Film industry research
 

USPs: A unique point that gets audiences to watch films include the actors and genres used usually linking them with work they’ve done in the past and a specific genre such as Simon Pegg doing comedy roles such as Hot Fuzz, Matt Damon in thrillers like the Bourne franchise and Christopher Lee in action adventure films.

The distributor will then put the film into a specific category using the above USPs e.g. action adventure, thriller. Then this will all be represented on posters and trailers that the audience will view. This then gives the audience a good idea on what the film will be like and if it will be something they’re interested in.

With the target audience, the distributor considers who the target audience are for that particular film e.g. Teenagers, young adult female etc. This helps them decide where they should advertise it, and how to advertise it. For instance, a romantic chick flick may be seen in feminine magazines.

distributors try to attract as wider audience as possible also, meaning they can make as much profit as possible – sometimes the film will crossover into different genres and become a hybrid. Such as Cowboys vs. Aliens.

A medium budget Hollywood thriller such as Se7en

Distributor: New Line Cinema

Budget: $33 million

Worldwide Box Office Takings: $328 million

Widest number of screens released on: 2,528 theatres

A big budget British thriller such as Casino Royale

Distributor: Columbia Pictures

Budget: $150 million

Worldwide Box Office Takings: $594 million

Widest number of screens released on: 3443 theatres

A low budget British thriller such as The Disappearance of Alice Creed

Distributor: Isle of Man Film and CinemaNX

Budget: N/A

Worldwide Box Office Takings: $867714

Widest number of screens released on: 12 theatres


Aliens

Distributor: 20^th Century Fox

Budget: 18.5 million

Worldwide Box Office Takings: $131 million

Widest number of screens released on: 1454 theatres

Blade Runner

Distributor: Warner Bros. Pictures

Budget: 28 million

Worldwide Box Office Takings: $33 million

Widest number of screens released on: 1325 theatres


Shutter Island

Distributor: Paramount Pictures

Budget: 80 million

Worldwide Box Office Takings: $295 million

Widest number of screens released on: 3356 theatres

The films production is usually done by the film studios which generally have a partnership with distributors. The distributor invests a large amount of funding into the film and the advertisements. The most famous distributors such as 20^th Century Fox, Paramount, New Line and Disney will usually invest in big budget British films such as Harry Potter and the James Bond franchise. While the smaller budget productions filmed in the UK such as ‘The Guard’ will most likely be financed by the BBC, Film4, Lotto etc. or the UK Film Council.

New Line cinema’s logo is really dark and mysterious as it is, but it straight away adds tension and suspicion to the film Se7en. This may be because a large amount of films they produce are horror/thriller productions allowing them to fit in nicely.

In this one, Paramount Pictures have just shown there basic logo which makes the whole film seem less tense, but it then fades into the film and uses a graphics match from the white clouds and sky to a fog covering the boat up. This builds mystery and tension due to fog shrouding everything and not allowing the background to be seen.

I would use New Line Cinema to distribute my film as I would like to do a psychological thriller and they released titles such as ‘Se7en, The Butterfly Effect and Snakes on a Plane’ so they know how to advertise that genre of film and to allow the audience to know that it will keep them on the edge of their seat throughout the film.