Evaluation activity 3

1. EVALUATION ACTIVITY 3 –
WHAT KIND OF MEDIA
INSTITUTION WOULD
DISTRIBUTE YOUR MEDIA
PRODUCT?
KEREM BAL

2. OUR PRODUCTION COMPANY LOGO
DREAM LIGHT
PRODUCTIONS

3. WHAT DOES A PRODUCTION COMPANY DO?
• A production company plays an essential role in the
organisation and distribution of a film. They are primarily
responsible for finding the best director for the film, they
also handle the talent within the production. They also
assist in:
• Scheduling
• Casting
• Budgeting
• Scripting

4. HOW THE MONEY MAY COME FOR A
PRODUCTION SUCH AS OURS
• Because our production is a small one, the means of obtaining money
is different to large institutions from of obtaining money/funding.
Forms of funding for our film include:
• BFI Film fund – use of national lottery funds in order to support
original UK films/filmmakers.
• Crowd funding – asking a large number of people to donate small
funds (some cases large funds) to create a production.
• Grants – we could also apply for a grant from the government to
help contribute to the production.

5. ORDER OF CREDITS
In a traditional production, the credits to a
film are usually shown at the beginning,
during an opening sequence. However they can
be shown at the end of the production also.
The normal order is as follows:
• Director
• Writer(s)
• Screenplay
• Produced by
• Music by
• Cinematography by
The names of the main actors are usually
shown in the opening credits as well.

6. DISTRIBUTION OF OUR FILM
• The distributor for a film is a company responsible for advertising
of a media product to the public. This is a very important stage in
the post-production of the product. It is plausible to say that a
distributor directly influence the success of the film.
• The distributor decides how many copies of a film will be made and
showcases it to potential buyers such as cinema chains.
• For our film, we would need a small distribution company who
distribute low budget horror films and that is based in the UK as
our media product is unlikely to go international.

7. WELL KNOWN DISTRIBUTION COMPANIES
An example of a film summit
entertainment distributed:
• Sinister (2012)
• Budget - $3million
• Box office - $77.7million
An example of a film Vertigo
entertainment distributed:
• The Ring(2002)
• Budget - $48million
• Box office - $239.3million

8. WELL KNOWN DISTRIBUTION COMPANIES (2)
An example of a film
Dimension Films
distributed:
• Scream (2011)
• Budget - $40million
• Box office - $97.1million
These distributors shown are very reputable film
distributors. They distribute high budget films as
shown and some of which are based in the US, meaning
that this would not be the most ideal option for our
films distribution.
However, they are very successful in their distribution and
their films have a tendency to generate healthy profits,
which is an important factor to consider.

9. POSSIBLE DISTRIBUTORS FOR OUR
PRODUCTION
• Film4
• Lionsgate UK
• Studio Canal UK
• These companies are examples of possible distributors for
our media product as they distribute smaller, low budget
films, are based in the UK and have an experience in
distributing horror films. This then makes them ideal for a
media product such as our film.

10. FILM4
• Film4 would be a very good distribution company for our production
as they are very experienced in the distribution of horror films as
well as films in general and would know the best forms of
distribution.
• They also support ‘emerging talent’ and have a showcase of upcoming
films they have a share in and also showcase films that they have
helped make on their website www.film4.com.
• They are also a UK based company and back lower budget films, they
are also very experienced in distribution for horror films.

11. EXAMPLE OF A FILM4 FILM
• Film4 is very good for the distribution for horror films, an
example of this would be ‘Kill List’.
• Kill list is an independent film that was successful as well as
being nominated for six British Independent Film Awards and won an
Empire Award for ‘Best Horror’
• This makes Film4 an ideal distribution company for our film due to
its showcased success on other films.

12. LIONSGATE UK
The Lionsgate UK
website has
details about the
films it has
distributed and
about the company
as a whole.
It is also a form
of advertising as
they promote
their own films.
http://www.lionsgatefilms.co.uk/uk/

13. LIONSGATE UK
EXAMPLE OF A LIONSGATE FILM
• Lionsgate would be a good distribution company for us as they have
successful films in the horror genre, an example of this would be
‘Texas Chainsaw’ which is a widely known horror film.
• They also have a wide social media network, through which they
could advertise our production, this is useful as it costs very
little but reaches a large audience, it would also help if the film
went global however this is very unlikely for a small production.
• In addition to this, Lionsgate, as a global institution, specialise
in films aimed at a younger audience which is very useful to us as
they will know the most effective forms of advertising in order to
reach our target audience.

14. STUDIO CANAL UK
EXAMPLE OF A STUDIO CANAL HORROR
• Studio Canal UK would be a great choice for
the distribution for our film as they are well
known in the horror industry.
• An example of a successful horror that they
produced would be ‘The Last Exorcism’ (2013)
which fetched $15.1million at the box office
with a budget of $5million, more than tripling
their budget in box office takings.
• Therefore, like film4 and Lionsgate, they are
very experienced in horror films and would be
the type of company to distribute our film.

15. ISSUES WITH SOME OF THESE COMPANIES…
• StudioCanal and Lionsgate UK both tend to distribute and
specialise in higher budget films. This therefore means that
they are not the best option for our production.
• This then means that Film4 would be our preferred option.

16. GLOBAL OR NATIONAL?
• As our media product is only as small budget horror film, we would
not have the option to distribute globally as it costs a lot more
but does mean a higher profit, if marketed well.
• Therefore a distribution company such as Film4 would be a very good
company for our production due to the national distribution needs
rather than global.
• This means that they can air and advertise on multiple channels,
such as Channel 4, Film 4 and E4. E4 targets young audiences and
therefore would be a good location for advertising and airing of
the film, due to their range of channels they can capitalise on
cross media promotion for better advertising.

17. GLOBAL OR NATIONAL? (2)
• However, if we did have the chance to go global, Film 4 would also
be a good production company as they work with other US companies
such as Fox Searchlight, which is a News Corp subsidiary, and could
use cross media promotion even more in this instance as there are
more channels and platforms to advertise on.
• Going global would mean a higher revenue due to a larger audience
as long as the advertising is done well which could be used for
funding for a second film, allowing a better film to be made the
second time round.

18. DISTRIBUTION OF PRODUCT
CINEMA, TV OR INTERNET?
There are three main ways in which our product could be distributed:
• Cinema
• TV
• Internet
We feel that the best form of distribution would be through the internet,
this is because it is relatively cheap and it has the potential to reach a
large audience.
However, distribution through TV is also a possibility due to Film4’s
subsidiaries such as E4, it would also be a cheap form of distribution as
Film4 owns these platforms.

19. DISTRIBUTION OF PRODUCT
CINEMA, TV OR INTERNET? (2)
The reason that we wouldn’t prefer a cinema distribution is due to the fact
that it is an expensive process, this means that we would need a larger
budget and a good marketing campaign. This is unlikely to happen due to the
low budget of our film.