Slideshow for AS Media Studies

1. Film Distribution
By Tiarnan Greene

2. Introduction
When films are being produced, a big part of post-
production is how will the film be marketed for distribution
and distributed around the world.
There are many ways how a production company would be
able to distribute and market their movies in order to gain
talk and revenue for the movie. Whether it’s through
cinema release, digital release, adverts or merchandise.
In this presentation I will be exploring the many ways films
are distributed and how different types of distribution
types can affect how well a movie does during its box
office release.

3. How do movies get
distributed
As a producer, it’s important to make sure that their film will be released in order to make a profit, they
would use different types of distribution methods to do so. Example of distribution methods include:
 Cinemas – This is the most used place to distribute films, The cinema is usually where people go to
see new movie releases if they don’t want to wait till the DVD or digital releases. It’s the most
effective method that a film company would use in order to generate money quickly when the film is
released. This is what is called the ‘box office’ comes into it, which is the money they get during the
cinema run of the film, this means the movie is able to produce money fast instead of waiting for it
through merchandise and DVD sales.
 DVDs – Another very common method used by film companies. After a few months of a new film
buying release, film companies will release the DVD of the movie, this means they help the store by
selling the DVD and the film company as they split profits on DVD sales. Typically lots of dedicated
fans of the movie will buy them, there are also other reasons as perhaps fans are buying the DVD
because it’s their favourite director, actor(s), film franchise or genre. There are also films that are
released straight-to-DVD but usually these movies won’t do as well as those that have been released
in cinema first. Disney Movies are a good example, The Lion King was released in cinemas and gained
a profit of $943.5 million whereas The Lion King 1 ½, the direct-to-DVD movie only gained a profit of
$55 million from DVD sales, showing that direct to DVD movies wont gain a big profit.
 Digital Releases – This distribution method has come more used in the past few years, now as well as
DVDs producers also release their movies on Media software's and on-demand services such as ITunes,
Google Play Store, Netflix and YouTube. This is a more convenient method for people to use as it
means they don’t have to buy physical copies of the movies which makes it easier for people to own
as they can have it on their phones or tablets, it’s also less expensive than a physical copy and gives
people the option to buy/rent the film (renting a film is cheaper for people but means the movie is
only available for a short time) and again, there's revenue for both the production company and the
service that's providing the film.

4. How do movies get
distributed
 How do producers distribute?
There are different types of ways that companies can choose to distribute
their movies, sometimes producers will choose to find a distribution
company in order to distribute the movie or they will choose to self-
distribute themselves, and not use another company. Usually producers will
distribute their movies is by finding a distribution company instead of self
distributing for example, Jurassic Park was distributed by Universal Pictures.
Usually the distributer will have a credit at the start (“Universal Pictures
presents….”). This method is a very common method to use instead of
distributing themselves as they are able to use another company to help
market and distribute the finished films while production companies work on
the film. Some companies however, will choose to distribute themselves,
these films are usually independent filmmakers who don’t have a big enough
budget to hire a company to distribute for them and are not very known in
the media industry so do not have the fame power to potentially get picked
up by a company, exceptions are usually if the film is a very good one and a
company sees plenty of potential to gain a profit.
Usually companies will try and get as many cinemas to show there films out
in the cinemas, depending on the budget, Movie franchises such as Marvel
wont usually have a problem distributing the movies as they do quite well in
the box offices and have a big budget to be distributed around the world to
many cinemas. Indie films will struggle to get a big cinema release but may
be able to release locally or for film festivals but this means usually they
may not produce a big profit from using local cinemas/film festivals but still
are hopefully able to generate a profit.
These will feature
before the movie to
show who helped
distribute the movie if
they have used
Universal to distribute

5. Budget Considerations when
promoting a new movie
When it comes to releasing a movie, the budget can play a massive part in how well a film does
in the box office. After the film is completed the remainder of the budget needs to be used
carefully to market their movie and to distribute the movie, they do this by releasing trailers
online, posters and news of the movie throughout different media types in order to get word of
their movie out there.
Some companies will choose to release trailers in as many places as they can to generate some
word of their new movie, for example in America, companies may use the advert times during
the Super Bowl, a big sporting event watched by millions, to promote their film and during the
2014 Super Bowl, a 30 second advert cost $4 million and a 60 second ad cost twice as much, so
smaller films may not be able to use this way to get word out there and for a normal advert to
be on the TV, the costs can vary depending on when you have your advert on the TV, if its on
during times when people are at work it can cost a few thousand but if its at prime viewing
times such as between 6 or 7pm the cost can go into the hundred thousands. There is also the
chance of being able to have the films posters on billboards and buses, something done
commonly for big releases in the UK. Prices can start at about £190 to have their poster on a
bus shelter panel or on the side of a bus. Nowadays, using social media films release their
trailers for free on YouTube or Facebook and post on Facebook or twitter about their new
movie which is a cheaper alternative but does a good job on spreading the word. For example,
the producers of Star Wars: The Force Awakens released their new trailer onto YouTube and
was able to gain 53 million views and went viral across the internet and on movie news
websites, meaning you do not have to pay large amounts of money to spread the word of
movies.
An example of how budgets affect the performance of a film at a box office is by looking at
two films released in August 2010- ‘Scott Pilgrim vs. The World’ and ‘The Expendables’ with
Scott Pilgrim’s budget being $60 million and $82 million respectively with Expendables being
able to produce over $274.5 million due to having plenty of money for advertising and being
able to have trailers across the globe on TV and movies and lots of big names attached
(Sylvester Stallone, Jason Staham) while Scott Pilgrim only produced $47 million and had very
little star power and not a lot of TV advertisement time and some cinema trailers which shows
you do need a good budget for advertising and hopefully some star power to get your movie
noticed and out there for people to see and talk about

