The document discusses film distribution and marketing strategies. It notes that distribution companies are responsible for marketing, selling, and distributing films to theaters, streaming services, and other outlets. Some examples of major distributors are Paramount, Warner Bros., Disney, and Fox. Mini-major distributors like Working Title, Miramax, Film4, and StudioCanal distribute fewer wide-release films. The document analyzes these distributors and recommends Film4 as the best choice given the thriller genre and limited target audience of the film. It also provides examples of unique marketing techniques used for films like The Martian and Divergent to engage audiences. Film festivals are discussed as another potential marketing strategy to attract distributors and increase publicity.

1. Distribution
QUESTION 3

2. • Media institution is a company that owns other companies in different mass media
parts. Who are responsible for the production, marketing and distribution, possibly
through television, internet, radio and more. Film distribution are responsible for the
marketing of a film and is different from a production company. The distribution
companies will most likely sell the films to cinemas, selling DVD, television broadcast
rights, posters, trailers and film festivals to to distribute a film. They will distribute a
film to help make a profit, which can be done in 3 different stage: by investing in a
films production, buy the rights to a film after it has been made by an independent
production company and if they are already part of the larger organisation, they will
automatically be distributed.
• Examples of distribution companies include Paramount, Warner, Disney, Twentieth
Century Fox and Universal.
• There are also mini-majors which include Working Title, Miramax, Film 4 and Studio
Canal.
• There are also independent film, is a film production featuring a film outside of the
major films system. They are more likelier to have a distributor company that is smaller
and may only be released in one county. Independent films may be more difficult to
get an distributor interested and involved. Independent films may also decrease the
screen view, which is the reason why it may be difficult to get a distributor involved.
However independent films do have some positive effects in which may interest a
distribution company as they can be more complex compared to the major and
Hollywood film productions. Some of the Independent films may explore different
themes rather than one set theme, tell wide and more complex storyline.

3. • From looking at the different distributors and comparing it to our
audience research, we found that using a mini-major would be
beneficial. From our research on audience, many of them were
females due to a social gathering, so this has limited us on only a
couple of males who would watch our opening scene. Major
distribution companies would require a wider and larger audience
so that they could create a larger profit. So because our audience is
limited we have chosen mini-majors, this way we can focus on our
audience.
• Major distributors, are more commonly known to release films in
almost every cinema in the county or world. To do this they use
their power, finance and their role as an international corporation
ensures that film are released in as many cinema as possible.

4. Working Title
• Working title are currently marketing Hail
Caesar, this is a comedy and drama genre. The
storyline is about a Hollywood fixer in the
1950s working to keep the studio's stars in
line. Starring Josh Brolin, George Clooney,
Scarlett Johansson and Alden Ehrenreich.
Which comes out 4th of March. Another new
film they are marketing is The Danish Girl,
which is a romance and drama genre. The
storyline is about a fictitious love story loosely
inspired by the lives of Danish artists Lili Elbe
and Gerda Wegener. Lili and Gerda's marriage
and work evolve as they navigate Lili's
groundbreaking journey as a transgender
pioneer. This stars Eddie Redmayne and Alicia
Vikander. The latest film which has recently
been released by Working Title is Everest,
released in 2015, which is a thriller genre.
From looking at the recent films released and
are coming soon, seem to be related with
drama, romance and occasionally a thriller.
Working Title produces and distributors page
production films, starring top actors

5. Miramax
• Miramax website airs
popular but already
released films from the
past to attract people’s
attention. They show
popular trailers, clips and
films for the audience,
these are the classic
films for them to look
through and watch.

6. Film 4
• Film 4 is a British digital television channel
available in the United Kingdom, owned
and operated by Channel Four Television
Corporation. The channel does not charge
for viewing a film. However to have access
to this channel an individual would need to
be paying a fee from Virgin Media or Sky,
this is how they receive a profit. High Rise
is one of their films coming soon to cinema
which is a thriller. There is also an
additional film called, Una. However the
genre is not yet been shown, this could
possibly be a thriller. Film 4 releases many
thriller films, such as The East. They also air
on the channel many classic thrillers such
as The Third Man, Rear Window by Alfred
Hitchcock, The Usual Suspects, The Silence
of the Lambs and Seven. Film 4 additionally
releases many action, horror and drama
films which would link with a thriller film.
However film 4 airs many common already
released films, with only a couple of new
films being released this year.

