The Battle of the Woods: Hollywood and Nollywood Cinema of the United States has played an undeniable role in the transmission and interpretation of many values that we hold today. We perceive real life situations based on what Hollywood has taught us. Some ninety years after the first huge success of American cinema, “The Great Train robbery” was released, we were introduced to a new brand of films. The cult classic “Living in Bondage” was distributed. This low- budget film produced in Onitsha, Nigeria set the scene for what would become an explosion. So impressed were the filmmakers and actors by their work, they coined the term Nollywood- the Nigerian Hollywood. The different environments and practices have resulted in obvious …show more content…
Hollywood movies employ creative and bold methods to market their movies. A good deal of promotion and advertising is targeted to getting people into theatres. Media blitzes are launched to tout the movies weeks before its release. Posters on buses, billboards, designed T-shirts, websites are used to promote Hollywood films. These films are then distributed to a diverse audience. Unless they are extremely unsuccessful, Hollywood movies are always first shown in cinemas across the world, before they are released on DVD. Nollywood films, on the other hand, do not put in a lot of money and effort on the marketing of their films. Other than the movie posters which are usually seen at the selling point of the films, not much advertising is employed. As all Nollywood films go straight to DVD and VCD discs, the industry thrives on direct-to-video marketing. As many as thirty new titles are delivered to Nigerian stores and market stalls every week. Producers rely on the fact that with this outpour of releases, their movies would most certainly be picked up among the crowd; hence, employing further marketing practices is unnecessary. Currently, the available cinemas in Nigeria do not exhibit any Nollywood movies. The costs, methods of distribution, and themes of Hollywood and Nollywood films reflect strongly their target audiences; how the target audience affects the production of a film and how the production of a movie is designed to capture a specific
Strategically choosing content that people can identify with or that tells a particularly interesting or horrific true story can do just as well as the big Hollywood productions. Independent films are becoming increasingly more popular and often rival mainstream movies at the box office when they are coupled with decent funding and distribution.1 The Indie Film Movement of the 1990’s is still strong and many artists seek to escape from the control of studio production. This means more content is available than ever before and this means more choices for the exhibitor.
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.
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.
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
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
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.
Hollywood has had an obsession with well, Hollywood from the black-and-white golden era until now. While a smart business move, you run into problems where your movies may be seen as something by Hollywood for Hollywood that celebrates their industry. An industry historically built on underrepresentation and both thematic and screen “white-washing”.
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.
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).
This research paper will cover the topic of the American film industry, globalisation and how globalisation has impacted on the change of the American film industry. I will also continue on to how the American film industry and its producers can integrate successfully internationally.
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.
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.
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.
The producers will develop a test and the audience will tell the producers whether it is something they want to see or they are not going to see. This can affect the next text to be produced in an attempt to conform to the audience demands. Looking at the development of different types of genres and the development of films within the same genre, it’s possible to look at similarities and differences and identify changes in society and audience ideologies and tastes.
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