1. “At the time I came along, Hollywood’s idea of teen movies meant there had be to a lot of nudity, usually involving boys in pursuit of sex, and pretty gross overall. And the last thing Hollywood wanted in their teen movies was teenagers!” – John Hughes, Director

2. The 1980’s
The 1980s tried to expound on the successes of the films in the 1970s, rather than springboard new ideas or trends
Most films from the 1980s are packaged and marketed for mass appeal – (Commercialized films)
Franchise films rose - the beginning of endless sequels
The birth of “High Concept” – a phrase used to pitch a movie in less than 25 words; the idea is that the idea is so simple that any audience would be able to understand it
Example: Alien = Jaws in space

3. The Cultural shift in the 1980s
The murder of John Lennon
Attempted assassination of President Ronald Reagan

4. The Next Blockbuster
Studios were interested in finding the next big movie franchise
Studios tried to follow a model and used focus groups to “discover” what the next big movie franchise would be
Studios were marketing to the “lowest common denominator”
As a result, big gambles were made

5. Flops of the 1980s Heaven’s Gate (1980) Dir: Michael Cimino
Produced by United Artists
The budget was huge for this time ($44 million)
US Box Office was $1.5 million
Howard The Duck (1986) Dir: Willard Huyck; Exec. Prod: George Lucas
Made $15 million on a $30 million budget
Michael Cimino

6. Ratings Change
The backlash from violent scenes targeted toward younger audiences brought a change in the ratings
Gremlins
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom – Heart scene
Dinner Scene
PG-13 was introduced
Red Dawn – first PG-13 movie released on August 10, 1984

7. The MTV Influence Cable television began to grow in popularity
MTV – The Music Channel catered to a younger audience
Films tried to tap into that demographic with faster editing, flashier clothing, and teen issues like sex, belonging,etc.
Porky’s (1982) Dir: Bob Clark
Pretty in Pink (1986) Dir: John Hughes
Bob Clark
John Hughes

8. Activist Cinema
Led by Oliver Stone, a Vietnam Vet, films tried to re-inspire the questioning spirit of the 1960s and 1970s
Platoon (1986)- Vietnam – loss of innocence
Wall Street (1987) – Corporate greed
Born on the Fourth of July (1989) – Real life story of Vietnam Vet Ron Kovic
JFK (1991) – Conspiracy regarding JFK’s death
Oliver Stone

9. Suburban Comedies
A popular sub-genre – films which poked fun at suburban life, parenthood, parental roles
Mr. Mom (1983) Dir.: Stan Dragoti
Baby Boom (1987) Dir. Charles Shyer

10. The New Independent Wave
Sundance Film Festival – created by Robert Redford in 1989 to encourage independent film-making
Sex, Lies, and Videotape (1989) by Steven Soderbergh
She’s Gotta Have it (1986) – Spike Lee *Age confirmation on Youtube
Steven Soderbergh
Spike Lee

11. 1990’s
By the 1990’s, cinema attendance was up – mostly due to multiplex cinemas
Films were becoming more expensive and stars were beginning to ask for more money
Independent films were on the rise because of the success of the Sundance Film Festival

12. Demands of the Stars
By the 1990s, the budgets of films had grown, on average, to about $55 million dollars with some regularly rising to $100 million
Stars were demanding higher pay in addition to script approval, directorial choice, approval of the use of images, personal gyms on set, their placement of their name in the titles, use of private jets, etc.
Many considered this to be “payback” to the studio system of the 1930s

13. Hits of the 1990s The formula for many studios was still working
Finding Franchises
Selling the film internationally
Terminator 2 (1991)
Beauty & The Beast (1991) – Disney resurgence in animation
Jurassic Park (1993)
Titanic (1997)

14. The Rise of Independent Films
Independent films were on the rise
Reservoir Dogs (1992) Dir: Quentin Tarantino
Clerks (1994) Dir: Kevin Smith
The Brothers McMullen (1995) Dir: Edward Burns
Slacker (1991) Dir: Richard Linklater

15. Miramax Studios in the 1990s
A very small independent studio formed in the late 1970s by brothers Bob and Harvey Weinstein
Known for distributing and producing small “art” films and smaller films the larger studios wouldn’t make
From 1992 to 2002, a Miramax produced film was in the Best Picture nominated films
Released Pulp Fiction (1994)
Acquired by Disney in 1993
Bob Weinstein created Dimension Films for more horror and genre movie distribution

16. The Impact of Do The Right Thing (1989)
Written, produced, directed, and starring Spike Lee
Explores the racial divide in a Brooklyn neighborhood
Cites real racial issues within New York City in the 1980s – The death of Eleanor Bumpurs, the death of Michael Stewart, the death of Michael Griffith
Encouraged studios to make films dealing with race and African- American issues

17. Boyz N the Hood (1991) Written and directed by John Singleton
The youngest nominee for Best Director award at 24 years old
At the time of release, the film became the highest grossing African- American themed film
Grossed ten times its budget of $6 million
Excerpt

18. Dogme ‘95
An avant-garde filmmaking movement developed in 1995 by Danish directors Lars von Trier and Thomas Vinterberg
A set of rules were developed in order to counter the film business’s extremely high budgets
The Celebration (1998)
Lars von Trier
Thomas Vinterberg

19. Direct-to-Video / Straight-to-Video
In the 1990s because of the amount of lower cost films, the amount of films being made began to rival the classical Hollywood era (about films per year)
This was a result of the popularity of VHS
Films would bypass a theatrical release and be distributed directly to video
Typically, straight to video films were associated with lower quality, technically and artistically
Studios would release spin-offs or sequels via direct to video

20. The Digital Era DVDs emerged in 1997
Digital cameras were developed in the mid 1990s
Filmmakers began to play with the idea of shooting on digital
Bamboozled (2000) Dir: Spike Lee
Timecode trailer (2000) Dir: Mike Figgis
Star Wars: Attack of The Clones (2002) Dir. George Lucas

21. The Internet and Films The internet changed the marketing of films
The Blair Witch Project (1999) used the internet as a marketing tool – Filmed for approximately $35,000, the film used internet chat rooms, blogs to hype the film
Designed to look like a home movie