- PRESENT THIS IN PREZI EXPLAINING WHICH DISTRIBUTION COMPANY WOULD PRESENT YOUR FILM AND WHY YOU CHOSE THAT COMPANY (their track record)
- SAY WHAT DISTRIBUTORS DO (digital and conventional screenings, cinema exhibition, DVD and other sales)
- and HOW THEY RAISE AWARENESS ( P & A, film websites with interactivity, TV spots, trailers)
- EXPLAIN THE RESEARCH YOU DID TO FIND OUT ABOUT DISTRIBUTORS (FDA, Launching Films, video presentations from this site)
- GIVE EXAMPLES OF CASE STUDIES
WHAT IS DISTRIBUTION?
from BFI Screenonline by David Sin
Screenonline
Distribution, the third part of the film supply chain, is often referred to as 'the invisible art', a process known only to those within the industry, barely written about and almost imperceptible to everyone else. Yet arguably, distribution is the most important part of the film industry, where completed films are brought to life and connected with an audience. So what is involved in this invisible process? Distribution is about releasing and sustaining films in the market place. In the practice of Hollywood and other forms of industrial cinema, the phases of production, distribution and exhibition operate most effectively when 'vertically integrated', where the three stages are seen as part of the same larger process, under the control of one company. In the UK, distribution is very much focused on marketing and sustaining a global product in local markets.
In the independent film sector, vertical integration does not operate so commonly. Producers tend not to have long-term economic links with distributors, who likewise have no formal connections with exhibitors. Here, as the pig-in-the-middle, distribution is necessarily a collaborative process, requiring the materials and rights of the producer and the cooperation of the exhibitor to promote and show the film in the best way possible. In this sector, distribution can be divided into three stages - licensing, marketing and logistics.
THE LOGISTICS OF DISTRIBUTION
Screenonline
The distributor will enter into an agreement with the cinema to screen the film on certain 'play-dates'. It is the responsibility of the distributor to arrange the transportation of the film to the cinema, as part of its wider coordination of print use across the UK. Logistics represents the phase of distribution at its most basic - supplying and circulating copies of the film to theatres, of tapes and DVDs to shops and video rental stores, and managing the effectiveness of the supply. The showing of films in cinemas is a time-pressured activity. Cinemas spend their money publicising film play-dates and times in local papers or through published programmes. There's an imperative for the distributor to deliver the film on time. For UK theatrical exhibition, the distributor typically handles 35mm film prints. Each print can cost around £1,000 - or twice that if subtitled - so a degree of care is required of everyone involved in handling the print. In the UK, prints are generally broken down for ease of handling into smaller reels, each lasting around 18-20 mins when run through a projector at 24 frames per second. So a feature print, in its physical form, will usually be 5 or 6 reels, stored and supplied in a single hard case, weighing in at 20-25kgs. Prints are hired by the exhibitor for the duration of their play-dates, and therefore each print is made for repeat use. It's easy to see from this that, during the course of even a short theatrical release period, any single print needs to be moved many times from the main print warehouse, onto a delivery van, to the cinema, onto an assembly bench, through the projector and then back through the process and onto the next cinema.
35mm theatrical prints invariably suffer cumulative damage as they pass through different projectors, and the hands of various projectionists. There are also overheads incurred by the distributor for the storage of prints at the UK's central print warehouse in West London. For these reasons, each theatrical print has a finite lifespan.
DIGITAL DISTRIBUTION
Screenonline
For exhibitors, digital projection, especially when married to the increasing use digital formats in production, can now replicate - if not surpass - the image quality of conventional 35mm cinema presentation. And, of course, digital sound systems have been used in cinemas for some time.
In distribution terms, the advantages of digital technology are even clearer, though perhaps longer term. Digital technology is seen to offer a more cost effective and logistics-light alternative to the tried and trusted, but unwieldy model of 35mm print distribution described above. It will, eventually, be cheaper and much less stressful to send films as computer files to cinemas across the UK, than to transport 20-25kg tins of film in the back of a van. The distributor will send feature film files electronically, via broadband networks, thus eliminating dependence on transportation.It will be less expensive in the coming years to offer a wide theatrical opening with many copies, and also conversely, to screen a film for just one performance at any cinema. Theatrical opening may used as a way of providing a loss-leading marketing platform for the highly lucrative DVD leg.
THE UK FILM COUNCIL
The UK Film Council has been responsible for the creation of a digital screen network; support for independent cinemas; and improving access to cinema for people with disabilities.
Fifteen million pounds of capital funding has been delegated to the UK Film Council by the Arts Council of England, which is allocated as follows:
Digital Screen Network The largest proportion has been used to create a network of screens dedicated to the exhibition of specialised films in locations across the UK where there is no such provision currently.
CAPITAL FUNDING FOR CINEMAS THIS FUND ASSISTS CINEMA OPERATORS TO UNDERTAKE AND/OR COMPLETE CAPITAL PROJECTS, PARTICULARLY WHERE THE WORKS ARE CONSIDERED ESSENTIAL TO THE CINEMA'S CONTINUED EXISTENCE OR OF BENEFIT TO AUDIENCES THAT MAY CURRENTLY BE EXCLUDED (FOR EXAMPLE, BY IMPROVING ACCESS FOR DISABLED CINEMAGOERS).
Please note: no funding is currently available for cinemas.
In distribution terms, the advantages of digital technology are even clearer, though perhaps longer term. Digital technology is seen to offer a more cost effective and logistics-light alternative to the tried and trusted, but unwieldy model of 35mm print distribution described above. It will, eventually, be cheaper and much less stressful to send films as computer files to cinemas across the UK, than to transport 20-25kg tins of film in the back of a van. The distributor will send feature film files electronically, via broadband networks, thus eliminating dependence on transportation.It will be less expensive in the coming years to offer a wide theatrical opening with many copies, and also conversely, to screen a film for just one performance at any cinema. Theatrical opening may used as a way of providing a loss-leading marketing platform for the highly lucrative DVD leg.
THE UK FILM COUNCIL
The UK Film Council has been responsible for the creation of a digital screen network; support for independent cinemas; and improving access to cinema for people with disabilities.
Fifteen million pounds of capital funding has been delegated to the UK Film Council by the Arts Council of England, which is allocated as follows:
Digital Screen Network The largest proportion has been used to create a network of screens dedicated to the exhibition of specialised films in locations across the UK where there is no such provision currently.
CAPITAL FUNDING FOR CINEMAS THIS FUND ASSISTS CINEMA OPERATORS TO UNDERTAKE AND/OR COMPLETE CAPITAL PROJECTS, PARTICULARLY WHERE THE WORKS ARE CONSIDERED ESSENTIAL TO THE CINEMA'S CONTINUED EXISTENCE OR OF BENEFIT TO AUDIENCES THAT MAY CURRENTLY BE EXCLUDED (FOR EXAMPLE, BY IMPROVING ACCESS FOR DISABLED CINEMAGOERS).
Please note: no funding is currently available for cinemas.
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