Research Into Insitutions That Distribute Similar Products

Warner Bros 

https://www.warnerbros.co.uk/

Crime Films they have distributed:

• Gangster Squad 
• The Dark Knight
• Live By Night
• The Accountant
• Sherlock Holmes
• Se7en

The target audience for these films are generally for a mature audience, they are all rated PG 12 or 15. For films such as Se7en and The Dark Knight, the audience that might be attracted will be around their late teens to their early 30s. 

This is a major film distribution company that distributes many of the mainstream films of a whole range of genres and target audiences of all ages. Many of their films are well-known and very successful, starring big-named actors and directors. Given how our film will not feature anyone famous and does not have a high budget, it will be unlikely that Warner Bros would consider distributing our film as they do not appear to take much interest in small- independent low budget productions but rather mid- high budget films.However if they were to show an interest, it would leave a better impression on the audience as they would think that our film will be of the same quality as the high budget blockbuster films.

Lionsgate

https://www.lionsgate.com/
Crime films they have distributed:

• Now You See Me (via subsidary Summit Entertainment)
• Criminal (via subsidary Summit Entertainment)
• American Psycho 

Lionsgate has its own placement in the UK. It has distributed films such as Now You see Me, Criminal and American Psycho. The type of audience Now You See Me stars big named actors such as Jesse Eisenburg and Dave Franco, and might attract is those in their 20-40s. American Psycho and Criminal might attract a slightly older audience as American Psycho features a great amount of violence that will not be appropriate for young audiences and was made 13 years before Now You See Me. Criminal stars Kevin Costner, who was 61 years old at the release of the film, and so an older audience might find the film more relatable. 

As Lionsgate has multiple subsidary companies that distribute a great range of genres of films that are targeted towards audiences of all ages. Their films appear to range from high-low budget both mainstream and independant, therefore it is very possible that they could distribute our low-budget indepandant film. 


Arrow Films 

http://www.arrowfilms.co.uk/
Crime films they have distributed:

• 52 Pick Up
• River

Arrow Films is a lesser-known, UK-based distributor company. They appear to distribute mainly independant horror films and very little crime films. The films they distribute are very little-well known, which I do not think will be very beneficial for our film, especially since they so not specialise in the distibution of crime films. On the other hand, our film is an independant low-budget, it will be likely they would conider distributing it as many of their films are within this category.

The Works Film Distribution

http://www.theworksfilmgroup.com.
Crime films they have distributed:

• Kill Your Darlings
• The Killing of John Lennon
• Havoc

The Works Film Group specialises in the distribution of independant feature and documentary films. Looking at their website, the films that they often distriute are comedies and romances, and that there is a lack of crim films. This could benefit The Works if they were to distribute our film as it will help to fill a gap in their market. As our film is also an independant, it will be likely that The Works will consider distributing our film. However, as it is not well heard of, nor are the films they distribute, there is a chance that our film would not obtain much publicity and it may be thought of low-quality compared to the films that are distributed by major distribution companies.

How will this research affect my ideas?

In order to make our trailer appear more professional, we can incorporate the logo of a distribution company at or near the start of our film trailer, and if that distribution company is a major company then it will make the audience believe that our film is of high-quality, similar to films produced by major studios, rather than a low budget independant. If there was one particular distribution company whom would distribute our film, I believe Lionsgate would be the best choice. As reasons mentioined before, Lionsgate is a well known distributer, is UK based, and has subsidery companies which also distribute mainstream and independent films. If we show their logo in our trailer then our audience will know that this film will be of the same quality of other films they have distributed, such as The Hunger Games and Now You See Me, which are very popular films. Warner Bros appears to distribute only mainstream, high budget films so they will not be likely to consider distibuting our film. Though they dal with independant films only, Arrow is very much horror based, so distribution for our film will likely not benefit them nor us as they are experienced dealing with another market, and The Works distributes films that are barely heard of, therefore this would benefit the reputation of our film as an audience might think that it will not be worth watching if it was not distributed by a major company.

Ideas Update & Inspirations

The Idea:

My other group member, Georgina Gilbey, and I and a long online discussion in order to finalise the ideas we have for the narrative of the film, its characters, and the film's title. Here is what we decided upon:

The Plot:

The idea for the trailer is fairly the same as before. The plot of the film is that there is a serial killer who is posing as a member of Anonymous in order to lure in their targets. The targets in this case is a group of drug addicts. We do not plan for there to be a distinct antagonist, and leave it so that it is the audience's decision who they side with. I also want to make it ambiguous why the hacker is targeting this group as I believe that it will help to create a stronger enigma to help intrigue the audience into wanting to watch the film.

Film Title Potential Names:

• Overkill                       -1
• Pandemonium            -1
• Illicit Obsession          -5
• Adverse Pursuit          -1
• Adverse Addictions     -1

So far we have come with these five names for our film title. 'Overkill' is a combination of the words 'overdose' and 'kill', so the title itself refers to both the drug users and the serial killer. 'Pandemonium' means an 'uproar' or disruption. It relates to the narrative of the film, and it also sounds dramatic and intense, which we liked about it.  the definition of 'Illicit' is an illegal activity, such as taking drugs or killing people, and of course 'obsession' means that you are addicted to it, so this can apply to both sides of the conflict in the story. 'Adverse' has a meaning of being harmful, which can connect to the fact that drugs are not healthy, and that our serial killer has a tendency to harm others. We came up with two titles with this word, the first is Adverse Pursuit, which can relate to the fact that the serial killer is on a pursuit to harm the drug users. Adverse Addictions is catchy because of the alliteration so we thought it would stick inside people minds as it is repetitive and it also has the meaning that the addictions that people have are harmful, which can relate to both the serial killer and druggies. 

