1. Question 3: What Kind of Media Institution Might Distribute your Product and Why?

2. What does a Production Company do? The production company that would probably produce my genre of film would be Warner Bros. Pictures. A production company is a type of company that carry out the production stage of a film/TV programme/advert/magazine (from the Financing Stage through to the Marketing and Exhibiting Stage). Also, a distributor is a company that gets the product after production out to the audience. This can be through exhibition in theatres, (which requires the distributor to present release dates/premieres to promote it), or DVD distribution to retail stores to make further money from the product. Warner Bros. Pictures are a TimeWarner Company and TimeWarner are a global leader in the media with multimedia distributors worldwide. This means that Warner Bros. probably gain there funding from their parent company (TimeWarner) because they are part of a conglomerate with many other media companies such as publishing and television networks.

3. My Institution Logo Comparison: Next shot underneath, peeling transition shows the fantasy genre. A ‘warping’ effect was used on the text and the background image (that I made on PhotoShop) to also portray the mystery. The red colours were used to foreshadow the narrative (because of danger connotations). The integration of the Universal logo at the beginning of Van Helsing; the fire transitioning into a flamed torch immediately adds drama. I used darker edges like the Warner Bros. example because it also showed the light versus dark binary opposition (like the outside/inside of the bungalow). ‘Enigma’ means mystery, which fits with the narrative and the genre, because there is a mysterious aspect to my introduction and so tells the audience that the film will have some unexpected events happen (the witch jumping out). My institution logo should create a mysterious effect and keep the audience calm but unnerving (like the Harry Potter one) and not add drama like the Van Helsingone does. The logo is frosted here and so the audience members that have seen Harry Potter before will know that Dementors will be included in the opening scene; it sets up the narrative for the audience effectively. The integration of the Warner Bros.logo at the beginning of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.

4. Similar Production Company – Budgeting for Projects? Because Warner Bros. are also a parent company to many smaller companies (showing vertical integration) they would get their funding from previous profitable films, pre-sales and independent investors as well as TimeWarner. This would therefore be the funding method for my production company (Enigma Studios) and would be required for all of the cinematography range and special effects that are needed to develop and use all of the conventions of a horror/fantasy. As my product had a low budget for the opening, I was limited to the special effects that I could use. However, I think that the opening didn’t really need any special effects and so the conventions that could have been met with my budget have been developed and used successfully. As Warner Bros. have higher budgets as well, they would be able to challenge some of the conventions because they are able to put more money into projects to make them successful. Van Helsingeffects used (Computer Generated Imagery) to bring the fantasy characters to life in the film opening sequence. This Black and White effect has been used to show the audience that this event happened in the past.

5. Conventions – Who is shown to the audience first? Like many film openings, the institution logo is shown to the audience first so that they know the style/signature of the film. It is then followed by the main heads of departments and then the main title. As some directors/institutions have their own artist style (such as Tim Burton); theyare called auteurs. I think that I have met the convention of ordering the titles because I have used the institution logo first because research has shown that audience members not only look at the genre (and the advertising) but look for certain institutions (such a Universal, Paramount Pictures, 21st Century Fox) and so it is a really important factor to make the logo stand out and clear to the audience. Also, research showed that if the main title is at the end of the opening sequence, then the audience will already be interested and will therefore remember the title – especially if it has followed a horror scene just before.

6. How would my film be marketed/distributed to the audience? Because Warner Bros. are part of a conglomerate with TimeWarner, they will be able to share the distributing companies that work alongside them and use the publishing/advertising companies to promote their products (such as magazines reviewing their products and above the line advertising being used - trailers). As my institution will be similar to Warner Bros, I think that I would be able to share these advantages when marketing my film before the release dates. These are two marketing methods that could be used by Warner Bros.: Entertainment Weekly is a magazine focused on film, music, theatre and popular culture and is owned by the Time division of TimeWarner. The WB Television Network – Allows United States audiences to watch former TV shows from The WB Television Network (that closed down in 2006 and became the online website in 2008).

7. When would my film be released to my target audience? The time of releasing the film to the audience would probably be near to Halloween because that is the peak time for when horror films are released (as the audience get in the mood for horrors at that time of year). The obvious films such as Halloween (2007) have been released around that period, but also films have been released in November time (such as Paranormal Activity (2007)). My institution (like Warner Bros.) would ensure that release/premiere dates are picked perfectly in order to make certain that the audience will be interested enough to make the company money. Because Warner Bros. are such a successful company, they would be able to postpone dates in order to suit the audience (such as if an entirely different film was released that everyone wanted to see at that moment in time).