The student analyzed potential media institutions to distribute their post-apocalyptic film. Major studios like Warner Bros and Lionsgate were deemed unsuitable due to the film's low budget and lack of famous actors. Independent British film companies like DNA Films and Palace Pictures would be more interested since they distribute similar genre films set in Britain. The student also proposed advertising the film at small UK film festivals focused on new British directors, such as the British Independent Film Festival, rather than large cinema chains that prioritize blockbuster films.

1. Media Studies Evaluation
QUESTION 3

2. What kind of media institution
might distribute your media
product and why?

3. Warner Bros. Pictures
Warner Bros. are an American producer of film, television and music
entertainment. It is currently the worlds largest film and television studio.
They have distributed several post-apocalyptic films, including: I am Legend,
The book of Eli, The Matrix and Godzilla.
Some of the post-apocalyptic films that they have distributed, somewhat
relate to our media product in the sense of their narrative. For example the
'lone survivor' protagonist appears in both 'I am legend' and 'The book of Eli'.
This suggests that they may be interested in distributing our film if it were to
need mass marketing due to its popularity.
However as they are an established company, I do not think that they would
be interested in distributing our low-budget film (with its lack of famous
actors/directors) at this moment in time.

4. Lionsgate Entertainment
Lionsgate Entertainment Corporation is a Canadian-American Entertainment
company. They are well established but are not as big as Warner Bros and
generate significantly less revenue. However they have also distributed many
post-apocalyptic films, including: The Hunger Games series, Divergent and
The day after Tomorrow.
The post-apocalyptic films they have distributed do not relate to ours as
much as the ones distributed by Warner Bros. This would mean our film is less
likely to appeal to Lionsgate as they are used to associating themselves with
more action-packed films and relatively famous actors which our film does
not contain .
Due to the differences between their currently distributed films of our genre
and our film, I do not believe that Lionsgate Entertainment would take
interest in distributing our media product.

5. Independent British Film Companies
As the two distribution companies that I have wrote about in the previous
slides are major American based corporations, there is very little chance they
will even hear about our media product never mind distribute it. Therefore I
have chosen to look at various independent British film companies as I feel
they will be interested in distributing our film as it will not cost them too
much.
Companies such as DNA Films and Palace Pictures that are based in the UK,
have distributed films such as 28 Days Later and Hardware which are both
films of the same genre as ours.
I feel a British film company is best suited to distribute our film as many of
their films are based in England and use the stereotypical British setting to
attract a niche audience of British people. The distributor would manipulate
our film's British setting and actor to attract that audience and make our film
successful.

6. Advertising
As films are nearing their release date, they tend to produce and release film
trailers. These trailers can then be shown by cinemas either on screens
before other films or on their websites.
Odeon was founded in 1930 and is now the largest and most popular
cinema chain in the UK. The homepage of their website features major
blockbuster films with famous actors and multi-million pound budgets. They
do also show other films that may not be as popular but those films are still
usually critically-acclaimed films that have some famous name affiliated with
them.
This is why I believe our film would be shown and advertised at
Small Film Festivals throughout the UK, the main one being the
British Independent Film Festival. This festival particularly focuses on
British directors that are new to the scene (like myself) who create
films and then they give those films publicity and awards.

7. Conclusion
To conclude, I think that our film would not attract any major distribution
companies such as Warner Bros. On the other hand, our film would appeal to
independent British film companies such as DNA films/Palace Pictures. This is
due to it being set in England starring English actors and it is also a low-
budget film that doesn't have much chance of becoming a blockbuster hit.
In addition to this, I feel as if it would benefit from being shown at a film
festival such as the British Independent Film Festival rather than at a cinema
such as Odeon. This is because it would get more recognition at a film festival,
whereas at a cinema it would just be ignored and overshadowed by
blockbuster films.