‘Vertical Integration actively stifles creativity in the movie industry’

 

Vertical Integration is Production, Distribution and Exhibition. This means that the studio had total control over the movie stars and the people who worked there. Something that was also used was ‘Block Booking’ this was important to the studios because the company would sell multiple films to theatres as a unit. It would typically include one attractive A-Budget movie and the rest would be a mix of A-Budget movies and then B-Budget movies. Typically film studios would own their own theatres and this way they would be taking control of the whole studio process. By doing this it gave the studios more power ‘owning’ their stars. 

Vertical Integration stopped creativity because it didn’t allow actors and actresses to express themselves and branch out into other movies because they were ‘owned’. This way external studios couldn’t express themselves and this way they couldn’t expanded, but also actresses and actors couldn’t go to other movies that were picked just for them so the creativity of other films that were ‘perfectly’ right for one actor couldn’t be used due to the ‘star theory’. ‘Star Owning’ this was something that the studios did and they would control everything that they would do. Make them change their look and date other stars to make their studio look better. If a director wrote a film for someone that was controlled by another studio they wouldn’t be allowed to par take in the making of that film. Paramount had a star called Paulette Goddard and when she first joined Paramount this was a turning point in her careers, before she joined Paramount she was controlled by Charlie Chaplin and his studio called 'Charlie Chaplin Studios' she also dated him so when he hired her she soon became controlled by him.  She was put in his next box office hit, Modern Times in 1936. She signed a contract with David O. Selznick and appeared with Janet Gaynor in the comedy The Young in Heart (1938) because she wanted to be known because after 'Modern Times' she didn't have any up coming films. Before this Selznick loaned her to MGM to appear in two films but Selznick was worried about legal issues by signing her to a contract that might conflict with her pre-existing contracts with the Chaplin studio.

Paramount studios owned a chain of theatres the first theatre they owned was called ‘The Barn’ and the first film they showed was in Utah America and their studios were located in Hollywood America. Paramount ran two studios one in New York and one in Hollywood this made Paramount one of the big five because they owned two, they would have owned twice the amount of stars.

Paramount’s owner and founder Zukor built the ‘The Public Theatres Corporation’ which nearly had 2,000 screens this way they were producing a lot of money, there were 106m people compare to the UK they had about 44m. This meant that they were producing a lot more money than the UK theatres and during the 1920 in America there were a lot of immigrants coming over and the theatre was a ‘new’ place for them to visit. Also during this time it was the ‘silent ear’ so the films were easy to follow. Alfred Hitchcock was a famous director of manipulating sound he was one of the first to play with the sound to create tension and suspense. Richard Dyer said that ‘Stars as an image are constructed in all kinds of media texts other than films, but none the less films remain privileged instances of the stars image’. This shows that the films made the ‘stars’ that weren’t recognised for being them because they were opened by the studio they were only noticed for that.

Sia- Chandelier; Music Video Analysis

 

During this music video, they use a lot of wide-angle shots this way they are showing the background. Showing the fact that there is only one person in the music video. The music video is set in an abandoned house and this gives the music video lots more depth because the lyrics ‘Keep my glass full until morning light, 'cos I'm just holding on for tonight’ is reflected throughout the house, all of the furniture is ruined or is covered in graffiti this is therefore shown through the background. During the music video it follows a dance routine that is performed by Maddie Ziegler, she performs movements that correspond to the lyrics her movements are very quick and sharp, which relates to the theme of the song which is about having an alcohol problem. During the video the camera zooms into the girls face (reaction shot) this is showing her facial expressions to the lyrics, she repeats the lyrics ‘Keep my glass full until morning light, cos I’m just holding on for tonight’ and she is looking up and waves her hand while facing the sky. This is very effective because the actions are portraying the lyrics and is bringing the song alive by showing the actions an alcoholic would act.

