Ryder Broadbent Smith – 103B Question 3: What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

The difference between mainstream and independent production companies and film Mainstream Independent Medium to large budgets. Averaging between $ million, for example Shutter Island has an estimated budget of $80 million. Well known stars to attract a wide audience, such as Christian Bale, Tom Cruise, etc Use of Special Effects to create a visually appealing piece and will often heavily use green screen High production value, indicating quality and a professional level Obvious and thorough marketing campaigns, e.g. billboards, TV spots, viral marketing, awards Are likely to make a large profit due to the widespread audience Very small budget. Films like Down Terrace and Monsters made on budgets under £20,000 are classed as independent but the budget can range up to £1 Million Often due to budget restrictions, new and rising actors are employed. An example of this is Joseph Gordon- Levitt in Brick Special effects will be kept to a minimum, however experimental techniques are used instead to create an impact of the audience, as seen in Elephant Small scale marketing. Far more viral marketing for independent films in recent years, also making use of film festivals like SXSW and Cannes film festival Difficulties in producing revenue Film

Production Company examples Mainstream Independent Boum Productions The Awakening (Nick Murphy. 2011) Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (Tomas Alfredson, 2011) In Bruges (Martin McDonagh, 2008) Dead Man’s Shoes (Shane Meadows, 2004) The Kill List (Ben Wheatley, 2011) The Matrix (The Wachowskis, 1999) Se7en (David Fincher, 1995) The Departed (Marin Scorsese, 2006) Inception (Christopher Nolan, 2010) Collateral (Michael Mann, 2004) Cloverfield (Matt Reeves, 2008) Disturbia (D.J. Caruso, 2007) Mission: Impossibles III (J.J Abrams, 2006)

4 If we were to make our opening title sequence into a feature length film, it would very likely be an independent piece for many reasons. The lack of a Hollywood style script is evident in the seemingly single and lonely character. This would isolate large parts of the audience who would feel unable to relate to the protagonist, Lloyd. The issue of wide scale appeal in terms of narrative is also present as the development may seem slow and clunky until resulting in a larger reveal towards the end. Mainstream productions will keep the audience alert constantly to full maintain attention, whereas our piece requires conceptual thinking and contains many narrative enigmas. It is also unlikely we’d be able to secure a large budget for piece and would have to seek indie distributers such as Film 4, Studio Canal and Entertainment Film for any kind of release. A way to gain recognition would be to enter our film into film festivals such as Cannes, BFI, SXSW and Sundance. If accepted the names hold relevance in the independent community and may increase its popularity. Production companies like Boum may be interested in our piece as they are a relatively small company who distributed the Brightoner Ben Wheatley’s The Kill List, a very dark Thriller. We may also approach Film 4 as they support a huge number of independent films which vary massively in genre. Our OTS Prima Facie fits into the category of and independent film

5 If distribution was possible... If distributed into a theatrical release it’d likely to be featured in the multiple Picture House theatres across the UK, such as the Duke of York’s in Brighton. Before proper distribution the feature would have to advertised in some form to raise awareness and create publicity. However, due to the small budget conventional advertisement like billboards and TV spots would not be available meaning other methods would be used. Most notably these would include the use of social network sites like Twitter, Facebook and Reddit to create internet traffic. Viral marketing would most likely be essential in distribution as the internet is a massive source of publicity if managed correctly, for example Iron Sky (Timo Vurorensola, 2012) asked people to request the film in their area, showing local cinemas the opportunity for profit.