Film Distribution.

Distribution = Marketing, duplication and getting it into cinemas, onto TV and releasing on DVD.
Marketing = Advertising (paid for) and promotion (usually not paid for).

The film distributor brings the film into the movie market-place, which is a fast moving and highly competitive market.

The main distribution companies for blockbuster films are the global giants Warner, Sony, Disney and 20th Fox. These companies are part of vertically integrated corporations so they are well placed to receive movies straight from the production arm of the corporation.

Small independent distribution companies typically buy films at film festivals such as London Film Festival, Cannes and Venice to distribute. Companies include Momentum, Lionsgate and Metrodome. They make their choices based on their history and field of expertise and what they think will make a profit. The film producers will also be interested in the track record of their potential distributor. Both want the film to be as successful as possible and this means that it has to reach the right audience in order to maximise profits.

The distributor needs to find the USP (Unique Selling Point) of the film. This can be the actor, director or anything that makes the film different to others.

The distributor then needs to work out the target audience for the film.

- 15-24 is the largest target audience for movies although this varies depending on the genre.
- The distributor needs to get a large audience in order for the film to make a profit but this depends on the original budget for the film. Obviously it would be easy to recoup the budget for Paranormal Activity than for Avatar.
- When attracting an audience, the distributor needs to decide WHO the films is for, WHY people would want to watch the film and WHEN the film is going to be released.

- The release date is important because the distributor needs to decide on a time when it is most likely for lots of people to see the film. Summer holidays are a good time to release a film because this is the time when children are off school. Also, most horror movies are released in October for Halloween, such as the SAW movies. All films are released on a Friday so that they can have their opening weekend and earn as much profit as possible.

The distributor then has to conduct audience research in the form of pre-screenings in order to make any changes as a result of feedback. Cinemas often have free screenings of films and then the audience fill out a questionnaire at the end, so that the distributors can see how the audience responds to the film. This is a vital stage of the process.

They then have to decide on how much they are going to spend on marketing the film. Distribution budgets are generally around 40% of the estimated revenue so for low budget films, the amount available for distribution including advertising is a lot less than for the big budget films.

Publicity (is generally free)

Promotions

Premieres

The campaign needs to by unique from all the other films in order for the audience to go and watch that particular film.

The campaign can consist of the following elements:

-A teaser and main trailer

- Posters

-Internet advertising

- Advertising on mobiles

-Radio and TV advertising

- Outdoor advertising (on the side of buses, billboards)

All the adverts for the film have to be synergistic; they all have to have the same identity so that the audience can recognise the film.

For instance Spider Man is recognisable all around the world because of the logo.

- Visual Campaign- free editorial content.

- The poster: is the first look of the movie.

- Teaser trailer: Made before the film has finished being edited, it's purpose is to whet the audience's appertite.
- Main trailer: The most important key of selling a film. For horror films there is rarely a voice over as the visuals should be powerful enough to let the audience know what is going on. Text, intertitles, anchor the meaning of the trailer.