LO3 Task 4 - Advertising and Distribution of Four Lions.

Hi it’s Andre again and for this vlog I will be talking about the marketing for the film Four Lions. This includes all of the ways the film was advertised to the audience, whether it is old or new media, the impact this has on it based on the viewing figures and the way in which the institution may have used cross media platforms, ownership and joint ventures to promote the film. 

Distribution:

Distribution has two definitions; he first definition is how the product reaches out to the audience. The second definition is how a product is advertised and promoted.

Four Lions was distributed in the UK by Optimum Releasing and Drafthouse Films and within the first year of its release Four Lions had been distributed to all of the platforms available for the public to view the film. The film was firstly distributed to all of the people who had attended Sundance film festival on the 23^rd of January 2010, it was then distributed to the Cinema’s for the British pubic on the 7^th may. Along with these two, the other ways Four Lions is available for people to watch is by DVD, Smartphones and Online. Four Lions was made available for DVD on the 30^th August 2010 in the UK and the 8^th March 2011 in the US. Smartphone had gained their power through technological convergence which has provided another way for people to access the film. Technological convergence is when technologies come together and it provides new services for the audience. For example a smartphone is an example of technological convergence; a smartphone acts as a phone, computer and internet browser. Four Lions is also available to view on the internet through the rise of websites such as Netflix and Lovefilm. Unlike the other examples of tis distribution the internet is the one that causes most of the problems for films like Four Lions as pirated versions of the film are available on illegal sites, this is includes sites like ‘Putlocker’ and ‘MovieTube’ this is a problem because the film is then declared ‘ free ‘ for any one to watch it. This reduces the amount of profit a film like Four Lions can make.   

Advertising and promotion:

Like many other films the producers of Four Lions used a range of different techniques to advertise their film. One of the ways it does this is through the website of warp films, since one of the main producers of the film is warp films they are able to advertise the film on their website as one of their products. The film was also advertised on YouTube, the trailer was made available to watch on the 7^th April exactly a month from the initial release. However, since warp films is an independent film company they are not very well known worldwide which limits the level if popularity that the film could potentially earn. One of the better ways of advertising that the producers of Four Lions use is through the website of rotten tomatoes. Rotten tomatoes is a film review website which allows people to review films and tv programmes. However this can be seen as both good and bad for a film. It can be good for a film if the viewer’s give the film good ratings and positive reviews as it would boost the popularity of the film as other people know that the review was done by ‘ordinary people’ who are just like them so they would trust their judgement. However, if the viewers were to give the film bad ratings and negative reviews then it would discourage the audience to watch it. One of the most popular forms of advertising that Four Lions uses is through the TV, the majority of the world population owns a TV so therefore advertising this way would be really effective.

One of the last forms of advertising is the poster / billboard. The poster of the film Four Lions has a crow in the middle with a bomb strapped to it. One of the connotations of a crow is that is it a symbol of trickery and deceitful, this is a representation of what the film is about. The main characters in the film are deceitful to the rest of the public so that they can carry of their plan.

The advertising of Four Lions would be considered as new media and this is because of the time of its release. New media refers to on demand access to content anytime, anywhere and on any digital device. Around the time of Four Lions release (2010), smartphones where beginning to become the social norm which made it easier for people to access online content at any time and anyplace. Also things like PC tables and certain computer apps made things on the internet assessable for almost anyone.   

The marketing if the film Four Lions had made a positive impact on the success of the film, it had even made its way to some cinemas in America.  As of the 8^th August Four Lions had made £2,932,366 at the UK box office and as of 11^th February it had made $4,658,570 worldwide.
Since Four Lions is an independent film company they are more known locally than nationwide, so therefore for them to successfully promote a film they have to go in joint venture with another company. In this case warp films is in joint venture with StudioCanal UK (formerly optimum releasing). StudioCanal UK were one of the most prominent distributors in the UK independent film and world cinema market.

Any of the films that warp films have made would go through to StudioCanal UK, to then promote the film StudioCanal would use both the internet and the broadcast their advertisement on TV. To promote it on the internet they would put the trailer up on their YouTube account and on their website for people to view. They also place it on TV so that they can get the trailer across to a wider range of people.