Film distribution and industry

Film distribution is the process of how a movie is made available to the audience. There are many ways of doing this, theatrical release, home entertainment release (in which a movie is made available on a DVD or Blue-ray disc) or TV release.

Standard release
The standard release routine is defined by a business model called 'release windows'. This system was brought in around the 80's time, on the border of home entertainment. This was a strategy to keep the different instances of the movie competing with one another. This allows the movie to take full advantage of each market at different times (TV, home, cinema) at different times.
Normally the film is released in cinemas first and then to DVD or Blue-ray. After an additional amount of months the film is then released on pay TV systems such as film flex on virgin media. This allows audiences to rent the movies for a short amount of time at home on their tv, but for a small fee of around £5. Two years after the theatrical release, the movie is made available for free-to-air TV.

Simultaneous release
A simultaneous release is when the movie is made available on all types of release (DVD, cinema, internet...) at the same time or with very little time difference.Simultaneous releases benefit consumers as they can choose the medium that suits them best. It benefits production studios too as they only have to run one marketing campaign for all releases. In the course years simultaneous release has gained approval, with Mark Cuban claiming movies should be made available on all media resources allowing viewers to choose whether to see the movie at home or in a theatre, and disapproval, with director M. Night Shyamalan claiming it could potentially destroy "movie magic".

Straight to video release
Where the movie goes straight to Dvd/Blue-ray where the audience can watch the film at home. As a result of strong DVD sales, films that go straight to video release make a good profit.

Industry

There are three areas of the film Industry:

• Production- funding the film, choosind and hiring actors, hiring a director(s) and technicians to produce the film.
• Distribution- human resources who can see the marketing potential of a film and create the right publicity to ensure the film makes a good profit
• Exhibition - Think about what type of cinema the film would be released in, how many screenings there would be and where the film would be released

Test screenings

This is where clips or the whole film are shown to a group of people. The peoples reactions are analysed (using the encoding/decoding model) and recorded and this is where the producers can edit parts of the film which didnt get as good reactions as other parts.

Marketing

Marketing is all about promoting the film so posters, tv adverts and magazine articles etc will be used to show the new film off to the public. Marketing builds peoples expectations of the films and introduces the films genre and also shows off the main characters. Distributors spend up to 30% of their budget on marketing alone.
Merchandising
Merchandising is all about the money making after the film has been released. Money is made by selling products such as toys and video games. TV programmes and sequels have also become increasingly popular to make after a film.
Film classification
All films are classified by the BBFC (British board of Film Classification) before being released to the public. Sometimes producers edit the film so that a lower classification can be aquired, this increases the chance of the film becoming a success.

• U- universal
• PG- parental guidance
• 12- over 12 year olds
• 12A- under 12 year olds only allowed with an adult
• 15- over 15 year olds
• 18- over 18 year olds
• R

Planning

This is a basic plan for our trailer. The trailer will only feature two main characters as to keep the story from being revealed completely. Most of the filming will be done at night time in an alleyway and in a house. Some shots will be dark to create a mysterious effect and to create a tense atmosphere for the audience. This is what I can visualise these shots looking like:

I want to have some quick action shots of some close up facial expressions too, these will express the terror that the victim is going through. I can visualise them like this:

Time Management

I created a time diary so I can keep on track with my media coursework. Here is the plan for what month each task will be completed by:

Target Audience

Using the guidelines of the BBFC rating, we decided to rate our film a 15. We thought that rating it a 15 was an appropriate decision as our film includes things that younger people wouldn't be allowed to watch.

• Drug taking may be shown but the film as a whole must not promote or encourage drug misuse.
• Horror - Strong threat and menace are permitted unless sadistic or sexualised
• Dangerous behaviour (for example, hanging, suicide and self-harming) should not dwell on detail which could be copied. Easily accessible weapons should not be glamorised.
• There may be frequent use of strong language (for example, ‘fuck’). The strongest  terms (for example, ‘cunt’) may be acceptable if justified by the context. Aggressive or repeated use of the strongest language is unlikely to be acceptable.
• Nudity may be allowed in a sexual context but without strong detail. There are no constraints on nudity in a non-sexual or educational context.
• Sexual activity may be portrayed without strong detail. There may be strong verbal references to sexual behaviour, but the strongest references are unlikely  to be acceptable unless justified by context.
• Violence may be strong but should not dwell on the infliction of pain or injury. The strongest gory images are unlikely to be acceptable. Strong sadistic or sexualised violence is also unlikely to be acceptable.

Our film cast doesn't include any ethnic minority characters but we hope the narrative of a horror is enough to attract an ethnic minority audience.
Horror films are supposedly created to aim at a male audience, but we wanted our trailer to appeal to a female audience too. In order to do this we created the female victim character as strong and independent (her walking alone) and therefore a female audience could relate and empathise with the victim. However, to still appeal to the male audience, we used the mise-en-scene to make the female character attractive. We dressed her in a strappy top and tight jeans, she looks casual yet appealing. This uses the 'male gaze' theory by Laura Mulvey, who is a feminist. She suggests that most of the film industry's focus is on the bodies of women rather than their drama and acting skill. This is purely for male pleasure and to help appeal to a male audience, most of the time it works and the actress becomes a sexual icon.

