Digital Distribution Affecting Consumption of Media Products Essay

To what extent does digital distribution affect the marketing and consumption of media products in the area of media you have studied?

Digital distribution has an effect on the film industry as more and more people are watching films in their homes, whether this is on DVD, Blu-Ray or, more often, online. Television premiers also mean that less and less people are going and spending money on film tickets at the cinema, however this doesn’t necessarily mean that digital is the way forward.

In the science fiction thriller ‘Prometheus’ directed by Ridley Scott, a huge marketing strategy was put into place in order to promote the film to a wider audience. A huge amount of funding was given by 20^th Century Fox as well as marketing partners including Amazon. An advertising budget between $40 and $50 million was given ($20 million from the initial film production budget of $130 million and the other $30 million from advertising) in order to promote the film.

Ways in which the film was advertised was by creating a viral marketing scheme. This included four videos about the film which were released online. The first video was of Guy Pearce who plays the character Peter Weyland in ‘Prometheus’ doing a futuristic TED talk about the mission.

The next video was showing the robot ‘David 8’, another character in the film. The video was first released to the visitors of WonderCon, who got business cards from ‘Weyland Industries’- the business in the film- which directed them to a website. This website then gave them a link which showed them the ‘David 8’ advertisement. A while later, an extended version of the video was released to the public listing the qualities of the robot portraying the video as an advert.

The third video was of Naomi Rapace who stars in the movie as one of the main characters Elizabeth Shaw. She is shown asking various questions and explaining the reasoning behind the mission, which was carried out in order to create excitement about the film. The fourth and final video used in the viral marketing campaign of ‘Prometheus’ was of the ships captain preparing for the mission. It was kept short to add an element of mystery for the viewer and would make them even more excited and more desperate to go and see the film at the cinema. 

As well as this, ‘Prometheus’ released a tease, unfinished trailer before releasing the complete film trailer. This was to create a bigger buzz for the film and makes it more exciting for the film audiences. The virals and trailers were all distributed digitally as they were put on to the main ‘Prometheus’ website as well as on the ‘Prometheus’ channel on YouTube. This allowed for thousands of people to hear about the film and make them want to go and see it. Promoting to a large audience is expected for this type of film as it allows for more people to go and see the film. For big budget films, big audiences are needed in order for the film to make its money back and be an all around success.

‘Prometheus’ was released on DVD on the 18^th of September 2012 in over 50 countries. It was then released on Netflix on the 6^th of November 2012, just over 150 days after the initial cinema release. This would have had an impact on a lot of people who would have been interested in seeing the film because it would cost a lot less. As well as being released on Netflix, ‘Prometheus’ was released on LOVE FILM meaning that people are able to rent the DVD from the company for less money than it would cost for them to either buy the DVD or go and watch the film at the cinema.

However, ‘Prometheus’ was also released in IMAX meaning that audiences who wanted this feature would have to go and see the film at a special IMAX cinema. This would have meant that people would have to have gone out and paid the money for this purpose.

As well as this, it was released in 3D meaning that audiences would have gained a better, more fun and interesting cinema experience as they would have been able to see rocks and spaceships flying at them and made them feel as though they are in the film. The film was also released on DVD in 3D so people with 3D televisions would be able to watch the film in this way using this feature.

A way to increase the realness of the film ‘Prometheus’ was released in 4D meaning that people were able to feel movements in their seats as well as seeing mist and smelling things which the film characters would be experiencing. Although this was only released in one 4DX cinema, it would have been a major factor and would have played a large part in the amount of money the film made. Digital distribution would not have prevented the 4D film from being successful as there is no way of digitally distribution a film in 4D and so the unique experience would have made audiences want to go and see the film in 4D.

Films need to make their money back which is why illegal downloading and streaming of films is such a huge problem. Although the cinema experience is becoming increasingly expensive, some films are finding it difficult to make a profit. The large amount of money spent on marketing a film such as Prometheus means that people are more aware of the film. The more hype, the more likely it is for the film to be up for illegal downloads as the people uploading them will know it would be worth it as it is almost a guarantee with big budget films and so there is always the fear that illegal downloaders will be more successful than the actual film makers. Advances in technology have allowed for people to be able to sit in their homes and watch the latest releases with one swift click. Luckily for ‘Prometheus’, this wasn’t an issue, however for many, lower budget films this is not the case.

For example, a low budget film such as sci fi adventure film ‘Attack the Block’, directed by Joe Cornish, did not have the money for the amount of marketing as ‘Prometheus’. This meant that less people would have heard about the film. The shortage of marketing meant that they were only appealing to a small audience in comparison with ‘Prometheus’ however this was expected due to having a significantly smaller budget of £8 million. The budget was put together by Studio Canal, Film 4 and also from the National Lottery Funding. These companies are used to making low budget, low grossing movies and so will have to consider the use of digital distribution in order to reach a wider audience.

As well has having the small budget, the audience was limited even further because of the age rating for the film. This meant that even less people were able to see the film. Because of digital distribution, people under the age of 15 would have been able to watch the film online because of things such as streaming and downloading the films.

Although the streaming could have had an effect on DVD sales of ‘Attack the Block’, it would not have really affected the audiences in cinema. With the age rating being a 15, only a small audience was targeted for the film. This meant that it wasn’t surprising that the film only grossed £2.5 million however the film wasn’t a flop. Over time, through the sales of DVDs, ‘Attack the Block’ will make its money back. Digital distribution didn’t really have an affect on ‘Attack the Block’.