Question 3 -23rd March
What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
For this question, I decided to do a range of research of media institutions. The biggest media institutions in the industry currently are called the big six. The big six consist of: 20th Century Fox, Columbia Pictures, Universal Studios, Paramount, Warner Brothers and Walt Disney. I discovered that 20th century fox's most popular films were thriller films such as X-Men, Avatar and The Maze Runner however they did also make quite a few comedy films, such as The Simpsons movie. Whereas Columbia pictures produced their most popular films with the genre of either comedy or action. Some of their most popular films include: The amazing spiderman, The Smurfs and 21 jump stree. Universal pictures creates a range of different genres of films however there most successful films include Jurassic park and Jaws. This suggests that Thriller and action films are Universals most supported genre. Both Paramount and Warner brothers are successful for ction films, such as Transformers(made by paramount) and The Dark Knight (made by Warner brothers). Compared to the other media institutions involved in the big six, Walt Disney has a very different film genre. Walt Disney is famous for making comedies, romance and fantasy films, often aimed at children. I have decided that for our psycho-thriller film, none of the big six would be the right choice. As although 20th Century Fox and Univeral Pictures are appropriate for the thriller genre, they are both very popular American institutions and often have famous and well recognised actors/actresses. Due to our film being British made and containing low profile actors and actresses, it would not be appropriate for a large institutions such as Universal Pictures or 20th Century Fox to distribute our film.
However, when deciding that The Big Six would not be the best choice for our film, I decided to do some research into smaller British film institutions as i felt they would be more appropriate and would help our film become successful as it would be aimed at the correct niche audience.
Firstly i did some research into Working Title Films. I learnt that they were a British media institution who had been awarded 'Most successful British film company' in 2009. I also learnt that they based there uk films and aimed that international audiences. This could be helpful for the growth of our film and the popularity it could reach if shown in different countries.However once looking into the institution more, I learnt that they were mostly known for creating romantic comedies, such as 'Love Actually' and 'Bridget Jones'. Therefore they would not fit our films genre of a psycho-thriller. I also learnt that there formula to be successful involved having a successful American actor/actress within the British film. This is something our film obviously does not contain, therefore Working title films may not be the best choice for our film 'The Escapist'.
After looking into Working Title films, I discovered another British media institution could Hammer Productions. I discovered that Hammer productions was founded on the 5th November 1934. Hammer productions specialises in psycho-thriller and horror films and has created some of the most famous thriller films. Such as Dracula, The Mummy and Frakenstien. After not making films for a while Hammer productions returned in 2010 with 'Let me in' a thriller/horror film. Since then Hammer productions has made some of the most popular psycho-thrillers in both the British and American film industrie with films such as The women in black and The quite ones (2014). Due to Hammers success within psycho-thriller films and them being an independent british film institution, I feel that they would be the best choice to distribute our psycho thriller film. As their current audience would like our genre and the contents it contains. Therfore i feel that Hammer productions could help our film to become successful.
