The first part of the slides describes the history of developments and inventions of movie production industry. The first steps in movie production have been taken by Marey and Muybridge in 1870s-1880s. They were able to capture motions by taking series of pictures using a single camera. Almost 15 years later, Thomas Edison created first Kinetoscope, where through the peep hole only one person could see the illusion of movement, that was created by showing sequence of images with a high speed over a light source (“Kinetoscope”). In almost the same period Lumière brothers invented a new device that combined camera and projector. Already in 1900s projected motion pictures, that were shown on a “big” screen at the nickelodeon theaters, became very popular. The next turning point in filmmaking was the creation on the “The Great Train Robbery” film, where for the first time in history the film was shot in different locations and contained separate scenes. The “pioneer of modern filmmaking” was a D.W. Griffith, who created the feature-length film, with his groundbreaking films such as “Birth of a Nation” and “Intolerance” (“D.W.Griffith”). Next step was the Studio system film production, where stars had a long-term contract with the studio and exhibition and distribution was realized through the vertical integration. As a response to Studio System, that had a lot of control over film production, the United Artist studio was created to withstand powerful studios. Also, in 1940s the U.S Supreme Courte had a case, where Paramount Pictures was accused of being monopoly in film production (“The End of the Studio System”). In 1947 the House Un-American Activities Committee held a hearing on communist propaganda and influence on Hollywood motion picture industry. As a result “The Hollywood Ten” people were blacklisted after resisting to answer questions about their “alleged involvement with the Communist Party” (“Hollywood Blacklist”). In the next six years 324 people from Hollywood were also blacklisted, and this continued until 1960. The next step in movie production industry was the development of television. The result of wide spread of the television was the drop of ticket sales. In order to bring people back to movie theaters 3-D movies, larger format theaters and multiplex theaters was introduced (Lecture Slides). The films that were very popular and successful had been called “blockbusters”, the examples of such films are “Gone With The Wind “, “Jaws” and “Avatar” (Lecture Slides). After 1970s digital production and projection becomes very popular, with such films as “Star Wars” and “Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow” (Lecture Slides). The whole process of development of film production industry seems to me very fascinating; how the ambitions of Marey and Muybridge to capture motions grew in such huge industry, that affects almost all people on the planet. Interesting fact is that not Hollywood, but Bollywood is the largest film producer in the world. Bollywood is situated in the India, and the special feature of their films is a big musical scenes.
The second part of the slides focuses on the features of a profitable movie. Two approaches are described. The first approach is to make a film with a big budget and great marketing campaign that will help to sell a lot of tickets. Another approach is to create a movie for a specific audience, with small budget, but have a great payoff, like movies “High School Musical”, “Little Miss Sunshine” or “Paranormal Activity” (Lecture Slides).
The issue of influence of movies is also mentioned in the slides, like the Payne Fund Studies. These studies were the first attempt of studying the influence of mass media on the behavior of the children (Wendy). In 1920s the Production Code was created, that included censorship rules on the scenes that include sex, profanity and violence. However, in 1960s it became impossible to enforce all films and the code was abandoned. Instead, the movie rating system was created. Today this system is slightly different from the original one, however, the major essence is same. The system includes categories, such as G – general audiences, PG – parental guidance suggested, PG-13 – parents strongly cautioned, R – restricted, NC-17- no one under age 17 admitted (Lecture Slides).
The final slides describe the sources of films revenue. Among them are the domestic box office, international distribution rights, pay-per-view rights, premium cable channel rights, network television, home video, book rights, toys and clothes, product placement (Lecture Slides). Today and in the nearest future it is expected that online promotion and the popularity of online-resources (Netflix) will grow, and even small films will be available almost to everyone (Lecture Slides).
References
“D.W.Griffith.” N.p., n.d. Web. 9 Apr. 2016.
“Hollywood Blacklist.” N.p., n.d. Web. 9 Apr. 2016.
“Kinetoscope.” N.p., n.d. Web. 9 Apr. 2016.
“The End of the Studio System.” N.p., 2013. Web. 9 Apr. 2016.
Wendy, Simons. “The Payne Fund Studies.” N.p., 1998. Web. 9 Apr. 2016.
