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Posts Tagged ‘Film Industry’

Movie stars may just be the most valuable tool in the Hollywood production toolbox. Without them the film industry would be missing its greatest connection to the audience.

We are all familiar with the phrase, “a star is born.” This refers to a birth, not in the natural sense, but rather as a result of Hollywood’s ability to effectively manufacture a movie star as efficiently as the auto industry manufactures automobiles.

During Hollywood’s Golden Era, talent scouts literally searched both the United States and Europe with the hope of discovering potential film stars. A beautiful woman or a handsome man that may have appeared on a magazine cover, done some minor-league modeling, or had athletic success was all that was required to almost assure the opportunity of a screen test.

In fact, in many cases, any form of broad public exposure wasn’t even necessary. Consider the very popular Lana Turner who was “discovered” merely sitting wearing a tight sweater on a drugstore stool. Those with star potential could be polished up a bit and used by Hollywood in a variety of ways, and if the public took a fancy to someone in particular a star may just have been born.

A great deal of effort and expense was used sorting through many thousands of potential stars. Why? Because, even before a films story, it was the films stars that brought the public to the movie theaters and kept them coming back.

Once “identified” through the publics reaction, the studio’s factory-like response was immediate and the build-up would begin. Whatever it took…cosmetic surgery, fashion direction, acting lessons, anything at all that could help in the manufacture of a movie star was worth the effort if it could convince the public that they should, and would, love this new star.

Movie magazines were an important part of this process as they could generate and maintain interest in a new film star by filling the publics seemingly insatiable desire for stories and photographs of stars both established and new.

The film studios loved the impact that movie magazines had on the viewing public and willingly cooperated with their publishers by providing an endless supply of photographs as well as making the stars themselves available to pose for layouts.

Newcomers to potential stardom were usually cast in smaller roles to begin with and gradually given larger parts over time. Those newcomers, who found acceptance by the public, were matched with roles the public was perceived to want to see them playing. A final push toward stardom may include a major role, usually along side an established star of the opposite sex.

Matching a potential movie star to the right roles was critical. Audiences would develop a desire for a particular star to be used in a type of role that they associate with them. It was this “star persona” that, when accepted by the movie-going public, told the film studios that they had a winner on their hands.

The end result was that a movie star is born…make that created.

Since 1999, movie fans have had the luxury of selecting movies for viewing from the comfort of their home computer and then receiving them at their door through the mail.
Online movie rental services allow users a huge selection and affordable prices as well as convenience. Perhaps the only drawback to these services has been the wait between returning movies and receiving the next ones in the queue.

It appears that those movie fans who prefer more immediate gratification may soon see the method of movie delivery begin shifting in their favor. Netflix announced early in 2007 on their website that they were beginning to phase in electronic delivery of movies to their subscribers. Switching service over to internet delivery exclusively will take a number of years as the online movie rental service has over 85,000 titles to its credit and the readiness of many consumers and the film industry is still a step behind. However, some current subscribers began seeing 1,000 titles available for immediate viewing in January 2007 with additional subscribers having the service added each week through the remainder of 2007.

In its infancy, the new Netflix “Watch Now” feature allows viewing of movies on personal computers/laptops that have a high speed connection and a Microsoft Windows operating system. However, the company reports that the future goal is to make their movies available on all internet connected screens; for instance on cell phones, iPods and computers with Apple OS.

The electronic delivery offered by Netflix offers some advantages over many download services as it is a real-time playback technology and allows viewers to begin viewing films as they are received versus waiting for the download to occur. Although meeting the demand for greater immediacy is a primary advantage to the Netflix “Watch Now” option, some convenience features will be welcomed by subscribers as well. After a 60 second browser applet installation, subscribers will even be able to pause and move forward within films using a simple position bar, giving viewers greater control.

Current subscribers to the Netflix online movie rental service have access to view up to 48 hours of films per month on the internet streaming service based on the plan in which they participate; the more films per month included in their plan, the more streamed movies they will be able to view. There is no additional charge for viewing streamed movies versus those delivered through the traditional mail method.

Obviously, this news offers current Netflix customers a great new option for getting movies delivered into their home. For those who aren’t current customers it certainly demonstrates that the future of online movie rental is firmly headed in the direction of electronic delivery.