Digital Distribution Essay

Based on the ‘Digital Distribution’ question from the January 2012 Media Studies exam.

To what extent does digital distribution affect the marketing and consumption of media production of films?

Plan

• films in the present day are distributed digitally – not on film anymore
• they are also distributed on VOD
• the way films are marketed has changed over time
• films now have to be marketed to appeal and to appear to users of VOD etc. – the platforms on which films are distributed – simple adverts and posters are no longer as effective

Case Studies

A Field In England

• day-and-date release
• released on 5th July 2013 in 17 select Picturehouse cinemas across the UK, on Blu-Ray and DVD, TVOD (Transactional Video On Demand), and was broadcasted on Chanel 4’s film channel, Film4, on free-to-air television.
• – on the opening weekend the film made £21,399 in the 17 cinemas.  It picked up 2,213 admissions with a screen average of £1,259 from the 17 sites, finishing at number 20 in the UK chart.
  – Additional special screenings on the opening Friday generated £10,783 from 14 screens.
• – primary audience was identified by the films distributors as ABC1 18-25 year olds.
  – cinema exit polls showed and average age of 35, skewing strongly male, below the average age of all cinema going.
  – 77% of the cinema audience said they knew it was available free on television.
• – averaged 367,000 viewers during its free television screening.
  – total television reach of the film was 918,000 viewers, which was about 1.8% of the population.
• – audience for the film was made up of more male, ABC1 and over-55 views than is usual for the slot.
• – combined HMV, Amazon DVD and Blu-Ray sales on the Friday and Saturday reached 1,462, with Blu-Ray outselling DVD.
  – VOD rental figures were well ahead of the 2,000 forecast, with 3,133 on iTunes, 1746 on Virgin Media, and 714 on Film4OD.  Download to own figures on iTunes were 680, which was below the predicted 1,000.
• – release did not include subscription VOD (SVOD) services, such as Netflix and LoveFilm and some pay-per-view services, notably Sky Box Office.
• – marketing plan was to build interest across all platforms – Channel 4, Film4, Film4OD, Picturehouse Cinemas, the related websites and social media channels and through VOD channels.
• – an innovative risk-sharing deal was agreed with theatrical and other platforms to ensure that there was no unfair burden on any one area of exploitation.
  – interviews with executives suggested the film would not have bettered its performance through a conventional release.
  – Wheatley had a keen interest in new forms of communication and distribution.

Special Correspondents

• day-and-date release on 29th April 2016 on VOD (Netflix)
• announced in April 2015 that Netflix had pre-bought the global distribution rights for roughly $12 million.
• world premiere took place on 22nd April 2016 at the Tribeca Film Festival – was followed by an audience discussion with Ricky Gervais, Eric Bana and additional cast members.
• can be assumed that it will eventually be available on DVD and Blu-Ray at some point, although it has not been confirmed yet – might not be any time soon due to the initial VOD release

-Marketing was quite minor, mainly social media based  – Ricky Gervais shared the first trailer on his Twitter account

– Gervais and Banna also starred on talk shows, such as the Graham Norton Show, as a way of promoting the film

Prometheus

– Traditional theatrical distribution, then on DVD/Blu-Ray and VOD providers such as iTunes

• Total Lifetime Grosses – Domestic:  $126,477,084     +    Foreign:  $276,877,385=   Worldwide:   $403,354,469

  Opening weekend:  $51,050,101

– RSA promotion company – used guerrilla marketing strategies

– Interesting and new marketing technique:

• online – websites (projectprometheus.com, weylandindustries.com)
• social media
• viral videos

Spectre

– Traditional theatrical distribution, then on DVD/Blu-Ray and VOD providers such as iTunes

• UK opening day gross profit: £6.3 million ($9.2 million)
• Uk opening week gross profit: £41.7 million ($63.8 million) – broke the UK record for highest first-week opening, which was set by Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban in 2004, making £23.88 million ($36.9 million).
• Worldwide gross profit (as of 31st March 2016):  UK – $135.5 million  +  USA – $200.1 million = Worldwide – $880.7 million
• In the UK, it surpassed Avatar to become the country’s highest-grossing IMAX release ever with $10.09 million.
• Spectre also broke the record for the best per-screen opening average with $110,000, a record previously held by The Dark Knight with $100,200.

– Online marketing technique – websites and social media promotion
– Product placement marketing – Heineken and Sony adverts

 

Essay

In the present day the majority of films made are distributed digitally, stored on hard rives, sent to theatres and cinemas over the internet, and exhibited to the public on digital projectors; the days of celluloid film are drawing to a close.  Even if a film is produced on film, as is the choice of a few directors, it is converted to digital and distributed digitally.  Films are distributed theatrically and on DVD/Blu-Ray, but the rise of VOD (Video On Demand) has opened up new doors for film distribution, and even changing the way some films are distributed initially.  Due to platforms such as VOD films can be viewed and consumed with more ease, but they also mean that the marketing of films has had to change.  Films have to be marketed to appear more to the modern generation who use VOD, such as on social media; the majority of VOD users are also social media users, or at least web savvy.  Simple trailers and posters are no longer as effective as they once were due to the changing and increasing ways in which people view films.

