Movies: History of Technology
The illusion of motion; persistence of motion
Eadweard Muybridge (1879) sets up a
serious of cameras to photograph a race horse
to see if at any time all four legs were off the
ground. He did this for California Governor
Leland Stanford who bet that, indeed, a horse
got off the ground….
Stanford won the bet and Muybridge’s
photographs were a precursor of motion
picture technology (Zoogyroscope, 1880).
Movies: History of Technology
The development of film:
•Flexible film (Hannibal Goodwin and George
Eastman, 1880s)
•Continuous film and photography:
kinetoscope (1888)
•Projection: Lumiere Brothers (1895)
cinematagraph
•Reliable projector: Armat and Jenkins: film gate
Latham: film loop
•Vitascope: Edison’s “wide-screen” projection
(1896)
•The Nickelodeon (1905): The first theaters aimed
at the working class
Movies: The coming of the story film
•George Melies: (1900s) French magician
creates stories with in-camera editing for
special effects.
•Edwin Porter (for Edison) : The Life of an
American Fireman (1902) and The Great
Train Robbery (1903). Editing for continuity.
•D.W. Griffith (1910s-1920s): The multi-reel
story film: the feature
Movies: The studio system
•First attempt was to control the hardware:
Motion Picture Patents Company (1908)
•Independents fought back with:
The feature film as standard
The development of stars
The move west to Hollywood
Vertical Integration
•These Independents became the new Majors:
Paramount-Famous Players
M-G-M-Loews
Fox
United Artists (1919)
Universal (no theaters)
Movies: The studio system 1920s-1930s
•The studio system as production: All facets of the
production under control of one studio, from script to
final edit. All creative and craft personnel under
contract. Bank financing to control risk.
•Distribution: Block booking and reciprocal theater
access. Also control of foreign markets.
•Exhibition: Control of first-run theaters by region; the
growth of the picture palace.
•The coming of sound: Adds two new majors in Warner
Brothers and RKO (created by Radio Corporation of
America by buying Keith-Albee-Orpheum theater
circuit.
Movies: The studio system 1920s-1940s
•The development of the Hollywood narrative
film based on studio system.
•Genres: Specific categories of films, such as
crime dramas, westerns, etc. The appeal of
genres guaranteed audience appeal.
•The Auteur: The director as “author” of the
film. Notion developed in the 1960s that tried to
explain how certain directors’ styles superceded
the homogenization of the studio system.
Examples include John Ford, Howard Hawks.
Movies: The Documentary Tradition
•From the start, many film makers believed that
non-fiction was the true art of the film. Greatest
early example was Robert Flaherty’s Nanook of
the North
•John Grierson: Scottish film maker working in
England coins the term Documentary in a review
of Flaherty’s Moana. “The creative treatment of
actuality.” Grierson organizes documentary
units in Great Britain.
•American documentarists work for the Federal
government during the Depression and World
War II
Movies: The Documentary Tradition
•Improved portability leads to cinema verite
(from the French) in which film makers attempt
to become invisible and record raw reality. Most
notable example was Frederick Wiseman.
•Documentary makers continue to this day
continue to use film as a medium to record
reality. These films take many forms, from the
social satire of Michael Moore to the social
commentary of Barbara Kopple and Peter Davis
to the many independent film makers who
illuminate historical, social, economic, and
cultural issues without the use of fictional
stories.
Movies: The 1950s-1960s
•The Paramount Decision (1948): Divorcement decree
breaks up vertical integration, thus undermining the
financial security of the studio system.
•Competition from television and foreign films forces
change in content (more adult themes) and exhibition
(color, wide-screen).
•Runaway production: Movie making moved from
Hollywood to locations with lower production costs.
•Hollywood Ten: Blacklist affects the movie industry as
some “named names” to avoid public censure.
•1960s: Discovery of the youth market. Escalation of sex
and violence in movies.
Movies: Trends
•Movie studios as producers for network and syndicated television
•Blockbuster strategy: Spend more on one film (particularly for
popular stars and directors) in order to get a big hit (opposite of
studio system). Studios more important as financing and
distribution partners for independent film makers.
•Hollywood bookkeeping: Gross revenue does not correspond to
profit. Major players get their’s “up front.”
•Multiplex theaters: Lower overhead, less variety in types of films.
•Multiple “windows” for film/video distribution
•Concentration of ownership in production and the reemergence
of exhibitors as major players
•Digital film production and exhibition
•Home video, piracy, and P2P file sharing