7. Studiocanal
• Studio Canal owns the third-
largest film library in the world
and is based in France but
acquired UK-based distributor
Optimum Releasing in 2006. They
distribute many different genres.
Last year The Gun Man, Kill Your
Friends and Legend are all thrillers
which was realised, Legend being
the most popular. The only thriller
being released in 2016, at the
moment, is the Circle. Studio
Canal has distributed many
popular films such as The Hunger
Games

8. • From research into each mini-major, we found that considering a distributor who has
experience with releasing thrillers would be beneficial. This is because they will know
how to market and release the film and they would commonly know how to attract the
audience’s attention. Film 4 is the distributor who releases more thrillers than others.
Film 4 creates a wider audience through Sky and Virgin Media. This would help us
create a wider audience through those exhibitors.
• If we were to choose a distributor who hasn't marketed many thrillers, they will have
limited experience compared to others. However, this could also be beneficial because
their audience will be intrigued by what they are releasing.
• Working Title, would not be ideal for out distributor. This is because they look for a
wide range of audiences and create the most profit from the films. Even though they
distribute thriller genre films, they are marketed to a wider audience than we have.
Also, they release films featuring established actors and directors. Miramax is very
similar to Working Title; arguably the American equivalent.
• Studiocanal is the third largest film library and would also increase our target audience.
However, they do not release many thrillers. This then would not fit with our
production due to it being a thriller.
• Netflix has recently to started to exhibit their own production, so this could be
another option for us. They have their own audience who subscribes to watch the
production being released. Because the audience are paying for this they are more
likely to explore what Netflix has to offer and are more likely to watch our production.

9. Marketing Techniques
• From researching about The Martian, the distributor didn't just release TV spots and
trailers. But created a video relating to a trailer but designed especially for the
marketing purpose. This clip is showing as if it was part of the film, with main character
being involved and introducing the additional characters. The idea of this clip is to show
to the audience what they outline plot of the storyline is, this is a group of astronauts
who are excited and hoping to go to mars. For this reason it is a new way of marketing,
including celebrating (A-listers) who starring in the video and marketing. The Martian
video had over 1 million views on YouTube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CumZP6_9sHU
• The following film from Divergent, Insurgent has also a unique way of marketing. The
distributor have created an app that a follower or audience member who were
interested in the sequel film. The idea of the app is to the entice audience feeling as
though they are involved in the film, this is done by making the app as a simulator. The
360 degrees camera, at the point of view of the audience will show to them, sitting in a
chair being tested to se if they are the required person to open this unique box. This
connects with the storyline of main character being tested to open the box by the
antagonist character. The effect of connecting the audience to the main character is to
get them involved, hooked and interested in the new sequel of the film. This will the
create a wider audience and increase the profit cinema tickets sold. This additionally
involves the actors getting involved specially for the marketing purposes for the film.
• From this research our opening scene could be extended into other media areas, such
as an online addition, DVD’s and tv rights. This way we could get a wider audience after
it has been distributed. Our value chain could be selling to a few cinemas in the country,
selling online copies and posters. The marketing for thriller will not be as big as The
Martian and Insurgent, this is because the films contain Hollywood actors, directors and
with Insurgent being a sequel from a profitable film. Majors distributors would be more
interested in those films, because they can create a wider audiences. Further more, this
can be because of audience who follows the directors and actors work. Relating to The
Martian, we could create a video diary about her life before hand, this way we can get
the audience involved and to get know the main character and her background.

10. Other marketing techniques
• Film festivals have many different but positive function, one being that they can sometimes be
extremely competitive. However they can help a film gain awards, including publicity. There are also
marketing places to pitch films to a distributor. Film festivals are also the place for distributors to
compete over gaining rights to a film being or been produced. A few of the highest profile festivals
include Cannes, Sundance, Berlin, Toronto and Venice. Crowd-funding is a new phenomenon, asking
members of the audience to invest in their film. This is done by having an audience ready to distributor
the films through the internet by themselves. By executing this action, this cuts the major distributors
out of the screen.
• A film festival is an event organised by film societies, the festivals allow filmmakers who may be
unknown to give their film an opportunity to be seen by an audience. By using the festival route, would
help our opening scene to have a chance for an group of people to see the it and possible pitch to
distributors who could be interested in the film. This is also an excellent way to increase our publicity
and create a larger target audience. By using festivals, reporters may watch the film and have newspaper
articles which may possible be written to help advertise our film. This will again help to attract a
distributor attention and interested.
• The Venice film festival was first founded in 1932, making it the oldest festivals world wide.
• Berlin film festivals is the just one of the worlds leading festivals along side Venice. This was founded in
1951. Around 300,000 tickets have been sold with up to 400 films shown in different sections and around
20 films that compete for golden and silver bear award. The director of this festival is Dieter Kosslick
since 2001.
• The Raindance is an independent film festivals, which run around the popular city's such as London, Los
Angeles and New York. The festival was established in 1992 by Elliot Grove. This festivals showcases
short films from around the world where buyers, journalists, film fans and other filmmaker's. In 2009
there were around 6069 people attended, and the website 13,500 with 80,000 followers.
• For our opening scene, the Raindance festival would be ideal for our opening scene, this is because it has
a reasonable amount of people who attend, with many views for the website and with over 80,000
followers. The Raindance also can be located in major city's which we hope that could increase our
audience.