The film industry Film studies lesson 1

To understand the film industry as a global market.To focus on the current state of the US film industry

The film industry

The film industry is just that, an industry. The idea is to make money and produce products to sell to the audiences

The Hollywood film industry has been dominating the market for many years.

In previous times they had what was known as the Hollywood studio system

The Hollywood studio system (see handout)

Dominant in the early 1920’s to the 1950’s:

The 5 majors Loew’s/metro- Goldwyn Mayer RKO (Radio-keith-orpheum) Warner brothers Paramount 20th century fox

Columbia and universal as were united artists. They were considered major players but on a level lower than the ones above (the little three)

Walt Disney studios was an independent production company during this time.

Hollywood today

20th century fox

Key players within Hollywood

Key terms

Conglomerate- two or more companies joined together. Each company will be an entirely different business but will be joined together often by a parent company. Often the conglomerate is multi industry

Subsidiaries are entities that are controlled by another higher entity. So for example a business that is owned by a parent business or conglomerate.

NewsCorporationConglomerate

• My space

20th century fox

Harper Collins

• The Sun• The Daily Telegraph • The wall street journal•The Times

•Americanidol.com

Fox sportsFX National geographicFox news channel

Searchlight pictures

Holdings in SKY BskyB

Conglomerates

Time Warner: Conglomerate

Film, television and publishing

Subsidiaries

New line cinemaCartoon network Castle rockHBO

Turner broadcasting system

Warner brothers pictures

DC comics

Globalization

The process whereby the lives of individuals and local communities are affected by worldwide economic forces. It may also be seen as the idea that the world is becoming a single market place dominated by multinational companies

AS film studies the essential guide

As we have already seen, the major players in the Hollywood studios are part of much larger companies who dominate a global market.

Task 1

Research one USA film company and find out if it is part of a conglomerate or all the other companies that it has worked with.

20 minutes- then feedback

Globalization

The process whereby the lives of individuals and local communities are affected by worldwide economic forces. It may also be seen as the idea that the world is becoming a single market place dominated by multinational companies

AS film studies the essential guide

As we have already seen, the major players in the Hollywood studios are part of much larger companies who dominate a global market.

Question 1

Previously films would have been released in the USA first, then follow to the UK at a later date.

Some films now have a global release date where audiences around the world see it on the same day. Why do you think that this is?

Global release date

What are the benefits of a globally released film?

Question 2

If films don’t have a global release date, the window between the cinema and DVD release is very short, why do you think this is?

The American film industry

First key idea is that films are products of a global industry which is dominated by the USA

One of the main reasons for the domination is what we have seen earlier in the lesson. Large conglomerates.

Task 2

Thinking about all you have learnt today about the USA film companies, read the handout on the Hollywood studio system and create a mind map detailing the information about how the film industry has progressed to its current state today.

Complete for homework- Remember these are going to be revision notes

Vertical integration

One of the earliest, largest and most famous examples of vertical integration was the Carnegie Steel company. The company controlled not only the mills where the steel was made, but also the mines where the iron ore was extracted, the coal mines that supplied the coal, the ships that transported the iron ore and the railroads that transported the coal to the factory, the coke ovens where the coal was cooked, etc. The company also focused heavily on developing talent internally from the bottom up, rather than importing it from other companies.[1] Later on, Carnegie even established an institute of higher learning to teach the steel processes to the next generation.

Impact of new technology

TVVHSDVD 3D