Institutions Production.Distribution.Exhibition ADIA TV or Film?and Certification

Companies

Production companies

Mosaic Films   We decided on using Mosaic films as our production company, this was due to their

history in producing creative documentaries. They are also a company that focuses on creating cinematic documentaries rather than ones for television, and this was the style and appearance we wanted our film. On top of this they have also had experience of creating short films that have been successful, for example their short, ‘I Can’t Go To School Today’ won a BAFTA. The company are also based in London and work across the UK. This was also an advantage as it meant communication would be easy as they’re in the same country. Due to the limits in budget, also means by choosing a company close to us that traveling and communication isn’t an issue, unlike Grassroots Films.

Distribution Companies

Journeyman Productions We chose Journeyman productions as our distributer. They have had experience in co-

producing as well as distributing so have a lot of knowledge about the processes of creating and releasing films. Within the company they also have a specific department for documentaries, further supporting their experience. They have a strong belief in producing informative content, as due to the fact we wanted to show the truth about the industry we felt they would be a fitting distributer. Another reason we chose Journeyman as our distributer was the fact that they can distribute on several platforms. Also like Mosaic Films they are based in the UK in Surrey, Greater London.

Production, Distribution, Exhibition

Production

 If we were to produce our documentary professionally with Mosaic Films then the processes would be as followed:

For funding, we considered the BFI and NESTA. Out of the two we would probably be more eligible for funding from NESTA, this is because BFI only tend to fund feature length films. NESTA are an UK based organisation that put money into arts projects. They provide investments between £150,000 and £600,000. This money would then be spent on our productions values and marketing.

With money to spend on production values it would mean we would have less uncertainty about locations. In our production, we had to change the location of Genesis’ interview last minute. With funding, we would be able to gain access to areas/ hire out a location to film on, rather than just relying on favours.

If we were producing the film professionally it would also mean that we would get more time to research, plan and film. Planning was a major stage of the production and was something we needed more time on. This means that we would be able to have more time to secure locations, and find interviewees.

In terms of finding music if we were a conglomerate we would’ve had less trouble. This is because we would’ve been able to secure rights easier, as we would’ve had more money to spend on paying for them and would potentially have the contact/links to the artist to get the permission off. However, Mosaic Films are an independent company therefore the process of getting music would’ve been like way we did it in our film; we would have an original piece commissioned.

Distribution

f we were to distribute our production professionally then we would need use a distributer like Journeyman Pictures to determine the marketing strategy for the film. A large part of the campaign would include below the line marketing on the Web 2.0 via converged devices. This would be on social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter. This appeals to our primary audience who are fox thinker digital natives and who have grown up with the internet. As they are very active on social media it means that they are likely to find us.

Marketing on different platforms would be a key part of the campaign, in order to reach a wider audience. For example, the radio advert would attract our target audience  who are older and sophisticated, as stereotypically these are the people who listen to the radio most. Whilst advertising on social media would target our primary audience who are younger and most active on these sites. They have grown up with the internet. Marketing offline in places like the tube would attract the attention of a cross-section of commuters and other passers-by. Not only this, but by advertising at stations that are close to drama and arts colleges it means we would be directly targeting our creative audience who have an interest in theatre . It is quite unlikely that an independent production(?) company could afford posters on the tube, however if we did have to choose a station, Swiss Cottage would be suitable as one of London’s most successful drama schools, The Central School of Speech and Drama, is situated next to it.

As seen in our research, a cohesive marketing campaign is a very effective way to market a product. This is done by creating links between products, also known as a brand identity. In our case this would be the main production, poster and radio advert. For example, we created links between the poster and main production by keeping the gold and black colour scheme in the title, as well as using the font of the title on the poster for the title and credits in the main production. However, for our poster and radio advert we could’ve created better links, by including the tag line on the poster in the radio advert. We did not do this. By including the tag-line in the radio advert as well as the poster it would’ve helped the audience remember our product better as the branding would’ve been stronger .

In the real world, it would be unlikely that we would create a radio advert as part of the marketing of our film. This is because film is a visual medium, so it can’t be successfully promoted through audio.  Also, radio advertising for independent short films isn’t cost effective because independents have niche audiences and therefore can’t produce enough revenue to make advertising worthwhile.

Exhibition

For exhibition, we would release our film to the London independent cinema, Phoenix Cinema, as a season of shorts. London is the epi-centre of most of our primary audience as it’s home to some of the biggest drama schools and creative universities.  

To create further interest, we would also release it as part of film festivals. Ones that we have looked at are Sundance Film festival and London Independent Film Festival. Both would be suitable choices that would attract a wider audience. Sundance would attract more of an international audience due to the fact it is based in America, whilst the London Independent Film Festival would attract more of a local audience who are more specific because they are from the areas we base of film around.

The way we chose to exhibit was very restrictive as it focused on exhibiting in London, and unless you are in London you cannot view it. Therefore, if we were going to produce the product in the real world we would also release the documentary onto an online platform. This way it would reach a wider audience. Also, because a lot of our marketing is online it would make sense that we release the product online as well. To do this we would release the film onto our distributers website as well as platforms such as YouTube. Also, because we filmed in the Curve and include Sarah Ingram who works at with the Curve it means we have local links. This we could mean that could release it regionally, on online TV channels like Leicestershire TV. However, if we were to do this we would have to change our radio advert as it only says that it’s being screened in London. Even though it is costly we would probably have to produce another advert for the Leicestershire area, changing the information on where audiences can access it.

