Analysis of the Hollywood Studio System
During the 1920s, and 1930s the Hollywood film studios undertook a major evolutionary period. The inception of the Hollywood 'studio system' was to change the film making process radically. The following essay will examine how these changes took place, and what impact it had on the film making industry in America. We shall also examine how the system relates to the current production methods used in film making. The main issues raised within the text will be summarised concisely within the conclusion. Before a film reaches the cinema screen, and its audience it must go through a three stage process. Firstly and most obviously it has to be produced, following this it must then be distributed, and finally exhibited. Before the introduction of the studio system in the 1920s all of these processes were controlled separately. Although this gave the makers of films, such as directors and producers, room to express their creativity it placed a heavy constraint upon the amount of movies that could be made, and financial profits. However, despite Hollywood's uneasy birth, by the 1920s it had become one of the worlds leading film producers (Dirks, 2002). This was largely due to the introduction of the producer, or studio syste
One-third of the estimate was added on to cover costs of stage space, wardrobe, props, stage hands, carpenters, painters, artists, and administration. 1) Although the studio system was dissolved over sixty years ago, there are still many elements from it which have been carried over to present day production techniques. The antitrust action spelled the end of the studio system and the beginning of an era in which production companies primarily made films on a project-by-project basis. 1350) This new production system worked in two ways, firstly it met audience demand, and secondly it was much more profitable for the film makers. These 'Big Five' were responsible for ninety percent of America's film output, with three smaller studios, Universal Pictures, United Artists, and Columbia Pictures trailing some way behind. With audiences growing rapidly the studios realised that supply was exceeding demand, and film exhibitors had the privilege of being able to choose a small amount of productions from a long list. The studio system and the major studios had created what many describe as the golden age of Hollywood (Dirks, 2002). Audio had, to a certain extent, dulled a marked reduction in the fortunes of the major studios, but as Cook explains, only delayed the inevitable;'In 1931 Warner Bros lost $8 million, Fox $3 million and RKO $5. These departments 'assumed definite duties and responsibilities. 7) By 1938 the way in which the film studios conducted their business had come into question by the U.
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Acceptance Essays
