RESEARCH TASK 1

By Bianca Shirk

TASK 1) WHO WOULD

DISTRIBUTE MY THRILLER?

WHAT IS AN INSTITUTION AND HOW FILM DISTRIBUTION WORKS.

An Institution is a company who privately owns and distributes media films and products. How film distribution works is that the production, where the making of the film and setting a budget and filming and editing. Then the film will be distributed where the studio will buy the rights and license the film. The next stage for the institution is to exhibit the film, put it on the screen and reach the film to the public.

A BRIEF PLOT SYNOPSIS OF OUR FILM – (36 HOUR CONTRACT)

In a race against the clock, Detective Sean Finch must hunt down the sadistic killer who contacted him in an attempt to stop his vile plan to kill 36 people in 36 hours. Will Sean be able to find the mysterious man? Or will he too fall as a victim to the toxin that slowly courses through his veins?

FILMS SIMILAR TO OURS:I have already written about these films – Here is a brief summery again of the films that as a group we have identified are similar to our thriller. We have also changed our thriller slightly when filming so here is the brief reasons how the films are similar to ours.

Crank Chev Chelios is poisoned by the criminal Verona and his friend and doctor Miles

advises him that he must keep his adrenaline up to stay alive. Chev meets his girlfriend Eve and together he looks for Verona to kill him. This is similar to ours since Chev has to keep running and is short for time, the same for Sean he has 35 hours before he is killed being the last person on the list to be killed.

Bourne Identity The Bourne Identity is a American-German action spy film, It stars Matt Damon as

Jason Bourne, a man suffering from extreme memory loss and attempting to discover his true identity. Sean does not loose memory however he is fighting for his life and find out who the identity of Sebastian is to save himself and the others as a detective.

3- days to Kill A dying CIA agent trying to reconnect with his estranged daughter is offered an

experimental drug that could save his life in exchange for one last assignment. This is similar were Sean is the inspector and in order to save his life here

WHY BIG HOLLYWOOD CONGLOMERATE WOULD NOT MAKE MY FILM

What is a Media conglomerate? Media conglomerate is a company that owns a big

number of companies in mass media such as television and radio. The conglomerates strive to be in control of the media industry.

Why Hollywood would not make my film? Our film would not be made my Hollywood, this is

because our film does not have any pre-sold elements. We are making the film from scratch and using ideas from news stories. We are also first time makers and don’t have much experience, therefore we do not expect Hollywood to make our film and distribute it. Our actors are also not big stars and not well known therefore Hollywood would not be willing to invest in our film. Our graphics and CGI will also not be the standard Hollywood will expect since Hollywood will have big standards to keep up with their reputation of 3-d films etc. Our location is also not the most glamorous location, compared to locations Hollywood tend to use. Since our budget is not as high as Hollywood would be, we would not be able to compete with their standard with our film budget.

HOW WE WILL GUARANTEE AN AUDIENCE AND GET PEOPLE TO WATCH OUR THRILLER? To guarantee an audience we will promote our film through

ways on a budget. We will do this by making a website to promote our film. We can also put the opening of our thriller on YouTube to promote the rest of the film. Other ways to get an audience on a budget we will promote the film to our friends which meets our target audience. We will rely on Viral marketing where social networking will get our film known. By making a Facebook page and getting the film known through likes will promote our film as well. This technique is reproducing the “word of mouth” technique and getting the film well known to generate an audience and reputation. Another way to influence our audience to get people to watch our thriller can be through Astroturfing, although this can be deceiving this can make our film campaign look real and by making up false critics making the film in a positive light may encourage more people to watch it and build up a bigger audience.

RESEARCH INTO VERTIGO – THE BRITISH FILM COMPANY

Vertigo is a film company and distribution company founded in 2002. This film company produces independent films, which would therefore fit our thriller well. Vertigo has produced successful films and other range of films with different genres and audiences, where producers have been first time movie makers e.g. Monsters. Vertigo is a good company for us to use, since they can help us target our audience and meets our needs. Since we have a independent film structure and a much lower- budget vertigo films suits our film in contrast to using a Hollywood conglomerate.

BRITISH FILM COMPANY'S – SIMILAR VERTIGO FILMS TO OURS

The facilityAt a medical hospital, a group of seven strangers begin a clinical trial for the experimental new drug called Pro-9. As the untested drug begins to course through their veins, unexpected side-effects start to take hold and several of the volunteers are sent into an uncontrollable murderous rage.

How successful the facility was? They did not make much success as a there are no statistics from the box office. The DVD however wold have made them money through selling to different company’s and country’s, so still could have made a profit.

How it is similar to our film?This film is similar to ours, which is made my Vertigo. This is because the facility involves a drug, where we have a toxin which is injected into our victims. The facility is a thriller film targeted at 18 where as our audience is 15. Therefore the audience is slightly different since their effects and shots portray more murderous shots in contrast to us. Our film illustrates the mission of Sean as a detective. The drug is similar to Sebastian’s which shows the film is similar in terms of the sadistic toxin which poisons people to their death.

