The document discusses the film Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street and compares it to the author's thriller film idea. Sweeney Todd involves a barber seeking revenge on a corrupt judge by killing his customers and sending their bodies to a meat pie shop. The author analyzes Sweeney Todd's plot, genre, target audience, and distribution companies. They also compare their thriller idea to the film Parents, about a boy who suspects his parents are cannibals. The author concludes that while Sweeney Todd's distribution companies would be unrealistic, Vestron Pictures, which distributed lower budget films, would be a better fit for their thriller.

1. PREPARATION
FOR EVALUATION
QUESTIONS…
BY VICTORIA BARNES

2. POPULAR FILM
DISTRIBUTION COMPANIES:

3. SIMILAR FILMS TO
OUR THRILLER:
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007)
A barber named Benjamin Barker had a beautiful wife named Lucy and an infant daughter named
Johanna. A corrupt judge named, Turpin accuses Benjamin of a false crime. After years of exile, he
comes to London to seek vengeance from judge Turpin. He finds his shop on top of a meat-pie shop
and the shop's owner, Mrs. Lovett tells him that Turpin has taken his daughter and his wife has
committed suicide. Benjamin, seeking revenge, slits throats of his customers and sends their corpses
to be turned into meat-pies.
Distribution companies:
Director: Tim Burton
Starring: Johnny Depp & Helena Bonham Carter
Genre: horror/thriller/crime fiction/drama/musical/dark comedy
Target audience: Teenage to adult audiences. Contains some violent scenes.
Budget: $50 million
Tim" Burton is an American film
director, producer, artist, writer and
animator. He is known for his dark,
gothic, eccentric and quirky fantasy
films.

4. SWEENEY TODD’S
DISTRIBUTION COMPANIES:
1) DreamWorks:
DreamWorks Pictures is an American film production label of Amblin Partners. It was formerly
distributing its own and third-party films by itself. It has produced or distributed more than ten
films with box-office grosses of more than $100 million each. As of October 2016,
DreamWorks' films are marketed and distributed by Universal Pictures.
Previous films:
-Shrek (1,2 & 3)
-How to train your dragon
-Chicken run
-Shark tale
-Saving Private Ryan
-The help
-The lovely bones
-Flags of our fathers
-Meet the fockers
-And many more….

5. SWEENEY TODD’S
DISTRIBUTION COMPANIES:
2) Paramount:
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film studio based in
Hollywood, California.
Previous films:
-Snow Day
-Wonder Boys
-The Next Best Thing
-Rules Of Engagement
-Mission: Impossible Ii
-Shaft
-Bless The Child
-The Original Kings Of Comedy
-And many more….

6. SWEENEY TODD’S
DISTRIBUTION COMPANIES:
3) Warner Bros:
Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. is an American entertainment company, film studio
and film distributor that is a division of Time Warner and is headquartered in Burbank,
California.
Previous films:
-Fantastic Beasts and where to find them
-Batman v. Superman
-The Dark Knight
-Suicide Squad
-Harry Potter and the philosopher’s stone
-Inception
-The Accountant
-Mad Max
-And many more….

7. SWEENEY TODD’S
DISTRIBUTION COMPANIES:
4) Film Flex:
FilmFlex, is an on-demand movie rental services provider, claiming to be
largest outside of the US.[1] It is a joint venture between Sony Pictures
Television and The Walt Disney Company.
Previous films:
-Horrible Bosses
-Cars 2
-Blood and Rain
-Pulp Fiction
-A Separation
-Half Nelson
-And many more….

8. COMPARISON OF OUR
THRILLER TO SWEENEY
TODD…
Comparison of plot:
•Both films are thrillers.
•Both have a gory, cannibalistic element.
•Both films involve some type of trade, i.e. our thriller involves disposing of bodies for gangs for money, and Sweeney Todd, involves
turning bodies into meat pies.
•Both have a psychopathic male as a lead role.
•Both take everyday jobs (butchers and barbers) and turn them into a way of committing horrific crimes.
Comparison of genre:
•Sweeney Todd - horror/thriller/crime fiction/drama/musical/dark comedy
•Our thriller – horror/thriller/crime fiction
The genre of both films are very similar, however Sweeney Todd is the film of the musical and so contains singing and dance and
elements of dark comedy which are very dissimilar to our thriller.
Comparison of target audience:
•Sweeney Todd – teenage to adult audiences
•Our thriller – teenage to adult audiences
Similar budget:
The budget for Sweeney Todd was $50 million, which is obviously a price which we would never be able to afford. However,
Sweeney Todd is a Hollywood film, produced by DreamWorks and Warner Bros. and so they have a high budget regardless of
whether the film becomes a success or not.

