Here's a essay I did on Vertical Integration
How important is Vertical integration for institutions and audiences?
Vertical Integration is a company see the movie from production to exhibition. The first stage of vertical integration is production which is the writing, planning and the making of the film which then goes to the next stage of marketing which involves marketing the film though trailers and special shows on TV and then after marketing it moves onto distribution this is where it is set of to the retailers and cinema and then the final stage is exhibition which is when the film is sold to the customers in the form of cinema tickets and DVD’s and now a day’s many people are exhibiting films on the internet as well.
Some companies can be vertically intergraded like Time Warner which is a big conglomerate which own alloy of subsidiary companies which means that they control all the stages of production from production to exhibition. Here are bullet points showing Time Warner vertical integration of the film Harry potter 7
Vertical Integration has meant that companies have become self-depended which means there has become an oligopoly in the film industry and know most of the film industry in controlled know by the big six which are Warner Bros, 20th Century Fox, Universal, Paramount, Walt Disney and Sony Pictures.
Vertical integration started in the 1920s and then by the 30s it was very popular in film industry and it was dominated by 5 main companies which were vertical integrated and 3 of them are see dominating the film industry today and they are Warner Bros, 20th century Fox and then Paramount and the other two which are not dominating today are RKO and MGM. Also in the era vertical integration also meant that studios would have long standing contracts with actors and director which meant they could only perform in that studio movies and not works for any other company. This was good for the studios because it meant that if they have very popular actors playing in films it means that more people would want to go and she those movies which means they would get more money. Also if the actor got partially popular in certain genres they would be typecast in the same type of genres and this would be good for the studio because it would help the studio become popular in a certain genre which would mean that if any saw they were bring out a new movie in that genre they know it will be good so they will spend their money to see it.
Also vertical integration was good for the audiences because it meant that the studios could get information back easily from the disputation and exhibition companies which would mean that they were able to learn from the audience if they like the film, what was there favourite part and what the type of genre they like is. The studio would look at this a would try to structure films around this to attract the largest audience which would mean they could maxims profits
Vertical integration was good because it made the perfect conditions for classical Hollywood Narrative and genre films. Classical Hollywood narrative is a structure that studios would uses to make story’s which would attempt to make as many people as possible happy with the film. Some of the features of the Narrative are like a clear beginning, middle and an end, Also a heterosexual love affair. They did this to try and crate a single audience which watch films because of the same uses and gratification which was watching films as a group which meant that it was a social pleasure which meant that people would go as in groups so they would make more money. This structure could not have excited without vertical integration because of this it meant that studios could clearly see want type of films would appeal to the audience and want would happen in the film to make people watch it.
