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Brief history of the movie industry
Brief history of the movie industry
Us film industry then and now
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Throughout this course on American Cinema I have really enjoyed learning about the history of Hollywood. Looking at the golden age of Hollywood during the use of the studio system makes me wish I could go back in time and visit the studios to watch movies being made. Many people in today’s world have sadly never even heard of the studio system. In this essay I will describe what the studio system is ,especially during the golden age in Hollywood, and also I will analyze and discuss some of the reasons that contributed to the downfall of this system. “The efficiency of the studio system…standardized the way movies were produced. It provided top down organization with management controlling everything” (Looking at the Movies, Barsam, Monahan,
P.451). The studio system was at its high point in the golden age of the 30s. Yes, the studio system was very efficient, and during the golden age it was producing movies on an assembly line in mass production. It was able to turn out a film a week in a factory like setting. (Studio System BBC 2:33). Crowds flocked to the theaters in millions, and even though this was during the Great Depression it was the greatest time for the studio system. Studios made movies to show in their cinemas; their movie theaters are what brought in the big bucks. With that in mind, when, in the late 40’s, theater production companies were commanded to sell their cinemas this created an abrupt downfall for the studio system. (Studio System BBC 31:50). Studios started to cut back on their productions, and with the creation of TV movie goers decreased in numbers. These two events, the command to sell studio’s cinemas, and the creation of TV were the biggest aspects of what caused the studio system to slump. Hollywood was unparalleled during the golden age of the studio system, and in the last few paragraphs we have looked at the studio system during its prime and discovered the reasons for its failing. The studio system was a truly remarkable era in the history of American Cinema, and I hope that by learning more about the history of American Cinema I can appreciate the studio system and the many other aspects of cinematic history.
An example in the film that highlights the demise of the studio system is when Joe pitches a script idea to a producer of Paramount. Joe is quick to say that the film only needs one main character, has many outdoor locations and can be made ‘for under a million dollars’ (Joe Gillis, Sunset Boulevard, 1950), which highlights the idea of saving money on a s...
There are many adaptations and interpretations on how the English arrived to the Americas and established their colonies. The 2005 film “New World”, written and directed by Terrance Malick, is a film based off the English settlers and how they settled in the Americas in 1607, and the forbidden relationship between John Smith and Pocahontas. Although the film highly exaggerates on some scenes in order to make the history seem more interesting, the film still holds most historical accuracy and is an enjoyable film.
In Hollywood political conflict was also paving the way for what would later occur in Hollywood as the HUAC would attack the industry. Big business controlled the lucrative industry and the companies that controlled the market were eight major studios in Hollywood. The Metro-Goldw...
The Revolutionary war, sparked by the colonist’s anger towards taxation without representation, was a conflict between the United States and its mother country Great Britain. This event had been considered the most significant event in the American history. It separated the thirteen colonies from the tyrannical ruling of King George. The revolutionary war was not a big war, “The military conflict was, by the standards of later wars, a relatively modest one. Battle deaths on the American side totaled fewer than 5,000”1. However, the war proved that the thirteen colonies were capable of defeating the powerful Great Britain. Over the years there were many Hollywood films made based on the revolutionary war, 1776, Revolution, Johnny Tremain, and The Patriot. But, no movie has stirred up as much controversy as the Mel Gibbson movie The Patriot. The patriot is very entertaining but it is historically inaccurate. Too much Hollywood “spices” was added to the movie for viewing pleasures.
Hollywood is not simply a point on a map; it is a representation of the human experience. As with any other location, though, Hollywood’s history can be traced and analyzed up to present day. In 1887, Harvey Henderson Wilcox established a 120-acre ranch in an area northwest of Los Angeles, naming it “Hollywood” (Basinger 15). From then on, Hollywood grew from one man’s family to over 5,000 people in 1910. By then, residents around the ranch incorporated it as a municipality, using the name Hollywood for their village. While they voted to become part of the Los Angeles district, their village was also attracting motion-picture companies drawn in by the diverse geography of the mountains and oceanside (15). The Los Angeles area continues to flourish, now containing over nine million people, an overwhelming statistic compared to Wilcox’s original, family unit (U.S. Census Bureau 1). However, these facts only s...
