Distribution

Distribution

Every film has its own distribution plan, which involves when and how to release a film. But the main part of the plan is too get the audience attracted. The distributor needs to consider audience tastes to see if their film will make a 'hit', but as nobody can be sure if it will be a hit. Distribution will only happen if the distributor thinks that they will be able to make a profit from the given budget to the producer. A way to do this is by market research this may be carried out by questionnaires after test screenings and see if the responses are good enough to distribute the film. Sometimes film distribution plans may only be confirmed when the finished film is available to view, when doing this distributors try to avoid assumptions and seek to try new things, so they entice people to see their film over other films.
The target audience is not just defined by the age and gender, now it is there social background and there personal interests. The audience can vary from families with young children to older adults, all depends on the genre of film. But during distribution it is key that the core target audience is not forgotten but at the same time to get as wide spread audience as physically possible, but with word of mouth in the UK this could help the film greatly or could ruin the film as people will listen to their peers.
The most frequent cinemagoers are 15-25, this may be due to the use of digital media which is a important part for advertising. Coming increasingly popular in the cinema is adults aged 35+ as they are now competing for the share of ticket sales.
As the film industry is a market where they could be a high profit there is a lot of competition to face the distributors. So the distribution plan has to include when the film is going to be distributed. The distributors will try to find the best time to release the film so the release date will shuffle around until the distributor is happy with the date. A distribution plan also includes what certificate the film is going to be, this may cut certain audiences out of viewing the film at the cinema.
To satisfy anticipated demand, different releases are managed in different ways. A saturation release may open a 1,000 screens UK wide to attract as many people in as possible as frequently as possible, and being playing at that same cinema in two or more screens. This type of release is usually used when a large scale sequel or big anticipated film is released. This type of release helps to accommodate large audiences.
Specialised films offer a different cinematic experience. So instead of releasing the film on a large scale, the distributors tend to use select locations therefore only producing fewer than 25 prints.

Marketing / Advertising 

Every film has a detailed marketing plan. A marketing plan is to raise awareness of a film that is due to be released soon or in the future. Like a distribution plan, a marketing plan has a set budget to complete its tasks. Attract as much attention as possible. Distributors compete for a share of voice in society, they tend to do this by persuading people to see their film. A marketing plan can have disadvantages, this maybe word of mouth which plays a significant part into hooking people to watch their film, as many people listen to their peers around them, if they say a film is not very good this might persuade a person not to go to see the film. This can be the most powerful persuasion to a person to attend a cinema. On the other hand there could be a positive word of mouth, which is the opposite to a negative word of mouth. Therefore a marketing plan will try to push the film further.
A main part of the marketing plan is the poster. The use this to advertise the film and to appeal to people as the poster might include a popular actor. A poster is produced for every film produced in the format UK size 30' x 40' and at a landscape orientation.
Poster
The marketing team have a hard job to push their film over any other as while they are designing poster another competing marketing team will be designing one for their film. So the marketing team have to make each one of their poster stand out upon others. This maybe be produced by a studio of people or by the sales agent. There could be two types of poster produced for a release of a film a teaser poster and a main poster. The teaser poster normally is released around a year before release and this is to inform people that the film is coming soon. Many other advertising ways may be used for example banners and billboard advertising.
Trailer
Another way to market is to produce trailers. When distributors are producing there campaign for their film they tend to have a range of audio and visual content to use, so they produce a trailer for the film. This is the single most cost effective marketing technique, so the marketing team have to get it right but all is not released until the producers confirm it is at the best standard. Like teaser posters, you can have teaser trailers these are generally aired before a film of the same type of the film being shown. The idea of the trailer is to give the audience a visual look at the most dramatic sequences in the film. Distributors will often release 2,000 copies of the trailer and these will be circulated to cinema around the country, sometimes they add their trailer to the start of targeted DVDs too.
Online and Mobile
One of the main ways to get information a bout a new film out to people is the Internet, as millions and millions of people are signing onto the Internet distributors will take this to their advantage and advertise online. Film websites can provide the audience with various information and this could lead to video diaries from the cast and crew from the film. This will engage the audience to make them feel part of the film making process. Film clips are one of the most searched content on the Internet. Filmmakers sometimes gain information from bloggers suggestions to help them with events in their films. People in databases also can receive email reminders on new films opening.
Social Media
Many films being produced have pages on social media like Facebook and Twitter. This involves the audience to gain information about the film being produced. The only thing that is strongly put forward on social media sites is the word of mouth and with millions of people signing onto these sites that this could put a lot of people off their film if someone says something bad about their film.
Broadcast,Ambient and Print Media
With different generation of people, they get attracted differently younger people tend to get drawn into cinemas by the adverts online whereas older people tend to see their adverts on TV.
Advertisers have a variety of options to choose from. The UK has roughly 250,000 poster sites around roadsides or railway platforms. A popular choice for the advertisers is radio stations as you are sure to hear about a new film if you are listening to the radio for ten minutes. Another popular choice is newspaper as you can't open a paper without seeing a double page spread of a film. But mainly advertisers look for advertising to go on Television as millions of people turn on the TV everyday. This takes part to the largest part of the accountants budget. But as TV viewers are able to skip through adverts, advertisers are looking for a new way to advertise to people. Entertainment companies tend to spend 500 million on advertising each year.

Publicity

Editorial coverage of a film can be highly persuasive. But with specifications to follow space is limited and with heavy competition they have work on their hands. Film publicists compile different information from interview with the cast and crew and place this in magazines for people to read with attractive images from the film. Many digital channels are interested in getting as much news as possible. A way of achieving this is by getting the film's cast to push the film as hard as possible for example Daniel Radcliffe done online interview and done as many interview on TV to push his film Women In Black. Many people listen to what national critics think of the film before going to see it as they are known for strict reviews and very goo reviews but there is no guarantee the the film will succeed just because the critic think it is a good film. The build up to national known awards is an important time for the publicists as they have to promote the film so they can secure the voters attention to they film for these awards. With most production companies they like to keep all there work behind closed doors until they want people to know about it. The only people aloud to be around when filming are partners and crew & cast. Some Promotional partners attract a lot of publicity as they create one in a life time chances for the public for example a voice over. Also the promotional partners could create toys or premium items for people to collect an example of this might be McDonald's when they produce little toys with their food. This could create a boost to the distributors campaign.

Promotion/Merchandise
Coming increasingly popular is merchandise. Film producers like linking up with external companies and manufactures to create different kinds or merchandise varying from toys to images. The company willing to create the merchandise have to be licensed to create them. Tie-in merchandise can include action figures, rintones, clothing, stationary, calenders basically anything possible to make money off. But with many distributors seeing this to increase their revenue, this creates competition. With creating toys, promotion is key to get children to see these, so the marketing team have to make effective use of advertising so they advertise on specialised channels for children. Media promotions attract people to get involved with the film and with millions of people seeing these promotions it creates talking points for people.
Most premiers in the UK take place in Leicester Square.
A main way of promoting a film is announcing a premier of the film as many different thing can be achieved by this interviews on the red carpet and with a high anticapated film more news companies will come to the premier and show this on TV. This gives fans close access to get close to film star and collect autographs. Also as well as premieres, distributors can host specialict events fo the fans to meet the cast.