BY TOM BURDEN

Question 3: What kind of media institution might distribute your

media project and why?

Momentum Pictures:

• If our movie was to see a full cinema and retail release. We would want for it to be distributed by Momentum Pictures.

• They are a large scale distributor in the UK and Ireland found in 1996 who are currently owned by Entertainment One (as of 2013)

• Momentum are a very active participant in the industry, releasing around 20 feature films in the UK per calendar year.

• They frequently partner with 3rd Party Distributors (such as Alliance Films) in order to get their films into the American Market.

• They are known for supporting films of varying budgets (from smaller, independent offerings such as V/H/S to much larger budget offerings like The King’s Speech)

Featured Films:

Momentum have produced a plethora of different movies including many to a global audience.

Welcome to the Punch (2013) is a British action thriller (and,

therefore is similar to my movie) released in the UK and

Ireland. The story revolves around a detective who gets

one last chance to take down a notorious criminal on his return to London. After

grossing over $9,000,000 worldwide, it proves that

thrillers are still profitable; even when the production

values are at the lower end of the spectrum.

The Girl who Played with Fire (2010) The Girl Who

Played with Fire is a Swedish thriller directed by Daniel Alfredson, and

the sequel to The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. It is

based on the best-selling novel of the same name. The film follows Lisbeth

Salander as she returns to Sweden. She falls under

suspicion of having murdered a journalist and

his girlfriend. Mikael Blomkvist has to do what he can to find her before the authorities do. Again

this movie made a profit of $59,488,554 and again

emphasises the variety of film Momentum produce.

Why choose Momentum?

Momentum Pictures’ past films show that they are supported of new and established film-makers. This means they would likely consider distributing my film. Furthermore, this support of new talent may be coupled with support from the company (which would hopefully lead to a better film overall).

As Momentum are owned by Entertainment One (who themselves own a plethora of different film production companies), this presents the opportunity of perhaps being able to collaborate with some of these 3rd Parties. This support and guidance could help in improving some of my weaker aspects (for example editing) and, again, allow for a better movie to be produced.

Momentum have made a name for themselves by helping distribute high quality thriller films. As my film is attempting to fit within the same bracket, there will already be a pre-established fan base looking for this sort of content. As a result, I could immediately have a group of people to target with my marketing.

Momentum have proven themselves in the past as effective users of social media. This would be a valuable asset to have when it comes to market my movie as I would have the backing of a company who knows exactly who to target via the means of Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

Would they support me?

Aforementioned Momentum Pictures has supported many lower budget movies in the past, many of which have come from first time directors. An excellent example of this would be Monsters by Vertigo films which was produced for a mere $500,000. The movie was entirely written, edited, filmed and directed by Gareth Edwards who, after a successful first outing is now working on big franchises such as Star Wars. Another great example is the horror movie V/H/S which the directors made clear was to be a trilogy. Despite the possible financial risk, Momentum backed the project which in the end grossed $100,345. This shows that Momentum is keen to get lesser known directors into a situation where their films can be noticed.

Not only to back these projects financially, but they also support the film publically. They use multiple social media outlets such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube to publically endorse films. This helps to push the name of these movies around the internet and get people talking about films that they otherwise wouldn’t have heard of.