EVALUATION – QUESTION 3

By Megan Ladds

WHAT MEDIA INSTITUTION MAY DISTRIBUTE MY FILM AND WHY

“Universal was founded in 1912 by motion picture visionary Carl Laemmle, a German immigrant who had a dream of building a world of entertainment in Southern California. On March 15th, 1915 Mr. Laemmle’s dream was realized with the opening of Universal Studios Hollywood. On that day, Laemmle issued a press release that predicted not only the future of Universal Pictures but of the global entertainment company that would grow out of the movie studio.”

Reference: http://www.universalstudioshollywood.com/auditions/about-universal

“Universal's content is released across traditional and digital distribution channels, including theatrical exhibition, physical and electronic home entertainment, pay and free television, and subscription on-demand services. Over the years, Universal has achieved both popular success and critical acclaim with Academy Award-winning films such as Atonement, The Bourne Ultimatum, King Kong, Brokeback Mountain, Ray, A Beautiful Mind, The Pianist, and Lost in Translation. Classic, Academy Award-winning films from Universal include All Quiet on the Western Front (1930), To Kill a Mockingbird (1962), The Deer Hunter (1978), and Schindler's List (1993). In 2007, Universal began an all-audience family film business with Illumination Entertainment. Its first production, the 3D CGI blockbuster Despicable Me, was one of the highest-grossing and most profitable films of 2010.”

Reference: http://www.universalpictures.co.uk/about-us

From this information above I chose Universal as my institution, as I want my film to have a big production company involved with it so it can become really popular and I can ask them to add my film on one of their TV channels to be able to make more popularity of my overall film. Also I chose this institution because it also has the “highest-grossing and most profitable films of 2010” and this means that I can gain a higher amount of profit and have money left over to make another film. I think having a worldwide production company working with me will create more publicity and popularity from my audiences.

IDEOLOGIES THAT THEY HAVE AND WHY WE ARE SIMILAR

Their holdings in other media-related industries are extensive but varied, including music and print publishing, video games, consumer electronics, theme parks , toy manufacturing, cable and satellite systems and online media

A providing ground for new talent, and an arena in which experimentation and innovation are not only welcome but essential for commercial success

Reference taken from Media Industries: History, Theory and Method book, chapter 3 and made in 2007

Both of us want to make sure that we can indulge, in making sure that the audience who watch the film have an enjoyable experience. This might include making loads of merchandise to go with the film to gain more profit. Also I think that if you get commercial success then this can make the film stand out a lot more and this is highly important. However having this success needs an extremely high budget, but Universal do make sure that they focus more on the film first then the merchandise, which is really important and that is why I chose this institution as it fits with the things I need to make my film successful, using different ideas to make the film become a world wide phenomenon.

WHAT ARE THEIR PROFITS LIKE AND WHAT DO THEY SPEND IT ON?

Comcast merged the former GE subsidiary with its own cable-television programming assets, creating the current NBCUniversal. Following Federal Communications Commission (FCC) approval, the Comcast-GE deal was closed on Jan 29, 2011. In March 2013, Comcast bought the remaining 49% of NBCUniversal for $16.7 billion.

In May 2015, Gramercy Pictures was revived by Focus Features as a genre label, that concentrated on action, sci-fi, and horror films

Reference: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_Studios

This is evidence to show that if I used Universal as one of my institutions then my film would become a world wide success. As it has merged with many other companies to make it a brilliant film company, and it has spent a lot of money too. As well as this they know the thriller genre very well as they have made films like it before, which helps a lot with my film.

WHAT IS UNIVERSALS BUSINESS MODEL LIKE?

“An American film studio, owned by Comcast through its wholly owned subsidiary NBCUniversal, and is one of Hollywood's "Big Six" film studios. Its production studios are at 100 Universal City Plaza Drive in Universal City, California. Distribution and other corporate offices are in New York City. Universal Studios is a member of the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA). Universal was founded in 1912 by the German Carl Laemmle, Mark Dintenfass, Charles O. Baumann, Adam Kessel, Pat Powers, William Swanson, David Horsley, Robert H. Cochrane, and Jules Brulatour. It is the oldest major film studio in the United States, and the world's fourth oldest major film studio, after the renowned French studios Gaumont Film Company and Pathé, and the Danish Nordisk Film company.”

Reference: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_Studios

Above shows that they are very experienced and have been making blockbuster films since 1912, by using this experience I can make sure that I can understand what my audiences needs are and to also collaborate with the other 100 studios into making it something extraordinary that can wow everyone who watches it. This helps me to understand my genre a lot more and to make it more exciting for the audience I have chosen to aim it at, as Universal know a lot about what they are doing because they have loads of knowledge and expertise.

IF I COULD DISTRIBUTE MY FILM HOW WOULD I DO THIS?

When distributing my film I would like to make posters, advertise it on the TV with a trailer and also have my own social media account, to then be able to have loads of people send it to all their friends and family and it will be easy to use by letting people know about the new film without it costing too much money. In addition using social media sites like YouTube, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram I can easily get to my target audience and ask these people questions about what they really like in a film and dislike to help with the market research and I could also add competitions on these too. Besides this I could make my very own website with information about my institution and films that I have made. Also this helps with special offers that can be added onto social networking sites and my website, to help gain more enjoyment for my target audience and to also get them wanting to see more. Additionally, I will place my film among other films that are out there which are well known by audiences this will include Jurassic World or Jaws, as these are thriller films and many people have heard about them before. This then means my audience will know what genre my film is and this will encourage them to watch this film because of them being next to well known movies.

Also YouTube is easy to use as this is cheap as well and I can add trailers and small preview clips of my film to get them even more interested into buying the DVD or seeing it at the cinemas. I don’t then waste all my profit, and because I have Universal as one of my institutions I can collaborate with this company into making my film stand out a lot more and they can even help me do a lot more expensive advertisements to help my film gain the popularity it deserves, and everyone knows this company really well so they know that this film will be really good. Finally, I could also use film reviewing websites to my advantage, as these allow opportunities to advertise new products to specific target audiences and fortunately this is free and simple to use. An example may be that a film reviewer might of seen a trailer on my YouTube account or Facebook account and then this person would write about it on their website to then allow other people to be interested in that film, which helps a lot without paying a fortune to show case my final product.