Evaluation Q3 - Osbert Menezes

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

Opening for "Memory"- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcdFrjx10-Y

The Distribution Company-

The name of the distribution company for "Memory" is "Quad Film". This company will have the responsibility of marketing and and distributing the film to cinemas and later release it on DVD. The distributor is also responsible for the advertising campaign of a film and are in charge of getting people to go and buy tickets for a film.

Similarities Between Quad Film and Real Distributors-

Most Hollywood Companies don't have distribution companies that are separate to the main company itself. An examples of this is "Disney", who are a major production studio in Hollywood and produce some of the biggest films today. They don't give their films to a separate company to distribute them but their films are distributed by a subsidiary of "Disney" known as "Buena Vista International". This company is owned by "Disney" but controls the distribution branch of "Disney" movies.

Our Distribution company "Quad Film" is not like this, we chose to have a separate company that distributes the film as this is a fairly low budget film from a low budget production company. This means the company is not big enough to have subsidiaries like "Buena Vista" to control the distribution and so we have to relay on separate companies to control distribution like "Quad Film". An example of a successful independent Hollywood distribution company is "Miramax" films who are not a subsidiary of any major Hollywood company but work independently for smaller blockbusters like "Memory" is. This is very similar to "Quad Film" as "Miramax" also work as a separate company form the production company when it comes to distributing films.

Scale of Distribution-

We wanted our film to have a global market just like many of the Hollywood films you see today. This means that Quad Film has to market the film on a global platform. This would mean that the film will have to go through guidelines for different countries to know weather they will allow the film to be show in their country or not. Making a film for a global marketed means that the distributor is also responsible for sending the film back to post-production as the film might have to be re-edited to have subtitles for other languages or even include language dubbing.

Offensive Content-

Having a global market means that the film cant be offensive to any culture that the film will be supplied to. Any parts that might do this have to be re evaluated and tested on to see if it may offend certain cultures or groups of people and suitable warnings have to be put in place by the distribution company when advertising the film. Fortunately the theme of "Memory" does not focus on anything that might be offensive to a culture so this idea of it offending a large group of people is minimised. However some testing has to be done prior to the films international release to confirm this and make sure it does not receive too much negative feedback because of offensive reasons.

Marketing Platforms-

The film's Marketing campaign will be mostly viral using technological platforms such as websites and TV to advertise and reach audiences. "Quad Film" will make aspects of the campaign such as trailers which they can play on TV or websites, as well as involving the cast in TV appearances on late night talk shows in different countries to try to get to the main population to see the film. Some of these shows can include "The Graham Norton Show", "Jimmy Kimmel Live" and "Tonight Show". many film starts go on these shows to promote their films and so the starts in memory will do similar things to promote the film.

The internet can be used as a platform to create a viral marketing campaign through the use of social media, official sites and releasing unseen footage to tease the fans into watching the film. This is a very successful way of marketing as it can make a way for the fans to go see a film as they are left on cliff hangers. The cast can also use the internet to go on podcasts, and YouTube shows to promote a film through interviews or special ways of involving the audience.

Increasing the Sales of the Film-

"Quad Film" is also responsible for marketing and selling "Memory" after its cinema release. This is done by selling the film on DVD or Blu-Ray a few months after its release in cinemas. This is bought by audiences that might have not have wanted to see it in cinemas but prefer to see it in a home environment. It can also be rented to audience through the form of DVD retailers like "Blockbusters" or "LoveFilm"."Quad Film" can also license the film to digital streaming companies like "Netfilx" and "Amazon Prime" who also users to watch the film online for a small subscription price. This can help create increased revenue for the film by releasing it elsewhere and not just in cinemas.