3 DISTRIBUTION

What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

A independent distributor would distribute my film. My group and I have discovered many distributors that could be well suited for our film opening, however we decided to choose 'Verve' as the distributor because we have acknowledged their experience with low-budget independent films like ours.
They have also dealt with many successful "first time filmmakers" and are "passionate and discover new talent."

This therefore suits our film perfectly. I have thoroughly researched Distribution. Film distribution is the process of making a movie available for viewing by an audience. This step of the process chain is executed by professional film distributors who would determine the marketing strategy for the film whether it is posters, ad-shells, side and back of public transport and many others like social media. They may also help make the film available for viewing using these strategies, as well as setting the release date and other matters.


There are two useful types of integration which help film industry produce and release films:

1. Vertical integration is when a production company (such as one of the big 6 - 20th Century Fox) owns different businesses in the same chain of production and distribution.

2. Horizontal integration is where a production company expands into other areas of one industry. This means that the company can buy out another company that deals with these areas to develop/improve certain aspects of their film.


The BFI - British Film Institute
I attended an A-level Media day at the BFI Southbank in which many schools including Claremont arranged to gather at a very well known film centre in London, Waterloo where we listened and asked questions to the star guests (directors and producers) about what they do, how they do it and the good/bad things about the film industry. Rob Miller who presented the day trip to us also talked about specific aspects of film, the industry and roles.
Using case studies like Deadpool gave me a chance to analyse what I have learnt from the lecture at the BFI - For example, expanding my knowledge on distribution and looking at the different ways they distributed the action and comedy packed film, Deadpool.


Above the Line Marketing
As above the line marketing is produced to reach a large audience... the marketing involves mass media methods for targeting a specific groups of customers who use Television & Cinema, Radio, Print Adverts and Outside Advertising.
It may or may not work due to the responses of the customers however to measure the success of the marketing, you calculate the Reach, Frequency and Gross rating points.


Below the Line Marketing
(BTL) Below the line marketing is the same as direct marketing and like (ATL) however for smaller, niche audiences. They use methods such as: Public Relations, Search engine marketing, paid research, Social media marketing, Content marketing and Events.
For this type of marketing, you can measure the success by the number of website visits, engagements, click through rates, conversion rates, cost per click, cost per acquisition and social media likes, follows, shares, comments and more.


Low and High Budget Distributions
I have researched what companies have low and high budgets and I have found that the 'Big 6' such as 20th Century Fox has high budget distribution as their films are more expensive as well as having more distribution strategies. From my own experience, seeing posters, trailers, radio adverts and many more, I now know it definitely attracts a larger audience as it is spread across the country which is able to reach almost everyone. But not only outdoors away from home, there are other advertisements like TV ads, pop ups and blogs on Twitter and Facebook. There is no excuse not to see any ads because it is practically everywhere.

Moreover, the opposite of this is low budget. An example of this is my own as I will be producing a short drama opening. As their is no publicity and money behind niche films with small film production companies it is very difficult to distribute films as no distributor will help as there is no money to supply as well as advertising strategies. Another very good example of this 'Tortoise in Love' which I did a small case study on. This film consists of very good actors and an amazing backstory, yet niche sets, cast and production cast along side short supply of money and small distribution.


Launch of Films
- Release dates - When & How, Scheduling, FDA, Marketing campaign (Most expensive)

- Film Marketing - Posters/ adverts in newspapers/TV/Trailers, New technologies, Viral, Synergies, Above the line/Below the line

As well as these technical ways of launching, one of the advanced and efficient ways are 'word of mouth' to create the buzz of the film - hopefully positive comments. However, that is the cheap part, the more expensive and sophisticated way that distributors use is a 'pre-release' campaign but as companies don't have a press, they need to purchase one every time they are going to release and advertise their film.


Below the Line Marketing Success
Approximately 63% of the public of readers and common social media users are highly likely to be influenced by online blogs, texts and many more, than soft copies like newspapers and magazines.


I was fortunate enough to look at a case study named Jurassic World and its London Waterloo advertising. This involved transforming London Waterloo station into a Jurassic World to enhance promotion of the film and the 'hype'. This was the most sensible place to put this advertisement as it is the most popular station in London which means many people would see it due to work in London as well as tourists who are travelling to get to central London. There were many opportunites for commuters to take selfies with the raptors and post the images on social media. This is known as viral marketing and is immensely useful as part of the distribution strategy. This would of course contribute to the many social media platforms which formed part of the campaign.
Not only the physical advertisement in the station and the biggest trends on Twitter and Facebook, but merchandise was also trying to be sold to boost it. The amount of effort from the companies who contributed to the realistic and clever props that mimicked the nature of the film reflects how badly they want people to understand their efforts and that they are offering good quality.


I spent a great deal of time studying how distribution works by watching presentations on www.launchingfilms.com, the FDA (Film Distributors Association) microsite to research about Distribution. For example, I looked at the interview with Stuart Williams who talked about the distribution and marketing. The most significant factor in succesful film distribution, according to Williams, was advertising the film by screening the theatrical trailer in cinemas before the screening of similar films. This is because you then have the target audience in fron of you and they are seeing the film trailer in ideal conditions: with Dolby surround sound and a wide screen.

I also looked at case studies of distribution such as Jurassic World was marketed, presented by Gareth Lowrie of NBC Universal explained the campaign to his audience at the FDA conference.

I have also looked at the FutureLearn course entitled The Business of Film. This was a 6 week online course run by The Open University. Some of my work is here. I learnt a great deal about the place of distribution in the value chain.