Question 3 - What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

User ratings for "Ill Manors"

User ratings for "Kidulthood"

To distribute our film I would approach a company like Revolver Entertainment because they distribute films such as "Ill Manors" and "Kidulthood". Both of these films are similar in style to our film (Transit) and also share the same target demographic of 16 - 18 year old British males.

However, females under the age of 18 gave "Ill Manors" the highest rating. Our thriller could possibly relate to this in fact that we have an ambiguous female character who may help to attract a female audience. However the female character is killed very quickly and so the female audience may lose interest, the only appeal they may have to the film is the male actors.

 Our thriller has 'independent spirit and flair' because of the use of artistic camera shots and intriguing editing style; thus it would fit in with the ethos and distributing style of Revolver Entertainment. Revolver distributes films both nationally and internationally as they have offices in London and Los Angeles. They 'blend international reach with extensive local knowledge', which is why I think that they would be ideal distributors for our thriller; Transit aims to reach a British audience of around 16 - 18 years of age and so Revolver would know how to best target that audience with their strategies from previous experience with films such as "Kidulthood", "Shank" and "Ill Manors". Another positive is that they have the option to distribute internationally, so if our thriller film gained acknowledgement or was successful it could be shown in other countries that may be interested in the genre.

The local knowledge that they posses would be useful because they will have worked with smaller/independent companies before on low budget productions; thus they would most probably be more open to distributing our thriller due to working on similar projects before and having the knowledge of how the film industry/market react to these sorts of films. The films that Revolver have distributed before ("Ill Manors" and "Kidulthood") are similar to our thriller because the characters are alike. For example, John from Transit is much like Sam from "Kidulthood" in the way that they have a similar appearance (dark costume, hoodies, jeans and trainers) and also have similar plot lines (themes of drugs and violence). The locations seen in these films are often gritty tower blocks and urban concrete sprawls, again these generic conventions have been used in our film to connote the genre. Therefore Revolver would be able to recognise that Transit is in the style of films that they have distributed before. Revolver claim that they are 'experts in youth entertainment' therefore they would be a primary choice for a distribution company because they will have worked with young people before, our film crew and cast were primarily young people and so it would be useful to have that expertise provided by Revolver.



Seeing as they are 'experts in youth entertainment' they will also know how to pitch a film that targets a youth audience, this audience will be very similar to the demographic that we target; thus Revolver would be able to market, promote and distribute our film in the most efficient way possible to a younger audience.

Revolver are pioneers in digital distribution, this would be appropriate for our film because it would lower the costs of distributing; therefore it could be distributed to many more places if it was on a digital hard drive instead of on 35mm film reels. It would also reduce the effort and cost of shooting in 35mm, instead we shot on digital cameras and so Revolvers means of distribution would be able to accommodate this effectively. Not only would Revolver be able to digitally distribute our film to cinemas, they would also be able to distribute our film online to a wide range of companies and social media sites. For example, they have an extremely successful YouTube channel and have links with LoveFilm, Netflix, Sky and iTunes.

Here is a link to Revlover's video, describing their aims - http://www.revolvergroup.com/uk/article/view/about_us

Our film is independently produced and is shot in an art-house fashion; I would target/expect Cinema City to be the most likely cinema to screen our film. This is because they are known to showcase independent productions and low buget films such as "Robot & Frank"; thus we would have more of a chance if they had screened similar films before. Cinema City claim 'to showcase a diverse and vital range of films' and this would help to convince them to show our film because they maintain to show independent cinema, foreign cinema, world cinema, art-house and other alternate types of programming. For example they are currently screening Broken, winner of the Best Picture at the British Independent Film Awards. Most importantly they have been known to show short films, this would be an excellent link because Transit is a short film and thus Cinema City would be more open to showing it. Cinema City have hosted screenings for many short film events such as NFF: An Evening of BAFTA Nominated Short Films - http://www.picturehouses.co.uk/cinema/Cinema_City/film/Norwich_Film_Festival_Presents_An_Evening_Of_Bafta_Nominated_Sh/
I have also included a link to all of the events that they have held for short films and film festivals - http://www.picturehouses.co.uk/cinema/Cinema_City/Search/?header_search=short&type=content&landing=nor

Broken, winner of Best Picture at the British Independent Film Awards.

Cinema City has an obligation to provide education and this would link well with our production, seeing as it has been made for an AS level coursework project. Cinema City would be good with helping young people to screen their films, especially those in education because of their policies and dedication to helping educate young people about films.

Digital technologies are extremely helpful to a small independent production group such as ourselves because they offer effective distribution for next to nothing in terms of money. These new technologies allow audiences to consume film through alternative platforms that would not have been available a few  years ago, such as LoveFilm, Mubi and Netflix. These sites offer digital distribution and are a good way to gain recognition. In addition to this their services can also be downloaded on many digital devices such as mobiles, games consoles and MP4 players alike; this will help to reach a larger market because of the increasing availability of applications.

 Distribution and promotion can also be aided by the use of social networking sites such as FaceBook and Twitter because both of these sites have access to an extremely large audience and creating a page is most usually free (or costs next to nothing). Creating a page could help to distribute/promote our film because we can use it to share links to the film and show other materials related to the film, all of which would be available to anyone. Revolver Entertainment utilise social media when promoting their films. Sites like FaceBook and Twitter also have the option for advertisement so creating a poster for our film could also greatly help in the distribution/promotion. Again these social media sites also have applications that are available on mobile devices; thus broadening the audience that we are able to reach. Using Video-On-Demand services, such as LoveFilm and Netflix, would be a more efficient way of distributing our film when compared to the more 'classic' forms of distribution (DVD) due to the massive decline in the sales of DVD's both in sales and rentals. In contrast to this the sales of films on Video-On-Demand services has dramatically increased over the past few years and so it would be best to use this to advantage.

There are many film competitions and workshops that can be used to showcase and distribute our film. A brilliant example of an organisation that works with young people to achieve their potential are First Light. They specialise in working with people aged 5 - 25 from a range of backgrounds to offer them realistic progression routes to a sustainable career in the film industry. Another great opportunity for young people to take part in is the BFI Film Academy which helps to develop the talent of young people and boost them into a career in film. Film competitions are also a great way to distribute films because they allow other people with similar interests to see your work and a deal could be made based on what they have seen at the festival/competition.