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History of Cinematography
• Thomas Edison- inventor of motion pictures
• William Dickson- invented picture camera (1888)
• Persistence of Vision- eye retains image for fraction
of a second
• Lumiere brothers- brought projection to movies and
opened the first movie house in Paris in 1895
• Adding Sound- first movie with sound was the
“dancing men” in 1896, followed by The Jazz Singer
of Warner Brothers 1927
• By 1930- 9,000 movie houses were equipped with
sound nation-wide and color pictures were made
available
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Early Movie House
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The four Warner brothers (from left to right, Sam, Harry, Jack,
and Albert) founded Warner Bros. Pictures, Inc. in 1923. The
studio pioneered sound films, releasing its first sound motion
picture, The Jazz Singer, in 1927.
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Crises That Reshaped Hollywood
• Hollywood 10- in 1947, 47 screenwriters, directors,
and actors were summoned to answer questions
about communist influence in Hollywood
• 10 witnesses refused to answer and was one of the
largest manifestations of McCarthyism
• Vertical Integration- controlling the product from
inception to consumption; started Adolph Zukor
• Court Bans on Vertical Integration- U.S. Justice
Department began litigation against VI in 1948; this
shook the whole economic structure on which
Hollywood was based
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Movies and Television
• Continuous battle between the movie and television
industries
– ¾ of movie industry’s production today is for TV
– Ex. HBO
• Movie-makers were loosing audiences and so
resorted to high-budget motion pictures called
spectaculars (1950’s)
• CinemaScope – image was 2.5 times wider
• By 1985, 59% of ticket sales went to people between
the ages of 12 and 24, which means movies were
being produced for a younger crowd, however, large
box-office hits crossover audiences
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CMM 201 Church, Klakamp, Sletten
Movie Finances
• Many movies are financed by major studios w/ profits
from their earlier movies
• Most movies originate with independent producers
– Get profits from major studios
– Representatives are sent to shooting site
• Investor groups
– Groups put together to fund movies for major studios
– Ex. Silver Screen Partners – helped Disney in 1980s
• Banks – studios get loans
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Movie Censorship
• Morality
– Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of
America – 1922 Hollywood attempt to establish
moral code for movies.
– Motion Picture Production Code – 1930 Hollywood
attempt to quiet critical moralists (no harsh
language, nothing sexual, and no bad guys going
unpunished)
– Legion of Decency – Church listing of acceptable
movies organized by U.S bishops (1934)
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• Classification and Rating Administration Board
– 1968
– No movies banned and no fines
– Board of movie producers, distributors, importers,
and exhibitors
• Categories – G, PG, PG-13, R, NC-17
• Violence in movies marketed towards
children- controversial
– Sony acknowledged that it had included children
as young as 9 in their focus group fro R-rated
movies.
– Congress told movie companies to clean up their
acts or they would face government regulation;
they said they would
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Movie Reviews
• Somewhat Reliable
– Number of tickets sold
– Single weekend success
– Number of screens
– Trailers
– www.movies.net
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Movie Criticism
• Critics
– Produce helpful reviews and commentaries
– Cut through hype and dazzle
• Best Sources
– New Yorker magazine
– New York Times
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Top Earning Movies for October 28,
2001
•
•
•
•
•
•
K-PAX $4,380,000
3 day total gross $17,220,000
Thirteen Ghosts $3,910,000
3 day total gross $15,170,000
From Hell $1,630,000
10 day total gross $20,700,000
• Source: www.the-numbers.com
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Top Earning Movies of All Time
• Titanic
– $600. 8 million
• Star Wars
– $460.9 million
• Star Wars- The Phantom Menace
– $418.5 million
• E.T.
– $399.9 million
• Jurassic Park
– $357.1 million
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The Future of Movies
• 2000 season – no blockbusters
• Exhibition has shrunk dramatically
– Peak attendance: 1946 at 90 million
– 1950 dropped to 60 million, then 46 million in
1955
– Today only about 19 million people go to the
movies per week
• Studios can survive
– Into records, video products, merchandise tie-ins
(toys, soundtracks, product placements) and news
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People in the Movie Industry
• Robert Flaherty- made the first
documentary in 1921
• Steven Spielberg- has produced such
movies as ET, Jurassic Park, and AI
• Michael Eisner- head of the Disney
Corporation
• Jack Valenti- created the original G
through X rating system in 1968
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MTV Movie Awards
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Web Sites
www.ultimatemovieclips.com
www.mtv.com/onair/ma01/pastwinners/index.jhtml?
Pagename=pastwinners&year=2001
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The End
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