3) DISTRIBUTION

Firstly, I researched distribution strategies on the FDA website to help me improve my knowledge regarding distribution

Secondly, I have completed a distribution case study on a big film Jurassic World

Thirdly, I have completed a contrasting case study on the distribution of a small budget film on Tortoise In Love

Fourthly, I learned about recent of distribution for indie films, through the internet 

Fifthly, I chose what distribution company I wanted to use (Vertigo/Warp)The reason why I chose Vertigo was because it fits the genre of my film. My research was then backed up by my study day at the BFI.

FDA WEBSITE

I researched distribution on the FDA website. 
 The task of a distributor is to bring the film into the movie marketplace. It is part of the distributor's role to identity the target audience. The distributors could define the film as being either 'Arthouse', 'multiplex' and prestige'. For Mark Batey, the process for bringing a film to the market is fast passed and highly competitive with each film being different.  If you work at the Warner Bros or Universal, you will have your distribution licensed to your company.

• If the distribution is a 'major' and is attached to a studio then they will normally work on the films made by that studio. A 'major' might also acquire the rights to an independent production. 
• If it is 'independent' distributor, unaffiliated to one of the major US studios, then the company will buy the rights to a film which they may have seen at a film festival or at script stage, or during he production phase.

The distributor has to decide where to position the film in the market place. That is what are its selling points/appeal? This isn't just about genre, its about the stars in the film, whether its part of a sequel, or what the director last made.

Mark Batey states that a key consideration is defining the audience and deciding what audience segment would enjoy the film. One of the factors is also age. This is that younger audiences tend to go to the cinema more than the elder generation. However there is a strong youth audience as well as a strong old audience.

TWO CONTRASTING DISTRIBUTION CASE STUDIES

Jurassic World (2015): The distribution of this big budget film resulted in a box office rating of $204m. This colin Trevorrow directed movie was very successful. I studied a presentation by Gareth Cowrie of Universal Pictures. The distributes knew that they had competition with Star Wards, The Avengers and Spectre. Therefore this distributors decide to not just have trailers, posters and interviews. They decide to transform London's Waterloo Station into a massive Jurassic Park with crates with dinosaurs and shops to buy cinema tickets or merchandise. 

Tortoise in Love (2012): I went to the BFI website where I looked at the booklet which was presented for the movie. The film was shot and produced in a small village called ‘Kingston Bagpiuze’. The population of the village helped with the production of the movie, this was done by providing props, locations and private property in which to film on. 

 The film applied for the BFI P&A fund which helped it get to Leicester Square. The film was simultaneously viewed in small village halls all around the country which created a small profit. 

OUR CHOSEN DISTRIBUTOR

On my BFI study day, I learned about two distributors in detail. At the BFI on the 9th February 2016, we were offered definitions for three types of audiences, Arthouse, Multiplex and Prestige. Arthouse audiences tend to go to small independent cinema's which may show low budget and foreign movies. I personally find that the largest audience are the mainstream audience. The reason for this is because they go to the large cinema chains such as Odeon which are located in town centres and shopping centres. Matt Hall suggested that there are Crossover audiences. These are people that are persuaded to go see a movie due to their prestige and word of mouth. It could also have picked up prestige due to BAFTA nominations. These films may well be serious non Hollywood genre films, these audiences may follow a big actor which has decided to do a small film because of one particular interested of his/hers.  Almost certainly our film will be classified as small and low budget which means it would never be shown at a small multiplex cinema. Our only type of distribution will be carried out online on social media websites. The reason why I have decided to add a picture of 'Warp Productions,' is because this is the official distribution company that we have chosen as a group. The reason why we have chosen 'Warp Films' is because they have films of the similar genre to ours. I carried our research into each individual film that they have distributed and found out general information about them. From these studies I came to the conclusion that they fitted perfectly. At my study day at the BFI, I learned from Matt Hall that the 'Warp' brand includes a lot of artist driven content and that their films are aimed at a middle ground between 'arthouse' and 'multiplex.' Warp films have distributed developing talent with very low budget production costs. These low budgets have often inspired creative freedom. 'Warp Films' have produced 'Dead Man's Shoes' (Shane Meadows, 2006) which had a great deal of improvisation, a low budget and a committed cast and crew, all of which is similar to our own production. 

I personally think that our film will attract address and appeal to audiences that like films similar to 'Invictus'. Another key decision is when to release the film to their audiences due to it being a very crowd marketplace of around 700 films being released every year on average. For example at the end of the year a lot of films are competing for attention as the award season is quickly approaching. Children films are released in the holiday season to attract as many viewers as possible.

Distributors create a distribution strategy depending on the audience. For example the P&A which is very expensive, social media, teaser trailer to attract audiences, events, interviews, appearances etc. For our film we have made an Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr page to attract audiences. We realise that it is very important for our younger audiences to be interactive. Mainstream films may well be teamed up with media partners by the distributors. I looked a two different case studies with contrasting distribution strategies.