Liam Nolan - Evaluation Question 3

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

A suitable distribution company for our thriller would be 'Vertigo Films', a British film distribution company based in London, which has been responsible for other successful films such as 'Monsters' (Edwards, 2010), Bronson (Refn, 2008), and 'StreetDance 3D' (Pasquini, 2010).

Our thriller is a UK Independent film, whereas our comparative film, 'The Sixth Sense', is a Hollywood Blockbuster. Therefore, the face that 'Vertigo Films' is a UK Independent production and distribution company, means that our thriller would be best suited to them. The budget for our film would be much smaller than that of a Hollywood Blockbuster. Major hollywood studios have distribution offices in different parts of the world, whereas a UK Independent company such as 'Vertigo Films' is based in UK and operates from London.

Our production company name comprises the area in which our thriller opening was recorded (Bath Road, Hounslow). This is exemplified by the 4 photos we took which are evident in the logo; our school, the local station, the local church and road sign. This is a unique and original design, and the role of our production company is to promote film making in the West London area. 

The role of a production company is to promote and show the film in the best way possible; they require the cooperation of the distributor along with that of the exhibitor in order to this. Distribution is often referred to as the 'piggy in the middle' of the film industry, as producers tend not to have long term  economical links with distributors, who likewise have no formal connections with exhibitors.

Real film openings which we can compare our thriller to are the aforementioned 'Sixth Sense'.

The sequence in which events happen and the use of the flashback are also similar to our opening.The distributor of this film is 'Buena Vista Pictures', which is owned by the American 'Walt Disney' company. The difference between our film and 'The Sixth Sense' is that our chosen distribution company operates from London, whereas 'Walt Disney' operates on a large scale from the US.

Personally, I do not feel that our thriller opening is likely to be undertaken by one of the major US studios, because the verisimilitude of our opening has an urbanised 'British' feel. Hence why I think it is more likely to be undertaken by a UK Independent distributor/producer, such as 'Vertigo Films'.

Our opening would be distributed via the Internet, not necessarily on the big screen. However, I do feel that an opening such as ours would work well as a support film to the other major films at a film festival, as it could gain some critical acclaim.

In terms of Marketing, we would use as many communication mediums as possible. Because it is an independently made thriller opening, it would therefore require as much marketing and publication as possible. We would set up social networking pages, on Facebook and Twitter, to project the film to a wider audience. We would create an official website, where fans could purchase official merchandise. The internet is an effective medium of communication in creating a new fan-base. We would create an official trailer to be published on our website and also the social networking sites.

Posters could be created digitally for people to download, but not physically, as this opening is not necessarily a Blockbuster film. Interviews with the cast via the radio and digital recording devices could be posted on YouTube for the world to see.

In terms of where the money would come from for a film such as ours, it would depend mostly on organised fundraisers, which would be staged at a specific venue with live entertainment and auctions, and also the selling of merchandise. Online fundraising initiatives would also be effective as an extra source of income.