BRITISH FILM COMPANY – SIMILAR VERTIGO FILMS TO OURS

1 DayFlash, wakes up to a phone call from Angel telling him he's being released and wants the £500,000 he's left for flash. Flash is £100,000 short of the money of the full amount and is pushed for time, Flash is forced to strike a deal with Evil. 1 Day follows flash's race against the clock as he's pursued by a rival gang (The Zampa Boys), As Flash is part of OSC (Old Street Crew)

How successful 1 day was?1 day, was not much of a success. This is because 1 day did not make much money from the cinema. The movie would have made more of a profit through DVDs

How is it similar to our film?1 day is similar to our film, this is because flash has to race against time. This is the same for Sean who is the detective and has to race against time to either find where Sebastian is and has 35 hours to do so before the last hour before he is killed. This is similar in respect to the time, but the money situation is different where instead Sebastian is psychologically twisted and kills the list out of his evil nature where Evil in “1 day” wants to have his money otherwise there are consequences. This film is a 18, where as ours is targeted at a 15. Therefore the violence in this film could be much higher than ours.

WHERE WE ARE TAKING OUR THRILLER NEXT?

Our thriller has been targeted at by a British film company – VERTIGO.

We have decided a plan of where we will take our thriller next.

The thriller we believe shows a gap in the market for thriller films. This is because the thriller is different and is unique in terms of a list of people and trailing back to find Sebastian. The tension to find out whether Sean will be injected and slowly be killed through his veins like the rest of the other victims?

Our thriller we believe to follow out the traditional release pattern. This is were we will release it in the cinema first and then to DVD 3 months later.

If our thriller is a success we believe we can then further put our thriller on iTunes.

PROCESS OF OUR FILM TO BE RELEASED

FILM = SUCCESSOur film is expected to be a success due to the Unique Selling point and different style of film which has not been done before. This film, even though done by first time film makers, has made money through effective marketing through social media which has created a good viral network to promote “36 hour contract.”

Since the film= a success the next step is to try receive some publicity in the USA

However, Vertigo is a UK film distribution company and for this film to make it to the USA we need to find a USA distribution company

HOW COULD WE RELEASE OUR FILM IN THE USA? + RESEACH ON USA

DISTRIBUTION COMPANY'SHow we are going to Release our film in the USA

Magnolia pictures, is a USA distributor. By contacting them we could persuade them to release and screen our film. Since our film is already recognised by social media in the USA through the effective marketing, it will be important to contact Magnolia to help recognise the film further and internationally

Magnolia Pictures

An American film distributor, owned by Todd Wagner and Mark Cuban. Magnolia was formed in 2001 by Bill Banowsky and Eamonn Bowles, and specializes in both foreign and independent films. Magnolia distributes some of its films, especially foreign ones, under a label named Magnet Releasing.

Why Magnolia would release our film?

Magnolia will release our film since they specialise in independent films and since they release foreign ones mostly, it is is a good opportunity to get involved with magnolia pictures. Magnolia got involved with vertigo films in the past and therefore are likely to get involved with ours. Since our film has been successful through DVDs and through the cinema it is likely they will want to distribute our film due to demand.

FILMS THAT ARE SIMILAR TO OURS THAT HAVE GONE ON TO RELEASE THEIR FILM IN THE USATwo Faces of January – Similarities + Differences to My Thriller.

This Thriller is about a con artist, his wife, and a stranger who flee to Athens after one of them is caught up in the death of a private detective. This film is similar to ours in the regards that our film involves a detective, however the detective is trying to save his life and others deaths in our thriller. The difference between our thriller is that the death of the detective in Two Faces Of January is found out straight away whereas the action of our thriller involves finding out what the detective does about the situation to save 35 people and whether he finds Sebastian (the villain). Both of these thrillers involve similar characteristics where they are thrillers and involve some sort of crime with a detective.

How they released Two Faces of January?

Studio Canal distributed the film in the United Kingdom. The film was then distributed in the USA through Magnolia Pictures, where it picked up the distribution rights and released the film.

Release dates:

April 16, 2014 (United Kingdom)

August 28, 2014 (United States)

Box office information beween USA and UK

$43,116 (USA) (28 September 2014) (6 Screens)

$552,137 (UK) (18 May 2014) (224 Screens)

This film clearly shows that it did moderately well when in the USA, even though they didn't’t make as bigger profit as the UK it shows that Magnolia Pictures can help distribute it and generate recognition further in the USA. The profits don’t necessarily have to be particularly high since the DVD in the USA is likely to have generated extra income. Taking $43,116 from the USA is alot and using Magnolia pictures has shown to be successful.