4. What kind of media institution would distribute your media product and why?

The media institution that would most likely be interested in distributing and producing our product would be something like Film4 Films, due to the company being responsible for backing a large number of films made in the United Kingdom, and more specifically film genres similar to ours (Horror), with examples such as Attack the Block, Fright Night and Shaun Of The Dead. The reason we believe Film4 Films would want to distribute our film is because it is solely a British film, as it has all British cast and a British production, and is filmed in Britain. It is also a Horror, and the large majority of films under this particular genre released by Film4 do reasonably well in box office cinema, so for this reason we think they would be prepared to market our product, as we think it would capture their imagination, and that our film would fit well in their movie library.

Also Pathé might be interested in distributing and producing our film, as they have also produced and distributed British horrors such as The Cottage and Blood: The Last Vampire, which share same qualities as our film, due to them being British films and share the same Dark Horror genre. They have a good relationship with British directors and the British horror films under their tutelage have done well in box office, despite Pathé being a French company, although they do have offices in London.

If the two film companies above rejected our film, we would have to aim for a film company that possessed a lower-budget and preferably one that was independent. The film company that would meet our needs best and would be best suited to our film would most likely be Hammer Film Productions. Situated in London, and founded in 1934, the company is best known for the Gothic "Hammer Horror" films that have been released under the company name. The Curse of Frankenstein (1957), Dracula (1958), The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975) and more recently The Woman in Black (2011) are examples of films that are in the Hammer Film Productions. We feel our product would be at home under the production of Hammer Films, and that they would market our film well, and evidence of this is the success and the popularity of films produced and distributed by Hammer Films, and the fact that the names of the films in the Hammer Films library are instantly recogniseable.

The marketing of an independent film is challenging enough with restricted budgets and tight time schedules. However, there are ways we could overcome this. For example we could search for film competitions so that we can see what our film qualifies for. Also presence in film festivals can help us market our independent film to distributors, and hopefully secure a concrete offer from a distributor. We could also “fly the banner” for our film, spreading the word about our film, hosting parties/dinners, conferences, screen previews etc.




In this day and age we are blessed with the technology that is available, such as the Internet, and using the Internet as a marketing tool would be a good strategy. By discussing our film on Internet forums and discussion boards, these websites are compatible with film enthusiasts looking for new independent films, and this would raise awareness of our film title and hopefully persuade people to go to their local cinemas and watch it. We could also maybe use YouTube, by releasing a trailer under a distributors account and hopefully gain a large number of views and this would lead to a good turnout at the showings in the cinema.




Also we could ask our local cinema if we could display posters of our film, to raise publicity of our film, and hopefully catch the eye of members of the public. A film poster with a vibrant colour scheme, eye catching imagery, and a creative and unusual font for the title is sure to be successful in advertising our film. An example of a noteworthy movie poster is the one used for 28 Days Later, a critically-acclaimed British film.