9. SIMILAR FILMS TO
OUR THRILLER:
Parents (1989)
Michael Laemie is a young boy living in a typical 1950's suburbanite home... except for his bizarre and horrific
nightmares, and continued unease around his parents. Especially his father, Nick Laemie .Young Michael
begins to suspect his parents are cooking more than just hamburgers on the grill outside (i.e. eating bodies),
but has trouble explaining his fears to his new-found friend Sheila, or the school's social worker. As time
progresses, Michael begins to suspect that his parents are cannibals, after he discovers (or dreams that he
discovers) body parts hanging on a meat hook in the basement. The film ends with Michael's grandparents
assuming his care. After placing him to bed, Michael's grandfather leaves him a midnight snack consisting of
a glass of milk and a suspicious looking sandwich, implying perhaps that his parents' cannibalism was learned
behaviour.
Distribution company: Vestron Pictures
Director: Bob Balaban
Starring: Randy Quaid, Mary Beth Hurt, Sandy Dennis
Genre: black comedy/horror
Target audience: Teenage to adult audiences.
Budget: $3 million

10. SWEENEY TODD’S
DISTRIBUTION COMPANIES:
4) Vestron Pictures:
Vestron Pictures was a film studio and distributor of the late 1980s, and a
division of Austin O. Furst, Jr.'s Vestron Inc., best known for their 1987
release of Dirty Dancing.
Previous films:
-Dirty Dancing
-Dangerous Curves
-Far From Home
-Buster
-Little Monsters
-And many more….

11. COMPARISON OF OUR
THRILLER TO PARENTS…
Comparison of plot:
•Both films are thrillers.
•Both have a gory, cannibalistic element.
•Both take normality and everyday life and turn them into a way of committing horrific crimes.
•Parents is less to do with trade.
•Both contain psychopathic characters.
Comparison of genre:
•Parents- horror/dark comedy
•Our thriller – horror/thriller/crime fiction
The genre of both films are very similar, however Parents contains elements of dark comedy which is dissimilar to our
thriller.
Comparison of target audience:
•Parents– teenage to adult audiences
•Our thriller – teenage to adult audiences (most target audiences for thrillers are similar)
Similar budget:
The budget for Parents was $3 million and was produced by Great American Films, Limited Partnership and Vestron
Pictures, which is far less money and far less well known production companies than the film Sweeney Todd. This
makes this film low budget meaning it is much more affordable if we were to go ahead with our thriller.

12. WHICH PRODUCT SUITS
OUR THRILLER BETTER?
In terms of plot, Sweeney Todd suits our thriller better as it
contains similar trade references and involves the use of
everyday jobs and the horror behind them. Ideally, we would
use the same distribution companies as Sweeney Todd. I
think the best distribution company for us out of them, would
be Warner Bros as from my research I can see that they have
distributed more thrillers, horrors and action movies,
meaning that they would successfully distribute our thriller.
However, in reality, such a successful distribution company
would be very unlikely to produce our film. Therefore,
Vestron Pictures, which has successfully produced smaller
films, could be better suited to our thriller.

13. Age group: 15 +
Location: Must be Westernized countries, ranging
from small villages to large cities. Although, would
be most appropriate for small villages or towns in
the UK or Europe as that is where small butchers
are usually found.
Hobbies and interests: Should take an interest in
gory/crime thrillers. Should also take an interest in
human nature and mind-set as our thriller contains
unusual, psychopathic characters.
Education/jobs: Do not need to have a good
education/job. It would not effect their understanding
of the thriller.
Income: Our audience can easily be from working
class or above; the butchers is a familiar and regular
item in our society that all classes use.
WHAT WOULD BE THE
AUDIENCE FOR YOUR
MEDIA PRODUCT?