PowerPoint Presentation

Question 3

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

A distribution company is an institution that is responsible for the marketing and exhibition of the film. In choosing my distribution company I took into account the institutions portfolio of films and how my film may fit into this as well as the target audience for many of their films and how this may benefit the distribution of my film. To do this I looked back over my target audience analysis and found the most common age group for the dystopian genre was teenagers, and therefore I would be looking for an institution that previously distributed films to a similar target audience to ensure they would be effective in capturing the audience. Choosing a distribution company with previous experience with my target audience would result in them having a pre-existing following that I could target, as their name as an institution is already recognisable.

However I originally felt an independent production company may be ideal to distribute my film. Therefore I researched Warp Films. Warp Films is a British independent film company and are a highly successful institution based in Sheffield and London founded by Rob Mitchell and Steve Beckett in 1999. Their first film, shot in 2002, won an award for Best Short Film at 2003 BAFTAs due to their immediate success in the industry I looked further into their portfolio. I discovered Warp Films have produced many nationally famous feature films such as Submarine and Four Lions, giving me confidence in their ability to distribute and exhibit films. As Warp Films are an up and coming institution that are renowned for having artist driven content, which I felt would result in myself having more control over decisions made surrounding my product. This is a reason why independent films companies like Warp Films may appeal to me over a conglomerate or larger institution. However when looking further into their portfolio I established their were few films that may fit within the same genre and target audience as mine, this lead me to question whether this would be a disadvantage of choosing Warp Films as they will have little experience in my genre and a smaller pre-existing fan base. Although choosing them to distribute my film may be beneficial to them as they will show versatility in genres, I felt choosing an institution familiar with my genre was essential.

Therefore I chose

Summit Entertainment is an American film production company and distributor initially founded in 1991 by film producers Bernd Eichinger, Amon Milchan and Andrew G. Vajna, but officially launched in 1993. It is a subsidiary of Lions Gate Entertainment, although established as an independent film production company in 2007 with the addition of Rob Friedman. Summit entertainment are well known for their repertoire of adventure and dystopian films targeting a teenage to young adult audience. After looking into their portfolio I discovered their top grossing films in the box office were the twilight films. This was immediately drawn to my attention as Twilight fits into the genre of dystopian science fiction and target the same age audience. This therefore gave me confidence in their ability to distribute my film due to the fact I use similar conventions within my media product and Summit have proven to effectively distribute a film of the same genre to my target audience.

Why Summit Entertainment?

Summit entertainment have distributed serval popular films within the last 6 years including The Twilight Saga, Warm Bodies, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, the Divergent trilogy and Enders Game. All these films have a similar target audience which is predominantly teenagers. Similarly all of them excluding The Perks of Being a Wallflower are from a similar genre of science fiction with a dystopian future theme, however The Perks of Being a Wallflower arguably has a similar theme where by it features an alternative group within society the Wallflowers. Due to the success for all these films this therefore suggests Summit are consistently distributing films within a particular genre to a specialised audience successfully. I feel my film will be perfect for Summit to produce as the Divergent series is coming to an end, leaving a gap in their portfolio for a film of a similar genre such as my own. My film opening fits into the codes and conventions of the dystopian genre and will therefore appeal to the same audience as other films Summit has distributed this will therefore guarantee a successful release. The significance of choosing a distributor with previous experience in my genre over a institution with a range of genres means they will have a pre-existing fan base and an understanding of effective marketing campaigns specific to the genre. The encouraging aspect that is common in all their films is the new actors and directs they support, and because of Summit are now established faces within the industry, this would imply they would be willing to distribute my product as it is fresh material with young, new actors.

Summit Entertainment are a modern production company that take advantage of digital technology with the aid of technological convergence. They can do this due to their large budget from being a well known institution as well as having funding from Lionsgate. The budget for Divergent was $85 million with the marketing campaign cost at, at least $50 million and they began by releasing stills across the internet and a teaser trailer through MTV. It then went on to open in 3,936 cinemas across the USA and Canada in its opening weekend with a box office total of $288.9 million worldwide. This therefore indicates how dominating the institution can be over the market and therefore gives me confidence in its ability to distribute my film. However Summits use of technology within the distribution and exhibition of their films takes advantage of Web 2.0 and how audiences can stream their films on demand as Summit allow their films on digital streaming sites meaning they can attract a wider audiences due to the variety of platforms audiences can consume on. This is increased further as Summit is partners with IMAX allowing consumers a better experience. This is a huge advantage over choosing an independent institution.