Distribution

BY JAMES PARKER-HARVEY

Ways of distribution
Distribution is the connection between the producers and the
audience. Overall it is about releasing the films in the market
place. This will occur after the complete production, so after
the post-production but before the exhibition.
Cinema- cineworld, odeon
Free on TV
DVD/Blue-ray
Netflix/amazon prime etc.
Film festivals
Pirating websites

Cinema
Cinema will most likely be the first step into distribution.

This will be the first time you can view the film. It will
determine how successful the film is with its box office
profits. It is good because it lets people experience the film
to its full potential on the big screen. It also brings in the
main target audience. Negatives is it expensive to go all the
time, you cant watch it in the comfort of your own home.
There can be distractions in the cinema as well such as
people eating really loud or talking, plus the audio can be
too loud for you and ruin the film. This would not be
suitable for our production as it is expensive to get it in
cinemas and we are a first time film maker.

DVD/Blue-ray
This will be available after the film has been released for

a while. This will allow viewers to watch it in the comfort

of their own home. The quality is also better than an
online stream as the quality is greater and the audio can
be adjusted to your liking, plus you can watch it as many
times as you like. You have to still pay for this way of
viewing. You have to look after the disk otherwise it
breaks and you cannot watch it any longer. This would
not be suitable for our production as it is expensive and it
would be an unknown film and people would not want to
buy it as they haven't heard anything about it.

Online copy(pirating website)

This is good because it can be watched in the comfort

of your own home and it is free to watch which is

why this is becoming very popular now. You can
watch it as many times as you like as well because it
will always be there and you cannot break the disk
like a DVD. It however can be poor quality in audio
and screen, which can make the film a bad
experience, also the website can get shut down which
will leave you to finds another website which may
not be as good.

Film membership sites

These would include Netflix or amazing prime etc.

You would pay a certain amount a month and you

will able to watch certain films that are available on
the site. Positives to this is that you pay a cheap
amount of money for handful of films which will
have high quality and audio. The flip side of this is
that they only supply certain films, you dont have
access to every film, so a film you want to watch may
not be on there.

TV
This is a very late stage in distribution, as this will most

likely appear approximately a year after cinema, or maybe

before the new film is released. It is free of charge because
in this stage people do not want to pay for the film. By
having it released before the arrival of the next film, more
people will watch it to revisit the film before the next one
and rebuild sales, plus build more sales for the next film as
it will encourage people to go to the next one.

Film festivals
This is a good way for first time film producers to get

noticed, as companies will usually go to these and

determine if they would like to invest in these films,
or maybe make a new one. First time film makers
will not be able to get their films recognised by big
film companies because it is too much of an expense
if it goes wrong and people dont like it. It is likely if
you distribute a good idea in film festivals, you may
get funding for your next film, if it is liked by the
viewers there.

How I would distribute my film

We would distribute our film through a film festival,

this is because the festivals are full of people who are

enthusiastic about films, and would be able to give us
a good idea if it is good or not, plus if it is good it is
likely companies will be watching also, and may want
to fund us for a second film or buy the rights. We
would not be recognised if we used any other way and
it is the least expensive way, so it is appropriate to our
funding. If we used any other way it is likely we would
have to pay a large amount to get it distributed, using
a film festival would be the least costly and efficient.