Evaluation Q3 Distributor

Evaluation Q3 Distributor

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

All distributors will use a trailer as

a marketing tool whether it is a

large scale HollyWood film or a

micro budget indie. So we would

create a trailer in our case and give

it to a distributor to raise awareness

for the film.

Distributors make posters to raise the

awareness for a film as this is one of

their main functions. this is also something

we would do so I have made a sample

poster which you will see after the next

transition. This poster could be given to any

distributor as this is one of the most basic

tools of distribution so you would not need

a large distributor, meaning this would suit our film

opening.

Some distributors will create websites for their films, to advertize their films an example for this would be the Revenants website shown by this screenshot of Their website and the link is also here if you wish to view it: http://www.foxmovies.com/movies/the-revenant.

But not all distributors do this as it is often expensive so it may not be appropriate for a micro budget indie like ours so this is something we would not do.

Finally one other marketing tool to raise the awareness of a film would be the use of social media like Facebook or Twitter. All distributors do this as it is free and very effective given the number of social media users. So this would definitely be done no matter what type of distributor you use. As seen in the picture in the next transition that was screen shoted from the Revenant website showing they use social media .

Which distributor?

Risk

These films used different distributors these are.

• Rush (2003)- Universal Pictures (USA), Studio Canal (UK) and Universum Film AG (Germany)
• Le Donk & Scor-zay-zee (2009)- Warp films
• Dead Man Shoes (2004)- Optimum Releasing

I personally feel for our film we would use optimum releasing for distribution in the UK, because they are a large independent distributor for micro budget indies like ours and will distribute in many ways even if they don't get the film in cinemas, then they will use their Optimum Home Entertainment service for new DVD and Blu-ray releases and their Optimum Classic service for DVD re-releases of back cataloged films. On top of optimum releasing we would also use Alamo Draft house Cinema to distribute our film in the US. By using this company it would mean that we could get a US release which is a rare occurrence in low budget indies. The reason for our choice is because Alamo Draft house Cinema has 22 screens in different locations throughout the US. As a result of the number of screens it would mean we would get a US release like that of Four Lions (2010). Which was a micro budget indie distributed by Alamo Drafthouse Cinema.

As a first time filmmaker getting your film distributed is a hard problem to have as a lot of distributor feel that first time film makers bring an element risk because they are not tried and tested at making money. So as a result of this there are 100's of movies that have never been distributed for example The Silent Force (2001) which is now on YouTube, as is often the case for micro budget indies like ours. So overall there could be a risk of our film not getting distributed at all meaning that we would then end loosing money unless it was to be popular on a streaming service like YouTube.

Which Distributor Continued

What Genre is our film

The Reason I would not just use a successful distributor Like Warner Bros or Walt Disney is because of the type of film they distribute tends to be large studio productions like Big Hero 6 which has much high budget than the type of film we are, as Big Hero 6 cost $165,000,000 to make and distribute whereas ours would only cost £650,000 to make. So this would mean that distributors like Walt Disney and Warner Bros would not be interested as a general rule is the lower the budget the lower the box office. For example, Mad Max Fury Road (2015) made $377,636,354 (worldwide) while a low budget film like Submarine (2010) only made $864,659 . So this would mean it would not be realistic for somebody like the Warner Bros or Walt Disney to distribute our film.

Our Budget

It is a micro budget indie production, with no established stars. Also it is part of the action/thriller genre. As it is a chase scene. Our film is much like Point Break (1991) as we have a chase scene which is much like the one in Point Break.

What does a distributor do

I feel a budget of around £650,000 would be an appropriate estimate for our film as it is a similar budget to that of other low budget indies. For example Dead Mans shoes (2004) had a budget of £695,393. The reason the budget would be around £650,000 because this is the lower end of the low budget indie category. Our film fits this price as there would be limited special effects and no need for A list actors. Much like the film Dead man shoes. The budget would not be higher because it is rare for films like ours to be more than this unless they are major Hollywood productions like Rush (2013) a Working title production that cost £2653464.5. An exception to what I said would be that This is England (2006) had a budget of £1,500,000 which is unusually high for a low budget indie from Warp Films. As they have done films before that have cost as little as £480,000 like Le Donk and Scor-Zay-Zee.

A distributor basically sends your film out into the world for the waiting audiences to watch. They decide where and when the film will show and they also promote the film.There are a number of steps in the process of distribution. Firstly they have to decide how many copies of the film to make. The film is then previewed to prospective buyers- e.g. cinema owners. The film is then sent to the cinemas shortly before it opens. The cinema then shows the movie and after people have seen it, it will get sent back to the distributors and payment is agreed. However in smaller budget films more steps may have to be taken.

For example UK film distributors alone spend around £300 million a year on bringing new releases to market, and building awareness and interest among audiences. It's a fast-moving, highly competitive, high-stakes business.

Trailers

What is a distributor

The ways distributors market films

Distributors use many tools to market their films this includes; posters, trailers, websites, social networking. Seen in the examples used by 20th Century Fox.

Recent changes in distribution

Film distribution is the process of making a movie available for viewing by an audience.

An example

Twentieth Century Fox

or

Optimum Releasing

There are six major distributors that are directly affiliated to the Hollywood studios. Many independent (unaffiliated) distributors tend to deal with films made outside the major studios for example indie films.

Posters

Recently, digitization has transformed the processes of distribution. As of the massive reduction of cost as before digitization you would print film which could cost upwards of $50000 for a working print, while hard drives cost near to zero dollars.

Source for facts: https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080316230317AApm65t

Successful distributors (1995-2015)

These are the top ten distributors in the world, with the numbers representing their total box office. Source: http://www.the-numbers.com/market/distributors

1Warner Bros - $28,309,853,906

2 Walt Disney - $27,612,817,676

3 Sony Pictures - $23,973,070,101

4 20th Century Fox - $22,254,842,153

5 Paramount Pictures - $21,552,290,323

6 Universal - $21,249,994,087

7 Lionsgate - $6,822,098,357

8 New Line - $6,189,969,171

9 Dreamworks SKG - $4,083,905,398

10 Miramax - $3,836,565,824

This shows us that all the successful distribution companies tend to be based outside of the UK as non of the top ten distributors are English. Also the type of films they distribute tend to be non indie.

Social Media

Websites