Production questions

1) How has the status and power of stars changed over cinematic history?
A lot of films now use the stars involved as the main marketing source to the films, drawing attention to their names on promotional posters. Many films are also made as a 'star vehicle' - a method to promote a film with a star who has had the lead role created specifically for them.

2) Take any film you have seen recently and find out who produced it. Then try to find out more about this person. What was their role on this particular production? What have they and others got to say about their involvement and contribution? What projects have they been in previously, were these ventures successful?
'Forgetting Sarah Marshall' Produced by Judd Apatow. Previously, he had produced movies such as 'Anchorman: the Legend of Ron Burgundy', 'Knocked Up' and 'Superbad', all of which had box office success, making a profit in their opening weekends in the US.

3) Why are certain kinds of film guaranteed to make high profits and others high risk?
I think that a lot of this comes down to what genres a filmmaker will decide to use. For example, the disaster/horror genres have to proved recently to be a huge box office success, with films such as 'Dawn of the Dead', making profits at the box office and spawning off many films in this genre, such as 'Land of the Dead'. It is films, I find, that work outside the popular genres, that make it as 'risks'.

4) Which genres are currently popular/unpopular and why?
I feel that popular genres at the moment include comedy, horror and the super-hero theme. This is because many of these films have financial success (e.g. Iron Man) and as a result sequels are created - 'The Dark Knight', 'Resident Evil: Extinction' ect.

5) Why was Hollywood under the studio system so successful?
During the 1910's and 1920's, Hollywood's top studios (Paramount, 20th Century Fox, Warner Bros. ect) Began to emerge. A lot of the time, these companies also had major control over distribution as well as production. Films were being made to a 'reasonable' quality and there were lots of them, so they were able to produce films quickly and market them easily.

6) What has been lost and gained as a result if the replacement of the studio system by the producer/agent/deal system?
I feel that during the studio system, films were being made to the convenience of the studios as they were the dominant force driving the cinema industry at the time, with attention focused on the film titles rather than the star. In more recent times, it is much the other way around. An agent will try to reason with the producer to make it fit the star's needs, rather than being able to create films with ease as the star's were not so vital during the studio system.

7) How and why has Hollywood again become vertically integrated?
During the golden age of Hollywood film, the studios had complete control over production, distribution and exhibition as they realized that this way, they could increase their profits. They could control which cinemas films were released in, which could even mean to companies that were independent of the studios. Why this has happened again could be due to Hollywood re-realizing this and wanting control again, after a period where independent films had the limelight.

8) What are the consequences of vertical integration?
When releasing films to independent exhibitioners, the exhibition companies often don't get to see the film that they are exhibitioning. The risk created here is that the film could easily be a flop and miss out by loads at the box office.