Question 3 - Film Distribution

What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

A film distributor is a company or individual responsible for the marketing of a film. The distributor may set the release date of a film and the method by which a film to be exhibited or made available for viewing: for example, directly to the public either theoretically or for home viewing (DVD, video-on-demand, (such as Netflix or love film) download, television programs through broadcast syndication). A distributor may do this directly, if the distributor owns the theatres or film distribution networks, or through theatrical exhibitors and other sub-distributors. A limited distributor may deal only with particular products, such as DVDs or Blu-ray, or may act in a particular country or market.

Our film, if it was produced completely and we wanted it to be distributed to the public, we would chose a major distributor for promotion and marketing. a big budget and high profile distributor such as; Warner Brothers, 20th Century Fox, Motion Pictures etc. We would be bigger budget to ensure that the film would be distributed and marketed to a wide audience and be easily accessible. This is because our target audiences is one of the widest  and largest audience to aim for, which means its more likely to be watched by more people.

If we chose a distributor we would choose one that has done films of the same genre before, so they are experienced with marketing to this genre and will make the film as accessible and successful as possible, probably 'New Line Cinema' as they had distributed 'se7en' and 'Gravity' which is a very similar film to ours in terms of its theme and style, and has done very well in the film industry. Although we would use a bigger budget distributor that doesn't mean that the film couldn't be a success if we chose an independent distributor, films such as 'Paranormal Activity' were made with a relatively tiny budget compared to most films that were as popular.



As we would be using a major distributor and using a much larger budget than needed, we would have the film premiered and shown in multiplex cinemas to reach the mainstream audiences. As for marketing the film, it would be ideal to advertise with a trailer on TV, as well as in public places such as; on buses, bus stops, and even billboards.