The lighting at the start of the music video it is very bright, they use very high key lighting. This is a contrast with the out side of the world because the bright lights are coming into the old broken window. Also when they do the zooms onto the girls face its very bright and you can see all her features. This way all of her movements are on show and the key light helps highlight this. Halfway way through the song the camera follows the girl through the house and at the end of an corridor she is visible, the corridor is all black and then the tiny spot light at the end is highlighting her and this is very signified because it links back to theme and its showing that she is fighting her demons because throughout the song she is contently dancing around herself and ‘hurting’ herself and this is showing that she is in an constantly battle with herself. After she has done this she runs away and runs to the window and traps herself in the curtains and she is surrounded by light and this showing the contrast between her feelings or thoughts. ‘Won’t look down, won’t open my eyes’ this is sang while she is by the bright lights, which is a contrast between the actions and the lyrics because she is feeling like giving up or she is going somewhere where she doesn’t want to go but actually she isn't going somewhere bad she is by the light and is surrounded by it.

During the video the girl ‘Maddie’ is wearing a white wig and just a skin coloured leotard which could be portrayed as ‘Sia’. This links to the theme of the music video because its closely linked to alcoholism or the thoughts of a ‘party girl’. Her costume could be showing what a ‘party girl’ looks like before he goes out, that fact that she couldn't be wearing anything and he hasn’t started changing herself yet and that all she is thinking about is having a drink. ‘Sun is up, I'm a mess, Gotta get out now, gotta run from this, Here comes the shame, here comes the shame’ This is showing that she is upset with what happened to her and then she needs to sort herself out, she needs to ‘run’ form this situation which she cant run from because she can’t. When she sings the lyrics ‘123,123 drink’ Maddie dances in a very robotic manner this could be showing the actions the ‘Party Girl’ is taken she doesn’t understand why she is doing it, its like she has been told to perform all of these movements and she can’t do anything to stop herself so she just carries on.

The video has been taken in one very long take, everything is combined with each other and its looks like you are watching a story at the start you see the girl come home and then at the end of the music video she is waving goodbye. During the music video the main focus is always the girl, they don’t swap to photos or someone else this could show that she is in control. They are always following her around showing all the key movements she makes, by doing this you are seeing a different person throughout the music video the girls actions and you see her character changing showing what the ‘Party Girl’ goes through when she is left alone. The camera isn’t always showing close-ups of the facial expressions it also shows how she looks in the house, at one point in the music video she is dancing in the main room and the camera pans away leaving a long shot of the room and in the corner Maddie is dancing facing the wall this could show how her thoughts and feelings are taking over her actions that due to all the drinking she is forcing herself to feel and act in a certain manner.

How did Paramount Pictures use Vertical Integration & Star Theory

Class Notes

Vertical Integration:
- Production,  Distribution, Exhibition

Block Booking:

• -It's an important part of the studio system (was a practise).
• -Studios would sell multiple films to theatres as a unit.
• -Typically include only one attractive A-Budget movie that the theatre really wanted and then the rest would be a mixture of A-Budget films and B-Budget films.

This way Block Booking gave people a freedom of choose on what films they could watch

• -The Big Five owned the cinemas.
• -Sometimes one studio would own all the cinema chains in the city.
• -in 1945, 17% of the theatres in America were owned by the studios. Actors, Producers and  Directors were under control, the hand a contract.
• -Studios were also infamous for 'owning' their stars, this was something called the 'star system'.

United States vs. Paramount Pictures- Court Case

Paramount Pictures was a major film studios and they owned theatres were there films were only shown, this was through partnerships. Everyone including directors, producers and actors and staff owned the film process and they also created the prints and then distributed them throughout some theatres that thy owned. The issue that the studios had unfair trade practices was one of the reasons that they got sued in 1938 by the U.S Department of Justice. The society of Independent Motion Picture Producers also filed a lawsuit against Paramount Theatres in 1942, this became the first major lawsuit.

The federal government case in 1938 settled with a consent decree in 1940 this allowed the government to reinstate the lawsuit. The consent decree included some conditions;
·        The ‘big five’ studios couldn’t block-book short films.

·        The ‘big five’ could block-book features but they could only apply this to the maximum of five films.

·        Buying films without seeing the film beforehand would be outlawed and replaced with ‘trade showing’ special screenings every two weeks.

·        An administration board was formed to enforce these requirements.

The film industry didn’t meet the requirements of the consent decree, this therefore forces the government to reinstate the lawsuit. In 1943 the case went to trial and they reached Supreme Court in 1948 and they wanted them to get to get rid of their movie chains. The defendants in court were Paramount, RKO Radio Pictures, Loew’s, 20^th Century-Fox, Columbia, Universal International and Warner Bros. This made a dip in the movie business until 1972 when ‘The Godfather’- the first modern blockbuster. Paramount spilt into two companies: Paramount Pictures and the theatre chain United Paramount Theatres they then merged in 1953 with American Broadcasting Company, consequences of the decision include;

·        More independent producers and studios to produce their film product free of major studio interference.
·        The beginning of the end of the old Hollywood studio system and its golden age.

