Why did we choose Focus Features as our Production/Distribution

company?

By Phil Cullen

Who are Focus Features?

Focus Features (formerly USA Films, Universal
Focus, Good Machine, Gramercy Pictures and
October Films) is the art house films division of
NBCUniversal, and acts as both a producer and
distributor for its own films and a distributor for
foreign films.
Focus Features was formed from the 2002
divisional merger of USA Films, Universal Focus
and Good Machine.

What Films have they Produced/Distributed?

This is a short list of films that Focus have produced/distributed in the last 3 yeas:

December 9, 2011 Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

December 28, 2011 Pariah
March 2, 2012 Being Flynn
June 22, 2012 Seeking a Friend for the End of the World
June 29, 2012 Moonrise Kingdom
August 17, 2012 ParaNorman
August 31, 2012 For a Good Time, Call...
November 16, 2012 Anna Karenina co-production with Working Title
Films
December 7, 2012 Hyde Park on Hudson
December 28, 2012 Promised Land
March 22, 2013 Admission
March 29, 2013 The Place Beyond the Pines
August 23, 2013 The World's End co-production with Working Title Films
August 28, 2013 Closed Circuit co-production with Working Title Films
September 19, 2013 The Last Days on Mars
November 1, 2013 Dallas Buyers Club
January 31, 2014 That Awkward Moment
March 14, 2014 Bad Words
June 13, 2014 The Signal
July 18, 2014 Wish I Was Here
September 26, 2014 The Boxtrolls
October 10, 2014 Kill the Messenger
November 7, 2014 The Theory of Everything

Have Focus Produced Films Similar to

our own Genre?
Focus Features have produced and released a few thriller films over
the years, namely the critically acclaimed Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.
Its interesting to compare TTSS to our own production The Flare as
they do share some similar qualities in their styles
From one standpoint the films are different sub genres of a thriller:
Our trailer is closer to a crime thriller whereas TTSS is a spy thriller.
Whilst there are different conventions between the two
productions that make them different, small elements of
iconography, theme and characters draw similarities.
For example the character of Carlton in The Flare wears clothing
similar to the spies in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy and even participates
in a shadowy and secretive meeting with the main protagonist Luca.
Also the theme of trying to find a person ,whether they are guilty or
not, and through means of violence, interrogation, negotiation or
blackmail are present in both.

What Drew us to Use Focus Features

Title Credits?
Using Focus Features as our production/distribution
company credit for the start of our trailer came mainly
from an aesthetic decision.
The opening scene is an out of focus long shot of car and
traffic lights. The convergence of static and moving lights
create a hazy, hallucinogenic picture which cuts into an in
focus shot of a London Landscape.
Since the title credit for Focus Features has a similar style
and effect, we decided it would work well in creating a
good transition into the start of the trailer, making it
interesting and giving the rest of the trailer a nice flow.