page 6.1
The Secrets of the
Old Studio System Star-Makers
In the Hollywood studio systems of yesterday, film players passed through a rigorous program of screen imaging designed to immortalize them as charismatic stars. The old studios clearly understood the truth that entertainment on film is a business, and talent is a product -- not some surrealistic objet d'art.
Glamour, charisma, and the public’s infatuation with their product were the studio’s ultimate goal. They were wise enough to realize that researching what the public wanted (or expected) from their talents would provide them with the specific tools required to shape their talents into financial and creatively prosperous stars. It was their graphic imaging power -- that was the reason they could dominate the marketplace and bolster attendance among their private theater chains.
Past studio producers and executives avoided serious casting or film disasters using
these secret imaging systems with every product they developed in their studios.
When independent producers stepped up production and distribution (after studio systems were decimated by anti-trust regulations), the secrets to the system were eventually lost and dissolved along with the other creative studio system secrets left on decaying celluloid.
Artists and craftsmen who developed the original charismatic processes were left to their own devices. Without financial and executive support of the newer studios, experts in charismatic imaging quietly disappeared. Modern filmmakers and talent agents arrogantly disregarded them as part of the old system they had put to rest.
New filmmakers turned imaging efforts over to a diversified mix of product marketing companies who really didn’t have a clue as to the secret screen imaging formulas which had been so successful in the glamour years. Fortunately for the new filmmakers, they could still work with previously glamorized stars until they had time to develop new talents with the tedious new process of charismatic trial-and-error in film casting.
This expensive and frequently devastating process of trial-and-error had an ironic effect. It prevented rich, new independents from becoming studios themselves and prevented them from keeping a dominance over lesser independents. Their screen casting gambles and lack of clear imaging formulations forced them to suffer higher percentages of failed products -- which knocks them out of their ivory towers with consistent frequency.
The new trial-and-error approach to star-making caused the audience to take a more critical approach to unknown talent. Instead of just letting moguls and their studio publicity departments guide them along, audiences became more opinionated and sophisticated. The resulting paradigm shift caused the audience to grow ever more skeptical and analytical about the acting of each new film.
Audiences grew more mature. They came to expect more and more reality from every new performance. Computer-generated graphic effects made the audience even more sophisticated. If an independent or a restructured studio had previously been able to resurrect the intricate imaging formula of casting, chemistry, and charisma and combine them into the new artistry, they could have won every audience and out-marketed and overpowered the rest of the cinematic industry.
But, that was then. Now that huge global conglomerates have once again obtained massive vertical integration, the cinema secrets are even more critical for success. For several giant corporations owning the entire consumer pipeline from start to finish, competing from cradle-to-grave so to speak – superior product quality is the only real edge left.
It’s not how many times producers can succeed that keeps a studio or a talent in the money ... it’s their ability to consistently avoid casting and component disasters ... that will keep a company afloat.
One failure in casting or screen imaging can destroy an entire career of success. Twice in a row can shipwreck an entire studio.
The tricks of the old studio system have been rediscovered in the powerful formulas and screen imaging processes which are now available from CFI™.
Besides the standard equations from the old studio formulas, CFI™ has also developed sophisticated new refinements to the imaging process and perfected casting techniques which gratify the audience's suspension-of-disbelief psychology.