Film Distribution: Then and Now

How does a film make money for the studio?
- People watch the film if it is popular and has a good cast, they see it at the cinema, then follow on to buy the DVDs or Blu-Ray versions of the film so they can watch it at home. They could also buy merchandise for themselves or people they know which spreads information about the film.

Where does the money come from?
- Profit from things such as; merchandise, cinema tickets, premiere tickets, soundtrack, advanced showings of the film, DVDs

Who decides to produce the film?
- The producer makes the decision to produce the film after being pitched the writer's idea and how the director wishes to put the film into action, the cinematographer would also suggest how it could be filmed.

Where does the money to make a film come from?
- The budget for the film comes from the companies which invest in the film, the film company has to pitch their idea - the more investors interested in the film, the better the budget should be (because people can drop out of investments).

What was the relationship between studios and Cinemas in the 1930's/40's?
- These years were some of the most popular and successful times for cinema and studio systems, more than 600 films were being produced per year.

How has that changed? When?
- The studio system ended in 1959, along with the death of RKO; this is because technology became more advanced so people didn't need to use the studio system any longer.

How do studios make money from Video/DVD sales? What rules govern DVD rentals?
- DVDs make the film an ongoing feature in the world, with the introduction of Blu-ray DVDs as well people are now going to buy their favourite DVDs all over again in Blu-ray's high definition. Rented DVDs have law and age restrictions on them and must be returned within a certain date which is why it is cheaper to buy a film in the long-run.

What ways does a studio have of making sure that a Film is profitable? (Stars, property, marketing)
- The budget is decided before making the film so they can limit their money to each area; they would start by deciding which locations are actors are possible to get for the film. This would then follow on to smaller costs.

What other ways does a studio have of making money?
- Studios advertise everywhere and anywhere, from obvious places such as billboards and cinema trailers to sending messages via Bluetooth when people are near cinemas with Bluetooth switched on. There are also now bar codes that Blackberry phones can scan to receive updates or free downloads of particular things such as a clip of the film or a release date. Other forms of advertisement are posters, texts, emails, leaflets in cinemas, buses, taxis and TV interviews.

Distribution + Marketing

• Introduction
• Logistics
• 35mm > Digital (DSN Sites)
• Release dates/blanket release
• Marketing/Advertising
• Synergy
• Merchandise/soundtrack
• Viral
• New Technology
• Festivals/awards
• Opening weekends/film premieres
• Quotes - from industry

Group Revision - Grace Keogh (Audience Theory)

Audience Theory’s

The effects/hypodermic model

The original model for audience was the effects/hypodermic model which stressed the effects of the mass media on their audiences. This model owes much to the supposed power of the mass media - in particular film - to inject their audiences with ideas and meanings. Such was the thinking behind much of the Nazi propaganda that was evident in Triumph of the Will and similar films. It is worth noting that totalitarian states and dictatorships are similar in their desire to have complete control over the media, usually in the belief that strict regulation of the media will help in controlling entire populations. The effects model has several variants and despite the fact that it is an outdated model it continues to exert influence in present debates about censorship and control in the media.

Advantages of hypodermic needle:

-          Can make a wide range of audience more interested in the film being advertised

-          Makes the film stand out more from other films

Disadvantages of hypodermic needle:

-          Can cause mass panic, like with the film 2012, where there was billboards up saying the world was going to end. People did not realise that the billboard was actually advertising a film

Reception Theory

Extending the concept of an active audience still further, in the 1980s and 1990s a lot of work was done on the way individuals received and interpreted a text, and how their individual circumstances (gender, class, age, ethnicity) affected their reading.

This work was based on Stuart Hall's encoding/decoding model of the relationship between text and audience - the text is encoded by the producer, and decoded by the reader, and there may be major differences between two different readings of the same code. However, by using recognised codes and conventions, and by drawing upon audience expectations relating to aspects such as genre and use of stars, the producers can position the audience and thus create a certain amount of agreement on what the code means. This is known as a preferred reading.

New Technology - Revision Stuff

New Technology

Working Title – Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang, Paul

Working Title can afford to use minimal new technology such as HD recording and 3D, for example Paul is coming out in HD on February 14^th 2011; and Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang came out during 2010 in 3D and was their first 3D film, it was very successful which means they may continue to produce 3D films in future.

Warp Films don’t have the funding to use new technology yet but as their name becomes more popular they may be able to use 3D or better editing quality such as HD.

Hollywood – Saw 3D, Avatar, Alice in Wonderland, Toy Story 3, Shrek 4

Hollywood upcoming – Cars 2, Happy Feet 2

Hollywood can afford to use any types of new technology because they have larger budgets than working title and warp films. For example the editing software used for Avatar took up a large percentage of the budget and 24 programmes were used to create the Avatar world.

Film4 – 127 hours, Never Let Me Go

Both the Film4 films listed above only use HD from the new technology as Film4 work with Working Title for ‘Paul’ by promoting it and by doing this they receive some of the profit.

Advantages: The use of new technology makes the film more appealing to the audience; for example, 3D makes the audience feel more involved, CGI makes the animated characters clearer and the quality better for the audience. The production company receive more money for the film if it includes new technology.
Disadvantages: People have complained about getting headaches from wearing the glasses, the cost of the film becomes more expensive and the quality of the 2D version may be poorer if originally filmed in 3D.

Ed and Jess