History of the Drive-In Movie Theater Essay

In the early 1900’s, as films stated centering their focus on profit, large scale studios came onto the film scene. The studios that were discussed in the chapter were: Universal, United Artists, Paramount, Warner Bros, MGM, Fox, Columbia, and RKO. These studios employed some of the biggest names in the film world at the time. Many of these studios are still in business today, and have given prominent actors and directors their shot at fame. Universal was the first studio to move to the west coast. They produced popular films such as The

Analyze Blockbuster's current position (based on its brick-and-mortar business model) using Porter's 5-forces model. What are the conclusions of your analysis?

This paper was prepared for Introduction to Film History, Module 1 Homework Assignment, taught by Professor Stephanie Sandifer.

Revised: August 28, 2002 In April 2001, Matt Heyman, co-founder of Cinemex, the largest chain of movie theaters in Mexico City, looked out the window of his office and pondered the future of his company. In just seven years, Heyman and his partners had nurtured Cinemex from a student idea into the largest theater chain in Mexico City, but they faced new challenges every day. Many of these challenges came from competitors. For years competitors ran old, poorly-maintained theaters, but in recent months they had begun to imitate Cinemex’s top-of-the-line exhibition venues. Their latest tactic: offering two tickets for the price of one on Wednesdays. Heyman wondered whether Cinemex should

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.

The film industry operates in a continuous cycle, searching for the newest and best pieces to make their movies creative, interesting, and marketable. Historically, the film industry attempts to follow a set structure in an attempt towards success in such a volatile market, however, this approach creates a system much like that of Ford’s Model-T production line, invented in the 1910s, which involved each worker on the line doing a single job. Only a few years later, during the 1920s and 1940s, the film industry showed that they adopted a similar approach to their industry, with each person—actor, director, producer, writer, etc.—performing a distinct role. In the late 1920s, as Hollywood transitioned from silent films to “talkies”, actors and actresses were met with the challenge of adapting to a new role and many of them no longer fit the role required by the growing Hollywood machine. The film Sunset Boulevard (Billy Wilder, 1950) explores and critiques the landscape of the hierarchy and harsh realities of Hollywood. In the same vein as many films of the film noir style, the mood of pessimism and fatalism reflected in the form parallels the reality of many people in Hollywood during the 1900s.

The censorship conflicts in the 1900s were extremely intriguing and intense. Around the end of the 1920s, individuals possessed immense moral shifts powered by religious groups during the Great Depression, which resulted in decisions that created a new revolution that dealt particularly with the regulation of content of films. Consequently, in 1934, at the same time that the “Golden Age of Hollywood” began, the Hollywood Production code was formally implemented. The film

Nevertheless, during the 1860’s and before, “variety” shows were strictly for-men-only and were performed in boats, concert saloons (also known as honky-tonks and dive bars), tents, churches, and just about anywhere a troupe could set up a stage and proscenium (Gilbert 10-15). The Second Great Awakening, a time in America when fundamentalism was being played out on a political scale that would shape America’s future, made its mark on theatre (D. 46). An early theatre owner, actor, and promoter Tony Pastor is considered to have transitioned variety shows in the 1860’s from what were considered to be “dirty” shows to “clean” ones. Moreover, this also brought in both male and female patrons which essentially doubled the income (Stein 3). Whether

Early cinema is often referred to as a progression to narrative cinema, Tom Gunning would argue that it was not a progression but had its own purpose and coined the term The Cinema of Attractions in his essay ‘Now you see it, Now you don’t’. This is the concept that a large quantity of the first film makers produced films that were more about the spectacle, most of the films leading up to 1900 reflected the fascination with technology and how things happened rather than why. Gunning noted that there were three assumptions of film; the general ideas that people had about the timeline of film and where it would end up. There is the cinematic assumption, the idea that film was ‘restricted to the technological reproduction of theatre’ (Gunning T.1993) early cinema was primitive and only a practice for what was to come. The narrative assumption is that film is ‘only important as it is a predecessor to a more engaging and effective form of film,’ (Gunning T. 1993) this suggests that narrative cinema is the natural form of film. The final assumption is the idea that ‘cinema only truly appeared when it discovered its mission of telling stories.’ (Metz C. 1974) These assumptions all encompass the idea that narrative is the end form of film. In this essay I am going to discuss Tom Gunning’s theory of The Cinema of Attractions and the differences between them and narratively driven films.

The Historic Ruby Theatre is a slice right out of yesteryear. Thought to be the oldest continuously running theater in Washington state, this impressive stop on the National Register of Historic Places first opened its doors to the public in the summer of 1914. Still sporting its original balcony, tin ceiling, and proscenium arch, the Ruby Theatre looks much like it did in its early years, when it was first showing silent movies from the golden days of Hollywood and before. Although a few necessary changes have been made over the years, including a minor facelift and renovation during the 1940s, the Ruby Theatre is still an iconic landmark that looks like something straight out of a bygone era, and definitely worth a place on your Chelan bucket list.

As a teenager mom had an experience with intuition that she just could not explain. At the age of sixteen she was looking forward to attending a movie with some friends. They would all pill into one car with their goodies such as candies and sodas. Any kind of snack would do as long as there was enough for sharing. What they did not bring they could purchase at the concession stand. Concession stand is where you can buy your popcorn, soda, hot dogs etc… Summer night movies were enjoyed by many at the drive in theater. For those of you who do not know what this is, it is just like it sounds. Giant movie screens outside, you pull into a spot and hook a speaker to your car window. From couples, families with kids to car loads of teens piled

The Last Picture Show was directed by Peter Bogdanovich. The movie was released on October 22 in 1971. The film was based in 1951 and although it was unusual for a film in the 1970’s to be shot in black and white, they did so to really capture the image and the feeling of the 1950’s. A sequel was followed after The Last Picture Show called Texasville which was released in 1990. The Last Picture Show is about two close friends, Sonny and Duane, that are in their final year of high school. They meet girls, fight over girls, and wonder what they will make out of the rest of their lives.

Nestled near the historic and internationally-renowned San Antonio Missions, Mission Marquee Plaza is an area rich in history and considered to be one of San Antonio’s cultural gems. For generations, many families in San Antonio gathered at the site to watch movies when it served as the former Mission Drive-In Theater. Having opened on March 27, 1948, the Mission Drive-In Theater serviced the city for more than half a century, but eventually closed down in 2003.

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,

The communication policy at Movies Under the Stars Drive In Movie Theater is similar to the communication policy used by the military. In the military a chain of command is used to distribute and receive all information. The same concept applies to this organization but on a much smaller scale. Movies Under the Stars utilizes a serial method of communication for communicating upward; where information is passed up the chain until it reaches the final level (Aamodt, 2014). Since the company is small the usual pitfalls associated with the serial communication method are not as much of an issue as they would be if the company were on a larger scale. There are minimal concerns about the initial message being distorted because the message is only transmitted to one person before it is passed on to top management. There is no corporate office so all information is kept in-house which eliminates any concern about information not flowing properly through the communication channels. The downward communication channel operates the same way as the upward communication channel. The company owner passes information to the mangers and the managers pass that information to the employees. If the company owner feels as though the information being shared is so important that it is best heard directly from source then a company meeting would occur so that information can be passed down directly from the top. Bulletin boards in employee break areas act as a back up for the information