COM 215 Media History
Movies and the Impact of Images
All right, Mr. DeMille, I'm ready
for my close-up.
Discussion - Consensus Narratives
Discuss a recent film you've viewed in the
context of consensus narrative by
identifying mainstream values and whether
they are either being challenged or
reaffirmed.
The Transitional Period (1907-1913)
Industry and Cultural Form
Moguls move west (1911-1912)
– Carl Laemmle, IMP, then Universal
Pictures
– William Fox, 20th Century Fox
– Adolph Zukor, Paramount
– Marcus Loew, MGM
Industrial practices
vertical integration
central planning
competition and cooperation
permanent exhibition sites
first run, second run venues
product differentiation
stars and advertising
Hollywood 1922
D.W. Griffith (1875-1948)
Mature storytelling
technique
Motion pictures as high
art & entertainment
Director as author/central
creative force
Film as social force
Cultural Form
Cinema of narrative integration
Style serves story
Increased length (multireel or feature)
Multiple shots
Internally coherent stories
Acting
• Individualized characters (identification)
• ‘Verisimilar’ style
Increased use of editing (standard film grammar)
• Subjectivity, POV
• Analytical editing
• Continuity or spatial-temporal relations (match cuts)
Hollywood: Triumph of the Studio
System (1930-1945)
Technological Standards - SOUND!!!
Majors and Minors (an oligopoly)
Production Code
Standard exhibition practices
Contract Player System
Stars, Directors, Looks, Genres
SOUND
Sound effects machines standard by 1908
Continuous musical accompaniment by
1914
Producers began commissioning original
scores
In 1920s all features were accompanied
by cue sheets
SOUND
SYNC SOUND
Competing systems
sound on disc
sound on film
SOUND
Competing systems
sound on disc
sound on film
SOUND
Competing systems
sound on disc
sound on film
The Jazz Singer (1927)
Starring Al Jolson
Directed by Alan Crosland
Released by Warner Bros.
Premieres October 6, 1927
Earns over $3.5 million
Considered the first “talkie,” in fact a “part
talkie”
Initiates studios to invest in sound
technology for motion pictures
The Jazz Singer (1927)
Starring Al Jolson
Directed by Alan Crosland
Released by Warner Bros.
Premieres October 6, 1927
Earns over $3.5 million
Considered the first “talkie,” in fact a “part
talkie”
Initiates studios to invest in sound
technology for motion pictures
Impact of Sound
1. Economic
2. Technological
3. Stylistic
Impact of Sound: Economic
Capital Investment and the alliance
between Wall Street and Hollywood
Investment in excess of $300 million for the
motion picture industry’s conversion to sound
most $ lent by Rockefeller and Morgan
Impact of Sound: Economic
Mergers and realignments
by 1930, eight studios account for 95
percent of US film production
The Big Five (vertically integrated)
Paramount, MGM, 20th Century-Fox, Warner Bros
(bought First National), RKO
The Little Three (lacking theater chains)
Universal, Columbia, United Artists
Impact of Sound: Technology
Rise of technical agencies
SMPE Society for Motion Picture Engineers
ASC: American Society of Cinematographers
AMPAS: The Academy of Motion Picture Arts
and Sciences
Impact of Sound: Technology
Technological standardization &
interoperability
Bell and Howell cameras
Mitchell cameras
Eastman Kodak panchromatic film stock
Movietone optical sound system
Moviola editing equipment
Mole Richardson incandescent lights
standardized blimps, tripods, booms,
microphones, speakers
Impact of Sound: Style
Early Problems
Directional microphones
Noisy cameras
Problems with stasis (camera and actor)
Repetitive cutting (inflexible tempo)
Reduced variety of camera angles
Impact of Sound: Style
The Adjustment to Sound
Multicamera shooting
Booms
Dollies, small cranes, camera carriages
Increased camera mobility
post-synchronization
(dubbing in postproduction)
Hallelujah (Vidor, 1929)
Impact of Sound: Style
The Adjustment to Sound
Multicamera shooting
Booms
Dollies, small cranes, camera carriages
Increased camera mobility
post-synchronization (dubbing in
postproduction)
Film: Hallelujah (Vidor, 1929)
Hollywood: Triumph of the Studio
System (1930-1945)
Technological Standards
Majors and Minors (an oligopoly)
Production Code
Standard exhibition practices
Contract Player System
Stars, Directors, Looks, Genres
Decline of Studio System (1946-1960)
 US audience attendance peaks and declines
 1946 98 million viewers per week
 1957 47 million viewers per week
 Factors
1.
