Film Industry Research Paper

During the early 1900s, the film industry had just gained popularity but the films during this era were drastically different from films today. Films during this time were done in white and black, were much shorter, and were without sound. In this silent film era, no star shined brighter than that of Charlie Chaplin. Chaplin is without a doubt the biggest name of film during this or possibly any era. In fact, Chaplin should be considered the greatest influence of the film industry in the 1920s because of his fame in silent film, his career as a director, his controversial satire, and the popularity of The Tramp.

The Golden Age of Hollywood was a time when Hollywood hit its peak successfully and economically, starting with the late 1920s, and met its decline due to corruption in the late 1950s. One would ask the question: “Where did the name Hollywood come from?” The name came from Harvey Henderson Wilcox and his wife, Daeida, who were owners of a small ranch west of Los Angeles. According to u-s-history.com, “Daeida, who, while on a train trip east met a woman that described her country home in Ohio, that had been named for the Dutch settlement of Hollywood. Liking the name, Daeida christened their ranch 'Hollywood,' upon her return.” (History of Hollywood, California) Movies during this time period became a vital form of entertainment for all Americans during this time period. By the 1910s, Hollywood was combined into its neighboring city Los Angeles, and many motion-picture studios began to open. Moviemakers rushed to Hollywood, and competition started to become widespread between directors and producers. By 1910, the first motion picture was made in Hollywood, titled In Old California, and soon enough, Los Angeles became second to New York in producing films also because of it’s quintessential weather for movies to be made in all year long during this time. As Hollywood began to industrialize, filmmakers began to work on the image of a “star”; they would continuously use these highly-paid actors in order to achieve a form of comfort for the general audience of the movies. Seeing

The introduction of television to America had a significant impact on the movie industry. Americans were able to enjoy fresh entertainment and news from the comfort of their homes and were not limited in their knowledge of current events by the news reels before and between films. The effects on Hollywood were not limited to negatives like reduced attendance; movies were first run in theaters, but second runs on television bringing in unprecedented revenue long past the initial run, stars began to negotiate contracts to include portions of future profits, and the change from uncensored live television to increased television censorship all had significant effects on Hollywood. The competition between television and film ultimately became a mutually beneficial enterprise that became the downfall of the production code and allowed movies to have new liberty and freedom.

The Australian film industry is currently in a point of crisis due to the lack of audiences attending Australian films, hence creating a decline in the revenue received towards our national industry. However, this is not due to the lack of creative talent, it is rather the many underlying issues that don?t allow the Australian public with the awareness and accessibility of these films. These problems are within the distribution, marketing and funding of these Australian films, allowing the national Australian community to not seek for films made by people within their nation due to negative pre-conceived notions and the convenience of going to see a Hollywood Blockbuster. These issues are seen through the poor release of both critically received films, Jennifer Kent?s The Babadook (2014) and Hugh Sullivan?s The Infinite Man (2014), both not gaining a wide audience. Through these issues within the industry, Australian filmmakers have not been able to create the revenue needed for these films to branch out to be easily attained by the public.

The United States vs. Paramount decision changed the filmmaking business by making block booking illegal. It also made the ‘Big Five’ movie studios sell their movie theaters. The ‘Big Five’ consisted of Paramount, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), Warner Bros., 20th Century Fox, and RKO Radio Pictures.

The transition from silent film to the “talkies” in the mid 1920s transformed the face of the American film industry and of mass entertainment. “Going to the picture show” was a wondrous experience that for 25 cents, gave Americans in large cities an escape from their tedious lives and offered an evening of “crystal chandeliers, marble fountains, gilt inlay and richly upholstered seats” (Miller n.d.). They went to enjoy the “silent” film, which is not an entirely accurate statement considering that all silent films were accompanied by live music, and were therefore not silent at all. Full symphonic orchestras accompanied some silent films, while others had sound effects added by organ, and smaller movie houses used the piano to add sound. Without

We all know some good movies from some of the big movie studios. Whether they be from Warner Bros and Disney; or from 20th Century Fox and MGM. These studios made it big during the Great Depression. During this time these studios knew just what people needed. The film industry really made it big during the great depression, a few of the contributing factors were the talkies, the rise of studios, and the golden age of Hollywood.

