definitions for three types of audiences: Art house, Multiplex and Crossover. Art house audiences tend to go to small independent cinemas which may show low budget speciality cinema. The largest audience is the mainstream audiences which go to large cinemas such as Odeon and may be in large social centres such as shopping malls. These audiences like blockbusters and mainstream entertainment. Matt Hall also suggested the idea of a crossover audience, that is audiences who were persuaded to see a film because of its prestige. It may have gained prestige due to nominations (BAFTA and Oscar), these films may be serious non-hollywood genre film, they could follow a large actor who wants to do a smaller film due to one of his or her interests, or via word of mouth. Almost certainly our film will be classified as small, low budget which means it'll never be shown at a multiple, if we get any distribution at all we will be very lucky. 

I think our film would appeal to audiences who enjoy films such as 'Invictus'. 

Another key decision a distributor has to make is when to release the film to their audience. This is due to it being a very crowded with 700 films of varying types and genre being released per year in the UK. The audience will not go to the audience seven times a week so releasing a film when there are blockbusters is a bad idea. For example, at the end of the year many films are released due to it being award season. Children's films compete in holiday periods such as summer, romance films are popular near the valentines day period and indie films pick low pressure periods. 

It is the distributor to create a distribution strategy in regard to reaching and addressing their audience. P&A(prints and advertising) companied will be commissioned to create the perfect poster for the film. Even before the film is finished the distributor has to create a teaser trailer and a traditional trailer. They may acquire interviews with online stars on social media platforms such as youtube, Instagram, Facebook and twitter. This is very important for reaching your younger audience. For our film we created a live twitter feed, a live twitter account, a live Facebook page and a webpage design. We have been drip-feeding information through these mediums to get the audience interacting with our film.

Mainstream films may well be teamed up with media partners by the distributors. A media partner could be clothing ranges, food and all sorts of other peripherals.

When I visited the BFI in London, I was taught about the distribution company Warp  and Vertigo. After learning that Warp cater to more indie style films such as Four Lions, my production team and I decided it would be better to partner our film with Vertigo Films as they target the multiplex, mainstream audience which our style of film also targets. 

Online Distribution

Here you will be able to see the 'Emaze' presentation which I have created to show the pros and cons of online distribution. To create this presentation I used Noam Kroll's article which was written on 

1 comment:

  1. Excellent understanding of distribution through contrasting case studies undertaken; effective Emaze presentation on new distribution methods; evidence of careful research on FDA website.Attendance at BFI study day covering Warp and Vertigo as distributors.

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