1. History of motion pictures Movies today shaped by a history and culture emphasizing profits, avoiding controversy

2. Early moving pictures Phase 1: movement Lumiere Brothers, Edison Phase 2: story telling, art One Reelers D.W. Griffith Adventures of Dolly Lonedale Operator

3. Rise of Hollywood Impatience within industry Desire to innovate Move to western U.S. Rural LA: sunshine plentiful, little rain, many barns

4. Birth of a Nation, 1915 D.W. Griffith’s pioneering feature film From Dixon’s The Clansman Cost: $100K; revenues $18m 3+ hours Technical quality high Highly racist – reactions Movies = middle class medium

5. Rise of the star system Economics of star system Chaplin, Pickford, Arbuckle Creating stars: Theda Bara Rudolph Valentino

6. Movie industry structure Concentration of ownership Edison, Motion Picture Trust Zukor: Vertical Integration – production, distribution, exhibition Coming of Sound: Big 6 production, distribution, exhibition

7. Caution, self censorship Fearful of govt. regulation Extensive self censorship Hays Office– 1920s Motion Picture Code, 1934 Legion of Decency, 1930s-60s Least Offensive Programming Lowest Common Denominator

8. Business Practices Golden age of the movies, 1928-48 Formula Block booking Blind selling

9. Post World War 2 1. Attendance plummets due to  TV, suburbs  Movie costs soar  Paramount decree, 1948 2. Efforts to revive industry  Innovation  Blockbusters  Formulas

10. Hollywood revival Switch to TV production Selling old films to TV Home video