Film Distribution and Marketing

1. What is meant by the term Film Distribution?

Film distribution is making a film available for audiences to watch. This is done through exhibits such as: cinemas, DVD's, online streaming and television. The distributor will obtain the rights to the film.

2. What does a film distributor do?

They are responsible for the marketing of a film. They will market the film based on the target audience to determine the best marketing strategy. They want to ensure that the film is shown in as many cinemas as possible to ensure the most revenue is created from the film, they do this by ensuring they have marketed the film to the target audience correctly by looking at their demographics. Their main job is to organise the releasing of the film, often deciding on the release date. 

3. How does reach relate to film distribution?

Reach relates to the film distribution and the size of the reach depends on the profit of the film. If the film distributors decide to have a big reach and large advertising campaign, this will cost lots of money and therefore they are trusting that the film will be successful and the big reach will just aid in their success and more money. Some distributors may decide to have a huge reach by advertising everywhere, this increases the amount of viewers, however can be a risk if the film is not successful and lead to loss of profits. An example of where this happened is in the film 'The green lantern' with Ryan Reynolds. Due to the big star they thought it would be a huge success and therefore had a huge reach, thinking they would still make large profits, but due to a number of critics leaving bad reviews, it was not at all successful. On the other hand, The Woman in black, which also had a huge reach was highly successful, due to the correct advertising campaign with Daniel Radcliffe as their celebrity endorsement. 

4. What is meant by the distribution plan?

This relates to a plan made by the management team to transfer the film onto retailers and then consumers. One of the things that they decided on is the release date, they want to insure that the release date matches the film for example if the film is based around Halloween, they would release the film during October to enhance the target audience's experience of the film. The distribution team would also identify the target audience in the distribution plan because they need to ensure that they market their film correctly to the target audience, for example, advertising heavily on social media if the target audience is teenagers. Another thing they would have to consider is the budget of the film, if choosing to have a low budget, they would have little money for the advertising campaign and therefore have a smaller reach. However is they have a large distribution budget, they are able to reach large amount of people and raise more awareness for the film. They decide on a budget for the distribution of the film based on how much money they think the film will produce. 

5. What is meant by a marketing plan?

A marketing plan for a film relates to exactly how a distribution company plans on creating awareness and interest in the film they are releasing. They aim on making the film visible to the audience. As well as choosing how to market a film, the distributors of a film also have to compete with other distributors for marketing space, particularly if two films are being released at similar times. They would have to compete for space such as billboards and advertising space on television during prime time to show their film trailers. The marketing plan should create excitement around the film so when the film is released, large amounts of people have been waiting to see it and interest in the film should peak. Word of mouth plays a huge part in the marketing strategy, when someone hears of a film they are interested in they are likely to tel friends and family and therefore the excitement of a film spreads. There are many elements involved in the marketing plan such as;

Film trailers, this is possibly one of the biggest ways that films are marketed. Film trailers give the audience an insight into what the film is about, more than any print advert can, film trailers are designed to excite the audience and build suspense for when the film is released. Trailers can be shown on the television, but more successfully on social media, this is a successful way of marketing the film because it is so simple for someone to share a video on social media to friends, all the time expanding the amount of people excited for the film. They also keep spreading throughout social media so therefore the likelihood that the audience will see the trailer near to release of the film is very likely, this will continuously remind the audience of the film. 

Another marketing strategy for a film is posters, poster can be placed in so many places that people will see during their everyday lives in print based form and digital form. They can be placed in shops and bus stops, as well as billboards and on the side of busses. They can also be seen online on social media, on websites, advertisements and even trough email adverts. Posters usually have one image on them showing the main character or main elements on the film, they also have a release date and some of the main actors names, if the film has a big celebrity then this could make a person want to see the film just because they are a fan of the actor. 

Another way in which a film is marketed is through the internet. Websites and social media accounts will reveal all kinds of information about the film to the audience such as how the film was made, the stars of the films promoting it e.g. interviews, the release dates and teaser campaigns such as an extended trailer, all of this helps to heighten the suspense of the film. Because the internet is so highly used, this is how the majority of people will hear about the film.

Merchandise also plays a large part in the marketing of a film, for a children's film such as 'The Lego Movie', all of the characters were released made from Lego, as well as books, T-shirts and other Lego toys, this all creates awareness for the film as well as more profit because these items appeal highly to the target audience. 

Before releasing the film into the cinemas, there is often a movie premiere, this is a chance for all of the stars and producers to go and watch the film, critics also go and interview the stars and write reviews on the film which will play a huge part in whether other people go to watch the film or not. It is essential for the reviews to be good because otherwise people will not want to pay money to see this film, leading to an unsuccessful film.  

6. What is the difference between advertising, publicity and promotion?

The advertising of the film is the materials in which the distributors use to market the film, this may be posters, magazines, posters or on television. They will choose the advertisements that they deem to be most successful and suiting to the target audience. The publicity of the film refers to getting the film out there to the audience and catching he public's attention, this would be done through premieres and interviews of the actors and producers. The promotion of the film would be done through things such as merchandise, giving away a free T-shirt when you go and see the film or a free mug with a magazine promoting the film.

7. Find a teaser poster, teaser trailer, main poster and main trailer for a horror film and put them on your blog- who was the distributor and in how many countries was it released? can you find out how many screens it was shown in on the opening weekend?

Teaser Poster

Main Poster

 



The distributors for The Woman In Black were: CBS Films, Momentum Pictures and Alliance Films. It was released in 64 countries all with a release date ranging from February 2012- December 2012. In the opening weekend, The Woman in Black earned $20 million, this is the biggest US opening for a Hammer film. As of June 2012, The Woman in Black had made $127,730,736 worldwide.