2.
3.
4.
Anti-trust litigation (Paramount Decision of 1946)
Political challenges (HUAC)
Sociological Changes (suburbia)
Competing Entertainment forms (TV)
Paramount Decision of 1948
 1938 US vs. Paramount Pictures, Inc., et al
Big Five and Little Three accused of violating anti-trust
laws
 Big 5 - Paramount, MGM, Warner Bros, RKO, and
Twentieth Century-Fox
 Little 3- Universal, Columbia, and United Artists)
vertically integrated structure - a monopoly
Paramount Decision of 1948 (cont)
 1948 U.S. Supreme Court decision
8 companies found guilty
 Block-booking
 Cooperating to exclude independent exhibiters
Big 5 ordered to sell off their theater chains
Impact of Paramount Decision (1948)
 Industry revenues
decreases 20%
 Studio profits decline
$120m in 1947- $31m in 1950
 Output decreases
 Studios’ stocks plummet
 Studios falter
Political Challenges: Hollywood Ten
and the Blacklist
“Are you now or have you ever been a
member of the Communist Party?”
House Committee of Un-American
Activities (HUAC)
 conservatives sought to drive out leftists from
the media
 Equated labor rights with communism
 1947 HUAC hearings of 1947
called 41 “friendly” witnesses who named 17
10 out of 19 subpoenaed refused to testify
 jailed for up to 1 year
 blacklisted for many more
Hollywood Ten

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
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Alvah Bessie, screenwriter
Herbert Biberman, screenwriter and director
Lester Cole, screenwriter
Edward Dmytryk, director
Ring Lardner Jr., screenwriter
John Howard Lawson, screenwriter
Albert Maltz, screenwriter
Samuel Ornitz, screenwriter
Adrian Scott, producer and screenwriter
Dalton Trumbo, screenwriter
Hollywood and the “Blacklist”
 1947 MPAA, on behalf of studios, cooperated
Comprised a list of several hundred writers, actors, and
directors who would lose their jobs
 known as the blacklist
 many survived by using pseudonyms or fronts
 lasted over a decade
 1960 Exodus and Spartacus give screen credit
Dalton Trumbo, blacklisted screenwriter
[Screen documentary: The Hollywood Ten (1950)]
Results of HUAC hearings and the
Blacklist
Many careers ended forever
Talented filmmakers leave Hollywood
Created distrust in the studio system
Sociological Changes: the rise of
suburbia
 Late 1940s
 Families move away from the city, toward the
suburbs
 returning veterans focused more on
careers,
raising families
Acquiring consumer products
 Discretionary income goes to household goods
and new cars
 emphasis on participatory leisure activities
Television
 mid 1950s TV replaces radio and the movies
1954 Americans own 32 million sets
Many people stay home instead of attend the movies
Moving Towards a New Hollywood
Hollywood on Hollywood
Nostalgia & Self-Critique
Screen: Sunset Blvd.
[Screen: Singing in the Rain (Donen, 1951)
Hollywood reinvents itself
Technicolor
Cinerama, CinemaScope, Vistavision!
[Screen: Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter (Tashlin, 1957)
Color and Aspect Ratio
By early 1950s Hollywood films made in color
increase from 20% to 50%
1952 Many widescreen processes introduced
CinemaScope 2.35:1 vs. Academy ratio 1.33:1