Chapter 5: Personal Expression and Studio Production

© 2011 Delmar, Cengage Learning Objectives Create a portrait of a person or a place. Compare and contrast who makes movies and why they are made. Classify and evaluate ways that moving images communicate stories and ideas. © 2011 Delmar, Cengage Learning

The Motion Picture Business Independent studios Industrial model Contractual power Control of process from equipment to distribution Financing Filmmaking corporation or outside investors? Distribution Studios and theaters Independent and public venues Courtesy Fort Lee Library © 2011 Delmar, Cengage Learning

Streamlining of Process Pitch Entrepreneurship Conceptual and verbal skills Development Contracts Who has creative control and final cut? Preproduction Production Postproduction © 2011 Delmar, Cengage Learning

Reaching Theater Audiences Nickelodeon: individual viewers Movie theaters Projected films for many viewers Converted local spaces to luxurious venues Cultural institutions Museums and public theaters Film archives Film festivals Courtesy Laurent Carmé © 2011 Delmar, Cengage Learning

Reaching Viewers: Smaller Screens Television: individual viewers & small groups New forms & formats Importance of commercials and advertising Use of theatrical movies in home viewing formats: videocassette, DVD, BluRay Industrial and educational productions Internet and computer-specific uses Games © 2011 Delmar, Cengage Learning

Moviemakers – Historical Examples Early pioneers Alice Guy Blaché, Oscar Micheaux Studio production Alfred Hitchcock, Howard Hawks, John Ford Yasujiro Ozu, Akira Kurosawa, Kenji Mizoguchi Independent & international Max Ophuls (see also Jean Renoir) Director & writer Billy Wilder Delmer Daves The filmmaking collaborative Powell & Pressburger and The Archers Courtesy Fort Lee Library © 2011 Delmar, Cengage Learning

Contemporary Filmmakers Writer/directors working with independent production team Woody Allen John Sayles Spike Lee Jim Jarmusch Nonmainstream production Jon Jost Development of in-house production or control of full process Agnès Varda Robert Rodriguez Multiple-format directors Michel Gondry Spike Jonze Jonathan Glazer Courtesy Dimension Films/Photofest © 2011 Delmar, Cengage Learning

© 2011 Delmar, Cengage Learning Formats Narrative Standard format for mainstream movies such as feature films and television shows, either fiction or documentary. Broad category that consists of sequences of events linked by cause and effect following continuity of time and space. Nonnarrative Do not contain a narrative of events linked by cause and effect and typically include certain documentary, promotional, avant-garde, and educational motion pictures. Four broad categories to classify standard patterns: Categorical, rhetorical, associational, and abstract. © 2011 Delmar, Cengage Learning

© 2011 Delmar, Cengage Learning Narrative Genres Westerns Comedies Horror films Musicals Crime films Science-fiction photo by Louise Smith. (Courtesy Blue-Tongue Films) © 2011 Delmar, Cengage Learning

Nonnarrative Techniques Music, poetry, and abstraction René Clair, Fernand Léger, Luis Buñuel, Dimitri Kirsanoff Joris Ivens, Jean Vigo Contemporary music videos and commercials Montage Soviet filmmakers, soon part of international filmmaking Sometimes narrative, sometimes nonnarrative Part of larger films or used for entire films Nonfiction uses To be explored in Chapter 6: categorization, association, rhetorical communication © 2011 Delmar, Cengage Learning

© 2011 Delmar, Cengage Learning Summary In Chapter 5, you have investigated a number of essential questions about moving images: “Who makes motion pictures?” “Why are movies made?” “How do they get to us?” “What types of movies are there?” As you have seen, motion picture sequences can be broadly categorized into narrative and nonnarrative formats. Many expressive traditions exist within and between each type, and filmmakers use these forms to convey a vast range of ideas and imagery. © 2011 Delmar, Cengage Learning