Kevin Wheatley’s A Field In England is an example of a film utilising new means of modern film distribution.  The film was released to the general public in the UK using a day-and-date release on 5th July 2013.  It was simultaneously released in 17 select Picturehouse cinemas across the UK, on Blu-Ray and DVD, on TVOD (Transactional Video On Demand) and was also broadcasted on the Film4 film channel on free-to-air television.  On the opening weekend the A Field In England made £21,399 in the 17 cinemas.  It picked up 2,213 admissions with a screen average of £1,259 from the 17 sites, finishing at number 20 in the UK chart.  Additional special screenings on the opening Friday generated £10,783 from 14 screens.  The film averaged 367,000 viewers during its free television screening and the total television reach of the film was 918,000 viewers, which was about 1.8% of the population.  Combined HMV, Amazon DVD and Blu-Ray sales on the Friday and Saturday reached 1,462, with Blu-Ray outselling DVD, and VOD rental figures were well ahead of the 2,000 forecast, with 3,133 on iTunes, 1746 on Virgin Media, and 714 on Film4OD.  The download to own figures on iTunes were 680, which was below the predicted 1,000.  The film’s release did not include SVOD (Subscription Video On Demand) services, such as Netflix and LoveFilm, and some pay-per-view services, notably Sky Box Office.  Interviews with executives suggested the film would not have bettered its performance through a conventional release.

A Field In England‘s release was not a conventional one and this was partly due to it being a film that wasn’t produced or released by one of the ‘Big Six’; it was never going to have a large or lengthy slot in hundreds of cinemas across the UK because the collaboration between the production company and the cinema was non-existent.  It was also due to the fact that Wheatley had a keen interest in new forms of communication and distribution, and interviews with executives suggested the film would not have bettered its performance through a conventional release.  Wheatley utilised new forms of digital technology, such as VOD and freeview television, to distribute his film, and in doing to made it much easier to be viewed and consumed by audiences across the UK.  The fact that the release was -day-and-date made it even better; people could choose to go to the cinema or watch it on TV for free at exactly the same time, and 77% of the cinema audience actually said they knew it was available free on television.

Another film with a similar interesting digital release was Ricky Gervais’s Special Correspondents, which had a day-and-date release on 29th April 2016 purely on the Netflix VOD platform.  It was announced in April 2015 that Netflix had pre-bought the global distribution rights for the film for roughly $12 million.  The world premiere took place on 22nd April 2016 at the Tribeca Film Festival, which was followed by an audience discussion with Ricky Gervais, Eric Bana and additional cast members.  It can be assumed that Special Correspondents will eventually be available on DVD and Blu-Ray at some point, although it has not been confirmed yet; this might not happen any time soon due to the initial VOD release.

The film’s marketing was quite minor and mainly social media based; Ricky Gervais shared the first trailer for the film on his Twitter account.  This was relatively effective as Gervais himself has a large social media fanbase, but also because the majority of people who use platforms such as Netflix also use social media; they are going to most likely see the trailer and therefore be more likely to watch it upon its release.  This would have been increased in the UK as Gervais has a large fanbase as a British comedian.  Simple posters and trailers as with a conventional film release would have been less likely to reach the target audience of VOD users.  Gervais and Banna also appeared on talk shows, such as the Graham Norton Show in the UK, as a way of promoting the film.

Ridley Scott’s Prometheus was released differently to both A Field In England and Special Correspondents.  It was released in a conventional theatrical distribution, and then on DVD/Blu-Ray and on VOD platforms such as iTunes.  On the opening weekend the film made $51,050,101, and its total worldwide lifetime gross is $403,354,469.  RSA, a promotion company, were hired to promote Prometheus, and to do so they used guerrilla marketing strategies, utilising the internet and social media to reach their audiences.  Websites were created, such as projectprometheus.com and weylandindustries.com promoted the film and offered users exclusive content as well as the various viral videos that were created, which introduced different cast members as characters.  These viral videos were also shown on various social media sites as a way of promoting Prmotheus, as well as the trailers and movie posters.  Due to the majority of people now using social media RSA had to tailor the promotion of the film to appeal to the target audience, which mainly included people who used social media, therefore it had to be marketed on social media sites.

Over time the way in which films are distributed and the way that they are viewed and consumed by audiences has changed, therefore the marketing of films has also had to change.  Due to the increasing rate in which films are distributed on VOD providers, the marketing has had to change to appeal to the target audience of the people who use it, which are predominately users of the internet and social media sites.