EVALUATION ACTIVITY 3BY ANGEL BIRD

What kind of media institution might distribute your media product?

OUR PRODUCTION COMPANY LOGO

WHAT DOES A PRODUCTION COMPANY DO?A production company plays an essential role in the organisation and distribution of a film. They are directly responsible for finding a suitable director and handling the talent within the film. The production company also assists in:

o Scheduling

o Budgeting

o Scripting

o Casting

ORDER OF OPENING CREDITS Traditionally, the main credits are shown at the beginning of the film. The

usual order is as follows:

- Director- Writer(s)- Screenplay and Story- Produced by- Music by- Cinematography by

During the opening credits of a film, the names of the main actors areusually shown.

DISTRIBUTION OF OUR FILMo The distributor of a film is a company that is responsible for advertising a media product to the public. This is an essential part of post production. The company which distributes your film is responsible for the marketing and promotion of the film.

oThe distributor decides how many copies of the film will be made and then shows it to prospective buyers (eg: cinema owners).

o It could be said that a distributer directly influences the success of a film.

o To distribute our film, we will need a company that are based in the UK, who distribute lower budget, horror films.

WELL KNOWN DISTRIBUTORS

oThese are all well know, leading film distributors. They all distribute high budget films and some are based in the US, so wouldn’t be suitable to distribute our production.

o However, they are all very experienced in the horror genre, which is an essential factor to consider.

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(1996 - 2011)

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POSSIBLE DISTRIBUTORS FOR OUR PRODUCTION:

o Film4

o Lionsgate UK

All of these companies could possibly be suitable to distribute our production as they distribute smaller films, are based in the UK and have experience in the horror genre.

StudioCanal

FILM4o www.film4.com

o The Film4 Website has links which you can

click on to see the films that they have made

and are in the process of making. They also

back short films and support ‘emerging talent’.

This means that they would be an appropriate

choice for distributing our film, as they are a British

company which backs lower budget films and who

are experienced in the horror genre.

Film4 is experienced in making horror films such as the one shown to the right, ‘Kill List’.

We would also like them to distribute our film because they are well known for making independent films successful. Kill List, for example, was nominated for six British Independent Film Awards and won an Empire Award for ‘Best Horror’.

These factors prove that Film4 would make a perfect distributor for our film. They are based in Britain, distribute independent films and are experienced in the horror genre.

LIONSGATE UK

o www.lionsgatefilms.co.uk

The Lionsgate website has details about which films it has distributed and some general information about the media institution as a whole.

We would like Lionsgate UK to distribute our film because not only are they experienced in the horror genre, having distributed ‘Texas Chainsaw 3D’ a widely known horror film, but they have a wide social media network on which to advertise. This would help to promote our film if we were able to distribute it at a global level.

In addition, Lionsgate UK (and as a global corporate) specialise in films aimed at a young adult market, having been successful with films such as The Hunger Games and Twilight.

STUDIOCANAL UK

StudioCanal UK would be a good choice to distribute our media product because they are widely known for distributing horror films within the UK. For example, the popular horror ‘Evil Dead’.

Similar to Lionsgate UK and Film4, StudioCanal are a successful distribution company who are experienced in the horror genre.

However, Lionsgate UK and StudioCanal both specialise in higher budget films, so may not be suitable to distribute our production.

GLOBAL OR NATIONAL?

As our media product is a low budget horror film, we may only have the opportunity to distribute our film nationally. Therefore, a distribution company such as Film4 would be ideal as they can cross media promote on other UK networks such as: Channel 4 and E4. E4 is a channel targeted at young adults, therefore would be appropriate when advertising our media product. In addition, if we were to have the opportunity to distribute our product globally, Film4 would be the ideal distributor in this situation. This is because they are widely known for working with major US companies such as Fox Searchlight to distribute successful films at a global level (such as Slumdog Millionaire).