Institutions and Distributions

Terminology

Institution - this is a company that releases a media product for audience consumption. for instance, British film company 'warp films'. this is to fund the film and advertise it in order to ramp up the commercial for the film and create a higher gross for the institution.

Distribution - this is the actual release of the film into the target market.

Who puts the money up for the film?

During the production of a film, the person in charge of helping the film succeed at the highest of its ability is known as the Producer. The person with this role would pitch the idea of the film to an Institution and request financial backing.
These Institutions will be looking for certain boxes to tick according to their target market or possible style to their company as every one is different. Some examples of prominent British film Institutions include;

BBC Film - BBC Films is the feature film-making arm of the BBC. It has produced or co-produced some of the most successful British films of recent years, including Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa, Quartet, Salmon Fishing in the Yemen and My Week with Marilyn to name a few. BBC Films co-produces around eight films a year, working in partnership with major international and UK distributors. Christine Langan is Head of BBC Films, responsible for the development and production slate, strategy and business operations.








UK Film Council - The UK Film Council (UKFC) was a non-departmental public body set up in 2000 to develop and promote the film industry in the UK. It was constituted as a private company limited by guarantee, owned by the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, and governed by a board of 15 directors. It was funded from various sources including the National Lottery. John Woodward was the Chief Executive Officer of the UKFC. As at 30 June 2008, the company had 90 full-time members of staff. It distributed more than £160m of lottery money to over 900 films.

Film 4 Productions - Film4 Productions is a British film production company owned by Channel Four Television Corporation. The company has been responsible for backing a large number of films made in the United Kingdom. Prior to 1998, the company was identified as Channel Four Films or FilmFour International. Later, the outfit was re-branded as FilmFour, to coincide with the launch of a new Digital TV channel of the same name. The company cut its budget and staff significantly in 2002, due to mounting losses, and was re-integrated into the drama department of Channel 4.In 2004, Tessa Ross became head of both Film4 and Channel 4 drama. The name "Film4 Productions" was introduced in 2006 to tie in with the relaunch of the FilmFour broadcast channel as Film4.

It is also important to work alongside your Institution using their studios and post-production facilities, using synergy to make the film the best it can be.

Other films with a more Independent company tend to distribute their film at a festival to an audience, thus creating an audience without sufficient backing and assistance from a major company.

How is it distributed?
Under Institution -
The Institution backing the film would release the film in cinemas internationally or nationally depending on the size of the company or the deal. After release, merchandise is also distributed to retailers. As the owners of the film's rights, they are the only people who can distribute the film.
Independent -
Without the backing of an Institution, another way to distribute is to create your own production company which despite its beneficial complete power to the filmmaker, it is not a popular option. These companies also tend to produce low budget films which can only be sold to TV companies instead of any cinematic release.

Release Date Patterns

A day-on-date release is when a film is released on the same date all around the world and similarly a Wide release is where a film is sent to more than 2000 cinemas at the same time and are equally as hyped up by their Production companies. However, if an Institution feels that one of their film's will have a wide appeal after some sort of response or evaluation from critics, they will stage a Platform release and release the film in a smaller number of theatre's initially and slowly branching and advancing to more over time.
Films also tend to target seasonal release, for instance, Christmas movies tend to come out in November/December time and family movies tend to release during school holidays and Easter time. Ours being a comedy we would like it to be released in one of these holidays, preferably Summer like Stand By Me (Aug 8th 1984)