Research: Institutions

Before the production of my trailer I want to research into the different types of audience and institution suitable for the genre of my trailer. I researched into a range of different Institutions that would be good for my genre and connect to the right audience. This will help me develop knowledge on the type of institutions that would match my film helping me decide the audience and types of companies that support the genre of Documentary.

What is a Institution?

A Institution is an Organisation or company, public or privately owned that produces and/or distributes media products.

Institution suitable for my genre type:

Channel 4-  This company is publicly owned  and funded by the public service broadcaster.Channel 4 works across television, film and digital media to deliver public service remit, as outlined in the 2003 Communications Act and most recently the 2010 Digital Economy Act. Channel 4 was launched on 2nd November 1982. Channel 4 works with over 300 companies in the UK, winning awards and being one of the biggest investor companies in the UK. Channel 4 has world class reputation with Documentaries, showing history, story telling through a range of technology. They have been working with documentaries for over 30 years and have award winning shows for example; 24 Hour A&E, One Born Every Minute and Educating Essex. I felt this company would be ideal for my genre as they are award winning for Documentaries and have a large audience in the UK which creates profit and awards for trailer. Their audience is a mass audience meaning they have a range of target audience which is perfect for my trailer as the audience can expand and the trailer doesn't need to be broad with the audience limit, increasing the views and popularity of the film, gaining profits for the trailer.

Here is an example of a documentary on Channel 4 'First Time Farmers':

Warp X- This company is a British Independent film company who, because of their limiting of budgeting they produce film's commonly with the genre of 'social realism'. Due to these issues, this means that this type of company can only distribute their films to a niche audience therefore unlikely receiving the same success rates that Hollywood Conglomerate companies do when distributing to tent pole audiences. As Warp X are a very small film company, they are funded by several distributors to allow them to showcase their films to their target audience. These companies are; UK Film Council, Optimum Releasing, Film4 and EM Film Funding. I feel this company will be perfect for my trailer as my budget is very low and follows a 'social realism' as the footage is real with no special effects due to the budget.


Heres an example of a documentary shown on Warp:

Working Title- This company is a British film company owned by Universal Studios. Although Working Title is a British film company, unlike both Warp X and Film4, Working Title is more of a well known, successful production company as it produces both feature film and TV productions. As Working Title is owned by Universal Studios, which is a Hollywood Conglomerate, this company has the budgeting and facilities to produce some successful and high tech films. Due to their success, Working Title introduced their subsidiary commonly known as 'WT2'. WT2 is a similar production company to both Warp X and Film 4. WT2 have produced the coming of age film 'Billy Elliot' along with the comedy 'Shaun of the Dead'. I feel this company will be good for my trailer as they show documentaries to audiences and SENNA won awarding winning documentary at the British Independent Film Company. Aswell as having a certain audience for Documentary they have a range of other audiences for different films, expanding the range of target audience.

Here is an example of a Documentary from Working Title 'Farming Forward':

Sky- This company was a public limited company which operated its four-channel satellite television service, launched by Rupert Murdoch's News International on 5 February 1989. Sky Television and rival British Satellite Broadcasting were suffering massive losses and entered into a 50:50 financial merger in November 1990 to form British Sky Broadcasting (BSkyB).Sky tv has lots of channels within it one of which is called Sky Atlantic where programmes are shown with the genre of documentary. Winning lots of awards and publicity. As well as channels Sky supports charities such as the rain forest and has over 8 million people that use Sky in their homes. This increase the amount of audience viewing the channels, creating more profit. I feel this company is perfect for my type of genre as they have a whole channel for documentaries with a popular target audience and lots of viewers all over the UK. This will increase the amount of people that will watch my film creating more profit and awards.

Here is an example of a documentary from Sky Atlantic 'Kingdon Of Plants':