LO3 - Task 4 Distribution and Advertising

Distribution


Distribution is when a product is given to a certain group of people in this case the audience. Distribution also includes the marketing campaign for whatever the product is. 

Seeing as how modern technology allows audiences to view products, it is now easier to access on different platforms, so audiences are able to view the product in more than one place as opposed to just being able to experience it in the cinema or on home DVDs. This is technological convergence. More simply put there are two different types of media analogue and digital (old and new) technological convergence is when they come together to maximum availability for audiences. Dead man's shoes is owned by film 4 and warp so they can show the film on their channel whenever they want to without having to pay for its use. It is (or was at least) also available on Netflix so anyone who pays the monthly subscription fee would be able to view the film for free as much as they want.

Dead Man's shoes is available to viewers on many different services: Cinemas, DVDs, Streaming services, network premiers (viewed on TV) and  Blu-ray. All of these are available to most people, especially the target audience that the film is aiming at, which means that it should be easy for audiences to watch the film when they want. Also, due to smart phones and tablets being able to stream things on the move, people can watch the film whilst they're traveling or whenever it’s convenient.

Dead man's shoes is an example of converged technology. It was made on lower budget, which meant that the production couldn't be completed using only analogue or only digital because it would be too expensive. This meant that the crew would need to find out which parts of each different types of technology would need to be used to create the best film possible with the limited budget that they had. For example most the advertising would be done using new technology (e.g. internet adverts) as it can be done for cheaper and reach a wider audience more easily, but there was also uses of analogue technology when they advertised the film in cinemas using a trailer. There were also some posters put up, which is an example of analogue technology, but not a large amount which would mean that it wouldn't be as seen by people in streets who weren't looking for a film to watch.

On IMDB there are 204 different reviews for dead man's shoes by users and critics alike, one user gives the film a 9/10 and talks about the appeal in it's dark and violent narrative coupled with Consadine's performance.

Dead man's shoes was produced on a budget of £723,000 but the revenue for the film was only $198,000. This shows me that the marketing didn't work that well and that the film probably wasn't distributed as much as the filmmakers would have liked. This may have been due to the marketing techniques used wouldn't have been as easy to access by the film's main target audience, decreasing awareness among those who would be most likely to go out and watch the film. The filmmakers would have likely noticed this effect with the small revenue for cinemas so may have invested more money into advertising campaign for the DVDs.
  
Advertising

The film was advertised using Posters, trailers, since the film was co-created by film4 they would have been able to advertise it on their channel and all other channels owned by the same company as film4, reviews (EMPIRE) and social media.

Most of the advertising done for dead man's shoes was NEW advertising, this is because of how it would be easier and cheaper for them to do, so more could be accomplished with their budget.


Dead Man's Shoes was made on a budget of £723,000 but had a box office of only $198,081, this shows how advertising didn't work that well as the film made a very low amount of money not even achieving half the budget. However, Dead man's shoes wasn't intended for a mass audience and was marketed towards a smaller niche audience., so this can partly account for the film making so little money.

Because Film 4 were a part of the making of the film, they could advertise it across all channel 4's channels for free. Because Warp films is an independent company they don't have many ways in which they can advertise the film however since they're funded by the BFI, that company could also provide an advertising budget and help to promote the film.