The Film Industry And Its Impact On The Entertainment Industry

“Fame once attained can seldom be held- unless early death makes it immortal” (Runcie).The art of filmmaking and the whole idea of entertainment has changed dramatically through the years. Movies have ranged from dramatic expressions and the over the top scenes to portraying  life more realistically. The industry of entertainment with all it’s coups and defeats has come together from silent movies, the starting point of its success technologically and creatively taking cinematic experience to a whole new level.

During the 1890s, Thomas Edison, a worldly known inventor invented a new technological creation that stunned and mesmerized anybody that viewed it, moving pictures, otherwise known as movies. Just by cycling through a long strip of tiny subsequent photographs on a projection machine, the speed of the machine coincided with the sequentialism of the pictures to create the illusion of fluent motion, creating the first of what society knows movies to be today. This new innovation sparked a new desire for imagination and creativity, and created a platform that allowed the deepest imaginations of the mind to utilize and display on screen. The transition from silent film to talkies, otherwise known as sound film, opened up new doors of cinematography and composing, and allowed works of art to be seen and heard identically globally.

The introduction of television to America had a significant impact on the movie industry. Americans were able to enjoy fresh entertainment and news from the comfort of their homes and were not limited in their knowledge of current events by the news reels before and between films. The effects on Hollywood were not limited to negatives like reduced attendance; movies were first run in theaters, but second runs on television bringing in unprecedented revenue long past the initial run, stars began to negotiate contracts to include portions of future profits, and the change from uncensored live television to increased television censorship all had significant effects on Hollywood. The competition between television and film ultimately became a mutually beneficial enterprise that became the downfall of the production code and allowed movies to have new liberty and freedom.

Silent films first appeared around the 1890s in America. 1 They are films that were without synchronised sound and especially no spoken dialogue. Music was recognised as an important part of film/moving images from the beginning, as it contributed to the atmosphere of the films and allowed the audience to understand and feel the emotions being portrayed. 2 When music was first being combined with moving image pianos, organs and phonographs were the first instruments used to provide the music, and as the popularity of film grew over the years, some of the larger theatres began using orchestras to accompany the film. 3

During the early stages of Hollywood cinema, silent films have been the foundation of early filmmaking and film art. Exaggerated movements and facial expressions by the actors and the use of intertitles were important elements to make sure that the audience could understand the meaning of the plot without the use of sound. Films soon started to incorporate live musical performances to create a sense of synchronized sound to enhance the quality of the film. However, there was not any dialogue between the characters within the film. Filmmakers all over the globe experimented with the development of synchronized sound.

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.

1st Draft Movies are a big part of everyday life. Millions of Americans go to the movies every week. Have you ever stopped to think about what movies used to be like, or how movies became what they are today? All of that can be traced back to the 1930’s.

The transition from silent film to the “talkies” in the mid 1920s transformed the face of the American film industry and of mass entertainment. “Going to the picture show” was a wondrous experience that for 25 cents, gave Americans in large cities an escape from their tedious lives and offered an evening of “crystal chandeliers, marble fountains, gilt inlay and richly upholstered seats” (Miller n.d.). They went to enjoy the “silent” film, which is not an entirely accurate statement considering that all silent films were accompanied by live music, and were therefore not silent at all. Full symphonic orchestras accompanied some silent films, while others had sound effects added by organ, and smaller movie houses used the piano to add sound. Without

In this essay I will explain how sound developed in American cinema in the 1920s, beginning with “silent” films in the 1910s. I will explore the development of sound systems from large corporations in America, and the failed experiments with sound beforehand. I will analyse the use of these sound systems by Warner Brothers and Fox, the first film studios to adopt sound, and explore how this led to the Big Five film studios also adopting the use of synchronised sound. I am going to examine the reasons why synchronised sound developed from a teleological, contextual, and technology determinist approach. To conclude I will evaluate the impact synchronised sound had on the film industry in America during the 1920s.

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

“The innovation and diffusion phases of transformation took place between 1926 and 1930. Seemingly overnight the silent film era ended; by 1930 Hollywood switched completely to talkies. In 1925 silent filmmaking was the standard; a mere five years later Hollywood produced only films with sound….Within nine months, formerly perplexing technical problems were resolved, marketing and distribution strategies were reworked, soundproof studios were constructed, and 15,000 theaters were wired for sound.” (Gomery and Pafort-Overduin)

The advent of sound was not seen in a positive light by all, some believed that the introduction of sound would stain the purity of the strictly visual-based medium and even degrade it (Eisenstein, 257). The interest in sound film was thought to have been a fad that the public would soon be over, however like the invention of the cinema itself it was here to stay. The concept of moving-images alone was believed to be an invention without a future, and was initially thought of only as an amusement. However, the majority of these people only criticize what they do not understand, in this situation it is the fear of technological advancement in film. In statements made by Alfred Hitchcock to François Truffaut, he claims “that silent film was the

In 1927 new technology emerged in sound, people started going back to the theatres to watch films,

The first film that showed early signs of a rise in the quality of technology was the Western “The Great Train Robbery.” When this film first came out the audience were so amazed at the fact that they could watch something on a TV or at the cinema. Although this film was very good for the 1900s it still lacked some key features that make films much easier to understand such as dialogue, sound and camera shots. The one feature of a film that developed the quickest over the period of time was sound. Sound was introduced in October 1927 in the film “The Jazz singer”, which had three song numbers and a few lines of spoken dialogue. Apart from these few songs and words, the rest of the movie was silent, but the audience still thought that it was amazing that words had been spoken in the film, they used to call it “the movie that talked”.

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