Hollywood And The Acting Industry

Dreams are truly amazing things. Much like mountains, they appear to be grand and impossible to reach the top of. I am a person who can very easily be pleased- I’m easily entertained, I’m accepting of most requests people make of me, and I’m content to eat anything for dinner as long as it doesn’t still breathe- despite this, however, I have a very large dream that I won’t rest until I accomplish it. That dream is to become an actor.

Across the USA, results for these exams are normally distributed. What does that mean and why is this the case?

Even though a vast majority of us wish that it was possible to turn back the hands of time and change or rewrite history. However, the truth of the matter is that we simply cannot. Everything happens for a reason, and we should learn to accept it. Accept it for what it is, rather than what we would like it to be.

According to Barbra Dozier’s blog, movies play a significant role in the entertainment industry. They are appealing to the viewer’s eyes and ears because they combine both video and audio and they can be watched at home, in theatres, and thanks to the latest technology one can even watch movies on the go. Just like many individuals, I too spend my time watching movies as a form of entertainment. The latest one I watched and enjoyed was a comedy named The House. Although the movie may have had mediocre reviews, The House was still funny and enjoyable to watch. The plot and conflict revolve around two struggling parents who cannot afford to send their sure-to-succeed daughter to college after the town's scholarship program no longer had funding. As result the parents and a friend started an illegal underground casino in his domicile in order to make money before the time to pay their daughter's tuition came around. The rated R movie directed by Andrew Jay Cohen contains many well known actors such as Will Ferrell, Amy Poehler, and Jason Mantzoukas.

“I really started dreaming... and broke out of my shyness when I got to Howard University. My first acting class was an Intro to Acting class with Professor Bay, who really broke me out of my shell, encouraged me to follow my dreams and make them a reality” (Gross). I’m going to talk about how to open the door of show business into Hollywood and show you how to potentially reach success. Many talented actors don’t succeed in show business because they forget the first rule: show business is a business. So what I’m going to tell you here briefly covers the business details behind the world of film, television, and theatre. In order to better understand your role in the larger scheme of show business, you need to understand the wants and needs of the wealthiest people in the industry. The business of acting is simple. You help others make money, and they’ll help you make money. But first, you need to figure out how show business really works.

This country has been described as a “melting pot” of different ethnicities. To put it into statistics, the United States’ population in 2014 accounted 37.9 percent minority. No matter who they are, people come together to enjoy whatever Hollywood has produced; whether it’s cinematic masterpieces or tasteful television productions. In fact, 46 percent of all movie tickets sold in the United States were purchased by people of color in that year (Hunt et al). They would all come together to watch a movie that hopefully would be able to showcase what America looked like today; however, they would be faced with disappointment. The lack of representation is apparent as people gaze upon the silver screen. After a study by the Ralph J. Bunche Center for African American Studies, where they examined 163 films, it is revealed that 12.9 percent of the lead roles were claimed by minorities. The study reports that it’s a decline from the 16.7 percent in comparison to the year prior. Furthermore, it’s not just the silver screen where diversity lacks- television is another victim. In cable scripted television shows, white actors had 78 percent of the 1120 roles, observed by the same study, while minorities accounted for 22 percent in the 2013-2014 season. With many wonders as to why the lack of diversity is prevalent, it still happens and Hollywood isn’t hosting a fair playing field between actors in the majority and minority. If and when Hollywood uses diverse actors in their projects

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.

To get started, however, I have to pursue my ambition. I applied to Northern Michigan University in Marquette, MI to join the theatre group and learn everything that has to do with stage and television. Then, I plan on transferring my credits to The American Musical and Dramatic Academy in Los Angeles, California. and was accepted a week later after my audition in Detroit for their acting program, and was thrilled to find that I have a chance to finally get out on my own and go across the country to become a star. But due to financial issues, it seems almost impossible to follow those dreams. But I am determined to follow this path that has opened for me. These college’s will not only give me the opportunity to become an actress, but will provide for me special classes that will teach me advanced skills and knowledge that I will need to know upon entering that career. I want to be able to attend the academy and broaden

