Distribution of films and ‘A Field in England’

In lessons this week we have been looking at the distribution of the film ‘A Field in England’. With this particular film the distribution of it had to be carefully thought out, as without effective distribution , film product rarely finds an audience.

The distributers challenge for a film launch can be summarised as:

• Identifying the films audience as no film has a universal appeal so the has to be a specific type of person the film is aimed at.
• Estimating revenue potential across all platforms- for example sales from iTunes, cinema viewings, DVD sales etc.
• Building awareness and maintaining interest, advertising making sure people know about this new amazing film.
• Persuading exhibitors to present the film, using film sales and film festivals.
• Persuading the audience to watch it by making the adverts and trailers for it intriguing and exciting, also advertising it everywhere like on buses and within cinema buildings.

The top six distributors are also the major studios and these include:

• Sony Pictures
• 20th Century Fox
• Warner Bros
• Universal
• Disney
• Paramount

These studios occasionally make a tent pole film in which they take the risk as the film has to be huge, for example Harry Potter as the studio already knows its success therefore being responsible for it as a film wouldn’t be too much of a risk as the film is notorious for being greatly loved and already has fans.

A Field in England cost £300 thousand, of which £184 of this was allocated to media advertising, and the rest on film prints, advertising production, publicity, premiers and related costs. the average Hollywood movie cost approximately $100 million to make and a further $50 to distribute. A Field in England used typical UK co-production and found partners from UK TV in Film4 and 4DVD.

A Field in England used various platforms in their audacious approach to distribution generating media interest and debate about the future of the current Hollywood model with its staggered release windows which usually take months. This approach was a release in more than one platform which made sure the film found its audience and let people come to it without having the panic of being around for one week before its gone because another marvel movie fills the cinema screens.

Advantage of releasing a film just in the cinema:

• People like the cinema experience, the atmosphere of all the other movie fans around you appreciating the content of what they are watching. The film is a spectacle and every audience member appreciates it. Cinemas also have the excellent sound systems, food and drink, comfortable seating, big screens, imacs and also the 3D visuals. People like that as it i a trip out and doesn’t disappoint.

Disadvantage of Cinema

• Can be expensive, the food is usually over priced so that the cinemas make a profit, you would have to pay for parking if you drove, and if you include the price of the actual cinema tickets then a trip to the cinema can be up to£20 for two people. Is that good value for money? I think that VOD is better if your talking in terms of money.

Advantage of releasing film in VOD (Video on Demand):

• This includes buying or renting the film from places like iTunes, Sky, BT Vision, Virgin or Amazon. You pay a one time fee and have access to the film for a certain number of hours, this is convenient, you don’t need to leave the house, you also have an instant service and because you have bought it electronically, there is no disk so it cannot get accidentally scratched etc. Also there are no adverts because you’ve paid for the film so they wont bore you with extra irrelevant things.

Advantage of buying the film in retail:

• This is buying the DVD, this has advantages such as you can watch it as many times as you please and there is no limit, also you can pause and stop it when it suits you. You also have control over the volume, when you watch it and where. There are also special features and maybe directors commentaries and if you are deaf you can get subtitles. You can also buy the film in Blue Ray which improves the quality, sounds and visuals. Some people appreciate it more than others meaning you can have almost a cinema experience in your own home.

Advantages of having the film on TV:

• First of all its free, all you have to do is tune in at watch it at the right time. You can also record it on your TV which means you can fast forward the adverts and watch the actual film whenever you want.
• It generates word of mouth because people might discuss it at school or work the next day ‘Did you see ‘bla bla’ last night?’. It simply increases awareness of the film, making it have a wider audience and be a big talking point. It would also be trending on twitter whilst being shown, again generating advertising.

Disadvantages:

• The quality is lower than that of a cinema screen or blue ray.
• The film might be played in daytime and if it is a 15, the censored parts will be cut out, possibly making the film not make any sense. This can be a burden if its your favorite film.

Typical Hollywood films tend to be released in the cinema first before released on DVD, VOD and TV. Huge Tentpole films like Harry Potter,  Avatar or The Hunger Games were all released in cinema with a big build up of advertising and lots of anticipation. These films already had an approved audience therefore taking the risk of releasing the film on one platform and having trailers and using posters on buses etc didn’t make the audience loose interest. However sometimes anticipation can be a down side of releasing a film as it subjects people to piracy which is illegal, the main reason why people illegally watch new films is because it may have been released in one country and not another, the simple answer for this problem is for release dates of films to be on the same day in all countries.

Digital Democratisation: the idea that digital technologies will disrupt the hegemony of the media industries, enabling the public to produce and distribute their own content and have a greater freedom of access to content.

Pop Up Cinema:

Film can be great in the cinema and at home, but it can be enjoyed in other countless venues or scenarios. Pop-up cinema is a creative and non traditional mode of exhibition, where films are screened in car parks, gardens, board rooms, community centers and pubs.

The Great British summertime provides an excellent time to do Pop-up cinema, screening both old and new films.

Here are a couple of examples:

Pop-up cinemas can be seen as Urban Recycling, as they re use disused settings, having a vintage feel of decadent interiors, popcorn, paper tickets all evoking the feeling of traditional cinema going rather than modern multiplex.