Task 4 - Script

The film Four Lions is distributed in many ways, one such distribution channel is channel 4 because people can watch the film on channel 4 since Four lions is a product of a convergence between Warp films and Film4 so they show the film from time to time. The film is also advertised through channel 4 because they helped to make it, However because of the controversy around the film being aired on the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks it almost wasn't aired, some people might see this as negative advertisement. Four lions was also promoted because around the time of its release (May 7 2010), as an indie film, it placed 7th in the Box office under popular Hollywood films such as Iron man 2 and the reboot of A Nightmare On Elm Street, this goes to show how popular the film was and surely attracted more people to watch the film in this way.The Film can also be accessed to stream on websites such as Netflix and Amazon Prime. It can also be accessed on illegal streaming websites such as putlocker and vodlocker. It was shown in cinema chains such as Cineworld and Vue etc. The film made $2,436,111 at the worldwide Box office. The film could also be bought on DVD.  

Another medium that a film may be advertised through are online review website such as Rotten tomatoes and Metacritic. This advertises the film because if someone sees a good review score for a film on rotten tomatoes they are more likely to go and see the film. The review score for Four lions on rotten tomatoes was 82%, and on Metacritic a score of 68. So reviews also work as a form of free advertising for the film producers, however this is a gamble because if the reviewer praises the film it works as advertising, but if they give a bad score it could seriously knock the films reputation.Since the rise of Web 2.0 (David Gauntlet -2002) the internet has become a place where films are frequently advertised, be it through YouTube advertisements or regular websites for films or Facebook pages for films. The internet is where a lot of people have products advertised to them. This is because of Technological Convergence, which is when aspects of analogue media (e.g Radio) and digital media (e.g Internet) come together in one product such as a smartphone.

Other ways in which a film is advertised is through press conferences. These events create huge amounts of attention on the internet and are a very effective form of promotion for films. Another thing that causes press and public interest in a film is a premiere most films have a premiere event in order to showcase the film and cast to the press and through the press it is shown to the public, for example Four Lions premiere took place in Bradford and allowed the crowd that came to ask questions about the film and then actually see the film themselves. There is also the idea of Star persona (Dyer 1975), this would apply to a franchise like James Bond because people see the star persona of the main actor as being James Bond so they go and see the film (or Don't go and see the film) because of the main actor in it. Something like Star persona would not apply to Four Lions however because none of the main actors are very well known or have a star persona related to them.