Chapter 9
Motion Pictures
Early Days
• Thomas Edison 1888 kinetoscope
• Edison’s assistant William Kennedy
Dickson
• Edison also borrowed ideas from Marey and
Muybridge and their photographs
• Idea was actually Ptolemy Greek
astronomer who discovered persistence of
vision
Early Days
• Persistence of vision—human eye retains an
image on the retina for a moment after the image
disappears
• Flip books
• 1895 French brothers August and Louis Lumiere
took Edison’s projector to a larger scale and called
it cinematorgraphe
• Finally, vitascope, developed by Armat and
Jenkins—Vaudeville houses with live musical
accompaniment
Early Days
• Popularity grows and so does price to a
nickel thus nickelodeons
The Films
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A Trip to the Moon 1902
The Great Rain Robbery 1903
Birth of A Nation D.W.Griffith 1915
Civil War epic three hours
Pantomine
EPS Cycle movies remain in Elite stage
shortest period of time of any medium;
more elite movies today than in early years
Comedy
• Recurring theme throughout all media;
comedy is usually most popular genre
• Keystone Kops Mack Sennett 1912
• Hal Roach Our Gang
• Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy Who’s On
First?
• Charlie Chaplin The Tramp
• Buster Keaton and Harold Lloyd
World War I
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Propaganda films
War Effort
3 years over 175 films
The Kaiser’s Finish
This also sees Hollywood become the
leading producer of films worldwide
Sound
• Many thought it would end the industry
• Many actors with weak voices did not make
the transition
• Dr. Lee De Forest one of the first sound on
film processes around 1923
• Warner Bros. 1927 The Jazz Singer starring
Al Jolson; changes everything
• Silent films disappear quickly
Censorship
• We should add this as the third step in the EPS
cycle
• Every time a medium goes popular, a wave of
social change comes about and morality is
threatened
• Roaring 20s/Jazz Age
• PCA Production Code Administration 1934
• Motion Picture Producers and Distributors
Association 1922 Will H. Hays
• Republican/Presbyterian—need I say more?
Censorship
• Hays gave fines for not getting the approval
up to $25,000 a huge sum for that time
• First real challenge was Otto Preminger
• Released his films without Hays’
permission
• Classic line from Clark Cable was also cited
by Hays
Studio System
• As we stated earlier, Payne Fund Studies
show large numbers of teens going to
movies weekly
• To keep up with demand, Hollywood
develops a system of major studio
producing hundreds of films each year
• Marketing departments create stars and
contracts
Studio System
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Warner Brothers
MGM Metro Goldwin Mayer (sp?)
Paramount
20th Century Fox
Universal
RKO
The Great Depression movies aid morale
Musicals and Other Genres
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Westerns
Comedies
Musicals Busby Berkley
Gangsters
Romantic comedies
Frank Capra films It’s A Wonderful Life
Blockbusters Gone With The Wind
HUAC
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1947 House Un-American Activities Committee
Communist propaganda
Became a witch hunt
People were blacklisted and never worked again
Many would work under assumed names
Later credits were restored but many were ruined
and were guilty of nothing
Anti-trust
• 1948 Supreme Court
• Illegal monopoly of studios to operate all
aspects from creation to distribution
• Created laws prohibiting ownership of
studios and theatres by same company
Television
• 1948 TV networks emerge
• Baby Boom after World War II kept many
home with small children
• Sports such as baseball transferred well to
TV
• Studios forced to create alternative
experiences gives rise to 3-D and color in
films (TV was still B &W)
Ratings System
• One more time, a new medium forces
culture to review its morals
• Because of TV, movies cater to youth
culture and counter culture and contain
sexually explicit and violent materials
• Blackboard Jungle
• Causes concerns
• Enter the ratings system of 1960s
Ratings System
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G
PG
R
X (now NC-17)
PG 13 added after Spielberg’s Gremlins and
Indiana Jones and The Temple of Doom
• XXX
1970s
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Disaster and violence become genres
The Poseidon Adventure
Towering Inferno
Halloween
Texas Chainsaw Massacre
1990s
• Special effects
• Again, a response to programming on TV; cable
allowed for more explicit programming
• Hollywood responds with big budget special
effects films
• Video Rentals people believe will kill the industry
• DVD digital video disk
• Conglomerates
• Future?