2. WHAT IS DISTRIBUTION?
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The distribution of a film is the process through which a movie is made available to watch
for an audience by a film distributor. This could be done through a theatrical way, through
cinemas or home release. The aim of a film distributor is to get a film recognised by as
many people as possible in order to make the most money as possible.
3. EXAMPLES OF FILM DISTRIBUTION COMPANIES
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The big 6 are the main major film distribution companies and they are:
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Universal
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Warner Brothers
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Walt Disney
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Sony
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Paramount
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50th century fox
There are also many smaller independent distribution companies such as:
Metrodome
Lionsgate
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4. UNIVERSAL STUDIOS
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Universal studios, also known as Universal Pictures is an American motion picture studio
owned by Comcast and is one of the 6 major movie distribution companies.
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It was founded on April 30 th 1912 by Carl Laemmle.
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Their headquarters are based in California, USA and they are a worldwide
company, being involved with films all over the world.
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The company is so big they have opened carious theme parks in places such as:
Orlando, USA, Japan and singapore.
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Universal pictures are involved with films such as: Dracula, Jaws, Despicable Me, Les
Miserables, Jurassic Park and Frankenstein.
5. METRODOME
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Metrodome Group Ltd is a London-based company that owns, manages and distributes
film, TV and digital content. The Company operates through two divisions: Metrodome
Distribution (features films and home entertainment in the UK) and Hollywood Classics.
The Company's library of rights includes over 300 feature films.
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Metrodome works with some of the biggest names in the business including Charlize
Theron (‘Monster’), Jake Gyllenhaal (‘Donnie Darko’), Colin Firth (‘Genova’), Maggie
Gyllenhaal (‘Sherrybaby’), Michael Caine & Demi Moore (‘Flawless’), Jet Li (‘The
Warlords’), Kristin Scott-Thomas (‘Leaving’)
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They’ve won countless awards and some of their films they’ve been involved with have
received Oscars.
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Some of the films hey are involved with are: Big Bad Wolves, Day of the Flowers and the
Nun.
6. OUR FILM
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We have researched many distribution companies. The distribution company that
released ‘Taken’, the film we got lot of ideas from, was 20th Century Fox.
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‘Taken’ was an international film and was watched by audiences all over the world.
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However, I feel our film would be more suited to a smaller audience, of in the UK.
Therefore, the sort of distribution company that might be interested in out film would be
someone like Metrodome.
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From our research we found out that Metrodome only released smaller films that are more
intimate to the UK, so they would be ideal for a film like ours.
7. WHAT AUDIENCE WOULD OUR FILM APPEAL TO?
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Our film would appeal to a smaller audience, perhaps just the UK. We got a lot of ideas
from the film ‘Taken’ and even though that was a hugely successful film all around the
world I feel our film would be more suited to the UK only.
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The audience could relate more to the film and it could come across more personal to
them if it was just released in the UK, opposed to all over the world. It would be more of a
personal experience for them.
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Film’s that are successful all over the world have a huge budget to work with and can
afford all the special effects and top actors/actresses. Our film would be a lower budget
film, so we wouldn’t have big named actors/actresses to star in it. In my opinion the
actors and actresses are one of the things that make a film appeal to a certain person.
8. MARKETING/RELEASE STRATEGIES
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We would work with our distribution company to make a deal to promote and market our
film in the best possible way.
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We would release our film in summer because most of our target audience will be off
work/school/college and will have free time to go to the cinema and watch the film. We
would negotiate a deal with a chain of cinemas, eg Cineworld and release the film in their
cinemas for a certain amount of time, before the film would be available on DVD, eg the
film might be in cinemas for 8 weeks, then released onto DVD.
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We want to create a buzz around the film and get people excited to see it. In order to do
this we will put the Trailer onto YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and onto TV adverts to ensure
that as many people from our target audience see it as possible. We will also make a
radio advert which will be played regularly which will hopefully make people want to watch
the trailer and then the entire film.
9. MARKETING/RELEASE STRATEGIES
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We would focus on the public a lot (public relations) and have the actors/actresses in the
film go on Radio and TV for interviews. As well as actors/actresses we will also have the
director of the film in some interviews to do extra promotion.
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We will make posters and flyers and put them up in towns and cities to promote the film to
our target audience.
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We will also ensure that the film is involved in price promotions and discounts, for
example, Orange Wednesday discount. This appeals to our target audience because
everyone is always in favour of saving money.
10. SELF DISTRIBUTION
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As a group, we considered self-distribution, but we didn’t want to take the risk.
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Although it could work and might save a lot of money, if it didn’t work no other film
distribution company would want to be involved in the film after it failed, so we wouldn’t
have a film at all. Distribution companies have a lot more experience and they know what
they’re doing. If something goes wrong they know what to do to resolve it. They also know
the best way to release films and market them. Therefore we chose to go with a
distribution company, rather than do it oursel
