FDA UK Distribution and Film Marketing

Distribution

What is meant by the term film distribution?

Film distribution is a way of getting your film out there to its target audience. This could be through premiers, cinema screenings or dvds/blue ray.

What does a film distributor do?

The UK has half a dozen major distributors and there are several other distributors who handle the films that are not made in the top studios. Distributors help to look for features that attract audiences and help to sell it to these people.

How does reach relate to film distribution?
Reach is the way we get the film out to the public. This is achieved through print advertising, online advertising, television adverts etc. Reach can cost the film a lot of money as it is using different media platforms to advertise the film however does not always equal success and this can be a great loss to the producers.

What is meant by marketing plan?

A marketing plan is the overall plan for the business or in this case, the film. The plan is begun by choosing how you are going to meet your audiences needs and expectations and this is done through market research, for example questionnaires. When talking about films, the market plan would be identifying why the audience would want to watch their film.

What is meant by the distribution plan?

A distribution plan  is a plan of how the director/film company intends to get the film out to its audience.

What is the difference between advertising, publicity and promotion?

Advertising: The company pays for advertising and this is the way it is introduced to the audience. Advertising your product may include adverts on the TV or internet or posters. 

Publicity: Unlike, advertising publicity isn't paid for. Publicity can be described as, if your company does something good for mankind, they are seen in a positive light. This provides publicity as there may be newspaper articles written about them, meaning people will be drawn in by the company.

Promotion: This is achieved through advertising. The five parts to promotion are personal selling, advertising, sales promotion, direct marketing and publicity. 

Sinister: The Marketing Campaign

Teaser poster

Teaser poster

Teaser trailer

Main poster

Main trailer

Sinister was released in 71 countries altogether in between 11th March 2012 and 11th May 2013. The film had many distributors yet the UK one was Momentum Pictures. On the opening weekend, it was shown on 370 UK screens and 2,527 USA screens.