Assignment Five - Studio System

Studio System of Production

•         contract talent

•         star system

•         ‘house style’ geared to star-genre formulas

Describe some specific aspect how the studio system worked, which seems particularly important to you (1 point)

•         factory-based, mass-production system

•         The studio system worked on a factory-based/mass production way. I think this is very important because it showed how the technology makes the movies and how they are produced. Factory-Based System uses a term called “Fordist” which means that everything is assembled on site. The directors, editors, writers, and actors are all on the same contract on the same site.

Discuss how that affected the kinds of films the studio made (1 point)

This effected what kinds of films are made because of the Big-Eight producer-distributors they shared one another’s films and theaters and loaned out their top talent to one another making it so that the same actors did the same types of movies over and over.

•         Big-Eight producer-distributors

–        shared one another’s films (and theaters)

–        loaned our their top talent to one another

Use one specific example in some depth to support your points (1 point)

MGM Star Judy Garland

Was discovered as a child actress in the Andy Hardy series. GMG used her to promote other MGM stars. She had a set of traits that were repeated and used over and over again for every movie. She was associated with Genres. Audience had expectations that were easily understood and were provided by shorthand markers. Had simplified forms of storytelling. Played for different producers in the Musical, Western, Horror, Comedy, and Crime genres.