The movies

Overwhelming experience

Hollywood’s influence

Cultural influence

• Fashion--Clueless

• Fad--dance--Sat Night Fever and disco

• Romance--Gone with the Wind• Use of alcohol & drugs-Man with Golden Arm

• Politics--Primary Colors; Wag the Dog

• Violence--Diehard, Straw Dogs

• Sexuality--Marilyn Monroe et al

Movie technology

• 1877 Muybridge illusion/motion

• 1888-Dickson-motion pix/cam

• 1891-Eastman celluloid film

• 1922 Fox sound in newsreels

• 1927 talkie The Jazz Singer

• 1932/37 Disney full color movie/ Snow White

Adaptation from photography

• Persistence of vision

• Eadweard Muybridge/Leland Stanford “Bet”

• France--the Lumiere Brothers projected movies

• Thomas Edison’s “Black Maria” studio in 1891

Robert Flaherty

• 1921 documentary

• Nanook of the North

• Recorded reality

The Warner Brothers

• Harry, Jack and Albert

• The Jazz Singer in 1927

• 1930-9,000 movie palaces equipped/sound

The major studios and the industry

• 1912 Universal

• 1916 failure of “Intolerance”

• 1919 United Artists

• 1923 Warner Bros

• 1923 Disney• 1924 Metro-

Goldwyn-Mayer• 1929 RKO• 1948 HUAC• 1952 Supreme Ct.• 1950s-TV competes

Three crises that reshaped Hollywood

• The Hollywood Ten

• Court bans on “vertical integration”

• Challenge from television

Hollywood’s response to television

• Technical innovation

• Content innovation

1950s and 60s content innovation

• Blackboard Jungle

• Rebel without a Cause

• Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

• Bonnie and Clyde

• The Graduate

• The Wild Bunch

• Porno flicks

Television and movies join together

• Competing industries merge

• Steep slide in box-office traffic

• $4 billion industry intertwined with TV

• First runs and after-markets– 17 % of revenue from pay TV– 8% from videotapes– Foreign releases--balance of trade

Movie exhibitors

• Early facilities--peep shows

• Nickelodeons• 1913 elegant picture

palace “Strand” NYC• Drive ins

Exhibitors con’t

• Multiscreen theaters

• New cinemas

• Box office income

• “Nut”

• Exhibitors

• Distributors

Movie finances

• “Intolerance”--DW Griffith $$ flop-2 mil

• Financing sources• Major studios loan $

$, distribute film • Independent

producers--create• Investor groups &

banks

Artistic vs. budget issues

• Merchandise tie ins

• Product placement

• Toys

• Music

• Advertising in theaters!

Censorship

• Early demands to ban movies

• Motion Picture Producers & Distributors of America--Will Hays--chief censor

• Fatty Arbuckle scandal

• Motion Picture Production Code 1930

• 1934 Legion of Decency Roman Cath.

• 1952--US Sup Ct--First Amendment

Current code

• NC 17 Labeling

• Self censorship

• 1/3 parents don’t know what their kids watch acc. to research

Review for Exam II

• Spielberg’s movies

• Power of effects of movies

• Contemporary documentaries

• Movietone newsreels--Fox/sound

• Impact of blacklist

• Paramount case

Review for Exam con’t

• Movie attendance

• Impact of TV

• Tech innovations

• Cost of tickets

• 1960s themes

• Moviegoers

• Oscars

Review for Exam con’t

• After market revenue

• Pay TV revenue

• “Nut”--movie house percentage

• Concessions

• Multiscreen theaters

• Distributors’ jobs

• Outside financing

Review for Exam, con’t

• Role of independent producers

• Foreign ownership of US studios

• Silver Screen partners

• Risk investors and banks

• Licensing fees/merchandise tie-ins

• Michael Eisner’s cross promotions

• Music tie-ins

Exam Review, con’t

• Product placement

• Film rating system