Film Distributor's Association

Film Distributor's Association;



• This website supplies the public with a vast list of films from past and present release, to future films to expect throughout the year.
• What I found from observing this website myself is just how incredible the media industry is when it comes to making, producing, marketing and distributing films.
  

  

  
  
  

  

  
  
  

  - This is especially highlighted by the vast amount of information one is supplied with on this website.
  - You are given several pages to look at, including; information about the website itself, the ability to book cinema tickets for cinemas in  the UK from the website - as well as a page with a phenomenal amount of important information dedicated to highlighting the issues surrounding fraudulent cinema companies, institutions and distributors: who is effected by piracy and fraud within the film industry, and how a member of the public is able to help prevent and report any cases of piracy.
  

  - I particularly enjoyed reading this page because, ultimately, piracy is an issue I don't believe enough people understand:

                         - piracy results in members of the public exploiting the film industry, gaining hold of current, past and new releases and selling them out on the open market.

                         - this consequently means that the institutions, producers, directors, actors, distributors etc. - everyone involved, everyone who put extreme amounts of effort and remarkable hours to make that film - do not gain the profit they so desperately need, or the recognition they truly deserve.
• Additionally, on the website you are able to see the current films which are in cinemas i.e; The 5th Wave, Ride Along 2 and Dark Places.
• You can see what films are expected to come out in the next few weeks i.e; Capture the Flag and Dirty Grandpa.
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  And you can also discover what films will be released throughout the year i.e; Now You See Me 2, Dr. Strange and The Girl on the Train.
                           - but alongside this information, you are supplied with information on who distributed the film (i.e; Warner Bros., Universal, Disney etc), when the film is aimed to be released and media information regarding that film - i.e; links to the film's website or social media pages.
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  The film I was most interested in looking at was Dark Places.
• This is a film based on the novel by Gillian Flynn - the same woman who wrote Gone Girl - which also became a film and gained quite a lot of success.
• I believe this highlights a key aspect in how and why institutions market their films in such a way; - 'Gone Girl' = a very successful novel before it was made into a film.
   - when it came out, the film posters used to campaign for the film contained the fact that the film was based on the novel written by Gillian Flynn.
                     - I myself read 'Gone Girl' - I loved it - and then decided to go and read 'Dark Places'. However, I never saw the film for 'Gone Girl'; yet I still desire to go and see the film for 'Dark Places' purely because I know and am aware that it is based on the author of 2 books which I love.
                    - And as I know the film for 'Gone Girl' was quite successful, this fills me with confidence at the prospect of going to the cinema to see 'Dark Places'.
• Ultimately, I believe that this has become a key aspect of how institutions campaign their films to a target audience. Whether it be on posters, in magazines, or on an advert - using key selling points such as which actors are in the film, or if the film is based on a book or not - can really help in ensuring the campaign for a film reaches out to the desired target audience: which would help to ensure the film gets seen. This also means that during the distribution process, the film sells well in the cinemas, which would also mean - upon releasing the film for purchase through TV channels, DVD's etc, the total revenue is greater for all participants involved in the film; and they gain a profit.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

Research - 'Room' - Marketing and Distribution

'Room' is a new film for 2016 based on the best-selling novel by Emma Donoghue; an extraordinary story of a 5 year old named Jack who lives in a single room with his mother. He has never seen the outside world, he has never known the comfort of strangers except for his mother's - and the world of which most 5 year olds explore comes in the form of this one room for Jack. He makes friends with characters on his TV, and believes that the window above his head revealing the sky outside of it is his. So when it appears that Jack and his mother have finally found the perfect opportunity to lead a new life, Jack must find his courage and face this new world of which he has never known.

Distribution and Marketing;

'Room' - original book
By Emma Donoghue

'Room' has been distributed in a variety of ways. Particularly for films coming from an independent institution can sometimes require a larger scale of marketing - or a more specific campaign - to aim at the chosen audience. 

Luckily, being a book originally, this can have advantages for independent films due to the fact that the book will already have a following; therefore these people will more likely want to see the film. 

'Room' Official Twitter Page

Ultimately, the niche market of which this film both aims itself at and attracts comes from the nature of the book itself - and those who have read it. The book itself discusses issues such as obsession, domestic abuse and certain mental illnesses. This in turn, would make the film more likely to connect to maybe an audience of parents, people who have gone through similar issues (or ones which relate to the topics in the book) - and even to people who have read the book themselves. 

In order to distribute the film to such a market, the film 

has created pages on several social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook; the distributors of the film has even created an official website for the film.

'Room' Official Facebook Page

'Room' Official Website

This website is beautifully unique. When you first enter the website all you are supplied with is a plain background with moving images of the characters going across it, as well as the title of the film itself (as shown in the picture below). In addition, music is also played, which is the same as one of the songs the character of the mother sings to her son in the book. 

The website has a menu bar discreetly placed on the top left-hand side of the page and this supplies a user with a wide range of information i.e; the backgrounds of the various actors/actresses in the film, information on the film itself - such as who created it - and, most interestingly, a link to a page all about the author of 'Room' Emma Donoghue. 

'Emma's Corner' - a part of
'Room's official website

Emma Donoghue
Author of 'Room'

And this is another interesting factor with this film, The screenplays for films are very rarely written by the author themselves. However, I believe that this is a brilliant idea. As someone who reads a lot of books myself, I am also someone who finds I'm very often disappointed with how the book has been interpreted into a screenplay for a film or TV series. So to know that the author of 'Room' - a book I myself have read and highly enjoyed - is being made into a film, with the screenplay written by the author of the book, makes me want to see the film more; I believe this would also be the same for others who have read the book: thus, we are the ones who specifically fall into the niche market of which the film aims itself at.