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

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

What is a media institution?

Media Institution: any of the organisations responsible for the production, marketing, distribution or regulation of media texts.

Institutions are business structures that produce media texts and regulate and structure media activities. They are collectives within which individuals are encouraged to work towards a common goal and to develop working practices based on assumptions about their aims and ethos of the institutions. Institutions assume the shared values of all employees and have a status and power relationship with other institutions and the wider public.The type of institution you will focus on is the film distributor. The most well-known of these are the Hollywood ‘majors’: film studios like Warner Bros. or 20th Century

Fox, but also international ‘minimajors’, such as Lionsgate (who distribute The Hunger Games and the Twilight saga).

Film Distribution

• The process of launching a film into the marketplace and then sustaining the public’s interest

Distribution Involves:

Creating a ‘value chain’:• Selling the film to cinemas• Selling DVD copies to stores, online copies to

services like iTunes• Selling television broadcast rights to the filmMarketing the film through:• posters, trailers, etc• film festivals

The DistributorThe distributor’s business is to develop their own

films or acquire films from external sources, in order to create a value chain and make money

There are three stages that they can do this:

Invest in a Film’s ProductionBuy the rights to Film after it’s been made by an

independent production company (like yours!)If they are already part of the larger organisation,

they will automatically distribute

Distribution Companies

• World-wide distribution is dominated by the US-based companies

• 9 out of 10 films released in the UK will come from one of these majors

• They will fight for part of the annual $60 billion generated within the global film entertainment business

Examples of Distribution CompaniesHollywood Majors• Paramount• Warner• Disney• Twentieth Century Fox• UniversalEuropean ‘minimajors’• Working Title• Miramax• Film 4• Studio Canal

Film Festivals

They have a several functions:• They are competitions that can gain the film

awards as well as publicity• They are market places for production

companies to sell pitches/treatments or complete self-financed films to distributors.

• Likewise, It is also where distributors can battle over gaining the rights for a film that has just been produced

Film Festivals

• Highest profile festivals:

• Cannes• Sundance• Berlin• Toronto• Venice

• Which film do you choose and why?

Imagine you’re a big distributor

• Distributed by Warner Bros

• Budget not yet published but the last LOTR film had one of $94 million

• Grossed $1.1 billion

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

• Budget of $20 million• Took $31 million in the US

The Debt

• Distributed by Walt Disney• Budget of $39 million• Already taken $22,500,000

in the USA alone, released on 5th Oct

Frankenweenie

• Which film do you choose?

Imagine you’re a big distributor

• Vertically integrated companies usually handle this in all countries

• These are big corporations who own a production ‘arm’, a distributor ‘arm’ and a chain of cinemas.

• They use their power, finance & their role as international corporations ensure films they make or buy in are shown in as many cinema screens as possible.

• Disney recently threatened to not allow certain cinema chains to screen Star Wars The Force Awakens if they didn’t do it the way Disney wanted.

Cinema Distribution

• Not so straightforward• Smaller distributors get on board and often

only operating in one country• More difficult process getting films distributed• Independently produced film The Hateful Eight

(distributed by Miramax, who are owned by Disney) lost cinema screens because Disney threatened not to let cinemas have Star Wars if they screened The Hateful Eight in competition during the Christmas holidays.

For Independent Films

Independent Companies

• What are they independent of?• Essentially, control. • Independent films are created outside of

Hollywood studios; they are free from the same restrictions, i.e. big bosses looking for major profit

• Independent films are usually deeper and more complex than Hollywood films. They might– explore various themes e.g. loneliness, innocence– tell a story about an influential, less-prominent

person (e.g. an artist or writer)– make a political statement

Crowdfunding

A relatively new phenomenon, where would-be film-makers can ask for members of the public to ‘invest’ in their films. They then have a readymade audience to distribute the film to themselves – via the internet. This cuts the major distributors and exhibitors out of the picture.The most well-known organiser of crowdfunding is www.kickstarter.com

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

Which distributor is best for me? Some questions to consider...

• Major, minimajor, independent?

• Niche (independent) or Mass market (Hollywood/major)?

• Traditional pitch and treatment or crowdfund and then the festival route to find a distributor? What benefit will there be in finishing the film before the distributor comes on board? What festivals would you use?

• Competition/what do they already distribute? Do you want your thriller distributed by a company that have expertise with the genre? Why/Why not?

A possible way to structure your answer...

GuidanceIn order to give depth to your answer, consider the following:

[1] Provide a brief, relevant overview of what institutions are and identify some of the key film distributors operating in the UK and/or worldwide (plus, explore whether your film is suitable for an international or solely domestic market).

Provide images of their logos and the URL for their web presence

Relate your answer to your existing textual research wherever you can – quote yourself if necessary or complete some basic general research, exploring the distribution of some of the thrillers you have analysed.

Guidance[2] Identify an institution to distribute your thriller and explain why. . .

Why have you chosen that institution? To answer this question provide an overview of the company and its portfolio of films.

Explain: Who they areBrief overview of their back catalogueDiscuss the range of their current slate

Identify where your film fit into their current slate. You could compare their slate with another institutions’ – what are the differences? How does contrast help to consolidate your choice? Provide images – the institutions’ logo, example posters or trailers that feel similar to yours.

Guidance[3] Think about how your film, as a product, could be extended into other media areas

You will learn more, as the exam side of the course goes on, about convergent media – how might your film link with other media to give the same message? Research the marketing of the recent film The Martian to see this done well.

What will the value chain be for your film?

Guidance[4] Use data and statistics where possible

Each institution will clearly define not only the target readership of its products but should also provide statistical data about their audience figures – search the Internet for this data and use it to support your choice of institution.

Remember: look back at your research to find parts of your answer or factual support for your answer…

Guidance[5] Use specialist vocabulary

Ensure that you use the correct terminology throughout your response: use words such as institution, demographic, consumer, portfolio, media brands.

[6] Use visual examples

Illustrate your response with images, screen captures, logos, graphs, and – if appropriate – video clips.