Distribution Of Our Film.

Distribution company

After researching into different types of distribution, I feel that for our edgy, unique film, ‘Art House’ distributors would be the best company to release and get our film known. They claim to distribute quirky, small budgeted films like ours, at festivals, theatres and on DVD. I think that this sounds very good as the typical way of distributing a film may not work so well in our case because of how different ‘UNANSWERED’ is. We need a unique, creative way of releasing ours to the public to match the mood of our film and maintain its ‘Mockumentary’ style. Below is a quote from their website showing what they aim to do with their movies.

Revolver Entertainment is one of the UK & Eire's leading 'All Rights' distribution companies, shaking up the industry with a unique approach to managing its enviable and edgy slate of Film and DVD releases.

Handling both large scale and smaller films with equal care and attention, Revolver are specialists in delivering maximum media coverage and awareness via multi-platforms, with Revolver Books and 357 Records also operating under the Revolver umbrella, we are an aggressive all rights brand marketing entity.

Their marketing strategies also found to be very intriguing and sound like they would match our ideas very well...

Our Marketing teams continue to win awards for their creativity, originality and guerrilla marketing, with the 'Zombie Walk' making International News with hundreds of Zombies parading through London's Leicester Square to break a world record. Our pioneering spirit is highlighted with our release of the first ever live action Digital 3D movie earlier in the year, and tailed at the end with the first ever entirely eco-friendly film release, indicating our dedication to breaking new ground within our industry.

Overall, I think that ‘Art House film’ distributors appear to be a perfect fit to distribute our film and I would feel comfortable with them releasing our film knowing that they would maintain the style of our film and I would feel confident that they would help us achieve a buzz for the movie.

Link to the website: http://arthousefilmsonline.co.uk/about.php

If we had a large budget, below is a step by step list of ideas we formed to release our film:

1.  Two months before release we would start to release our series of posters. First the exit sign one, as it doesn’t release too much information and leaves people with questions. The second poster would be the one with a black figure standing underneath the exit sign and the last would be revealing the main actress peering round the corner, releasing the most information. We would place them in edgy places such as train stations, bus stops, universities, using black tape with #UNANSWERED printed on to it, this would keep the authenticity and appear like a student was in fact releasing her film on a low budget. The hash tag would build a buzz.

2.  A month before the release we would distribute a quick, subliminal advert that fuzzes on to the screen for a split second, revealing a twitter hash tag saying, #UNANSWERED. Some viewers may notice it where others won’t. This would start talk as to what unanswered means and also gives our audience a social network to discuss #UNANSWERED. 
     Michelle and I were influenced from the recent BMW advert that uses the same concept. After releasing ‘Subliminal messages’ to their audience they managed to create a buzz leading up to their main advert. I was a victim of this dangerously clever advertising campaign, I found myself noticing the quick advert and researching the hash tag to find out more. It then occurred to me that not only does it entice their target audience but also brings in a wider audience, as I would not normally be interested in BMW let alone take the time to research into it but with one simple advert they controlled me and made me interested in their product.

However this also made Michelle and I feel slightly scared and shocked at how a simple advert controlled us and made us research a company we never would have looked into. This made us realise that Foucault’s theories do in fact hold truth. I decided to research into the rules of subliminal advertising and see where the boundaries lie so we would know if we ever produced a similar marketing scheme...

I found that subliminal advertising is banned in Australia and Britain but I think that BMW’s advert was allowed as it was noticeable from the conscious mind and the viewer was not completely unaware of what was influencing them. Below is a description of subliminal advertising...

'Subliminal messages are words, images, or sounds that might appear in television or radio commercials, TV shows or movies, print ads or recorded music. Usually when subliminal messages are seen or heard, they’re not recognized for what they are. In fact they may be ignored by the conscious brain and be beyond the level of conscious perception.'

http://www.wisegeek.org/what-are-subliminal-messages.htm - this website discusses the ideas of subliminal messages and was very interesting.

3.  Eventually we would release the main advert for our film and by then we would already have a wide audience. Our advertising campaign of using Twitter and placing posters in universities would already have enticed our target audience of students and placing posters at train stations and bus stops would have also enticed our older target audience of 25-40.

4.  Our next step would be to release our film. We would want to release our film in small town cinemas at first that hold a spooky feel. For these tickets that would give people first access to see the film first, we would broadcast on twitter, that if people added UNANSWERED on ‘Snapchat’, at midnight a week before the release, a special code would be shown that allows just those people to see the film first at their local, independent cinemas before wide release. This unique one week only experience could be further enhanced by merchandise sold at the events and decorated in a scary way. This would make our audience feel special and a part of something unique. It would also be exciting for the audience as Snapchat is a social network where you can release images very quickly, so they would have the excitement of trying to get the code or print screen it before the picture disappears. The film would then go to larger cinemas for wide release.

The following laptop company inspired my ‘Snapchat’ idea, as they are the first company to use it as a marketing tool.

The following link explains how Co-operative electrical, set to use Snapchat for their marketing campaign towards students…

http://www.thedrum.com/news/2013/08/28/co-operative-electrical-set-use-snapchat-marketing-students-snaptop-campaign

I think that it is a fantastic idea and an extremely modern way of attracting a target audience. That is why I think it would fit perfectly with our edgy, modern film.