Homework

What is a distributor?
A distributor is also known as 'the invisible art' which is the third part of the film supply film chain. It is also arguably the most important part of the film industry. It is where completed films are brought to life and connected with an audience.

What is licensing?
Licensing is the process by which a distributor acquires the legal right to exploit a film. They will then in addition have to pay a fee to secure the film, the license will then stipulate that the distributor will also pay royalties to the producer taken from the profits generated from the film. Once the license has been agreed it is then the distributors job to launch the film.

Marketing
Marketing revolves around when? and how?. They are released theatrically to the cinema on Fridays. There is a schedule for the up coming releases and this is published by the film distributor association. A distributor will access this schedule to find a Friday release date. This will be chosen by finding a light week. This is where there must be a space to screen the release. There must also be a space for a column to be written for the press. The last two considerations would be what season to release it in bearing in mind that the academic year is the most successful and to also make sure that it doesn't get released the same time as a film that is similar to it e.g. genre.

Prints and advertisement
 Specialised films will often be released with fewer than 10 prints into key independent cinemas, with these prints  'toured' over a 6-month period to all parts of the UK. However, commercial mainstream films will often open on over 200 prints, simultaneously screening in all major UK towns and cities.
    For the majority of films a good press response will help build the profile for there film. As well as advertising there film the most popular design is posters in the cinema. However they also advertise through billboards and underground advertisement.
 national and local newspapers works in tandem with press editorial coverage to raise awareness of a release. Press advertising campaign for specialised films will judiciously select publications and spaces close to relevant editorial. However the cost of this is getting very expensive and in order to lower the cost distributors are advertsing via email, internet and mobile phones.

The distributor
The distributors job is get an agreement with the cinema to screen the film on certain dates. As well as organising the transport of getting the film to the cinema.as part of its wider coordination of print use across the UK. They also have to make sure that they have delivered the film in time as cinemas screening is a tight schedule. They also handle film prints and getting them to the cinema.

Bullet Boy
Bullet boy is a low budget independent features directed by Saul Dibb. The film quickly gathered a reputation as the first film to tackle the difficult subject of contemporary gang and gun crime in Britain’s inner cities. In Hackney, where the film is set, local people saw the film contributing, in one way or another, to the on going debate. By the time the film was released, it had accumulated both word-of-mouth and press coverage in the news pages. Verve Pictures however, saw the potential of the film in the wider market. In order to broaden the theatrical release of the film, Verve applied successfully for funds from the UK Film Council's P and A Fund.75 prints UK wide, in a combination of established independent cinemas and multiplexes concentrated in greater London and other major urban centres. The poster design involved press quotes this was to attract more audience and give it a high profile. The ad campaign, too, aimed for diverse audiences, interested in film and music, urban black and white. The campaign included advertising in all of the national daily newspapers that allocate significant space to film reviews, plus two tabloids, newspapers with a black perspective, a selective London Underground campaign and extensive use of radio stations with a concentration on R 'n' B and Garage, the musical forms with which Walters is associated. At the end of the 6 weeks the film grossed an impressive £450,000 at the UK box office, most of this achieved in carefully selected urban multiplexes rather than specialised cinemas. It was anticipated that the substantial audiences and awareness generated for the theatrical release would ensure success for the DVD release of the film, six months after the theatrical opening.

Digital distribution
In distribution terms, the advantages of digital technology are even clearer, though perhaps longer term. Digital technology is seen to offer a more cost effective and logistics-light alternative to the tried and trusted, but unwieldy model of 35mm print distribution described above. It will, eventually, be cheaper and much less stressful to send films as computer files to cinemas across the UK, than to transport 20-25kg tins of film in the back of a van. In the UK, digital technology has been embraced by the non-theatrical sector, in film societies and schools, where the use of DVD and mid-range digital projection has replaced 16mm.There is little doubt that the advent of digital distribution has the potential radically to alter the modus operandi of distributors around the world. The comparatively low cost of film copies and additional logistical effectiveness of digital distribution provide the distributor with greater flexibility. It will be less expensive in the coming years to offer a wide theatrical opening with many copies, and also conversely, to screen a film for just one performance at any cinema. In theory at least, it will be possible for both distributors and exhibitors to respond more precisely to audience demand