Movies: Mass Producing Entertainment Draft Copy 8/1/16 Chapter 8

Practical Special Effects: How real is real? Mad Max: Fury Road features lots of practical special effects. But are practical effects “more real” than digital effects? Problem is more with badly done digital effects. Real question is “Do effects help tell a compelling story.”

Early Movie Technology 1870s & 1880s: Marey and Muybridge. 1894: Thomas Edison opens first kinetoscope parlor. Lumière brothers invent portable movie camera & projector. Early 1900s: Nickelodeon theaters become popular.

Telling a Story With Film 1903: Edwin S. Porter directs The Great Train Robbery. Contains 12 separate scenes Is shot in a variety of locations Tells a realistic story Established basic film storytelling conventions

D.W. Griffith 1915: Birth of a Nation. Created the feature-length film. Griffith’s Intolerance required outside funding. Era of movie stars started under Griffith.

The Studio System Movies as mass produced art Studios control all levels of production (Vertical Integration). Talent works under exclusive contract to studios. Block bookings force theater owners to take films they may not want as well as more popular ones. Development of talking pictures

Response to the Studio System 1919: United Artists Directors and actors take over. 1940s: United States vs. Paramount The beginning of the break-up of the studio system under anti-trust laws.

The Blacklist 1947: House Un-American Activities Committee holds hearing on communist influences in Hollywood. Hollywood Ten resisted testifying, were jailed and blacklisted. By 1953, as many as 324 were blacklisted, including many prominent screenwriters. Blacklist continued until 1960 when Hollywood Ten member Dalton Trumbo hired to write Spartacus, Exodus.

Movies React To Television Movie audiences peak in 1946 – 80 million tickets sold per week. By 1953, ticket sales drop to 46 million per week. First round of 3-D movies, larger format theaters Growing popularity of color Growth of multiplex theaters

The Blockbuster Era 1975: Jaws creates the summer blockbuster Succession of big-budget films with very wide release 2015/16: Star Wars: The Force Awakens has biggest box office to date. 1939: Gone With The Wind sold the most tickets. 1990s: Home video becomes as important as theatrical release.

Digital Production & Projection 1977: Star Wars brings computer-controlled cameras to movie making. 2004: Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow becomes first major film to have all-digital sets. 2007: 300 shows movie with digital sets can be successful. Late 2009/10: Digital and 3-D digital projection grow in popularity. IMAX screenings become premium revenue source. Film screenings growing in popularity again.

What Makes a Movie Profitable? Make a big budget film with marketing tie-ins that sells lots of tickets. Or…

What Makes a Movie Profitable? Make a movie with: A small budget. A clear target audience. Modest box office expectations. Makes a great return on investment—think Bridesmaids, Paranormal Activity series, and Slumdog Millionaire.

Popularity of Bollywood Films World’s biggest source of movies Big musical numbers cross-language barriers Having influence on western films Known as masala or spice movies

The Bechdel Test Are there two or more women who have names in the movie? Do they talk to each other? Do they talk to each other about something other than a man?

Diversity In The Movies 2016 – All Oscar acting nominees are white. #OscarSoWhite hashtag highlighted lack of diversity. Academy tends to be older, white, and male. Problem of ‘whitewashing’

Movies & Censorship 1920s: Birth of the Production Code (Hays Code). Attempting to avoid government imposed rules Strict rules on sex, profanity, and violence

Failure of Code Movies reflected the changing social values of the post WW II America. By the early 1960s many movies released without code approval 1968: MPAA launching movie rating system, still in use today with some modifications.

Ratings Original Ratings: Today: G – General audiences M – Mature audiences R - Restricted X – No one under age 17 admitted Today: G – General audiences PG – Parental guidance suggested PG-13 – Parents strongly cautioned R – Restricted NC-17: No one under age 17 admitted

Movies As a Brand 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

Movies and the Long Tail Online promotion Netflix and other online-based distribution systems Availability of small, obscure films in every market, not just cities Streaming services such as Hulu and Netflix have given small independent films greater distribution.