In the case of class, we have decided that our film would best suit the socio-economic groups of C2,D and E. This is because it is mainly these groups that would be attracted to seeing a 15 rated, horror movie which involves violence and gore. From my point of view, being a student myself, I believe that mainly students would want to see this film and so the social group 'E' would be the main part of our audience.


The trailer is being aimed at people aged 15- 25. I did a questionnaire on people aged 16-18 and asked them what they would expect to see in a horror/thriller trailer and this will help to achieve the aim and also to help the trailer become more appealing to the target audience. As I am 18 years of age, I know how the target audience think and I can use my own opinion to help make the trailer scarier and more chilling. This genre is popular with 15-25 year olds.Our trailer is aimed at both genders and aimed at people who speak english. Some films that I think would have a similar audience to the coursework trailer are...

Paranormal activity 2

Wrong turn





Film trailer analysis
I analysed 2 trailers and looked at various points to get an idea of what different genres of trailers include.

I looked at:

Genre Narrative
Location
Characters

Voice Over
Theme
Pacing
On-screen graphics Editing & post production
Music and other sound effects

Trailer plans/ideas

Ideas for shots:

A long shot of the girl walking towards the camera, through the dark alleyway with the lamp post for extra eery light.

A quick shot of the killer standing in the lamp post "spot light" with his hood up.

Low shot of the victims feet walking and then another low shot of the killers feet to show the audience clearly that she is being followed. This shot will add to the mystery of the killer as you can't see anything but his feet.

Close up of knife trailing across the wall of the victims house. I will use this shot to break up the trailer. I will cut bits of this shot and put it in different parts of the trailer.

Music:

I researched the type of music that is usually used in horror trailers and found that most of the soundtracks have the same instruments; they use violins mostly for a slow, tense, build up and then drums and loud bangs towards the end where the credits come up. The voice over is usually always a male with a low pitch of voice which implies to me that the majority of the audience find a male voice scarier than a female as females are associated with being victim. I found two tracks which I think I could use in my trailer by merging them together.



Track 1:

The first track I will use in my trailer is one from a console game called "Project Zero". The game is more paranormal based than my film but I will ensure that the visual links with the sound. I plan to use this track at the beginning of the trailer to create a tense, build up effect.

Track 2:

The second track I will use in my trailer is one from another console game called "Left 4 Dead". This track will be used after the first track to create an eerie atmosphere yet lets the audience know that the narrative is being revealed. This track is great for what i'm using it for as it has drums and violins in play which according to my research is the two main instruments used for horror trailers.

Research

I created a questionnaire and asked 12 people aged from 16-20 to find out what this target audience expected from a horror trailer.

What scares you the most in horror movies?


Paranormal (Ghost activity)    7        Alien activity   1     People (Zombies, Psychotic behaviour) 4 


What adds tension for you the most?


Fast tempo music   0        Slow, quiet music (Slow cellos, violins)    4      Loud, sudden noises   8


In a horror trailer, what types of shots and images would you expect?


Sudden close ups    4     Fast, action related, cut shots    4      Long, eery, dark, shots    4


What is your favourite horror movie?


Paranormal activity (2), signs, house of wax, the crazies, Saw2, the descent, texas chainsaw massacre, vacancy, poltergeist


Have any recent horror trailers caught your eye and why so?


Paranormal activity 2 (3) because it has eery and quiet shots and includes the common fear of the unknown
Devil because of its real life potential happenings (chlostrephobia)
Buried because it looks different
Saw7 because its gruesome and has much suspense


Which do you find more scary?


A little girl  9               An old man  3             A teenage boy  0




What shots would you find more effective in a horror trailer?


Black and white  5     Red and dark  3    Change from blur to focus 4


                                                                                                                                       




From this questionnaire, I found that a majority of people find the paranormal and the unknown far more scary than alien activity or people. We will include slow, quiet music and loud sudden sounds as people voted these two as the most tension building. All 3 types of shots gained an equal amount of votes meaning we should try to include a variety of close ups, fast action cut shots and long dark shots as the target audience expect these images. We will also use all 3 shots to add tension, black and white shots, red and dark shots and the change from blurry to focus shots. From the list of their favourite horror movies, we will take ideas from by watching the trailers and will do the same with their favourite most recent trailers. The target audience seem to think that using a little girl character in a horror movie is the most scary so we will go ahead with our plan and do this.

The Brief

A promotion package for a new film, to include a trailer with two of the following options:

• a website homepage for the film;
• a film magazine front cover, featuring the film;
• a poster for the film

For the trailer we have the option to work in groups but for the other two sets of coursework we have to work individually. I chose to work with Alex and Amy for my trailer.