Tuesday 4th May 2010AS MEDIA STUDIESInstitution and AudiencesDistribution

Aim: To be able to understand and apply the concept of film distribution and viral marketing to Working Title Films.

KEY WORDS•Distribution•Vertical Integration•Logistics•Viral Marketing

• Through specific case studies of the centre’s choice, candidates should be prepared to demonstrate understanding of contemporary institutional processes of production, distribution, marketing and exchange/exhibition at a local, national or international level as well as British audiences’ reception and consumption.

• There should also be some emphasis on the students’ own experiences of being audiences of a particular medium. Centres may choose to focus on one of the following media industries: Film

Film Club

• Monday 10th May

• ‘The Boat that rocked.’

Film Distribution

A Guide

What is distribution

• Distribution, the third part of the film supply chain, is often referred to as 'the invisible art', a process known only to those within the industry, barely written about and almost imperceptible to everyone else.

• Distribution is the most important part of the film industry, where completed films are brought to life and connected with an audience.

• Distribution is about releasing and sustaining films in the market place.

Useful film distribution website

• http://www.screenonline.org.uk/film/distributiondistribution1.html

UK distribution• In the practice of Hollywood, the phases of

production, distribution and exhibition operate most effectively when 'vertically integrated', where the three stages are seen as part of the same larger process, under the control of one company.

• In the UK, distribution is very much focused on marketing and sustaining a global product in local markets.

IndependentIn the independent film sector, vertical integrationdoes not operate so commonly. Producers tend not tohave long-term economic links with distributors, wholikewise have no formal connections with exhibitors.

Here, as the pig-in-the-middle, distribution is necessarilya collaborative process, requiring the materials and rightsof the producer and the cooperation of the exhibitor topromote and show the film in the best way possible. Inthis sector, distribution can be divided into three stages –licensing, marketing and logistics.

Logistics of distribution

• The distributor will enter into an agreement with the cinema to screen the film on certain 'play-dates'.

• It is the responsibility of the distributor to arrange the transportation of the film to the cinema, as part of its wider coordination of print use across the UK.

• Logistics represents the phase of distribution at its most basic - supplying and circulating copies of the film to theatres, of tapes and DVDs to shops and video rental stores, and managing the effectiveness of the supply.

• Cinemas spend their money publicising film play-dates and times in local papers or through published programmes. So there's an imperative for the distributor to deliver the film on time.

Distributor• The distributor typically handles 35mm film prints.

Each print can cost around £1,000 - or twice that if subtitled - so a degree of care is required of everyone involved in handling the print.

• In the UK, prints are generally broken down for ease of handling into smaller reels, each lasting around 18-20 mins when run through a projector at 24 frames per second. So a feature print, in its physical form, will usually be 5 or 6 reels, stored and supplied in a single hard case, weighing in at 20-25kgs.

• Prints are hired by the exhibitor for the duration of their play-dates, and therefore each print is made for repeat use.

Single print logistics

Main print warehouse

Delivery van

CinemaAssembly Bench

Projector

Cost

• 35mm theatrical prints invariably suffer cumulative damage as they pass through different projectors, and the hands of various projectionists.

• There are also overheads incurred by the distributor for the storage of prints at the UK's central print warehouse in West London.

• Each theatrical print has a finite lifespan. Distributor will invest in sufficient prints to provide optimum coverage through the first period of theatrical release, usually lasting up to 6 months.

Digital distribution

• In distribution terms, the advantages of digital technology are even clearer, though perhaps longer term. Digital technology is seen to offer a more cost effective and logistics-light alternative to the tried and trusted, but unwieldy model of 35mm print distribution described above.

• It will, eventually, be cheaper and much less stressful to send films as computer files to cinemas across the UK, than to transport 20-25kg tins of film in the back of a van.

• http://www.launchingfilms.tv/marketing.php

Viral Marketing

Growth of the internet has lead to a new form of marketing.....

Viral Marketing

• Creative ways to get people to talk about the products they are promoting using the internet??

• Do you know any examples?

Viral Marketing Defined

• Viral marketing describes any strategy that encourages individuals to pass on a marketing message to others, creating the potential for exponential growth in the message's exposure and influence. Like viruses, such strategies take advantage of rapid multiplication to explode the message to thousands, to millions.

