Evaluation Question 3

Q3) What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

The main distributors for my thriller opening ‘Thief’ would probably be internet based, because it would attract my target audience. The internet is extremely popular within my target audience (16-25 year olds) because many of them use the internet daily and it has therefore become a common place within this age range. The YouTube website is especially popular amongst young adults as it specialises in video sharing and is free and easy to access popular videos/music videos online. Therefore this website would be ideal and a predominant way to distribute my thriller film. It can also be easily accessed through mobile phones such as smart phones (iPhone, Blackberry and Android phones). Youths can then view video clips such as my thriller easily and more importantly for free. The fact that YouTube shows free clips is a major benefit to young people who want to watch clips but without the hassle and expense, as not many of them would pay to watch a two minute clip. They can easily share this video clip amongst their friends via a quick share link. Social networking sites such as facebook and twitter might distribute our media product as they have the same target audience and it is free as well. If ‘Thief’ was shown on a social networking site, then many people from around the World will have the chance to view it and write comments about it, giving opinions on whether they liked it or not. This would then create a sensation surrounding ‘Thief’ depending on whether it is a successful hit or not.

This is a screen shot of my introduction to a thriller film 'Thief' on YouTube. It has been uploaded onto my personal channel so that different people can view it and comment.  

This is a screen shot from YouTube highlighting the simplicity of sharing or embeding a video onto social networking sites as it demonstrates at the bottom with the facebook and twitter logo.

My film is innovative as it challenges the role of women in society but stereotypes teenage boys to be dangerous. By using a skateboard and a young cast makes my thriller original because these are not common factors in thriller films and could therefore merit funding from Working Title or Warp films so it can then be developed as a feature film. It could then be distributed by Art House Media institutions such as Cinema City. Or another possibility is that it could go straight onto DVD as many independent films do because they might not have a budget big enough to pay cinemas to show their film. 

Short film competitions are a great opportunity and an important factor for young film makers such as myself. A popular competition is the ‘Virgin Media Shorts’ which looks for films that are just over 2 minutes long, which is how long my thriller opening is, so would be perfect to distribute my film. It also allows the 12 winning films to be shown in cinemas nationwide which would be vital publicity for young film makers. Short films are shown at Cinema City during the adverts before films. This provides students, particularly UEA students to show their films to a wider audience and demonstrate their talent as serious young film makers. If Cinema City distributed my opening to ‘Thief’ then it would be a great platform to launch a film making career.

This is a screen shot of the recommendations for the virgin media short film competition.