People just went and saw movies, while the actors in them had no true identity. Benjamin B. Hampton states, in his book, "History of the American Film Industry from Its Beginnings to 1931," that a star system had been prominent on the stage and theatrical productions for over a century at this point in time (Hampton 86). Actors and actresses in film remained anonymous, however. To audiences, they were just nameless faces on the world's stage. One wonders why it took the movie industry so long to capitalize on its players. Hollywood's early denial of a star system may stem from a few concerns people had around the early 1900s, discussed by Eileen Bowser's "The Transformation of Cinema, 1907-1915." Actors of the stage had frequently worked as actors in the movies. Those actors had reluctance to audience recognition in movies (Bowser 106). It may have been the ego of stage actors at work, wanting to be unrecognizable in middle class fare, like film. Perhaps this was a result of the perceived higher class and sophisticated nature of the stage. Additionally, some actors feared that recognition by name would lead to earning less money (Bowser 107). Biograph themselves, home to the most famous actors, would not adopt the practice until roughly three years after the star system emerged due to the fear of their actors leaving to other studios (Bowser 108) or increasing demands for money (Bowser

For the past eleven years, I have been involved with an after-school theatre program called Drama Kids of Nassau County. From the beginning, I loved acting because it allowed me to be creative. My favorite acting activity is improvisation. Often, my teacher will provide information, such as a line of dialogue or a prop, and I must act out a scene using the information. In these activities, I use my imagination to create a new world and become someone else. I have received not only pleasure from acting, but also self confidence and public speaking

Star Wars. Indiana Jones. Grey's Anatomy. Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. All these four productions have one thing in common they were all produced by University of Southern California alumni. The Trojans as they like to call each other, pride themselves in their world-class dramatic arts and film schools. From humble beginnings, USC's theatre and film departments have grown to become the best arts programs in the world.

Acting is when an actor/ actress performs for people by means of portraying and telling somebody else’s story. Like any other job acting has its pros and cons, and people who act also have good and bad days just like any other person. However, some people try to become an actor/actress just for fame, money, and popularity. Sure it is nice to have those things, but if that is the only reason a person wants to act then there is a huge chance that their acting career will fail and they more than likely will not reach the goal of having fame, money, and popularity. On the other hand though if a human being’s passion is acting, then they should go after their dreams and achieve them no matter what. There are many reasons why acting is worth it. If the reason someone wants to act is because they love it, then “it can help them discover who they are, it can also assist actors/ actresses with expressing themselves better, it allows them to be more creative, it is fun, and it allows the people who act, especially famous thespians, to have a big influence on society and many people’s lives” (Meindl, Anthony).

In essence one could describe the Studio system as a particular method of filming, where the studios in hollywood were in complete control of the production and distribution of a particular film (Lewis 2008). During the Golden Age of film the studio system was at its peak. Five major companies dominated the world of movies, they all were conglomerates that owned the production, distribution of their films. In the Golden Age, censorship was also at the forefront of the studio system. Originally, censorship was determined by local boards, so began the self censhipric policies and procedures of the hollywood world.

I love acting; everything I do is full of emotion. Interpreting someone else's work and then putting your own emotion and feelings into it, is one of the greatest things to do of all time. I love acting with all my heart and soul, I will always love acting and the emotion and the thought and care it involves.

Hollywood actors are seen as glamorous and admired by many. The conditions we see now are of flamboyant actresses/actors with demands of: special drinking water; room decor; scented candles; special food; and the list goes on and on. If these demands are not met you hear of temper tantrums and refusals to stay at hotels and other establishments ever again. The salaries of top actors and actresses are posted on the internet and magazines for all to see. A list actors can make tens of millions, per movie and series actors bring in tens of thousands to a million, per episode. With this information our there for all to see, you would assume there would be no need for unions, in Hollywood. After all, unions are best known for their work in factories, where blue collar workers request better pay, secure jobs, and benefits (O.C. Ferrell, G.A. Hirt & L. Ferrell, 2014).