Film Distribution and marketing

The term ‘Film Distribution’ is the process in which a film is made available to the public for viewing. A film distributor is a company or an individual who is responsible for the marketing of a film; this is large process which involves the company or individual having to create ways to attract the audience to their product, vitally without an audience the film cannot generate any money, which is its sole purpose. The distributor can set the release date for the film and the method in which the film is going to be available for viewing, whether it is via Home viewing (DVD, Video on demand, Download, Television Programmes through Broadcast Syndication etc.) or Theatrically. They are also responsible for the distribution of the film on a global scale; they achieve this through the use of Trailers, Teaser Trailers, Posters, and Billboards and then also by producing merchandise of the movie. A distributor may be able to do this directly, if the film distributor owns the theatres or film distribution networks, or through theatrical exhibitors and other sub-distributors.  A distributor who is limited may only be able to deal with particular pordocuts, for example DVD’S or Blu-ray, or they may work in a particular country or market. In order to gain a successful return on the Film a Marketing plan is put together, this is how they want to attract their audience to their film; they need to come up with a unique marketing plan for their Film in order for it to do well. They have to consider, what would be appropriate for the genre of the Film, and most importantly who their intended target audience is and what would be the best way to draw them in. 
An early connection with your audience is very important, Distribution and marketing of your film should start as early as possible, this can be done via a ‘Teaser Trailer’ being realised up to a year before the film is even finished! This ultimately gives their audience a sneak peek into the film and leaves them wanting more. This will add publicity to your film, via promotion you are trying to persuade the public to take an interest in your product, via event sponsorship and organise a tour of the product in order to show what it is all about, in all the main point of promotion is to influence your customers enough, that when the product is realised they will go and pay to see it, and then purchase products such as DVD’s, Blu-ray and generate more money for the film. Some of the best ways of successfully promoting your product are social media (Facebook Fan pages, groups and Twitter), Advertisement, sales promotion, direct marketing, and publicity. A contrast in the available ‘reach’ in marketing can be seen in the British film ‘Colin’ this film had a very low reach only being released in one cinema in the UK and having an estimated budget of just $70! Due to its incredibly small budget ‘Colin’ had very small reach, this shown in contrast to a film such as the 2010 film ‘A nightmare on Elm street’ the film had a budget of $35,000,000 and on its opening weekend was shown in 3,332 cinemas, the film gained a massive $32,902,299 on its opening weekend smashing and breaking box office records at the time, seeing a big contrast  to ‘Colin’ showing how budget is extremely important, in the Distribution and marketing of a film, and the overall success of it.