evaluation question

1. What Kind of media institution might distribute your product and why?
When looking into what kind of institution would distribute my product my partner and I
decided to look into mainstream and independent cinemas. When looking into independent
cinemas I discovered they like small budget and are very genre orientated. This means I
would have to approach the right cinema when considering the genre of my film.Then I
looked at mainstream cinemas such as ; View, Odeon and Hollywood. I discovered these
cinemas prefer and prefer big budget blockbusters, franchise films and a film with a well
known cast list. The reason I believe my film could survive and do very well in a mainstream
cinema because it is targeted at the demographicwho most visit the cinema and are also
related to an even wider audience, which is very attractive to mainstream cinemas. The
demographic being 15+ as this is the stereotypical age for a teen horror, which we learnt
through our audience research.
The franchise film series ‘Paranormal Activities’ have been very successful, considering the
small budget and unknown cast. These films have been shown at most of the mainstream
cinemas around the world as their popularity has grown due to the suburban setting and
the way in which its audience can relate to the characters and the story line. My group and I
took most of our inspiration from this franchise as I represented the ideology that
independent films can create the same ‘buzz’ and excitement as mainstream block busters.
After looking back through the project I have realised that I was inspired by ‘The Last
Exorcism’ as well as ‘Paranormal Activity’. Thinking about the product as a whole, my group
and I has been inspired by the way that The Last Exorcism has created the same amount and
the same style of buzz surrounding their film. The one aspect that I believe this film has over
Paranormal Activity is that this has been identified as a follow on from other Exorcism films,
which have a good reputation and rating. The ideology of using genre conventions and well-
known titles, words and codes. This is an ideal way of targeting the right audience and being
able to cater to their needs and wants.
I decided to look at ‘Paranormal Activity’ all the way through my production to try and
relate them together and I believe I have achieved this by the setting, characters and story
line and the way these individual aspects link to the audience. My group and I wanted to use
a variety of the same genre conventions as Paranormal Activity as this helped us target our
audience effectively as we have attempted to cater to their wants and needs for a horror
film. Paranormal Activity was produced Blumhouse productions. This production company
has a lot of experience with horror films and would be a suitable company to produce my
product as they have the experience and know the conventions of the genre, through their
previous products. The Blair Witch project was product by Haxan Films. This film was this
companies first ever product. Since this point (1999) they have produced more horror
productions such as Exist, Lovely Molly and Seventh Moon. It has become clear to me that
independent production companies have become to realise the gap in the market for horror
films and the use of simple genre conventions can create a scary and tension building

2. product. Compared to the ‘Big six’ independent production companies will consider the
idea of producing unique and interesting product that doesn’t guarantee profits. The big six
have become accustomed to producing block buster franchises as they believe they can
boost profits by returning to old products.
If I were to get my film produced I would contact an independent production company like
‘Working Title’. The reason for this is because they are a British independent production
company, and are more interested in original British scripts and films and are owned by one
of the big seven; ‘Universal pictures’, which enables them to have large budgets if they think
the product will be successful and if a film were to fail and make a loss, they would be able
withstand this financial hit. The company has core values and prefers to produce films with
heritage and meaning. This is a core value that my group and I have tried to include by using
the genre convention of a school. This is a convention that pretty much every film
enthusiast can relate to. They have a lot experience with independent films but not
specifically the horror genre. I would be more inclined to contact a production company like
‘Blumhouse productions’ or ‘Haxan Films’. The reasons for this would that they have far
more experience with this genre, they have produced very successful horror films and the
fact they are an independent production company they would be more inclined to help
produce our product.
When considering the marketing strategy for my film I believe the best way to advertise is to
use a viral marketing strategy. This consists of snippets of the film during adverts on TV and
at blockbuster opening screenings. I believe the best thing to do would be to utilise social
networking and boost the marketing through sites such as Facebook, Twitter and MySpace.
These sites have hundreds of millions of users. Word of moth could be used on these sites
and the message could possibly go viral. A message could be used or even the date of the
release. This would evoke the sense curiosity and the audiences within these sites would be
intrigued. The date could refer to a website. Cloverfield created a historic marketing
campaign using a date as a website and my group and I could take inspiration from this and
follow suit.The effect this had on its audience tis the idea of creating an active audience.
Because it catered to their needs through the use of social networks they felt involved and
part of something. This allowed everyone to feel part of the journey of the product. This
made this marketing campaign successful as it had clearly target the right demographic, by
using social networking sites. The fact that Cloverfield and my product target the same
demographic is the reason why I believe this style of marketing would be best suited to our
product. It will allow us to create and active and involved audience.