By Holly Faupel

UK FILM DISTRIBUTION

A Brief summary of the way in which films are made could be put down to the Marketing Mix. The Marketing Mix consists of four main elements that explain the ways in which films are put onto

our screens. This presentation will concentrate on the distribution of films in the UK.

1. Production

2. Distribution

3. Marketing

4. Exchange

What is distribution?

Distribution is the delivery of media content such as music, films or video games. It is usually done over online delivery mediums,

the most obvious one being the Internet.

INTRODUCTION

Dvd/Blue-ray

Television

Apple products, e.g ipads, etc.

Legal and illegal downloads via the internet

Cinema

Distribution is normally a lot more successful within big film producing companies because of the cost. Companies

like Hollywood can distribute many films every year, however low-budget film-makers that do it on their own

may not afford the examples seen above and may settle for things such as; showing to schools and universities or by

word of mouth.

EXAMPLES OF DISTRIBUTION

What is Vertical Integration?

Films which are vertically integrated go through the following steps;

1. Idea

2. Finance

3. Construction

4. Distribution

5. Promotion

6. Exhibition

Low-budgeting film-makers, for example Andy Simpson who distributed ‘Young Hearts Run Free’ normally use vertical

integration. They put in a lot of effort to get past the financial stage. When they do, the furthest most go is distribution by word of mouth

or school visits.

VERTICAL INTEGRATION

Larger companies like the BBC use different media platforms to promote and exhibit films through advertising and distributing them to the public by using television and

radio. An example of this could be ‘Elf’

This is the link to the Elf trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_TOQWF_-

RWY&feature=fvwrel

This was shown for advertisement before the actual film came out in 2003. Since then, the BBC has shown Elf

almost every Christmas period.

HORIZONTAL INTEGRATION

The times in which films are distributed nowadays does not vary as much as it used to. In the past, film-makers had to travel to other countries and pitch their films to cinema-chains in order for their films to be seen by the public

around the world.

However, now technology has improved, films can be sent digitally from a film-maker to a cinema-chain meaning it is

more likely that distribution times are in instantaneous amongst each other.

DISTRIBUTION TIMES

Film distribution companies would have to consider the following questions before the film goes into production:

Who is the audience?

Who does the film speak to?

Do the story, characters and situation grip the intended audience?

Does the film deliver and justify the cost and risk of a theatrical release?

What sort of audiences have similar films attracted recently?

THINGS TO CONSIDER

The distribution process (on the right) is the main way in which film-makers over come

their problems with the considerations mentioned in the previous slide.

There is a lot of pressure on distributors to get it right first time since there are so many films released each year in the UK and people are also finding ways of watching these films

for cheaper, online or at home.

DISTRIBUTION PROCESS