EVALUATION QUESTION THREE

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

This is a small video of me and Becka answering the above question, we filmed this on my iPhone so the quality is not all that good.

A media institution is an established, often profit based organisation that deal with the creation, distribution, and marketing of a media product, in this case, a film. The most obvious media institutions are big media corporations such as Warner Bros. which has made films such as the global sensation, the ‘Harry Potter’ and ‘The Matrix’ franchise. Another example is 20^th Century Fox which has also made many popular films such as, ‘Star Wars’ and the ‘Alien’ franchise. However, these are American film institutions, so these were not used for our opening sequence. We were assigned to choose a British film institution, which would ultimately be a lower budget. We were told to choose between Vertigo Films, which created the film ‘Monsters’, DNA Films, which also made ’28 Days Later’ and Film4 which produced films such as, ‘The Lovely Bones’ ‘The Inbetweeners Movie’ and ‘Shaun of the Dead.’ British media institutions are not as popular as American productions as American cinema chains such as ‘Showcase Cinemas’ and ‘IMAX’ dominate the film industry and only show the mainstream American films.

Distribution refers to when a film is showcased in the cinemas or on a TV Channel.  Distributers also sell films to shops for them to sell, distribution is vital as it helps with whether the film will make a profit or a loss at the box office.

After discussion with the group we came to a decision that we believed that Film4 would be the best distributer for our media product instead of Vertigo Films and DNA Films. We decided on Film4 as each of us believed that Film4 was the most popular out of the three, as they show more mainstream films and also have their own television channel so our film would have had more of a chance of being shown. Vertigo Films and DNA Films do not have their own TV channel and we didn’t think many people would have heard of Vertigo Films or DNA Films so there is a less chance that our film would be shown on channels that the majority of our target audience would be aware of.

We also felt that Film4 would be more popular with our target audience as Film4 have helped produce many popular films such as ‘How to Lose Friends and Alienate People’ and ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ we felt that as Film4 produced most popular British Films, we felt that our film would have a higher chance of becoming popular, as opposed to the other distributers. Vertigo Films have produced films such as ‘Bronson’ and ‘Wake Wood’ which are not as popular as films shown on Film4, so we believed that Vertigo Films would not have been as popular as Film4. Similarly, DNA Films have produced films such as ‘Love Actually’ and ‘Never Let Me Go’ these films are a lot more popular than the films produced by Vertigo Films but not as popular as the Film4 productions. So we felt that Film4 would be more popular because they broadcast more mainstream media products.

We also believed that Film4 is better for our distribution because the company has their own channel on television, as this channel is completely dedicated to showing films that are mainly distributed by the company; we felt that this would give our film more of a chance of being shown and watched by our target audience. This channel is popular amongst our target audience so we felt that our film would probably be watched more if it was distributed by Film4.

We also decided to include Fox Searchlight in our opening sequence as we felt that this would also make our opening sequence look more effective. Fox Searchlight is a film division of Fox Filmed Entertainment which specialises in independent films and British films. This company generally looks to find new talented directors and gives them a chance in the ‘spotlight.’ Fox Searchlight has helped distribute films such as 127 Hours, Never Let Me Go and 500 Days of Summer. We decided to include this as it will show that our opening sequence comes from a new talent instead of directors that most people have already heard of. The combination of Film 4 and Fox Searchlight is an example of synergy.

Overall, our group decided to choose Film4 to distribute our film as we felt that it is more popular amongst our viewers as it has its own television channel which is dedicated to showing films that have been made/distributed by Film4, so we felt that our film would have a higher chance of being watched by viewers. We also decided to include Fox Searchlight as this would be a good combination of companies and would enhance the audience’s view of it, and would believe that it would be higher quality.