Motion Pictures
A Technology Based on Illusion
• The Edison Lab
motion picture camera
•
Lumiere Brothers in France
– Cinematographe projection device
D. W. Griffith
Griffith
established the
feature length film
as an art form
with The Birth of a
Nation, which
served notice of
the political and
social force of
motion pictures
The Star System
•
Independent
producers discovered
they could draw
crowds with "stars"
•
In 1919, Charlie
Chaplin,
Mary Pickford,
Douglas Fairbanks,
and D.W. Griffith
created United Artists.
Talkies: the coming of sound 1927Warners’ The Jazz Singer
End of some actor's careers
Higher production costs
Double features
The Studio Years, 1930 - 1959
•
MGM; 20th Century Fox; RKO; Warner Brothers;
Paramount; Universal; Columbia; United Artists
•
Produced many great films:
– Gone With The Wind;
– Wizard of Oz;
– Citizen Kane;
– Singin’ in the Rain
Regulations and controversies
•
1934 Production Code: “The Hays Office”
restricted film content for 20 years
•
Law suits challenge Hollywood's vertical
control of production, distribution, exhibition
•
1948: Government eliminates block booking
•
late ‘40s-50s Blacklisting divides Hollywood
•
1950’s: film industry fights television
Film in the late ‘60s, 1970s
– Rising profits
– Higher budget films
– Blockbusters from the first film school
generation directors
– Successful low budget films
– Broad marketing
– Smart movies
– The rating system
– X-rated pictures
1980’s to the early 2000’s
Studios target
younger, repeat
moviegoers
Video/DVD eclipses
box office revenue
cable movie channels,
internet piracy
New production technology introduced
Recent and Current Trends
CGI Hits, 3D,
Fantasy, &
Franchises
Mobile viewing devices
Digital Cinema Projection,
Streaming Home Video
Major Studio Parent Companies
Rupert Murdoch
Jeff Bewkes
Bob Iger
Brian Roberts
Sumner Redstone
Tools for success in the industry
People skills
Showmanship, an instinct for the audience
Passion for a technical skill or specialty
A storytelling imagination
Experience
Persistence, optimism, confidence & humility
Financial survival skills
Awareness of global tastes and markets
Film Director Spell Checker
George Melies (A Trip to the Moon)
Edwin S. Porter (The Great Train Robbery)
D.W. Griffith (The Birth of A Nation)
Buster Keaton (The General)
Charlie Chaplin (The Tramp)
Sergei Eisenstein (Battleship Potemkin)
Orson Welles (Citizen Kane)
John Ford (The Searchers)
Frank Capra (It’s a Wonderful Life)
Howard Hawks (His Girl Friday)
Jean Renoir (Rules of the Game)
Alfred Hitchcock (North by Northwest)
David Lean (Lawrence of Arabia)
Federico Fellini (8 1/2)
Francois Truffaut (Day for Night)
Akira Kurosawa (The Seven Samurai)
Billy Wilder (Some Like It Hot)
Ernst Lubitsch (To Be or Not To Be)
Clint Eastwood (American Sniper)
James Cameron (Titanic)
Francis Coppola (The Godfather)
George Lucas (Star Wars)
Steven Spielberg (Schindler’s List)
Martin Scorcese (Raging Bull)
Questions for Discussion
How could low cost production technologies enable profitable U.S.
production to regularly branch out beyond the Hollywood community?
Do filmmakers have an obligation to be socially responsible in what they
present on the screen? What are the responsibilities of audience members?
If you could bring four movies to a desert island ...