It is unlikely that we will use the name 'Overkill' as it sounds like it would belong to an action video game, and Adverse Pursuit sounds as if it belongs to an action-orientated film. Pandemonium is a word that is not used very often, so those who are unfamiliar with the word will not know the meaning of it to understand the underline message. We also asked nine people which title they thought would best suit a crime film and which appealed to them the most, in which 5/9 favoured Illicit Obsession, and so this is highly likely to be used as the film's final title.

Characters: 

Anon - The serial killer/hacker posing as an Anonymous member.

As the audience will not need to know this characters name in the trailer, in order to keep the enigma, we decided that that character will simple be named 'Anon as it is an abbreviated version of the word anonymous, as well as the organisation name. It is also a gender neutral name as we haven't decided upon the gender of the character. Given how they will be wearing a mask and how their voice will be altered to sound like an Anonymous member, the gender is not important. 

The Druggies:

• James
• Louise
• Eve
• Daisy
• Alice
• George

At this moment in time, we have not confirmed what actors will star in our trailer so the character names are subject to change. Given how our film is targeted towards primarily a male audience, we feel that there will be a lack of availability of m,ale actors to be able to appeal to a male audience. A number of actors will likely be female, and will only be featured in the trailer for a number of seconds or act as extras. We will use the lack of male actors to our advantage, and possibly suggest that our serial killer is targeting specifically females, and that one of the male druggies has a suspicion as to what is going on, which therefore can add more enigmas to our trailer to further the intrigue of our audience. 

Other Characters: 
Connor - A potential investigator who will have a suspicion of the events going on, and will question why the drug users are being targeted. 

Film Trailer Inspirations

Poster and Magazine Cover Inspirations:

Moodboard:

Below is a moodboard I created to help me show my vision for the trailer, collecting images from pinterest. It has also helped me gain better ideas of costumes, shot types, lighting and other visual ideas that I can use in the final product.

Synergistic Marketing Research

Synergy from tbriers

Magazines & Audience Appeal

In this double page spread for Skyfall, the most dominant feature is the main image, which takes up almost the entirety of the two pages. As this is likely the first two pages of an article that takes up about 4-6 pages in a magazine, there is not a lot of text shown. The purpose of this page would be to attract the audience and draw them in so that they continue reading the remainder of the article. The first thing that draws your eye is the image of Daniel Craig dressed as the character James Bond. This would take up the entirety of one page. The words 'something old something new' draw your attention away from bond and onto the second page to help draw you into the article. The text for the 'something old..' and the introductory paragraph is written in a bold, italic font that is different from the rest of the article text. This helps to draw attention as it is large and eye-catching. The text is written in back, which stands out against the low saturated, pale background. 

Magazines can be more beneficial for film fans if they want to find out information about a new film as posters and trailers cannot tell you everything. Film trailers are left to be enigmatic, so we are left asking questions that we will want answered, but the only way to do so is to see the film, and sometimes the plot of the film is not fully conveyed in a trailer, so a viewer may be left feeling confused. With a poster, although it is a good way to advertise a film, it is very hard to convey the narrative or plot of the film since it is only a still image, so it does deliver a good amount of information. If the poster showed all of the information for the audience, it would include a lot of text that many people will not find captivating to read. With a magazine, you can read articles about the film that vary between interviews from directors or stars, to reviews. An audience can gain information about the film from the perspective of the directors and stars, such as why the characters are portrayed in certain why, what image they had for the film and the intended impact on the audience should be. .The magazine can also explain more in depth as to what the plot of the film is, whilst avoiding spoilers for those who have not had the chance to see it. These articles can be written in more of an informal and friendly tone that will make the magazine feel more personal to the reader

However not everyone buys magazines and some people prefer getting information visually through trailers or posters rather than having to read about it. With trailers, audiences will be able to see the full extent of the action in the film, which could be a film's selling point. They would also get first hand experience at seeing certain actors in their roles, something a poster or magazine cannot offer to the audience. If an audience watches a film purely for it's action scenes or an actor or director, then a trailer would appeal more to this type of audience.  A poster would be better suited towards a person who is stationary and has the time to stop and look, such as those who are waiting at a bus stop. Those who are driving would be more concentrated on the road and other drivers to be able to stop and look at a poster.  Trailers and posters appeal to a general audience, whereas film articles apply to more of a specific, perhaps niche audience, as those with a strong interest in films will be more likely to buy a film magazine. Magazines can be read at any time of the day, any day, and can be read at the viewer's own pace, or resumed when they have the time.

To summarise, a magazine can offer much more information for an audience about  a film they might be interested in seeing. It will make the audience feel like the film is more personal to them since they will have the background information with them should the watch or purchase the film. A trailer is more appealing to an audience who want to find out about the film, but want to watch it with only a vague idea what it is about so that their expectations are not raised too high, or if they are interested in the visuals or cinematography of the film. A poster will appeal most to those who like to gather information visually and perhaps speculate what the film is about based on what they see in there poster. 

Magazine Textual Analysis

Magazine Textual Analysis from tbriers