Evaluation: Question 3

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

Production

As a group, we decided that we would like our film to be produced by Film 4 Productions. In the past, Film 4 have developed and co-financed many very successful films, including a few Academy Award winning ones, such as Slumdog Millionaire. Film 4 Productions have been responsible for the production (or co-production) of a variety of thriller films including: 'Black Sea' (Adventure thriller), 'Dead Man's Shoes' (psychological thriller) , 'The Crying Game' (Political thriller). The company is currently in production of 'The Oath', which is a psychological thriller. Having produced not only a variety of thriller films, but also a variety of thriller sub-genres is a reason that we would choose Film 4 Productions to produce our crime thriller. Not only this, but 'The Crying Game' won a BAFTA, an Academy Award and had multiple Oscar nominations. This is proof that films produced/co-produced by Film 4 Productions, previously know as Channel 4 Films, are successful. This would give us hope that our film could end up as an award winning piece, if it were to be produced by this production company.

Film 4 Productions is a British film production company, which is an accessible company for us to aim to get our film produced by. As the budget for our film would not be particularly high, nor is it directed by anyone particularly famous, nor does it star any well-known actors, it would be unrealistic for it to be produced by one of the ‘Hollywood Big 6’ such as Universal or 20th Century Fox. Although this would be ideal, as it would mean our film would automatically gain a large audience due to the prestige of these production companies, and their large budgets for extravagant marketing campaigns, it is simply not realistic. Film 4, as a British, independent company, are known to deal with films that have a lower budget, and that are starring up and coming talent, yet they are also a successful production company. The multiple successful films they have produced, and their co-productions with some of the ‘Hollywood Big 6’, enticed us to choose Film 4, as opposed to any of the other British, independent production companies.

Distribution

Distribution is key to the success of the film as it heavily influences what audiences the film reaches. During the survey on the thriller genre that I conducted using SurveyMonkey, I included a question about the distribution of media products:

From the answer to this question, I could see that the most popular method of distribution for our target audience was the use of online streaming sites. This heavily influenced our decision on what the primary distribution methods of our film would be, as it made us aware of what was most popular within our target market. We also talked to our peers in school, as they fit the profile of our target audience, and they agreed that the method of distribution they prefer is the use of online streaming sites due to its convenience. Our target audience, 16 to 19 year olds, use the internet regularly, and therefore, this means that it is the best place to distribute our film. 

As mentioned in a previous post about the distribution of our film, we are interested in using hybrid distribution in order to distribute our film. This would mean that we would keep the rights to our film, and would be able to release our film on DVD and for digital download, but it would mean that we could use specialised distributors, such as Netflix, to distribute our film to a wider audience.

As our primary method of distribution, we would use online streaming sites such as Netflix and Amazon Prime. Netflix is one of the most successful online streaming platforms, and reaches an incredibly wide audience, due to its 93 million users worldwide. Not only is Netflix most popular with our target audience, but it is a platform that will allow our film to be seen by people that would not have otherwise viewed it. Many independent films, that are either British or European, have reached a greater level of success than expected due to their release on Netflix. We would hope that distributing our product on this streaming site would increase its chances of reaching a wider audience, and a greater success, than we suspected for it.

Marketing

Successful methods of marketing are key to the success of a media product reaches its target audience, and gaining views. During the survey on the thriller genre that I conducted using SurveyMonkey, I included a question about the marketing methods of media products:

From the answer to this question, I could see that the methods of marketing that my target audience most engaged with were social media platforms and the use of YouTube. It tells me that 16 to 19 year olds mostly find out about new films that are being released on social media, and by watching their trailers on YouTube. 

Luckily for us, we have found that our target market mostly engage with below the line marketing techniques. Due to us not having an extremely large budget, marketing techniques such as displaying our film trailer on TV, or having our film poster displayed on large billboards in cities, are simply unrealistic. To successfully market our piece, we will use below the line techniques, which will either be entirely free, or have very little cost.

With our target market heavily using social media, we would create accounts across most social media platforms in order to market our film. This would be costless for us, as making an account on social media is free, but it would be extremely helpful to us in reaching out target market. Following the example of Pitch Perfect 2, we could use Snapchat as a means to market the film during the process of its production, as this proved extremely successful for the film. It is unusual for companies to market their product until it is post-production, which is what makes that method attention grabbing and unique. 

The use of YouTube for film marketing is becoming incredibly popular, and incredibly successful. We have found that our target audience engage heavily with products that are marketed on YouTube, due to watching the trailer of the film on this platform. The trailer can be marketed on YouTube in two different ways; it can be uploaded onto a channel, or it can be used as a YouTube advert, which is placed before videos. Uploading it on a channel, means it can be linked to by social media platforms.Using it as a YouTube advert would cost considerably less than a TV advert would, and it would reach my target audience more successfully at the same time. In order for monetisation on YouTube videos, adverts are placed before them, and YouTube monetisation is how ever more popular ‘YouTubers’ earn their money. Watching ‘YouTubers’ is popular with the age range of our target audience, which means that it would be likely for them to see the trailers if they were used as an advert for monetisation on a popular YouTube channel. Additionally, using monetisation adverts to market our product could help it to reach people that it would not otherwise reach. There are such a large variety of people that use YouTube to watch various videos, and this means that if our trailer was used as an advert, it could be viewed by people that would not otherwise be aware of our film. This could help to increase the diversity of the audience of our film, and could possibly lead to an increased success of it, too.