2. WHAT IS A FILM DISTRIBUTOR
■ I looked at the Film Distributors Association and studied further about what the role
of a distributor was.
■ For independent distributors, the company will have to buy the rights to a film which
they may have seen at a film festival or at a script stage, or during the production
phase.
Distributors find their target audience and decide what the best way to advertise is for
the specific audience.
They find out when the best time to release the film is as they don’t want to be releasing
something within the same timeframe as a very hyped movie. They also look at when
cinemas are most popular to try and get more tickets sold.
They decide when it is best to allow other video and film platforms to show their film e.g.
Amazon Prime Video, Netflix
3. DISTRIBUTING ON
SOCIAL MEDIA
■ Social media is usually the most looked at form of
distributing for any film company, no matter how big
the production is. This is because there are so many
age groups that use social medias. whether it be
Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat which are more used
by the younger age groups or Facebook which is more
regularly used by the older age groups as they are
more familiar with that platform.
■ For a small film like ours, using social media to
distribute is the best as it is open to a lot of people,
and people will be familiar on how to navigate around
pages.
■ Our production used Instagram to display our work.
4. TENET (Hollywood
Major)
■ To begin my distribution process, I wanted to get to
grips how a Hollywood major would distribute their
film. In this case I chose Tenet. I noticed that they had
multiple social media handles along with a film website
where viewers could navigate around finding out lots
of different information. This gave me a strong
understanding on what I could implement on my
distribution process.
■ From this research I found that social media is a great
way to boost the hype around the film, allowing new
members to be introduced to the film and allowing
them to create rapports with certain characters.
■ I created a distribution collage for the film, TENET
5. BAIT
■ Compared to the Hollywood major, like Tenet,
’Bait’ is a very successful independent low
budget film. One huge role as to why they were
so successful is due to the film festivals that are
held yearly. In the case of Bait, the London Film
Festival to try and get a screening at the BFI.
■ By going to film festivals, these smaller films can
raise awareness and recognition about their
production.
■ Mark Jenkin’s Bait raised publicity through an
impressive auteur film website with information
about the film like movie posters, trailers and
merchandise. Listing screenings is essential for
a small release which will not be on every high
street. Bait also benefited from BFI financial
support. Bait’s website lists the BFI player as a
platform for streaming the film, thereby
prolonging the revenue stream. BFI’s
magazine Sight and Sound carried interviews
that promoted the film.
6. SORRY WE MISSED
YOU
■ This film, ‘Sorry We Missed You’ directed by Ken
Loach, offers a very easy film website for people to
navigate around. With convergent links of festivals,
information and even a Hashtag allows people to
connect with both the film and each other. The
social media handles allow for younger audiences to
roam around, as they are more comfortable on for
e.g., Instagram and Twitter, compared to older age
groups.
■ The website also allows people to buy tickets with a
big label on the home page. This means viewers
can make a first impression and then are able to buy
tickets straight away if they are interested
■ The film by Ken Loach, used grassroots marketing
in order to support the gig worker
7. FILM WEBSITES
■ A film website, along with social medias is a good way to attract viewers to your
film. A website can also give people more freedom and more connections
compared to Instagram or Twitter. A film website allows space for more
convergent links and more information.
■ From these convergent links, it allows for much more targeted information.
Having a film website also appeals a lot more to an older age group who are
looking to find information about a film. These people can find it a lot more
accessible, and they are more comfortable browsing a website compared to
certain social media platforms which can be tricky to navigate.
8. USP & COMP LIST
■ Mark Batey tells us that I have to identify what genre of film mine is and what’s
its unique selling point it (USP).
■ The USP is important as it can be the determining factor in the amount of tickets
sold for a film. The film needs to stand out in one way or another and having a
USP can boost the amount of hype or interest around a film. This means people
will sway towards wanting to watch your movies compared to others that are on
offer.
■ Some examples of a USP in film could be: CGI used, specific editing, special
cameras used, famous actors that star.
■ Some comparable films to ours (SUSPECT) would be:
9. DEFINING
MY
AUDIENCE
■ I need to define my audience to
make sure I get as much recognition
as possible,=. If I target certain age
groups, then it will be more
appealing to these given ages. This
also links with how I can distribute
my film. If I am aiming my film
towards some of the younger
audiences, I will distribute it on
social medias pages like Instagram
and Twitter.
■ The way in which advertising is
presented will also have changed,
once I define my audience. Using
different methods of advertising to
get as much attention as possible
will be critical.
■ For our production's audience, from
a questionnaire we had a lot of male
teenagers who liked
action/adventure so I looked at
popular male teens products,
companies and interests
10. AUDIENCE
RESEARCH
■ I created an audience questionnaire, so I could
find out what sort of genres people were
interested in, what age they were, what appeals
to them. I did this so that I can understand my
audience. If many people were interested in the
same genre of film, I will have to look further
into that and create something that appeals to
them.
■ Using Google Forms, I was able to collect data
that I will be able to present in both graphical
forms and words, as I asked questions that
yielded both quantitative and qualitative data.
