u4.09 bringing the film to the audience bordwell

8/12/2019 U4.09 Bringing the Film to the Audience Bordwell

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Bringing the Film to the

Audience:

Distribution and ExhibitionBordwell


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Distribution: The Center of

Power Filmmakers need them to circulate

filmmakers work.

Supply exhibitorsscreens.

Warner Bros. Paramount

Walt Disney/Buena Vista

Sony/Columbia, Twentieth Century Fox

Universal


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Big Distribution Companies

advertise films

schedule releases

arrange for prints to be made in local

languages (dubbing/subtitles)

Can endure the risks of theatrical

moviemaking

Filmmakers profit after released on

cable, satellite, and home video


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Booking Films

US: theater owners bid for each film adistributor releases and it before

bidding.

Blind booking: distributors forceexhibitors to rent a film without seeing

it.

Block booking: exhibitors pressured torent a package of films to get a few

desirable items.


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Exhibitors Business

Usually 10% of gross (90% fordistributor) increasing to 70%

But deduction from the gross the

expenses of running the theater. snacks


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Distributors Business

Distributor the rentalsand divides itfurther. Usually 35 percent of the rentals as

distribution fee

Another percentage if helped finance the film

Deduces costs of prints and advertising

Rest to filmmakers.

Producer payspro f i t part ic ipants

(directors,actors, executives, and investors who havenegotiated a share of the rental returns) By preselling distribution rights, filmmakers finance

production.


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Distribution Strategies

Platforming: opening in some citiesfirst and then in others, to buildanticipation

Critical support and good word of mouth Breakback Mountain

Wide release For deep pocketed major distributors as

many prints Signals a must-see film

Recoup costs faster

Against piracy


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Synergy

Coordination of sectors within thecompany around a branded piece of

content

Film Television

Publishing

Music

Video games


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Publicity campaign

Distributors are also in charge of Trailers

Soundtrack albums

TV making-of

Special premieres Electronic press kits

photos, background information, star interviews, andclips of key scenes

web page

plot information, star biographies, games, screen savers,and links to merchandise

Wireless communication

trailers downloaded to cell phones and text-messaging campaigns


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Merchandising

Manufacturing companies buy the rightsto use the films characters, title, or

images on products.

defray production and distribution costs, distributor can have long-term income from

an audience that might never have seen the

film.

Cross-promotion = brand partnering a film and a product line advertised

simultaneously (happy meal)

Product placement


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Ancillary Markets

more money than the theatricalrelease

airline flights, hotel television systems,

pay-per-view television, DVD release,cable broadcast, network broadcast

and cable reruns.

Video on demand Blocking copying


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Life in Adjacent Media

Paperback novels

Comic books

TV series

Theme park

Broadway shows

TV cartoons

Video games


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Theatrical and Nontheatrical

Exhibition Theatrical (paying admission)

Movie theatres, arts centers, museums, filmfestivals, and cinema clubs

By investing on multiplexes and megaplexesoverseas, distributors are guaranteed an outlet

for their product

Nontheatrical Home video, cable and satellite transmissions,

and screenings in schools and colleges. DVD market sustains most of the worlds

theatrical filmmaking, but movie theatersremain central to the exhibition system.


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Artistic Implications of

Distribution and Exhibition Comedies better in cinema

laughter can ripple through a crowd.

Bonus materials encourage to rerun the movie tospot things they missed.

Interactive DVD movies: viewers choose howplot develops.

Movies designed specifically for mobile phones;mobisodes branching off the broadcast storyline.

Interactive films that use hyperlinks to amplify ordetour a story line.

Marketing and merchandising expanding thestory

Product placement


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Image Size

1920s cinemas: wide shots

1950s 10 TV: close shots

1960s smaller cinemas: close shots

Cropped image on TV (safe area-

singles)

VS.

Letterboxed (dark bands

approximating films theatrical

proportions)


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Synergy: ancillary market

artistic implications

Distributors Exhibitors

Filmmakers need them to

circulate filmmakerswork

Supply exhibitors

screens

advertise films (publicitycampaign,

merchandising, cross-

promotion)

schedule releases prints to be made in local

languages

Blind bookingblock

booking Small % of gross

snacks

Platforming

Wide release

u4.09 bringing the film to the audience bordwell

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