Director- Joe Stephenson, ‘Chicken’ was B Good Picture Company’s debut feature film.

Identification of how Chicken is characteristic of an independent film release, with consideration of budget, distribution, circulation.

Micro budget rather than low budget film (approximately £110,000) – entirely independent financing. made only £10,000 at cinemas- made a loss, risky business

Distribution techniques – reliance on new technology; VOD, streaming, audience ‘programming’ (open screen etc.)

Continued use of traditional marketing and distribution; trailers, posters, film festivals etc.

The concept of “risk-taking” in terms of narrative  choice available to independent studios- hesmondhalgh

The concept of “risk-taking” in terms of narrative choice available to independent studios

Curran and Seaton represents diversity in the media industry, a unconventional as it demonstrates people living outside of society.

Chicken had its world premiere on 27 June 2015 Edinburgh International Film Festival.

Its international premiere in competition at the 2015 Busan International Film Festival, followed by screenings at the New Hampshire International Film Festival, Giffoni International Film Festival, Cine A La Vista International Film Festival, Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival, Schlingel International Film Festival and Dublin International Film Festival.

It eventually received a limited theatrical release in the UK on 20 May 2016.

Chicken received positive reviews and holds a 100% “Certified Fresh” rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 12 critic reviews.

Promotion Alongside film festivals, new technology was vital to promoting Chicken to a wider audience: Some traditional marketing: trailer, film poster with review quotes etc. Social media very important to market film – Facebook, Twitter, YouTube. Film available on-demand now; Stephenson hoping for deal with Netflix or Amazon Prime to bring in revenue and find wider audience.

Henry Jenkins and David Gauntlett would acknowledge that web 2.0 enabled big businesses to exploit the web for commercial reasons, but would also argue that the internet remains the capacity to work as a social good and that online communities created via ‘participatory culture’ have the power to change the world for the better