AIDA

The AIDA scale is used in marketing and advertising. It is a scale which measures the process a consumer goes through when interacting with a media product. The whole process for a short film would last around 6 months. Below

is how it would look for Backstage:

Awareness

 The first stage of AIDA is awareness this is where you first introduce the product to the public, this is done subtly and doesn’t give too much away. At this stage, we would use below the line marketing techniques on the web2.0. This would be creating a social media presence on sites like Facebook or Twitter. From this we could then create hashtags. Hashtags are used to create a buzz around a topic, to get something into the public eye and noticed. What’s good about using hashtags is that the audience can actively get involved, this suits our primary audience who are fox thinker digital natives that regularly use social media and who have a big online presence.

We could also get our interviewees to tweet about the production, for example by saying, “had a great day at filming for #backstage” something like this gains the interest of their followers as they want to see what they are doing next and well as making them think about what backstage is. All our interviewees have a substantial number of followers; John has around 445, Sarah has 937, Genesis has 1309, whilst through the TV workshop Ian has 2098.

Interest

In this stage the consumer gets intrigued by the brand by learning more about it. It would be here that we would release the poster. At first we might release a teaser poster, on this may be the main image of the poster, the name and a release date. It would only be when the full poster is released that we see more information like the reviews, institutions and a tag line. The teaser poster would be released online via the social media pages, whilst the full poster would be released both online and off for example, in London tube stations and at the cinemas where it is being screened.

As well as the poster release you would also find further online marketing. We would release clips and shorts videos from the production, including behind the scenes footage. This further interests the audience as they get to see the backstage elements to the film and understand what the film is all about. This would allow us to set up a YouTube channel, this is another way of cementing the younger millennial audience.

Desire

This is where the consumer creates a positive and favourable frame of mind about the product. This stage would include stronger methods of marketing. It would be here that we would see the release of the radio advert. The reason it comes quite late in the campaign is due to money as it can be very expensive to pay for an advertising slot, therefore it can only be done for a short amount of time to which the end of the campaign was fitting. Also the advert is directed to a specific type of customer, this again justifies releasing the advert later.

Here we could use synergy marketing and release the songs/soundtrack created by James Waymount to create further interest and cement audiences to want to watch the documentary. This would be released onto our YouTube channel and other social media sites.

Action

It would be here in action that the product would be released and the customers form a decision to purchase the film or they do buy it. This stage is about the audience and their decision to watch or not, less so about the marketers’ intentions to persuade them to watch it.

A social media presence is created: 6months before release.

Backstage is

released.

Teaser poster is released Social media presence is widened: 5 months before release.

Theatrical poster is released: 4 months before

Online marketing, clips and trailers released: 3 months before and up

until release.

Synergy marketing of soundtrack: 2 weeks before release up until after release.

Radio Advert released: 3 weeks before release.

Release Timeline

TV or Film?

We decided that we wanted to approach our documentary with a more cinematic view, rather than TV. This was because we felt that the theme of theatre would be captured a lot better if it was done in a more cinematic style. The question is

did we achieve this?

With most of our shots we managed to achieve it. The best shots were of Izzy performing a solo dance, this was seen in the cutaway section of the documentary. The reason they

worked so well was due to the lighting and editing. We used back lighting that was purposely made visible in the shots to create a dramatic and eye catching image. We also used the

re-timer tool on final cut pro to slow the shot down to add emphasis onto her performance. Other shots we liked were the ones of Genesis, the lighting on her was very dramatic and this tied with the shallow depth of field created a cinematic look.

However we weren’t always able to achieve a cinematic look due to complications with the lighting,

this can be seen in John and Sarah’s interview. Sarah’s lighting was very bright, which washed out a lot of the colour, making it less cinematic. Whilst with

John’s interview it was the opposite ,there wasn’t much lighting available meaning and was very dark. To improve this we could’ve added back lighting to both interviews to provide depth, we also could’ve adjusted the distance between the subject and the lights in order to get the correct balance of light.

Certification

We originally chose the certification as a U. U’s are conventionally used for educational films like documentaries as it doesn’t focus on difficult topics like drugs and sex. We felt this would be suitable for our documentary as it doesn’t include strong language, nudity or miss-usage of drugs. In our interview with Genesis, she used quite strong language at times which if we included in the documentary would’ve made it be more suited to a PG. However, the responses we got that included the strong language didn’t work with the narrative, and we didn’t include it. Therefore, we believe that the certification of a U was the most suitable.

Slide 7: How cost effective is radio advertising for short documentaries?How likely is your independent 5 minute documentary going to be able to afford posters on the tube? You mention another location here however that might be more viable and will directly target your primary audience.Slide 8: You are right about having to exhibit in an independent cinema but how would this happen? You are a short 5 minute documentary, are people going to visit the cinema just for that? Look for an existing model of a short film festival in a cinema for ideas.Slide 10: I need to see designs of your social media materials.Slide 13: You have a really strong idea of your marketing strategy. You could also add a timeline of the release of your marketing materials with dates e.g. 6 months before release in order to support it as a real life product.Slide 14: Proof read!Why did the shots of Izzy stand out? The shots of Genesis also had a shallow depth of field which made it cinematic.