Evaluation - Question 3&4

1. What kind of media institutions might
distribute your media
Roles of the production compa-
ny
Firstly you have to negotiate a li-
censing agreement with the pro-
duction company. This then deter-
mines how many copies of the end
product to make. It is then present-
ed to perspective buyers who rep-
resent movie theatres or other film
institutions. Finally, whoever pur-
chases the product is then respon-
sible for the advertisement for the
product across a range of media
platforms such as magazines arti-
cles to a TV commercial.
Who would distribute our film
‘Geek to Chic’?
We have researched the institu-
tions that may produce, distribute
and exhibit our film which follows
the indie thriller genre. We looked
at 20th
Century Fox but decided
that the major distributor wouldn’t
fit the genre and type of film we
would be producing as they have
distributed extremely popular films
who appeal to a wide number of
people such as ‘Super Bad’, ‘Black
Swan’ and ‘Alvin and the Chip-
munks’. We decided that they cov-
er too much of a vast and varied
type of films as we think that the
distributor of our film should be
common in bringing out more niche
than mainstream films as our film
is classed as an ‘indie thriller’.
The group eventually decided on
using ‘Pathe’ as a distributor be-
cause it brings out niche films that
follow traits of our ‘indie thriller’
‘from Geek to Chic’, such as
‘Slumdog millionaire’ ‘127 hours’
and ‘Philomena’. We think this is
the most appropriate distributor for
our film as they focus more on indie
films than many other distributors
and we think that it will give conno-
tations to the audience that our film
is different compared to other films
when they see the distributor.
We created QUIRK productions be-
cause it fit the purpose of our cho-
sen brief, ‘an indie thriller about
someone who is different from eve-
ryone else, aimed at a female audi-
ence’. We also wanted it to be origi-
nal, short and snappy so it was
memorable. The colour scheme we
went with was yellow on black, this
is because these contrasting col-
ours make it bold and easily reada-
ble. The colour yellow gives conno-
tations of fun and happiness mak-
ing it fit for purpose. The colour
scheme is also not gender or age
orientated as it has no fit connota-
tions, this was important for us to
achieve as we wanted our film to be
desirable for a wide audience.
Why is it important to have a dis-
tributor?
You need a distributor/partner be-
cause they will have contacts,
knowledge and experience in order
to get the film marketed whereas,
the production company only fo-
cuses on the actual production of
the film; it is up to the distributor to
sell it. As a successful distributor
they will have a well-rounded repu-
tation which will appeal to consum-
ers as they will know that the com-
pany has a respectable status.
A large distributor would be ex-
tremely beneficial and relevant for
more niche companies such as our
production company ‘QUIRK’. The
reason for this is because they
would have a smaller success rate
and would find it difficult to market
a film independently.
How else might your film be
distributed?
Other ways which our film could be
distributed is that it will be available
on ‘Netflix’ and other streaming
sites such a ‘love film’ and there
will also be physical copies of it
such a DVD and Blu-ray.
The film will be first shown in the
cinema. The film time frame is
highly dependent on how popular
the film and cinema is. 2-4 months
later the film should be released on
DVD Blu-ray. A few months later it
will be available on a subscription
service website where the consum-
er is able to watch the film online.
An example of subscription ser-
vices that do this is ‘NOW TV’ and
‘NETFLIX’. Finally, after years lat-
er, the audience will be able to
watch the film for free on TV chan-
nels such as ‘channel 4’, and ‘ITV’.
Who would be the audience for your
media product?
Age range
The target audience range for
our media product is that from
12 to 18 years. We thought this
would be a suitable age range
to target our media product at
as we are of a similar age
meaning we have a better un-
derstanding of our target audi-
ence. We also casted our ac-
tors so they fell into this age
group. In doing this we feel our
target audience may be able to
relate and connect with our
media product because they
are of a similar age. We feel
that this is a suitable age as a
target audience for this specific
indie thriller as the narrative is
appropriate because the audi-
ence will be able to sympathise
and empathise with the char-
acters. This is crucial and in
the audience’s interest as they
will feel a connection with the
plot and perhaps aspire to
have that lifestyle at the end of
the film. This is because the
character appears to be an un-
fortunate teenager yet in the
end becomes everything she
has hoped for which will ap-
peal to the viewer.
Gender
Our media product is aimed
particularly at the female gen-
der. With all members of our
group being female we felt we
could achieve a media product
specifically tailored to what
females like to watch. This is be-
cause the plot follows one main
female character and watches
her transform from the clumsy
geek everyone laughed at to the
prom queen that many aspire to
be. Our research shows that in
most cases, more females would
be more susceptible to watch
this than males. This is because
females often listen to other fe-
male’s problems whilst offering
support and empathy which will
be transferred when watching
the film. Although, males would
be attracted to this film as well
because it is more humorous
than romantic; which is what we
found would appeal to males in
a film.
Social background
Our target audience falls in the
social group of 'mainstream'. We
did this because the mainstream
category is the most common
social group. By choosing to tar-
get our audience in this social
group we are enabling us to tar-
get and interest a wide and large
amount of people as a pose to
targeting a niche audience that
would not gather as much inter-
est.
Interests and character types
From our research we can gath-
er the type of character our audi-
ence will be and what their inter-
ests are. We believe one of the
main characteristics of
our target audience is that they
are always on trend. These in-
clude things such as watching the
latest teen film, listening to the
newest music released and are up
to date with the latest fashion and
gossip. Their actions and ideolo-
gies are usually widely accepted
by society as they are concerned
with following and fitting in to the
majority as they don’t want to
stand out. Our film will appeal to
these character types as many on
the characters follow these traits
and conventions.
Regional ethnicity
Our media product is suitable for
a variety of cultures because it
follows themes that are common
and appreciated worldwide. How-
ever, it would notably attract a UK
audience, particularly the south-
wets of England. This is because
the actors staring, are from Eng-
land displaying a strong British
accent along with the location of
the piece being set and filmed in
England.
Written by Anna Moorhouse, Katie
O'Brien and Tayler Parnell
QUIRK productions logo