Within the film industry the importance of marketing and
distribution paired with good production practices are vastly recognised and appreciated.
We can witness first-hand in the film industry how production and distribution
can influence a film's success, and the link between which is more important
can sometimes vary from film to film. We can see, however, that both are
extremely important factors for companies to take into account when trying to
create a popular film.
An example of a
large film company is Disney; Disney's marketing and distribution skills are
incredibly vast and play a key role in contributing to the success of their
films. Disney was founded in 1923 and since has produced over 158 feature
films. The company grew into a popular household name when it released its
first animated classics such as the Lion King and Robin Hood. These films
became timeless and as the target audience is young, the stories were suitable
for children across the world, Disney's 'Robin Hood' was translated into over
sixteen different languages, a clear example of how wide Disney's distribution
tactics have stretched.
Disney also uses
a wide variety of Horizontal and Vertical marketing to ensure wide distribution
of its productions. By owning their own studios, record labels, shops, clothing
brands, radio stations and TV channel, Disney have a wide scope to advertise
with as they own these companies, they are able to distribute through them with
ease. An example of this is Disney's High School Musical, which was premiered
on the Disney Channel and had its own soundtrack released. Disney also use a
variety of Viral Marketing to appeal to their audience with an online presence,
by doing so they can keep their young target audience up to date with new
releases and teasers and are keeping their own company up to date with the
developments of technologies and trends. Disney released its own fan pages on
social networking sites such as Facebook for 'Loyal Followers of the Red Queen'
and many other aspects of the film. By creating fan groups for films, Disney
allows for an even wider audience and can use these pages to spread awareness
and introduce people to the films.
In juxtaposition to how Disney markets and distributes its
films, Bedlam Productions use very different tactics in marketing and
distribution. As a small independent film company founded in 2009, they still
managed to blow audiences away with their drama film 'The King's Speech'. The
film appeals to a smaller and more select target audience, and Bedlam took this
into account by using marketing techniques that would reach people in their
target audience range. The film was advertised on posters and in newspapers more
so than films directed at younger target audiences.
The King's
Speech was shot in the same year as Bedlam Productions was founded, when
considering the success of the film and the fact that it was not from a
well-known company it leads us to wonder whether it is in fact the production
practices and not the distribution which makes a film successful. Bedlam
Productions teamed up with another independent film company, See-Saw Films, and
distributed 'The King's Speech' through Momentum Pictures. Simon Egan, the
producer of the King's Speech placed a great amount of emphasis on the importance
of the script quality when trying to get a film distributed by a large company.
This viewpoint brings into question the rift of quality of film over quantity,
something which Disney and Bedlam can be juxtaposed with to great effect.
Disney's 'Alice
in Wonderland' is an example of a typical Disney film aimed to become hugely
successful. With names of popular stars such as Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham
Carter and Tim Burton the film already creates a wave of people who want to see
it just due to the people involved in the film. The budget given was
$200,000,000 and only two of the sets for the film were real as the rest was
created completely with CGI. When comparing this to the 'King's Speech' with
their low budget of $15,000,000 with help in funding from the UK Film Council,
we can see how even with a small budget a film can become a huge success due to
its quality and production practices. 'The King's Speech' used no CGI in its
production, in fact blow-up people were used to fill a stadium to save on actor
costs. We can see a clear rift between the power and wealth of the two
companies, however, we can also see that this does not build a direct
correlation between power and success of films as 'The King's Speech' was
nominated for twelve Oscars, four of which it won, and 'Alice in Wonderland'
won half this number with two Oscars.
When regarding
Disney as a whole we see that it has received over two hundred Oscar
nominations, but has only won just over fifty of them, when comparing this to
the 'The King's Speech' alone whilst taking into account how many films Disney
has made in comparison to Bedlam Productions it becomes clear that even with a
vast array of marketing and distribution chains at your disposal you cannot
guarantee the response to the film. Indeed marketing and distribution are
highly important in getting people to want to see the film, but if the film
lacks in quality then the success will be short-lived. Quality films such as
'The King's Speech' are films that become timeless through their appeal. Films
such as these are living proof that although marketing and distribution is
important, it can lose all of its worth once the film has left cinemas as
nobody will want to see the film again or buy the DVD to a film they dislike. I
therefore conclude that good production practices hold more wealth over distribution
and marketing techniques as they guarantee a lasting success for a film as
opposed to a short-lived one.