Evaluation task 3

Who would distribute my thriller?


Distribution is a way in which a film is made available to an audience. This includes marketing in order to make the audience aware that the film exists. The distribution platforms for a film include: the cinema, selling the film rights to TV networks, DVD sales, SKY, video on demand, Netflix, Amazon prime, Xbox live, Google play, Youtube and ITunes.
Cinema is where films make most of their money, however 9/10 films don't make it into the cinema, therefore most have to find an audience other ways. For a low budget film maker, it is essential for them to go to film festivals. They are essential as this is a way to find a distributor for your film. Film festivals include free festivals in Brighton and London.
Once we have sold our film to a distribution company, they will then market, advertise, create a social media campaign, get your film a certificate and handle all the press interviews. They will then pitch it to independent cinema chains like Curzon.
It's important to strike the right deal with a distribution company in order to maximise our chance of profit. Distribution companies will take money off digital platform fees, advertising and cinema rentals. Therefore, getting the right deal is important and low budget film makers need to decide whether to sell all their rights to the distributor (and make a small profit) or cut a deal with them.


A big Hollywood company would make or distribute my film because I believe it's a really entertaining film, and Hollywood are known to be very successful at thrillers, therefore they may give my film an opportunity. For example, New Line in Hollywood have made Anabelle and Final Destination 5. However, a big company in Hollywood is unlikely to distribute our film because I'm a first time film maker which means I am an amateur in this business. I also have a very small budget for a very small audience. The equipment I use is semi-professional, and I have unprofessional setting and make-up. To get my film to my audience, I will use social media. I will post my film on facebook or youtube, and try to get it playing in local festivals or cafes.

However a low budget company like Vertigo could distribute my film. They will be able to distribute my film nationally. The problem is that the only cinemas that they can afford are the Art House Cinemas, which are not very popular. Not a lot of people will be able to see that film in the cinema, but we can also release DVDs or show our thriller online. An example of a vertigo film is Sweeney.

 

Our thriller is in the similar position as the film “Retreat”. It is an English low budget film distributed by the Vertigo company. It is a thriller with no well-known actors in it and director was not known too. The film is not made on a pre-based story which makes it more difficult to get into the cinemas but also to get the right audience. It was released in the UK but in the other countries it was only released only on DVD. Due to its subject matter it would be likely to get a UK cinematic release in at least arthouse cinemas in the UK and if successful would then be picked up for a platform release in further selected cinemas. However, It took part in some of the international festivals so that is why the film was released in USA as well.

If our film will be successful in England and know I am going to look for a
company who would distribute my film in the USA and Europe. In Europe I would probably look at the French company Pathé who has distributed Slumdog Millionaire and in USA I would look at Warner Bros. They are the best distribution companies which would be suitable for our thriller. They have demonstrated in the past that they are prepared to take risks on first time British directors and low budget filmmakers and therefore we feel that they would be sable to distribute our film around North America as they will show our film in a wide range of areas.

Evaluation Task 2

We represented our character through the groups of age and gender. We chose to use a teenage boy because we wanted to represent countertypes in our opening sequence. In our opening sequence, we have subverted gender stereotypes by having a male victim in the thriller rather than a woman. This is unusual in a thriller as they typically have a girl who is the main victim. In films such as Scream and Insidious it is generally a teenage girl that is represented as the first girl in the sequence to die. In our film we purposely chose a boy to present a countertype and subvert expectations as they detective that would then solve the murder would be female this we would be able to subvert stereotypical gender roles. Through the use of the camera using eye line match and a tracking shot to show fear in the victim (the boy). We used non diegetic intense sounds to build tension throughout the opening sequence to symbolise the way the boy was scared and going to die in much the same way as Scream.

Although using a male character was countertypical it has been before in films such as Donnie Darko and this representation was an influence on ur characters construction as we wanted him to have the same amount of innocence as the main protagonist in the film. In addition there have been a number of articles in the news about young people being killed by intruders and having a young male in our film would also add to the realism of the scene.

 



Although we attempted to subvert conventions by having a boy as the victim in the opening sequence in other ways we were more stereotypical. For instance the way in which we used a teenager was more in keeping with the conventions of the genre. We felt that using a teenager was a stereotypical representation, however it most matched the genre and therefore would create verisimilitude for the audience who we hoped would buy into our narrative. In addition the use of mise-en-scene was also useful in constructing realism. The bedroom and the house symbolise the innocence of the boy as well as the diegetic soud when he wakes up as it shows he's just a normal person who gets unfortunate by being a victim of a evil person who intrudes their house. We also see his innocence when he picks up objects to show his fear and the need of using weapons to help him sort out his problem. Furthermore, his stereotypical behaviour of having fear of not knowing what's coming is shown through the tracking and over the shoulder shots demonstrating his fear by putting the audience in his situation.  In addition, age was important in our construction of our character types as it made the sequence more believable having a young person in the film as it could actually happen to them in real-life. An example of this can be seen in the news often when it is reported about the vulnerability of young people.

Disability was also represented in our film as we chose to include a psychopath who terrorises and kills people. Unfortunately this is an occurrence that is rooted in reality as there are many instances of pyschopaths committing crimes. We chose to use a mask as this is stereotypical and unfortunately has been used by real-killers such as John Wayne Gacy in the USA who committed hideous crimes on young men. We chose to end with a tilt shot of the antagonist and end with a dissolve on our victims face deliberately to set up an enigma whereby the audience would have to make up their own mind as to whether he died. A real life example is when in Johannesburg - By playing dead, 15-year-old Tracy Sebati was able to save herself from intruders who killed her parents and two siblings in their Mmakau home on Tuesday evening.

Constable Solomon Lucky Sebati, 41, Mmatshepo, 40, Quinton, 3, and Tshegofatso, 22, who was seven months pregnant, were killed.

Neighbours said they heard gunshots at about 10.30pm, but stayed indoors, fearing crossing paths with the shooters.