Production and Distribution in the Film Industry

There are many arguments involving who has the most power in the film industry in terms of what gets made and what gets seen. You could argue its the audience; they decide what they like and the film companies accommodate to make the most profit. This is also correct in terms of actors; if the audience likes an actor or celebrity, film companies will employ them and then the celebrity becomes extremely powerful. In todays films you can increasingly see more comedians, models, singers, you tubers in films because film companies know that audiences will watch them. But does this mean they have the most power? Hollywood actors are still the most in demand due to their status and legacy of past films. Alternatively, another perspective is that its the promotion and the need and demand for films that make them sell. Do the film companies have the most power because their convincing us these films are what we want to see? Its true that the best films are those with the most hype, but this can also hinder the production company due to the fact that if the film doesn't live up to the audiences expectations the film will flop.


Distribution entails :

• Promoting Films
• Distributing Films to the Cinema
• > Do this by using a system called DCP that gets shipped to other countries inside a case
• Getting them onto DVD/UMD

Promotion

Above the line Promotion - Advertising with mass media to promote the film and target consumers. This includes conventional media; TV, radio, print and the internet. Its targeted towards a wide spread of audience not individually.

Below the line Promotion - More one to one promotion. For example the use of pamphlets, banners and placards.

Analysing multi-screen cinemas
Odeon Cineworld Showcase
How many screenings? 24 47 62
How many films in total? 11 16 16
How many films being screened several times? 7 9 12
More than one cinema at the same time? 16
Number of unique screenings compared to total screenings  25% 14.9% 6.5%
Number of films in terms of number of screenings 45.8% 34% 25.8%
Conclusions? In the UK, the film industry is very much based on big produced films, mainly those from American Hollywood. There are a few individual films but these only have a few screenings and are therefore very limited in their exposure and audience. The big films usually have more than one screening due to very high demand and some even in 3D, as time progresses the show times are usually reduced due to less demand until they stop showing them altogether, this can take weeks or even months.

A small UK based film company might face problems in getting its film shown due to the 5 major film distributors taking up around 9 of every 10 films seen in the UK. Not just this but major distributors usually have more than one screen or multiple showings throughout the day, leaving the smaller film company around one showing a day. This means only so many people can see this film as well as the timing being limited and the promotion for it being less in size due to a smaller budget for the film.

In what format and why are films shown in cinemas?
Nowadays, cinemas use a system called DCP. Its a file that requires a licence to activate, that the cinema has. Films are shown in cinemas because of the experience, better quality sound and a bigger screen all account to the atmosphere of the cinema experience.