P4

LO3 Understand how media products are distributed and promoted

P4

You need to investigate how your chosen film or videogame reaches its intended audience. To do this you need to analyse the texts

• Distribution channels
• Advertising

Distribution channels 

This refers to how and where the film is available. There is lots of useful information available about how a film is distributed on the Film Distributors' Association website. 

It is likely, but not certain that the film will have had a cinematic release, you should investigate how many screens the film was shown on. Both Box Office Mojo and IMDB have this information, you must look at the global figures to see what other countries the film was released in as this will help provide you with a clearer picture of the potential audience. 

You must also consider other ways a film is now distributed, this can be online via legal streaming means such as the BFI Player, the Curzon home cinema player or sites such as Netflix and Amazon Prime. The film may also be available to buy as a digital download from the iTunes store or Amazon. As well as this the film will have a DVD/Blu-Ray release and for lower budget films this can often be a way for the film to make back its budget as it will have had a limited cinematic release.

Advertising

Films can be advertised in a number of ways, the most popular approach is to use trailers and posters. These have different functions, for example a film may have a number of trailers building up to a release date. A big budget Hollywood film will often use a teaser trailer before releasing a longer trailer which provides more exposition of the story in contrast a lower budget release may rely on a single trailer. Alongside this posters are often used to nudge audiences into remembering when a film is being released. 

Questions to help you.

1. Create an outline of the distribution for your chosen text. This should include the release date, the number of screens, the countries it was released in, how much it grossed in total at the cinema. As well as this you should find out where else it can be bought from, this may be online, DVD/Blu-Ray or via a streaming website. 
2. You need to download and analyse a trailer for your chosen text. What does it tell us about the text? How is the text being positioned? In what ways does the trailer appeal to the target audience? 
3. Find at least 2 different posters for your text and analyse them. How is the text presented in the poster? What aspects of the text are foregrounded? What text is on the poster and how does this attract an audience?