MAIN Post 12.3: What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

The Production Company  is the company that creates and produces a film. They would produce a film and then take it to a distributor. A Distributor is a company who is responsible for the marketing of a film. A small distributor may only be able to put the films on to DVD'S or might have connections in another market or country. A large distributor would be able to make the film available to the public through theatres, networks, downloads, television programmes or DVD's.

If a production company needed funding and they were in Britain then they could obtain the funding they needed from the British Film Institute. The British Film Institute is there to "Encourage the development of the arts of film, television and the moving image throughout the United Kingdom, to promote their use as a record of contemporary life and manners, to promote education about film, television and the moving image generally, and their impact on society, to promote access to and appreciation of the widest possible range of British and world cinema and to establish, care for and develop collections reflecting the moving image history and heritage of the United Kingdom."

They would provide producers in Britain with the appropriate funds needed to create their film. All of the money that The British Film Institute uses is from the national lottery and would be used to fund films that reflect the history and heritage of the UK, films that have been funded include This is England and The King's Speech. 

This is in comparison to a production company somewhere such as Hollywood which would often receive's all of its funding from the studios. The reason the studios would fund such large films is because they know they will make money back once it has hit cinemas, downloads and DVD's. Another possible way that someone could receive funding is from the government or depending on the size and the plot line of the stories some films can be self funded or funded by small businesses. 

If I could chose I would want a large company to be able to distribute our film because of possible subsidiary arms in other media markets or countries meaning the film would be more accessible. I believe a perfect company would be someone like Sony as they have the experience and would be able to market our film in more ways then say a small distributor. Possible marketing could be through print advertisements, trailers during prime time television, through out the internet or at the cinema. However I believe a distributor through the British Film Institute would be more then likely to distribute a film such as ours due to it being a short film which are not often popular and with a risky and controversial storyline it is not a clear hit in contrast to clique and unoriginal romantic comedies where the storyline is always the same and usually makes a large amount of money.

Here's a link to the bfi: BFI website link