Battle of the Woods: Nollywood Versus Hollywood

The poor distribution of Australian films has made it difficult for the public to view these said films, due to the lack of theatres screening the actual pictures. This contributes to the community of the Australian public to collectively be unaware of these films and leads to the small number of tickets sold in cinemas. With this lack of money being spent on Australian films, the industry suffers due to with no return going into the

It has been observed that many movies have gained or lost its reputation over the years. The values, attitudes and actions of people have changed as years have gone by, which is reflected in their changing opinions and expressions; the changing society behavior is responsible for the gain or loss of reputation of a particular movie over a period of time.

Film is one of the most distinct expressions of a culture and is simultaneously a medium of great cultural impact. From the fashion presented on screen (i.e. clothes worn by characters in The Breakfast Club (1985) that serve as an example of clothes worn in 1980’s America), to the featured artists used for their soundtracks (i.e. Kendrick Lamar’s contributions to the Black Panther (2017) soundtrack), film can influence the same culture from which it itself was influenced.

Chapters 19 and 24 in The Cultures of American Film focus on the films made during the 1960’s and 1970’s, and the impact they had on the culture of America. Chapter 19 establishes the tone of the entire chapter by stating that, 1960 brought about a radical change in Hollywood. Attendance fell and studio heads were changing at a stunning rate. Another new development discussed in this chapter was that actors started taking control of their roles.

In the Motion Picture Patent Company (Old Hollywood) era there was an emphasis on those that were producing and directing the movies. With the production team as the focal point, this allowed the production company to keep most of their profit by not having to pay actors top dollar prices. This system also instilled control over the actors, by keeping their names from being promoted not many people would know of the actor allowing the production companies to maintain their exclusive access to said actor. These regulations also prevent actors from asking for higher pay. According to Britannica.com, The MPPC also had exclusive regulations on equipment such as the camera itself and raw film through Kodak allowing them to keep production cost down.

1. Analysis of ‘Reseach and the Movies’, written by Buffy Shutt This article mainly talks about the alliance of research and movies. Since the Golden Age of movies in the 1930s and 40s, the Old Hollywood has used audience surveys to assist cast movies and determine the genres. Following that, from late 1940s and early 1970s, research has been done for the marketing of movies, including testing the effect of advertisements on television and looking into the main drive for the audience to visit the theatre (Buffy 294-295).

Nevertheless, it is true that the industry reacts depending on the steps taken by the audiences. The industry takes advantage of their power over both cultural personality and their receiving public; it takes control of the product and changes and re-changes it in regard of the different demands exerted by potential consumers and their reactions to these variations. In other words, as it has been argued, the movie business controlled its stars to obtain from them the biggest profit possible, and it continues doing so. Audiences and society play a game of two with the industry: none of them is anything without the other, then, cultural icons work perfectly in a capitalistic society as the American one. Social reactions trigger the creation of icons, which lately in response to this, are exploited by the industry, whose capitalization of the iconic figures perpetuates their presence in the cultural —and consumerist — sphere, prolonging connections and reactions on the side of audiences and consumers.

Hollywood has been a formidable force in the film industry since the 1910’s onwards. As with any industry that has lasted that length of time, Hollywood has gone through a few changes to deal with the changes in technology and culture. One of the more significant changes that Hollywood has faced since the advent of sound in films, was the fall of its Golden Era. There were a combination of reasons the industry went through dramatic changes in the late 1950s to mid-1960s. The Paramount decree and other government imposed limitation on power of the studios, change in audience demographic, and a strict code system limiting the types of stories that could be told through the medium of film all contributed to a shift in the industry and the type of product that Hollywood

Genres of film generally possess certain traits that define our fundamental understanding of the genre’s structure. These are referred to a genre convention. The genre of drama within film lends itself to a few fundamental ideals (Grant, 2007:10). Firstly is the concept of a grounded and realistic setting, which in essence relates to characters dealing with conflicts that could be experienced in our reality. The second ideal presents itself through the characters dealing with their conflicts, both internal and external, in what is generally quite an emotional and intense manner (Grant, 2007:21). This can also feature a growth in character, as well as a shift in status or power dynamics between characters in a film. Finally, another important ideal of the drama genre is the way in which addresses a social issue that is prevalent in society (Right Direction, 2014), such as abuse, addiction and

In the second chapter of The Cultures of American Film, author Robert Kolker, dives into the emergence of studios and the evolution of stars. By the mid-1910s, individual operations of film production came to an end as companies merged together to form some of Hollywood’s largest and most profitable studios. With the emergence of studios, production of films became a whole lot faster, leading to much more distribution. The arrival of studios also gave viewers a closer look at their favorite actors and actress causing a rapid development of stars and celebrities. Audiences felt engaged during their favorite films leading to an intimate relationship between viewer and actor/actress. With studios publicizing their stars, viewers became devoted to actors and actress’s personal lives, turning stars into celebrities.

Even though there are so many positives that Hollywood and the film industry were able to produce for the American people, it did not come without its own hardships for the film industry itself. The cost of a movie, which in itself is not just the movie, it is the building and materials to screen the movie, the food to give to people there, the production costs to even film the movie that has some liveliness to it that is required in a short number of time- it is so many things! During this time, the phrase ‘time is money and money is time’ could not be more true than ever before. Consider this, today, the cost of producing a movie can range from one million dollars, to easily well over $100 million… it is a lot of money! During a time when money was scarce, funders were few, and resources were expensive, creates a difficult time and space for the creation and full production and deliverance of a movie.

This article is relevant to this week 's topic because it reinforces and highlights the important fact that Hollywood is no longer an American or Western exclusive industry. In fact, the Hollywood of today is practically Global Hollywood.

In this essay, I will elaborate on the coexistence of blockbuster and independent films in America with emphasis on independent film making concentrating on the similarities and differences portrayed.

is growing outside of the USA. This kind of growth includes the large countries that previously specialised in film production. For countries such as China and India, the annual release of films has grown progressively for the past decade, followed by a forced growing purchase power and investments in cinemas (Lorenzen, M. 2008). The American film industry must, in a way, watch its back. Especially when the amount of small film countries, such as Denmark and Switzerland, has grown. The smaller countries have attracted attention by not only up-scaling their production, but also winning market shares from Hollywood. Other new filmmaking countries are also on the rise, with Korea, Mexico etc. joining the market, who bring cheaper production technologies to their advantage (Lorenzen, M. 2008).

There has always been an interesting connection between Hollywood and Europe. Hollywood has dominated European cinema since the First World War and at present accounts for approximately 80% of market share in the majority of European countries, while European share of the American market is weak at 5.02% in 2001. The Hollywood advantage is concentrated in one very particular kind of moviemaking: films that are entertaining, highly visible, and have broad global appeal. The typical European film has about one percent of the audience of the typical Hollywood film, and this differential has been growing. American movies have become increasingly popular in international markets, while European movies have become less so. A great effort has