Sunday 25 March 2012
Wednesday 21 March 2012
The Distribution Process
Distribution - Case Studies
Distribution is fundamental for a film to make profit, or even break even on its costs. A distribution company may be attached to a project during pre-production, especially for Studio productions for which the distribution company will most likely be a sister company of the production company. However, in the independent industry getting distribution can be a significant challenge. Sometimes a distribution company will be attached from the outset; this will significantly help the independent production company attract financiers. Often though, the film will be taken to film festivals in the hope that a film buyer will purchase the film. Independent film companies often employ a sales agent whose role it is to seek out distribution companies for the film.
In our contemporary society, so reliant on digital media, online distribution is a growing area, however using media sharing sites such as www.youtube.com to distribute a film attracts no profit (though it may attract distributors if enough hype is built). There is profit to be made in selling and renting the film via Lovefilm.com and iTunes, though the advertising campaign for the film will have to be strong in order for audiences to be aware enough of the film, to know to download it.
The Distributor’s JobThe distribution company is in charge of getting the film out to audiences, this involves organising for the film to receive an age certificate by regulation bodies, such as the BBFC and MPAA; arranging exhibition outlets globally and DVD/Television rights; arranging for prints of the film; and marketing, publicity and promotion of the film.
The Distribution Process
These latter tasks form the process of alerting audiences to the films’ existence. There are several critical things the distributor must consider in order to create a productive campaign:
A. Who is the target audience?
The distributor will think about the demographic and psychographic profile of the target audience.
Demographic profile includes: gender, age, socio-economic class and ethnicity. There are many measures used for identifying psychographic profiles, however that most commonly used by advertisers is Young and Rubicam’s 4Cs (Cross Cultural Consumer Characterisation): www.4cs.yr.com
B. What do the target audience do?
What magazines and newspapers do they read? Where do they travel and how? What are their interests? What other films are they likely to watch?
The distributor will aim to define everything about the audience, in order to maximise profit for the film, by targeting advertising in the most appropriate places. For example, if the audience is unlikely to take public transport, but likely to purchase political magazines the distributor can avoid tube station posters and instead buy advertising space in The Economist.
The distributor will find out about their audience through surveys and data analysis and will divide their data into three areas:
1. Who the audience is
2. What they think
3. Their media
C. Is there a wider audience this film could appeal to?
Major studio projects are so successful because they are mainly family films. Distributors will look for secondary audiences or whether a film has mass audience appeal, they may create a number of different poster campaigns for example in order to appeal to these different audiences. This means they could advertise the film in trailers and posters as Action/ Adventure (mass appeal), then Science Fiction and Romance (secondary audience) if there are elements of these genres in the film.
D. What major cast or crew are involved in the project?
The distributor will consider how to maximise the exposure of key cast and crew, measuring the successful of their most recent productions will not only allow the distributor to see what audience/s particular stars attract and perhaps widen the audience appeal in the marketing campaign, but it will also allow them to see which stars or crew (mainly the Director/Producer) should feature prominently in the advertising campaign.
Case Study Point
Twilight triggered a zeitgeist for vampire and gothic films aimed at teenagers, thus Hammer’s decision to remake the Swedish film Let the right one in as Let me in, an obscure tale about a young vampire girl was pitched at the right time as the buzz from Twilight was still influencing audiences’ tastes.
F. Pre-existing Property
Films based on pre-existing property are not only safer as they come with a ready-made fan base; they also open up more advertising opportunities as synergy between the two products can be created.
G. USP
The film’s unique selling point is crucial to the distributor’s campaign: what makes the film special? What makes the film worth watching? What are the main selling points of the film?
Case Study Point
Despite being a safe Hollywood fantasy film, which many people have called a ‘remake of Pocahontas’, Avatar was the highest grossing film of all time, yet without any major stars. The film’s USP (As with many of James Cameron’s films) was the use of digital technology and much of the publicity and marketing focused on this with high resolution posters and HD trailers alongside TV, internet and magazines publicity regarding how the film was made. There was also a major emphasis on IMAX and 3D screenings in the marketing campaign and the film was released in several different formats, the releases of these were staggered to encourage people to buy the ‘newer and better’ version.
