- Film distribution is the process of making the movie available to viewers through exhibits such as: Cinema's, television or at home on DVDs, Downloads, Streaming. The distributor will obtain the rights to the film to release to the public and will market the film at film festivals to hype the film up.
2. What does a film distributor do?
- The film distributor will determine the marketing strategy which is best for the film to reach the target audience and will then look for features that may help it sell to audiences. Their main job is the organisation of the release of the film and they will normally decide on the release date, because some release dates are more valuable as such, An example of this is a horror film getting released on Friday the 13th or Halloween because of the history that the dates have add to the experience of the movie
3. How does reach relate to film distribution?
- The reach relates to film distribution heavily especially when it comes to age, reach refers to the number of different people exposed to the median, the main influence is age, if the film is targeted at teens it will plastered over social network websites with the few posters around, whereas if its aimed at adults then it will more likely be on bus adverts and billboard signs where adults will see it more than they would on social network because of their involvement with the median. You should always have a big reach because you obviously want as many people as you can to watch the movie but its normally focused on their man target audience with other groups in mind when creating film distribution products such as trailers.
4. What is meant by the distribution plan?
- The distribution plan is a series of strategic decisions which boost the chances of the film being successful. An example of the plan is when to release the film and where to advertise/release the film to optimise its chances. They use a series of marketing knowledge, commercial experience and statistical research and professional judgement to gauge the audience for the film and set clear targets for the films release.
The distributors will estimate how much the film will make and then they prepare a budget to release is in the hopes to make a profit when the film is released which is the same with every business plan. Launching films is very expensive and risky because of the vast choices out there and most films don't make a profit from just their cinema releases, instead they make their profit from the DVDs and streaming. Its very risky because the audiences tastes are unpredictable due to the current trends that may be going about due to the large population following current trends in one way or the other, peoples tastes are always changing.
5. What is meant by the marketing plan?
- The marketing plan is an objective where it aims to create visibility, raise awareness and engage interest, distributors must compete along other films and products for marketing space for example the billboards in Piccadilly circus. There are lots of factors when it comes to marketing such as: Where are you going to market the film? Who are you going to market it to? and will it be memorable so the person will still remember seeing the advert in a day or more? The purpose of the marketing plan is that interest should peak for when it comes out in the cinema, people should be counting down to the day that it does.
When it comes to marketing social recommendation is key - a recommendation from a friend, colleague or relative is one of the most powerful stimulus for a cinema visit because of how trustworthy the source is.
There are many ways that films are marketed such as:
Posters which will be featured on numerous platforms such as: Social Media's, billboards, shops, outside cinema's, transport adverts and in magazines etc. and because of this it is crucial the advert stands out from their competition in order to be remembered. the normal poster will convey the genre and will also have star apparel to entice people to watch the film.
Trailers are key when it comes to marketing a film because they are the first glimpse of how the film is directed and Trailers are normally plastered throughout Social Media sites through the use of paying to promote their posts to appear at the top of pages and also through the process of social recommendation when somebody shares it to all of their friends and then someone else shares it to all their friends, with this the distributors can reach millions in minutes. Trailers also appear when you are in the cinema and are normally shown before films with similar genre's or stars because you already know the person is interested in that genre etc. There is normally a Teaser trailer which is very short and sometimes only shows a logo or a character to build up hype and to switch people's minds on to watch out for the films advertising and they you will have a full length trailer closer to the date which will then spark in the viewers head to go watch it, because the trailer will be fresh in their head close to release.
Over the last decade online services have played a big part in how films are marketed to the audience, with social networks blowing up and having millions of uses daily it is a goldmine when it comes to audiences because you can reach them whenever and you reach them directly rather than a billboard which they will only see if they go out and go past it and when they are driving they normally don't pay attention to it anyway. Most films will have an official website/social network page which will provide trailers, stills galleries, production information and behind-the-scenes footage which intrigues the audience. The pages will normally direct the traffic to exhibitor sites such as Odeon where they can book tickets online.
Broadcast and print media still plays a large role in marketing the film and others many platforms and materials such as: radio, TV, posters and magazines. With the UK having approximately 250,000 poster sites by the roadside you can imagine the amount of people that adverts reach is still very large and competes with social networking. Television marketing is normally the largest expenditure item on the budget because of the fact that the viewer will watch it if it comes on, whereas on social network you can might scroll past it or you can just choose to ignore it.
When films are being released they are normally released along side merchandising which helps boost the popularity of the film especially if the merchandising becomes a trend, a good example is the film frozen which had lots of official merchandise released at the same time and this was very popular with children and everything you could buy now came with a 'frozen' version of it and because of this frozen was plastered everywhere constantly advertising the film.
Premieres are a chance for exclusive individuals to get a first look at the film which they can then review and share their thoughts with the fans, also its a chance to show off the stars and the people who worked on the film and therefore creates a star apparel especially with the interviews that will come out of the premieres that are then put on TV, and online where they are viewed normally millions of times for big blockbuster movies like the avengers.
Film festivals are more for the business sides when it comes to marketing, there are thousands of film festivals each year worldwide but the main annual events such as Cannes are attended by thousands of international film buyers and sellers, and almost as many journalists. These festivals, each with their own personality, serve various functions such as: A market, where distributors seeking to aquire product may meet with sellers (agents, producers, studios). A competition, where new titles may be screened to juries of filmmakers and awarded prizes. Such accolades flashed on a film's poster can add prestige but may pigeon-hole it as 'arty'. A high-profile platform where films can be showcased prior to release.
Accessible cinema is key toe the marketing of a film because it widens the reach becuase of the ability to reach those who have less than perfect sight of hearing because you are offering a service for them to watch the movie due to audio description or subtitles.
6. What is the difference between advertising, publicity and promotion?
- All three work together to give a films it best chance of making profit but they all work in different ways. The advertising is the process of getting the film out there to the audience and they get to control this because they provide it and following this is the publicity which they have no control over because it is how the public react to the advertising that they produced and promotion is to pull in more people and within is advertising and is more involved in the process of the film and the directors/stars that will then promote the film, its a chance to show what the film has to offer from a production standing point.
7. Find a teaser poster, teaser trailer, main poster and main trailer for a horror film and put them on your Blog - who was the distributor and in how many countries was it released? Can you find how many screens it was shown in on the opening weekend?
TEASER POSTER
RELEASE POSTER
TEASER TRAILER (Double Click to see)
The crazies was released in the UK and US at the same time, in the UK it was released in 348 screens and in USA it was released in 2,479 screens and grossed around $56,445,534 from the cinema releases. It was released in the UK and USA and was distributed by Overture Films and Paramount Vantage.
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