Warner Bros. would most likely be the distributing studio and institution for my media product. Warner Bros. during the Golden Age of Hollywood were large distributors of Film Noir. This was a particular genre that sold well with audiences. The films they distributed would follow the same conventions and have a similar plot, the audience was essentially watching the same film with different actors. However this was done because the audience knew what they were in for and (if they liked the genre) would be getting there moneys worth. This is the key reason why the films are similar, why they all have strict codes and conventions such as a rough detective and a femme fatale, because Warner Bros. had the "If it isn't broke, don't fix it" mentality, which has been replicated by Marvel Studios today. They release their superhero films in stages resulting in a few films a year.
Warner Bros. was one of the key five studios during the late 1920's. This was due to their success with The Jazz Singer and The Singing Fool allowing them to invest in a string of theatres that gave them enough income to become a mainstay in Hollywood. Most studios adhered to one genre film such as slapstick or musical, or for Warner Bros: Film Noir. Employees also usually stuck with one studio for long periods of time for instance, Cedric Gibbons and Herbert Stothart always worked on MGM films, Alfred Newman worked at Twentieth Century Fox for twenty years, Cecil B. DeMille's films were almost all made at Paramount. Throughout this period Warner Bros. tried to make as much money with their trademark film noirs without spending as much as other studios. For example they would use the dark setting and background to hide things that were not apart of the films universe, such as backdrops and props. This is also why they use a lot of close up shots and tight shots, this was to try not to show the set too much and show that it wasn't all that great. Another example of this is the smoke used on set, for this Warner Bros. used dry ice to give the effect of smoke.
 |
| An example of the dark background, with the camera focusing on the main character |
As well as the "If it isn't broke, don't fix it" idea big studios such as Warner Bros. had other systems, such as the Star System when they cast a certain star in a role and hope that he or she is popular enough to draw a crowd. This still happens today with films such as John Wick with Keanu Reeves and the upcoming Suicide Squad movie with Will Smith, Margot Robbie and Tom Hardy, or the Expendables series where they have little plot but are made with a huge amount of 1980's action film stars and seeing those big names would make fans want to see it. Hence the Star System. Warner Bros. did this with huge names such as Robert Mitchum, Jane Greer and Rita Haywort.
Whilst this allowed for the big five studios to strive, due to the great depression many soon fell victim to divestiture by the early 60's. Meaning that the golden age of Hollywood was over, whilst Warner Bros and MCM still remained, there was an influx in smaller studios because of this.
A film with similar conventions of film noir with a few changes and a modern twist was Nightcrawler, a recent film (2014) directed by Dan Gilroy and distributed by the small time Open Road films. It is considered a neo noir and stars Jake Gylenhall. The film follows a socially inept man as he searches for his calling in life, no matter what it is. As it turns out being a on-the-field news reporter of recent events is it. He isn't afraid to get close, he has no regards for other peoples emotions and is heavily linked with the Femme Fatale Rene Russo. In description the film doesn't sound like a typical film noir, this is because it's a Neo-Noir with similar conventions of a film noir but with a more modern take. Nightcrawler made over $32,000,000 domestically and $38,000,000 worldwide as of January 2015. The film is mostly set at night and follows a man willing to do whatever he takes to reach his goal, whilst being manipulated by, and whilst he manipulates, the femme fatale.
This shows that these films are still popular to this day as it has been getting positive reviews and was a financial success as the budget was only $8,000,000 and also with Jake Gylenhall in the starring role it also links to the star power system as mentioned before.
No comments:
Post a Comment