EVALUATION QUESTION THREEWHAT KIND OF MEDIA INSTITUTION MIGHT DISTRIBUTE YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT AND WHY?

A film distributor is responsible for the marketing of a film. The distribution company is usually different from the production company. There are six main studios whom also do their own film distributing, this includes:

1) 2oth Century Fox

2) Walt Disney Pictures

3) Warner Brothers

4) Paramount Pictures

5) Universal

6) Sony Pictures

Below are several examples of film distributes to whom have worked with zombie films:

Dawn Of the Dead - United Film Distribution Company White Zombies – United Artists Shaun Of The Dead – Universal Pictures, Rogue Pictures World War Z – Paramount Pictures I Am Legend – Warner Bros., Road Show Entertainment

Is there a studio that specializes in your genre who would most likely produce, promote and distribute your film?

The are no official studios to whom deal specifically with the zombie genre films but in fact it is spread across several as different studios tend to work with different makeups of hybrids mixed with the zombie genre, such as Universal Pictures who have been known to work with comedy and zombie mixed films, mostly famously ‘Shaun Of the Dead’ which received a successful rating of 8/10 on IMDB.Would your film need a major distributer, or smaller, more independent one? Why?

I believe that my media piece will need to be distributed through a major distributer because my films target audience nor its content can be found to be neither offensive nor biased towards any particular social group, as well as my film not including excessive amount of blood or detailed violence and with a classification of 15 this means that my films piece isn’t very limited as to whom its viewers maybe which gives the opportunity for the film to be more successful in it creating more profit.Which real life distributer might you see yourself using if you had a choice?

If I could choose a distributer for my film piece I would choose Paramount Pictures because they have previously made successful zombie film like World War Z which is a straight up zombie film without any hybrid concepts in it, whereas Universal Pictures distributed Shaun Of The Dead which is a hybrid with comedy, and as my zombie film isn’t any form of hybrid then I would choose Paramount Pictures based on their past experience in distributing successful zombie films that aren’t hybrids. I wouldn’t however choose to use Walt Disney as my films distributer because Disney has the brand image of being from a child’s perspective, perfect but as my target audience is aimed at males over thirty five I wouldn’t deem it very sufficient in getting lots of viewers and they might get the wrong impression through

who its associated with as Disney is as I have said, more often thought of being to do with child film and hence may put viewers off.

Are there any examples of small budget films that have made a success?

One film from the horror genre called ‘The Blair Witch Project’ made a successful film piece from a small budget, and yet received a star rating of 6.4 on IMDB, this indicates to me that a film can be successful even if it’s made with a low budget however, this film if from the horror genre rather than a the zombie genre. One successful film made on a low budget was ‘Might Of the Living Dead’, this film was made in 1968 so the graphics and quality of the actual film aren’t as good as zombie films now and also the abundance of zombies during this time was much less so the zombie film competition market wasn’t as big then as what it is now, and what it would be for my piece. The only other zombie film which was a success under a small budget was ‘Zombies Strippers’, this was only due to the nudity and eye candy characters that this film made any form of success and hence makes it hard for comparison against my work. So overall, although other genres have made successful films only using a low budget these aren’t really in the zombie genre and more in the horror genre. This demonstrates to me that zombie’s films need to have a rather large budget in order to make it successful and whereas horror is scaring living people and something we are every day aware of how to do, the zombie genre films aren’t, they include aspects of death and unnatural beings which to ourselves we aren’t certain about and this is why zombie’s films need a big budget in order to be successful as they need to be convincing whilst creating a realism concept throughout the film. Where would you expect your film to go?

I would expect that my zombie film Immunity would go and be shown within a multiplex, this is because my target audience is based on a mainstream market and hence would be more appropriate and sacksful being shown through a larger standard rather than through an independent art house cinema as this would limit the viewing range and my films potential of being as successful as it could be, also being my media film doesn’t discriminate against any form of social group and hence means that it would benefit from a wider viewing availability so that its financial return aren’t restricted from what its potential could be.

Where would I advertise my film?

As a key part of my marketing in distribution I would calculate my advertising carefully such as through YouTube, this is because YouTube is an extremely popular website which people all across the globe use, both businesses’ and members of the public. It’s through YouTube that I think my film opening will truly get people attention as went hey see the advert for it on YouTube they only have to click and it automatically sends them directly to its reciprocating trailer, it’s through such simple access as this that people will notice and want to watch my film on a high demanding basis. Also as it would be done through a major studio we may also advertise through bill boards in big cities in order to grab potential audiences attention as it isn’t often that a new zombie film is released, but when one is people often flock to see it when they see advertisements about it, so through such things as billboards it means that lots of people will be able to see the film.