Sophie Nutt Successful media products depend as much upon marketing and distribution to a specific audience as they do upon

good production practices. To what extent would you agree with this statement, within the media area you have studied? I would agree with the statement that within the film industry, the distribution and marketing of the film is the most important element that contributes to the films financial success. In order for some films to make money, they need to have the widest and most effective distribution possible, and to do this to a high standard; marketing in the modern film industry is heavily relied on, especially on big distribution companies such as 20th Century Fox, who is famous for their control and influence in the film industry. This is because of their ability to distribute films globally - a huge scope - and successfully, ensuring that the film they are distributing is made accessible to all audiences after the initial release. Also, due to their well known and respected status as a company, they have connections with TV companies and print media, allowing them to be sure that the marketing campaign can be a success, which in effect allows them to invest more money and create bigger projects to distribute and market. For example, in the 2012 film Prometheus, it was guaranteed that 20th Century Fox would bring success for the film and ensure that it would have a wide release because of 20th Century Foxs distribution network and cinema chains. As a result of this, Prometheus was predicted to be one hundred percent successful solely because of the wide distribution and the DVD sales that were also guaranteed to generate profit, due to the cinema time the film would be given. Also, 20th Century Fox distributed the previous films from the Alien franchise that were also popular, directed by creator Ridley Scott, and so this would attract audiences and fans of the earlier chain films to see Prometheus, increasing the success of the film even further. Prometheus was highly anticipated up to the release of the film largely due to the huge viral marketing campaign that it sported throughout the build up of the film right up until the release date of May 30th 2012. There was a TED talk from the future, a Happy Birthday David video alongside various other viral promos, and the website for Weyland Industries. There are several reasons this marketing proved to be so effective; the film was shrouded in mystery and sci-fi fans were trying to get any information they could about the film's plot. This marketing played a huge a part in the films overall economical success, as it grossed $51,050,101 in its opening weekend and $401,933,453 overall worldwide, this shows the fundamental importance that wide distribution and successful marketing has on the film industry and the success of the film in question. Secondly, the film The Other Guys was almost guaranteed success when it was linked to the distributor Columbia Pictures. This meant that the film could achieve ultimate success through the distribution network, as it was likely that without Columbia Pictures the film would not have attracted as much of an audience and critical responses as it did. The Other Guys won the Best Comedy Award in the 2010 Comedy Awards and gained a 79% Certified Fresh rating by critics on the Rotten Tomatoes website. The film could not have a achieved this success without the help of its distributor, as marketing for the film was not relied on as much, consequently, without the distribution company little or no

Sophie Nutt success would have been achieved for the director of the film, Adam McKay. The focus of the films marketing was mainly on the all-star cast and the famous team of director Adam McKay and actor Will Ferrell. The cast included stars such as Will Ferrell, Mark Wahlberg, The Rock, Eva Mendes, Samuel L. Jackson, Michael Keaton, Anne Heche, Steve Coogan, Rob Riggle, Ray Stevenson and the famous narrator Ice-T. This list of big names would attract any audience to see the film as they are all known for their previous roles in other successful films. This quality of directing, acting and the screenplay were also vital to the films success. The famous partnership of Adam McKay and Will Ferrell has their own production company Gary Sanchez Productions, which produced The Other Guys, and is also known for the production of Anchorman and Talladega Nights, and their comedy website Funny Or Die. This partnership would attract audiences and fans from the previous films and acted as a great marketing tool that contributed to the films overall success. Therefore, The Other Guys was not solely reliant on its distribution due to this small element of marketing, however was heavily reliant upon it, especially in foreign countries outside of America whos audiences would not be familiar with the partnership of Adam McKay and Will Ferrell or some of the all-American star cast. However, many films have had wide distributions through international companies that have not received the same public and critical acclaim and many have even been overlooked or attacked in the press by critics for purposely trying to appeal to the largest audience possible. For example, the film Attack the Block directed by Joe Cornish and produced by Big Talk Productions, Film4, The UK Film Council, and StudioCanal was not critically well received at all. Big Talk Productions are well known for their previous films such as Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz, which were both critically acclaimed films and big hits at the box office, and so such a well-respected producer was expected to receive praise for their new film. As well as this, Film4 is part of the Channel 4 Television Corporation and is a huge film distributor on television and reached an average daily audience of over half a million (4.0%) 16-34 year olds and 1.0 million (4.2%) ABC1 adults in 2010. The distribution system of the film was not outstanding however was still enough to cause success as it is able to have televisual accessibility, cinema exhibition, and DVD copies to supply demand for the film, however this was not the case for the film as it only grossed a total of $1,024,175 and was only shown on 352 screens. Although the economical success of Attack the Block was not great, the success of the film is not just measured in its economical gains. The film has been ridiculed and attacked at first and unfortunately Attack the Block failed to achieve any success in this aspect, and even though famous actor Nick Frost was involved in the production, Joe Cornish failed to gain any recognition for his film. One critic on the IMDb website said, I was presented with filth. It was so bad that my parents stopped watching it after barely half an hour. I watched the full film at a later date, and this review reflects both my and my family's opinion on it. We can see from this that overall this film was not classed as a success by the majority, and shows that the success of a film is reliant on more than just distribution alone. The marketing and awareness of the film can be achieved in a cacophony of different ways. For example, the independent British film Anuvahood directed by

