1. MAC 215 Media History Movies and the Impact of Images All right, Mr. DeMille, I'm ready for my close-up.

2. 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

3. The Transitional Period (1907-1913) Industry and Cultural Form

4. Moguls move west (1911-1912) – Carl Laemmle, IMP, then Universal Pictures – William Fox, 20 th Century Fox – Adolph Zukor, Paramount – Marcus Loew, MGM

5. Industrial practices vertical integration central planning competition and cooperation permanent exhibition sites first run, second run venues product differentiation stars and advertising

6. Hollywood 1922

7. D.W. Griffith (1875-1948) Mature storytelling technique Motion pictures as high art & entertainment Director as author/central creative force Film as social force

8. Cultural Form Cinema of narrative integration  Style serves story Increased length (multireel or feature) Multiple shots Internally coherent stories Acting Individualized characters (identification) ‘Verisimilar’ style Increased use of editing (standard film grammar) Subjectivity, POV Analytical editing Continuity or spatial-temporal relations (match cuts)

9. Hollywood: Triumph of the Studio System (1930-1945) Technological Standards - SOUND!!! Majors and Minors (an oligopoly) Production Code Standard exhibition practices Contract Player System Stars, Directors, Looks, Genres

10. Studio Era

12. SOUND Sound effects machines standard by 1908 Continuous musical accompaniment by 1914 Producers began commissioning original scores In 1920s all features were accompanied by cue sheets

13. SOUND

14. SYNC SOUND Competing systems  sound on disc  sound on film

15. SOUND Competing systems  sound on disc  sound on film

16. SOUND Competing systems  sound on disc  sound on film

17. The Jazz Singer (1927) Starring Al Jolson Directed by Alan Crosland Released by Warner Bros. Premieres October 6, 1927 Earns over $3.5 million Considered the first “talkie,” in fact a “part talkie” Initiates studios to invest in sound technology for motion pictures

18. The Jazz Singer (1927) Starring Al Jolson Directed by Alan Crosland Released by Warner Bros. Premieres October 6, 1927 Earns over $3.5 million Considered the first “talkie,” in fact a “part talkie” Initiates studios to invest in sound technology for motion pictures

19. Impact of Sound 1.Economic 2.Technological 3.Stylistic

20. 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

21. Impact of Sound: Economic Mergers and realignments  by 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

22. Impact of Sound: Technology Rise of technical agencies  SMPE Society for Motion Picture Engineers  ASC: American Society of Cinematographers  AMPAS: The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences

23. Impact of Sound: Technology Technological standardization & interoperability Bell and Howell cameras Mitchell cameras Eastman Kodak panchromatic film stock Movietone optical sound system Moviola editing equipment Mole Richardson incandescent lights standardized blimps, tripods, booms, microphones, speakers

24. Impact of Sound: Style Early Problems  Directional microphones  Noisy cameras  Problems with stasis (camera and actor)  Repetitive cutting (inflexible tempo)  Reduced variety of camera angles

25. Impact of Sound: Style The Adjustment to Sound  Multicamera shooting  Booms  Dollies, small cranes, camera carriages  Increased camera mobility  post-synchronization (dubbing in postproduction) Hallelujah (Vidor, 1929)

26. Impact of Sound: Style The Adjustment to Sound  Multicamera shooting  Booms  Dollies, small cranes, camera carriages  Increased camera mobility  post-synchronization (dubbing in postproduction)  Film: Hallelujah (Vidor, 1929)

27. – 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”

28. –1922-1934 MPPDA/The Hays Office (the voluntary period)  M otion 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!

29. – Hollywood Scandals Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle (1887-1933) September 1921, “Fatty” Arbuckle charged with the rape and murder of actress Virginia Rappe

30. – Hollywood scandals  February 1st, 1922, director found murdered  actresses Mary Miles Minter and Mabel Dormand accused, careers destroyed

31. – Hollywood scandals  January 1923, actor Wallace Reid dies of heroin overdose

32. – Hollywood films and the new morality Films of Cecil B. Demille Features of late era silent films: » Extramarital sex » Hedonism » Lurid spectacle

33. – Precode - Trouble in Paradise (Lubitch, 1932)

34. – The Production code of 1934 Headed by prominent Catholic Joseph Breen

35. – 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…

36. – Process of PCA Certification 1. A preliminary conference with Breen, with basic story and plot discussed 2. Careful scrutiny of the script 3. Conference with writers to make changes where necessary 4. Approval of script by Breen to go into production 5. Continued conferences during production 6. Previews of sequences during production 7. Preview of the completed picture 8. Certificate of approval granted to picture, after requested changes are made

37. – The Enforcement of the Production Code

38. – Enforcement of PCA  In 1942 The Outlaw was initially denied a certification...

39. – Analysis: social implications... – Baby Face (Green, 1933)

40. – The Enforcement of the Production Code  Social implications... – conceal social problems that involve sexual crimes including: Incest Pedophilia Sexual harassment Sexual violence Rape...

41. – The Enforcement of the Production Code  Other implications... ?

42. – 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

43. 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).

44. 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

45. 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)

46. Paramount Decision of 1948 1938 US vs. Paramount Pictures, Inc., et al  Big Five and Little Three accused of violating anti-trust laws Big 5 - Paramount, MGM, Warner Bros, RKO, and Twentieth Century-Fox Little 3- Universal, Columbia, and United Artists)  vertically integrated structure - a monopoly

47. Paramount Decision of 1948 (cont) 1948 U.S. Supreme Court decision  8 companies found guilty Block-booking Cooperating to exclude independent exhibiters  Big 5 ordered to sell off their theater chains

48. Impact of Paramount Decision (1948) Industry revenues decreases 20% Studio profits decline $120m in 1947- $31m in 1950 Output decreases Studios’ stocks plummet Studios falter

49. Political Challenges: Hollywood Ten and the Blacklist “ Are you now or have you ever been a member of the Communist Party? ”

50. House Committee of Un-American Activities (HUAC) conservatives sought to drive out leftists from the media Equated labor rights with communism 1947 HUAC hearings of 1947  called 41 “friendly” witnesses who named 17  10 out of 19 subpoenaed refused to testify jailed for up to 1 year blacklisted for many more

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

52. 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 fronts lasted over a decade 1960 Exodus and Spartacus give screen credit  Dalton Trumbo, blacklisted screenwriter [Screen documentary: The Hollywood Ten (1950)]

53. Results of HUAC hearings and the Blacklist Ruined lives, careers ended forever Talented filmmakers left Hollywood Created distrust in the studio system

54. 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

55. Sociological Changes: the rise of suburbia Returning vets focused on careers, raising families Move away from city (and city theaters) Discretionary income goes to household goods and new cars Emphasis on participatory leisure activities

56. 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!

57. Moving Towards a New Hollywood Hollywood on Hollywood  Nostalgia & Self-Critique

58. Color and Aspect Ratio By early 1950s Hollywood films made in color increase from 20% to 50% 1952 Many widescreen processes introduced  CinemaScope 2.35:1 vs. Academy ratio 1.33:1

59. Aspect Ratio