The Producer Unit System

The Producer Unit System

1931-1940

Central producer still maintained high degree of control over all of the film production at a given studio, but it was difficult to keep tabs on the growing number of films. It is also difficult for central producer to be an “expert” in every genre - Various studios’ central producers began assigning assistants to take over a degree of control over smaller groups of film. - Specialisation increased -Different directors under central producer specialised in various genres of films

-Films of a particular studio beginning to all “look alike”, influence of central producer decreasing the individuality of the films -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 Specialisations

- Producer-Unit system adopted by all Big 5 studios, which allows them to make more film more efficiently than during the silent era. - Part of general increase in Specialisation & departmentalization at the studios - Increased the division of labor. Jobs in other departments also became more specialised. New jobs created by new technologies of sound & color (technicians, dialogue writers, voice coaches)

The Dark Knight cover analysis

The Dark Knight is Promoted through both stars and genre:

• Christian Bale (Batman) sells the film with Michael Caine, Heath Ledger, Morgan Freeman, Gary Oldman, Aaron Eckhart and Maggie Gyllenhaal.
• Christian Bale stands alone on the cover yet he is stood strong indicating independence.  Both Christian Bale and his character (Batman) promote the film.
• The genre of action is promoted through the use of colour, setting and the characters shown. 

http://www.moviemarketingmadness.com/blog/2008/07/movie-marketing-madness-the-dark-knight/

The Dark Knight is also promoted through both stars and genre in its posters and trailers:

• Michael Caine promotes the film during its teaser trailer. The colours and shattering of the batman symbol during the clip indicates action. The other trailers show all of the main characters and stars throughout the clips.
• The posters tend to stick to the colours of blue, black, red and white; this combination works well with the genre of action.

Top Genres of all time

Most of the Films below tend to either be: Action, Sci-fi, family films or films that re-tell a true story e.g Titanic, which also has a romantic theme to it.

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

Spiderman 3 - Case Study

Codes and conventions of Spider-man 3:

• The font in which Spider-man is written and the metallic colour of it,
• The bold red and blue colours link everything to Spider-Man,
• The shots of sky scrapers link well with Spider-Man,
• The use of intense "thuds indicate the action in the film",
• The fast paced trailers link the film well with the action genre,
• They emphasise the romantic feel to the trailers, maybe so it will appeal more to women.
• The posters are split into two parts: Dark when spider-man is in a black costume, and lighter when he's in his original costume, indicating the duality in the new film.

RKO Studios

RKO (Radio-Keith-Orpheum) was founded in 1929 as RKO Radio Productions Inc and was known as one of "The Big Five" during Hollywood's Golden Age.
    RKO Produced films such as: King Kong (1933), Rio Rita (1929), Check and Double Check (1930), Top Hat 1935 and She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949).
   In 1957, the original RKO Pictures stopped production and closed two years later until it was brought back in 1981 as a production subsidiary by RKO General. However, in 1989 the company sold its remaining assets. such as its right to recreate classic RKO films and its trademarks to new the latest owners who now run a small independent company, RKO Pictures LLC, who don't produce films, but distribute them.

Sean Penn

Films most known for:
    Mystic River, 21 Grams, DogTown and Z-Boys, Milk.
    Each film has some sort of accident, in which he has to recover.  Or he has to fight for something he believes in, this gives off a message that Sean Penn generally plays a loyal character who's willing to fight for what he thinks is right.
How he was treated in the Film industry:

   Fans and critics were enthused about his obvious talent and he next contributed a stellar performance alongside Timothy Hutton in the Cold War spy thriller The Falcon and the Snowman (1985), followed by a teaming with icy Christopher Walken in the chilling At Close Range (1986). The youthful Sean then paired up with his then wife, pop diva Madonna in the woeful, and painful, Shanghai Surprise, which was savaged by the critics, but Sean bounced back with a great job as a hot-headed young cop in Colors (1988), gave another searing performance as a US soldier in Vietnam committing atrocities in Casualties of War (1989) and appeared alongside Robert De Niro in the uneven comedy We're No Angels (1989). However, the 1990s was the decade in which Sean really got noticed by critics as a mature, versatile and accomplished actor, with a string of dynamic performances in first-class films. (1986), which was savaged by the critics, but Sean bounced back with a great job as a hot-headed young cop in