Sophie Nutt Adam Deacon, produced by Gunslinger and distributed by Revolver Entertainment used viral marketing to its advantage. There was an iTunes app that could be downloaded onto iPhones, iPads, iPods and other Apple products for free which introduced you to the characters and their key quotations and gave you a test on how gangster you are. Although this would not have benefited the film economically, this type of marketing would have targeted the niche market of teenagers from diverse backgrounds and would have publicized the film successfully and proved to be a successful marketing tool as it got 3 out of 5 rating. However you must be seventeen years old to download the app, which would limit the amount of downloads it would receive and therefore reducing the amount of hype and publicity that this app would generate. As well as this, Adam Deacon managed to team up with JME to release a 'Hype Hype Ting' single and publicize the film even further. Big names, like JME, attract the right audiences to watch Anuvahood, as his fan base is the younger teenage generation. Both of these examples of the use of technological convergence by Anuvahood demonstrates how it can be used to promote the film in various ways that will attract a specific audience. The film used the internet to it's advantage by releasing official trailers, 'Anuvahood Cast Freestlye' and Cooking With Levi Roots videos to be viewed on YouTube and also filming their Anuvahood Bus Tour around the UK and releasing the various videos virally. Anuvahood has also used other social networking sites when publicizing their film, for example their popular Twitter (5,004 followers) and Facebook (204,969 likes). Anuvahood uses the internet and technology to its full advantage when promoting the film, as this is the most successful way to appeal to its small market and audience, without exceeding the low budget. Anuvahood did not receive a wide distribution as the distribution company involved (Revolver Entertainment) did not have much ability to distribute a massive amount outside of the UK due to their low status and low budget of the film which was 1,000,000. The film did not achieve much monetary gains either, only receiving a 1,207,877 gross overall. Therefore, marketing and distribution when coupled together can almost create a successful film, however but this cannot be achieved when they are only used separately. Comic book orientated film Kick-Ass did not use out of the ordinary marketing techniques or publicity stunts, as it just used clever posters, trailers, online websites and social networking sites such as Facebook, advertising and crosspromotions, and media and publicity to generate word of mouth for the film. Consequently, the film did not exceed financially during the opening weekend of its release, only receiving 3,881,704 over 402 screens. However, it was announced by Lionsgate that Kick-Ass proved dominant across all revenue channels this past week. And that the film debuted in the number one position in DVD and Blu-ray sales as well as the top movie download on iTunes since its release. The critical success of Kick-Ass hinted at the potential for excellent performance in home entertainment sales. After the release of the film, there was much ado about nothing with regard to the films failure at the box office. In fact, the film was only a failure when measured against the inflated projections for opening weekend numbers numbers that were based on perceived audience awareness. What these projections failed to consider was that the perceived awareness was isolated to a powerful, but segmented, fraction of the

Sophie Nutt population at large. This is an example of how a film can be successful without the over-reliance on distribution and marketing, but through the successful generation of simple techniques such as word of mouth, which Kick-Ass relied on as part of its marketing. Therefore, it can be argues that a film can achieve great success through production practices alone rather than an astonishing marketing technique or worldwide distributor. In conclusion, despite the importance of fine directing, acting, and production, the success of a film still relies upon a wide distribution system to make the film more accessible on a wide scope and therefore large distributors and producers are still the most important film creators in the film industry. Also, when marketing the film, the importance of an international audience is significant when considering the potential success of a film and, consequently, the marketing of the film itself is a vital component when creating a successful film.