MAC 215 Media History

Movies and the Impact of Images

All right, Mr. DeMille, I'm ready for my close-up.

Discussion - Consensus Narratives

Discuss a recent film you've viewed in the context of consensus narrative by identifying mainstream values and whether they are either being *challenged or reaffirmed.

*Often challenged by more traditional or emerging values

The Transitional Period (1907-1913)

Industry and Cultural Form

Moguls move west (1911-1912)

– Carl Laemmle, IMP, then Universal Pictures

– William Fox, 20th Century Fox

– Adolph Zukor, Paramount

– Marcus Loew, MGM

Industrial practices vertical integrationcentral planningcompetition and cooperationpermanent exhibition sites

first run, second run venuesproduct differentiationstars and advertising

Hollywood 1922

D.W. Griffith (1875-1948)

Mature storytelling technique

Motion pictures as high art & entertainment

Director as author/central creative force

Film as social force

Cultural FormCinema of narrative integration

Style serves storyIncreased length (multireel or feature)Multiple shotsInternally coherent storiesActing

• Individualized characters (identification) • ‘Verisimilar’ style

Increased use of editing (standard film grammar)• Subjectivity, POV• Analytical editing• Continuity or spatial-temporal relations (match cuts)

Hollywood: Triumph of the Studio System (1930-1945)

Technological Standards - SOUND!!!Majors and Minors (an oligopoly)Production Code Standard exhibition practicesContract Player SystemStars, Directors, Looks, Genres

Studio Era

Studio Era

SOUND

Sound effects machines standard by 1908Continuous musical accompaniment by

1914Producers began commissioning original

scoresIn 1920s all features were accompanied

by cue sheets

SOUND

SYNC SOUND

Competing systemssound on discsound on film

SOUND

Competing systemssound on discsound on film

SOUND

Competing systemssound on discsound on film

The Jazz Singer (1927)Starring Al JolsonDirected by Alan CroslandReleased by Warner Bros.Premieres October 6, 1927Earns over $3.5 millionConsidered the first “talkie,” in fact a “part

talkie”Initiates studios to invest in sound

technology for motion pictures

The Jazz Singer (1927)Starring Al JolsonDirected by Alan CroslandReleased by Warner Bros.Premieres October 6, 1927Earns over $3.5 millionConsidered the first “talkie,” in fact a “part

talkie”Initiates studios to invest in sound

technology for motion pictures

Impact of Sound

1. Economic

2. Technological

3. Stylistic

Impact of Sound: Economic

Capital Investment and the alliance between Wall Street and Hollywood

Investment in excess of $300 million for the motion picture industry’s conversion to sound

most $ lent by Rockefeller and Morgan

Impact of Sound: Economic

Mergers and realignmentsby 1930, eight studios account for 95

percent of US film production

The Big Five (vertically integrated)Paramount, MGM, 20th Century-Fox, Warner Bros

(bought First National), RKO

The Little Three (lacking theater chains)Universal, Columbia, United Artists

Impact of Sound: TechnologyRise of technical agencies

SMPE Society for Motion Picture EngineersASC: American Society of CinematographersAMPAS: The Academy of Motion Picture Arts

and Sciences

Impact of Sound: TechnologyTechnological standardization &

interoperabilityBell and Howell camerasMitchell camerasEastman Kodak panchromatic film stockMovietone optical sound systemMoviola editing equipmentMole Richardson incandescent lightsstandardized blimps, tripods, booms, microphones,

speakers

Impact of Sound: StyleEarly Problems

Directional microphones Noisy camerasProblems with stasis (camera and actor)Repetitive cutting (inflexible tempo)Reduced variety of camera angles

Impact of Sound: StyleThe Adjustment to Sound

Multicamera shootingBooms Dollies, small cranes, camera carriagesIncreased camera mobility

post-synchronization (dubbing in postproduction)

Hallelujah (Vidor, 1929)

Impact of Sound: StyleThe Adjustment to Sound

Multicamera shootingBooms Dollies, small cranes, camera carriagesIncreased camera mobility

post-synchronization (dubbing in postproduction)

Film: Hallelujah (Vidor, 1929)

–II. Regulation of content and the Production Code

Antecedents to film censorship moralists and reformers fought against the corrupting

influence of film on youth Mutual v. Ohio, 1915 (Mutual Film Corporation v.

Industrial Commission of Ohio) MPPDA/The Hays Office (the voluntary period) Hollywood Scandals in the 1920s Hollywood film and the “New Morality”

–1922-1934 MPPDA/The Hays Office (the voluntary period)

Motion Picture Producers and Distributors Association (MPPDA) March 1922 A self-regulatory trade organization Will Hays as head (dubbed the Hays Office) A public relations and lobbying firm rarely censored films 1927 Motion Picture Production Code Unenforced!

