A star from the studio system era that had confrontations with their studio management

Olivia De Havilland

Olivia De Havilland was frustrated by the roles she kept being given and by the fact she was quickly being typecast as a damsel in distress and began to reject scripts that offered her this type of role. 

Warner Bros punished her for this by suspending her for 6 months.

Then when her contract with Warner Bros expired she was informed that the sixth months she was suspended for would be added to the end of her contract. At the time it was legal for studios to do this. 

As a result of this, the studio could maintain complete control over an uncooperative contractee. 

Most film stars accepted this situation but a few tried to change the system.

In 1940's Olivia built a lawsuit against Warner Bros, supported by the Screen Actors Guild and won. By winning she gained the respect and admiration of her peers. Also she reduced the power of the studios and gave the film stars more creative freedom. 

After she won Warners Bros vowed never to hire her again. 

After being fired from Warner Bros Olivia signed a three year picture deal with Paramount Pictures. 

The quality and variety of her roles began to improve. Also she was now able to decline roles without being punished by her studio.

What is the producer unit system and when did it operate?

1931-1955???


What is the producer unit system and when did it operate?

Hollywood Timeline

1900


the anti-trust Paramount court case-1921-1948
first sound movie/talkie-1927
first academy awards- 1929
decade that televisions were first brought into the home- 1950's
when the studio system disbanded- 1959/1960
decade that video recorders/VHS were brought into the home- 1970's
first blockbuster released- 1975
first multiplex opened in the UK-1985
first digital movie was filmed-2001



Today

dvd cover analysis

The main marketing tool used for this film is Genre

Genre

From the dvd cover I can tell that the genre of the film is action. I know this because spiderman looks like he is climbing up the side of a building. This suggests he is a hero and there is often a hero in action films. Also the facial expression that spiderman has shows he is quite determined and fearless. These characteristics  are common in heroes from the action genre. Also the dvd cover has a yellow/gold glow in the background which could show that spiderman is more important than those below him. Also the glow makes him look special.


a link telling us how it is marketed
http://www.moviemarketingmadness.com/blog/2004/06/movie-marketing-madness-spider-man-2/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OlfYIF47f1k-    trailer

All Time US Top 20

All Time US Top 20

Note: This chart is not adjusted for inflation. The figures represent the total amount of money a movie has taken in the United States over its lifetime.

	Released	Film Name	Total Box Office
1	2009	Avatar	$760,507,625
2	1997	Titanic	$600,788,188
3	2008	The Dark Knight	$533,345,358
4	1977	Star Wars Ep. IV: A New Hope	$460,998,007
5	2004	Shrek 2	$441,226,247
6	1982	ET: The Extra-Terrestrial	$435,110,554
7	1999	Star Wars Ep. I: The Phantom Menace	$431,088,297
8	2006	Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest	$423,315,812
9	2010	Toy Story 3	$415,004,880
10	1994	The Lion King	$414,548,100
11	2002	Spider-Man	$403,706,375
12	2009	Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen	$402,111,870
13	2005	Star Wars Ep. III: Revenge of the Sith	$380,270,577
14	2011	Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part II	$379,750,747
15	2003	The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King	$377,027,325
16	2004	Spider-Man 2	$373,524,485
17	2004	The Passion of the Christ	$370,782,930
18	1993	Jurassic Park	$357,067,947
19	2011	Transformers: Dark of the Moon	$352,358,779
20	2002	The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers	$341,784,377

Most of the films in this list are big budget action films

how genre is used to market a film- disturbia

The film posters used to market the film

This film is a horror thriller. The poster shows this as it is dark. Also Shia LaBeouf has a serious look on his face and looks as though he is looking straight at us, the audience. This makes us feel a little uneasy. Moreover if this film were a comedy then he would probably he smiling. All of above are the reasons why this poster appeals to people who like the horror genre. A little element of romance is shown on the poster as there is a women shown in the reflection on the binoculars he is holding. The colours on the poster and the character's facial expressions make it horror/thriller genre. Also the tagline on the poster sounds quite scary and evil and might scare the audience.

