CIN270Y1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Studio System, Poverty Row, B Movie
11 May 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
Tuesday, Sept. 12, 2017
CIN270Y1
CLASS 2
What is/was Hollywood?
- Hollywood an industry; a business for the people who control its money
- Hollywood, 1917-1960 = a collection of profit-maximizing corporations
- This is what it remains today
- These corporations have operated in the U.S.A., mainly on the West Coast
“Vertical Integration”
- Like all film industries. Hollywood—the world’s dominant film industry—consists of
three sectors
1) PRODUCTION
Films have to be made
From the early 1910’s, this was done in and around Los Angeles
(generically known as “Hollywood”)
2) DISTRIBUTION
Once films are made, Hollywood companies rent them to exhibitors
3) EXHIBITION
Movies are viewed in theatres, on TV’s, computers, mobile devices
Before TV, films were customarily watched in movie theatres
What is/was the “Studio System”?
- Initially, “cinema” was just another of the late 19th century’s emerging technologies
- From 1894-1904/05, the camera and projector were primarily “attractions”
- Films were made to exhibit this technology
- Content, “stories”, form, style, etc., were secondary concerns
The Emergence of “Hollywood”
- 1905-1910 film programs were exhibited in storefronts known as “nickelodeons”
- 1920’s emergence of “vertically integrated” companies that came to be called
“Hollywood”
- by the 1920’s, Hollywood dominated international distribution and exhibition
- the studios together controlled the world market
The Studio System
- conversion to sound in 1926/7 eight large companies—the studios—begin to dominate
the American movie industry
- first, there were five major studios = THE “BIG FIVE”
- the Majors were all “vertically integrated”
- the three Minors, THE “LITTLE THREE” produced and distributed films, but owned
very few theatres
- finally, there were the “Independents”; and the so-called “Poverty Row” studios, makers
of “B” films
The “Golden Age”
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Hollywood an industry; a business for the people who control its money. Hollywood, 1917-1960 = a collection of profit-maximizing corporations. These corporations have operated in the u. s. a. , mainly on the west coast. Hollywood the world"s dominant film industry consists of three sectors: production. From the early 1910"s, this was done in and around los angeles (generically known as hollywood : distribution. Once films are made, hollywood companies rent them to exhibitors: exhibition. Movies are viewed in theatres, on tv"s, computers, mobile devices. Before tv, films were customarily watched in movie theatres. Initially, cinema was just another of the late 19th century"s emerging technologies. From 1894-1904/05, the camera and projector were primarily attractions . Films were made to exhibit this technology. Content, stories , form, style, etc. , were secondary concerns. 1905-1910 film programs were exhibited in storefronts known as nickelodeons . 1920"s emergence of vertically integrated companies that came to be called.