Viral Marketing

• Off the Internet, viral marketing has been referred to as "word-of-mouth," "creating a buzz," "leveraging the media," "network marketing." But on the Internet, for better or worse, it's called "viral marketing."

• http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2009/nov/14/2012-roland-emmerich-viral-marketing

3 most successful viral marketing campaigns...• 40% Off Voucher• In 2006, shortly before Christmas, Threshers leaked a voucher worth

40% off wine and champagne via the internet. Apparently the voucher was only intended for suppliers and the belief that Threshers had mistakenly released the voucher made it spread faster and faster around the world via email, social networks and blogs.

• Threshers pretended to be worried about losing money on the promotion but no doubt ended up making a huge profit and getting publicity in a month than they got for the whole year.

• “It was never intended to get this big,” a company spokesperson said.

• The company admits it is slightly concerned about the popularity of the offer.

• “We are waiting with bated breath… Early next week, we should get the figures for what level of business we have seen this week and over the weekend,” the spokesperson added

Dark Knight

• http://thedarkknight.warnerbros.com/dvdsite/• Starting out with only a simple teaser page featuring the image

above, fans were ecstatic when they proceeded by clicking the image and found themselves redirected to a page that featured a District Attorney Election promotional poster for a known character from the Batman Universe named Harvey Dent. This page again sent us to the real trick of the campaign (a site which is no longer active), another promotional poster, only this one defaced and seemingly mockin Harvey Dent. This page would also let users interact with the campaign by entering the email address which would give them a code that would reveal a few pixels of an image hidden “under” the defaced campaign poster.

Dark Knight

• Of course people immediately spread the word in order to get the full image revealed, and within hours the page instantly became popular on various forms of social media, and generated a lot of interest from online publications including blogs and newspapers. Naturally it didn’t take more than a few hours before the entire image was exposed, and it contained a somewhat creepy rendering of Heath Ledger portraying The Joker, which is another character in the Batman Universe.

First widely released film marketed primarily on the internet

Blair Witch Project

Initial Budget: $20,000

Final Budget : $500,000 - $750,000

Gross Over : $ 248 Million

• The Classic Hotmail.com Example• The classic example of viral marketing is Hotmail.com, one of

the first free Web-based e-mail services. The strategy is simple:

• Give away free e-mail addresses and services,• Attach a simple tag at the bottom of every free message sent

out: "Get your private, free email at http://www.hotmail.com" and,

• Then stand back while people e-mail to their own network of friends and associates,

• Who see the message,• Sign up for their own free e-mail service, and then• Propel the message still wider to their own ever-increasing

circles of friends and associates.• Like tiny waves spreading ever farther from a single pebble

dropped into a pond, a carefully designed viral marketing strategy ripples outward extremely rapidly.

• Viral marketing is a powerful tool. It can promote an offer, build a database, and even propel a brand from obscurity to global fame. Read more about Viral Marketing - The Top 10 Viral Marketing Campaigns Of All Time by Blogstorm SEO Blog

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BvJ6Z8TNaKs&feature=related

Teaser campaigns• Teaser trailer

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sPZK9ZXdRro

Teaser Poster

What do you think is the name of this film?

Teaser Poster• This is the first official teaser poster

for Rodrigo Cortés' Buried starring Ryan Reynolds and only Ryan Reynolds trapped inside of a coffin, buried alive, in the middle of the desert.

• After its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival, Lionsgate bought Buried and is bringing it to theaters in October.

• This is their first official teaser poster for the movie and they've decided to take a very bold step in marketing by showing nothing but Reynolds buried alive and that's it.

Homework – due Tuesday 11th May

• Choose a working title film released recently, and try to track the marketing campaign for the film.

Key ideas to consider:• Find the film poster, analyse it and attach it– who is

it targeting? What key features define the genre(s)?• Was there a teaser campaign? Either throughtrailers or posters?• Where was the premiere held?• Did they release a viral campaign?• Is there any merchandising attached to the film?• All these questions are in your film distribution

handout – on the last page!

• http://www.launchingfilms.tv/marketing.php