MEST1 Section B: A Field In England

Summary:

A Field in England

‘A Field in England’ is a low budget, black and white, art-house film produced by Ben Wheatley. It is the first film in the UK to be distributed across all platforms, including: DVD, broadcast, blue-ray and cinema. Each platform release for the film had a special identity to add value to its purchase, for instance there was a live Q & A event followed by the Ritzy Picturehouse screening in Brixton, ultimately this adds value to the cinematic experience On TV, the film combined over 288,000 viewers, the movie was a trending topic on Twitter when it came down to its release and over 1000 purchases of the film from HMV and Amazon were made. 

1. How was A Field In England’s release different to typical film releases? The film itself was distributed across all platforms on the same day, this is a unique approach and creates excitement for fans because some may prefer to go to the cinema to watch the film whereas others may prefer to stay at home and watch the film to same day on DVD or simply by VoD (streaming). This creates a buzz as well because fans are likely to voice their perception of the film on social media sites, especially Twitter where they may choose to use a hashtag such as #AFieldInEngland, ultimately this will lead the hashtag to become a trending topic as many people are watching the film at the same time. It also helps to promote the film through word-of-mouth, the unique distribution technique will appeal to many viewers who want to watch the film but in a different type of way such as: physically going to the cinema or streaming it online. 
2. What are the advantages to releasing the film across all platforms on the same day? Everyone will have a different approach to access the film: going to the cinema, buying the DVD or streaming it. It creates a buzz for one particular day and the build-up will help thoroughly appeal to fans and will reduce the risk of piracy. 
3. What are the disadvantages to this approach? The main disadvantage is that once the film is released there will be no excitement left such as watching it a few months later till the DVD's release of streaming it online. The film's longevity will be shorter.  
4. What target audience would A Field In England be aimed at? Demographics and Psychographics. The primary audience is between the ages of 25-35+, constant cinemagoers (go at least once a month) who are aware of Ben Wheatley's other films and fall into the ABC1 demographic - educated, professional jobs so they can afford to go to the cinema every month, uni students who stream films online. In terms of psychographics the prime category this film would appeal to is explorers because they set out to seek discovery and love finding out new things. They tend to have a lot of energy, individualized and experienced. They value difference and adventure than the standard trend. The first kinds of people to try out new brands and is usually the younger demographic students (uni students). This may also appeal to succeeders who seek control and have strong goals. They a also very confident people in terms of their work business and social life and tend to be in higher management jobs and professions in a certain field/area (they could afford to go cinema often!)
5. Do you think all films in future will be released across all platforms simultaneously in future? This could be possible because social media sites, especially Twitter, help contribute to the promotion side of the film helping to creating buzz for an earlier distribution of the film because fans may want to view the film as the same time as others, even if they have different approaches such as: streaming in online, buying the DVD or actually going to the cinema. Also, it helps reduce the risk of piracy because there are many sites which may have the option to illegally download/watch the film earlier to its release.