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

1. TASK 3
WHAT KIND OF MEDIA INSTITUTION
MIGHT DISTRIBUTE YOUR MEDIA
PRODUCT AND WHY?
What is distribution?
The action of sharing something out among the target audience. This can be in terms of
advertising such as in newspapers.

2. TYPE OF FILM WE HAVE
PRODUCED
 We have produced a psychological thriller based on the lost
memory of a woman who witnesses the exchanging of a document
she was not meant to see. The film consists of her trying to uncover
her forgotten memories.

3. THE BFI – WHY WOULD THEY BE
INTERESTED IN FUNDING?
 The BFI's definition of specialized film is quite broad and relates to films that do not
sit easily within a mainstream and highly commercial genre. Our film, although a
psychological thriller is not typical in its style and therefore may appeal to that of the BFI.
From their website it also says that they support filmmakers in the UK who are emerging
or world class and capable of creating distinctive and entertaining work.
Also, the plot of our film is distinctive and stands out as it has quite the twist as the main
character in the dire situation of memory loss is female which is unlike most thriller films
of this style; such as the Bourne series.

4. AUDIENCE
 Rather than just appealing to a UK audience, our film has a wide audience as it
relates to those of a younger generation around the ages of 15 upwards by having
the characters of this film of the same age group. Also it would be better to display
as the BBFC classification of a 15 as there is a wider scope for this audience
whereas a lot of the audience would be missed if displayed as a 18. But the gender
highlights that there is an even split of both genders so our film will not be
particularly aimed at a specific gender. The thriller genre is not centralized around a
UK audience; although the use of British characters may limit it more to a UK
audience.

5. P OS S I B L E M A RK E T I N G S T RAT E G I E S,
RELEASE STRATEGIES AND EXHIBITION
OPTIONS
 Marketing – An eye-catching and innovative theatrical trailer would be a good way to first
market our film to give a taste of the content to the potential audience.
 Release – Producing social networking pages as the film is released, such as: Twitter,
Facebook and even a Youtube account documenting is process and potential success in viral
marketing. This film would also have a niche market so a platform release would be more
successful as a blanket release would not be possible as a independent film.
 Exhibition – As the budget would be quite small; exhibition via cinema may be quite difficult
if there is not a large success. However, although the BIFA were recent, a lot of films that
received awards went to cinema exhibition. Although, this may not be possible for our film so
the more likely outcome would be going straight to DVD, Bluray and sites suc as Lovefilm and
Netflix.

6. METRODOME FILM DISTRIBUTION -
WHY WOULD THEY BE INTERESTED?
 In relation to the film Shifty, Head of Marketing Jezz Vernon stated that
Metrodome look for great British cinema which is particularly prominent in our film
as all characters are British and is filmed in Surrey. The characters are also
universally urban which is also an aspect of a film that Metrodome look for.
However, the drawback of our film that may not appeal as that the plot is not
particularly universal as not many people lose their memory because of something
they saw. However, this company would handle the time consuming aspect of
distribution and would also open up a lot of options in terms of sales.

7. SELF-DISTRIBUTION?
 However another option of distribution, other than Metrodome would
be self distribution:
 The advantages would be that we would retain full control and rights
over our film, giving us the choice over where our film would be shown
and we don't have to give a cut of the money made from any sales of our
film to a distributor.
 On the other hand, this would be incredibly time consuming and
would limit our options for sales.