Question 3: What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
Cinema: â–
Odeon and VUE are both cinemas that are very popular and well-known. They distribute both mainstream and upcoming films that they believe are likely to appeal to a large audience. I believe that our film would fit in well with this type of distribution as the film appeals to teenagers and young adults. People around this age range are very likely to go to these cinemas to see films, therefore our thriller production would be likely to be successful as people of the targeted age range find out about the film. Cinemas are finding increasingly more ways to make the viewing experience exciting for people in order to draw audiences in. I believe that our thriller film would be successful if it was shown in a cinema because it is very dramatic and fast paced and seeing this production on a large screen along with the soundtrack is likely to build up tension very quickly and make it exciting for the audience.
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From looking on the Odeon website at the films that are currently being shown, I was able to see that 9/12 films are targeted at young adults and teenagers, this is evidence that our thriller production would work well being shown in this type of institution. It also shows that Odeon typically aims to show films for similar ages.
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In opposition to this, another cinema type would be an independent cinema, for example, Cinema City. Cinema City is an independent cinema that specialises in showing specialised and arthouse films along with other specialised content. Cinema City aims to target an older, middle-class audience which leads me to believe that my thriller production would not be suited for this type of cinema. However, due to the fact that our film is a low budget one, this means there may be a small chance that it would be shown at a cinema such as Cinema City.
Distribution/Marketing: ■ In order for my thriller production to be distributed by a film company, it needs to fit a specific area and market. A film company such as Universal may distribute my film. Universal produces, acquires, and distributes direct-to-DVD titles, classic titles from the Universal library, consumer products (across all traditional categories, as well as interactive and wireless platforms), and specialty motion pictures under Focus Features. They are extremely well-known and have produced mainstream films that have similar target audiences to my thriller film. For example, a film such as Love Actually is targeted at a young adult audience. ■ Since the company is American based, the Britishness seen in my film may help appeal to other audiences. For example the weather and locations used. Universal is the parent company of Working Title which is a smaller, yet still extremely well-known company. Working Title focus on more arthouse films and therefore have an older target audience. However, some of Working Title’s films are targeted for younger audience. I feel as though Working Title would be less likely to distribute my thriller film due to the genre, this is because the company tends to focus on films that may be more arthouse or comedy focussed. ■ My group and I found out about the company ‘Warp Films’. Warp Films is an alternative film distribution company which produces new and modern, British films based on issues in society today. An example of one of Warp Films’ productions is a film called “This is England” which is based around a teenage boy who gets involved and in trouble with a gang. This is similar to our thriller production since ours also focusses on very deep and real topics. This makes me believe that this distribution company, or one very similar, would be most likely to distribute my thriller production due to the topic and the genre of the film.
â– With technology being developed and improved constantly, people are now using it more and more, this is a benefit for film makers such as myself wanting to advertise and distribute my film. Social networking sites are likely to be the most effective ways of marketing and distributing my production since social networking is extremely popular with almost all teenagers and young adults. As a result of this, it means that the targeted audience are more likely to see it and promote it. Social networking allows people to give their opinions and share the content which helps spread the word about it and as a result gives the production more chance of becoming popular. â– YouTube is an extremely effective way to publish and advertise films since videos are extremely quick and simple to upload. It is also extremely effective since YouTube is an easy way to find and share content for free. It is very easily accessible from a range of different devices including laptops, phones and TVs which means a lot of people use it, however, the website is most popular with teenagers and young adults.
Possible benefits of being a student film maker: â– Being a student film-maker gives opportunities for me such as competitions. Entering different competitions with this thriller production would mean I would be able to promote the film and get more people to know about it. Winning certain competitions could give me the opportunity of working with certain companies or having my production distributed professionally. Also the fact that people support, new upcoming film makers, as a society we are interested in new, modern ways including within the film industry.