Their film libraries, especially with the rise of television- that then result of these libraries being sold to other entities. Paramount itself sold off a majority of its films to MCA, which then created EMKA.

Narrative in the Media.

·         Media Texts present different versions of the world through the ‘packaging’ of events and characters into stories sometimes stories are extended and developed and also they can be continuous. Narrative ‘snapshots’ or single narrative events can leave the viewers to make their own narrative, this is very effective for television.

·         Different narratives e.g. thrillers, ghost stories, dreams, jokes. Have certain common elements and different characteristics. And this shows the ‘blurred boundary’ between ‘fact’ and ‘fiction’.

·         The difference between ‘story’ and ‘narration’ is that stories are told, in an order and a point of view. Same series will produce the same events also the characters will help produce different narratives if told to the codes and conventions for example a ‘joke, news’.

·         Stories need a narrator this helps organise and comment on the events taking place, this helps involves a point of view from which the characters are presented. It implies a listener or an audience helping the audience respond. It helps bring an order (start, middle, end) also a basic decision of type of story that’s being shown. Codes are also shown so they can perform certain distinctive functions (create suspense, provide setting to further the plot) different elements ‘mediate’ the construction or presentation of ‘reality’ in the film of television.

·         Narratives rely on the presentation of an initial state of order which is in some way disturbed, order and disequilibrium in relation to a particular problem or set of problems.  ‘Establishing a Problem à Elaboration of Problem à Resolution of the Problem’.

·         Nature of the problem and how it is resolved depends on what type of genre of the narrative, whether it involves a mystery for example. This can be applied to News Papers also it helps to present the News beginning with an initial order, through the disrupting or disrupted ‘other word’ of violence and death to the ‘end’ which promises some kind of authoritative explanation or satisfying sense of resolution. 

·         In Films and Television its seen that there isn’t a real narrator however the camera shots provide us, shot by shot a ordered sequence of images, which the viewers will ‘read’. Images may ‘denote’ one thing but in combination with others it will connote other things. This involves considering the role in which the viewers are ‘reading’ or ‘decoding’ the narrative.

Everything within a narrative has a particular function or serves a purpose- nothing is ever superfluous.

My Presentation on Universal and Columbia Studios

 

 

 

The Jazz Singer (1927)

The Jazz Singer

Produced by Warner Bros Pictures, Inc.; black and white, 35mm, silent with synchronized musical numbers; running time: 89 minutes. Released October 1927, New York.

The film depicts the fictional story of Jakie Rabinowitz, a young man who defies the traditions of his devout Jewish family. After singing popular tunes in a beer garden he is punished by his father, a cantor, prompting Jakie to run away from home. Some years later, now calling himself Jack Robin, he has become a talented jazz singer. He attempts to build a career as an entertainer but his professional ambitions ultimately come into conflict with the demands of his home and heritage.
This film became very popular due to the fact that it was one of the films that came out of the silent era and was a ‘talkie’, it was also produced by the Warner Bro’s. When the film was first aired the reaction from the public was very positive they enjoyed the singing and speech during the film, the marketing team really helped produce the film into a really big hit. This film soon began to turn into one of the Warner Bro’s biggest blockbuster for the very first ‘talkies’. It engrossed $3.9 million (US$126 million in 2005 dollars) at the domestic box office. The film The Jazz Singer helped end the silent film era.

The Jazz Singer, has ‘blackfaced’ imagery and this is one of the films core themes, it touches on the exploration of the ethnic culture during the American identity. Lots of other 1920’s films have this theme in their films, but The Jazz Singer was more powerful because it’s central to narrative and development and expression.  This was to show that the character ‘Jakie’ was trying to find himself in the mass American culture and become a famous singer, the film was trying to that the Jewish Immigrant still has the same rights and privileges as any other American.  It also won a Special Academy Award to Warner Bros. production Chief Darryl F. Zanuck "for producing The Jazz Singer, the pioneer outstanding talking picture, which has revolutionized the industry".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZATUZ66EKaA