The Film Industry: Hollywood

Hollywood is a mentonym = a word, name, or expression used as a substitute for something else with which it is closely associated. For example, Washington is a metonym for the US government.

Hollywood:

• Plastic Surgery
• Movies
• Rich people/actors
• Art
• Stars
• Red carpet
• Theatre
• Flashing lights
• costumes
• 
  

How was hollywood invented?

Film was invented in France, but the Hollywood studios started to become all powerful by the 1920s. The studio built up their power by following what is called "Fordist" economic model and establishing a system of vertical integration.

vertical integration - the combination in one firm of two or more stages of production normally operated by separate firms. Production, distribution and consumption.

"Fordist" - the use in manufacturing industry of the methods pioneered by Henry Ford, typified by large-scale mechanized mass production. Named after henry ford, a very efficient way of producing goods like cars based on 1. standardising the product
2. assembly line production


20th century fox: For many years, 20th Century Fox claimed to have been founded in 1915, the year Fox Film was founded.
However, in recent years it has claimed the 1935 merger as its founding, even though most film historians agree it was founded in 1915.

antitrust laws - in the late 1940s the US government brought an end to the vertical integration system 
and forced the studios to sell off their cinemas

Hollywood now, The Big Six:

1. Disney
2. Universal
3. Warner Brothers
4. Fox
5. Sony
6. Paramount

Media plurality- is about the information that people consume on a daily basis, which informs their views and perspective on the world. 'Media plurality' means having a diversity of viewpoints available and consumed across the media.

Disney wants to buy Fox because of Netflix, They are going to start up their own version,

If they own Fox they can put way more content on things because they'll own it.

In contemporary hollywood, individual independent production put together a production-the studios then 'buy into' the film, offering money in exchange for distribution rights and possibly leasing ut facilities (the studio in which to film)

Average budget for a major films $60-100 million,

budget spent on:

• Cast
• story rights
• producer + director fees
• VFX
• music rights

Distributors will acquire a film for a fee and gain the rights to sell it (normally on all platforms)*

A % of box office will go back to producers (after they get back all the money they spend)

They will pay for the marketing of the film.

This marketing budget can vary massively. The last Transformers film cost $210m to make and $200m to market. Low budget horror films like The Purge were cheap to make (under $5m) but costly to market (more than $20m)

Marketing of the movie IT: IT left around creepy red balloons in Sydney;