6. Marketing for distribution
When it comes to distributing a new movies, producers will also have merchandise
and other marketing techniques to get their movie noticed. There is the obvious
use of advertisements in the cinema, on TV and on social media but there are also
things like posters, sneak peeks, clothing and toys to help promote the movie.
An example of using all of these are Marvel Films, if we take the latest Avengers
movie as an example you will be able to find a huge toy line for the characters in
the movie at toy stores and conventions, they also release a clothing line with the
different characters on t-shirts, so consumers will be able to find one of their
favourite character and be able to buy it which means money is not only coming
from the movie sales, but also merchandise sales. Stores such as HMV also have T-
Shirts and posters in stock for big films like Avengers, Batman v Superman and Star
Wars 7. They also release the soundtracks and scores of movies with very popular
soundtracks, an example is ‘Guardians Of The Galaxy’ soundtrack, which featured
a lot of older and popular songs from the 70s and 80s and became the second best
movie album sold in the UK in 2014.
Examples of Avengers
merchandise people would
be able to buy in stores

7. Marketing for distribution
Posters also use Star Power to get the attention of customers, if we use
expendables as an example again you can see they have bigger stars near
the top of the poster (Sylvester Stallone) and smaller, lesser known stars
near the bottom (Terry Crews) this is because people will look at the stars of
the film in the poster and if they see a familiar name of an actor, or one
they enjoy watching, they are more likely to go out and watch it instead of
having lesser known actors at the top as they may be unfamiliar with them
and might not go and see the film if they don’t know anyone in the film.
Sneak Peeks are usually short clips that are posted throughout social media
and at conventions for example Comic-Con so people can see more of the
film and get a glimpse into what the film will be like and can make a
judgement on whether or not they will like the movie and will go see it or
not.
The cast may also choose to go on big talk shows watched by many people
(Graham Norton/ Jonathan Ross in the UK, Conan/Jimmy Kimmel in the US)
to promote their movie so they can get more people interested into the
movie. Sometimes they will send 2 or 3 stars to a talk show, depending on
how big the movie release is and the actors may also bring a small preview
of the movie to present the new film to viewers to get them interested into
the movie
The big actors of Avengers 2
on Jimmy Kimmel to promote
Avengers as Marvel was
expecting a huge release and
a large box office

8. Film Festivals and
distribution
 Now when indie filmmakers are finding it hard to get producers and distributers to notice
their movies and to show that it does have the potential to do well is by submitting there
movie to a film festival, there are several different movie festivals that a filmmaker might
decide on where to submit such as the Cannes film festival, BFI London Film Festival,
Sundance Film Festival and Toronto Film Festival. Usually a film maker will pay an entry fee to
get in and have selected times and days when there film will be played, big names will usually
have a lot of screening times and days, and will usually be played in the big theatre rooms
while smaller films may have less times to be watched and be played in smaller theatre
rooms. What happens is sometimes there are competitions for what was the best film at the
festival or critics may choose what were the best films at the festivals, this will catch the
attention of some producers and distributors and get in touch with the filmmakers in order to
make a deal to distribute their film.
 An example of using film festivals to get their film noticed and distributed in theatres is the
movie Clerks – The director, Kevin Smith, did not have the money to distribute as he produced
his movie independently so he submitted his movie to Sundance Film Festival. The festival
then lead to a producer who works for the film company Miramax, the producer and Smith
were able to agree that Miramax could distribute Clerks and was able to get $3 million at the
box office. Now Kevin Smith is a big independent director and has been able to expand the
Clerks franchise, and still submits to film festivals , more recently Clerks 2 was entered into
the Cannes film festival and many of his films were met with positive reviews which shows
that using film festivals to present your movie is an effective way in order to gain a following
and potentially find distributors to distribute your movie.

9. Releasing a foreign movie in
the UK
 When releasing a foreign film in the UK it can be difficult to
be released across the country, what usually happens is most
foreign filmmakers will submit their films into film festivals
in order to get some notice in another country. Now a lot of
foreign filmmakers also have their films be put onto Netflix
as they have a category for foreign films and stores that sell
DVDs and CDs i.e. HMV usually have a part of the store with
foreign films, so the filmmakers are able to generate a profit
outside of their country. Its usually difficult for a filmmaker
to have their movies out in theatres as not enough people
would go to see it for many reasons for example: Its hasn’t
been advertised anywhere, its not very known in the country
and a big problem for some people is they want to hear and
understand the film instead of reading subtitles. Which
means its hard for a foreign filmmaker to make a lot of
money in the box office. Some Filmmakers have chosen to
dub over their movie with English actors to make it easier for
people who find it harder to concentrate on the movie while
reading subtitles, films from the Japanese studio ‘Studio
Ghibli are a good example of this as they create a subtitled
version of their movies and an English dubbed version of their
movies. Which was able to get £196,000 in the UK box office
and shows it can work in the UK but it wouldn’t be as
successful as some filmmakers may hope for.
Foreign movie selection on
Netflix