Evaluation: Question 3

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

The rape revenge thriller is a sub-genre which is becoming more popular, through the work of feminism bringing awareness of rape culture to the masses. Films such as Thelma and Louise, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo and Kill Bill are prime examples of this genre, and each has been received with massive acclaim by critics and audiences alike.

As an extremely low budget film, it is impossible that our film could be considered mainstream, but, as a concept, it could be considered being produced for a mainstream audience, but would have to be remade with a colossally larger budget.

At current though, it is an independent, alternative thriller which may only attract a very niche audience.

Our thriller would likely only be released to arthouse theatres, since it may only bring in a particular audience type, and has no-one well know backing the project. Cinema City is an example of a theatre which may show the film, since they choose which films they would like to show, as opposed to what is going to make the most money. For example, they would be more likely to show Kill Bill, than Fast And Furious 7, since it is a socially influential film, as opposed to mindless garbage which is only made because it is safe, and proven to rake in money.

Multiplex cinemas such as Vue would not show our film, since the program for which films are shown, is down to a central command, as opposed to being chosen by the people in the theatre itself.

The production would also be digitally distributed - streamed on sites such as YouTube and Vimeo. These sites allow monetisation on videos, so skippable adverts would be displayed before the video to allow an income. It is free to watch and upload on Youtube - something which appeals highly to young people. Young people are our target audience, so they will be more inclined to view the film.

It is also a worldwide platform, so people in other countries are also going to discover the piece.

An example of a short film which has done well on the site, would be ‘Superman, Spiderman or Batman’, which took Best European Short Film 2012, at the European Film Awards, with hundreds of thousands of views. I think I could make it successful through social media marketing, and links to the film.

Considering the genre of our film (thriller), Momentum Pictures is a distribution company to consider. It is one of the leading independent motion picture distributors in the UK and Ireland, and releases approximately 20 films per year. Films include The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, which our film has a certain plot likeness to.

Kaleidoscope is also another company one could look into - they’re a smaller company, and therefore it is more realistic that they may consider distribution of the film. Films include ‘The Last Survivors’ and Elfie Hopkins, which both also have a female protagonists.

I personally do not think that our thriller would be appropriate for TV, unless it were the same, just released as a miniseries in 3-4 parts. In this case, the BBC would be the company that we’d aim for, since they’ve released many thriller series / films. A list can be found here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/tv/programmes/genres/drama/thriller/all.