...s have been regaining ownership of theaters due to the reluctance of anyone filing suit against them, “new Hollywood it is just like the old days before divestiture only better” (Lewis, 2008, p. 406). In conclusion, the giant head of the studio system monster was cut off only for a bigger more powerful one of the new Hollywood to have grown back in its place. Ultimately, Hollywood studios remain more interested about making money, than making better films and “The independent producer does what a movie producer has always done: choose the right stories, directors and actors to produce quality films” (Lewis, 2008, p. 502).
A new edition to the course lineup, this week's film classic, Sunset Boulevard. This film will focus on the culture and environment of the Hollywood studio system that produces the kind of motion pictures that the whole world recognizes as "Hollywood movies." There have been many movies from the silent era to the present that either glamorize or vilify the culture of Hollywood, typically focusing on the celebrities (both in front of and behind the camera) who populate the "dream factories" of Hollywood. But we cannot completely understand the culture of Hollywood unless we recognize that motion pictures are big business as well as entertainment, and that Hollywood necessarily includes both creative and commercial
McCrisken, T. B., & Pepper, A. (2005). American History and Contemporary Hollywood Film. New Brunswick, New Jersey: Rutgers University Press.
Schatz, Thomas. Hollywood Genres: Formulas, Filmmaking, and the Studio System. Boston: McGraw Hill. 1981: 221-228, 235-245
Largely influenced by the French New Wave and other international film movements, many American filmmakers in the late 1960s to 1970s sought to revolutionize Hollywood cinema in a similar way. The New Hollywood movement, also referred to as the “American New Wave” and the “Hollywood Renaissance,” defied traditional Hollywood standards and practices in countless ways, creating a more innovative and artistic style of filmmaking. Due to the advent and popularity of television, significant decrease in movie theater attendance, rising production costs, and changing tastes of American audiences, particularly in the younger generation, Hollywood studios were in a state of financial disaster. Many studios thus hired a host of young filmmakers to revitalize the business, and let them experiment and have almost complete creative control over their films. In addition, the abandonment of the restrictive Motion Picture Production Code in 1967 and the subsequent adoption of the MPAA’s rating system in 1968 opened the door to an era of increased artistic freedom and expression.
The Studio System Key point about the studio system could be: Despite being one of the biggest industries in the United States, indeed the World, the internal workings of the 'dream factory' that is Hollywood is little understood outside the business. The Hollywood Studio System: A History is the first book to describe and analyse the complete development, classic operation, and reinvention of the global corporate entities which produce and distribute most of the films we watch. Starting in 1920, Adolph Zukor, head of Paramount Pictures, over the decade of the 1920s helped to fashion Hollywood into a vertically integrated system, a set of economic innovations which was firmly in place by 1930.
The ‘New Hollywood Cinema’ era came about from around the 1960’s when cinema and film making began to change. Big film studios were going out of their comfort zone to produce different, creative and artistic movies. At the time, it was all the public wanted to see. People were astonished at the way these films were put together, the narration, the editing, the shots, and everything in between. No more were the films in similar arrangement and structure. The ‘New Hollywood era’ took the classic Hollywood period and turned it around so that rules were broken and people left stunned.
Franklin, Cory. “History According to Hollywood.” New York Times. New York Times. 22 Feb 2013. Web. 13 March 2014.
Holmes, Sean P. "The Hollywood Star System and the Regulation of Actors' Labour, 1916-1934 Author(s): Sean P. Holmes." Film History.Vol.12, no. 1 (2000): 97-114.
... ed (BFI, 1990) we read … “contrary to all trendy journalism about the ‘New Hollywood’ and the imagined rise of artistic freedom in American films, the ‘New Hollywood’ remains as crass and commercial as the old…”