The document discusses different types of media institutions that distribute films, namely conglomerate studios like Time Warner and independent companies like Warp X. Conglomerate studios distribute big-budget films with recognizable stars to appeal to mass audiences globally, while independent companies distribute lower-budget, niche films. The document uses the examples of the thriller Se7en being distributed by a major studio due to its large budget and stars, and Donkey Punch being distributed by an independent studio with a smaller budget and national stars. It determines that an independent studio would be the best option to distribute the film "The Syndrome" due to its low budget and lack of famous actors.

1. Evaluation Question 3: What
kind of media institution
might distribute your media
product and why?

2. What is a distribution
company?
There are two main types of media institutions in concern to the distribution of films;
conglomerate and independent. Conglomerate film distributions such as Time
Warner and The Walt Disney company are apart of the Big 6 studios. These studios
produce films which will appeal to a tent pole audience. Films distributed by these
companies are global friendly, normally contain a lot of recognisable stars and
have huge budgets. In comparison, independent film companies such as Warp X
create films intended for a niche audience, such as social realism films. Films
distributed by independent companies star nationally recognised actors and have
lower budgets.

3. Distributing with a
conglomerate company
A thriller which has been distributed through Time Warner is Se7en
(1995). With themes of violence in relation to serial killing, those
interested in psychological, violence and action thriller films would be
intrigued in viewing this. With inclusion of stars Brad Pitt and Morgan
Freeman and religious influence in relation to the seven deadly sins, this
film would appeal to a tent pole audience. Therefore, it was necessary for
it to be distributed with a major subsidiary. Having an estimated budget
of $33,000,000, it is clear to see why it was essential for this film to be
released through a major. The film had a worldwide gross of
$316,400,000.

4. Pros of distributing with a
major studio
• Receive a global audience
• Increase profit
• Gain worldwide recognition
Would ‘The Syndrome’ be suitable to distribute
through a conglomerate?
It would not be suitable to distribute our film through a
major company as we do not feature renowned stars,
had a low budget and would not be able to convince
distributors to find global release for our film. If we
were to receive global recognition we would have to
encompass viral marketing pre/post release.

5. Distributing with an
independent company
‘Donkey Punch’ is a 2008 thriller movie distributed by the UK
and Ireland company Optimum Releasing (now renamed
StudioCanal. A Warp X production, this thriller features stars
who are not globally recognised, a budget of $3,000,000
(miniscule compared to Se7en) and was first released in the
UK and Ireland (18 July 2008) before being released in the
USA on the 20 September 2008. The film still received a
global audience but was not given a blanket release straight
away. However, the film was only shown at 2 screens in the
USA and 155 in the UK.

6. Pros of distributing with an
independent company
• More focused on success through awards
• Gain national recognition to lead to potential global
recognition if successful
• More likely to distribute lower budget productions
Would ‘The Syndrome’ be suitable to distribute
through an independent?
I believe this is the best option of release for our
film as we do not star well known actors, we
have a low budget and do not use special FX
that would entertain a worldwide audience.
Despite thrillers being a genre popular globally,
our thriller does not have the funds to be
distributed worldwide.

7. Release
We decided that we would distribute our film through an
independent company such as ‘StudioCanal’. We would
heavily rely on viral marketing and gaining funding from
institutes such as the UK Film Council in order to show our
film on as many screens nationally as possible. We would also
try to gain awards through showing our film at film festivals.
This would increase our chances to fund further release. We
would release our films in UK cinemas and then release onto
DVD’s. We would also have our films streamed through
internet websites such as LOVEFiLM. By viral marketing our
production we would reach our target audience as a lot of
young adults tend to use social network and an have inapt
capability of online surfing.