–Hollywood Scandals

Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle (1887-1933)

September 1921, “Fatty” Arbuckle charged with the rape and murder of actress Virginia Rappe

–Hollywood scandals February 1st, 1922,

director found murdered

actresses Mary Miles Minter and Mabel Dormand accused, careers destroyed

–Hollywood scandals

January 1923, actor Wallace Reid dies of heroin overdose

–Hollywood films and the new morality

Films of Cecil B. Demille

Features of late era silent films:

»Extramarital sex »Hedonism»Lurid spectacle

– Precode - Trouble in Paradise (Lubitch, 1932)

–The Production code of 1934

Headed by prominent Catholic Joseph Breen

–The Production Code of 1934

A wide range of subject prohibited on film (p. 112):

– Scenes of passion, profanity, nudity, excessive drinking, depiction of crime and the law defeated, excessive violence, narcotics, gambling…

–Process of PCA Certification1. A preliminary conference with Breen, with basic

story and plot discussed2. Careful scrutiny of the script3. Conference with writers to make changes where

necessary4. Approval of script by Breen to go into production5. Continued conferences during production6. Previews of sequences during production7. Preview of the completed picture8. Certificate of approval granted to picture, after

requested changes are made

–The Enforcement of the Production Code

–Enforcement of PCA

In 1942 The Outlaw was initially denied a certification . . .

–Analysis: social implications . . .

–

Baby Face (Green, 1933)

–The Enforcement of the Production Code

Social implications . . . – conceal social problems that involve sexual

crimes including: • Incest• Pedophilia• Sexual harassment• Sexual violence• Rape• . . .

–The Enforcement of the Production Code

Other implications . . . ?

–The Enforcement of the Production Code

Implications . . . – Prevents criticism of

authority and corruption (police, politicians, etc).

– conceals human sexuality

– Infantilism of public – Masks reality– Demise of the

sophisticated comedy– Rise of the screwball

comedy

Film Censorship Post WWII

Film Noir– Morally ambiguous– Structurally complex– Sexually bold

Pushed conventions– allusive system of representation

“From which conclusions might be drawn from the sophisticated mind...but would mean nothing to the inexperienced” (Balio, p. 40).

Film Censorship Post WWII

1952 Supreme Court Case Joseph Burstyn, Inc. v. Wilson, 343 U.S. 495 (1952) (also

referred to as the " Miracle Decision"), was a landmark decision by the United States Supreme Court

– Films covered by First Amendment Guarantee of Free Speech

– MPAA has problems enforcing the code– Hays Office power to dictate content begins

to erode . . . why? – 1966 MPAA stops issuing certificates all

together

Decline of Studio System (1946-1960)

US audience attendance peaks and declines 1946 98 million viewers per week 1957 47 million viewers per week

Factors 1. Anti-trust litigation (Paramount Decision of 1946) 2. Political challenges (HUAC)3. Sociological Changes (suburbia)4. Competing Entertainment forms (TV)

Paramount Decision of 1948

1938 US vs. Paramount Pictures, Inc., et al

Big Five and Little Three accused of violating anti-trust lawsBig 5 - Paramount, MGM, Warner Bros, RKO, and

Twentieth Century-FoxLittle 3- Universal, Columbia, and United Artists)

vertically integrated structure - a monopoly

Paramount Decision of 1948 (cont)

1948 U.S. Supreme Court decision8 companies found guilty

Block-bookingCooperating to exclude independent exhibiters

Big 5 ordered to sell off their theater chains

Impact of Paramount Decision (1948)

Industry revenues decreases 20%

Studio profits decline$120m in 1947- $31m in 1950

Output decreasesStudios’ stocks plummetStudios falter

Political Challenges: Hollywood Ten and the Blacklist

“Are you now or have you ever been a member of the Communist Party?”

House Committee of Un-American Activities (HUAC) conservatives sought to drive out leftists from

the media Equated labor rights with communism1947 HUAC hearings of 1947

called 41 “friendly” witnesses who named 1710 out of 19 subpoenaed refused to testify

jailed for up to 1 yearblacklisted for many more

Hollywood Ten

Alvah Bessie, screenwriter Herbert Biberman, screenwriter and director Lester Cole, screenwriter Edward Dmytryk, director Ring Lardner Jr., screenwriter John Howard Lawson, screenwriter Albert Maltz, screenwriter Samuel Ornitz, screenwriter Adrian Scott, producer and screenwriter Dalton Trumbo, screenwriter

Hollywood and the “Blacklist”

1947 MPAA, on behalf of studios, cooperated Comprised a list of several hundred writers, actors, and

directors who would lose their jobs known as the blacklist many survived by using pseudonyms or frontslasted over a decade 1960 Exodus and Spartacus give screen credit

Dalton Trumbo, blacklisted screenwriter

[Screen documentary: The Hollywood Ten (1950)]

Results of HUAC hearings and the Blacklist

Ruined lives, careers ended foreverTalented filmmakers left HollywoodCreated distrust in the studio system

Sociological Changes: suburbanization

Little boxes on the hillside,Little boxes made of ticky-tacky,Little boxes on the hillside,Little boxes all the same.—-Malvina Reynolds

Sociological Changes: the rise of suburbiaReturning vets focused on careers, raising

families Move away from city (and city theaters)Discretionary income goes to household goods

and new carsEmphasis on participatory leisure activities

Television

mid 1950s TV replaces radio and the movies

1954 Americans own 32 million sets

Many people stay home instead of attend the movies

TV Watch Parties!

Moving Towards a New Hollywood

Hollywood on HollywoodNostalgia & Self-Critique

Color and Aspect Ratio

By early 1950s Hollywood films made in color increase from 20% to 50%

1952 Many widescreen processes introducedCinemaScope 2.35:1 vs. Academy ratio 1.33:1

Aspect Ratio

Aspect Ratio