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Distribution and Markets

Module description

This core module offers a wide-ranging exploration of the historical development and current state of key and emerging markets in the international film business. The module provides an international perspective and will study case studies from key national cinemas, established territories, and emerging markets from across the globe. In dialogue with guest speakers from the film industry and with reference to the unique research archive housed at the University in the form of the Bill Douglas Cinema Museum, you will analyse key themes relating to distribution, exhibition, festivals and markets. The module also incorporates practical assessment designed to make you engage with the changing nature of curation and immersive cinema in contemporary exhibition practices.

Module aims - intentions of the module

This module aims to:

• Guide you in understanding the processes shaping film distribution and exhibition in the international film business.
• Ask you to think and write critically about how films are prepared for and delivered to audiences in specific historical, cultural, and industrial contexts, drawing on major examples from film cultures across the globe.
• Encourage you to develop your own advanced insight into the constantly evolving practices of film distribution and exhibition that characterise the global independent film business.
• Develop an understanding of the emerging field of immersive cinema and practical skills through assessed work relating to film [programming] & curation.

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

ILO: Module-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 1. Demonstrate an advanced knowledge of distribution and exhibition practices in the international film business across a range of historical periods and key markets and territories
• 2. Through an engagement with academic specialists and industry practitioners, think critically about how films from across the world are prepared for and delivered to audiences in specific historical, cultural and industrial contexts.
• 3. Prepare a live group curation assignment and develop knowledge of issues relating to film programming and immersive cinema.

ILO: Discipline-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 4. Analyse the inter-relation of films to various textual and contextual factors (including the industrial context of distribution and exhibition), in order to conduct research and engage in critical discussion and debate
• 5. Analyse film history and creative industry studies in a global context

ILO: Personal and key skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 6. Through essay-writing, demonstrate advanced research and bibliographic skills, an advanced and intellectually mature capacity to construct a coherent, substantiated argument and to write clear and correct prose
• 7. Through research for seminars, essays, and presentations demonstrate an advanced proficiency in information retrieval and analysis
• 8. Through preparation of the curation assignment and group pitch, work in a group to deliver a shared project to an agreed deadline.

Syllabus plan

Whilst the content may vary from year to year, it is envisioned that it will cover some or all of the following topics:

• PART 1:

An introduction to the historical development of key national cinemas, established territories and emerging film markets across the globe and the current challenges and opportunities facing these markets.

• PART 2:

A dual focus: 

1. Coverage of key themes relating distribution, exhibition festivals and markets through delivered by academic specialists in dialogue with guest speakers from the film industry
2. Immersive cinema, curation and alternative exhibition strategies

Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)

Details of learning activities and teaching methods

Formative assessment

Summative assessment (% of credit)

Details of summative assessment

Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)

Re-assessment notes

Reassessment exercises will carry the same weightings as the original assessments.

The group pitch cannot be re-assessed – instead you will submit a written summary of your individual contribution to the original group pitch.

The group curation exercise cannot be re-assessed – instead you will submit a written summary of your individual contribution and the process of the original exercise.

Deferral – if you miss an assessment for certificated reasons judged acceptable by the Mitigation Committee, you will normally be either deferred in the assessment or an extension may be granted. The mark given for a re-assessment taken as a result of deferral will not be capped and will be treated as it would be if it were your first attempt at the assessment.

Referral – if you have failed the module overall (i.e. a final overall module mark of less than 50%) you will be required to submit a further assessment as necessary. The mark given for a re-assessment taken as a result of referral will be capped at 50%.

Indicative learning resources - Basic reading

Bespoke package of articles, cases and other readings prepared in the form of a digital module reader and accessed via ELE.

Additional Recommended reading:

• Dale, Martin, The Movie Game: the film business in Britain, Europe and America , Cassel, 1997.
• De Valck, Marijke, Film Festivals: from European Geopolitics to Global Cinephilia, Amsterdam University Press: Amsterdam, 2007.King, Geoff et al, American Independent Cinema: indie, indiewood, and beyond, London: Routledge, 2013.
• Finney, A. (2014) The International Film Business: A market Guide beyond Hollywood, 2^nd edition, Routledge, London
• MacDonald, Paul and Wasko, Janet (eds.) The Contemporary Hollywood Film Industry, London: Blackwell, 2008Wong, Cindy H., Film Festivals: culture, people and power on the global screen, New Brunswick (NJ) / London: Rutgers University Press, 2011.
• Spicer, Andrew et al, Beyond the Bottom Line: The Producer in Film and Television Studies, London: Bloomsbury, 2014

Indicative learning resources - Web based and electronic resources

• ELE: https://vle.exeter.ac.uk/course/view.php?id=11246 

Key words search

Film business, distribution, exhibition