The film trailer used to promote the film

There are many things in the trailer that tell the audience the film is of a horror/thriller genre. One example of this is the mood music in the background that plays all the way through the film trailer. It builds up suspense and instills a sense of fear in the audience. Another example is the colours used in the trailer. The slides are mostly black with a little white for the text. This could show the two sides of peoples personalities. Good and evil. Also another example is the use of low key lighting in the trailer. It is used to cast shadows and a common feature in horror films. Also the music gets faster to show a quicker paced action part of the film. This shows the action and thriller genres within the film. Also there is a scene in the trailer that shows the guy and getting close to the girl. This shows the romance genre within the film to attract a female audience. Also the trailer shows blood, screaming and knifes which are associated with the horror genre. 

ways in which the genre sells the film

codes and conventions of the genre- horror

 dark, gloomy, serious looks, dark colours connotation death or evil, crime, murder

Also their is usually a bit of romance in horror thriller films to attract a female audience.

The film Disturbia sells more on genre rather than stars

SCRE4M Part 8 Last Part HQ

Analysing a film clip-Scream part 8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=IYcstehoGkY#!

Use of cinematography within this clip

Cinematography is a word used to describe all aspects of  camera work for example shot types, camera postioning, camera movement, and framing.

At the beginning of the clip there is a long shot showing a women walking down a corridor. The long shot shows she is alone and the only one in shot. The camera then slowly pans around to a door where the woman comes out of. The slowness of the camera movement creates suspense. Then their is a meduim close up of the woman. The camera then shows a long shot of the woman approaching a person in a hospital bed. Then we see a low angle medium close up of a police officer talking to the woman in the bed. Next we see a high angle shot of the woman in the bed. This shot shows that she is small and vunerable. Then is a long shot of the police officer running out of the room. Next is a meduim close up high angle shot showing a different woman in a bed.

Tim Robbins

Tim Robbins is an american actor, screenwriter, director, producer, activist and musician.

He is very vocal about the war in Iraq and often voices his opinion about issues. He has liberal political views. The films he does often reflect his own personal liberal political views. A film that represents this is 'Bob Roberts' which is a film about politics in the United States in the 1990's. Also Tim Robbins is quite controversial and sometimes plays controversial characters in some films.

The films he has worked on are:

Bull Durham, The Shawshank Redemption, Mystic River, The Player, Dead Man Walking, Green Lantern, Bob Roberts and The secret life of words.


He usually plays heroes or villains in films and mostly plays the main character. His character often tries to relate to other characters that are lower than him. Also he plays characters that are flawed and characters that the audience can relate to.  



Tim Robbins is regarded as a big star and gets to star and direct films. Also he mostly stars in films that are well known and made by big film studios.

Their is a relationship between his public persona (what is in the media about him) and the roles they play. In this instance Tim Robbins is known to be a activist who stands up for what he believes in and similarly the characters that he plays do this as well. As well as this he has won lots of awards for his acting and directing. 

research about old hollywood studios

Warner Brothers

In the early days Warner Brothers used to make musicals. Then during the 1930's the market and demand for musicals decrease and so Warner Brothers turned to more socially realistic storylines instead. Soon after this Warner Brothers had a lot of success with Gangster films and became known as the "gangster studio"

More recently Warner Brothers have also made TV programmes such as Charmed, Smallville and One Tree Hill.

Warner Brothers (known then as Warner Brothers.Studios) has first formed in 1918. They changed their name to Warner Brothers.Pictures in 1923. They started making Cartoons in the late 1930's to the early 1940's. In 1958 Warner Brothers launched Warner Brothers.Records and released soundtracks based on their tv shows.

On 1st  June Warner Brothers celebrated their 90th Anniversary and their 80th for film only.

Recently Warner Brothers have had lots of success and are the institution behind the highest grossing film series of all time- Harry Potter

Warner Brothers are still around an are one of the biggest and most successful film studios at the moment.

The films they are currently producing are

• J. Edgar 
• Happy Feet Two 
• New Year's Eve 
• Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows 
• Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
• The Factory 

• Joyful Noise 
• Journey 2: The Mysterious Island Cinema 
• Project X 
• Wrath of the Titans 
• Bullet to the Head 
• The Lucky One 
• Dark Shadows 
• Rock of Ages 
• Jack the Giant Killer 
• The Dark Knight Rises 
• The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey 
• The Apparition 
• Cloud Atlas  
• Marvin the Martian 
• Jonny Quest 
• Godzilla 
• Logan's Run 
• 1906 
• Mad Max