Distribution

                                                            10 Steps of Film Distribution

1. Films are extremely inspiring, therefore films with the strongest labour attached to it will achieve the best successes and be spread to a wider audience.
2. Films have an impact socially and commercially so they connect with their audience. The distributors must identify and deliver the largest possible audience for their film; they must promote in the title and competing distributors.
3. The distributor must identify its audience; consider why they'd go and see it; estimating the revenue potential; persuading exhibitors to play the film; building awareness of the film and aiming to convert as much possible interest in film visits. 
4. The UK has 6 major distributors and many independent distributors, who tend to make films outside the major studios. 
5. Larger studios often work with major producers and sometimes, particularly with big blockbuster films, a studio would sell their international rights to another major international distributor. On the other hand, the independent studios would often work with independent producers. When considering acquiring a new film distributors would normally look for distinguishable features in order for the film to sell and become a success. They would also consider the target audience. The distributors also put together a detailed marketing spend and organise film festivals to make wider audiences aware of the film's release. 
6. Distributors sign a formal contract with the producer, sales agent or studio, specifying the rights they hold in respect of the title.
7. A distribution plan then needs to be prepared in order to plan the release.
8. They need to then consider what type of film it is, so consider the bbfc certification, which they must pay a fee in order to have classified. When the film should go out so the worst times are when things like finales of popular mainstream TV shows are taking place or worldwide events such as the olympics or the world cup are taking place. Also, the weather is an issue as if it's really cold many people may not want to go out and actually watch the film which would therefore be a disadvantage in terms of profit. Also, they need to consider where the film will go, so will it be in a multiplex cinema like Vue or a small arthouse cinema or maybe even an imax cinema or somewhere else. Then how the film is going to be released, so the marketing strategy that they will undergo in order to promote the film. 
9. Film marketing is extremely important because if the film has no awareness then no one will know about the film and therefore no one will watch it. Therefore, it is the distributors job to market the film in the correct way in order to promote it successfully to a vast amount of people. The film artwork must be creative and eye - catching, the trailers must be engaging and intriguing and exit polls should be taken after a screening in order to get feedback on the film. Also digital marketing as we are in a digital era, where nearly everything involves technology, therefore there should be online advertising and websites, also the use of social media is important in today's generation, therefore if there is one positive review on twitter for example it will positively promote the film and cause more people to watch it, due to the positive user generated content. However, this could also be negative because if someone hates the film and vocalises it, this will then be a disadvantage which would stop people from seeing the film. Premieres, festivals and awards are all great places to promote the film too. Promotions, like advertisements are also very key in order to promote the film. 
10. Media advertising campaigns are constructed using the concepts of paid, owned and earned channels. Paid is bought advertising; owned is maximising the distributors own channels and earned comprises social network and editorial coverage. Big name blockbusters tend to need heavy advertising spends in order to present their film to a wider audience. Research also shows the distributor what type of audiences will be interested in the film.

Distributors 

The Blair Witch Project 

Distributor - Artisan Entertainment (independent American studio)

The film was shown at the Sundance Film Festival and was released after months of publicity such as internet websites that portrayed the film as a series of real life events. The film grossed $248,639,099 worldwide on a final budget between $500,000 and $750,000, showing notable success. 

The Falling

Distributor - Metrodome UK

The film was shown at the BFI London Film Festival and had limited releases in the UK. The film grossed £359,082 and then a further $9,296 grossed from New Zealand on a budget of $750,000. Box office; $368,378, this figure against the budget shows that the film was not notably successful.

Monsters 

Distributor - Vertigo Films 

The film was shown at South by Southwest Film Festival, Cannes Film Market and Edinburgh Film Festival, also twice at Los Angeles Film Festival. The budget was less that $500,00 and on box office the film earned $4.2 million and a sequel was then released from this success. In the opening weekend in the UK the film grossed $550,110 and was screened in 164 theatres; the number then decreased however the overall gross in the UK was $1,442,633, which is a great success against the very low budget.

It Follows 

Distributors - RADiUS - TWC (Mini-major film studio) 

Dimension Films (Owned by The Walt Disney Studios)

The film premiered at the Cannes Film Festival and had limited release in the US and then a wide release in 1,200 theatres. The film earned $163,453 from it's opening weekend from 4 theatres and was the best limited opening for a film that was released in the USA and Canada in 2015. The film then showed on 190 screens in the UK and grossed $573,290. Overall the film had a domestic gross of $8.9 million, an internation gross of $1.6 million and a worldwide gross of $10.3 million. The budget of the film was $2 million and on box office the film earned $19.4 million, which shows the substantial success of the film.

Antichrist 

Distributors - Nordisk Film Distribution, IFC Films and Artificial Eye

The film premiered at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival and won a number of awards. The budget of the film was $11 million and the box office earnings were $791,867. The film earned $26,000 just from one screen, which highlights the success of the film as respectable.

Curzon Artifical Eye 

Curzon Artificial Eye is a British film distributor, which specialises predominantly in independent, foreign language and art house films. It's parent company is Curzon World.

Trailers:


Kiss of the Spider Woman

In this trailer the most significantly interesting feature was the slow zoom from the monochrome to colour. I thought this was particularly compelling as it was quiet unique and something that I have never seen before therefore, I think it would useful  to include in my production. In addition to this, the use of the contrapuntal non-diegetic sound added a mysterious atmosphere to the trailer so I think it would benefit my production if contrapuntal sound was used as it creates this unique feeling for the audience.

A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Refelcting on Existence 

I really like how this clip is just filmed from one point; the several doors and the mise-en-scene of the setting is really atmospheric and it made me think about how important mise-en-scene actually is as this scene is still so powerful due to the setting of the long corridor and the several doors, which highlight the different rooms. I think the use of keeping the camera in one position is so iconic and so powerful and therefore I really would like to include this in my production.

Still Alice 

The narrative told within this trailer is so compelling and appealing; my initial idea was to produce a production about a girl with an illness or some sort of disorder but a narrative more sombre and chilling moving towards the horror genre rather than drama. The use of the establishing shots in this trailer are amazing, they look so captivating and mesmerising and would work so well within my production. The cinematography is key as it is so iconic, therefore the wide shots and establishing shots need to be included to establish the setting.