Visual Effects, Sound Design, Marketing, and Distribution

Flashcards on key vocabulary terms from lecture notes.

Visual Effect Supervisor

Creatively responsible for achieving VFX for director and producer; manages artists, technical aspects, and production talent.

Sound Design

Sound effects, ADR, foley, and music

Sound Designer

Creative force for a film's audio track (dialog, sound effects, mix, etc.)

Score

Original music written specifically for a film.

Titles

Opening credits

Audio Mix

Combine dialogue, ambiance, sound effects, and music; includes volume, echo, frequency, dynamics, reverberation.

M&E

Music and effects; basically entire audio track minus dialog

Chain of Title

Documentation/all agreements, deal memos, certificate of origin/nationality, E&O insurance, residuals.

Composition

Notes and words on a page; the underlying musical work that is copyrighted

Phonorecord/Master Recording

Derivative work of composition recorded by artist as expression of composition

Still Images/Photos

First glimpse of a film/tv for the public

Theatrical Trailers

First chance to truly promote to target audience

One Sheet

A film poster in theaters

Product Placement

Paid active or passive insertion of film brand in TV show or mention in dialogue

WOM

Word of mouth

Promotional Tour

Stars, directors, writers, and producers appear for media.

Press Junket

Journalists, entertainment reporters and movie critics flown to a special location to interview creators and stars

Publicity Stunt

Orchestrated media event with something crazy or spectacular to draw attention to film

Immersive Experience

Create a ‘world’ for fans to partake in firsthand

Demographic Marketing

Market to specific targets or niches

Tracking

Audience awareness of film -> important six weeks out

Domestic Theatrical Distribution

United States and Canada

Platform Release

Marketing campaign to force large per-screen averages high to encourage further booking in other theaters and other towns

International Distribution

Outside US and Canada

Box-office Gross Ticket Sales

Money received at the box-office

Theatrical Rentals

Amount of money from box-office gross that eventually reaches the distributor/ after fee

Distribution Fee

First thing distributor does with Theatrical Rentals is carve a percentage as a commission

Distributor/P&A Expenses

Prints and Advertising costs: any expenses made by the distributor in connection with the release/ includes press junkets/ advanced by distributor and recouped from the remaining (after fee) theatrical rentals before paying anything to producer studio indie finance

Negative Cost

Entire cost of producing and finishing film/ amount paid back to investors fro private or other money provided by producer indie finance or studio/ paid investors AFTER theatrical rentals number has paid back all p&a by distributor/ “may include finance fees that could go to producer for raising funds for film vs producing film

Distributor Split

Arrangement made by then Producer/Studio/Indie Financier and Distributor as to what happens to money left over from Theatrical Rentals after Distribution Fee and P&A expenses are fully recouped/ favor distributor: may require split fo remaining money with prod studio indie finance/ large distribution fee 27% (may be overall pay for the job) no better deal taje advantage of 20-30 or 50 of leftover money/ distributor often takes much lower fee 12-15 to justify splitting remaining rentals with producer

distribution fee

25-30%/ first thing distributor does with theatrical rentals is percentage a commission aka dis fee/ amount lost to producer/ indie financier studio stays with distributor regardless of producer or indie finance collect money

distributor expenses

P&A ie marketing

P&A

prints and advertising ie marketing

distributor split

left over if any is split with producer studio indie financier and distributor

theatrical rentals

money from box office gross that eventually reaches the distributor/ paid by various theaters and theater companies/ 47.5% box office for indie[endent production companies and high as 53% for studios/ box office gross reported in the trades in approx double what is paid to the distributor: number needed is theatrical rental number not gross

order of math

domestic rentals/ distribution fee/ p&a cost/ split/ negative cost