Audience and institution

1. Film
Industry:
Distribution

2. Distributors
• Individual distributors may release any number of
films – up to 30 per year
• Competition – a typical week 10 new releases
• More than 500 releases a year

3. Distribution processes
• Using your research from the homework task…
• Create a flowchart poster / handout of what takes place in
the distribution process
• Include these people and what they do at each stage:
• Publicists
• Film makers
• Producers
• Designers
• Cinema Exhibitors
• Distributors
• Media Agencies

4. Marketing (distribution)
• Create a table
• One side – traditional forms of marketing
• One side – new forms of marketing
• Brainstorm as many different forms
of marketing as possible that are
involved in film
• E.g. poster / social media

5. Marketing research
• Film distributors have to decide how to present a film to
potential audiences
• USP – UNIQUE SELLING POINT
• What sets this film apart from other films – director /
actor / producer / storyline / special effects
• The marketing campaign will be focused around these USPs
• It will help potential audiences understand what they might
expect and provide a narrative image of the film
• NARRATIVE IMAGE
• An idea of the story of the film based on the way it is
presented through marketing material

6. Cross media marketing
• CROSS MEDIA
• Different medias (TV/Radio/Print/Film) or different
media institutions (studios/newspapers/TV networks)
• CONVERGENCE
• Joining of two or more media companies or
technologies to form a new object / promote a new
product
• CROSS MEDIA CONVERGENCE
• More than one company benefits from working in
partnership, ensuring a film reaches the widest
audience available.

7. Example – The Dark Knight
• Produced by – Legendary Pictures with
Warner Bros
• Distributed by – Warner Bros
• Directed by – Christopher Nolan (Inception,
Memento)

8. Example – The Dark Knight

9. Example – The Dark Knight

10. Example – The Dark Knight
www.thegothamtimes.com

11. Example – The Dark Knight
• Publicity stunts – inviting fans to follow a case
of clues around the internet, tracking the
joker
• Date and time to meet up – hundreds of fans
in New York saw the bat symbol projected
onto the side of a skyscraper
• Collectables – offered as promotional item in
newspapers, etc.

12. Marketing campaigns
• Choose one blockbuster and one independent film
and plan your marketing campaign
• Use the questions on my blog to structure your
planning
• Be prepared to justify the choices you are making
• Don’t forget to revisit the budget information from
last lesson – remember that your options might be
limited!

13. Exam question
• In what ways does the production,
distribution and exhibition of a film
impact / effect the film’s success?