What kind of media institution might distribute

your media product and why?

What is a Distribution Company?

A distribution company is one of the most important factors when it comes down to the making a successful film. A distributor will pay for the film to be ‘printed’ into products that can be brought by the audience including film ‘reels’, software and DVD’s. They will then sell and ship these to cinemas and shops as well as sell them online to different providers for streaming and downloading. A release date will then be decided for the different countries, cinemas and other distributors to start to show the film to audiences. There are many different distributors that all aim for varied targer audenices, this means that there will be conglomerates that have other subsidiaries that can help them reach a larger target area, meaning that they can retain all the profits within the conglomerate itself.

Printing and advertising.

- Printing and advertising is one of the most important processes, as it can either make the film a hit or it could destroy all the effort and time that was put into creating it.

-- There are many traditional ways in which printing and advertising are used such as,

billboards, posters and magazines/newspaper adverts. -- It more common nowadays that you find distributors want to do viral marketing using

social networking sites, for example Facebook, Twitter, Youtube and Google. This helps to spread awareness to a larger audience. It has been found that viral marketing is more effective and cheaper than the traditional was of advertising. There has been many successful viral marketing campaigns such as Warner Bro’s with ‘The Dark Knight Rises’. They had set up a website that was full of tiny little tiles, every time someone would either share the website or go on it, a tile would fall away revealing part of the image below it. After all the tiles had fallen away it revealed an image of the joker as all the fans were wandering how he was going to look. This created much anticipation for the film and people started talking more about it on the social networking sites meaning that more people wanted to see what the film was going to be like.

Now let’s look at some famous distribution companies and see which one will be suitable for my movie.

Warner Bros (GB)

Warner Bros (GB) is one of the many subsidiaries of Warner Bros entertainment, and is there largest UK distribution company. It known for realising some of the previous smash hits in the cinema of Warner Bros movies for the past decade.

The Dark Knight (July 2008)

This movie had an estimated budget of $185 million and made just a bit under $160 million just on the opening weekend , as it was shown over 4000 screens in just the USA alone. It was distributed by Warner Bros (GB) and was produced by Warner Bro Pictures. The dark knight attracted a varied audience , by the fact that they had incorporated in some big Hollywood names such as Michael Caine and Heath Ledger. This is one of the reasons why at the end of December the film had reached a grossed total of $1,001,921,825 (Worldwide).

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 (July 2011)

The movie had an estimated profit of $125 million and made just a little under $170 million on the opening weekend in the USA. Not only was this film released in 2D but it was also released in 3D and in all Imax theatres. This meant that it would appeal to a larger audience, meaning more profit. This film was distributed by Warner Bros (GB) and again was produced by Warner Bro Pictures, meaning that they could keep the $1,328,111,219 all within the company.

Is it suitable for my Movie?

As Warner Bros (GB) distribute big movies such as the ones on the previous slides, my film would not be considered by the company as it is a small budget film company, that is not starring any big Hollywood stars. So this would be a no.

Entertainment Film Distributors.

Entertainment is a independent film distributor company that has helped to shape the British film industry into what it is today. It was founded by Nigel Green in 1978 and has been involved in distributing some of the most famous British movies such as The Inbetweeners Movie.

Run Fat Boy Fun (2007)

The film was estimated to spend $10 million and spent $8.5 million. The opening weekend brought $2,340,743 from the USA alone. Over all it had a gross profit of $5,998,971. It was distributed by Entertainment Films distributors and was produced by Entertainment films. This meant that all the profits were kept within the conglomerate.

The Final Destination.

Entertainment films distributed the whole Final destination franchise. There are other thrillers that have been distributed by Entertainment film distributors such as Texas chainsaw massacre, Halloween II and many more. Final destination was released in 2009. It had a budget of $43 million. In the opening weekend it made $27 million but it has now reached a gross total of $66 million.

Is it suitable for my Movie?

Entertainment film distributors is probably the perfect company to distribute the movie. The already have films that have been made smash hits of the thriller genre meaning that they understand what advertising needs to be done to create awareness . They have had major success just in the UK alone, and they are the UK’s leading independent film distributor.