BBK: Discuss the ways Horror Films are Produced and Distributed

The ways in which films are produced and distributed vary as to who is producing the picture and whether they are part of a industrial conglomerate such as Warner Bros, a subsidiary of Time Warner and independent producers such as British film studio Vertigo Film

Orphan (Jaume Collet-Serra 2009)

Orphan is a 2009 horror film about the adoption of a small girl named Esther, before long the truth behind Esther mysterious and secretive past starts to unravel in this psychological horror

 



Production

• Produced by Leonardo Di Caprio, Joel Silver and Susan Downey and made by the studio Dark Castle Entertainment a subsidiary of Warner Bros.


• Shot entirely in the Canadian cities of Toronto, Port Hope and Montreal.


• Warner Bros. edited the movie's trailer to remove Esther's line "It must be hard to love an adopted child as much as your own" after receiving numerous complaints from adoptive parents and foster care organizations. The line remains in the movie itself.


• The movie was originally written to take place during the fall, and some exterior shots were filmed to establish this. Shortly before principal photography was set to begin in December 2007, the Toronto locations were hit with near-record snowfall, forcing the change of setting to winter. One of the scenes written out as a result was a Halloween carnival at Daniel and Esther's school.

 

Distribution

 

• The film opened making $12,770,000 total at #4 film in the box office for its opening weekend


• Released on DVD and Blu-Ray October the 27th 2009 in the US by Warner Home Video


• It was released on DVD and Blu-Ray in the UK on November 27th by Optimum Releasing 


• Each release included advertised extra scenes and an alternative ending.


•  The film has grossed a total of $78,337,373.


• Film posters, teaser trailer, theatrical trailer, viral marketing campaign using advertisement across websites

 

This example is an example of how conglomerates like the six major Hollywood studios keep majority of their profits within the company as Time Warner has used its studio subsidiary (Dark Castle Entertainment) and its own distributor (Warner Bros. Pictures). However when it came to distribution in the UK we can see that a deal was made with English based institution Optimum Releasing a subsidiary of StudioCanal part of the Universal Conglomerate.

 

Industrial filmmakers are also given the opportunity and budget to use a range of visual affects  in order to make their films bigger and better each time. The bigger their budget for production also increases their budget for marketing meaning that they can afford to use more forms of media to get their product in the public eye, along with this the development in technology and web 2.0 means their target audience (15-24) who predominantly use technology will view any viral marketing regularly.

 

The Strangers (Bertino 2008)

The Strangers is an independent horror film based around an incident in which a couple is murdered by masked home invaders.

 

Production

 

• Produced by Vertigo Entertainment and Mandate Pictures


• Film written by director Bertino and is said to be inspired by crimes happeing around his neighborhood as a child and the killings of the Manson Family.


• Filmed on a $9 million dollar budget the production started in 2006 and ended 2007


• The house was constructed as a set for the picture

Distribution

 

• Marketing started in 2001 as the director Bertino and stars attended Comic-con and screened the teaser trailer and answered questions. 


• Later the trailer was released with a television spot and on


•  YouTube through viral marketing


• The films released was post-poned many times but was eventually released May 30th 2008 


• $20,997,985 in 2,467 theaters, ranking #3 at the box office and averaging $8,514 per theater


• The film eventually earned $82.3 million worldwide.

This example goes to show that the success of a picture isn't always determined by the power of the producers. As a films success is determined as whether it makes three times the original budget this picture was a major success for independent cinema. However due to a smaller budget independent film makers like Bertino do not have as much access to expensive visual effects which can attract larger audiences, as well as not being part of a major conglomerates meaning it is harder to acquire synergistic promotion as well as cross-media convergence. Although this lack of a ultra high budget hasn't stopped Bertino from branching into viral marketing and acquiring a TV spot for the theatrical trailer.