Once the distributor has a clear idea of the audience and the film’s assets they can then start to structure a campaign, which will be divided into the following areas:
1. Marketing
2. Publicity
3. Promotion
Marketing includes theatrical poster campaigns, trailers, online and outdoor campaigns. Outdoor will include billboard, bus advertisements and bus stop/ tube and train station posters. Theatrical and trailer campaigns will start with teasers that generally begin with enigmatic images and/or taglines (Cloverfield used the image of the statue of liberty without the head, Transformers the infamous transformer logo) then will build to fuller trailers and posters introducing characters and the plot. The Online campaign will include an official website, downloads, banner advertising (for example on www.imdb.com), viral marketing and use of social networking sites.
Case Study Point
Dark Knight - Viral Marketing
The viral marketing campaign for The Dark Knight was perhaps one of Hollywood’s most spectacular yet and sparked off a major interest in viral marketing in the industry as it exposed the true extent of the format.
Marketing company 42 Entertainment were hired to invent a major viral marketing campaign for the film which centred at first around two websites: www.whysoserious.com and www.ibelieveinharveydent.com (the latter is now closed). I believe in Harvey Dent served as a campaign website for Dent and began to inspire audience members to support him, whilst in contrast, why so serious was a site for fans of the Joker creating instant rivalry between audience members.
Why so Serious lead participants to a game, which started with a secret message, which led to www.rorysdeathkiss.com, challenged people to take photos of themselves in Joker-esque make up in front of recognisable locations. Those who participated were rewarded with physical copies of The Gotham Times, whilst a sister website was created: www.gothamtimes.com. An array of other websites appeared after this, which created the ‘Gotham Universe’ and were related to companies featured in the online newspaper.
The Joker online phenomenon grew to include a larger number of websites and links eventually leading to www.Whysoserious.com/Steprightup that featured a countdown clock to December 4th – the release date for the teaser poster and trailer. This page also contained instructions to pick up packages in 22 American locations at a particular time on that date, the package? – A birthday cake with a cell phone baked into it.
Publicity will make use of the cast and crew. Firstly with a Press Pack sent out to publishing houses with key information about the film, then through magazines and newspaper interviews and articles. A Press junket will be held at which journalists are invited to interview the cast and crew over one day (a great example of a press junket can be seen in the film Notting Hill) and a Press screening will allow reviewers a chance to write reviews of the film before its release. Stars who are considered celebrities by the mainstream press will be followed by the media, adding further publicity to the film. Finally the Premier will gain further exposure for the film.
Promotion involves synergy and cross-promotions such as the release of comic books, novels or games related to the film, magazines and newspaper competitions and promotions with other companies i.e. drinks, cereal and McDonalds happy meals. Apparel and souvenirs related to the film can also be designed, for example t-shirts, bags, lunch boxes and action figures.
In our contemporary society, so reliant on digital media, online distribution is a growing area, however using media sharing sites such as www.youtube.com to distribute a film attracts no profit (though it may attract distributors if enough hype is built). There is profit to be made in selling and renting the film via Lovefilm.com and iTunes, though the advertising campaign for the film will have to be strong in order for audiences to be aware enough of the film, to know to download it.
The Distributor’s JobThe distribution company is in charge of getting the film out to audiences, this involves organising for the film to receive an age certificate by regulation bodies, such as the BBFC and MPAA; arranging exhibition outlets globally and DVD/Television rights; arranging for prints of the film; and marketing, publicity and promotion of the film.
The Distribution Process
These latter tasks form the process of alerting audiences to the films’ existence. There are several critical things the distributor must consider in order to create a productive campaign:
A. Who is the target audience?
The distributor will think about the demographic and psychographic profile of the target audience.
Demographic profile includes: gender, age, socio-economic class and ethnicity. There are many measures used for identifying psychographic profiles, however that most commonly used by advertisers is Young and Rubicam’s 4Cs (Cross Cultural Consumer Characterisation): www.4cs.yr.com
B. What do the target audience do?
What magazines and newspapers do they read? Where do they travel and how? What are their interests? What other films are they likely to watch?
The distributor will aim to define everything about the audience, in order to maximise profit for the film, by targeting advertising in the most appropriate places. For example, if the audience is unlikely to take public transport, but likely to purchase political magazines the distributor can avoid tube station posters and instead buy advertising space in The Economist.
The distributor will find out about their audience through surveys and data analysis and will divide their data into three areas:
1. Who the audience is
2. What they think
3. Their media
C. Is there a wider audience this film could appeal to?
Major studio projects are so successful because they are mainly family films. Distributors will look for secondary audiences or whether a film has mass audience appeal, they may create a number of different poster campaigns for example in order to appeal to these different audiences. This means they could advertise the film in trailers and posters as Action/ Adventure (mass appeal), then Science Fiction and Romance (secondary audience) if there are elements of these genres in the film.
