Genre

Genre is used by producers for targeting audiences because it helps define what the content of the film will be. For example, if we are told a film is going to be Science-Fiction, then we will expect the setting to be space and feature aliens of some sort. 

When making a film, you must follow the conventions of the genre. Conventions are a set of rules that film producers must follow. To define what genre the film is going to be, they must use certain iconography, miss-en-scene, film narrative and actors etc so the audience will be able to easily define the genre. Convention links in to keeping the genre cycle alive, because film producers will balance repetition of the a certain convention and variation of a convention to help keep their audience interested in the genre. 

Hollywood Studio System: 

•Film studios go back to the 1930's

•'Big 5' ruled the cinema world - Warner Brothers, RKO, MGM, Paramount, 20th Century Fox

•All were Vertically Integrated - Controlled interest in production, distribution and exhibition

•'Little 3' co existed - United Artists, Columbia, Universal 

•None were Vertically Integrated

•The studio system prospered an Oligopoly - a state of limited competition, in which a market is shared by a small number of producers or sellers

•Every studio was related to a certain film genre 

•Studios were known through their own 'House Style' 

In 1948 the studio system crashed due to the rise of television and the 'Rise of the Star' - When the stars had more power and started to go out and work for other companies. This was also the beginning of 'Image over substance'