LO3 Task 4

Introduction

Hello my name is Keenen Jeremiah Smith and I have been asked to explain the distribution process my chosen film company.

I will be looking into: What distribution means in general, how distribution of my product has been impacted by technology convergence, the platforms my film is available on, to assess the form of technology and to apply evidence of viewing.

Distribution Channels

The definition of distribution is the action of getting a product to a an audience. Recently my chosen films 'Star Wars Episode III''s distribution has been impacted by technological convergence in a positive way. This is due to the fact that more people are using the internet now meaning digital copies of the film have been produced on a large range of platforms. This means an increase in the distribution of the product meaning more people will purchase this film due to its availability.

In terms of the platforms that 'Star Wars Episode III' has been distributed on: Netflix, Amazon Prime, YouTube, iTunes, Blu-Ray and DVD. These are easy means of accessing the film on multimedia platforms which make it easier for people on different devices to access the film. Due to 'Star Wars Episode III' being produced on so many platforms it was able to attract a larger audience therefore increasing the distribution rate for both the franchises products and film, therefore increasing the profit for the producers.

Doing my research on 'Star Wars Episode III' I have come to understand that the film is an example of technological convergence. The reason why I think they've done this is because it is an easier means of producing film without wasting too much money. The reason I know this is because it costs a lot of money to produce an analogue version of a film due to the reels expensive, whereas if you were to produce a digital version of the film it would cost less money to produce due to the fact that producing disks are cheaper for the company to produce their final product on, in comparison to film reels which cost a lot of money to produce.

Looking at the viewing evidence from the TV figures of 'Star Wars Episode III' I have come to understand that Lucasfilm has produced quite a high revenue after the production of the film. It originally cost $113 million for the whole production process of the film. Looking at the revenue produced by 'Star Wars Episode III' I can see that all the money they had used towards the production they had gained it back and made a great amount of income at $380,270,577. This indicates to me that Star Wars Episode III in terms of its distribution was very successful at box office.

Looking at the legal side of the distribution of ‘Star Wars Episode III’ I understand that before they could distribute any of their products they has to make sure that their products met the criteria when I comes to meeting the BBFC’s requirements in order to distribute their film product to the market. The BBFC gave 'Star Wars Episode III' a certificate 12, this means it is made to be distributed for a mass audience. This helps the audience know whether or not the film is suitable for a certain age range. 


Advertisment

When 'Star Wars Episode III was being advertised duing the relase of the film, the interent wasn't as popular or as used as it is now. This means a lot of the advertisment that went into promoting 'Star Wars Episode III' would've been through printed or televised media. Places you would've seen the print media poster to this film would've been on billboards, busses, posters and leaflets. This is due to the fact that these are quite common means of advertisment back in 2005. 

When it comes to how this film was advertised by 21st Centuary Fox, I have come to understand that intergration had taken part within the industry. This be potrayed through advertisment commercials on tv and articles within the news paper. This is an easy method for 21st Centurary Fox due to the fact that they own different subsidaries that work under their conglomerate company of 20th Centuary Fox.

Also due to the fact that 'Star Wars' is considered quite a big franchise gives it notable advertisment within a mass audience due to the film franchise being such a big household name that families would already know from the original films. This brings in more of an audience because quite a lot of people hve watched the old films.