Our film could only really secure a distribution deal with an independent company such as Lionsgate or other smaller distribution companies. Lionsgate have distributed independent horror movies such as SAW which has progressed into a multiple movie franchise and has become very successful, showing that Lionsgate know how to effectively reach the target audience of horror movies. The film Saws distribution rights were secured at the Sundance film festival, which could be a viable option for our film as it would be ideal for us to pitch it at a film festival to different companies. Like our movie, saw has a psychopath antagonist and has slasher connotations.

Our film does not have the high production values and verisimilitude of industrial films so it would not be possible to distribute with an industrial distribution company as it would simply not be worthwhile them investing time and money into our film. Films such as the Woman in Black, which is an institutional horror varies greatly from our movie, although they have similar psychological with slasher parts, they have a much higher budget, and contain a-Lister celebrities such as Daniel Radcliffe .

Independent

film

distribution

Our work definitely has the style of an independent horror. A few of the key areas which indicate this are Location, Cast and the special effects which we use.

Location Our film was based in a sub-urban environment, as it can be used to create unexpected horror and an uncomfortable feeling for the audience as they will not expect trouble there. A key factor that made us use this external location is that it was free to use and we could film easily without disruption. This happens quite often with independent films, as it saves them a lot of money, an example of this is the Blaire Witch project, which was produced on a very low budget, like our movie. Other industrial horrors will use much better sets than us, just like The woman in black, which is filmed in marsh land and a big haunted house, which would have cost us a lot more money to use sets like this.

Special effectsOur movie uses one example of special effects, this is the long exposure of the clouds to indicate a shift in time, this however is not included in our final cut of the film. Institutional movies will spend a lot more time and money on special effects than us. A good example of this would be the ghosts and deaths within the conjuring which look much more realistic, creating verisimilitude and adding more production value than our movie.

CastObviously on a budget as low as ours we could not afford to use any celebrities or a-list stars, whereas institutional horrors can use A-listers as bankable stars. Movies such as the woman in Black can afford to hire A-listers to be in their movie, this will attract fans of that particular actor to the movie and give the film a bigger status.

Independent

film

conventions

Our movie may struggle if put into big cinema chains such as the odean and vue cinemas, as they will be showing big mainstream and tent pole movies. Instead it would be better to use smaller cinema chains such as Curzon cinemas and independent cinemas, as these will be cheaper to use and will attract a more specialist audience and more generic cinema goers, We will not release at a parallel time with a big mainstream or tent pole horror as it would be fierce competition that we will likely lose, a time such as Halloween for our movie would be good, as long as there is not a big movie that comes out over the same weekend as this is a popular release time for horror movies.

Using streaming applications such as Netflix and amazon prime will be a good idea for independent horror movies such as ours, as it can be viewed on many platforms due to cross media convergence, meaning its possible for the audience to watch it on many different platforms and its more likely they will have a streaming prescription rather than actually buying the DVD. As of 2014 Netflix has 50 million subscribers worldwide, which is a lot of exposure for our film, and being a horror movie it will attract young people at a sleepovers for example. Piracy is a big issue for movies today, and including it on Netflix will help reduce it, as there is no need to download/stream it if it is on streaming sites. This is a utilising web 2.0

Exhibiting our

film

The audience for our production is quite a niche audience, it is made up of 16-24 year olds which is the target market for the horror movie genre.

A platform release will be much more appropriate for our production as it would be unlikely to bring in enough money in the box office to make it worthwhile conducting a blanket/global release, which would cost a lot more money and take more time. Specially selected territories and aiming for cities and big areas will be a viable idea for us, as it is cheaper and we can select audiences more carefully.

Synergistic marketing activity would not be viable for us as it would be far too expensive. A much more efficient and audience targeting campaign would be more likely as we will not be able to afford to adopt methods like releasing ancillary products and symbiotic promotional activity.

Web 2.0 would be a very good way to market our movie as it is largely very cheap and can target an audience very effectively. Methods such as social media and web pages would be ideal for us, as our target market are a group which is largely online, and it allows us to get them involved with the movie. This would save costs in our small budget and still get the film a wide exposure

Target

audience