Evaluation Question 3

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

We created the fictitious institution Binary Studios as an independent British production company specialising in cutting edge Brit-Grit dramas. Dystopian films are often very controversial (A Clockwork Orange, 1984) so we needed a corporate identity which could pull off the issues in our film successfully. Mute’s action and Sci-Fi elements would require a pretty high budget so would potentially be a co-production financed by foreign investors (hence our distributor Phoenix INTERNATIONAL Pictures).  Often British production companies are not traditionally known for making action films, and are associated with emotive dramatic films from directors such as Mike Leigh or typically ‘British humour’ comedies from the likes of Richard Curtis.
 

Our film could break into an untapped market and could potentially create a large revenue in doing so. We best decided as a group that our films rights for distribution could be sold at a film festival e.g Sundance, SXSW so it is up to them to use their knowledge and expertise to distribute and exhibit the film as they best see fit. It could potentially have a worldwide release due to the universal themes, young, hot cast and topical issues. American audiences may enjoy the ‘happy’ending, but the last twist could engage audiences that like to be left thinking about the film long after the credits are over and paves the way for sequels also which will appeal financially to potential distributors. The distributor may chose to market the film with a viral campaign- popular with a young audience and particularly relevant since it is a film about advances in technology, spawned by the Web 2.0, Generation Y demographic. In addition to this there could be a variety of short form content such as iPod/iPhone apps, a YouTube channelsshowing clips from the film in anticipation of its release and a Twitter and Facebook page to target specific niche audience groups from our core demographic of 16-24 year olds.

A real life comparison- Pathé UK

Unlike Phoenix International, Pathé UK is a fully integrated studio involved in all aspects of filmmaking, from production and development through to international sales and distribution and is the longest established film company in the world. Previous releases range from  Chicken Run (Lord & Park 2000) to Slumdog Millionaire (Boyle 2008) and the company is continental Europe's leading cinema exhibitor and one of the leading distributors in the UK and France. Pathé is part owned by Vivendi so has the financial infrastructure of a huge media conglomerate behind it, meaning that if entered into a co-production with Binary Studios, they could supply a fairly high budget for a film like Mute in return for the distribution rights. Pathé would be an ideal distributor for our film as the universal themes mean it can target a broad reach across Europe and have a mass release in cinemas. However it would be beneficial to intitially release it at film festivals to perhaps gain critical acclaim and buzz before a cinematic release.