Evaluation Commenting on Distributuon

After researching into the difference between institutions we got together as a group and realised that our final film would have to be distributed by a mainstream institution. We thought about making our piece fit for a niche market, therefore the distributors would be a smaller company like Film4 or MTV. I would have preferred this as most of the inspiration for our film came from films like Napoleon Dynamite and Four Lions.

Although saying this, our film is really happy and light, whereas these films are odd and dark. Looking at other films related to our film, for instance Superbad (2007) was distributed by mainstream company Columbia Pictures and Step Brothers (2008) also by Columbia. Therefore we decided as a group we would go with a mainstream institution. I then went off by myself and researched some facts about Columbia Pictures and also into Warner Brothers as they make a few popular comedies i.e. The Hangover (2009). I compared the two companies by looking into different facts. Warner Brothers has been active since 1918 and soon after the first start the company then upgrade only a few 5 years later. This shows they have been improve quickly since they started and as they started earlier its likely they have more experience. Although saying this Columbia Picture soon followed by being active since 1919 but upgrading in 1924. Both have headquarters in the USA which is a plus side as this will most likely help our film promotion and distributing. Columbia pictures have had connections with lots of different companies including Coca-cola as they bought the company in 1982. More recently Columbia has been bought by Sony Entertainment. This is a great positive as it means the company could help our film be produced in different ways including BluRay and in 3D. In comparison to this Warner Brothers does have other institutions connected to them, including DC Comics. This is good for our film as DC Comics make quite funny but very geeky films. This really supports our theme and could be helpful to us as if we were with a mainstream institution like Warner Brothers we would be able to use the advantages of DC Comics.

Overall I decided that our group should go with Columbia pictures simply because they have made films similar to ours before and they have good experiences of working in our style. They also have some great advantages like being connected to Sony which could open our film to all sorts of things especially BluRay.

We learnt that we would have to aim our film at a mass audience; we thought this because most comedies are really popular with a wide demographic as everyone like to see something funny, and comedies are especially popular during times of economic downturn, like now. We did some questionnaires and found that this was correct, a lot of people like to relax and they find that comedy enables them do to this the easiest as its gives them a sense of escapism. I would use a mainstream distributor to distribute my film. For instance this would help me get the film into a big company like Odeon or Cineworld, then my film would be played often, and everyday in a multiplex. This would help me reach my mass audience as a lot of people would want to see the film, and this would let them.

As I have chosen to distribute with a mainstream company our film will enable the companies to create new merchandise, therefore making everyone earn more money. This will also be helpful as its promotion for our film. For instance the ‘McLovin’ from the film now has an iconic t-shirt. By having a mainstream distributor this is another positive as it enables us to get more money and more promotion.

As we have chosen a famous, successful company there are many different ways for our film to be distributed after, before or alongside theatrical release? By having successful and distributors with a lot of money as this can enable our film to be promoted on YouTube or Facebook for example taking over Myspace, like The Dark Knight was able to. This includes across all video stores, especially HMV as they are one of the most successful video stores as they have been around since 1921. This isn’t as accessible as for say Amazon, as people all around the world can get onto this website and have films sent to them for a reasonable price. This opens up our distribution to our mass audience. Also we will distribute using things like iTunes as they don’t have to be sent and videos can be downloaded. Over the last few years downloading has risen in popularity, this will also help us to reach our target audience.