Hi it's Maddie and I'm here again to talk about distribution and advertisement and how they are used by film developers to let their films reach a wider audience. So what exactly is distribution?
Distribution channels
Distribution is when a product is shared out to it’s
audience- whether they be niche or, in
the case of Mr Magorium’s Wonder Emporium, mainstream. It terms of
films, distribution is when the film is made available to consumers. To
distribute a film properly it will require the company to also use promotion
and advertisement so more people go to see it and the developers will make a
larger profit. Independent
companies have to rely on conglomerates to distribute their films, such as 20th Century Fox; Fox uses methods
such as joint ventures to make their films reach a wider audience. Whilst Fox is the distributor or Mr
Magorium’s Wonder Emporium, it was produced by three companies in a joint
venture together (Mandate pictures, Walden media and FilmColony). Conglomerates
such as these use something called covert advertisement which is when
other products will be advertised in their film- for instance in my film k’nex is covertly advertised in the
emporium.
Convergence is when two things join (or converge) together
to create a single thing; or the coming together of more than one technology in
one place. The impact of convergence is that you don’t have to buy as many
devices anymore, which makes it cheaper for the consumer- this happened because
of web 2.0 which is known as the interactive web (the second phase of the
internet where it became available to the public). Technology is coming together to provide new and convenient
devices, most films are now distributed via new technologies using digital
methods. Analogue methods (old media) also existed as a way of past
distribution, such as: film reels, VHS tapes and radio. 20th Century
Fox will have to pay to have their films reel on multiple screens in a single
cinema, which was incredibly expensive, until digital projectors came around. Now films such as Mr Magorium’s Wonder
Emporium are sent to the cinema on a hard drive that connects to the
cinema’s server so it can be played on multiple screens.
There are many ways you can watch films, Mr Magorium’s Wonder Emporium can or could be
viewed: in the cinema, on television, on online streaming websites
(e.g.NOWTV), via the DVD or illegally downloading it on sites such
as putlocker. My film was shown
in cinemas as it was expected to reach a mass, international audience so can
now be bought on DVD. It has been on TV several times, mainly on Sky UK as it is one of 21st Century Fox’s
subsidiaries. It is also easy to find illegally online (on sites such as putlocker) and is
even available to watch on youtube in a format of worse quality.
The world-wide box office revenue of the film is
$68,191,643 and it was distributed internationally as the film translates to
any more economically developed parts of the world as every family with money
will buy their children toys. It wouldn't have grossed this much if it
had not been
advertised as much and been shown across cinemas. The domestic DVD gross of the
film was also high at $24,809,766, showing
it have been successful.
Advertising and promotion
Advertising and promotion are the ways in which a film is marketed to
ensure the target audience is aware of its release. Mr Magorium's Wonder
Emporium was marketed by putting out trailers online and on TV and releasing
merchandise related to the film such as the soundtrack, a book (The
Amazing Compendium of Edward Magorium) and toys such as the sock monkey.
It was also marketed using posters displayed on billboards around America and
was advertised in magazines
which promoted the movie. Social networking was used to gain the film
followers by setting up a Facebook account for it- but Twitter was only used
later by TV companies such as CITV to let their audiences know when the film is
was showing on their channel.
In 2002 David Gauntlet discussed the rise of the Web 2.0: when the
original internet changed from being a place for researchers to input
information to a way of communicating for mankind. Technology is providing more
convenience for audiences and evolving by upgrading to new technologies from
analogue methods to digital methods. Mr Magorium's Wonder Emporium was marketed
via digital methods as it was brought out in 2007 and the fact it used social networking to advertise itself is a modern
convenience.
The films global box office revenue is $68,191,643 and the budget for
the film was $65,000,000. This means that the developers only gained $3,191,543
which is relatively large compared to films made by independent companies but
still not a major profit so it wasn’t
particularly successful. However, the fact that it grossed over $60 million
means the advertisement still must have been relatively effective and the DVD
had a domestic gross of $24,809,766; although its marketing was obviously not
as effective as films such as Avatar as that had a gross of $760,507,625 but
that also had a much higher budget.
In the creation of this film, three different
film companies went on a joint venture to produce it (Mandate Pictures, Walden Media and FilmColony)- these are all relatively iconic film companies. They
advertised Mr Magorium's Wonder Emporium over cross media platfor ms such as
having a book made of it which was published by scholastic (another example of
20th Century Fox and Scholastic going on a joint venture to increase profit).
There is also a soundtrack that was sold for the movie- both of these forms of
advertisement will have helped promote the film so it had a wider audience.
The audience itself also contributes to
the promotion of films. With Mr Magoriums Wonder Emporium one method could be
social networking but another could be by reviews- any form of review will
still get the film out into the public eye but a good review will make the
reader more likely to actually go and watch it. This is the extract of a bad
review written by Roger Ebert: “All of this perhaps sounds like a wonderful
family movie, and to a degree it is, although the story arcs involving Molly
and the accountant and the threats to the store are all recycled from countless
other films. The plot is forever being upstaged by the Emporium. We want to
stop worrying about Molly's self-esteem and just play with more neat stuff. And
is there ever any real doubt that there will be a happy ending?… Hoffman has
countless characters inside of him, and this is one of his nicest… Portman, as
Molly, doesn't think it's that simple, and she has the thankless task of
holding out against the old man's certainty. The suspense, such as it is, will
possibly enthrall kids up to a certain age, but their parents, once they get
over the visual delights of the Emporium, will be grateful the proceedings last
only 93 minutes”. This poor review explains why the film may not have done
as well as it was capable of, as audiences are now reliant on the media it is
likely a lot of people were influenced by the bad reviews and wouldn’t have
seen the film.
That’s all I’ve got to tell you about
distribution for now, I’ll see you guys in the next video!
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