Question 3

Q3. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

Our production company was named Cadavereel Studios since we used the image of an old fashioned, grunge style tape reel that had a very macabre style and image. We tied the name with the image since it is rather dark and cadaverous, and obviously added a reel to it to make it rather relative to media. Production companies pay all the royalties, own the rights, do the casting, and choose the director.

Our camera reel style design was inspired by the opening titles of Se7en, with the camera flashes and tape reels since we thought a darker and more dirty and discoloured version would be fit for use to use in a dark Thriller to add a more unnerving atmosphere.

We drew inspiration from Lionsgate since they change their logo design to fit Thrillers and Horrors to add to the atmosphere so if we had an adaptable logo that was fit for the genre like Lionsgate do then we could in fact create atmosphere merely using the production company design and editing effects. Ideally I believe Lionsgate would be appropriate to distribute our film since they are a new and growing production company who are becoming increasingly popular in favour of many films such as The Hunger Games series and The Divergent series. They also offer opportunities to many small time films with potential that they believe can be big with very little profit. Such as the Saw series or Deliver us From Evil. They specialise in a range of films and seem happy to take on any idea that offers potential. Their films are often rather dark and they specialise in dystopian future style films, with leading titles such as Maze Runner and The Hunger Games meaning they appeal to a market who are intrigued in reading since these films are originally books. Not only that but since the explore darker themes in their films that they are known for, their target audience would be teenagers of 15 and adults up to around age 40 who read. This is because Lionsgate specialise in Thrillers, Horrors and dystopian Sci-Fi movies.

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Production companies film and fuel the production of a film, they pay for the cost of the actual film as well as cast and crew wages or contracts and then make all of the gross profit from the film in theatres after having paid everyone for their contribution. There is only one aim of a production company such as Lionsgate, Paramount and MGM and that is to make more from the profit of the film than they pay out in production costs.

If they were to fund our film it would come directly from them to allow a good budget for the film to pay for each crewmember and actor that contributed to our film, they would pay for the purchase and design of costumes and supplement of props also. They would own the rights to the film so we would be paid for the production but they will make more in gross profit after the money is made from the film. Production companies like Lionsgate would offer a contract since they are a more mainstream company so they would offer a particular percentage that goes to everyone who contributed which will be split based on their own individual contracted payment agreements.

The crew are a behind the scenes contribution to the film and it states in their contract and out of common decency that they are credited and named for their work. Each main contribution such as make-up, casting, editing, filming, music and production as well as writing deserves crediting so it is to almost promote and thank each individual for their contribution to the film. Potentially, if a music editor is credited on the front of a film and other directors, production companies and critics watch the film and believe the person who did the score was talented, that credit leads to their various opportunities in other films too. The opening credits entertain a various amount of opportunities for many of the crew if it is a box office hit. Industrially speaking it isn’t just the actors who are made famous for their appearance in the film.

Institutionally our film is very similar to that of another Lionsgate film, ‘Hostel’. It is another kidnap and torture based film with many similarities to ours, however we have a completely different style, order and plot to Hostel. The way we have laid out shots and characters is very similar but we made it more rural based, using that of a psychopath who lives out in the fields as opposed to a sick organisation or ‘market’ as it is known as in ‘Hostel’.

To promote the film it would require making a trailer and script as well as plot and narrative to be sent off to a company such as Lionsgate for them to review, read and assess to see if it is up to their standard of potential. They will then offer a contract of rights, payment and distribution to the writers and producers of the movie (in this case myself, Jack, Jordan and Ronan) for it to be released and eventually sold and promoted by Lionsgate.

We would however need to pay for and promote for ourselves and also pay to use the Lionsgate name to promote our film for them to distribute it for us, which would thus come through in their profit after sale of the film. This is done through a license agreement to which our film's trailer would be produced and posted to places such as IMdB, on top of that it would be advertised in cinemas and on film channels using agreements made with companies such as Sky to promote, or contact the owners of a particular channel such as the BBC and pay for an advertisement slot. Lionsgate would then distribute the film by selling to retailers, such as stores like Tesco or even Game who are known to sell films too. On top of that the agreements can be sold to companies like Netflix or Sky where some royalties go towards the production company for each view and purchase of the film.