Film Industry

Introduction to the Film Industry

The only reason why any media product exists is to make money. It has to keep making money in order to keep existing.

Film is a specialised institution.

Specialised - means to do something in a certain way.

Film started at some point during the late nineteenth century, it was derived from other forms such as flick books and animation.

Le Jardiner et le petite espiegle (47 seconds run time)

• It is shorter than modern day films
• There is no colour
• The music was played live, so without it, this was a silent film
• The joke still makes sense in today's standards
• This was more simple, whereas movie's nowadays have much more complex narratives
• The quality in this film is worse than nowadays
• This is a single shot with no editing.
• This is a primitive film because it was made before the prime of Hollywood.

Film is a standardised product, it had to be standardised because it is very expensive. It has to be specialised, as people had to know what they were doing to work with it, once again due to price. Hollywood was established to create a specialised product. Early film in particular needed lots of sun, so it's the reason why the film industry congregated to Hollywood (LA). Our expectations regarding what film is all comes from Hollywood, ie - a film should last ninety minutes. It's less of an artistic medium and more of a factory.

Early on the film industry was heavily dominated by women, with multiple being directors. This may be because back then, film was perceived as being creative, fun and stupid. Men eventually dominated as the hegemonic standards shifted, and they took over the film industry in Hollywood, as it began to make money.

Stories began to be made in factory-like settings, so the audience began to expect the same thing from a film. Such as, the film needs to tell a story in three acts and it all needs to make sense.

TERMINOLOGY FOR FILM INDUSTRY

The studio system - Essentially, the film industry is owned by just a few studios

For example;

Warner Brothers, Disney, Paramount, Universal Pictures, Nickelodian, FOX, Marvel Studios.

Production: The process of making something

Distribution: Giving something out. You can do this by putting a film in the cinema (theatrical distribution)

Conglomeration : Where one company buys out another company, like where Disney keeps buying out everyone. A conglomerate is a corporation that consists of a group of businesses dealing in different products or services. Disney are what we call a conglomerate.

Vertical/horizontal integration : HORIZONTAL:  Where one company buys other companies in the same sector, to reduce the competition for audiences. For example, facebook and instagram. Disney acquired Marvel. This is a monopolistic business practise, because they own everything. 

VERTICAL -  Where a company buys up other companies involved in different stages of production and circulation.

Digital Technologies:  Anything which uses a computer

Regulation -  The rules that media industries have to follow

Convergence -  The coming together of different media industries 

Exhibition -  To show something.

Producer - The company that makes a media product.

Distributor - Puts a media product out there 

Changes over time 

The internet has allowed the film industry to change. Now you can download films using the internet onto your computer/phone. Piracy is an example of distribution. 

There is now 4K ultra-HD.

People now buy less DVDS, people still go to the cinema but there are multiple more alternatives. There is a vast variety of different experiences now that we potentially didn't before.

There are all these opportunities, all made possible through digital technology.

Key Theory 14 - The cultural industries - David Hesmondhalgh 

Black Panther context

• Produced by Marvel studios
• Distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
• Marvel Studios was acquired by Walt Disney in 2009 for 4 billion
• It is essential to note the film was produced and distributed by a major, vertically integrated film studio that is part of a media conglomerate is significant in terms of funding, possibilities for cross-promotion and reaching a global audience.
• It is not an independent film, it is a huge, big budget film attached to a major label.
• China was one of the biggest target markets for Black Panther

USP - Unique Selling Point

The USP of Black Panther, is that it is (mostly) an all black cast, and the black culture is celebrated.

For Black Panther, the hegemonic ideals are subverted, because they use a black cast member in a lead role, opposed to a white person.