Distribution and Advertising

Distribution and Advertising

After the film has been produced, the next stage is the distribution. Distributing a film means selling it to cinemas and film companies. Marketing plays quite a big role in the distribution process of a film as it the advertising of the finished film. Without advertising, there isn't going to be a big enough audience, which means the film will lose money. The advertising injects a lot of money into the profit of the film, without the advertising there wouldn’t be any audience to watch the films which consequents in very little profit for the film.

Above the line advertising

‘Above the line advertising’ simply means the advertising that has to be paid for by the production company. This form of advertising is very important as it can be seen everywhere by everyone, here is a list of some of the main forms of above the line advertising:

· Printed Advertising - Poster Campaigns, Billboards, Bus stops, buses, Tube stations, Magazines
· TV commercials - costs a lot of money
· Cinema trailers
· Youtube Trailers/ Official Movie website

Below the line advertising

The opposite of this is ‘below the line advertising’, meaning advertising that does not have to be paid for. The advertising that doesn’t have to be paid for is advertising through websites such as youtube and facebook.

Social networks have had a huge impact on the distribution of films in recent years. O youtube there is an icon called the ‘share’ icon, the icon means that trailers can be shared onto facebook and twitter and is therefore available for everyone to view. This form of advertising is free as there is no need for the production company to pay, the audience is advertising for them through facebook and twitter. 

Film premiers can attract a huge amount of media coverage. Magazines will have paparazzi and journalists at film premiers photographing and interviewing the stars and the directors, when the photographs are published they are normally accompanied by some kind of article about the premier or the film. This is another form of below the line advertising as the production company has not paid the magazine to write an article about the film, the magazine company is instead advertising for them. There is a symbiotic relationship between the company and the film, this means that they will both benefit from the company being at the premier as the magazines needs something to publish and the film needs as much advertising as possible.

There is one other type of below the line advertising; word of mouth. This simply means people talking to each other, talking about a film they have recently seen or a trailer they thought was good and would like to see.

Researching how distribution and advertising bring in money for production companies has benefited me with my coursework as I understand how important it is to advertise well and properly as it is essentially the only way people will know about the film.