What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why? Our Thriller is a British Thriller; we aimed to present the film like other British Thrillers such as ‘Essex Boys’ as a Gritty Thriller (As the film is based loosely on murders that occurred in Essex in in 1995), Aiming to show a realistic representation of crime in Britain. I researched into the company that distributed Essex Boys to help influence and inform me on my decision as to who might distribute my media Product. The film was distributed by Miramax Home Video and Pathe-UK. Pathe UK distribute to the most popular and widely known cinemas such as vue, Odeon and Cineworld; therefore they could be possibly a great film distributer for our Film as our target audience is a British Audience from the age of around 17-35; therefore our target audience will mainly be visiting these chains of Cinemas rather than independent cinema chains such as picture house cinemas where they are mostly targeting an older audience. Miramax is also a large American distribution company, owned by one of ‘the big 6’ global companies, Walt Disney. Therefore this would ensure guaranteed distribution in cinemas and guaranteed financial support and legal support. Despite this though because our Film is a British film, it might be more suited to an independent British market such as Film Four would distribute it to. This could be a possibility as although it could be marketed as a mainstream film it could also be marketed and distributed as a British independent film, which may appeal to more people. Film Four also has a TV channel therefore our film would be distributed onto this after it is distributed in Cinemas. I also researched Film Four as a distribution company to see if this could help me make an informed decision; I found out that the television channel film four is also sister channels with; channel 4 and E4 therefore our films could also be possibly distributed onto these channels. Although Universal have a lot of financial power and could be extremely helpful in helping to distribute our film, I think that in conclusion to what I have researched, our Film should be marketed as a British Independent film. This is because I feel as though our film should be available Widely to a large British audience. Film four although an independent company would help to present our film to a large British audience of the age of our target audience. It would also ensure distribution on TV and make sure we can market our film as aimed towards not just middle class audiences but working class as well. I also did research and found that they have whole seasons of showing Thrillers, crime films etc, features like this would ensure that films like ours based on crime would get re-shown and therefore be presented to a larger audience.
How would new digital technologies offer new distribution opportunities? With the proliferation of Digital Technologies it would offer us an enormous amount more opportunities when looking at how to distribute our film. For example with the increasing use of Video on Demand used by our target audience (17-35 year olds) a vast amount more younger people are using these services to watch films as it is cheaper and there is a wider variety. By using these services such as Netflix, Love film and Mubi our films will be shown to a wider audience. After our films are shown in cinemas this will give us the opportunity to show are films again. Also with the availability of Technological convergence in devices owned by a large percentage of our target audience this means they can watch films etc. where-ever they are, this means they are consuming films at a more rapid rate making it more likely that they will watch our film if it is also including in a V.O.D service. Another advantage of the use of Digital technology now available is that now if we do work with film four they have close ties with the channel 4 on demand service available on the internet for free to anyone. By placing our Film on this for free it will promote our film and make it available to a wider audience and student audience who could not afford to watch it in a cinema.
Odeon Cinema Listings
Cinema city screen mainstream films distributed mainly by big distribution companies such as Universal. The films they screen are mostly aimed at teenagers/young adults and children. Despite our thriller being targeted at a young audience because of the fact that I have decided to use an film four to distribute my film as an independent film, Odeon cinema’s may not be as suitable. This is because they do not screen many independent films therefore would not be as efficient in distributing my film as an British Independent Thriller.
Cinema City Listings (Picture House Cinema)
Cinema city screen a wide variety of films all aimed at different ages, mostly for an older audience such as Batman v Superman, high-rise and Madame Butterfly (for a more educated audience), therefore our Thriller could easily fit in. Although they do show some mainstream films such as Eddie the Eagle, They specialize in also showing independent films, foreign films and other specialized types of film. Although Cinema City may be more expensive for our audience to view the film, the cinema also have Student memberships and also if working with Film four in some aspect the film would also be available on TV.
Would your status as a student film maker offer opportunities for distribution? As an student film maker this would make me eligible for certain programmes and Student film competitions which would give me the opportunity to access money or distribution for my film. Competitions such as first film competitions and student competitions would give us recognition as a production team/ student film maker to other film makers etc and help us to create links with these and possible future connections. It would also help to promote our work to a larger audience and possibly have it seen by distribution companies and bigger global companies if awarded or given recognition.