Film Industry: Then and Now

In chapter two of The Cultures of American Film, the main focus is the establishment of studios. As demand for films rose in the early 1900’s, production companies needed to expand; this lead to the creation of large scale studios.

In cinema’s early days, the film industry was based in New York, the nation’s theatrical center. Most movies were being filmed in New York, New Jersey, Chicago, and Florida. However, by the 1920’s, southern California had become the leading film capital due to its cheap land and labor. Films gained their popularity after Vaudeville actors striked in 1901. This left theaters scrambling for acts and films became the main event. Silent films were widely popular in the early 1920’s and were usually accompanied by live piano or organ music. Talking-pictures were first introduced in 1923, but did not become popular until 1927.

This essay explores the popularity of Australian film, both locally and internationally and asks the question: Is there a crisis in the Australian Film Industry? This essay will go through the current issues the Australian Film Industry and will demonstrate examples of those problems.

For if we account for all of the industrial underpinnings of cinematic production, distribution, and exhibition—from the mines where the metals and minerals that make cameras and projectors are extracted to the factories where this equipment is assembled, from the reliance on aviation and trucking industries to distribute prints to the energy consumed by movie theaters, computers, HDTVs, and other exhibition technologies—it becomes clear that cinema is thoroughly entangled with the major industrial causes of

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.

Motion pictures are a key driver of the market for entertainment products, one of the largest export markets in US. Motion picture industry consists of three stages: studio production, distribution, and exhibition. The studios produce the lifeblood of the industry, the films that are its content. The biggest players at this level are the majors, big studios which integrate production and distribution, as do the slightly smaller mini-majors. The next stage is distribution. Distributors are the intermediaries between the studios and exhibitors. Distribution entails all steps following a film’s artistic completion including marketing, logistics, and administration. Distributors coordinate the manufacture and distribution of

picture cinemas still continued. By the 1970’s the movie industry, even with the fact of the rise

Interactive media and studio entertainment are currently generating the least revenue. This is due to the high cost to produce films for studio entertainment and the fact that interactive media is a relatively new business channel for Disney. However, out of all business lines, these two have the most potential in their industry and are therefore very attractive. Interactive media is a hot trend that Disney will be able to capitalize on due to its acquisition of Playdom. While films are very expensive to produce and distribute, the profit potential from Marvel and Pixar make the industry very attractive overall.

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

To maximise a company profits the same company has to maximise its reach with the public. So, instead of owning only the sales of a product, the company owns the production and distribution of that same product. To make it more simple, instead of owning just a film, the media company owns the studio in which the film was shot, the cinemas where people can go and see the movie, the stores where people can go and rent the movie, the record company which releases the soundtrack and the stores which sell them, and the company which produces all the essential memorabilia (such as T-shirts,

We see this phenomenon with Hollywood’s growth from a domestic American film industry to transnational corporation dominating international markets. With a global box revenue of 38.6 billion (Faughnder), Hollywood’s multimillion-dollar empire is largely sustained by capitalism. A system which maintains itself based on the production, distribution, and exchange of mass-produced commodities by private corporations, capitalism is the cause of homogenization. Its motive to profit from the public is manifested in the monotonous mechanical reproductions of popular cultural products such as Hollywood’s iconic blockbuster films: Titanic, Star Wars, and Avatar. Time and again, this

The art of film made it’s way into the penetration stage around the turn of the century and remained there until

It was not until the mid-1910’s did the film industry shift “towards a model that prized business legitimacy. This shift ultimately marginalized the woman filmmaker” (Mahar 133).

Film Industry has been expansively affected by the changes in technology. The mechanical and digital innovations give cause to the influence of equipment, distribution and the way in which films are made and consumed. New trends shape directors and filmmakers to expand creatively towards telling stories in motions. The film industry has developed to one of the most important tools of communication, it's cause so powerful affecting the way individuals and societies think, act and behave. Among the new Era approaching film, and seeing celluloid film fade is that of the Digital Era and a camera that saw celluloid films passing hastened.

Starting as a young boy from Missouri, farmer Walter Elias Disney set out to make a mark on society. After first joining the Red Cross in World War I, he came back determined to be an artist. After moving to Hollywood in 1923 with his older brother Roy, they founded Disney Brothers Studio. After diversifying as much as possible, Disney had a firm grasp on the global market share until the 1980’s where the company’s revenues began to slump in the film industry. Luckily Sid Bass invested $365 million in order to rescue the company and bring an end to all hostile takeover attempts. Disney’s billion dollar powerhouse status in the entertainment industry can be broken down and analyzed using the