Sunday 18 March 2012

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

Our thriller film, "From the Dark", is an independent thriller film that is made to a low budget - the low budget bracket before the "dead zone". The main way that this film draws you in is through the constant tension and anxiety through the film - the suspense builds up quickly, such as in popular films such as "Psycho" and "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy". This highly suspenseful independent thriller, with it's focus on the 16-25 year old market, could attract a company such as Warp films to fund the film who promote young film talent and films aimed at a teenage/young adult age group. As the main attraction of the film is it's content, the main way to advertise it would be with trailers, teasers and film footage.
Warp Films
However, our film is not mainstream in my opinion - it would not fit in well at a multiplex such as ODEON. This is because it is not a high-budget film with many famous names associated with it - in contrast to a film such as Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, which is also a thriller that relies on suspense and secrecy, but contains famous actors such as Gary Oldman, and a well-known director - Tomas Alfredson.
"Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy"
Because of this, I believe a suitable cinema outlet for "From the Dark" would be the Picturehouse cinemas (such as the cinema Cinema City in Norwich). These more independent-focused cinemas would be a good place to showcase a less mainstream film, as they would be directed at the people who go to Picturehouse cinemas - fans of niche, less well-known films. This would give our film a more suitable place to promote itself.
Picturehouse
Cinema City, a Picturehouse cinema in Norwich

In contrast to the possible interest of Warp Films, a company such as Working Title would probably not be interested in our film. This would be because of the niche nature of the film, which makes it less viable as a mainstream film with a wide audience. As Working Title is more of a mainstream film company, they would probably not be interested in funding our film.


The two characters on show here - the one from the trailer for "Snowton" and Jonathon are similar characters  visually and in terms of character. They are both teenagers/young adults that are caught up in issues that are not necessarily their fault. 
In contrast, the characters given the most focus on the Working Title website are older and more appealing to a larger, European/American audience e.g. A-list actor Gary Oldman from "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy"

In terms of electronic outlets, releasing the films over a wide range of electronic devices would be unwise. As a less-publicised film, it would be likely for the film to be swamped by more mainstream films and the money used to put it onto many electronic outlets would be wasted. Instead of this, a focused DVD release, and perhaps some other focused electronic release (e.g. on a games console) would be better. By focusing publicity on a DVD release, with help from the funding of a company such as Warp Films, the DVD would become better known amongst fans of films. This would greatly assist the size of the audience for this film.

Furthermore, posting our thriller film onto public video sites such as YouTube would greatly assist our appeal. As the majority of our audience would use technology every day, putting our thriller onto the highly popular video site YouTube would greatly assist publicity, especially for fans of independent, low budget films that would be able to manually search for our thriller. We could also post a trailer instead of, or alongside our thriller to encourage people to watch it in a cinema. A trailer would entice you, while watching it on a small screen might entice you to watch it on a large screen, where it is designed to be.

YouTube

1 comment:

  1. A proficient response but you need to also include internet outlets,i.e. youtube which you need to post your film on to and other internet sites.

    References to films that Warp have released that represent troubled young men is important because it indicates knowledge and understanding of Warp's target audience and the films they've funded. If you closely reference Warp Films official website and compare it to Working Title's website, and include screen shots and clips from your production and a Warp and Working Title film your points will be strengthened. For example there is an enormous difference between the audience and production values of "Tinker Tailor...." and "Dead Man's Shoes....

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