1. HOLLYWOOD
Stars & Studios

2. PRODUCER-UNIT SYSTEM
1931, industry moved away from Central Producer system to PRODUCER-UNIT SYSTEM
Lasted from around 1931 to around 1955

3. PRODUCER-UNIT SYSTEM
Specialization increased under Central Producer system
Different directors under central producer specialized in various genres of films
Difficult for central producer to keep tabs on growing number of films
Also difficult for central producer to be an “expert” in every genre

4. PRODUCER-UNIT SYSTEM
Various studios’ central producers began assigning assistants to take over a degree of control over smaller groups of films
Central producer still maintained high degree of control over all of the film production at a given studio
Films of a particular studio beginning to all “look alike”, influence of central producer decreasing the individuality of the films

5. PRODUCER-UNIT SYSTEM
Specialization continued & intensified with Producer-Unit system
Central producer replaced by a number of producers ( “associate producers”)
Desire to decrease costs; with a smaller number of films for each producer to supervise, he could keeper tighter control over costs
More different kinds of movies produced; producers made movies within their specializations
Individuality & creativity increased

6. PRODUCER-UNIT SYSTEM Producer-Unit system adopted by all Big 5 studios
Allowed them to make even more films, more efficiently, than during the silent era
Part of general increase in specialization & departmentalization at the studios
Increased the division of labor
Jobs in other departments also became more specialized
New jobs created by new technologies of sound & color (technicians, dialogue writers, voice coaches)
Required new jobs in other departments (make-up, costume, prop, etc.)

8. Owned largest chain of theaters, esp. in the South & Midwest
In 1930s, during Depression, mortgages on these properties almost sank the company
When industry (& US) recovered in WW II, these theaters source of huge profits
In 1940s-50s, Paramount by far most profitable & powerful of Big 5
During these years, Paramount made many of the films we value most from the Studio Era

9. Paramount Stars
Marlene Dietrich

10. Paramount Stars
The Marx Bros
Mae West

11. Paramount Stars
Bing Crosby, Dorothy Lamour & Bob Hope

12. Fleischer Bros. Studio
Popeye

13. Fleischer Bros. Studio
Superman

14. Fleischer Bros. Studio
Betty Boop

15. Metro-Goldwyn-Meyer

16. MGM production branch of Loew’s, Inc.
Loew’s theater chain concentrated in NYC
Company survived Depression in good shape (premiere film company of 1930s)
In the post-Depression boom, however, lack of theaters hurt Loew’s

17. MGM Stars
Greta Garbo

18. MGM Stars
Clark Gable Spencer Tracy

19. MGM Movies
Tarzan the Ape Man (1932)

20. Love Finds Andy Hardy (1938)
MGM Movies
Love Finds Andy Hardy (1938)

21. Hal Roach Studio
Laurel & Hardy

22. Hal Roach Studio
Our Gang

23. MGM Animation

24. Tex Avery’s Wolfie and Red
MGM Animation
Tex Avery’s Wolfie and Red

25. 20th Century-Fox

26. 1935, Fox merged with 20th Century Pictures
Best remembered for its Technicolor musicals & its “socially-conscious” films

27. 20th Century-Fox Stars
Sonja Henie Shirley Temple

28. 20th Century-Fox Stars
Betty Grable Tyrone Power

29. Charlie Chan at the Olympics (1937)
20th-Century Fox Movies
Charlie Chan at the Olympics (1937)

30. Warner Bros.

31. From profits from innovation of sound movies, Warner bought First National in 1928, making it a major player in the Big 5
Remembered for social expose films, gangster films & backstage musicals
Most of these films were box office losers
Biggest profits from moderately-budgeted mainstream comedies & biographies; specialized in contemporary genre films
Warner also distributed Vitagraph musical shorts

32. Warner Bros. Stars
Humphrey
Bogart

33. Warner Bros. Stars
Bette Davis

34. Warner Bros. Animation

35. RKO
Result of RCA’s purchase of Film Booking Office, Keith & Orpheum chains
Output was erratic
Few of RKO’s films were successful at the box office

36. RKO Movies

37. Disney Animation
Mickey Mouse Donald Duck

38. Disney Animation
Snow White (1937)

39. Universal

40. Important in silent era, but fell on hard times in 1930s-40s
It specialized in:
Abbott & Costello features
Horror films (the best!)
Cheap serials (Jungle Jim, Flash Gordon)
Cheap newsreels
Cheap cartoons

41. Universal Movies
Abbott & Costello

42. Universal Horror Movies

43. Universal Horror Movies

44. Universal Serials

45. Walter Lantz Studio
Woody Woodpecker Chilly Willy

46. Columbia

47. Small, cut-rate studio
Remembered especially for its Frank Capra films
Most of its output consisted of B films
Westerns
Series based on comic strip & comic book characters
Shorts starring the 3 Stooges (very popular)

48. Columbia Movies Claudette Colbert Clark Gable
Frank Capra’s It Happened One Night (1934)

49. Columbia Movies
Batman & Robin

50. Columbia Shorts
The Three Stooges

51. Douglas Fairbanks, Mary Pickford, Charlie Chaplin & DW Griffith
United Artists
Douglas Fairbanks, Mary Pickford, Charlie Chaplin & DW Griffith

52. Created by Mary Pickford, D. W
Created by Mary Pickford, D.W. Griffith, Charlie Chaplin, & Douglas Fairbanks to distribute their films
When they decreased or stopped production, could not distribute enough independent product to show a profit
Until 1950s, operated on the margins of the industry

53. Monogram Movies
Federal Bullets (1937)

54. Monogram Stars
The Bowery Boys

55. Republic

56. Republic Movies

57. THE FILMS
New technologies increased possibilities with which filmmakers could work
Concentration of industry led to increased standardization of production
Despite the changes, much continuity from the silent era to the sound era
New possibilities was countered by increased conservatism at the studios
CHC narrative easily absorbed new technologies, resulting in a highly marketable product

58. ADAPTING TO NEW TECHNOLOGIES
SOUND
Sound could be used to help define space
Offscreen sound helped create a sense of a fully developed, 3-dimensional world
Onscreen sound could help define the space it came from (echoes, distant sounds, etc.)

59. DIALOGUE
Remember, in Hollywood narratives individual characters are of paramount importance
Sound a way of more fully developing characters & defining character traits

60. MUSIC
Nondiegetic music (“background music”) added to help reinforce “proper” emotional responses: drama, comedy, fear, etc.
Music could be used to help define & identify characters; important characters had particular “themes”
Both outgrowths of the use of live music in silent film exhibition
Studios also found that there was a market for records of film music

61. SOUND DEVICES FOR CONTINUITY
Work with continuity editing to help create smooth transitions between shots & scenes, keeping our attention on the narrative
SOUND BRIDGE
DIALOGUE HOOK

62. DEEP FOCUS
By late 1930s, clear trend toward the use of deep focus cinematography
It had been used as early as the 1920s
However, new film stocks & lenses made it more feasible
Orson Welles’s Citizen Kane, in 1941, brought it to the attention of mainstream filmmakers

63. CHC adapted it to the CHC narrative style
Used to help establish relationships among characters in a number of planes of action
Always used to support the narrative
Takes became longer, but not to the point where they would draw attention to their length