AS Media Studies

1. Task 3
What kind of media institution might distribute your
media product and why?

2. Distribution
Distribution is a technique used to attempt to increase the amount of people
viewing your film. By doing this you will be able to show get your film noticed
by a lot more members of your target audience ,which in conclusion increases
profits made from the film due to more customers spending money to view
the film.
Every film which is released is distributed differently. A small independent
company are going to looks for alternative options to distribute their film to a
lot of people in comparison to a big Hollywood film that has a high budget.
Usually the producers of the film will receive money to budget the film. And if
the producer company is big such as Hollywood they will have a higher
amount of funding available to create the film.
To get funding you will need people to invest into your film, you will then use
the money collected to advertise your film to other audiences.
Films that are made by big production companies will have their own
distributing sections .

3. Types of distribution
• The types of Distribution that a company could use would be
through Social Media, TV , radio, posters, trailers and movie
premieres.
• Generally marketing funds are larger than the actual film
funding. The objective of this is to obtain as many screenings of
the film at once. This strategy is called the 'Saturation release'.
• When selling a film every single copy costs money, so if you
want members of the public to buy the film they would need to
showcase the film to their target audience members around
the country. This technique heavily relies on if the audience
though positively on what they had viewed. If they get positive
feedback then they will be able to get a bigger release later on
with hopefully a bigger budget. This strategy is known as
'Platform' release.
• Films with a lower budget would need to find their own
distributer. For example, at a film showcasing event. This is
because they wont have the finance to be able to distribute the
film through expensive advertisement such as TV adverts. To
combat this they would need to use more advertisement that
could still reach the same amount of people but is cheaper or
free e.g. Posters, Internet

4. Examples of Distribution
Companies
• Paramount
• Universal
• 20th Century Fox
• Walt Disney Studios
• Warner Bros
• Columbia Pictures

5. Independent distributers
• Generally, independent distributers have their own specialty in a particular genre. Which
means that they mainly focus on distributing films for that particular genre.
• In British filmmaking independent distributers would usually be able to look for multiple
types of funding for their film. However because of the decline in income from the British
film industry, funding is quite limited because British films tend to make less profit
than other films.
• British films can also get funding through these methods:​
• The government can contribute a limited amount of money towards a film company,
however this figure can’t go over 30% of the films actual budget. This is because not
much of their finances would be put to good use so it’s a waste.
• The UK film council has enabled the lottery to become available and the maximum
budget would be £20 million. This sum of money would then be replaced by the British
Film Institute
• Bulldog film distribution is a UK independent film distribution company
they have been apart of many Thriller genre films.

6. Thriller distributors
• The sub genre of our film is a psychological thriller, a specific distribution
company for film that we took inspiration from would be Paramount
Vantage, part of Paramount. This is the distribution company that is in
charge of the film division, and was the distributor for “The Machinist” a
thriller which we took inspiration from.
The ‘big six’ do also distribute a lot of
thrillers each year however they’re
mostly from big Hollywood films and
not a small scale one like ours. A more
realistic distributor would be Stage Six,
as they produce around 10 low budget
films annually.

7. Self Distribution
• If you want to get your film noticed by your target audience then it will be very difficult to
achieve using self distribution.
• This technique seems to be the most unlikely to work for people who are impatient and want
their film to immediately get the attention that it needs to be successful, despite the fact that
other distribution methods are expensive and have their drawbacks. One of the risks that comes
with self distribution is that if the film doesn’t get sales then you have wasted everything you
invested on a film that you didn’t distribute using the correct method.
• I think that this method could work with our film because our film is slightly less professional
and more of an indie production. However do believe that by using the other types of
distribution we would be able to get our film to our target audience more effectively. I think that
in order for our film to be successful we would need to make sure that we have researched how
to self promote a film properly. In conclusion, from looking at both big distribution companies
and self distribution I think that if we were to use a variety of advertising options such as social
media which is free marketing, then we could get our film to as many of our audience members
as possible.
• Self-distribution is when you go around
and try and sell your film independently.
This method is common with indie films
• A simple way to achieve self distribution is
to go to a film festival and discuss your film
and plans for the films production to see if
people would be willing to fund the costs
of the film like a Pitch.

8. What kindof mediainstitutionmight
distributeyourmedia productand why?
• The kind of media institution that could distribute
our media product, would be an
independent distributor. I believe this is the best
option due to the fact that our film isn’t a huge
Hollywood production, it’s more of an indie type of
media product. I don’t think that our film would be
successful within a bigger well known distributor as
we aren’t professionals.
• In summary, after looking at distribution I think that
we will not find issues with showing the film to our
target audience as there are multiple ways which
will help ensure they view the film. I think that if we
use the strategies like the government and the
lottery then we can get funding from an
independent distributor, This means that our
product will reach to as many members of the
public as possible, meaning our film is successful.