Filed under: media industries 2 | Tags: distribution, marketing, seminar
Whilst this seminar had some great guests and great information about Australian distributing and marketing I felt that the feel was a bit awkward and there wasn’t the same chemistry seen between the guests, that we experienced in the previous seminars. I don’t know if this was because I wasn’t hugely interested in the seminar theme or because the guests just didn’t gel together. I’m really not sure how to explain it, it just felt a bit dull and the questions felt a bit repetitive or misunderstood by the guests. In conjunction I think a lot of the audience were interested in making films and the process of getting their films distributed, whereas the seminar mainly focused on getting into the distribution business, which could have been why it got a bit repetitive.
However, the content of the seminar was really good in terms of understanding how the distribution industry works and what has been the changing trends in terms of distribution from the past to the present and then into the future from the perspective of small and big films. In fact there was a lot of emphasis put on this idea of change and how integral it is for people within the distribution industry to be able to adapt and predict what changes are coming, especially with the rise of digital technologies and online distribution channels. These changes in terms of online distribution are seen as a good thing in terms of smaller budget films in that these films have more opportunities in terms of non-theatrical realises. However, I felt throughout most panel guests there was still a big emphasis on getting your films to the theatres, and that this still has remained dominant despite audience drops. This digitalisation has had the biggest effect on the distribution industry, where due to the costs of camera equipment decreasing there has been a huge influx of content, which has resulted in a diversification of the industry. The tip that the guests gave in terms of this was that not all films are suitable for theatrical distribution and when making a film you really need to think about the best way in which your film will succeed.
It is all about word-of-mouth in the distribution industry, that is what is so important, word-of-mouth within the industry and also with audiences. This is also heavily impacted by digitalisation,which puts word-of-mouth into the public domain and can be both good and bad for the film being released.
KEY ADVICE FROM THE PANEL:
-there are a lot of expenses, you need money behind you when you begin.
-start small.
-watch a lot of films and know where you want to go with it.
-view everything as a commercial product.
-observe and learn from the best.
-know what you’re good and bad at.
Overall, I thought the seminar was very informative if not slightly repetitive, yet I thought the host did a great job in including all guests in the conversation and I felt that every guest said their bit. I also thought the selection of guests was really fabulous. Overall, I think this group did a good job in hosting a great seminar.