In the case of Alicia Huberman (Ingrid Bergman), her father’s prison sentence leaves her skeptical of others, yet longing for a new companion in her life. She has a reliance on alcohol to wash her troubles away. R. Devlin’s (Cary Grant) a stranger from the party, a very mystery man. The Party takes place at Miami, FL. The camera pans right across Cary Grant’s back and comes to rest behind his right shoulder. The camera is placed behind and to the right of Cary Grant who is sitting and facing away from the camera. In the immediate foreground masking out a small portion of the bottom left corner

The studio system was an arrangement of craft services and talent that made movies dictated by contractual terms. Through this system, studios could easily move from project to project, producing like that of a factory. Creating movies in this arrangement eliminated the need to raise money or finances; directors usually created movies in the style of the studio which lessened artistic creativity (Lewis, p 104). The studio system was dominant in Hollywood through the 1920’s well into the 1950’s.

Classical Hollywood film sprung up in the 1920s and lasted until the mid to late 1960s. This type of cinema, now know as the “Golden Age of Hollywood,” had a very specific style. It used flashbacks, continuity editing as well as “narratives structured around the goals of individual characters” (Belton 44), also known as a deadline device. Stars of that era were chosen specifically to play the individual main characters and they had more traits than less involved characters, such as launching the main actions of the story. Verisimilitude, the appearance of being true or real, was an attribute aspired to be reached through the use of props, settings and décor. In addition, music and lighting were used to stimulate an emotional connection and/or response to the story. The film Casablanca is one of the greatest examples of the classical Hollywood era because it embodies everything the style entails, but especially the mise-en-scene, sound and lighting used throughout the film.

Since even before its inception, the idea of “Hollywood” has been consistently concerned with a single underlying concept: spectacle. The earliest movies belonged to what film historians like Tom Gunning call a “cinema of attractions.” Primitive films, the earliest shorts from the late 1890s to the early 1900s, were directed at an audience looking for a new form of entertainment. The first films were screened as the final attraction of a vaudeville show, mostly in the lower-class areas of major cities. They were a far remove from the massive modern theaters we patronize nowadays. The vaudeville tradition continued into film as a showman would introduce the film as a single still image

The film industry has continuously changed since its inception due to rapid technology advancements. Camera technology has been a key factor that has influenced the growth of filmmaking. The first motion picture in the world was produced in the early 1880s, and the first public screening occurred ten years later. It didn’t take long for the quality of films to improve as new filmmaking equipment emerged. Ever since the first movie was produced, the film industry has been continuously changing in response to emerging filmmaking technology. Introduction of digital photography and digital data storage along with the development of internet significantly influenced the film industry (Barsam, 2015). These technologies contributed

The modern film industry was born around the beginning of the twentieth century. On April 23rd 1896 Thomas Edition showed the first publicly-projected motion picture at Koster and Bial's Music Hall in New York City. From there the film industry had an explosive growth rate. In fact,

During the mid to late years of the 19th century, a new form of entertainment emerged. Film entered the stage of innovation. New marketing and technological innovations developed for film to become the art it is today. In the 1830s, Joseph Plateau designed the Phenakistoscope. This device had a picture in the middle of a wheel made with mirrors and small openings. When spun, the Phenakistoscope made the picture appear to move. The name changed to Zoetrope in the 1860s and producers advertised the product as an accessory every home needed (Dixon & Foster, 2008). Later inventions that preceded the first motion picture camera include: Henry Du Mont’s Omiscope, Henry R. Heyl’s Phasmatrope, Eadweard Muybridge’s Zoöpraxiscope, Etienne-Jules Marey’s fusil photographique and Eastman Kodak’s chronophotographs (Parkinson, 1997). With a design by Thomas Edison, William Kennedy Laurie Dickson built the first modern movie camera, the Kinetograph, in 1890 (Dixon & Foster, 2008). In 1895, Auguste and Louis Lumiére patented the Cinématographe, a machine that combined the engineering of a camera and a projector (Bergan, 2006). Businessmen capitalized on the growing need for a place to witness these brand new films, thus they charged people to see them in their living rooms (Potter, 2014). These creations made movie-making a reality.

No matter who a person thinks invented the motion picture camera, whether it was Louis Lumiere or Thomas Edison, I'm sure they had no idea what it would become at the turn of the century. Motion pictures, has become an entertainment medium like no other. From Fred Ott's Sneeze to Psycho to Being John Malkovich, the evolution from moving pictures to a pure art form has been quite amazing. Different steps in filming techniques define eras in one of the most amazing ideas that was ever composed. Silent to Sound. Short to long. Black and white to color. Analog to Digital. All were important marks in the History of Motion Pictures. "It's different than other arts. It had to be invented"