D. What major cast or crew are involved in the project?
The distributor will consider how to maximise the exposure of key cast and crew, measuring the successful of their most recent productions will not only allow the distributor to see what audience/s particular stars attract and perhaps widen the audience appeal in the marketing campaign, but it will also allow them to see which stars or crew (mainly the Director/Producer) should feature prominently in the advertising campaign.
Case Study Point
Twilight triggered a zeitgeist for vampire and gothic films aimed at teenagers, thus Hammer’s decision to remake the Swedish film Let the right one in as Let me in, an obscure tale about a young vampire girl was pitched at the right time as the buzz from Twilight was still influencing audiences’ tastes.
F. Pre-existing Property
Films based on pre-existing property are not only safer as they come with a ready-made fan base; they also open up more advertising opportunities as synergy between the two products can be created.
G. USP
The film’s unique selling point is crucial to the distributor’s campaign: what makes the film special? What makes the film worth watching? What are the main selling points of the film?
Case Study Point
Despite being a safe Hollywood fantasy film, which many people have called a ‘remake of Pocahontas’, Avatar was the highest grossing film of all time, yet without any major stars. The film’s USP (As with many of James Cameron’s films) was the use of digital technology and much of the publicity and marketing focused on this with high resolution posters and HD trailers alongside TV, internet and magazines publicity regarding how the film was made. There was also a major emphasis on IMAX and 3D screenings in the marketing campaign and the film was released in several different formats, the releases of these were staggered to encourage people to buy the ‘newer and better’ version.
Once the distributor has a clear idea of the audience and the film’s assets they can then start to structure a campaign, which will be divided into the following areas:
1. Marketing
2. Publicity
3. Promotion
Marketing includes theatrical poster campaigns, trailers, online and outdoor campaigns. Outdoor will include billboard, bus advertisements and bus stop/ tube and train station posters. Theatrical and trailer campaigns will start with teasers that generally begin with enigmatic images and/or taglines (Cloverfield used the image of the statue of liberty without the head, Transformers the infamous transformer logo) then will build to fuller trailers and posters introducing characters and the plot. The Online campaign will include an official website, downloads, banner advertising (for example on www.imdb.com), viral marketing and use of social networking sites.
Case Study Point
Dark Knight - Viral Marketing
The viral marketing campaign for The Dark Knight was perhaps one of Hollywood’s most spectacular yet and sparked off a major interest in viral marketing in the industry as it exposed the true extent of the format.
Marketing company 42 Entertainment were hired to invent a major viral marketing campaign for the film which centred at first around two websites: www.whysoserious.com and www.ibelieveinharveydent.com (the latter is now closed). I believe in Harvey Dent served as a campaign website for Dent and began to inspire audience members to support him, whilst in contrast, why so serious was a site for fans of the Joker creating instant rivalry between audience members.
Why so Serious lead participants to a game, which started with a secret message, which led to www.rorysdeathkiss.com, challenged people to take photos of themselves in Joker-esque make up in front of recognisable locations. Those who participated were rewarded with physical copies of The Gotham Times, whilst a sister website was created: www.gothamtimes.com. An array of other websites appeared after this, which created the ‘Gotham Universe’ and were related to companies featured in the online newspaper.
The Joker online phenomenon grew to include a larger number of websites and links eventually leading to www.Whysoserious.com/Steprightup that featured a countdown clock to December 4th – the release date for the teaser poster and trailer. This page also contained instructions to pick up packages in 22 American locations at a particular time on that date, the package? – A birthday cake with a cell phone baked into it.
Publicity will make use of the cast and crew. Firstly with a Press Pack sent out to publishing houses with key information about the film, then through magazines and newspaper interviews and articles. A Press junket will be held at which journalists are invited to interview the cast and crew over one day (a great example of a press junket can be seen in the film Notting Hill) and a Press screening will allow reviewers a chance to write reviews of the film before its release. Stars who are considered celebrities by the mainstream press will be followed by the media, adding further publicity to the film. Finally the Premier will gain further exposure for the film.
Promotion involves synergy and cross-promotions such as the release of comic books, novels or games related to the film, magazines and newspaper competitions and promotions with other companies i.e. drinks, cereal and McDonalds happy meals. Apparel and souvenirs related to the film can also be designed, for example t-shirts, bags, lunch boxes and action figures.
Sunday 4 March 2012
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