Thomas Ince

& The Studio System

Ida C. Benedetto Aesthetics of Early Cinema February 19, 2008

Where Cinema Had Been

• Le Prince invented cinema in 1888 in Leeds, 2 second experimental film

• Lumière and Edison Laboritories are credited with inventing recording/projecting devices (1890’s)– Initial intent of cinema is to depict real life

• Movement to fantastic story telling with the work of Méliès (late 1890’s-1900’s)

• Film begins to fill a mass market demand for entertainment through multi-reel narratives by Pathé and Gaumont (1900’s - WWI)

Society in WWI

• Ford style mode of production– Division of labor tasks– Division of conception, management, and production

• Need for new Narratives about The United States– US involved in modern war and diplomacy

– Explain to citizens a new era of high-profile imperialism

So Show Them Movies!

Enter Thomas H. Ince

• Born 1982, Died 1924• Got started in the movie business in 1910 during a bout of unemployment

• By 1912, his studio produced one 2-reel film a week

• By 1913 he was using continuity scripts

• By 1916 he owned a 43 acre, half million studio

Continuity Script

• Script that contains all information to produce a scene– Production and crew instructions– Camera settings– Details of actions– Environmental conditions– Status of each take

What does this mean?• Ince maintain controlled over production while dividing the labor between different rolls

• Two stage labor process: – creative preparation on paper by management– technical execution by workers

• Cuts down on– irregularity of production– loss of material– slowness of manufacture– lack of uniformity– uncertainty of quality

“It is earnestly requested by Mr. Ince that no change of any nature be made in the scenario either by elimination of any scenes or the addition of any scenes or changing any of the

action as described, or titles, without first

consulting him.”

Culver Studio, 1918

Branding• The standardization of movie production created rhythm and continuity that became part of the Ince brand

• While most labor was interchangeable, the stars were not. They became part of the branding

Texas Guinan