What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
Distribution
An independent distributor would distribute my film. My group and I have decided to pick 'Metrodome' as our distributor as they are based in London and well known for distributing films made by independent film distributors. They aim to reach a young, urban audience known as Urban genre and this is the majority of people we want to influence.
In November I had a study day at the BFI which was run by Rob Miller. I learned a lot about the job of a distributor and and the different ways high and low budget films and distributed. We were also shown how Deadpool was distributed.
I took part in a six week online course which was run by FutureLearn on The Business of Film in which I learned a lot about marketing and distributing film.
Although low budget films are difficult to distribute, an example of a small film that did well with this sort of distribution is Tortoise in love. I discovered that the BFI P&A fund helped with the distribution of the film. When it comes to marketing a film, there are two different ways of doing it. There is either ‘above the line marketing’ or ‘below the line marketing'.
Above the line marketing involves mass media methods for targeting a larger audience who utilise radio, TV and cinema, magazines and billboards. It is more difficult to measure results from campaigns. Above the line marketing cost significantly more. For example, a 30 second TV advertising spot during the Super Bowl costs £3m-100,000 per second.
Below the line marketing is for reaching a smaller but more targeted audience. These methods include social media marketing, search engine marketing and content marketing. The ways of measuring the success of below the line marketing is the number of website views, the click through rates, number of social media likes etc. it is very easy to measure which allows a better insight into return on investment. With below the line marketing, advertisement is much cheaper and easier to monitor.
All in all, below the line advertisement is more effective at capturing audiences as 63% of readers are more likely to be influenced by blogs rather than magazines.
Distribution
An independent distributor would distribute my film. My group and I have decided to pick 'Metrodome' as our distributor as they are based in London and well known for distributing films made by independent film distributors. They aim to reach a young, urban audience known as Urban genre and this is the majority of people we want to influence.
In November I had a study day at the BFI which was run by Rob Miller. I learned a lot about the job of a distributor and and the different ways high and low budget films and distributed. We were also shown how Deadpool was distributed.
I took part in a six week online course which was run by FutureLearn on The Business of Film in which I learned a lot about marketing and distributing film.
Although low budget films are difficult to distribute, an example of a small film that did well with this sort of distribution is Tortoise in love. I discovered that the BFI P&A fund helped with the distribution of the film. When it comes to marketing a film, there are two different ways of doing it. There is either ‘above the line marketing’ or ‘below the line marketing'.
Above the line marketing involves mass media methods for targeting a larger audience who utilise radio, TV and cinema, magazines and billboards. It is more difficult to measure results from campaigns. Above the line marketing cost significantly more. For example, a 30 second TV advertising spot during the Super Bowl costs £3m-100,000 per second.
Below the line marketing is for reaching a smaller but more targeted audience. These methods include social media marketing, search engine marketing and content marketing. The ways of measuring the success of below the line marketing is the number of website views, the click through rates, number of social media likes etc. it is very easy to measure which allows a better insight into return on investment. With below the line marketing, advertisement is much cheaper and easier to monitor.
All in all, below the line advertisement is more effective at capturing audiences as 63% of readers are more likely to be influenced by blogs rather than magazines.
Distribution is the link between
the film maker and the public, it is also about releasing and sustaining films
in the market place. In order to reach the widest audience possible, the
producers will sell it to exhibitors such as cinemas so that it is easy for
many people to go and watch. In order to make sure that the film does not loose
money it has to make 2.5 times as much as it cost to make. This can be achieved
through ‘on the side’ products such as action figures, lunchboxes or clothing
etc. Strong merchandising can add another £50-200m, depending on how
exploitable the film is.
By having a
day trip to London to see the BFI I was able to get a more inside look on the
work that goes on to distribute a film. Rob miller presented a talk about all
the different types of film and the work that goes in to make them. He did
Q&As with special guests who had various roles within the production and
distribution of a film. This helped me understand more about distribution and
the different factors that fit into the release date of the film, the poster
and trailers made and how to get the best outcome out of them and the marketing
done that will increase the audience numbers.
All these
things raise awareness as it will often make the audience more eager and likely
to watch it. Other aspects of raising awareness include advertisement on social
media such as Facebook and Twitter which are the main social media platforms to
sell a film to an audience. This is a very effective way of distribution as so many
people have a social media account, therefore awareness of a new film can
spread very quickly and easily to a wide range of people.
High budget
films are far easier to distribute as they will have a wider range of
strategies at their disposal. For example, billboards, trailers and posters.
On the FDA website there was an interview with Stuart Williams that I watched. He explained that word of mouth is key to distribution. However you are not able to control this type of distribution. As well as researching a blot about distribution on the FDA website, I signed up to an online course called 'The Business of film' on the 'Future Learn' website. From signing up to this course I am more able to understand how large films distribute their films.
I also looked at case studies such as how Jurassic World was marketed. Gareth Lowrie of NBC Universal explained the campaign to his audience at the FDA.
To market the Jurassic World film to the main extent, London Waterloo train station was transformed into Jurassic World. The public were able to take pictures of and with the dinosaur models. This brought a lot of realism and a storm of hype as the public felt involved in something that was very impressive. This then trended on popular social media sites such a Twitter and also started popular hashtags.
On the FDA website there was an interview with Stuart Williams that I watched. He explained that word of mouth is key to distribution. However you are not able to control this type of distribution. As well as researching a blot about distribution on the FDA website, I signed up to an online course called 'The Business of film' on the 'Future Learn' website. From signing up to this course I am more able to understand how large films distribute their films.
I also looked at case studies such as how Jurassic World was marketed. Gareth Lowrie of NBC Universal explained the campaign to his audience at the FDA.
To market the Jurassic World film to the main extent, London Waterloo train station was transformed into Jurassic World. The public were able to take pictures of and with the dinosaur models. This brought a lot of realism and a storm of hype as the public felt involved in something that was very impressive. This then trended on popular social media sites such a Twitter and also started popular hashtags.
I am pleased to have chosen Metrodome as my distributor as my film would be one of lower budget than the main distributors such as Universal or Warner Bros. By having a smaller distributor I am able to put more time into a smaller, more focused audience who would be willing to watch the film.
Thorough and detailed research into distribution through a BFI study day run by Rob Miller in which you learnt a lot such as how Deadpool was distributed. You followed a six-week online course run by FutureLearn entitled The Business of Film in which you learned a lot about marketing and distributing films. You offer evidence of research into campaigns such as Jurassic World and Tortoise In Love. You spent time learning from the FDA website www.launchingfilms.com. You have researched distributors of indie films such as Metrodome.
ReplyDelete