Distribution and Ownership

The ownership of a film can greatly affect the distribution of a film. For example, a film that is distributed by an oligopoly, they have access to a higher budget therefore can have a more successful distribution as they can market their film to a wider audience. However, a film that is owned by a smaller company, ie an independent film company as they tend to distribute their film in a different way, due to them not having a high budget to market their film to a global audience. 

Jurassic World, a Universal film, working in synergy with Legendary, had a budget of $150 million and was able to market their film by creating a website that people could navigate a virtual park, which was a successful marketing technique as it kept the audience engaged in the film in the lead up to the release. Furthermore, they also had a hashtag on social media of #jurassicworld. This enabled the film to be reached out to a global audience as people shared and uploaded their experiences with the film. Also, Chris Pratt, a Hollywood actor in the film could share and interact with fans and build up a following for this film due to his other famous work in Guardians of the Galaxy that has a similar demographic. Their distribution and marketing was successful as they made just over $1 billion in profit.

A film that is produced by an independent film company like Rooke has a smaller budget for their films, therefore can not market their film as globally. For example, A Field in England is produced by Rooke and distributed by Film 4 who generally show smaller company films as a way to give back to the industry. A Field in England's budget was £316,000 and was helped with funds from the BFI and National Lottery. However, with this film being owned by an independent film company, they more creative freedom, this being exemplified with the genre of this film being a folk horror. Although our opening is a horror, we decided not to make it so niche as we want to appeal to a wider audience, despite being a very low budget production. 

A Field in England managed to make back their budget in profit which could be due to their marketing of a website and film posters. Although the film was only viewed in three cinemas across the UK, a day and date strategy was used in order to get the film out to a wider audience. It was released on DVD, YouTube and Channel 4 at the same time, which enabled the film to be more accessible and decrease piracy.

This research helped with the opening of my production as it showed how films with higher budgets, tend to be very successful in box office as they are able to market their film to a global audience. On the other hand, a film produced by a smaller company is less likely to be successful as they cannot market their film as much due to the budget which is heavily influenced by the ownership of the production.